Constitutional Rights Blog: Constitutional Rights Blog Updated May 21 2020

If you do not believe that free speech is a necessity of life: please leave this blog now officially and legally as of reading this, your obligation tp this statement is formally required.

Freedom of speech is understood to be fundamental in a democracy. The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights.

The author of the Constitutional Rights Blog does not affiliate with any other organization or people on the internet or the world for that matter. I have been saying this since I first logged on to the internet. Just because I like organizations like the ACLU; does not mean I believe in everything they believe in or stand for. Just like in our great country when we vote; we will never believe in everything the candidate we vote for; believes in or stands for. That does not mean we should not vote.

I make typos allot. I do not get paid to do this. I do not have a editor or anyone working for me at all. Sometimes it may take me more than one day to finish a article.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 11 2019

Sign here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/forms/add-your-name-end-unfair-excessive

More than 2.2 million people are incarcerated in our country, and many are serving extreme sentences that don’t advance public safety.

These sentences come at a great cost to both taxpayers and our society as a whole. To advance justice and reduce mass incarceration, we need to review unjust sentences.

Prosecutors can do this by forming Sentencing Review Units, which are small teams of lawyers, investigators, and others who review cases to determine if a sentence is so excessive that it demands a second look by the prosecutor’s office.

While many prosecutors support Sentence Review Units, in most states, they don’t have any mechanism to request that a sentence be reduced – even if everyone agrees it’s excessive.

While some jurisdictions – including California and Washington D.C. – have passed laws to break down these barriers and allow for sentence review, Sentencing Review Units are still far too rare.

The people who wrote this great petition (above) are great themselves. Here is a link: https://www.tjcengage.org

From: Grits for Breakfast: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2019

Texas trends follow national decline in misdemeanor arrests

The Wall Street Journal on Sunday published an item reporting on a nationwide decline in misdemeanor arrests, a trend this blog has been documenting for several years. So Grits thought it worth comparing the national trends cited to Texas data.

The WSJ article focused on jurisdictions where misdemeanor arrests could be broken out by race, with arrests of black people accounting for a disproportionate share of the decrease. Texas data don't immediately allow us to make similar, racially delineated analyses, but the overall trend of reduced misdemeanor cases holds for Texas.

Texas misdemeanor cases by the numbers

Looking at top-line stats from the Office of Court Administration's 2018 Annual Statistical Report (from which all graphs below are screenshots), the number of non-traffic misdemeanor cases in Texas peaked in 2007 at 585,499, declining to 404,001.

When you consider Texas' dramatic population growth over these years, the decline appears even more significant.

Texas witnessed especially large declines over the previous five years in misdemeanor theft (-47%), theft by check (-81%), and driving with an invalid license (-25%), with small increases (less than population growth) for family violence (5%), marijuana possession (4%), and 1st offense DWI (2%).

Grits finds especially interesting the decline in misdemeanor-property-theft cases. Texas raised property-theft thresholds in 2015, so that one must now steal $2,500 to be charged with a felony. Felony-theft cases predictably declined in response, but misdemeanor theft cases declined even more. Perhaps that's a function of cops being less willing to focus attention on low-level cases, the tuff-on-crime crowd will surely say. But both reported crime stats and the National Crime Victim Survey tell us property thefts declined throughout this period. So if police did de-prioritize them, then policing clearly wasn't having the crime deterring effect that traditional models might predict. In fact, if such "de-policing" occurred, it correlated with less theft, not more. This raises a counter-intuitive possibility: Maybe what police do after the fact doesn't have that much to do with crime rates in the first place?

The 2018 data don't capture the period after the Texas Legislature accidentally made pot cases more difficult to prosecute without a lab test, but before then, both misdemeanor drug cases (mostly pot) and felony drug cases (mostly harder drugs) were a big source of growth in prosecutions:

Here's how new Texas misdemeanor and felony cases broke out in FY 2018:

The biggest decline, however, has been in traffic cases and other Class C misdemeanors, a trend which this blog has documented in the past.

Delving more deeply into these Class Cs, every category except local traffic ordinances have declined over the last five years. (I'm curious if readers have any suggestions why enforcement of local traffic ordinances would increase by a third over the last five years while enforcement of state traffic laws declined?)

Moreover, juvenile Class C cases have plummeted, driven largely but not entirely by the state's decriminalization of truancy:

Reporters or policy makers who would like to replicate these data for their local area may use the OCA's data query tool to break them out by jurisdiction.

What's going on?

So why is this happening? Some of the trends cited in the WSJ article don't apply to Texas - e.g., marijuana legalization or decrim hasn't happened here, and Texas' car-patrol-based policing doesn't see as frequent use of "stop and frisk" tactics as do jurisdictions where officers walk a beat.

The WSJ cited FBI statistics to document "steady declines in disorderly conduct, drunkenness, prostitution and loitering violations," which arguably could be a function of the rise of smart phones, gaming, and internet culture. Much "disorderly conduct" now occurs online, much to the detriment of the political culture, while "loitering" these days may more frequently involve staring at a telephone. Similarly, prostitutes in 2019 are less likely to stand out on the street and more likely to respond to text messages or queries on a website.

IMO, researchers have probably understated significantly the impact of digital culture on (downward) crime trends. Indeed, Grits considers the incapacitative effects of video gaming so significant for young males, in the past I've pondered the idea of issuing gaming consoles to high-risk probationers to reduce recidivism.

Grits has written before about declines in DWI and public drunkenness arrests, which I suspect may also related to the rise of car sharing apps that can easily get drunks off the streets or out of their own cars.

On Twitter, Grits asked a couple of national experts their opinions on sources of declines in misdemeanor arrests. Megan Stevenson, an economist and legal scholar at George Mason Univesity, suggested, "Broken windows policing going out of vogue. Gentrifying cities means poor people no longer live where rich people work. Increased surveillance technology reduces willingness to shoplift/graffiti. Lower blood lead levels in children." She also wondered if the trend may be influenced by "Shifting law enforcement to private security companies who intimidate but don’t arrest?"

And our pal Alexandra Natapoff, now of UC Irvine and author of Punishment Without Crime, a book-length treatment of misdemeanor questions, suggested the trend might also relate to "changes in police arrest quota and promotion policies" or attempts to reduce "Jail costs."

Austin's recent brouhaha over decriminalizing sitting, lying and camping in public spaces makes Grits give extra credence to Professor Stevenson's hypothesis about gentrifying cities removing poor people from the places rich folks live and work. Austin has always had a significant homeless population during the 34 years I've lived here. But as long as they were sleeping in creek beds and behind dumpsters where no one could see them, for most of the city's more affluent population, "out of sight, out of mind," was good enough. As soon as middle and upper class folks began to see homeless people in their daily lives - mostly under highway overpasses and in tents on roadsides - the weeping and gnashing of teeth began (with GOP officials at the local, state and national levels fanning the flames of discontent as vigorously as they could muster).

Grits considers these interesting suggestions, but all of them beg the question, why were misdemeanor arrests going up before 2007? After all, both reported and unreported low-level crime (as judged by the National Crime Victim Survey) has declined dramatically since the 1990s, and we didn't see arrest reductions until relatively recently.

Since we don't know why arrests continued to rise as crime declined, it's equally hard to tell why arrests went down as crime declined even more. For that matter, no one knows for sure why crime has declined in the first place. There are many hypotheses.

In an era when economists have built out a sizable cottage industry developing Bayesian "causal inference" models that supposedly flesh out specific causal relations for crime trends, in reality, nobody really understand the whys and wherefores of even the most basic tendencies of the justice system. Your correspondent has come to believe that running ever-more regression analyses on the same, extremely limited datasets is unlikely to cast more light on the subject.

Regardless of the cause, the footprint of the Texas justice system has reduced dramatically over the last decade, even if prison populations remain stubbornly high. These misdemeanor data provide further evidence of that trend and arguably played a big part in creating that outcome.

For my part, Grits considers the decline in misdemeanor arrests and cases mainly a positive development, not a problem to solve. Others' mileage may vary.

Go here to click on all the great links to this important artical mentioned above: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/10/texas-trend-follow-national-decline-in.html

Click here and cast your vote for Social Security Works! OK?: https://www.credodonations.com/social-security-works

Just today, the Social Security administration announced a 1.6% increase in benefits next year. We won’t know for sure until next month, but it will almost certainly be eaten up with increased Medicare premiums, meaning most seniors won’t see any increase at all.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 12 2019

Texas Plans to Execute Jewish Man Denied a Fair Trial by an Anti-Semitic Judge

OCTOBER 4, 2019 | 3:30 PM

UPDATE: On Friday, October 4, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, where Randy Halprin had sought relief before turning to the U.S. Supreme Court, granted a stay of execution. We commend this decision.

“A g***damn Kike.”

“That f***kin’ Jew.”

According to pleadings filed yesterday with the U.S. Supreme Court, that’s how Judge Vickers Cunningham referred to Randy Halprin, a Jewish defendant whose trial he presided over. The pleadings ask the court to delay Halprin’s execution—currently scheduled for Thursday, October 10 in Texas—and to review a federal appellate court’s decision denying him the right to seek a new trial.

Halprin’s plea to the Supreme Court is based on substantial new evidence demonstrating that Cunningham, who is no longer a judge, is a virulent racist and anti-Semite who brought his views to bear on Halprin’s case. Based on the evidence gathered by Halprin and his attorneys, it appears that Cunningham hates anyone who is not white and Protestant. For example, an affidavit filed by Tammy McKinney, who grew up with Cunningham and, as an adult, attended the same church and clubs as him, stated that Cunningham regularly used slurs “such as ‘n@#ger,’ ‘we***ck,’ ‘spic,’ ‘k***e,’ [and] ‘the f***in’ Jews.’”

Rapid DNA Machines in Police Departments Need Regulation

OCTOBER 2, 2019 | 3:45 PM

Police departments around the country are beginning to deploy “Rapid DNA” machines, which can take a cheek swab or other genetic sample and automatically generate an identifying DNA profile. These machines cost as little as $30,000 and claim to take just 90 minutes. They handle some of our most sensitive information (our DNA) — and yet their design and use is largely unregulated. That should be cause for concern for several reasons.

What You Need to Know About the LGBTQ Rights Case Before SCOTUS

OCTOBER 8, 2019 | 7:30 AM

For the LGBTQ civil rights movement, this is a big moment. These cases will affect more people than the Supreme Court’s decision about the freedom to marry, and they potentially implicate a broader range of contexts in which LGBTQ people may face harm, if the Court green-lights discrimination. Worse still, a bad ruling would strip away protections against discrimination that LGBTQ people have been able to use to protect themselves for two decades. And all this in a context where nearly one in three transgender people has experienced discrimination in the workplace.

In short, the stakes are very high.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 13 2019

NATION & WORLD

Black woman shot in her home by white Texas cop after neighbor called for check because her door was open

ASSOCIATED PRESS | OCT 13, 2019 | 7:45 AM | FORT WORTH, TEXAS

The officer does not identify himself as police in the video. Police said the officer, who's been on the force since April 2018, was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation. [Most read] Chicago Marathon 2019: Course map, where to watch the race and how to avoid traffic congestion » Officials have not released the officer's name. In the statement, police said the responding officers saw a person near the window inside the home. The officer fired the single shot after "perceiving a threat," the statement said. The bodycam video also included images of a gun inside the residence, but it's unclear if the firearm was found near the woman. Neighbor James Smith, who initially called police, told the Star-Telegram he was just trying to be a good neighbor. "I'm shaken. I'm mad. I'm upset. And I feel it's partly my fault," Smith said. "If I had never dialed the police department, she'd still be alive." Smith said Jefferson and her 8-year-old nephew typically lived with an older woman, who's been in the hospital."It makes you not want to call the police department," the neighbor said. Local activists held a press conference Saturday, asking the city to hold the officer who fired the shot accountable. Pastor B.R. Daniels Jr. said he wants the police department to stop what he called "shooting first, asking questions later." "We want a review of policy, procedures. How do you storm a house, kill a young lady, with an 8-year-old minor in the house, who could have been killed himself," Daniels said. Authorities said the bodycam footage was released soon after the shooting to provide transparency, but any video taken inside the house could not be distributed due to state law. The shooting comes less than two weeks after a white former Dallas police officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing her black neighbor inside his own apartment. Amber Guyger said during her trial that mistook Botham Jean’s apartment for her own, which was one floor below Jean’s. Guyger, 31, was convicted of murder for Jean’s September 2018 death.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 15 2019

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2019

Roundup: Oversight overlooked, the I-35 Fine Corridor, a last chance to end forensic hypnosis, and more

Here are a few odds and ends that merit Grits readers' attention:

Agency regulating judges toothless and useless

Texas' State Commission on Judicial Conduct is a toothless agency. Its investigators appear to do a good job, but they're too cozy with the judges they regulate and the results just don't sufficiently protect the public. This Houston Chronicle editorial speaks to that point: "The State Commission on Judicial Conduct should be embarrassed by the wrist slap it gave three current and eight former Harris County judges who routinely denied no-cost bail to thousands of poor defendants between 2009 and 2017," their editorial board opined. I agree, but the biggest problems are embedded in the statute and would require the Legislature to fix them.

Crime lab delays grind justice to a halt

State Representative Terry Canales complained to Texas DPS that crime-lab delays fundamentally threaten the administration of justice:

“Defendants are frequently and unnecessarily spending years in jail waiting for forensic evidence to be processed so that they can have their day in court,” Canales wrote. “This gross reality threatens the very essence of our legal system and the fabric of our democracy, and it devalues the credibility of the state’s governing bodies and law enforcement agency.”

According to the McAllen Monitor:

For instance, the oldest firearms case pending is 1,187 days old while the average turnaround is 228 days. The oldest pending fingerprint testing case is 1,279 days old while the average turnaround is 255 days. Finally, the longest pending seized drug case is approximately 1,209 days old while the average case takes 90 days to complete.

Drug war a major contributor to attacks on Fourth Amendment

There's a meme out there spread by revisionist academics like John Pfaff that critics of the drug war have overstated its contribution to mass incarceration. While it's true that only 16.5% of Texas prison inmates are incarcerated for drug crimes, drug cases represent 34% of all new felony charges filed, so Grits finds that criticism overstated, at best. Criminalizing addiction accounts for a huge proportion of how the justice system spends its time. But focusing solely on prison population ignores the severe collateral consequences from the drug war in scaling back Fourth Amendment rights, as prosecutors are seeking to do in two cases pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The Austin Statesman's Chuck Lindell covered those here.

Qualified immunity claim overcome in case vs. Dallas transit cop

The Fifth Circuit declined to dismiss a case against a Dallas transit cop based on qualified immunity after the officer arrested a photographer expressly in violation of her agency's written policy. Grits doesn't believe qualified immunity should even exist. Maybe Justice Don Willett is having an influence; he's a critic of the qualified immunity doctrine.

Activists angry at first Dallas police oversight board meeting

The initial meeting of the new police oversight board in Dallas erupted in chaos when board members tried to adjourn the meeting without hearing from the public. Activists were upset that three appointees had opposed creation of the board and lacked commitment to its mission. Adding fuel to the fire, reportedly one of the officers attempting to push citizens forcibly out of the room was wearing a "Punisher" t-shirt.

Fine revenue and local budgets

Now that the state legislature has capped property tax increases for local governments, expect more of them to attempt to boost revenue from criminal fines. An analysis by Governing magazine found 90 Texas municipalities where 10% or more of revenue came from fines, 39 where fines made up more than 20% of the budget, 22 where fines were more than 30% of the budget, and 10 where they made up more than half. An accompanying map shows that many of these are clustered along I-35 between San Antonio and Dallas.

Jury acquits prison guard despite repeated brutality

A Brazoria County jury found a Texas prison guard not guilty of aggravated assault after he slammed a handcuffed prisoner to the floor and killed him. The same guard had already been disciplined for doing the same thing to the same prisoner several months prior.

Politicizing innocence compensation

Having been deeply involved in passing Texas' best-in-the-nation innocence compensation statute when I was Innocence Project of Texas policy director back in 2009, Grits is incredibly disappointed at the Comptroller and Attorney General going to irregular lengths to deny compensation to Alfred Brown. This was pointless, mean-spirited, and driven by pandering to the Houston police union.

Last chance to get rid of 'forensic hypnosis'

This Guardian story on forensic hypnosis correctly hones in a case pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals as the best chance for the state to be rid of the practice. But it incorrectly suggested the Forensic Science Commission could deal with the issue (they say they don't have jurisdiction because the practice doesn't deal with physical evidence), and a bill filed to end the practice at the Texas Legislature last session couldn't even get a hearing in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. As such, the author was a bit too sanguine the practice might be abolished here. If the CCA doesn't get rid of this junk science, in Grits' estimation it will remain with us in Texas courts for a long, long time.

Hug it out

The judge in the Amber Guyger case explained why she gave the defendant a hug. And an academic argues that the hug Botham Jean's brother gave Guyger turned the trial into a lesson in restorative justice.

Sign this cool petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/be-heard

Sign now to tell Congress: Protect workers and prevent workplace harassment by passing the BE HEARD in the Workplace Act

Target: All Members of Congress

The Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination (BE HEARD) in the Workplace Act is the first comprehensive federal legislation that would fix our broken laws to prevent workplace harassment and abuse—and ensure all of us are protected from harassment on the job, no matter who we are or where we work.

The BE HEARD in the Workplace Act would bring us much closer to the world we all deserve, where all of us can work with equality, safety, and dignity on the job.

Working people have fought for years to address the power disparities and exploitative working conditions that have allowed harassment, assault, and discrimination to persist in the workplace.

These movements for change have been led by courageous women who have for too long endured harassment and violence at work, including women of color, Indigenous women, immigrants, and women in low-wage jobs—who are especially impacted.

Now, with unprecedented national attention on the harm caused by sexual harassment and assault, we have an incredible opportunity to make meaningful, long-overdue legislative change.

Here’s what the BE HEARD in the Workplace Act will do to prevent and address all forms of workplace harassment and discrimination:

For the first time, expand anti-harassment and civil rights protections to all working people, including workers at small businesses, independent contractors, unpaid interns, volunteers, and trainees.

Make it indisputable that all LGBTQ+ workers are protected from harassment and discrimination.

Require employers to take steps to prevent harassment on the job.

Ensure that employers can’t prevent victims of harassment from talking about their experiences, by limiting the use of nondisclosure agreements and forced arbitration.

Reject decisions by some courts that groping by a coworker isn’t serious enough to be harassment if it only happens once.

Ensure that people who experience sexual harassment at work can access the same financial remedies as people who experience racial harassment at work.

Ensure people who get tips, like servers, are paid at least the same minimum wage as other workers, so tipped workers don’t have to put up with harassment from customers as the price of making a living.

And much more.

This bill will benefit working people nationwide, across all industries and occupations. It’s what we all deserve.

We’ve come so far, and we need an even bigger movement to make sure that Congress acts to pass this bold new bill. Together, let’s end workplace harassment and discrimination. Please sign the petition to members of the U.S. Congress now.

Sign this cool petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/be-heard

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 16 2019

Read more here: Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Scaredy Cops: Fear-based training of police officers makes them more likely to shoot

Amber Guyger and Aaron Dean, the cops who shot and killed Botham Jean and Atatiana Jefferson, respectively, had something in common: Both shot an innocent person for no good reason because they were scared.

Maybe that's because they were trained to be.

Guyger testified that she killed Botham Jean because she feared for her life. And clearly Dean, who had snuck into Jefferson's backyard instead of announcing himself at the open front door, considered himself in grave danger just from seeing a woman's silhouette in the window. But neither faced an actual threat. The greater threat in both cases stemmed from their own fear.

Cop culture brims with fearful rhetoric about the dangers they face, even though most cops never fire their service weapon over the course of their careers. A former Baltimore cop writing in Medium last year worried that "police are trained to fear." "Cops are supposed to be heroes and first responders and run toward danger," he wrote, "but it sure seemed like our training was teaching us to be afraid of everyone.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 17 2019

Morning Digest: Kansas lawmaker who quit GOP over its transphobia will run for Senate as a Democrat

Thursday October 17, 2019 · 7:00 AM CDT

KS-Sen: State Sen. Barbara Bollier, a former moderate Republican who switched parties last year, announced Wednesday that she'd join the August Democratic primary for Kansas' open U.S. Senate seat. Former U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom and Manhattan Mayor Pro Tem Usha Reddi were already competing for the nod.

In December, a month after strong performances in Johnson County helped carry both Davids and Kelly to victory, Bollier announced that she was switching parties. Bollier declared, "When the party adopted an anti-transgender piece to their platform, that really, as a physician, set me over the edge, because we have more than XX and XY, and gender is a very complicated and important thing."

Sign this here: https://support.naacp.org/onlineactions/SVnpnly9MUmEHMveKucVUg2

The NAACP-supported Domestic and International Terrorism DATA Act, H.R. 3106, passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a unanimous vote on September 26, 2019. The legislation has now been sent to the U.S. Senate, which must pass the bill before it can go the President for his signature to become law. This bill would ensure that for centralized, reliable, publically accessible information on terrorism and its roots is available to inform the American people as well as federal, state, and local law enforcement of effective counter-terrorism policy making.

What we know

Currently, anti-terrorism efforts focus primarily on international terrorism threats; most of the information gathered is classified as “secret” (in other words, not available to the public or most policy-makers); and it is collected the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI;

There is a need for centralized, reliable, publically accessible information on terrorism and its roots to inform the American people of effective counter-terrorism policymaking;

H.R. 3106 requires an annual, unclassified joint report produced by the FBI and US Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Justice that provides, among other things, an assessment of domestic threats.

Sign this here: https://support.naacp.org/onlineactions/SVnpnly9MUmEHMveKucVUg2

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 18 2019

My email from:

JOHN CORNYN

United States Senator

Thank you for contacting me regarding the impeachment process and President Trump.

America has experienced hard-fought elections in the past, and our leaders have always found a way to come together and resolve our differences to address the issues facing our nation. Our Founding Fathers wisely developed a system of checks and balances to prevent an accumulation of excessive power in any single branch of government. I am committed to exercising appropriate congressional oversight to prevent abuses of power whenever and wherever they emerge.

On August 12, 2019, an unnamed intelligence official filed a whistleblower complaint with the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community regarding a July 2019 telephone conversation between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. President Trump later released a memorandum that provided more information regarding the content of that call. Since then, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives have initiated a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform are conducting interviews and gathering additional information.

Historically, a bipartisan majority of the full House of Representatives has held formal votes to begin impeachment proceedings, and both political parties have participated in the impeachment process. The House of Representatives has traditionally advanced articles of impeachment only on a broad bipartisan basis. The American public expects and deserves Congress to exercise its oversight authority transparently and cooperatively. However, I am concerned House Democrats’ current inquiry into President Trump is politically motivated and is not being conducted in a bipartisan manner. Should the House of Representatives vote to impeach President Trump, the Senate has the authority to hold a trial to consider any evidence supporting those articles of impeachment, and a two-thirds majority vote of Senators is required to convict and remove the President from office.

As a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, we are also investigating the alleged whistleblower’s complaint. Our nation values the rule of law and the right to due process, and the American public must be assured all government officials administer the law fairly and without improper bias. I believe the way to address this issue is in a bipartisan way, by impartially following the facts, applying the law, and reaching appropriate conclusions on the issues at hand. We will carefully examine the record, consider the evidence, and follow that evidence wherever it may lead.

While we may not agree on every issue, I hope you will continue to contact me regarding matters of importance to you. I serve nearly 30 million Texans, regardless of political affiliation, and I pledge to consider your views during my work in the U.S. Senate. I appreciate having the opportunity to represent you, and I thank you for taking the time to contact me.

High-powered White House officials aren't just ignoring the separation of church and state, they want to tear it down.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Read more here:

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/10/2-trump-officials-said-us-run-christian-theocracy/

I consider myself expert on the subject of separation of church and state:

Here is a example of the two of the most popular modern, political leader's of both political parties; both agreeing on separation of church and state.

I made these two graphic's in 2012:

The reason the pilgrims left England for America was because of religious persecution.

I also made this graphic in 2012 to crison the launch of this blog:

From: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Text of the First Amendment

The First Amendment, as passed by the House and Senate and later ratified by the States, reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between Church and State'.

Reasonable minds can disagree about how to apply the Religion Clauses in a given case. But the goal of the Clauses is clear: to carry out the Founders’ plan of preserving religious liberty to the fullest extent possible in a pluralistic society. By enforcing the Clauses, we have kept religion a matter for the individual conscience, not for the prosecutor or bureaucrat. At a time when we see around the world the violent consequences of the assumption of religious authority by government, Americans may count themselves fortunate: Our regard for constitutional boundaries has protected us from similar travails, while allowing private religious exercise to flourish. [...] Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?

President Ronald Reagan from the speech on Oct. 26, 1984, to the Temple Hillel leaders in Valley Stream, N.Y.

"We in the United States, above all, must remember that lesson, for we were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free, and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief."

From: https://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/26994-ffrf-quotes-reagan-in-cleveland-message-to-gop-convention

From: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/president-reagan-speech-to-temple-hillel-and-community-leaders-in-valley-stream-october-1984

Rabbi Friedman, Senator D'Amato, members of Temple Hillel, and to all of you, a very, very warm thank you for this wonderful greeting. It is a great honor for me to be here with you today.

I've covered a bit of territory since this campaign began. What's heartened me most is the new spirit that I have found around this country, a spirit of optimism and confidence, of pride and patriotism, that has been brought forth by a great American renewal.

America's greatest gift has always been freedom and equality of opportunity -- the idea that no matter who you are, no matter where you came from, you can climb as high as your own God-given talents will take you. But a few years ago we were being told that this vision was no more, that America was in decline, and all of us had to lower our expectations.

I think you remember the disasters that defeatist spirit led to: the first back-to-back years of double-digit inflation since World War I, a 21\1/2\-percent prime interest rate, record taxation, declining growth, savings, investment, income, and confidence in our future -- not to mention growing problems of crime and drugs and in education. Overseas, we had lost the respect of friends and foe alike. Our determination had grown weak, undermining commitments to even our closest friends like Israel. We talked and acted like a nation in decline, and the world believed us.

Well, in 1981 the American people set out on an entirely new course. And working together, we have cast aside the pessimism, along with high inflation, stagnation, and weakness, in a wonderful rebirth of freedom, prosperity, and hope. And today we're seeing not humiliation and defeatism, but pride in ourselves, in our accomplishments, and in our country.

From New York Harbor to San Diego Bay, a strong economic expansion with low inflation is leading the rest of the world into recovery. America is back. America is on its feet. And America is back on the map. But we cannot and we will not rest until every American who wants a job can find a job.

A nation's greatness is measured not just by its gross national product or military power, but by the strength of its devotion to the principles and values that bind its people and define their character. Our civil rights: on that subject, we are enforcing the law with new determination. Since we took office, the Justice Department has filed more criminal charges on civil rights violations, brought more violators to trial, and achieved more civil rights convictions than any one before us. I've said this before, and I'll say it again: As President, I will continue to enforce civil rights to the fullest extent of the law.

That's why I have appointed to the Civil Rights Commission people like Commissioners Clarence Pendleton and Morris Abram and Staff Director Linda Chavez. They recognize that you cannot cure discrimination with more discrimination. I'm proud that they're serving on the Commission, and I intend to keep them there. And as long as I'm President, we'll have a Justice Department which argues for the rights of individuals to be treated as individuals, whether the case involves hiring, promotions, layoffs, or any other matter subject to the law.

And we're also remembering the guiding light of our Judeo-Christian tradition. All of us here today are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, sons and daughters of the same God. I believe we are bound by faith in our God, by our love for family and neighborhood, by our deep desire for a more peaceful world, and by our commitment to protect the freedom which is our legacy as Americans. These values have given a renewed sense of worth to our lives. They are infusing America with confidence and optimism that many thought we had lost.

You know, when you talk about human life, I think that means seeing that the immeasurable pain of the Holocaust is never dehumanized, seeing that its meaning is never lost on this generation or any future generation, and, yes, seeing that those who take our place understand: never again.

Now, perhaps that message should again be impressed on those who question why we went on a peacekeeping mission to Lebanon. Indeed, anyone who remembers the lesson of the Holocaust must understand that we have a fundamental moral obligation to assure: never again.

To help preserve that lesson for future generations, I'm satisfied that our General Services Administration has approved the use of the old Customs House by the New York City Holocaust Memorial Commission as a means of commemorating the Holocaust. And it will be a museum of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. It will serve to remind our children and our children's children the tragic consequences of bigotry and intolerance.

We in the United States, above all, must remember that lesson, for we were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free, and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief.

At the same time that our Constitution prohibits state establishment of religion, it protects the free exercise of all religions. And walking this fine line requires government to be strictly neutral. And government should not make it more difficult for Christians, Jews, Muslims, or other believing people to practice their faith. And that's why, when the Connecticut Supreme Court struck down a statute -- and you may not have heard about this; it was a statute protecting employees who observed the Sabbath. Well, our administration is now urging the United States Supreme Court to overturn the Connecticut Court decision. This is what I mean by freedom of religion, and that's what we feel the Constitution intends.

And there's something else. The ideals of our country leave no room whatsoever for intolerance, for anti-Semitism, or for bigotry of any kind -- none. In Dallas, we acted on this conviction. We passed a resolution concerning anti-Semitism and disassociating the Republic[an] Party from all people and groups who practice bigotry in any form. But in San Francisco this year, the Democratic Party couldn't find the moral courage or leadership to pass a similar resolution. And, forgive me, but I think they owe you an explanation. [Applause]

Thank you.

What has happened to them? Why, after the issue became so prominent during the primaries, did the Democratic leadership alk away from their convention without a resolution condemning this insidious cancer? Why didn't they turn their backs on special interests and stand shoulder to shoulder with us in support of tolerance and in unequivocal opposition to prejudice and bigotry?

We must never remain silent in the face of bigotry. We must condemn those who seek to divide us. In all quarters and at all times, we must teach tolerance and denounce racism, anti-Semitism, and all ethnic or religious bigotry wherever they exist as unacceptable evils. We have no place for haters in America -- none, whatsoever.

And let's not kid ourselves, the so-called anti-Zionists that we hear in the United Nations is just another mask in some quarters for vicious anti-Semitism. And that's something the United States will not tolerate wherever it is, no matter how subtle it may be.

We have a tremendous watchdog on this, Jeane Kirkpatrick. She is one very forceful and determined woman. And she has defended Israel with persistence and courage, and America is very proud of Jeane Kirkpatrick. Contrast her performance with that sad moment on March 1st, 1980, when the American delegate to the United Nations actually voted in favor of a resolution that repeatedly condemned Israel. And why did my opponent remain silent? I ask you again, what has happened to the party of Harry Truman and Scoop Jackson?

I was once a member of that party, and for a great part of my life, myself. And I don't believe that what we've seen and what I've been talking about is true of the millions of rank-and-file, patriotic Americans; it is only true of an element of leadership that somehow seems to have lacked the courage to stand for what is right.

I'd like to remind you of an important, indeed, a key position of the United States. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick has my explicit instructions that if Israel is ever forced to walk out of the United Nations, the United States and Israel will walk out together.

I think we've come quite a long way together, at home and abroad. Gone are the days when we abandoned principle and common sense. Gone are the days when we meekly tolerated obvious threats to peace and security. I can tell you today from my heart, America is prepared for peace. And because we're stronger than before, because we've regained our respect, and because our allies and friends know once again that we can be counted on, we're in a position to secure a future of peace -- not peace at any price, but a true, meaningful, lasting peace supported by freedom and human dignity.

Now, make no mistake, if ever we were to heed those who would cripple America's defense-building program, we would undermine our own security and the security of our closest friends, like Israel. And as long as I'm President, that's not going to happen. Israel and the United States are bound together by the ties of family, friendship, shared ideals, and mutual interests. We're allies in the defense of freedom in the Middle East. And I'm proud to say, borrowing Prime Minister Peres' words of 2 weeks ago, relations between the United States and Israel ``have reached a new level of harmony and understanding.''

In partnership, Israel and the United States will continue to work toward a common vision of peace, security, and economic well-being. Our friendship is closer and stronger today, yes, than ever before. And we intend to keep it that way.

Let me leave you with one final thought. I know that many of you here today have your political roots in the Democratic Party. And I just want to say to all of you, to repeat what I said a moment ago, that I was a Democrat most of my life, and I know what it's like when you find yourself unable to support the decisions of the leadership of that party. But to you and to the millions of rank-and-file Democrats who love America and want a better life for your children, who share our determination to build a stronger America at home and abroad, I can only say: Come walk with us down this new path of hope and opportunity, and in a bipartisan way, we will keep this nation strong and free.

The spiritual values which the Jewish community represent are now being seen by the American public on a television series, ``Heritage, Civilization, And The Jews.'' These are values we want and need in the Republican Party. We stand with you, working for an America that works for everyone, an America strong and successful, inspired and united for opportunity. We stand with you, committed and determined to help you protect the traditions and ethics that you hold dear. And we stand with you in your belief in the inviolability of the first amendment.

We stand with you in condemning any and all who preach or countenance bigotry, hatred, or anti-Semitism. And we stand with you in supporting the rights of Soviet Jewry and other believers. We will never be silent in the fight for human rights. We stand with you in support of our friend and democratic ally in the Middle East, the State of Israel. And together, we can build an even better future for our children and for America. And together, we will.

The other day I said something to a group of students in the White House that I will repeat to you: We are free. We are the land of the free, because we are the home of the brave.

Thank you, and God bless you all, and lechayim.

From: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600

Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy addresses the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, a group of Protestant ministers, on the issue of his religion, Sept. 12, 1960.

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him."

From: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600

On Sept. 12, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy gave a major speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, a group of Protestant ministers, on the issue of his religion. At the time, many Protestants questioned whether Kennedy's Roman Catholic faith would allow him to make important national decisions as president independent of the church. Kennedy addressed those concerns before a skeptical audience of Protestant clergy. The following is a transcript of Kennedy's speech:

Kennedy: Rev. Meza, Rev. Reck, I'm grateful for your generous invitation to speak my views.

While the so-called religious issue is necessarily and properly the chief topic here tonight, I want to emphasize from the outset that we have far more critical issues to face in the 1960 election: the spread of Communist influence, until it now festers 90 miles off the coast of Florida; the humiliating treatment of our president and vice president by those who no longer respect our power; the hungry children I saw in West Virginia; the old people who cannot pay their doctor bills; the families forced to give up their farms; an America with too many slums, with too few schools, and too late to the moon and outer space.

These are the real issues which should decide this campaign. And they are not religious issues — for war and hunger and ignorance and despair know no religious barriers.

But because I am a Catholic, and no Catholic has ever been elected president, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured — perhaps deliberately, in some quarters less responsible than this. So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again not what kind of church I believe in — for that should be important only to me — but what kind of America I believe in.

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew-- or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you — until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.

Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end; where all men and all churches are treated as equal; where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice; where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind; and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.

That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of presidency in which I believe — a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group, nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a president whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation, or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.

I would not look with favor upon a president working to subvert the First Amendment's guarantees of religious liberty. Nor would our system of checks and balances permit him to do so. And neither do I look with favor upon those who would work to subvert Article VI of the Constitution by requiring a religious test — even by indirection — for it. If they disagree with that safeguard, they should be out openly working to repeal it.

I want a chief executive whose public acts are responsible to all groups and obligated to none; who can attend any ceremony, service or dinner his office may appropriately require of him; and whose fulfillment of his presidential oath is not limited or conditioned by any religious oath, ritual or obligation.

This is the kind of America I believe in, and this is the kind I fought for in the South Pacific, and the kind my brother died for in Europe. No one suggested then that we may have a "divided loyalty," that we did "not believe in liberty," or that we belonged to a disloyal group that threatened the "freedoms for which our forefathers died."

And in fact ,this is the kind of America for which our forefathers died, when they fled here to escape religious test oaths that denied office to members of less favored churches; when they fought for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom; and when they fought at the shrine I visited today, the Alamo. For side by side with Bowie and Crockett died McCafferty and Bailey and Carey. But no one knows whether they were Catholic or not, for there was no religious test at the Alamo.

I ask you tonight to follow in that tradition, to judge me on the basis of my record of 14 years in Congress, on my declared stands against an ambassador to the Vatican, against unconstitutional aid to parochial schools, and against any boycott of the public schools (which I have attended myself)-- instead of judging me on the basis of these pamphlets and publications we all have seen that carefully select quotations out of context from the statements of Catholic church leaders, usually in other countries, frequently in other centuries, and always omitting, of course, the statement of the American Bishops in 1948, which strongly endorsed church-state separation, and which more nearly reflects the views of almost every American Catholic.

I do not consider these other quotations binding upon my public acts. Why should you? But let me say, with respect to other countries, that I am wholly opposed to the state being used by any religious group, Catholic or Protestant, to compel, prohibit, or persecute the free exercise of any other religion. And I hope that you and I condemn with equal fervor those nations which deny their presidency to Protestants, and those which deny it to Catholics. And rather than cite the misdeeds of those who differ, I would cite the record of the Catholic Church in such nations as Ireland and France, and the independence of such statesmen as Adenauer and De Gaulle.

But let me stress again that these are my views. For contrary to common newspaper usage, I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.

Whatever issue may come before me as president — on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject — I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise.

But if the time should ever come — and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible — when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same.

But I do not intend to apologize for these views to my critics of either Catholic or Protestant faith, nor do I intend to disavow either my views or my church in order to win this election.

If I should lose on the real issues, I shall return to my seat in the Senate, satisfied that I had tried my best and was fairly judged. But if this election is decided on the basis that 40 million Americans lost their chance of being president on the day they were baptized, then it is the whole nation that will be the loser — in the eyes of Catholics and non-Catholics around the world, in the eyes of history, and in the eyes of our own people.

But if, on the other hand, I should win the election, then I shall devote every effort of mind and spirit to fulfilling the oath of the presidency — practically identical, I might add, to the oath I have taken for 14 years in the Congress. For without reservation, I can "solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, so help me God.

Transcript courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 19 2019

Here is a link to the transcript of a phone call between the President and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky:

https://vantaylor.house.gov/components/redirect/r.aspx?ID=1617-493363

If this is the only reason to impeach The President of The United States, there is just no way. I do not want to be known as the year a president was impeached; for something as trivial as this. I was not old enough to vote when President Nixon was impeached in 1974. I need to know everything now; about this. Don't you?

Cast your vote here: https://vantaylor.house.gov/forms/form/

Elections are coming soon. Why can't we wait till then and let the voters decide?

Email from: Kay Granger

The freedom that we enjoy as Americans and Texans is built on and has been defended by our nation’s military for centuries. Our nation’s uniformed men and women are the best trained and most capable in the world, and we have the honor and great responsibility of caring for them and their families as they leave the military service. Over 1.5 million military veterans call Texas home and Texas ranks number two in the nation in total veteran population. Given the medical and vocational support provided to veterans in our district, it is no surprise that some 55,000 veterans live in our 12th Congressional District.

Our national defense is my number one priority and the care we provide for our veterans and their families is a large part of that. Veterans leaving military service are eligible for unique healthcare, educational benefits, transition assistance, and related benefits for their family members. While our nation’s veteran care system is by far the best in the world, there is still work to be done. I am actively working for you in Congress to provide the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with the oversight and resources it needs to provide better care for our veterans and their families. I am most concerned with the VA’s electronic health record situation that prevents active duty military medical records from transitioning to the VA. This issue slows a veteran’s transition from active duty, and more concerning, it can impact the level of medical care a veteran is able to receive. Further, I am concerned with the increasing suicide rates of our veterans. I continue to advocate for additional funding and support to ensure our veterans receive the mental health care they need. I am confident that the level of care provided to our veterans and their families will increase, and I will not stop my advocacy until we get the job done.

Back home, my focus on veteran care is no different. Not only does nearly twenty percent of my staff have military experience, I also have dedicated case workers with first hand military experience that specifically handle veteran and VA issues for my constituents. These caseworkers serve as a veteran’s liaison with the VA and Department of Defense to help address complicated issues that our district veterans are experiencing. This year alone, my office received VA casework requests from 112 veterans, and we have already successfully closed 83 of those cases.

Our nation’s veterans earned and deserve the support and benefits our nation provides and put simply, we must get it right. Know that I will continue to advocate for veteran care in Washington, and more importantly, back home here in Texas. For those of you that employ veterans, care for veterans, are family to a veteran, and to our veterans themselves, thank you.

Sincerely,

Kay Granger

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 20 2019

Our Online Speech Rights Are Under Threat

On Wednesday, Congress examined a little-known law that has made the internet the space for self-expression and connection that it is today. The law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, makes communication on platforms like Facebook, Wikipedia, Yelp, and others possible by assuring that these platforms generally won't be liable for user-generated content like posts and reviews. With CDA 230 currently under review, some members of Congress are proposing new measures, such as a "political neutrality" requirement, that could radically curb the freedoms we currently enjoy on the internet.

Tell Congress: Workers should have control over their schedules

Imagine working on-call for multiple days, a split shift of non-consecutive hours in one day or even being sent home in the middle of your shift when sales are low.

This is the harsh reality for many workers. Unpredictable schedules make it nearly impossible for hourly and low-wage workers to balance family and work responsibilities or rely on a steady paycheck. That needs to stop now.

Progressive champion Sen. Elizabeth Warren just reintroduced legislation to give hourly workers control over their schedules.1 Now, we must use our power to make sure Congress passes this important bill.

Sign petition here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/schedules-that-work

Sign and send the petition to your U.S. senators: Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act

It has been eight months since Congress let the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) expire after it was left out of a deal to keep the government open following the 2018-19 shutdown. The U.S. Senate still has yet to vote to reauthorize it.

VAWA officially expired on February 15. On April 4, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to reauthorize it—and it’s been sitting on the Senate calendar ever since.

The version of VAWA the House passed in April includes crucial new measures, including protections for survivors facing eviction from their homes because of their abuser’s actions, a provision to bar firearms from getting in the hands of stalkers and abusers, and protections for transgender people who are incarcerated.

As expected, Republicans aren’t in favor of these changes, but their partisan stonewalling is preventing survivors from accessing crucial community resources.

By allowing VAWA to expire and then refusing to act to reauthorize it, Senate Republicans are sending a strong message to survivors that their needs, safety, and healing are unimportant.

Sign and send the petition to your U.S. senators: Vote to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act immediately.

Sign petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/letters/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-us-senators-reauthorize-the-violence-against-women-act

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 20 2019

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2019

Interview: Parsing the civil-rights lawsuit demanding Hepatitis C treatment for Texas prisoners

In last month's Reasonably Suspicious podcast, co-host Mandy Marzullo and I interviewed Texas civil-rights attorney Scott Medlock about his new lawsuit against the Texas prison system over the state's failure to treat inmates suffering from Hepatitis C. (See the original complaint here, and coverage from the Houston Chronicle.) Medlock first learned of the issue in a Grits for Breakfast blog post and filed the suit over the summer. Listen to the excerpted segment here, and find a transcript of our conversation below the jump: Read and listen to more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/10/interview-parsing-civil-rights-lawsuit.html

Tell the House of Representatives: End conversion therapy

Sign this petition here:

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/end-conversion-therapy

Conversion therapy is a widely discredited practice – yet is still legal in 31 states.1

Conversion therapy is abuse. It is a dangerous practice that aims to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity by using emotionally and physically traumatic interventions to make victims associate their identity with shame.

More than 700,000 LGBTQ people have reportedly been subjected to conversion therapy – and if we allow this practice to continue, an estimated 800,000 LGBTQ youth could fall victim to this fraudulent practice in the coming years.2 The House of Representatives must act now to protect LGBTQ people and youth and ban conversion therapy now.

Every single leading professional medical and mental health association – including the American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and Pan American Health Organization – reject conversion therapy and strongly caution that the practice is illegitimate, unnecessary, ineffective and dangerous.3 Not only is it morally reprehensible to claim someone's sexual orientation or gender identity is a mental illness, there is also absolutely no medical foundation or evidence that even suggests conversion therapy works.

Conversion therapy is dangerous, and sometimes even fatal. The majority of victims of conversion therapy are minors who cannot make their own medical decisions and experience family rejection as a result of their sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBTQ youth who are rejected by their parents are eight times more likely to attempt suicide, five times more likely to report high levels of depression and three times more likely to use illegal drugs.4 The risks only increase for LGBTQ youth who have undergone conversion therapy.

Conversion therapy has turned abuse into a multimillion-dollar scam to defraud and harm hundreds of thousands of families unsure of how to respond when their child comes out.5 The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act is a step in the right direction to finally put an end to this practice. The bill would provide congressional recognition that being LGBTQ cannot be and does not need to be "cured." It would classify for-profit conversion therapy as fraud under the Federal Trade Commission Act and prohibit any advertising that claims conversion therapy can successfully change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Lives are at stake and LGBTQ people deserve legal protections from this prejudiced and harmful practice. Can you add your name today?

Tell the House of Representatives: Protect the LGBTQ community and pass the End Therapeutic Fraud Act.

References:

Movement Advancement Project, "Conversion Therapy Laws,"accessed Oct. 17, 2019.

The Trevor Project, "About Conversion Therapy," accessed Oct. 17, 2019.

National Center for Lesbian Rights, "The Facts About Conversion Therapy," accessed Oct. 17, 2019.

The Trevor Project, "About Conversion Therapy."

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 25 2019

I have been saying for years that McKinney Texas, was the last city in America to outlaw public hangings. This may not be accurate. I can not prove this online. My wife's college history teacher told her this, years ago. I looked it up about a week ago. I was struck by this haunting photo I saw and decided to do a post here as a result of that research.

It turns out that, that Collin County college teacher may have exaggerated the truth a little. Maybe I remembered wrong. It is hard not to get worked up about history stats like this. So I understand how people can exaggerate sometimes about these kind of sad day's of our country.

The following article is proof that one of the last legal public hangings in Texas was in 1921; in McKinney, Texas.

From: https://www.collincountyhistory.com/hangings.html

Collin County had only three legal hangings before the state took over that responsibility in 1922.

Stephen Ballew - for killing James Golden in 1870. The trial was held in the Christian church because the courtroom was too small. This would have been during the time of the two-story wood-frame courthouse, before the stone courthouse with the towers was constructed. He was hanged at the south edge of McKinney.

Shack Culwell - an 18-year-old black man who killed his boss, W. R. Norvell, in a dispute over $5. He was hanged from a tree north of McKinney near the current VFW hall. He was taken to the site in a wagon, sitting on top of his coffin and was buried at the foot of a tree.

Ezell Stepp - for killing Hardy Mills, 1921. He was hanged on a scaffold at the county jail. This was one of the last legal hangings in Texas.

This next article about Gainesville, Texas has got to be the worst public hanging's ever.:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanging_at_Gainesville

The Great Hanging at Gainesville was the execution by hanging of forty-one suspected Unionists in Gainesville, Texas, in October 1862 during the American Civil War. Two additional suspects were shot by Confederate troops while trying to escape. Some 150–200 men were captured and arrested by state Confederate troops in and near Cooke County at a time when numerous citizens of North Texas were opposed to the new law on conscription. Many suspects were tried by a "Citizens' Court" organized by a Confederate officer. It made up its own rules for conviction and had no status under state law. Although only 11% of county households owned slaves, seven of the 12 men on the jury were slaveholders, determined to suppress dissent.

I found this article in Google, after actually talking with someone who remember's seeing some Paris, Texas hangings

February 1, 1893, in the town of Paris, Texas:

Smith was put to death in the same manner as thousands of other African Americans, many of them freed slaves, who were publicly lynched between 1877 and 1950. He was stripped, beaten savagely and brought to the town square with his hands bound. In front of a crowd of about 10,000, including families with children, he was forced to climb onto a high platform and then tortured by the executioners for more than an hour. Finally, he was burned alive to the jubilant shouts of the mob, who immediately purchased his bones and organs, sold as souvenirs of the event.

This is a map of almost every documented lynching between the 1830s and 1960s. It is from this website: http://www.monroeworktoday.org/explore/

I found this about Collin County on the http://www.monroeworktoday.org/explore/ website:

Maria Ines Ramírez
Mexican female lynched in early May 1880
Collin Co.
She was lynched (burned) for alleged Witchcraft

This is from this book:

Forgotten Dead: Mob Violence against Mexicans in the United States, 1848-1928
Carrigan, William D. & Clive Webb
New York: Oxford University Press, 2013

'Commodure' Jones
Black male lynched in Aug 1911
Farmersville, Collin Co
He was lynched for allegedly insulting a woman.

The source for this is: Tuskegee University Archives
Box 132.020 - database typed on paper
Guzman, Jessie (Editor)

From website: http://www.monroeworktoday.org/explore/

Mapping the history of racial terror
SMITHSONIAN.COM

JANUARY 24, 2017

The Civil War may have freed an estimated 4 million slaves, but that wasn’t nearly the end of acts of racial violence committed against African Americans. Acts of domestic terrorism against black people include the thousands murdered in public lynchings. Now, an interactive map provides a detailed look at almost every documented lynching between the 1830s and 1960s.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 26 2019

My email from JOHN CORNYN United States Senator:

During my time in the Senate, core values like personal responsibility, compassion for others, and supporting families have served as my guide. I am glad to have the opportunity to share these values with the Trump Administration as we work with the President to guarantee a safer, more prosperous future for our children.

Historically, a bipartisan majority of the full House of Representatives has held formal votes to begin impeachment proceedings, and both political parties have participated in the impeachment process. The House of Representatives has advanced articles of impeachment traditionally only on a broad bipartisan basis. The American public expect and deserve Congress to exercise its oversight authority transparently and cooperatively. However, I believe House Democrats’ current inquiry into President Trump is politically motivated and is not being conducted in a bipartisan manner. Instead, I am concerned this impeachment proceeding is about relitigating the 2016 election and defying the voters who voted for President Trump in 2016. Should the House of Representatives vote to impeach President Trump, the Senate has the authority to hold a trial to consider any evidence supporting those articles of impeachment, and a two-thirds majority vote of Senators is required to convict and remove the President from office.

In the meantime, I will continue to support President Trump’s rebuilding of our military to better defend America against foreign adversaries. The President has improved American security and ensured America’s global strategic interests by improving our military readiness and securing historic pay increases for our troops. I am also proud of the work President Trump has done to increase accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs and expand healthcare access for our nation’s veterans.

Since he was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, President Trump has proven a faithful steward of the American economy, and he has made significant progress in renegotiating aging trade deals. This is good for Texas, which benefits from trade with Mexico more than any other state, but it also improves the general welfare of all Americans. As a result, the United States has experienced an unprecedented period of economic growth and low unemployment rates. President Trump’s pro-growth policies encourage the creation of jobs and opportunities and help Americans keep more of their hard-earned money to save and spend as they see fit.

Given the scope and magnitude of federal regulations and their impact on the economy, it is crucial the regulatory process remain transparent and accountable to all Americans, rather than in the hands of unelected bureaucrats. Fortunately, President Trump has repealed overreaching regulations and proposed new rules to clarify federal authority and ensure economic viability.

President Trump and I believe all Americans deserve access to quality and affordable health care, and they should never be denied coverage due to a preexisting condition. We have worked together to ensure patients, their families, and their doctors are at the center of health care decisions, rather than government bureaucrats. I also support President Trump’s efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs by increasing competition and redirecting savings to patients.

Finally, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, I have the privilege of ensuring judicial nominees display integrity and interpret our laws as written, not according to their own personal or political views. Under the Trump Administration, I am proud the Senate has confirmed federal judges at a faster rate than during any other presidency, including three Texans to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and 16 Texans to our federal district courts.

I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, and I will keep your views in mind as Congress works with President Trump to advance conservative values and policies for our nation. I appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the United States Senate.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN

United States Senator

Grits:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019

DNA mixture software widely used in Texas disallowed by MI federal judge

For some time, Grits has been skeptical whether DNA-mixture software would hold up to "Daubert" scrutiny if judges were to directly evaluate it. In 2015, this blog reluctantly broke the story in Texas about errors and uncertainties regarding how to evaluate DNA mixture evidence. (They were being openly discussed by the Forensic Science Commission and the Court of Criminal Appeals' Criminal Justice Integrity Unit when I worked for the Innocence Project of Texas, but reporters weren't covering the complicated, math-heavy story.) After that, I've followed the issue from afar even after I stopped tracking forensics in any professional capacity.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 27 2019

Ships anchored on the Hudson

River north above New York City for

the 1945 Navy Day at the victorious

end of World War II.

Navy Day United States today.

My grandfather was in the Navy during WWII. He would always talk so much about his time in the Navy. As a child, until I was in my early twenty's; I thought he was in the Navy for many years. I asked him one day how long he was in the Navy. He told me two years. I realized it was not how long he was in the Navy; it was the intensity, that made his story's so long and sentimental. These guys never knew when the entire ship could be destroyed and he would have definitely been dead. He was a cook and I am pretty sure the kitchen was located in the belly of the ship.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_Day#United_States

In the United States, the Navy League of the United States organized the first Navy Day in 1922, holding it on October 27 because it was the birthday of 26th President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919, served 1901–1909), who was a naval enthusiast/promoter of sea power and former assistant Secretary of the Navy just before the Spanish–American War of 1898. Although meeting with mixed reviews the first year, in 1923 over 50 major cities participated, and the United States Navy sent a number of its ships to various port cities for the occasion. The 1945 Navy Day was an especially large celebration, with 33rd President Harry S. Truman (1884–1972, served 1945–1953), reviewing the returning home American fleet in New York Harbor after victory in World War II.

In 1949, Louis A. Johnson, (1891–1966, served 1949–1950), second Secretary of the newly merged and created Department of Defense, directed that the U.S. Navy's participation occur on newly established Armed Forces Day for the unified/coordinated uniformed services in May, although as a private civilian organization, the Navy League was not affected by this directive, and continued to organize separate Navy Day celebrations as before. In the 1970s, historical research found that the "birthday" of the earlier Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), was determined to be October 13, 1775, and so Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt worked with the Navy League to define October 13th as the new date of Navy Day. However, Navy Day in the United States is still largely recognized as October 27th.

Patients' Needs, Not Personal Beliefs, Come First in Healthcare

Last week, we asked a federal court to strike down the latest regulation in the Trump administration's sustained assault on healthcare access for vulnerable people. A new rule allows healthcare providers who receive federal funds to obstruct patients' access to essential healthcare by invoking their personal religious or moral beliefs – even in emergencies. This means, for example, that even if a hospital discovers an employee would be unwilling to care for all patients equally, it would have to retain that employee. The Trump administration is certainly living up to its promise to prioritize religious beliefs above the need of patients. We've asked the court to strike down this "refusal of care" rule before it does real damage to people's lives. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/religious-liberty/patients-needs-not-personal-beliefs-come-first-in-health-care/

Nebraskans Aim to End Exploitative Lending with a Ballot Proposal to Slash Payday Interest Rates
Nebraskans for Responsible Lending announced this week that they will begin gathering signatures to reduce the amount that payday lenders may charge to a maximum annual interest rate of 36 percent. Currently, payday lenders in Nebraska can charge exorbitant, predatory rates numbering in the hundreds, plunging families who need a couple hundred dollars into a vicious cycle of debt. Payday loans burden Americans with more than $4 billion in fees each year in the 34 states that allow staggering triple-digit interest rate payday loans. The new initiative would help end predatory lending practices and ensure that consumer loans are fair and reasonable. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/racial-justice/nebraskans-aim-to-end-predatory-lending-with-a-ballot-proposal-to-slash-payday-interest-rates/

Grits:
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2019

State officials vs local pols on bail and policing, reinvigorating community service, why that weird brass-knuckles bill was really a thing, and other stories
Let's clear a few browser tabs with a roundup of stories that merit Grits readers' attention:

Texas AG insults federal judge's intelligence

Gov. Abbott's penchant for deploying troopers to patrol cities

Change to brass knuckles law prevents hundreds of convictions per year

Community service options suffer from spotty implementation

On the politics of data, and its absence

Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/10/state-officials-vs-local-pols-on-bail.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 28 2019

More from this amazing website I found: http://www.monroeworktoday.org


From website: http://www.monroeworktoday.org/explore/

Refugio Ramírez

⸬ Mexican male lynched in early May 1880

⌖ Collin Co.

She was lynched (burned) for alleged Witchcraft

From website: http://www.monroeworktoday.org/explore/

Silvestre Garcia Ramírez

⸬ Mexican female lynched in early May 1880

⌖ Collin Co.

She was lynched (burned) for alleged Witchcraft

From: http://www.monroeworktoday.org/lynching.html

The rise of Lynching

Lynching means more than homicide: it is condemning someone to death by the whims of a mob or entire community — no judge. Over time, it became racist, common, and brutal.

However, the word lynching has evolved in meaning over time, and the methods looked different in distinct regions of the US. In the original 13 colonies, lynching referred to punishing someone in public (such as tar and feathers) outside of the official law.

By 1835, this public punishment was becoming lethal more often, and the group of people who did it still expected impunity. The perpetrators felt no one should ever question the ‘justice’ being served by murdering their suspect. In the 1830s, remember, the United States was still in the times of slavery and expanding to the Far West.

In the middle of the century, lynching could be found as a crude form of frontier justice done by vigilantes "keeping the peace"— about 40% of all the recorded lynchings by this time were done to white men (there are two cases recorded of a white woman as well). Yet studies have discovered lynching was used more often in towns that had a functioning courthouse. This seems to contradict the idea that it was just a time of lawlessness. Lynching became a tool that people engaged in hatred: it was applied viciously as Anglos clashed in tensions with Mexican-Americans on the southwest border. It was an ultimatum leveled against Chinese families who were living alongside white settlers in the middle of California, Oregon, and Washington.

1880 — Fifteen years after the Civil War, black men had created social progress with the new right to vote (but still no women in the US were allowed to vote). Black Americans were successfully becoming businessmen, property owners, and electing their own state legislators. Then the defenders of a whites-only South (Dixie) escalated lynching to a scale it had never been used before. After 1886, the proportion of times it was used against white suspects in the South was strikingly small. But entire white communities would gather in the streets to seize and kill black people outside the law. In the South, nearly 80% of such mob murders would be attacks against black Americans specifically: mostly men, sometimes women, even sometimes teenagers. Watch video: http://www.monroeworktoday.org/lynching.html#

Activists in the 1890s struggled to define the word lynching to try to capture this rise in terror.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 29 2019

Tell Congress: Support the Students Not Profits Act

Sign this petiton here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Students-Not-Profits

For-profit colleges lie to students and leave them deeply in debt. They have been repeatedly caught promising a great education and career success in order to suck tuition dollars out of students and taxpayers. Some for-profit college campuses have gone as far as bribing local temp agencies to hire graduates for a day or two in order to artificially inflate “job placement” rates.1

But despite their grifter status, these colleges receive 15% of the total U.S. financial aid each year – and a third of them get almost all their revenue from federal sources. 2 They recently introduced a bill, the Students not Profits Act of 2019, that would cut off federal aid from for-profit colleges. Can you help build momentum for the bill today?

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 30 2019

Grits:

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2019

Digesting new Daubert opinion on DNA mixtures

Grits earlier referenced the opinion from federal District Judge Janet Neff, in Michigan's western district, who directly evaluated the most common, commercial DNA-mixture software using probabilistic genotyping under the Daubert standard for whether to allow expert testimony. Texas courts heretofore have let in such evidence but avoided a direct Daubert evaluation.

I found this great article yesterday related to my last few post's:

Trump Is Not Alone Among Americans in Failing to Understand What a Real Lynching

By The Charleston Chronicle | October 29, 2019 |

For 100 years, the NAACP campaigned to make lynching a federal crime, initially in the hope that federal intervention would bring the perpetrators to justice, and finally as an expression of truth-telling. The efforts were always blocked by filibusters organized by Southern senators. In 2005, the Senate passed a resolution apologizing to the victims of lynching for their failure to pass anti-lynching legislation. In 2018, the Senate finally unanimously passed anti-lynching legislation for the first time.

In June of this year, the House Judiciary Committee put forth HR 35, the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, for a vote before the House. Trump’s egregious comment provides the occasion for truth-telling. The House and the Senate should finally act together to put the anti-lynching bill on the president’s desk for his signature, and join in a national teach-in, perhaps a joint session of the Congress, to educate Americans about the reality of lynching and the lies it spread that still need to be dispelled.

I had to remove those photo's. Without them I would not have been lead to discover this great website: http://www.monroeworktoday.org . This is a multifaceted blog page; it needs to be open to a diversified group of people.

I still believe in the south and my local community. Among the 300 million or so (my guess) people in the south; I think at least seventy five percent or more are good people. It is always the few that ruin it for other's. Just like the media/internet, it seems the more people troll; the more influence they have. I still believe in the democrat's too. You can not tell me that the 100,000 ( my guess) or so democrat representatives; are all far left sociologists. I am half democrat, half republican and not left or right wing; just the best of both party's. Right down the middle. I can be that in the land of the free. This is still America the Beautiful as far as I see it. From the tallest mountains to the lowest deserts and oceans and lakes, it's all still good.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated October 31 2019

Sign this, I did: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/sign-and-send-the-petition-demand-the-trump-administration-stop-undermining-unions

SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT: Demand the Trump Administration stop undermining unions

The Trump Administration is, once again, attempting to roll back critical protections for working people. The administration is seeking a rule change that would rob graduate teaching assistants and other student employees of their rights to organize and collectively bargain.

Trump’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) claims that collective bargaining will harm “academic freedom.” However, there is a wealth of evidence to the contrary.

Public universities have had graduate student worker unions for 50 years. In 2016, more than 64,000 graduate student employees were unionized at 28 institutions of higher education in the public sector. The colleges and universities with union-represented student employees have not reported a loss of “academic freedom” as the Trump board suggests.

In reality, union-represented graduate student employees at public universities have reported that they enjoy higher levels of personal and professional support than that reported by non-union represented students. Unionized and nonunionized student employees report similar perceptions of academic freedom. However, union-represented graduate student workers did report receiving higher pay than non-union represented graduate student workers.

All workers deserve the right to a union and collective bargaining. The proposed rule, however, denies student employees these basic rights.

Right now, there is a public comment period on this proposed rule change. We must make our voices heard. Sign and send the petition to submit your comment.

Participating Organizations:

American Federation of Teachers

Coalition on Human Needs

Daily Kos

Economic Policy Institute

Jewish Labor Committee

National Employment Law Project

People Demanding Action

People for the American Way

Progress America

Service Employees International Union

Grits:

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2019

Podcast: New evidence of Rodney Reed's innocence, first thoughts on the Atatiana Jefferson shooting, and the Mystery of the Disappearing Misdemeanor Arrests

Here's the latest Reasonably Suspicious podcast from Just Liberty: Read and listen to more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/10/podcast-new-evidence-of-rodney-reeds.html

Thanks to the great news broadcaster's Gay USA for the lead on this story:

Virginia Beach Human Rights Commissioner resigns over anti-LGBTQ Facebook posts

After first refusing to step down, Kenick El later said he'd resign following a now-cancelled meeting on Oct. 31

Brother LaKendrick Coburn El, also known as Kenick El, took to Facebook to share a story about a transgender sex offender, calling being transgender a “mental illness.”

He accused the LGBTQ community of “promoting” homosexuality to children, adding that homosexuality is a “mental illness” and an “abomination to the Human Race.”

Oh yeah I voted today so I can talk about politics all I want now.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 01 2019

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/10/trump-supporters-using-halloween-accuse-democrats-witchcraft-satanism/

Trump supporters are using Halloween to accuse Democrats of witchcraft & Satanism

They should make up their mind. Aren't Democrats supposed to be leading a witch-hunt?

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Beautiful young woman in witches hat conjuring, making witchcraft by making flames erupt from the pages of a book of magic during a full moon..

Donald Trump’s supporters are commemorating Halloween in a magical way: by claiming that Democrats are targeting him with witchcraft.

Anti-LGBTQ activist Michael Brown says “the spirit of Jezebel” is executing a “Satanic plot” to destroy America and Trump using feminism, LGBTQ rights, abortion, witchcraft and sex trafficking of kids — and that’s just the tip of the black-magical iceberg.

Related: Are witches & gays corrupting upstanding politicians in DC?

On his web show The MC Files, right-wing conspiracy theorist Chris McDonald said, “[Democratic] Rep. Adam Schiff is a pedophile and a Satanist who practices human sacrifice.” How does he know this? Because he “senses such a dark, demonic power on Schiff whenever he hears his speak.”

The group Intercessors for America recently urged its followers to pray for Trump to protect him from “occultic activity.” Just how deep is this witchy plot against the president, you ask? Let them explain:

“Spells and hexes. Curses and binding. Witches, warlocks, occultists, and resisters of President Trump are focusing their negative energy and spiritual power toward President Trump right now. Monthly rituals have been taking place since the beginning of his presidency. Now, all who call on the name of the enemy are actively ramping up their efforts and coordination in this heightened time of occult activity for a week of binding beginning the evening of October 25.

Meanwhile, Florida megachurch pastor Paula White recently prayed for Trump’s protection against “the wicked” in article entitled “Why Every Christian Must Make Spiritual Warfare This Halloween”:

“Let every demonic network that has aligned itself against the purpose, against the calling of President Trump, let it be broken. Let it be torn down in the name of Jesus. Let the council of the wicked be spoiled right now…. I deploy the hand of God to work for him in the name of Jesus. I secure his calling. I secure his purpose. I secure his family… And everybody said, Amen.”

Well, not everybody.

Perhaps these whack jobs have a point though. After all, just one year after Trump’s election we heard that witches are forming covens across America and casting spells for LGBTQ rights. That same year self-proclaimed witch and chanteuse Lana Del Rey and other witches participated in a mass “binding spell” on the president.

No matter all the magic, it seems that Trump’s own incompetence has had the most powerful binding effect on him. No wonder he feels like he’s the target of a never-ending “witch hunt.”

Sign this petition here: https://greenamerica.salsalabs.org/godivaendchildlabor/index.html

Godiva’s golden boxes of chocolates and decadent chocolate-covered strawberries contain some unsavory ingredients: poverty and child labor.

Nearly 70% of the world’s cocoa, including Godiva’s, is sourced from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where cocoa farmers and their families live on less than $1 per day—well below the global poverty line of $1.90/day.

Child labor, a symptom of extreme poverty, has been a known problem in West African cocoa fields for nearly two decades. The US Department of Labor found more than 2 million children work in hazardous conditions growing cocoa—such as burning fields, applying agrochemicals, carrying heavy loads—and many do not attend school.

Thousands of consumers have asked Godiva to take action on child labor, and the company is listening. Godiva has taken first steps to improve conditions on cocoa farms in West Africa by working with the Cocoa Horizons Foundation. They have also finally made a public commitment to source 100% certified cocoa by 2020.

But Godiva needs to do more.

Most major companies have commitments to have 100% certified cocoa in their supply chains by 2020, and the companies provide regular updates about their plans and progress. Many companies are also going beyond certification, and are implementing programs to support farmers and better address underlying causes of child labor in communites.

Godiva hasn't shared who certifies its cocoa. Godiva hasn't shared any plans, progress, or metrics about the amount of certified cocoa in its supply chain. And Godiva has not publicly announced any programs to go beyond certification and better support farmers. Without this information, consumers won't know if Godiva will hit its goal of 100% certified cocoa by 2020, and if Godiva's efforts are truly helping farmers.

Making a commitment is not enough. Godiva needs to demonstrate that they are walking the walk and talking the talk.

Godiva’s cocoa purchases should pay farmers a fair wage, allow children to go to school instead of work in the fields, and empower cocoa growing communities. Farmers should also be trained in best practices so that their cocoa is grown in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Godiva is already a leader in when it comes to luxury chocolate and plans to double its sales to $2 billion in the next few years – join us in encouraging them to become leaders in transforming the cocoa industry so that it is better for both people and the planet.

Dear Ms. Young-Scrivner,

As someone who enjoys eating chocolate and sharing it with those I love on special occasions, I was disappointed to learn that Godiva does not share specific plans, timelines, and programs to ensure that your supply of cocoa is fully sustainable and free of child labor by 2020.

Throughout West Africa, cocoa farmers and their families live in poverty. To be truly sustainable, Godiva must be able to trace where its cocoa is coming from down to the farm level, and under what conditions it was grown. I urge Godiva to ensure that all the farmers that produce your cocoa are lifted out of poverty.

Additionally, forced child labor is a major problem on cocoa farms in West Africa. I strongly urge your company to purchase 100% of your cocoa certified by a third-party as being free of child labor. Additionally, you should establish an independent, community-based child labor monitoring and remediation system for all the farms that supply your cocoa. This will assure your customers that you do not rely on the exploitation of children to produce your products.

Finally. as you make these commitments, I encourage you to share your progress with the public through a corporate responsibility report on your website that makes your progress on farmer income, child labor, and environmental protection fully transparent.

Thank you for your time and attention to this message. I look forward to learning more about what Godiva is doing to ensure that your chocolate is sustainable, and does not rely on child labor.

I am sending this to the governor:

From: https://usa.inquirer.net/45222/us-celebrities-try-to-save-texas-death-row-inmate

US Celebrities Try to Save Texas Death Row Inmate

AFP / 12:40 AM November 02, 2019

Nearly 60,000 people, including Hollywood celebrities Kim Kardashian and Susan Sarandon, are petitioning for clemency for a death row inmate in Texas who is set to die in three weeks for a crime he says he didn’t commit.

Rodney Reed, a 53-year-old African American, was sentenced to death in 1998 after being convicted by an all-white jury of the rape and murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old white woman.

“How insane!!!! New witness comes forward that Rodeny was NOT the murderer!!!! He is set to be executed Nov 20th,” Kardashian, the reality TV star, tweeted on Thursday, slightly misspelling the inmate’s first name.

Rodney Reed

Although traces of Reed’s sperm were found in the victim, he has always claimed innocence, maintaining that he and Stites were secretly having an affair at the time of her death.

Reed’s lawyers believe that evidence obtained after the trial points to another suspect — the victim’s fiance, Jimmy Fennell, a former policeman who later served a 10-year prison sentence for another rape.

“The strong evidence exonerating Mr. Reed and implicating Fennell continues to mount,” they wrote in a clemency petition Wednesday asking the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, to commute Reed’s sentence to life in prison.

In the document, they include several testimonials on their client’s behalf, including that of a former co-worker of the victim who confirmed that Stites was having a secret affair with Reed.

According to another affidavit filed with the petition, a former prison inmate said he heard Fennell brag during a prison yard conversation about committing the murder that Reed was convicted of.

“Jimmy said his fiancee had been sleeping around with a black man,” said Arthur Snow, the former inmate.

Rodney Reed

Fennell through his lawyer has long denied involvement in his fiancee’s murder.

Reed’s lawyers also have filed a petition with the US Supreme Court, seeking a stay of execution.

Separately, an online petition posted by death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean and the Innocence Project has gathered 60,000 signatures, asking that the Texas governor show clemency.

Their efforts have been highlighted by television talk show host Doctor Phil and Sarandon, who won an Oscar in 1996 for her role as Sister Helen in the movie “Dead Man Walking.”

“Rodney Reed is innocent but Texas is going to kill him on November 20th,” Sarandon wrote on Twitter.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 02 2019

Prescription drugs are more expensive in the United States than anywhere else in the world.

Click Here To Add Your Name if you agree with Mayor Pete's plan to make Big Pharma price drugs responsibly!

Stand with Pete Buttigieg, candidate for U.S President, and support his plan to make pharmaceutical companies price prescription drugs responsibly and pay their fair share.

Prescription drugs are more expensive in the United States than anywhere else in the world. And while millions of Americans struggle to pay for medicine, pharmaceutical companies are getting richer and richer, remaining the most profitable companies in the entire health industry.

Nearly one in four Americans struggle to pay for medicine. Three in ten skip doses or forgo filling prescriptions because they can’t afford them. Families across the country face difficult choices: medicine or child care for my two-year-old? Medicine or making rent on time? Medicine to treat my diabetes or to control my cholesterol?

Time and time again, Washington has proven that it’s either uninterested in, or incapable of, addressing this problem. It’s time for a new era of leadership ready and eager to make drugs affordable and take on pharmaceutical companies.

That’s why, as president, I will make drugs more affordable for all by empowering the federal government to negotiate drug prices and implementing penalties on drug manufacturers that increases a drug’s price by more than inflation.

Add your name if you agree with Mayor Pete. Pharmaceutical companies must price prescription drugs responsibly and pay their fair share.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 03 2019

PREVAILING AT THE PIPELINE

October 24, 2019

South Dakota Governor Caves on Attempted Efforts to Silence Pipeline Protesters

South Dakota's governor and attorney general last week backed down from their unconstitutional attempts to silence Keystone XL Pipeline protesters. In response to a lawsuit we filed, the state has agreed to never enforce the unconstitutional provisions of several state laws that threatened activists who encourage or organize protests, including for actions like giving a coffee or thumbs up to protesters, with fines and criminal penalties of up to 25 years in prison. Construction of the pipeline may be imminent, but with the laws we challenged proclaimed unenforceable, protesters no longer have to worry about incarceration or fines as they exercise their First Amendment rights. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/south-dakota-governor-caves-on-attempted-efforts-to-silence-pipeline-protesters/

DOUBLING DOWN

October 24, 2019

Why is Missouri So Afraid of Finding out Whether Lamar Johnson Is Innocent of Murder?

In 1994, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office committed gross prosecutorial misconduct in order to convict Lamar Johnson of murder. They knowingly presented perjured testimony, fabricated facts to discredit Johnson's strongly corroborated alibi, and buried the fact that a prime witness against him was a paid jailhouse informant. Twenty-five years later, that same Circuit Attorney's Office is doing everything it can to get Johnson a new trial so the truth can vindicate him, but the Missouri establishment is fighting the office tooth and nail. Last week, the ACLU and the ACLU of Missouri filed an amicus brief calling on the Missouri appeals court to right the wrongs done by the district court in Lamar Johnson's case and give him the new trial he so obviously deserves. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/why-is-missouri-so-afraid-of-finding-out-whether-lamar-johnson-is-innocent-of-murder/

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 05 2019

Sign this petition here: https://act.demandprogress.org/sign/tell-congress-facial-recognition-hiring-form-discrimination/

Even just saying the words “job interview” can stress the average person out. Now imagine having a job interview, not with a human being, but an AI algorithm, that will decide your “employability” based on hundreds of data points about your micro-facial expressions and tiny inflections of your voice. Are you sweating yet?

A tech company, HireVue, is already making this a terrifying reality for job seekers.1 But their AI algorithm process is not just super-secret, it’s rife with the potential for employment discrimination. Instead of waiting for Congress to “catch up” with tech companies, we need to act now and demand they nip unfair algorithms like this in the bud.

Tell Congress: Using facial recognition in hiring practices needs to be banned as a form of unemployment discrimination!

Grits:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2019

Even arresting 'kingpins' won't reduce US drug demand

Arresting drug dealers was never a winning Drug War strategy because, as long as demand existed, there was always a willing supplier ready to replace anyone who was arrested, prosecuted, jailed, or even killed. As it turns out, that's true at the highest echelons of the international drug trade.

These changes arguably justify dismantling much of the federal drug enforcement infrastructure as we know it, argued an article in Foreign Affairs by Steven Dudley published this spring, declaring "the days of the monolithic, hegemonic criminal groups with all-powerful leaders are over." As a result, "For U.S. policymakers, it may be overkill to direct the resources of six federal law enforcement agencies toward dismantling these groups, especially in the era of synthetic drugs." Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/11/even-arresting-kingpins-wont-reduce-us.html

Stop the privatization of America's national parks

Sign this petition here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/national-park-privatization

Here's a frightening idea: Grand Canyon, sponsored by Coca Cola. Yosemite, brought to you by McDonalds. Acadia, a subsidiary of Aramark.

Under a scheme hatched by former disgraced Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, that could be the eventual fate of America's national parks.

Reporters recently uncovered shady plans between the Interior Department and national park profiteers, the RV and hospitality industries, and enemies of public lands to privatize national park campgrounds, allow commercialized food trucks and other services at parks, limit benefits for seniors and increase prices.1

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 06 2019

Sign this petition here: https://www.freerodneyreed.com/

xecution of Rodney Reed

This is urgent. On November 20th, Texas is scheduled to execute an innocent man for a rape and murder he did not commit.

Mountains of evidence exonerates Rodney Reed. All of that evidence was kept from the all white jury that convicted him. Instead, the evidence implicates the victim’s fiancé – local police officer Jimmy Fennell – who has a history of violence against women, including being convicted for kidnapping and sexual assault soon after Rodney was wrongly sent to prison.

Governor Greg Abbott has stopped an execution before. He can again. A huge public uproar right now could force Abbott to free Rodney Reed and stop this execution.

Sign this petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/forms/add-your-name-public-lands-belong-in-public-hands

Add Your Name: Public lands belong in public hands!

Add your name to join Teresa Leger Fernandez, candidate for Congress (NM-CD3), in the fight to ensure we keep public lands in public hands! >>

There’s a reason why New Mexico is called the “Land of Enchantment.” Our public spaces offer some of the most scenic and beautiful views our country has to offer — from mountain ranges to desert plateaus, the state’s beauty is truly unmatched.

We need to do everything we can to protect our public lands from mining companies and developers looking to profit off our land. Donald Trump is on a personal mission to hack up our public lands and let private companies mine every resource they can from them no matter who is hurt. Teresa Leger Fernandez has spent decades fighting for our public lands and waters — winning lawsuits, advising President Obama and Congress and standing with her community at meetings, rallies and protests.

Trump’s for sale sign puts the health of New Mexico and the families in it at risk by polluting our air, water and lands. I’m running to Congress to stop this exploitation.

New Mexico’s public lands are more than just places of recreation. They hold important cultural, environmental and archeological significance. Many of the same spaces New Mexicans enjoy are the ancestral homes of our indigenous communities. Our government has no right to take that land away from them.

Our national parks, lands and monuments drive economic development throughout the state. Our communities have built opportunities for themselves and their neighbors. They’ve taken key positions to help manage the lands they love and reside on. Without protection from our government, our communities will be pushed out.

Sign Teresa Leger Fernandez's petition today and let’s make sure our Congress knows where we stand: we’re not giving away our lands to corporate interests.

Grits:

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2019

Oklahoma! (does #cjreform); HPD raid response doesn't address phony informant; why do probationers die at high rates? And other stories

Here are a few browser clearing odds and ends:

Read it here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/11/oklahoma-does-cjreform-hpd-raid.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 07 2019

Click here to sign this petition: https://www.paction.us/prescription-drug-prices/courage

H.R. 3 is a new bill that aims to lower prescription drug prices. Congress must step up and pass this needed piece of legislation.

Prescription drug prices in the United States are higher than almost anywhere else in the world. The exorbitant prices for life-saving drugs force too many Americans to skip or ration their needed medication, causing serious and even fatal health issues.

Bureaucracy and secrecy in the healthcare industry are major factors in out-of-control drug pricing. H.R. 3 addresses these issues by allowing Medicare to directly negotiate with drug companies and make the results publicly available to all Americans. It also invests in innovation and creates a limit on out-of-pocket costs. Taken all together, this bill will go a long way toward reducing the costs of prescription drugs.

Let’s end corporate greed and unfair prices for life-saving drugs. Demand that Congress pass H.R. 3 immediately →

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 09 2019

Sign this petiton here: https://www.paction.us/prescription-drug-prices/elisa-cardnell-for-congress

H.R. 3 is a new bill that aims to lower prescription drug prices. Congress must step up and pass this needed piece of legislation.

Let’s end corporate greed and unfair prices for life-saving drugs. Demand that Congress pass H.R. 3 immediately

Rental assistance shortage leaves 700,000 veterans homeless or struggling to afford housing

Nov. 8

As Veterans Day approaches, hundreds of thousands of veterans struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Some 38,000 veterans were homeless on a single night in January 2018, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates. Moreover, 666,000 veterans lived in low-income households that paid more than half of their income for rent and utilities in 2017, Census data show. Low-income people with such high housing costs — what HUD calls “severe cost burdens” — often must skimp on items like food or clothing to pay for rent and utilities. They also face a growing risk of utility cutoffs, eviction, and homelessness as bills pile up. READ MORE » https://www.chn.org/voices/rental-assistance-shortage-leaves-700000-veterans-homeless-or-struggling-to-afford-housing/

Sign the petition here:

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/no-surprises-people-against-unfair-medical-bills

Target: Congress

Nichole Briggs woke up in the middle of the night with stomach pain and went to the local hospital for an emergency appendectomy. She double-checked that the hospital was covered by her insurance, yet she still received a bill for nearly $5,000 because her surgeon was outside her network. She refused to pay the unfair bill. A credit agency then took her to court and put a lien on her home, all for a bill she shouldn’t owe in the first place.

This should not be the status quo, but one in five emergency department visits result in a surprise medical bill. These bills occur when a person is charged for care they receive from a health care provider or facility that is outside of their health plan’s network, even though they didn’t choose to go out of network to begin with.

No Surprises: People Against Unfair Medical Bills is demanding that Congress enact legislation to ban these surprise medical bills immediately.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 11 2019

Grits:

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2019

#PardonMe Mr. Governor, who lied at TDCJ?, a public-safety approach to DWI, and other stories Let's clear some browser tabs. Here are a few odds and ends that merit Grits readers' attention but haven't yet made it into independent posts:

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 12 2019

Sign this petition here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/mnuchin-opportunity-zones

Tell Congress: No more tax handouts for wealthy investors

Michael Milken is a corrupt former Wall Street trader who served two years in prison for insider training and was the inspiration for the notoriously greedy character Gordon Gekko in the movie "Wall Street." He's also pals with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.1

Not surprisingly, Mnuchin appears to have personally intervened to help Milken personally benefit from an "opportunity zone" tax break designed to help wealthy investors exploit poor areas.2

Mnuchin's apparent corruption is business-as-usual for the Trump administration. But it wouldn't even be possible if it weren't for opportunity zones, a bad idea that isn't working and needs to go away. We need to seize on the new attention Mnuchin's corruption is bringing to the opportunity zone tax scams to finally end this handout to wealthy investors.

On Veterans Day, we join together as a nation to honor all the brave people who’ve served to protect America and defend the values we hold dear.

Happy Veterans Day from the NAACP!

Our veterans served in times of war and in times of peace. They safeguarded our shores at home and fought against tyranny abroad. They battled so that others might know freedom—even if they themselves were not truly free.

And through all their sacrifice and courage, they showed us the difference that can be made when people are forged together by a belief in something bigger than our individual selves.

For all they have done and for all they continue to do in our communities, we owe our veterans a profound debt of gratitude.

So, on behalf of everyone here at the NAACP, I thank all who have served. And I wish everyone a happy Veterans Day.

Sincerely,

Derrick Johnson

@DerrickNAACP

President and CEO

NAACP

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 14 2019

I have been saying this for about since Facebook since it first started. It is a huge vindication to see a actual article like this. As I have also said over the years; a huge amount of the social media people, are posing as American's. All social is a form of trolling. The internet is not real life and never will be. If only we could convince the media and our politicians of that.

The internet is a great tool and I love it, but; it cannot be compared to the way we interact with each other face to face. If people think the internet is exactly like real life; I question their sanity.

From: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-removed-3-billion-fake-accounts-report-2019-11-13/

Facebook says it removed 3.2 billion fake accounts

November 13, 2019 / 7:26 PM/ CBS/AP

Facebook said it removed 3.2 billion fake accounts from its service from April to September, up slightly from 3 billion in the previous six months. Nearly all of the bogus accounts were caught before they had a chance to become "active" users of the social network, so they are not counted in the user figures the company reports regularly. Facebook estimates that about 5% of its 2.45 billion user accounts are fake.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 15 2019

Grits:

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2019

Firefighters play rough!, blame-game politics, why you shouldn't carry cocaine in something with your name printed on it, and other stories Lots going on this week. Let's hit some high (and low) points:

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 16 2019

Reading my emails brought a tear to my eye, this morning. Good to see all the good people doing such great work to help each other. That is what America is all about.

WE DID IT!!!

Within the hour after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles officially recommended that Governor Greg Abbott stop the execution of Rodney Reed for a 120 day reprieve…this happened:

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a stay of execution for Rodney Reed. Reed's "Brady, false testimony, and actual innocence claims" will be considered by the trial court in his case before any further action is taken.

That means Rodney is still in jail, and there will still be a trial. But for now, Rodney Reed will live.

THANK YOU. This never would've happened without massive numbers of people like you making phone calls, organizing rallies and vigils, and raising our voices together.

We're so proud of what we've achieved together, and our Action PAC team hustled hard:

We launched the #FreeRodneyReed website and petition which garnered 3 MILLION signatures;

We set up the call tool that directed more than 100,000 total calls to decision-makers;

We successfully pressured 70 Texas legislators to write letters urging Gov. Abbott to intervene;

We helped volunteers organize more than 130 vigils and rallies around the country and recruited 4,000 people to join.

But all of this work and our online organizing tools took a ton of funding, and we need your support for our next steps.

Demonstrations: https://www.mobilize.us/actionpac/?utm_source=em20191115pm

Lastly: the nationwide #FreeRodneyReed demonstrations planned for Sunday, November 17th will proceed. We don't yet know what will happen with Rodney Reed's trial. We do know that this mobilization will not be stopped.

Sunday's rallies and vigils need to be as big as possible to spread the word about this victory and organize people for our next steps to free Rodney Reed.

So far there are more than 130 events in the works. If you haven't signed up for one near you yet, do it now.

We are so proud of you. Today's victory truly belongs to all of us.

Let's keep going.

-- the #FreeRodneyReed team (a project of Action PAC)

Sihn this petition here: https://secure.everyaction.com/FlnSZwUyvkisZx5dAVcJNA2

You can save a man’s life. Sign our petition to demand that Gov. Greg Abbott stay Rodney Reed’s execution. Did you hear today that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended to Gov. Abbott that he delay Rodney Reed’s execution by 120days?

This never happens. EVER. I need you to sign this petition to save an innocent man’s life.

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/proact

The PRO Act will give CWA members and all workers more power to win better wages, benefits, and working conditions. This bill is so important CWA will not support any Senator or Member of Congress for reelection unless they commit to pass the PRO Act.

You still haven’t signed the petition to ask Congress to support the PRO Act yet. Can you take a moment to add your name to show your support? Click here.

Corporate lobbyists are working hard to stop this bill from passing because they know it would take power from their hands and give it to workers. We have to push back and make sure Congress knows we will hold them accountable if they don’t fight for CWA members and all workers.

Here’s what the PRO Act would do:

Help strengthen protections for workers forming a union

Prevent the misclassification of workers as independent contractors

Deal a blow to “right-to-work” laws

Protect strikes and other protest activities

And much more!

Children are losing access to an extremely effective anti-poverty program: Medicaid

Nov. 15

The number of uninsured children increased by more than 400,000 to more than four million nationwide between 2016 and 2018, reversing a long-standing positive trend and erasing many of the gains achieved after major provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect. Behind these numbers are millions of families struggling to make ends meet and get their kids the health care they need to succeed. READ MORE »https://www.chn.org/voices/children-are-losing-access-to-an-extremely-effective-anti-poverty-program-medicaid/

America's foster care system: Progress on many fronts, but still overburdened

Nov. 14

An annual study of foster care in the United States reveals good news and bad news – and there are newly emerging threats, both at the state and federal level. The good news: for most of the 2010's, federal data showed the number of children in foster care steadily increasing after a previous decade of decline. The reason, in part, was the opioid crisis. Now, however, the number of children in foster care is declining, while the number of homes available to foster youth is on the rise. READ MORE »https://www.chn.org/voices/americas-foster-care-system-progress-on-many-fronts-but-still-overburdened/

The latest CHN Human Needs Report: Budget updates, Medicaid work requirements, low-income tax credits, and more

Nov. 12

CHN just released another edition of the Human Needs Report. Read on for the latest on Congress's work on spending bills, a judge's ruling on immigration and health care, how Medicaid work requirements fared at the ballot box, efforts to expand low income tax credits, and more. READ MORE »https://www.chn.org/voices/the-latest-chn-human-needs-report-budget-updates-medicaid-work-requirements-low-income-tax-credits-and-more/

ADD YOUR NAME HERE: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-now-its-time-that-millionaires-start-paying-their-fair-share

" We need a Millionaire Surtax that creates an economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy few. Let’s apply a new 10-percentage point increase in taxes on annual income above $2 million for married couples and $1 million for individuals ― the richest 0.2% of Americans. And let’s use that new revenue to invest in critical services for working class families!"

Donald Trump is handing our country to the rich on a silver platter. Working people are suffering while the rich can buy a brand new yacht, and then Mitch McConnell goes on TV to complain about the deficit.

No.

We’re going to turn our country around and build a system where everyone pays their fair share. That means increasing taxes on millionaires and billionaires―in some cases, by a lot.

The new Millionaire Surtax proposal from Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Sherrod Brown would increase taxes on millionaires―the richest 0.2% of Americans―and generate billions that we can use to invest in America.

To: Aramark Correctional Services LLC and Aramark Services Inc.

Stop Serving Unhealthy Meals to Inmates and Robbing Families

Sign this petiton here: https://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/stop-serving-unhealthy-meals-to-inmates-and-robbing-families

Petition Text

Aramark is slowly ruining the health of inmates. Menus provided to the county are contrary to what is actually being served in the jail, thereby charging tax payers for food that they are not providing. Small portions, bad and undernourished food referred to as "slop" is served to inmates at the El Paso County Jail Annex in El Paso Texas and many other prisons around the country, about 500. Aramark also provides the commissary for the inmates there, and sell over priced, unhealthy, items that are high in sodium and fat like chips, Ramen Noodles, cookies and this is the only option available to purchase and families must spend a fortune, because the inmates go hungry and have no other choice.

Demand Aramark to offer healthy options in the commissary like fruit, nuts, applesauce, and so on and lower their prices. They are also oppressing the rights of Jewish inmates by not providing full Kosher meals and say "it's Kosher" when in fact they are not equipped with a Kosher kitchen and give partial non-kosher side items which are rejected and therefore the inmate is malnourished and hungry because of this. We want Aramark to provide nutritious, healthy and normal portions of food to the inmates, and provide full Kosher meals even if they have to be ordered from the outside with the Kosher mark and sealed!

Why is this important?

Aramark's prison food portions are inadequate, causing hunger. The food is not nutritious nor does comply with the daily requirements for nutrition and calories needed to sustain life. The foods are causing degenerative diseases like Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Hypothyroidism, high cholesterol and so on. They have no regard for human life, which is cruel and unusual punishment.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 17 2019

EQUITY FOR ALL

Why Kimberly Haven is Fighting for Menstrual Equity in Prison

Incarcerated women are typically provided with a very limited number of subpar products you would never buy outside of the carceral system. The neglect is widespread: thirty-eight states have no law requiring the provision of menstrual products to incarcerated people. As a formerly incarcerated person, activist Kimberly Haven encountered the problem firsthand. Now, she is fighting to bring menstrual equity to all. Read about her experiences and the road ahead for equity here. Read more →https://www.aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/why-im-fighting-for-menstrual-equity-in-prison/

ONLINE MYTHS

Three Common Privacy Misconceptions That Companies Love

A significant number of Americans hold significant misconceptions about their privacy, misconceptions that privacy-invading companies love. That's according to new research on American understandings of privacy carried out by the University of Pennsylvania. For example, in 2018 nearly 60 percent of Americans said they believed it is true that "When a website has a privacy policy, it means the site will not share my information with other websites or companies without my permission." This is not true. Privacy policies often don't guarantee user privacy. Learn more about other common misconceptions about online privacy here. Read more →https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/three-common-privacy-misconceptions-that-companies-love

Women can not have enough rights; ever! My wife and mother have always been a inspiration to me; especially my wife a US Army veteran.

Sign this petiton here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/era-speier

Tell Congress: Repeal the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Click here to sign the petition

Why is the Equal Rights Amendment as urgent today as it was when first passed in 1972? Just ask an avowed enemy of equality, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote, "Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t."3

The Equal Rights Amendment would enshrine equality for women in the highest laws of our nation, not in legislation that could be rolled back. It would supercharge everything from pay equity to domestic violence laws and prevent Republicans or corporate allies from challenging laws in court. Ending discrimination in healthcare, pay, education and employment will save and change the lives of women across America, especially marginalized women who are most at risk.4

When the ERA passed Congress in 1972, an arbitrary and unnecessary timeline was imposed -- ratification by three-quarters of states was required by 1979, later extended to 1982. Now, more than 20 years later, 37 states ratified the amendment, and Virginia is about to become the 38th and final necessary state.5

There's nothing in the Constitution that requires deadlines, many amendments went to the states without any deadline at all, and others took decades to be ratified. The 27th Amendment, which prohibits immediate congressional pay raises, was ratified 203 years after its introduction.6 The deadline on the ERA was a dirty trick to block its ratification – and if Congress can impose an arbitrary deadline, Congress has the power to remove one just as easily.

Grits:

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2019

A 10,000 year sentence? Austin PD racism in 'Plain View', the case for reducing drug penalties and eliminating cash bail, and other stories

Grits has been busier than a one-legged man at an ass kicking contest. So while I play catch up, here are several items which merits readers' attention, some of which I may expand upon going forward: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-10000-year-sentence-austin-pd-racism.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 20 2019

Grits:

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2019

Kardashian-West star power attracts Texas Rs, the scourge of driver-license suspensions, 2 false conviction stories, and the future of corrections

Here are a few browser-clearing odds and ends that may interest Grits readers: Read it here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-scourge-of-driver-license.html

Tell Congress: Don't let Mitt Romney destroy Social Security. Click below to sign the petition:

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/mitt-romney-social-security

Millionaire Mitt Romney ran for president in 2012 calling for cuts to Social Security. He picked Paul Ryan, the nation's loudest advocate for slashing and burning Social Security and Medicare, as his running mate. Now, Millionaire Mitt is in the Senate, and he has a new plan to cut Social Security.1

Romney's legislation would create a special committee of senators who would meet behind closed doors where they can agree to cut earned benefits without interference from the people who rely on those benefits to survive and retire with dignity. We can't let that happen.2

Tell Congress: Don't let Mitt Romney destroy Social Security. Click here to sign the petition.

Romney likes to pose as a member of the Republican resistance to Trump, but he doesn't lift a finger to rein in Trump's abuses or protect terrorized communities. He is fully on board with Trump's agenda of Wall Street profit and Main Street pain. Romney – who leveraged his dad's famous name into a career in predatory private equity and a multi-million dollar fortune – supports Trump's tax handouts for the rich, his ignore-the-rules free pass for Wall Street speculators and his loathing for Social Security.

Mitt Romney and Donald Trump know that cutting earned benefits is incredibly unpopular, which is why they resort to sneak attacks. Trump did it by sabotaging the Social Security Administration itself – leading to office closures, massive loss of staff and long waits for disability benefits.3 Romney introduced legislation to quiet the voices of actual working people and give elite senators like himself the power to come together in a special, private committee to come up with a plan to cut Social Security.4

Millionaire Mitt and Daddy's Money Donald may not need Social Security to retire with dignity, but millions of Americans do – especially after Romney and Trump's Wall Street pals destroyed all their savings in the financial crash. If members of Congress want to help Social Security instead of cutting it, the answer is simple. They need to reject Romney's nonsense plan and get behind the Social Security 2100 Act, which would increase Social Security benefits and keep the system solvent into the next century by making the super-rich finally pay their fair share.5

Constitutional Rights Blog says: Millionaires of America and all the corporations that have started in America owe absolutely everything they have accomplished to our country. Let them go to Iraq, and start from scratch, and see if they can make their millions.

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-now-its-time-that-millionaires-start-paying-their-fair-share

SIGN NOW: IT’S TIME THAT MILLIONAIRES START PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE

Our nation faces two big obstacles, among others, to creating an economy that works for all of us. First, the gap between the rich and everyone else keeps getting wider. While those at the top are soaring way ahead, working families are struggling. Second, the wealthy and corporations are not paying their fair share of taxes. If they did, we could raise trillions of dollars to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and to make new investments in healthcare, education, housing, childcare, infrastructure and clean renewable energy.

Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) have introduced a Millionaires Surtax ― paid by the richest 0.2% ― that would begin to close the gap between the rich and everyone else and allow us to fund new investments that benefit working families.

The Millionaires Surtax will create an additional 10-percentage point tax on all income earned by households making $2 million or more each year and individuals making $1 million or more.

According to the Tax Policy Center, the surtax will generate an additional $635 billion over ten years that can be used to invest in critical services for working families. A recent poll by Hart Research found that the surtax is supported by 73% of voters, including more than one-half of Republicans.[1]

Due to a rigged tax system, including the 2017 Trump-GOP tax scam that gave massive handouts to huge corporations and wealthy CEOs on Wall Street, we have an economy that greatly favors the wealthy while the rest of us are stuck picking up the tab.

A Millionaires Surtax would apply to all income earned by the top 0.2% ― including wages, salaries and wealth that comes from Wall Street investments such as stocks. The rest of us (the other 99.8%) would not pay an extra dime.

Become a co-signer of the Millionaires Surtax today to begin to create an economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy few.

[1] "Polling," http://surtax.org/polling, November 7th, 2019

Sign this petition here: http://organizetexas.org/unlocktheblock/

At any given time, thousands of people are detained in the county jails of Bexar, Harris, and Dallas counties on a pre-trial status, leaving them eligible to vote. We need to ensure that people directly impacted have a safeguard in place to protect their voting rights.

Right now, each election cycle, far too many eligible voters are excluded from participating in the democratic process because of structural barriers to vote.

We demand that Bexar, Harris, and Dallas counties open polling centers within the jails, to allow eligible voters awaiting trial to cast their vote directly and launch an awareness campaign to inform voters of their right to vote.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 22 2019

Could this be the whistle blower?:

PHOTO: Alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella shakes hands with Barack Obama in Oval Office

| November 20, 2019 01:57 PM

A year after Ukraine official and alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella left President Trump’s White House, a picture of him shaking Barack Obama’s hand was published on a close friend's wedding website.

The Oval Office photograph, obtained by the Washington Examiner, is circulating among Trump allies who consider it evidence that the alleged whistleblower is biased against Trump and had partisan motivations when he filed an Aug. 12 complaint that sparked impeachment proceedings.

In the photograph, a smiling Ciaramella, then Ukraine director on the National Security Council at the White House, is shown shaking Obama's hand. They are standing in front of a portrait of Abraham Lincoln by George Henry Story.

Grits:

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2019

¡Poncho! Livin' too large It would be easy to take shots at Texas state Rep.

Poncho Nevarez, a front runner among Texas Monthly's list of Worst Legislators of 2019, after he dropped four packets of cocaine in an envelope with his name printed on it while leaving the Austin airport and was charged with a 3rd degree felony. So let's do that now. Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/11/poncho-livin-too-large.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 24 2019

Grits

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2019

Harris bail settlement finalized, steep cost of criminal fines, the geography of incarceration, and other stories Here are a few items that merit Grits readers attention this morning, read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/11/harris-bail-settlement-finalized-steep.html

This is one subject I can not get through to politicians and the law, especially the local law and politics here in Collin County. The best way to get this through to closed minded people about separation of church and state; is this: If we allow Christian beliefs in the classrooms and the government; than we must allow all religions from Buddhist's to Satanist's to any cult, in the class room and the law.

RELIGION OUT OF THE CLASSROOM

Students Told They Would Be Better Off 'If They Had Jesus in Their Life'

Last week, the ACLU and the ACLU of Tennessee filed a lawsuit against the Smith County School System for violating the separation of church and state. According to the lawsuit, four students who are atheists have had to contend with school officials promoting Christianity through official prayers, Bible distributions, religious posters, and even a giant cross painted in one of the school's athletic facilities. We asked our three high school clients in this case – Harleigh, Leyna, and Pyper – to tell us about their experience, their friendship, and why they decided to sue their school district. Read this blog to see what they have to say. Read more → November 18, 2019 https://www.aclu.org/news/religious-liberty/students-told-they-would-be-better-off-if-they-had-jesus-in-their-life/

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/write-to-congress-support-the-pro-act

CWA

FIGHTING FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE & DEMOCRACY

Write to Congress: Support the PRO Act

Ten years ago, when CWA’s Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens joined together with her coworkers to form a union at the newspaper where they worked, management retaliated by firing her and 28 others. Firing workers for organizing a union is illegal - but it still happens all the time because the laws that are meant to protect us aren’t strong enough.

Bosses use their power over our livelihoods to intimidate us and stop workers from fighting for the wages, benefits, and working conditions we deserve. That’s why we need Congress to pass the PRO Act to build power for all workers.

You still haven’t sent a letter to your member of Congress to ask them to support the PRO Act. Click here to send a letter. It will only take a moment and make a real difference.

After you send a letter, watch the new video of Sara telling her story about why the PRO Act is so important. Share the video with your friends and coworkers to spread the word.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 25 2019

From: https://socialitelife.com/drag-queen-pissi-myles-appears-at-impeachment-hearing/
LOL!
When I first saw this photo, in a email from a GayUSA email: it made me laugh very hard.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 28 2019

Happy Thanksgiving.
Most thankful for America.

Grits

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2019

On the dangers of dick-ish drug enforcement, racist cop rose in Austin PD ranks, indigent defense denied in Amarillo, and other stories

Just in time for the drive to Grandma's house, here's the November 2019 episode of Just Liberty's Reasonably Suspicious podcast covering Texas criminal justice politics and policy, co-hosted with Amanda Marzullo of the Texas Defender Service.

Listen to this here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/11/on-dangers-of-dick-ish-drug-enforcement.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated November 29 2019

Grits

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2019

Report cast dismal light on indigent defense in Amarillo

On the November episode of the Reasonably Suspicious podcast, my co-host Mandy Marzullo and I discussed a new, commissioned report by the Sixth Amendment Center (6AC) analyzing indigent defense systems in Potter and Armstrong Counties. Potter County contains most of Amarillo, while Armstrong is a nearby, very rural county with very few lawyers, an 8-bed jail, and no municipal police departments. I've excerpted our segment here, and below pulled some highlights from the (somewhat overwritten) 200+ page report.

Listen here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/11/report-cast-dismal-light-on-indigent.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 1 2019

WRITE YOUR SENATORS NOW: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/workplace-violence-act-letter-campaign

This statistic might shock you: One in every six workplace deaths is due to violence.

Violence in the workplace is a serious problem. Luckily, the U.S. House just passed a bill to address it—and now it’s the Senate’s turn.

Will you tell your senators to pass the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act?

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 2 2019

Sign this petition here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/mitt-romney-social-security

Tell Congress: Don't let Mitt Romney destroy Social Security.

Thank you for speaking out.

References:

Max Richtman, "Retirees should say 'no thanks' to Romney's Social Security plan," The Hill, Nov. 5, 2019. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/468907-retirees-should-say-no-thank-to-romneys-social-security-plan

Ibid.

Nancy Altman, "Republicans Are Killing Social Security One Tiny Service Cut at a Time," Slate, Jan. 22, 2018. https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/01/social-security-faces-death-by-a-thousand-service-cuts.html

Richtman, "Retirees should say 'no thanks' to Romney's Social Security plan."

Ibid. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/468907-retirees-should-say-no-thank-to-romneys-social-security-plan

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 3 2019

To persecute LGBTQ people is against God's will. In fact since LGBTQ folks are persecuted it is God's will that you help them. I have made my yearly donations to Lambda Legal and the Dallas Resource Center today: if you live in the Dallas aria I hope you will too.

This sounds more like a jihad on LGBTQ people than Christian. jihad definition: a struggle or fight against the enemies of Islam. "he declared a jihad against the infidels" At any rate these people are very confused if not severely mentally challenged.

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/11/dangerous-defense-trump-religious-right-begun-fighting-holy-war/

Religious right leaders, struggling to maintain power and influence – even in the chaotic White House – have been avowing lately that anyone who opposes Donald Trump is in league with the devil—literally.

In a conversation with fellow evangelical Eric Metaxas, Franklin Graham said that resistance to Trump was “almost demonic,” to which Metaxas replied, “It’s not almost demonic. You know and I know, at the heart, it’s a spiritual battle.”

Graham and Metaxas are hardly alone. Lesser known, but just as dangerous figures like Stephen Strang and Frank Amedia are making the same claim. Strang said on a recent podcast that “this is not a war between left and right, or between Democrats and Republicans, or even between President Trump and his political opponents. It’s spiritual warfare.” Amedia claims that Trump critics are part of a demonic plot to stop the return of Christ.

It’s easy to brush these claims off as the usual hysterical claims from the religious right. But in fact they represent a new—and dangerous—escalation in rhetoric. Saying you’re waging a culture war is one thing; but to say we’re locked in a battle between the forces of heaven and hell sets the stakes at the highest possible level. It makes sense that the same people who have unequivocally worshipped Trump, are doing whatever it takes to keep his affection – even if that means mimicking his incendiary words.

Moreover, it’s not only religious right leaders who are making this argument. No less a figure than Attorney General William Barr is echoing the sentiment. In a speech at the University of Notre Dame in October, Barr went on a tear about “militant secularists” who are destroying society by removing religion from the public square. Even worse was a speech that he subsequently gave to the Federalist Society, the conservative group that has become the clearinghouse for Trump’s judicial nominees.

After claiming that Trump’s opponents — which Barr calls the “Left” —are “waging a scorched earth, no-holds-barred war of ‘Resistance’ against this Administration,” Barr accuses them of essentially worshipping a false god. “In any age, the so-called progressives treat politics as their religion,” Barr argued. “Their holy mission is to use the coercive power of the State to remake man and society in their own image, according to an abstract ideal of perfection.”

Barr then goes on to say that conservatives haven’t responded in kind, which puts them “at a disadvantage when facing progressive holy war.”

When the nation’s lead attorney says that the nation is engaged in a holy war and anyone opposed to the president is on the wrong side, we have entered into frightening territory – and just to be clear, Barr likes to cite LGBTQ progress as an example of secular assault.

Barr, Graham and the other would-be warriors are essentially using their increasing influential beliefs to suggest to conservatives that the political stakes are so high that only a nuclear, violent response will suffice. It was last May that First Things, a conservative Catholic journal, published an essay by New York Post columnist Sohrab Ahmari that argued against establishment conservatives for being too nice. “Civility and decency are secondary values,” Ahmari argued.

Just as they are in war.

The logic of a holy war leads to the inevitable conclusion that any means are acceptable to stop the assault on God’s side. Trump’s violations of practical every political norm is not seen as a sin. It’s a virtue. He’s trying to save the Republic (or at least the Republicans) from the heathen barbarians who are fighting on Lucifer’s side.

This apocalyptic belief is going to be the main theme of the right’s leading into the 2020 election. Instead of trying to adjust to the Modern Age so that they can recruit new members, conservative evangelicals (and their Catholic counterparts, like Barr), prefer to circle the wagons and start shooting.

It’s a losing battle, because their numbers keep shrinking,which will only make them fight harder. After all, it’s a fight to the death.

We have a chance to ban surprise medical bills

Sign this petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/surprise-medical-bills

It's bad enough that Americans have to pause in the midst of medical emergencies to ask if insurance companies will cover the cost of treatment. But it's even worse that visits to "in-network" providers can still result in hundreds or thousands of dollars in surprise medical bills.1

Today, one in five emergency room visits – and 70 percent of critical air ambulance transports – result in surprise medical bills. When healthcare providers and insurance companies can't agree on how much treatment costs, they turn around and bill patients for the difference.2

The greed of insurance companies has broken our healthcare system in more ways than we can count. But right now, we have a chance at real, bipartisan action to end surprise medical billing, and we can't let it go to waste.

Tell Congress: Ban surprise medical bills.

One surprise medical bill can tip someone into bankruptcy, and they are growing more and more common. Maybe the insurance company pads its profits by paying the hospital or ambulance less than the treatment costs. Or providers demand higher and higher fees that the insurance company won't pay. Or the insurer reimburses the hospital, but not the doctor who provided treatment. Regardless, the story ends the same: patients end up stuck paying for the balance with no warning or through no fault of their own.3

The good news is that there is new momentum in Congress to ban this "balance billing," based on three commonsense principles:4

Ban surprise balance billing and fully protect patients with no exceptions, especially in emergency situations where people can't make sure they will see an in-network provider

Contain costs by establishing a reasonable payment level between providers and insurers based on actual prices and not corporate greed

Ensure comprehensive protection nationwide so federal law reinforces the strongest state laws and helps people in states with no protections

A surprising bipartisan consensus in Congress is emerging against surprise medical bills but insurers and emergency medical providers are fighting back to protect their profits.5 It's up to us to fight for the strongest possible legislation with no loopholes or handouts – and ban surprise medical billing.

Tell Congress: Ban surprise medical bills.

Thank you for speaking out.

References:

Margot Sanger-Katz and Reed Abelson, "Surprise! Insurance Paid the E.R. but Not the Doctor," The New York Times, Nov. 16, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/upshot/first-comes-the-emergency-then-comes-the-surprise-out-of-network-bill.html

The No Surprises Campaign, "Statement of Principles," accessed Dec. 1, 2019. https://nosurprisescampaign.org/statement-of-principles/

Sanger-Katz and Abelson, "Surprise! Insurance Paid the E.R. but Not the Doctor." https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/upshot/first-comes-the-emergency-then-comes-the-surprise-out-of-network-bill.html

The No Surprises Campaign, "Statement of Principles." https://nosurprisescampaign.org/statement-of-principles/

Mary Ellen McIntire, "Air ambulance services face scrutiny over surprise billing issues," Roll Call, Oct. 2, 2019. https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/air-ambulance-services-face-scrutiny-over-surprise-billing-issues

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 4 2019

Grits:

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2019

Catching up on recent Texas exonerations Grits checked in this afternoon at the National Exoneration Registry and thought we should mention some recent Texas exonerations. Just last month: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/12/catching-up-on-recent-texas-exonerations.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 5 2019

Sing this petiton here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-now-prescription-drug-prices-are-out-of-control

SIGN NOW: Prescription Drug Prices Are Out of Control

Prescription drug affordability is one of the most critical issues facing the nation.

While many know that health insurance premiums for the average family are over $1,000 per month, the cost of prescription medications is also growing.

Please, add your name in support of lower prescription drug prices and urge the Senate to act.

Costs are soaring: According to a 2018 report, some of the most common prescription drugs for seniors have soared in cost ten times the rate of inflation over the past five years. This is why we must control prescription drug prices.

We need your help: Abigail’s bill to increase transparency into drug pricing passed the House 403-0. Now, the bill sits on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk.

The Public Disclosure of Drug Discounts Act passed the House of Representatives with an overwhelming vote of 403-0. It will add transparency to the confusing system of prescription drug pricing and will lead to cost savings for families across the country. We need to urge the Senate to act on this bill.

Please, add your name in support of lower prescription drug prices and urge the Senate to act.

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-postal-sell-off-say-no-to-a-privatizer-as-the-postmaster-general

Stop the Postal Sell-off: Say NO to a privatizer as the Postmaster General

The public service mission of the Postal Service has made it the most popular federal agency. However, this public good is at risk if we don’t all act soon.

In June 2018 the White House announced proposals to privatize the Postal Service. Now Postmaster General Megan Brennan has announced her departure as Postmaster General in January 2020.

The Postmaster General has wide powers to shape the mission of USPS and there is a real risk that Brennan’s successor could hand over parts of the service to private, profit-making corporations and prepare it for a wholesale sell-off.

The people will rightly expect a new Postmaster General who will uphold the Postal Service’s public mission and will work to preserve and enhance our national treasure.

Add your voice. Protect our public Postal Service.

Sign this petiton here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-the-petition-to-pass-the-shield-act-demand-protections-for-victims-of-revenge-porn

Sign the petition to pass the SHIELD Act. Demand protections for victims of revenge porn.

Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh have been accused by several women of sexual assault. Despite this, Trump, Kavanaugh, and countless other men have kept their jobs—but Congresswoman Katie Hill, who has been the target of a revenge porn campaign, launched by her abusive ex-husband and fueled by hateful far-right operatives, was forced to resign from office this fall.

Nonconsensual pornography, better known as “revenge porn,” is the distribution of sexually explicit or nude images of another person without their consent, and often times, without their knowledge. Revenge porn is an extreme violation of privacy, frequently used to humiliate and shame victims.

While a majority of states—including California, New York, and Texas—have passed laws banning revenge porn, it has yet to be banned on a federal level. Fortunately, the Stopping Harmful Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution (SHIELD) Act of 2019 has been introduced in both the House and Senate to address the abuse endured by survivors of revenge porn. If passed, the SHIELD Act would make revenge porn illegal at the federal level.

As women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people across the country continue to be the targets of revenge porn, Congress has yet to take action on this important piece of legislation.

That’s why we demand Congressional lawmakers immediately pass the SHIELD Act to protect vulnerable constituents.

Sign the petition: Demand that Congress fight against revenge porn and pass the SHIELD Act now.

Participating Organizations:

CREDO Action

Daily Kos

Progress America

Women's March National

PETITIONING

U.S. Congress

SPONSORED BY

Daily Kos

ADDITIONAL SPONSORS

Women's March National

CREDO Action

Progress America

Our Message to U.S. Congress:

Women are 1.7 times more likely to be targets of revenge porn than men. The consequences women face as a result are often much harsher due to sexist double standards. But nonconsensual pornography is more than just a violation of privacy. Revenge porn is sexual assault. As your constituents continue to endure public shaming and retaliation, you must act swiftly to address their pain. I demand you quickly pass the SHIELD Act to ban revenge porn on a federal level.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 6 2019

Sign this petiton here: https://action.aclu.org/petition/stop-federal-executions

STOP FEDERAL EXECUTIONS

State by state, our country is moving away from the death penalty because it's racist, arbitrary, inhumane, and prone to error. Attorney General Bill Barr, however, has directed the federal government to resume capital punishment for the first time in over 15 years. This move goes against public opinion, which increasingly opposes the death penalty, as well as some family members of the victims Barr claims to be representing.

Immediately after announcing this change, the Justice Department scheduled back-to-back executions. Hundreds of relatives of murder victims, as well as law enforcement officials, former judges, and prosecutors, have asked Barr and Trump to stop the executions. A court-ordered injunction has blocked the executions for now, but the Justice Department is already trying to overturn this ruling.

There are numerous, serious reasons why capital punishment is losing public support. Since 1973, 166 people have been exonerated after being wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death. The death penalty, at both the state and federal level, also has a long and disturbing record of racial bias. Racism infects the system at every level – including the race of the accused, the race of the victim, and the race of who is permitted to serve on the jury.

People who are sentenced to death are not the worst of the worst – they have the worst lawyers, and are often the most vulnerable. Many people on death row grew up experiencing poverty, abandonment, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, or pervasive family and neighborhood violence. A number are mentally ill, suffer from brain damage, or have intellectual disability. And some are innocent. All too often, people get sentenced to death because of the quality of their lawyers. In the words of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty.”

There is no reason to resume federal executions as more and more people – and states across the country – are opposing capital punishment each year. Let's raise our voices and demand that the Justice Department revoke its plan to reinstate federal executions.

Sign this petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/letters/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-members-of-congress-cosponsor-the-put-patients-first-act

Sign and send the petition to your members of Congress: Cosponsor the Put Patients First Act

In May 2019, the Trump administration finalized a rule that would allow health care providers to discriminate against patients based on their personal religious and moral beliefs, a policy that directly targets LGBTQ+ patients and people seeking abortion care.

Trump’s rule would allow anyone involved in patient care to refuse to do their jobs for any reason. Hippocratic Oath, anyone?

Under the policy, patients seeking abortions could be turned away from a hospital because of the board of directors’ personal beliefs, a receptionist could refuse to schedule transition-related care for transgender patients, and a call center staffer could hang up on someone who is looking for information about the morning-after pill.

Thankfully, two courts blocked the rule from going into effect, but given the Trump administration’s track record on abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights, they won’t stop fighting back. That’s why we need Congress to block this discriminatory rule once and for all.

On November 12, members of Congress introduced the Put Patients First Act, legislation that would prohibit Trump’s rule from being implemented and put an end to this policy for good.

We need all hands on deck to stop this rule. By cosponsoring this crucial bill, your members of Congress will join 30 colleagues in the Senate and over 100 in the House of Representatives in leading the way for human rights and health care.

The Trump administration is determined to let discrimination win. We can’t let them.

Sign and send the petition to your members of Congress: Cosponsor the Put Patients First Act.

Grits

https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/12/public-policy-responses-to-informant.html

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 05, 2019

Public policy responses to informant abuses

Two informant related stories recall a raft of snitching coverage on this blog, now mostly more than a decade ago.

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/romney-trust/

SIGN THE PETITION: REJECT MITT ROMNEY’S NEW PLAN TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Politicians don’t shut the door when they’re trying to do something popular. That’s why when members of Congress want to cut Social Security, they propose doing so in a “fast-track” process behind closed doors where they won’t have to shoulder the blame.

And that’s exactly what Senator Mitt Romney has just proposed. His new proposal, the TRUST Act, is nothing more than an extension of the Romney-Ryan plan to cut Social Security, which was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in the 2012 presidential election. The American people can’t trust Mitt’s TRUST Act.

Sign the petition and tell Congress to protect and expand our earned benefits, not cut them! Demand that any discussion about the future of Social Security must be done in the light of day, where the American people can participate in the debate.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 7 2019

Tell the SEC to stop undermining shareholder activism!: Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-the-sec-to-stop-undermining-shareholder-activism/

Donald Trump's SEC is proposing a dangerous rule change that would silence shareholders and undermine corporate accountability efforts. This move will help inoculate powerful Wall Street companies and wealthy CEOs to pressure from their own shareholders.

The rule would make it harder to file shareholder petitions by increasing the ownership stake needed in order to do so by ten fold. It would also increase the percentage of support a petition would need to garner from shareholders in order to stay alive.

Shareholder resolutions have been used for decades to ensure better corporate governance and to advance important causes like gay rights, gender and racial equity, and environmentalism -- concerns for which the recent, much-lauded statement issued by major CEOs through the Business Roundtable implies support. For instance, employees recently used their company-issue stock to pressure Amazon to reduce its contribution to climate change because of its impact on the world and on Amazon's own business.

Now the SEC is looking to undermine shareholder proposals and make it harder advocates from constraining corporate abuses. We need to stand up and fight back to protect the ability of shareholders to shape the governance of corporations they invest in.

Add your name and tell the SEC: Stop the anti-shareholder proposal rule!

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 9 2019

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-postal-sell-off-say-no-to-a-privatizer-as-the-postmaster-general

Stop the Postal Sell-off: Say NO to a privatizer as the Postmaster General

The public service mission of the Postal Service has made it the most popular federal agency. However, this public good is at risk if we don’t all act soon.

In June 2018 the White House announced proposals to privatize the Postal Service. Now Postmaster General Megan Brennan has announced her departure as Postmaster General in January 2020.

The people will rightly expect a new Postmaster General who will uphold the Postal Service’s public mission and will work to preserve and enhance our national treasure.

Add your voice. Protect our public Postal Service.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 10 2019

Sign this petition here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/mnuchin-opportunity-zones

Tell Congress: No more tax handouts for wealthy investors

Not surprisingly, Mnuchin appears to have personally intervened to help Milken personally benefit from an "opportunity zone" tax break designed to help wealthy investors exploit poor areas.2

Sign this petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/forms/add-your-name-tell-congress-lower-the-cost-of-prescription-drugs-now

Campaign Action

Add Your Name: Tell Congress: Lower the cost of prescription drugs NOW >>

Add your name to stand with Gina Ortiz Jones (D), candidate for Congress (TX-23). Tell Congress: Lower the cost of prescription drugs NOW >>

37 MILLION Americans say they didn’t fill a prescription last year because of the cost.

Congress has the power to change that today: The House is working on legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs, but it will never get passed if Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans get their way.

The rising costs of prescription drugs are a huge burden on American families, especially in a state like Texas, which has the highest rate of uninsured people in the country. One in six Texans don’t have health insurance.

No one should have to choose between life-saving medicine or putting food on the table for their family. But one in four Americans says they struggle to cover the cost of the medications they need.

Gina Ortiz Jones will fight tooth and nail in Congress to lower the inflating cost of prescription drugs for our seniors, our veterans and our families, but she needs you in this fight with her.

It’s no secret why Americans pay so much more for our prescription drugs compared to other democracies: Congress has put their Big Pharma donors’ interests ahead of the American people’s health care.

We need to show Congress that the American people demand change. Let’s start the momentum by getting a groundswell of grassroots supporters to sign onto Gina’s petition. Then, let’s elect people like Gina who will hold Big Pharma accountable!

Add your name to stand with Gina Ortiz Jones (D), candidate for Congress (TX-23), and call on Congress to lower the cost of our prescription drugs.

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-postal-sell-off-say-no-to-a-privatizer-as-the-postmaster-general

Stop the Postal Sell-off: Say NO to a privatizer as the Postmaster General

The public service mission of the Postal Service has made it the most popular federal agency. However, this public good is at risk if we don’t all act soon.

In June 2018 the White House announced proposals to privatize the Postal Service. Now Postmaster General Megan Brennan has announced her departure as Postmaster General in January 2020.

The people will rightly expect a new Postmaster General who will uphold the Postal Service’s public mission and will work to preserve and enhance our national treasure.

Add your voice. Protect our public Postal Service.

I remember when this lady ran for judge in CC. I did all I could to get the word out for her to win. I knew something was up when she was arrested and almost thrown in prison. This is proof I was right.:

From: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2019/12/10/exonerated-district-judge-asks-texas-supreme-court-for-spot-on-collin-county-primary-ballot/

Exonerated district judge asks Texas Supreme Court for spot on Collin County primary ballot

A lapse in her law license — from October 2012 through June 2017 — is what Collin County Republican Party chair Mark Reid cited when declaring Suzanne Wooten ineligible for the 2020 ballot.

Former Judge Suzanne Wooten, center, talks with the media as her husband Wes Wayland, left, and son Cal, right, listen after her 2011 convictions are vacated in the 416th District Court in McKinney, Texas, on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. She had been convicted by a jury in 2011 on six counts of bribery, one count of engaging in organized criminal activity, one count of money laundering and one count of tampering with a government record. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News)

By Charles Scudder

9:17 PM on Dec 10, 2019

A former district judge who wants to return to the bench is asking the Supreme Court of Texas to force Collin County Republicans to put her name on the 2020 primary ballot, despite claims that she is ineligible.

Three years ago, former District Judge Suzanne Wooten was exonerated from charges stemming from what she called a politically motivated investigation into her Collin County campaign. Her license to practice law in Texas — which was suspended after she was convicted — was reinstated in 2017 when she was exonerated.

But that lapse — from October 2012 through June 2017 — is what Collin County Republican Party chair Mark Reid cited when declaring Wooten ineligible for the 2020 ballot.

A district judge candidate must be a “practicing lawyer” for four years before the election date, according to the Texas Constitution.

Former judge Suzanne Wooten is pictured after her 2011 convictions are vacated in the 416th District Court in McKinney, Texas, on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. She had been convicted by a jury in 2011 on six counts of bribery, one count of engaging in organized criminal activity, one count of money laundering and one count of tampering with a government record. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News)

The Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that she is not entitled to have her name on the ballot, but Wooten’s lawyers said Tuesday they plan to take the case to the Supreme Court of Texas to get her on the ballot.

“The issue here is not complicated, and I expect that the Texas Supreme Court will see that,” Scott Palmer, Wooten’s lawyer, said in a written statement.

In a response filed with the Fifth Circuit, however, Reid’s attorney argued that the court order that exonerated Wooten didn’t change the fact that she was not able to practice law after her conviction.

“This [exoneration] is insufficient to controvert the historical fact that Judge Wooten was not in good standing with the Bar and was prohibited from practicing law,” the response reads. “The Order had legal effects, it does not change the historical facts.”

Conviction and exoneration

Wooten was elected in 2008 after a landslide Republican primary victory over longtime District Judge Charles Sandoval. She didn’t face opposition in the general election and took office in January 2009.

According to Wooten’s most recent court filing, Sandoval went to the Collin County district attorney’s office the day after her victory to complain about her win. The DA’s office, led at the time by John Roach Sr., then opened an investigation into Wooten’s campaign, with help from then-attorney general Greg Abbott’s office.

Normally, law enforcement officials begin criminal investigations and pass evidence and charges off to the DA’s office for prosecution. Wooten says no law enforcement agency was involved in the investigation into her campaign.

Wooten, 51, filed a lawsuit last year against Abbott, Roach, Collin County and two other prosecutors. The suit alleged that the defendants "conspired to wrongfully obtain an indictment and prosecute plaintiff by inventing and perverting law, misleading judges and juries and taking apart plaintiff's life and career one piece at a time."

At least five grand juries considered the case between 2009 and 2011. One even sent a letter to the presiding judge, saying the case “was unnecessary, a waste of taxpayer dollars and that no crime had been committed," the suit states.

But in 2011, Wooten was convicted on charges of bribery, conspiracy, money laundering and tampering with a government record. She was accused of accepting funds from a University Park couple, funneled through her campaign manager, to run against Sandoval.

As a judge pointed out in her exoneration in 2017, even if that were true, it is not illegal.

In the order that vacated the convictions against Wooten, the judge also said that “any legal disabilities rendered against [Wooten] as a result of the convictions in this cause are void.” Her license to practice law was reinstated a few weeks later.

‘Practicing lawyer’?

On Nov. 7, Wooten applied to be on the Republican primary ballot for the 401st Judicial District Court.

On Nov. 25, according to a court filing, Reid wrote to Wooten, saying he “simply [doesn’t] have the discretion to act any other way under the law and must declare you ineligible for a place” on the ballot. Reid declined to comment as the case is still working its way through the courts.

Wooten filed a petition with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, asking the court to mandate Reid place her name on the ballot.

“After working tirelessly to rebuild her life and her reputation following a corrupt and malicious prosecution perpetuated by her political opponents, Judge Wooten has now been denied a place upon the March 2020 Republican Primary ballot,” the petition reads. “This application … is filed to preserve the integrity of the democratic process.”

Palmer argued that Wooten could have been a “practicing lawyer” outside of Texas during that time, and that means her name should be included on the ballot.

“The evidence establishes that Judge Wooten was not a ‘practicing lawyer’ in Texas. But that does not establish that she was not a ‘practicing lawyer,’” Palmer said in a written statement. “For that reason [Reid and the Collin County Republican Party] must place Judge Wooten on the ballot.”

In the response filed with the court, Reid’s attorney argued that state law only refers to lawyers who are in good standing with the State Bar of Texas.

“There can be no dispute as to what these documents factually establish — Judge Wooten was suspended from the practice of law from Oct. 24, 2012 to June 7, 2017,” the response reads. “Chairman Reid correctly found that this fact is conclusively established by these documents.”

Wooten’s petition was rejected Monday, but Palmer said they plan to file the case with the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 12 2019

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/12/blind-transgender-woman-beaten-mob-teens-got-off-bus/

Four teenagers the Seattle suburb of Tukwila were arrested on assault and hate crimes charges after they allegedly punched and kicked a transgender woman as she left a bus.

Police said that the victim, who has not been identified in the media, was sitting at the front of the bus last night at around 10:20 p.m. The teens were towards the back and they were taunting her.

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/take-action-tell-congress-to-repeal-trumps-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-and-corporations-2

TAKE ACTION: TELL CONGRESS TO REPEAL TRUMP’S TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH AND CORPORATIONS

Target: All Members of Congress

Donald Trump and the GOP said their $2 trillion in tax cuts would pay for themselves. Instead, they’re ballooning the national debt and using that as an excuse to try and make deep cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, education and more.

In a new chartbook by Americans for Tax Fairness titled “Trump-GOP Tax Cuts Failing Workers and the Economy,” we take a look at eight key promises (ahem, LIES) made by Donald Trump and congressional Republicans that were used to scam the American people and ram their tax breaks through Congress.

In 2017, we were told repeatedly that the giant, unpaid-for tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations would increase jobs, pay for themselves, give every family a big raise and really hurt rich people like Donald Trump. The evidence says otherwise.

REALITY: The richest 1% are getting an average tax cut that’s 75 times more than the average tax cut of the bottom 80%―$50,000 vs. $645.

REALITY: Donald Trump and his family will benefit personally by millions of dollars from five features of the tax scam: lower top income tax rates; the deep corporate tax cuts; a weakened estate tax; a tax break mostly benefiting wealthy business owners like Trump; and real-estate loopholes the tax law opened.

REALITY: Median family income rose just $514 in 2018 and the annual growth rate in workers’ wages has increased just 0.3% since the tax scam became law. Both of these are well below the increases that occurred during President Obama’s last two years in office.

REALITY: Almost half the benefits of this supposed “small” business tax cut are going to the tiny sliver of businesses with over $1 million in annual income. Less than a quarter is going to firms with income of $200,000 or less.

REALITY: Economic growth (GDP) since the tax law was enacted has been in line with the Obama years and hasn’t come close to the 4%, 5% or 6% promised by Trump and the GOP. The Federal Reserve predicts growth of 2.2% for the full year of 2019.

REALITY: The total cost of the tax cuts is estimated at $1.9 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which will be added to the national debt and is being used by Trump and congressional Republicans to try and make deep cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education and more.

REALITY: Monthly job growth has averaged 195,000 in the two years since the tax cuts were enacted. Job growth in the last two years of the Obama Administration averaged 210,000 a month.

REALITY: Instead of investing in more jobs and higher wages, capital investments are falling into negative territory in 2019. Corporations have used their tax savings for stock buybacks, which primarily benefit executives and other wealthy shareholders. Corporations bought back a record $800 billion-plus of their own shares in 2018, an increase of more than 50% over the $519 billion in stock buybacks in 2017.

December 22nd marks the two year anniversary of Donald Trump signing the tax scam into law. Sign the petition to Congress to repeal the Trump-GOP tax scam and instead implement a fair share tax system that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.

Sign this petition here: https://gideon.cp.bsd.net/page/signup/petition-vandyke

SIGN OUR URGENT PETITION

Tell Senator Collins to vote NO on Lawrence VanDyke’s confirmation for a federal judge position.

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-the-petition-tax-excessive-ceo-salaries-combat-extreme-income-inequality

Sign the petition: Tax excessive CEO salaries. Combat extreme income inequality

The average CEO at a Fortune 500 firm today makes close to $20 million per year—200-300x the average pay of their typical workers.

This income disparity has driven the U.S. into a crisis, with rising poverty, extreme wealth inequality, and wage stagnation, which all disproportionately affect people of color.

It would take a lifetime—100 years—for the average employee to earn what their CEO makes in a year.

And at the 50 publicly traded U.S. corporations with the widest pay gaps in 2018, the typical employee would have to work at least 1,000 years to earn what their CEO made in just one year.

While lavishing extravagant wealth on their top executives, many of these corporations pay their workers poverty wages, forcing workers to rely on taxpayer-funded social services, like public housing, SNAP and Medicaid. This means the average taxpayer is subsidizing corporate greed, all while working families struggle to put food on the table.

How do we address this outrageous injustice?

The Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and Rep. Barbara Lee, would pressure such corporations to close the pay gap between CEOs and working people by applying a higher corporate tax rate if they pay their CEOs more than 50x the median worker. The wider the pay gap, the higher the tax penalty.

This legislation would raise roughly $150 billion over 10 years, which could be used for essential public services like healthcare and education. It would also require the Treasury Department to prevent corporate tax avoidance, and it would require privately held corporations to make public their pay-ratio data.

It is time we put an end to the largest wealth gap in existence!

Become a grassroots co-signer of the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act to address rising levels of income and wealth inequality.

Participating Organizations:

Rep. Rashida Tlaib

Rep. Ro Khanna

Civic Action

Daily Kos

Iron PAC

Progress America

“If America’s corporate boards can’t understand the absurdity of paying their CEO friends—in one year—more than their workers will earn in a lifetime, then the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act will help them figure it out.”

— Sen. Bernie Sanders

“Corporate greed is a disease that has long inflicted this country....“In 2018, for example, General Motors’ CEO made nearly 300 times more than the median income of an employee there. We have had enough.” — Rep. Rashida Tlaib

“It is unjust and unacceptable that the CEOs of major corporations are making an average of 287 times more than their average worker – with some CEOs making upwards of 1000 times more.” — Rep. Barbara Lee

This is not a candidate endorsement by Daily Kos.

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-the-sec-to-stop-undermining-shareholder-activism/

Tell the SEC to stop undermining shareholder activism!

Add your name and tell the SEC: Stop the anti-shareholder proposal rule!

Grits

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019

The iceberg's tip: CA man walks free bc of DNA-mixture SNAFU

It's perhaps a testament to the reduction in size of and competition among MSM outlets that nobody has yet covered the problems with DNA-mixture forensics raised by federal District Judge Janet Neff of Michigan's Western District* (discussed by Grits here and on the latest Reasonably Suspicious podcast). That must change; some full-time reporter(s) must step up. These issues deserve high-level coverage and national context that this humble, regional blog cannot provide. Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-icebergs-tip-ca-man-walks-free-bc.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 13 2019

Sign this petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/forms/join-abigail-spanberger-in-demanding-lower-prescription-drug-prices

Campaign Action

Join Abigail Spanberger in demanding lower prescription drug prices

Prescription drug affordability is one of the most critical issues facing the nation.

While many know that health insurance premiums for the average family are over $1,000 per month, the cost of prescription medications is also growing.

Add your name and join Rep. Abigail Spanberger (VA-7) in support of lower prescription drug prices and urge the Senate to act >>

Paid for by Spanberger for Congress. Does not equal endorsement.

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-the-petition-investigate-devin-nunes

Campaign Action

Sign the petition: Investigate Devin Nunes

Rep. Devin Nunes—ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee—sat through two weeks of Trump impeachment hearings, despite apparently being a willing accomplice in the bribery scheme at the heart of the investigation.

The House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment inquiry report revealed while Nunes was sitting as the ranking member of the committee, he was also directly involved in all aspects of the scheme he was pretending to investigate.

Phone records reveal Nunes had talks with Rudy Giuliani, right when he was orchestrating the move to oust the U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine. Additionally, Nunes spoke with indicted Giuliani associate Lev Parnas—who was tasked by Trump to investigate the Biden's activities in Ukraine.

Previously, in November 2018, Nunes traveled with three aides to the Ukraine—where he allegedly met with corrupt former prosecutor Viktor Shokin for the express purpose of supporting Trump’s conspiracy theory against Joe Biden.

When Nunes chaired the House Intelligence Committee in 2017, he got caught funneling classified information to and from the Trump White House to intentionally undermine the Russia investigation. He was forced to step aside.

Nunes is more than just a partisan Republican eager to defend the indefensible. He has actively sabotaged efforts to investigate intelligence breaches, and risked national security in the furtherance of Donald Trump's whims.

If the latest allegations against Nunes are proven to be true, his conduct may require criminal charges and expulsion from Congress.

Sign the petition: Investigate Devin Nunes immediately.

Participating Organizations:

Rep. Raul Grijalva

Rep. Ted Lieu

Arati Kreibich for Congress

Courage Campaign

Daily Kos

Fight for Progress PAC

Iron PAC

Left Action

Livable Communities PAC

National Democratic Training Committee

People for the American Way

Progress America

Sara Jacobs for Congress

Stop Republican PAC

Tom Winter for Congress

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 14 2019

Sign this petition here: http://act.pfaw.org/letter/urge-the-senate-to-support-election-security-funding/

Urge your senators to support election security funding!

We are at a pivotal moment for our democracy and we are facing unprecedented attacks on our elections. We must make sure that Congress funds election security as soon as possible, opportunities to secure the 2020 elections are being lost each day.

Election security experts are warning that our voting systems are vulnerable, and Intelligence officials have said that if we don’t act now, 2016 could be just the beginning compared to what is to come in 2020. In fact, early reports seem to indicate that Russia and other countries have already begun their attempts to meddle in the 2020 elections.

Contact your senator's office today and urge them to support election security funding!

Sign this petition here: https://gideon.cp.bsd.net/page/signup/petition-rxcosts

Sign our petition: Demand Mitch McConnell allow a Senate vote on lowering prescription drug costs.

SIGN OUR PETITION

The House of Representatives just passed Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which would lower the cost of prescription drugs and give hope to the 58 million Americans who struggle to afford their medications.

BUT Mitch McConnell is refusing to allow a vote in the Senate.

Sign this petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/forms/add-your-name-oppose-republican-cuts-to-our-social-security-medicare-and-medicaid

[Add your name] OPPOSE Republican cuts to our Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid! >>

Donald Trump is proposing MASSIVE cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — and it looks like he can count on Senate Republicans like Mitch McConnell to help him do it. We're calling on 100,000 Democrats to sign our petition OPPOSING cuts to these critical programs, but we still need 5,502 more Democrats to add their name.

Add your name now to OPPOSE Republican cuts to our Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid! Join DSCC >>

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 15 2019

Pregnant women have always been very special to me. People say pregnant women are grumpy. I just think they are so precious; they can not be unappealing in any way. I basically lost my job (illegitimately) with Blockbuster Warehouse; because I stuck up for a pregnant woman who was forced to hurt herself by a manager.

AT LIBERTY PODCAST

Pregnancy Discrimination a Mile High

This week, the ACLU's Women's Rights Project filed a pair of federal lawsuits against Frontier Airlines for discriminating against pregnant and breastfeeding employees. Flight attendant Melissa Hodgkins and pilot Shannon Kiedrowski spoke to At Liberty about the inhumane treatment they experienced while working for Frontier, alongside senior staff attorney Galen Sherwin, about the lawsuit. Listen here → https://www.aclu.org/podcast/pregnancy-discrimination-mile-high-ep-77

A HOLLOW PROMISE

Three Ways the 'Fairness for All Act' Doesn't Protect LGBTQ People from Discrimination

Last week, several Republicans in the House of Representatives introduced the so-called "Fairness for All Act." The bill's supporters call it a compromise that protects both LGBTQ people and religious liberty, but in reality, the bill facilitates the Trump administration's ongoing efforts to enable those who would turn LGBTQ people away from jobs, health care, housing, and even taxpayer-funded programs, simply because of who they are. Read here about the three main ways the so-called "Fairness for All Act" weakens protections for LGBTQ people, and why we should support the House's Equality Act instead. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/three-ways-the-fairness-for-all-act-doesnt-protect-lgbtq-people-from-discrimination

Sign this petition here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/postmaster-general-privatization

Save the post office from Donald Trump

85% We've reached 85,661 of our goal of 100,000.

Sign the petition

Petition to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors:

"Appoint a Postmaster General who is fully committed to universal service and public ownership of the Postal Service."

Sign Petition

Save the post office from Donald Trump

The U.S. Postal Service is one of America's most beloved institutions. It handles 47% of the world’s mail, employs half a million people, generates $1.4 trillion in annual sales, delivers more mail every 16 days than UPS and FedEx combined do all year and connects even the most remote corners of the United States.1

So of course Donald Trump wants to destroy it.

Trump has already proposed privatizing the Postal Service and turning it over to unethical, greedy for-profit operators. Now, the USPS board of governors is poised to appoint a new postmaster general – who might help Trump push privatization.2 We need to speak out to make sure the new leader is a fierce advocate for public ownership of USPS.

Tell the USPS board of governors: No privatizer as postmaster general.

The Trump administration has proposed selling off the USPS to the highest bidder. Privatizing government services simply hands public trusts over to mercenary corporate entities who care only about their bottom line.3,4 Trump's proposal would lead to post office closures in rural areas and layoffs for already-marginalized communities. Stamp and shipping costs would grow and the scale of the network would shrink.

Republicans would like us to believe the post office is in trouble, but in fact, there's nothing wrong with the post office that Congress can't fix. A 2006 law requires USPS, alone among private or public agencies, to prefund its retiree health benefits for the next 75 years. That ridiculous law makes the USPS appear to be in financial trouble and gives politicians an excuse to push for privatization. If Congress repealed the law – and allowed post offices to offer new services like postal banking and notarization – the USPS would thrive.5

The push to privatize the USPS is because of its success, not because it is struggling. First-class mail is declining, but shipping is on the rise. The USPS would rank around 40th on the Fortune 500 if it were a private company and presents a major-making opportunity.

Thanks to Mitch McConnell's obstruction, the USPS board of governors lacked sufficient members for a quorum for years. Now, McConnell has helped Trump pack the board of governors with his own appointees – appointees who will pick the next postmaster general after current chief Megan Brennan retires early next year.6,7 There is a very real risk that the board of governors will install an advocate for privatization as the new head of the USPS – and we cannot let that happen.

Tell the USPS Board of Governors: No privatizer as postmaster general.

Thank you for speaking out.

References:

Bill Pascrell, Jr., "Congress Is Sabotaging Your Post Office," The Washington Monthly, April/May/June 2019.

Louis C. LeBrecque, "Postal Unions Uneasy as USPS Chief Prepares to Step Down," BloombergLaw, Oct. 21, 2019.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, "Trump’s privatization plan would destroy the Postal Service," The Washington Post, Aug. 7, 2018.

Aaron Greg, "Lawmakers press Pentagon on oversight of ‘slumlord’ housing contractors," The Washington Post, Dec. 3, 2019.

Pascrell, Jr., "Congress Is Sabotaging Your Post Office."

Eric Gatz, "USPS Regains a Functioning Governing Board for the First Time in Five Years," Gov Exec, Aug. 2, 2019.

LeBrecque, "Postal Unions Uneasy as USPS Chief Prepares to Step Down."

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 17 2019

Grits

MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2019

Monday link roundup

Here are a few odds and ends that deserve readers' attention:

From the Baker Institute at Rice: Drug Treatment Gaps in Harris County, Texas

Texas Tribune: Federal judge aims to get to the bottom of TDCJ heat-litigation lies

Dallas Observer: Sending social workers to mental-health 911 calls reduces emergency room stays. Readers may recall that Austin funded a similar, not-yet-implemented program in its current budget.

CNN: Oregon police officers can no longer seek consent searches without reasonable suspicion. Here's the relevant Oregon Supreme Court opinion. Read more and click the links here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/12/monday-link-roundup.html

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/block-the-new-trump-tax-scam

Tell Congress:

"The Trump administration’s policies are wrong for working families. Repeal the Trump tax cuts that benefit corporations and the wealthy and focus on policies that will directly help working families."

In 2017, FedEx owed $1.5 billion in taxes. Last year, thanks to the Trump tax scam, it owed exactly $0. FedEx lobbied hard for Trump's tax cuts, and in return Trump and his Republican lackeys cut corporate taxes so much that the government actually owed FedEx money in 2018.

The Trump tax scam is a failure – unless you're an international corporation or a millionaire or billionaire. It is helping corporations avoid taxes and the wealthy hoard wealth by paying lower tax rates than working people.

But corporations and billionaires are Republicans' most coveted supporters, so they're working with Trump on a tax scam 2.0 to be unveiled early in 2020 for his reelection campaign. We need to raise our voices now to stop it in its tracks.

Sign this petition here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/trump-payday-lending-corruption

One of the nation's wealthiest payday lenders was recently caught bragging about how his donations to Trump are helping shred the rules on his predatory industry, which makes its money by trapping people into debt with interest rates as high as 400%.1

The dirty secret of the payday lending industry is that they don't make money if people repay their loans on time. Payday lenders trick people into taking out loans with sky-high interest rates, lock them into months or years of debt, charge hidden fees and then can arrest borrowers to force them to pay. Obama-era rules cracked down on the industry, but with a grifter like Trump in the White House, industry is fighting back. And winning.2,3

The Trump administration is too corrupt to regulate predatory payday lenders. It's long past time for Congress to step in and protect Americans with a clear, strict cap on payday loan interest rates.

Tell Congress: Stop Trump's corruption. Crack down on payday lenders.

Daniel Hodges of Advance Financial donated more than $1.25 million directly to Trump, hosted a fundraiser for Mike Pence, donated almost $700,000 to Republicans in Congress and hired White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney's former top aide as a lobbyist.3 Hodges openly admitted to the corruption, boasting that after he calls Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, "She’s been able to call over to the White House and say, ‘Hey, we have one of our large givers. They need an audience.’”3

His investment appears to have paid off. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, under Trump appointee Kathy Kraninger, claimed in a court filing earlier this year that it would preserve Obama-era rules that would have kept lenders' from getting unlimited access to people's bank accounts. In 2017, Hodges' lobbyist met with Mulvaney more than anyone not employed by the government, and five Republican representatives all pressured Kraninger to dismantle the payment rules during congressional hearings.4 Now it looks like Kraninger is planning to do just that, despite her earlier promise.

Tell Congress: Stop Trump's corruption. Crack down on payday lenders.

Democrats have better plans. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a bill that would cap all payday loans at 15%. Rep. Chuy Garcia is pushing legislation that would extend the 36% cap that currently protects all members of the military to every single American and close loopholes in the process.

The best way to highlight Trump's corruption – and save people from legally sanctioned loan sharks – is for the House of Representative to pass tough legislation cracking down on payday lenders. Can you help build momentum for these tough bills today?

Tell Congress: Stop Trump's corruption. Crack down on payday lenders.

Thank you for speaking out.

References:

David Dayen, "How to Buy a Regulation in Six Short Months," The American Prospect, Dec. 9, 2019.

Ibid.

Anjali Tsui, "They Loan You Money. Then They Get a Warrant for Your Arrest." ProPublica, Dec. 3, 2019.

Dayen, "How to Buy a Regulation in Six Short Months."

Ibid.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 18 2019

Sign this petition here:

https://greenamerica.salsalabs.org/carterstoxictextiles/index.html

The textile manufacturing industry uses over 8,000 chemicals and accounts for 20% of industrial water pollution. The chemicals used can harm workers, the environment, and even consumers. There isn't full transparency or understanding what chemicals are being used, nor their effects on human and environmental health. Meanwhile, strong chemical management policies that protect workers and consumers, like adoption of manufacturing restricted substances lists (MRSL), which bans/restricts chemicals used in the manufacturing process, are still the exception, not the norm.

So we're calling on Carter's, the largest retailer of baby clothes, to clean up its act and End Toxic Textiles in its supply chain.

We're asking Carter's to adopt a strong, public chemical management policy that will protect workers and consumers, starting by disclosing what chemicals are being used in its supply chain. We also want Carter's to develop plans to restrict/replace the most toxic chemicals with safer alternatives, and we want Carter's to publicly report on its timeline and progress.

Carter's response: "We have an internal restricted chemicals list that we are working on expanding. We are also actively assessing how we can better disclose this and other environmental, social, and governance-related information to our customers and the general public.” Read more here.

Carter's customers deserve to know what toxins may be in their children's clothes and what Carter's is doing to eliminate those toxins.

Carter's is a leader in selling baby clothes in the country. Join us in encouraging it to become a leader in cleaner clothes that are better for people and the planet.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 19 2019

Sign this petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/forms/add-your-name-end-mike-pences-attacks-on-pete-buttigieg

Add Your Name: Stand with Pete Buttigieg against Mike Pence's Attacks

SIGN BOLD DEMOCRATS PAC'S URGENT PETITION: Stand with Pete Buttigieg Against Mike Pence's Homophobic Attacks.

Mike Pence has a DISGUSTING history of homophobia and anti-LGBTQ+ policies – and now he's coming after Pete Buttigieg.

We're sick and tired of Pence spewing homophobic hate.

No one should be ATTACKED for who they love – we must band together and deliver Mike Pence a message he can't ignore: We stand with Pete Buttigieg against your repulsive homophobia.

We cannot allow Mike Pence to continue to harass Pete Buttigieg and the LGBTQ+ community.

If we stay silent, we're letting his hateful, homophobic rhetoric win.

So we're saying this loud and clear: Mike Pence, your homophobia is not acceptable and it NEVER will be!

This isn't just about Pete Buttigieg, this is about standing up for the LGBTQ+ community EVERYWHERE and letting them know we have their backs.

Sign on TODAY with BOLD Democrats PAC and STAND against Mike Pence's homophobic attacks.

Sign this petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/petitions/sign-the-petition-impeach-trump-but-dont-send-articles-to-senate-for-a-sham-trial

Sign the petition: Impeach Trump, but don't send articles to Senate until Republicans agree to a REAL trial

The U.S. House is voting to impeach Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The evidence is overwhelming, and he deserves to be removed from office.

But the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate is full of Trump loyalists, hell-bent on holding a sham trial that would inevitably result in his acquittal.

The Constitution says all senators must try an impeachment "on oath or affirmation," and the Senate Rules spell out the oath to "do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has no intention of abiding his oath as an impartial juror, and is even strategizing with Trump's legal team.

Other Republicans have said the same. Senator Lindsey Graham says he won't even pretend to be a fair juror, and Ron Johnson won't recuse himself because he calls this a "political process," not a trial.

There is a solution to this impasse, however. The House may impeach, but can withhold articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial.

The Constitution does not specify when or how articles of impeachment must be sent to the U.S. Senate for a trial. But any prosecutor who knows that the jury is tainted can choose not to proceed with an indictment, until they know it will be a fair trial.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi & the House leadership can withhold the articles of impeachment due to the Republican Senate's abdication of their oath, keeping the impeachment dangling over Donald Trump's head until the Senate is ready to act like grownups.

Sign the petition: The U.S. Senate has no intention of holding a fair trial. Withhold articles of impeachment until they are ready to do so.

PETITIONING

U.S. House of Representatives

SPONSORED BY

Daily Kos

Our Message to U.S. House of Representatives :

As much as Donald Trump deserves to be removed from office, the U.S. Senate has no intention of holding a fair trial. As members of the House, you must withhold articles of impeachment until the Senate is ready to do so.

Grits

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2019

Reasonably Suspicious Christmas episode: The Grinch story "if the Whos were us," plus the policy failure of high fines, examining recent innocence cases, and reviewing Texas' biggest criminal-justice stories of 2019

Here's the December 2019 episode of Just Liberty's Reasonably Suspicious podcast, co-hosted by me and our good friend Mandy Marzullo, of the Texas Defender Service. This month includes a special Christmas poem in the intro! Listen here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/12/reasonably-suspicious-christmas-episode.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 20 2019

I got this email today and yesterday and was so impressed I had to post it here. I found where is is located online to post here. I say the same thing for all the anti LGBTQ, prejudiced laws; like the “religious liberty” legislation. When this type of inhuman propagation is put forth; real people suffer and even die.

From: https://www.salon.com/2019/12/20/the-trump-administration-has-just-declared-war-on-social-security_partner/

The Trump administration has just declared war on Social Security

An attack on any part of Social Security is an attack on the entire system and all current and future beneficiaries

DECEMBER 20, 2019 8:00AM (UTC)

American workers contribute to Social Security with every paycheck. When they do, they are earning comprehensive insurance protections. Social Security insures against the loss of wages due to old age, disability, or (for the surviving family of a worker) death. While Social Security is best known as a retirement program, disability and survivor’s benefits are equally essential.

An attack on any part of Social Security is an attack on the entire system and all current and future beneficiaries. The latest proposal from Donald Trump’s administration, which is designed to rip benefits away from hundreds of thousands of Americans with disabilities, amounts to a declaration of war on Social Security.

The Trump administration proposal would require millions of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries to re-prove their eligibility for benefits as often as every six months — far more frequently than is currently the case. There is no justification for this policy. The United States already has some of the strictest eligibility criteria for disability benefits in the world. More than half of all claims are denied.

We should be making it easier for workers to claim the Social Security benefits they’ve earned with every paycheck, not harder. And ripping benefits away from current beneficiaries, who rely on them to survive, is even worse.

We know what the effects of the Trump proposal would be, because Ronald Reagan implemented a very similar benefit cut back in the 1980s. Reagan’s policy ripped away the benefits of 200,000 Americans with disabilities. The New York Times reported that “people with obvious physical and mental disabilities” lost their benefits “without having been interviewed.”

Ultimately, Reagan was forced to reverse his attack on Social Security after massive public outcry, and bipartisan condemnation from Congress — but not before 21,176 people died, including several who died by suicide, “because their benefits were cut off.”

Donald Trump himself might not be a diligent student of history, but his advisers — men like Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s chief of staff and a longtime enemy of Social Security — know exactly what they are doing. They want to resurrect Reagan’s Social Security cut knowing full well that it killed people.

This could impact any of us, even those of us who are currently healthy. Imagine that you are hit by a car tomorrow, and suffer life-altering injuries that prevent you from working. You’re faced with crushing medical bills, and you’ve lost your income. In such situations, SSDI benefits are a crucial lifeline. Donald Trump wants to rip that lifeline away.

Trump and Mulvaney are targeting people with disabilities first, because they perceive them as politically vulnerable. But if they are allowed to get away with this attack, it will be only the beginning. They want to destroy every part of Social Security, including retirement benefits, and turn it over to their criminal friends on Wall Street.

We must stop Trump’s plan. The Social Security Administration is collecting comments on the proposal until the end of January. You can comment opposing the plan here. Everyone must also call their elected officials. Congressional condemnation played a huge role in forcing Ronald Reagan to reverse his version of the attack, and it can stop Trump in his tracks.

If we let the politicians in Washington, D.C., take away some people’s earned benefits, it means they can take away all of our earned benefits.

ALEX LAWSON

Alex Lawson is the executive director of Social Security Works, a non-profit advocacy group that supports expanding benefits to address America’s growing retirement security crisis. Lawson has appeared on numerous TV and radio outlets and is a frequent guest host of The "Thom Hartmann Program," one of the top progressive radio shows in the country.

MORE FROM ALEX LAWSON: https://www.salon.com/writer/alex-lawson

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 22 2019

A WAR OVER THE WEB

A Little-Known Privacy Battle Is Being Waged Over Encrypting the Nuts and Bolts of the Internet

An important fight is brewing over the nuts and bolts of the Internet that has significant implications for the privacy and security of all its users. The fight is complicated, but at its core are questions about control over data, centralized power, and who should bear privacy risks. This particular battle centers around a new layer of encryption that Internet technologists (including one of us) developed to further protect the privacy and security of Internet users. We believe that everyone should be able to use the Internet without being subject to mass surveillance. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/a-little-known-privacy-battle-is-being-waged-over-encrypting-the-nuts-and-bolts-of-the-internet/

December 18, 2019

TAMPONS FOR THE MANY

Menstruation-Related Discrimination is Sex Discrimination – We Don't Need to Erase Trans or Non-Binary People to Make That Point

Around the country and the world, people are mobilizing for menstrual equity. Central to the policy agenda is accessible and affordable period products for everyone who needs them. In forging these claims, a question emerges: How can we recognize that barriers to menstrual access are a form of sex discrimination without erasing the lived experiences of trans men and non-binary people who menstruate, as well as women who don't? Here, we lay out the straightforward and inclusive argument that shows how barriers such as the tax on menstrual products qualify as unconstitutional sex discrimination. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/menstruation-related-discrimination-is-sex-discrimination-we-dont-need-to-erase-trans-or-non-binary-people-to-make-that-point/

December 17, 2019

CASH CAPTIVES

In Oklahoma, Cash Bail is Being Used as Ransom to Keep People Who Are Poor Behind Bars

If you are one of the 4,000 people arrested every year in tiny Canadian County, Oklahoma, there is one question that determines how things will go for you: Do you have enough money to pay the cash bail? Right now, ACLU client Jermaine Bradford, who was arrested for misdemeanor charges in November, sits in a jail cell in Canadian County because he can't afford to pay his $2,000 bail. We're suing to end this cruel and unconstitutional cycle. Jermaine – and every person locked in the Canadian County jail – deserves a public hearing presided over by a judge who asks questions about whether they have a job, and what they can pay. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/its-clear-in-oklahoma-cash-bail-is-being-used-as-ransom-to-keep-people-who-are-poor-behind-bars/

December 17, 2019

UNPARDONABLE

Trump's War Pardons Are Sabotaging the Military Justice System

Last month, in an unprecedented move, President Trump pardoned war crimes charges against three U.S. military service members. The three men forgiven by the president had committed or were accused of committing horrifying crimes, including, in one instance, ordering the murder of two unarmed Afghan villagers. While former military leaders expressed concern that the pardons may encourage more impunity for war crimes, the U.S.' poor record of accountability dates back all the way to the Bush administration. We owe it to the victims of America's abuses to start grappling with the tremendous harm that our counterterrorism policies have caused and strive to repair this harm by holding perpetrators accountable. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/trumps-war-pardons-are-sabotaging-the-military-justice-system/

Of course there are fake faces using AI or simple everyday programs. Using fake faces has always been common place on the internet. Yet another article vindicating what I have been saying about social media/internet/media for years. I would not doubt that there are programs that can produce fake social media/internet/media accounts by the thousands; simply by pressing enter. Programs like this have been around on the internet since it was invented. To think politicians have been manipulated by fake social media/internet/media all this time; putting us all in danger everyday. I feel sorry for all the social media people in America being manipulated by it; since most of it is probably from foreign country's, trying to influence Americans.

From: https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/20/tech/facebook-fake-faces/index.html

Now fake Facebook accounts are using fake faces

CNN Business

Updated 1:04 PM ET, Sat December 21, 2019

Dublin, Ireland (CNN Business)Artificially-generated faces of people who don't exist are being used to front fake Facebook (FB) accounts in an attempt to trick users and game the company's systems, the social media network said Friday. Experts who reviewed the accounts say it is the first time they have seen fake images like this being used at scale as part of a single social media campaign.

The accounts, which were removed by Facebook on Friday, were part of a network that generally posted in support of President Trump and against the Chinese government, experts who reviewed the accounts said. Many of the accounts promoted links to a Facebook page and website called "The BL." Facebook said the accounts were tied to the US-based Epoch Media Group, which owns The Epoch Times newspaper, a paper tied to the Falun Gong movement that is similarly pro-Trump.

The publisher of the Epoch Times denied that Epoch and The BL were linked in emails to the fact-checking organization Snopes earlier this year.

In a statement released after this story initially published on Friday, Epoch Times publisher Stephen Gregory said, "The Epoch Times and The BL media companies are unaffiliated. The BL was founded by a former employee, and employs some of our former employees. However, that some of our former employees work for BL is not evidence of any connection between the two organizations.

"The BL is a publication of Epoch Times Vietnam. As can be seen in archived pages of The Epoch Times website, Epoch Times Vietnam was no longer listed as part of Epoch Media Group in October 2018."

In response, a Facebook spokesperson told CNN Business that executives at The BL were active administrators on Epoch Media Group Pages as recently as Friday morning.

The dystopian revelation of the use of artificially-generated images in this way points to an increasingly complicated online information landscape as America enters a presidential election year. Silicon Valley and the US intelligence community are still struggling with the fallout from widespread online interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The Facebook accounts used profile pictures that appeared to show real people smiling and looking directly into a camera. But the people do not and have never existed, according to Facebook and other researchers. The images were created using artificial intelligence technology. The same basic methods are used to produce deepfake videos — fake videos that the US intelligence community has warned could be used as part of a foreign disinformation campaign targeting Americans.

From: https://bdnews24.com/the-long-read/2019/12/22/these-reporters-lost-their-jobs.-here-are-the-stories-they-couldnt-tell.

The Dallas Morning News (Dallas): Nanette Light, 32

Nanette Light covered Collin County, Texas, and lost her job in January. She now works in communications for a paediatric health care foundation in Dallas.

One story I reported for a long time was about an elderly couple who lived by the McKinney airport. McKinney was named “Best Place to Live in America” by Money Magazine one year, and the city wanted to grow this airport. This couple wanted to move, but it was hard to sell because who would want to live right there? The city wanted to buy it for less than they thought it was worth. I was in the middle of the reporting, and every time I think about it, I feel guilty. To me, it was a growing pains story — the growing pains of a city as it evolves from a small community to a much larger suburb, and what are the costs of that?

Collin County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the country. The population is a little over 1 million, and when I was on the beat, the projections were it was going to triple in size by 2050. Toyota relocated its headquarters there, it had a reputation for good schools. At one point, there was a whole bureau covering Collin County. By the time I got laid off, it was just me. And the thing is, people miss you when you’re not there. I had written some stories about a school district that weren’t super-flattering. But when I got laid off, the president of a school board said on Twitter that he had always appreciated my work. That meant a lot to me.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 24 2019

Got the above image in my email this morning.

A proposed Louisiana chemical plant may be building on the graves of formerly enslaved people.

We’re saying “no.”

RISE St. James, a faith-based grassroots community group, recently learned that graves of enslaved people have been found on the proposed site of Formosa Plastics in St. James Parish, a fact the company did not bring to the community’s attention while it was seeking a land use permit.

They discovered the presence of graves on the proposed site after reviewing the company’s submissions to the permitting agencies, which they obtained from a public records request. The records also revealed that Formosa representatives have considered the possibility of removing remains if found on certain portions of the property, because preserving them in place would be a “difficult option” for the company.

“We are going to fight for the respect [our ancestors’] resting places—and our community—deserve as we continue our fight to stop Formosa Plastics from being built at all. Governor John Bel Edwards should join us and protect our communities,” said Sharon Lavigne of RISE St. James.

Learn more here: https://ccrjustice.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 26 2019

Grits

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2019

Santa lynched after Ho-Ho-Holdup, a suggestion how to punish everyday police abuses, Abbott's Xmas pardons add insult to injury, and other stories Read it all here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/12/santa-lynched-after-ho-ho-holdup.html

Texas Judge

December 24, 2019 BRIEF

From: https://www.courthousenews.com/texas-judge/

SHERMAN, Texas – A federal court in Texas ruled that exonerated former judge Suzanne Wooten has plausibly pleaded her conspiracy claim, which alleges that Collin County district attorney’s office defendants – at the request of the incumbent judge she beat in an election – acted in concert with a former assistant attorney general to investigate her.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 27 2019

You know what gets to me?

Greedy, power-hungry corporations screwing over people and the planet to make an extra buck!

Like Nestlé paying almost nothing to extract water it then bottles and rakes in millions of dollars from in Michigan, while people just down the road in Flint have lead-contaminated water. That they pay out the nose for.

That’s disgusting!

But there’s something you can do about it. You can give to Corporate Accountability during their Challenge Corporate Power Match Campaign -- and your gift will be doubled.

They run smart, strategic, effective campaigns to hold corporations accountable. And they win. That’s why I give to Corporate Accountability, and why you should too.

Remember anything you give can help. And at a time where profit means more than humanity, help is really important.

Give here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ye19

Lewis Black Thanks,

Lewis Black

SIGN the PETITION to the SEC: Don't undermine shareholder activism! Sign here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-the-sec-to-stop-undermining-shareholder-activism/

The petition says: Do not take away our rights as investors: We urge you to reject the proposed changes to shareholder proposal and voting processes. The longstanding shareholder proposal rule facilitates the right of Americans to hold accountable the corporations that they invest in. The SEC should protect Main Street Americans, not Wall Street and big business CEOs.

Sign the Coalition Petition!

SEC must protect the rights of all shareholders not only the wealthy!

Wealthy CEOs, Wall Street, and other Big Money interests want to block small shareholders from pressuring corporations to be accountable — and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is about to let them.

The SEC has proposed a new rule that blocks shareholder resolutions which have been used for decades to improve governance and advance requirements that corporations address important causes that matter to the world at large -- including whether they use secret money in elections.

Now the SEC is looking to undermine shareholder proposals and make it harder for advocates to constrain corporate abuses. We need to stand up and fight back to protect the ability of shareholders to shape the governance of corporations they invest in.

Prosecutors Can't Claim Immunity From Ex-Judge's Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit, Judge Rules

Former Judge Suzanne Wooten, though, won't be allowed to appear on a Republican primary ballot.

From: https://www.law.com/texaslawyer/2019/12/26/prosecutors-cant-claim-immunity-from-ex-judges-wrongful-conviction-lawsuit-judge-rules/?slreturn=20191127115716

December 26, 2019 at 02:59 PM

Former Texas Judge Suzanne Wooten, who was exonerated in 2017 of a conviction that cost her a seat on the bench, will not be allowed on the Republican primary ballot this spring.

The Texas Supreme Court on Monday denied Wooten’s request to declare her eligible to run as a district judge and force the Collin County Republican Party to place her name on the ballot. The party claimed she was ineligible because she didn’t have a law license for the entire four years before the election, as required by the Texas Constitution.

But Wooten notched a win in federal court Monday after a judge ruled prosecutors involved in her wrongful conviction cannot claim qualified immunity from her wrongful prosecution claims. That ruling came from Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas.

“Most of the case proceeds on, and we are happy with a majority of Judge Mazzant’s rulings, especially that the defendants Roach, Milner, White and Collin County are still in the case,” said Wooten’s attorney, Scott Palmer of Dallas. “We look forward to proceeding with discovery and moving this case forward.”

Wooten, who was elected to Collin County’s 380th District Court in 2008, was wrongfully convicted of nine felonies in 2011, forced to resign and had her law license suspended. She was exonerated in a 2017 ruling that said even if the allegations against her were true, her actions simply weren’t a crime under Texas law. She then got her law license back.

The central allegation in her conviction involved claims that co-defendants funneled money to Wooten’s campaign in exchange for her to run against the incumbent. The co-defendants wanted Wooten, as judge, to issue favorable rulings in a pending family law case.

Wooten sued Collin County, former District Attorney John Roach Sr., Assistant District Attorney Christopher Milner, former Assistant Attorney General Harry White and then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for malicious prosecution in May 2018. Mazzant’s ruling Monday dismissed Abbott as a defendant.

Mazzant ruled this spring that they were not entitled to prosecutorial immunity because they took up the robe of law enforcement investigators rather than sticking to their duties as prosecutors. That sparked an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is still pending.

Meanwhile, Wooten was instructed to file an amended pleading with more details about her probation, arrest, and other things, to help the court decide whether qualified immunity applied. Qualified immunity protects government officials from being sued for mistakes, but not for plain incompetence or purposeful violations of the law.

Mazzant’s ruling Monday concluded that qualified immunity does not apply at this stage.

The judge rejected Roach and Milner’s arguments that they can’t be liable because their involvement came before Wooten’s indictment and conviction, since the attorney general’s office took over the case in 2010. The court found Wooten raised sufficient allegations that the district attorney’s office initiated criminal charges with no probable cause, which set in motion the constitutional violations.

Roach and Milner also couldn’t dodge liability by arguing it was a grand jury that indicted Wooten, and a judge and jury that convicted her. The opinion noted that Wooten was claiming the defendants conducted a malicious investigation, arrested her with no probable cause and used facts they knew were untrue. Those allegations, if true, are enough for the claims to proceed, Mazzant ruled.

Mazzant wrote that because Wooten received a jury trial, which is the ultimate due process, she couldn’t sue for procedural due process violations. However, he reached a different outcome regarding her substantive due process claims.

Wooten alleged that even if all the facts in her underlying wrongful conviction were true, her actions were never a crime under Texas law and the district attorney defendants knew all along.

Mazzant rejected Roach, Milner and White’s claim that they used a reasonable interpretation of the law at the time and didn’t anticipate the Court of Criminal Appeals would hold differently.

“Any reasonable official should know that creating and pursuing a criminal investigation, for something that is not a crime, based on political motivations, thereby destroying that person’s reputation, employment, and livelihood is a violation of that person’s constitutional rights,” Mazzant wrote.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated December 29 2019

Grits

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2019

TX county jails seek to avoid, fail to cooperate with investigations into medical deaths, says Jail Standards Commission's Sunset 'self evaluation'

Grits took time this morning to read through the Texas Commission on Jail Standards' self evaluation created as part of the "Sunset" process, through which the Texas Legislature evaluates agencies' functions every few years. For my own purposes, I took a few notes. Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/12/tx-county-jails-seek-to-avoid-fail-to.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 2 2020

Grits

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 01, 2020

More on victimization at Texas youth prisons, prosecutor loses immunity over wrongful conviction, broken-windows theory built on a hoax, and other stories (I am going to post the abuse of youths on my sex offender blog)

Happy new year, folks, let's clear a few browser tabs with a quick roundup of stories that merit Grits readers' attention:

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 3 2020

Grits

THURSDAY, JANUARY 02, 2020

Driver killed by Temple PD at traffic stop was unarmed, fingerprint fallibility, and a New Year's #cjreform reading list

Here are a few more odds and ends that merit Grits readers' attention: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/01/driver-killed-by-temple-pd-at-traffic.html

As of Tuesday, Dec. 31, statistics from the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks the deaths of officers in the U.S. and its territories, indicate that 131 police officers have died in 2019 — the lowest annual total since 1959, when 122 were killed. read more here: https://www.foxnews.com/us/2019-is-the-least-deadly-year-for-police-in-decades-statistics-show

Sign this petition here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/no-new-trump-tax-scam

Block the new Trump Tax Scam

In 2017, FedEx owed $1.5 billion in taxes. Last year, thanks to the Trump Tax Scam, it owed exactly $0. FedEx lobbied hard for Trump's tax cuts, and in return Trump and his Republican lackeys cut corporate taxes so much that the government actually owed FedEx money in 2018.1

The Trump Tax Scam is a failure – unless you're an international corporation or a billionaire. It is helping corporations evade taxes and the super wealthy hoard wealth by paying lower taxes than working people.2

But corporations and billionaires are Republicans' most coveted supporters, so they're working with Trump on a Tax Scam 2.0 to be unveiled this fall.3 We need to raise our voices now to stop it in its tracks.

Tell Congress: Block the new Trump Tax Scam.

The Trump Tax Scam was immoral from the start and has become more unpopular with each passing day. It sabotaged the Affordable Care Act and gave corporations a permanent tax break while individuals and families saw only temporary benefits. Two years later, its success at rewarding the rich and failure to help anyone else could not be clearer:4

Corporations dodged taxes.

CEOs got rich using tax handouts for stock buybacks.

Economic growth lagged behind what was promised.

Business investment stalled.

Predatory hedge funds got an accidental bonus tax break.

The deficit grew and became an excuse to cut the safety net.

Our national housing shortage got worse.

Billionaires can pay a lower tax rate than working moms.

13 million people were put at risk of losing any health care coverage.

But according to new reports, Trump and his Republican puppets in Congress are planning a new tax scam that would give wealthy individuals the same permanent, non-expiring tax breaks that corporations got the first time around and introduce all sorts of new handouts for the well-connected. We need to stop this horrible idea before it gains momentum.

Tell Congress: Block the new Trump Tax scam.

Thank you for speaking out.

References:

Jim Tankersley, Peter Eavis and Ben Casselman, "How FedEx Cut Its Tax Bill to $0," The New York Times, Nov. 17, 2019.

Derek Thompson, "The GOP Tax Cuts Didn’t Work," The Atlantic, Oct. 31, 2019.

Erica Werner, Josh Dawsey and Jeff Stein, "White House officials ramp up new tax cut talks, as Trump seeks sharp contrast with 2020 Democrats," The Washington Post, Oct. 31, 2019.

Thompson, "The GOP Tax Cuts Didn’t Work."

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 4 2020

Sign this petion here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-postal-sell-off-say-no-to-a-privatizer-as-the-postmaster-general

Stop the Postal Sell-off: Say NO to a privatizer as the Postmaster General

The public service mission of the Postal Service has made it the most popular federal agency. However, this public good is at risk if we don’t all act soon.

In June 2018 the White House announced proposals to privatize the Postal Service. Now Postmaster General Megan Brennan has announced her departure as Postmaster General in January 2020.

The people will rightly expect a new Postmaster General who will uphold the Postal Service’s public mission and will work to preserve and enhance our national treasure.

Add your voice. Protect our public Postal Service.

Sign this petition here: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/millionaires-surtax

Tax the super-rich. Pass a millionaires surtax.

America's super-rich have turned our democracy into an oligarchy. Instead of every vote mattering, the richest handful of American oligarchs use their money to distort elections and make government serve them.1

They use their wealth and power to buy politicians and push for policies like the Trump tax scam. And their investments are paying off — the richest of the rich actually pay lower tax rates than the rest of us since they supercharge their wealth with investments that are taxed at a much lower rate.2

Sens. Sherrod Brown and Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Don Beyer just introduced legislation to impose a surtax on all millionaires. The millionaires surtax will make sure the super-rich pay their fair share, help fund services for working people – and make our democracy work for the 99 percent again.

Tell Congress: Tax the super-rich. Pass a millionaires surtax.

The wealthiest few pay less in taxes the richer they get. That's because the top tax bracket kicks in at $450,000 dollars, and the tax rate for investment income is just 15 percent. The richer people get, the more their income comes from investments and Wall Street speculation instead of working for a living, and the lower rate they pay overall. So a Fortune 500 CEO raking in money from Wall Street trades pays a lower tax rate than a doctor making $500,000 each year – and a far lower tax rate than the working people who make giant corporations profitable.3

A millionaire surtax is a great way to crack down on this injustice. It would:4

Narrowly target millionaires. The millionaires surtax adds an extra 10 percentage point tax to the .2% of individuals making more than $1 million, or $2 million for married couples. That would have applied to just 329,000 tax filers in 2019, leaving taxes untouched for 98.8 percent of people.

Tax all income equally. No longer would millionaires pay a lower tax rate than their assistants. The millionaire surtax applies equally to income from wages and salaries and income from capital gains and dividends – covering a CEO's sky-high salary as well as his investment portfolio.

Make government work for working people. A super-majority of Americans of all parties support the millionaires surtax. Even a majority of millionaires supports taxing the richest of the rich. The surtax could raise more than $635 million over the next decade that could go into services for working people and public benefits that help all of us.

Trump ran for office promising to 'drain the swamp,' then turned around and gave the Wall Street swamp a massive tax cut. Progressives need to show what true populism really looks like by rallying behind simple, commonsense ideas to make the richest of the rich pay their fair share. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders helped put this idea on the map as part of the presidential campaigns, and now we need to show that making the super-rich pay their fair share has massive support.

Tell Congress: Tax the super-rich. Pass a millionaires surtax.

Thank you for speaking out.

References:

Josh Bivens, "Restraining the power of the rich with a 10 percent surtax on incomes over $2 million," Economic Policy Institute, April 12, 2019.

Ibid.

Americans for Tax Fairness, "Millionaires Surtax Background," Millionaires Surtax, Nov. 4, 2019.

Ibid.

Grits

FRIDAY, JANUARY 03, 2020

Texas' natural experiment on marijuana shows decriminalization brings relief to an over-strained system

The number of marijuana arrests in Texas has plummeted since June, when the state accidentally legalized "hemp," even though Texas crime labs had no way to distinguish between legal hemp and illegal marijuana.

The result, reported Jolie McCullough at the Texas Tribune: The number of new marijuana cases filed by prosecutors plummeted by two thirds, from an average of 5,900 per month last year to 1,919 in November.

Think about that: Thanks to this happy accident, nearly 4,000 fewer people per month will be prosecuted. Less widely discussed: Texas crime labs will receive nearly 4,000 fewer marijuana samples per month for testing. That's roughly 48,000 fewer per year. Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/01/texas-natural-experiment-on-marijuana.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 5 2020

TORN APART

Across the Country Harsh Sentencing Laws are Tearing Apart Families and Communities

December 24, 2019

States across the country continue to apply outdated sentencing laws that keep people locked behind bars for excessively long times. Michigan is a particularly bad actor when it comes to laws that empower prosecutors to tack on unnecessary extra years to criminal sentences. Kimiko Uyeda, a single mother, was subject to these harsh laws after allegedly filing a false police report and spent six years behind bars. Thanks to Kimiko's help, the Michigan Senate introduced three bills earlier this month that allow for judicial discretion in cases similar to hers, and limit the use of the punitive habitual sentencing penalty. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/across-the-country-harsh-sentencing-laws-are-tearing-apart-families-and-communities/

JOBS FOR ALL

A Fair Chance at Opportunity: The U.S. Government Bans the Box

December 20, 2019

By passing the Fair Chance Act in early December, the federal government will serve as a model for fair chance hiring, along with 35 states, the District of Columbia, and over 150 cities and counties that have banned the box policies. Following its passage, qualified workers with arrest or conviction records can now compete fairly for employment with the largest employer in the world, the U.S. government. The Fair Chance Act's success was a critical step in the right direction in our continued work to advance additional fair chance hiring practices in local and state government and the private sector. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/a-fair-chance-at-opportunity-the-u-s-government-bans-the-box/

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 7 2020

Grits

MONDAY, JANUARY 06, 2020

Conflating federal/state systems to demagogue vs. bail reform

The Dallas Morning News editorial board issued one of the most ignorant, counter-productive commentaries on bail reform I've seen in a while. They announce that:

there is another type of bail “reform” that is growing into a national movement championed by some district attorneys. This type of bail reform drives toward the uncritical release, on outrageously low bonds, of people accused of violent crimes who have a history of violent behavior. Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/01/conflating-federalstate-systems-to.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 8 2020

One thing that has always sickened me about the world is; child labor. It was the subject of my first political post I ever did on the internet, for democrat.org.

Sign the petition: Demand Hershey, Nestlé and Mars end child labor practices NOW!: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-the-petition-demand-hershey-nestle-and-mars-end-child-labor-practices-now

Because of Hershey, Nestlé and Mars, the odds are substantial that a chocolate bar bought in the United States is the product of child labor.

About two-thirds of the world’s cocoa supply comes from West Africa, and in 2015 the U.S. Labor Department reported that more than 2 million children were performing dangerous labor to harvest cocoa. These kids, some starting as young as 10, are employed at extremely low wages or even, in many cases, no wages. They are swinging machetes, carrying heavy loads, spraying pesticides — all considered the “worst forms of child labor” under international law.

The link between American chocolate and child slave labor in West Africa has come under scrutiny in the past. But when a measure to create a federal labeling system to indicate whether child slaves had been used in harvesting cocoa didn’t pass, the chocolate industry—adamant that it didn’t need federal regulation to fix the problem—compromised with the federal government.

Though they promised to eradicate child labor from their supply chains 20 years ago, today, these same companies say they cannot guarantee that the chocolate you buy is free from child labor -- child labor remains a huge part of the supply chain!

The agreement was not legally binding, and the chocolate companies were largely left to self-regulate. This is just one more example of so called ‘self regulation’ leading to business as usual.

This is a gross malpractice and we must demand an end to it immediately! We must demand that Hershey, Nestlé and Mars cease child labor practices NOW!

Sign the petition: Hershey, Nestlé and Mars broke their pledges to end child labor -- they MUST put a stop to it NOW!

Participating Organizations:

Corporate Accountability

CREDO

Daily Kos

Seeding Sovereignty

PETITIONING

CEOs of Hershey, Nestlé and Mars

SPONSORED BY

Daily Kos

ADDITIONAL SPONSORS

Corporate Accountability

Boston, MA

Seeding Sovereignty

CREDO Action

Progress America

Our Message to CEOs of Hershey, Nestlé and Mars:

You have broken your promise and continue to profit off of child labor. These children are taken from their homes and paid low or even no wages to conduct the “worst forms of child labor” under international law. We demand you stop these practices immediately!

SIGN NOW: Demand a Social Security cost-of-living adjustment that reflects the real costs that we face: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-now-demand-a-social-security-cost-of-living-adjustment-that-reflects-the-real-costs-that-we-face/

Target: All Members of Congress

The current stingy COLA formula means that Social Security benefits are gradually eroding over time, since they are rising more slowly than inflation. The erosion of these benefits makes it harder for seniors and Americans with disabilities to get food, medicines, and other necessities—especially at a time when one-third of the average Social Security check is already going toward out-of-pocket medical expenses.

The Social Security 2100 Act would update the formula used to calculate COLAs to reflect the real expenses that Social Security beneficiaries face.

Sign the petition and tell Congress to pass the Social Security 2100 Act and give Social Security beneficiaries a real cost-of-living adjustment!

PROTECT PREGNANT WORKERS' RIGHTS Sign now: https://action.aclu.org/send-message/protect-pregnant-workers-rights

Pregnant workers in the U.S. still lack critical protections in the workplace. Too many employers believe they can fire pregnant employees, force them to quit, or take unpaid leave instead of providing temporary accommodations that would allow them to remain productive employees and maintain a healthy pregnancy.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act would help protect the health and livelihoods of pregnant workers. Tell your member of Congress to cosponsor the PWFA now.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 9 2020

Grits

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 08, 2020

Dallas PD pursuit policy wouldn't have allowed DPS pursuit that lead to shooting, qualified immunity prevents prison-conditions suit, court records lost to history, and other stories

Let's clear some browser tabs. Here are a number of recent items that merit Grits readers' attention: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/01/dallas-pd-pursuit-policy-wouldnt-have.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 11 2020

Grits

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2020

Should Texas switch to non-partisan judicial elections?

The Texas Judicial Selection Commission, created by the Legislature last year, says Lone-Star-State judges should be selected in non-partisan elections. The immediate concern is that experienced judges are being ousted by less experienced ones in partisan sweeps, leaving the state's judiciary bifurcated along party lines. With the state's larger counties and some appellate seats turning blue, the state's high courts and most appellate bodies are still controlled by Republicans.

https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/01/should-texas-switch-to-non-partisan.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 12 2020

Grits

SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 2020

Made-up informants, prosecutor misconduct, reacting to crime in Dallas, and other stories

Here are a few odds and ends that merit Grits' readers attention on a big football weekend: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/01/made-up-informants-prosecutor.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 13 2020

Grits

UNDAY, JANUARY 12, 2020

On the damage done by economists to criminal-justice policy:

A personal polemic In December, Grits was pleased to meet Texas A&M Associate Professor Jennifer Doleac, an economist who seeks to apply econometric methods to crime policy. Prof. Doleac runs a podcast called Probable Causation, on which she interviews economists about their criminal-justice-related work. She is an avid promoter of her profession. In her view, "if anyone is equipped to design solutions to existing problems and test whether they worked, it is economists." Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/01/on-damage-done-by-economists-to.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 14 2020

In some cases I find it hard to say suicide is murder; like when a gay person kills themselves from being picked on. In this case I expound zealously that suicide is murder. If a person is willing to murder themselves it is obvious; they are a small step away from murdering someone else.

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/01/gay-right-winger-protested-drag-queens-marriage-equality-died-suicide/

Gay right-winger who protested drag queens & marriage equality died by suicide

The gay conservative was part of an "aggressive" protest at a library that spawned nationwide condemnation the day before he died.

Monday, January 13, 2020

A gay student who protested against a Drag Queen Story Hour in a viral video has been found dead in an apparent suicide over the weekend.

Wilson Gavin, 21, led a group of 15 to 20 protestors from the University of Queensland’s Liberal National Club (the Liberty Party of Australia is center-right) this weekend in what was called an “aggressive” protest against a Drag Queen Story Hour being held at the Brisbane Square Library in Australia.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 15 2020

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/01/gay-republican-accuses-democrats-supporting-sharia-law-beheading-gays/

Gay Republican accuses Democrats of supporting “Sharia Law” & beheading gays

The Log Cabin Republican leader said that Democrats will kill LGBTQ people while Donald Trump has expanded gay rights.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

A gay Republican went on a rant filled with conspiracy theories and false accusations against Muslim American lawmakers and Democrats at a Log Cabin Republican rally in Florida yesterday.

Andrew Brett is the president of the Broward County Log Cabin Republicans, a group for LGBTQ Republicans that held a rally in Wilton Manors. About a dozen people showed up for the rally, according to South Florida Gay News, and about three times as many people attended the counter-protest.

Related: Former Log Cabin Republicans head publicly opposes proposed LGBTQ nondiscrimination law

Brett started his speech by accusing Democrats of becoming the “party of division,” and then he launched a diatribe against Muslims and Democrats.

He said that the current contenders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination – which include former Vice President Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg – favor “Socialism in which supports Sharia law.”

He did not explain the connection between Socialism and Islamic religious law.

“The GLBT Democratic residents of Broward County don’t understand or comprehend the catastrophic results of Sharia Law,” he said. “[Rep. Ihlan] Omar [D-MN] and [Rep. Rashida] Tlaib [D-MI] support Sharia Law and definitely do not support the GLBT community even though they claim to be Democrats. Omar and Tlaib are not friends of the GLBT community and support the execution of beheadings of GLBT people.”

Omar and Tlaib are the first two Muslim women to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, and neither supports imposing Islamic religious law on the U.S.

And neither supports beheading LGBTQ people. Indeed, they have both publicly supported LGBTQ equality.

But that didn’t stop Brett. He went on to say that Democrats’ support for modest gun control is a sign that they want to exterminate LGBTQ people.

“Might I remind the GLBT community that Hitler took the guns away from 20,000 people and you saw how that played out,” he said. “The Log Cabin Republicans totally support the Second Amendment and we’ll be damned if any Socialists will take that right a way.”

Brett also defended Donald Trump. “So when GLBT folks, not only in Broward County, but throughout the country say, ‘President Trump is taking our rights away.’ I always ask ‘What rights has he taken away from you when you woke up this morning?’ He hasn’t. And didn’t.”

He listed several things that Trump did for LGBTQ people, most of which were promises (like Trump’s promise to end HIV), probably not true (that Trump nominated a gay judge to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals), or irrelevant (that Trump donates his presidential salary).

At the end of his speech, Brett said that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican, which is false, and specifically mentioned King’s daughter Alveda King who “carries on his legacy and his message that we were all created equal.”

Alveda King is a Fox News contributor who is probably best known as the homophobic member of the King family – she has said that the devil created homosexuality, that homosexuality is “unnatural,” that legalizing marriage equality leads to natural disasters, and that homosexuality is comparable to pedophilia.

Activist Michael Rajner led the counterprotest and drowned out the Log Cabin Republicans with his bullhorn, South Florida Gay News reports, because the conservatives forgot to charge the battery for their sound system.

“I think it’s important to be here because generations that follow us will be subject to the horrible laws and punishments from this administration if [Trump] should be reelected,” Rajner said. “He’s appointed some terrible judges that are hostile to the LGBT community, and our protections are eroding so quickly.”

“We must stand up, we must register to vote, and we must get the community to mobilize to stand up against this hate.”

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 17 2020

I got this outstanding email from NAACP this morning:

You might have seen us in the New York Times, but if you haven’t, I wanted to make sure to highlight this article for you:

SPONSORED BY

Daily Kos

ADDITIONAL SPONSORS

Climate Hawks Vote

CCAN Action Fund

Takoma Park, MD

Endangered Species Coalition

198 methods

Protect The Wolves

Cottonwood, CA

Friends of the Earth Action

Our Message to U.S. Congress:

ACT NOW: PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY. OPPOSE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CRUEL POLICY. Sign here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/social-security-attack

The last time this policy was implemented, 21,176 people died.

Click “start writing” to submit an official comment to the Social Security Administration and stop the Trump administration’s cruel policy before it’s implemented.

Grits

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020

Meaty January episode of Reasonably Suspicious podcast: Hear federal judge scold Travis County DA; what's the remedy for school principal convicted based on junk science?; why DPS troopers' chase policy is a bad fit for urban policing, and more

Here's the January 2020 episode of Just Liberty's Reasonably Suspicious podcast, co-hosted by me and Mandy Marzullo. We have a meaty, jam-packed show for you this month.:

https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/01/meaty-january-episode-of-reasonably.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 26 2020

Grits

SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2020 What do Greg Abbott, Croatia, the Roman Emperor Hadrian, ancient Hebrews, 6th century Greeks, Hammurabi, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders all have in common? "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." - Jesus Christ, The Lord's Prayer

What do Governor Greg Abbott and the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature have in common with Croatia, Rome's openly gay emperor Hadrian, an ancient Hebrew religious celebration, 6th century Athenian Greeks, Hammurabi, as well as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders?

January 21, 2020

This ACLU article "Fighting For Justice After Execution" below, sounds like the Nazi's lining Jewish people up, while they assassinated them; to save bullets.

To save bullets, victims were lined up five deep with one shot penetrating through all five. This saved ammunition, but many victims were not killed with this method. That did not prevent the Nazis from pushing them all into the pit and sprinkling them with lime before piling more corpses on.

AT LIBERTY PODCAST

Fighting For Justice After Execution

In 2017, Arkansas announced a plan to execute eight people in 10 days because the state's lethal injection drugs were about to expire. The first person executed was Ledell Lee. He was convicted of the 1993 murder of Debra Reese and sentenced to death. But his trials and appeals were plagued by problems from the start, and a new analysis from the nation's top forensic experts provides strong reason to believe he may have been innocent. Cassandra Stubbs, Director of the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project, joins the podcast to discuss a new lawsuit the ACLU is filing to finally uncover DNA evidence that could potentially exonerate Lee.

Listen here or read → https://www.aclu.org/podcast/fighting-justice-after-execution-ep-83

By ACLU Staff

January 23, 2020

Texas has the 4th most pregnant teens in our country. My question is who is getting these young ladies pregnant? Why are they not on the sex offender registry? I do not even care if they are the same age; and I am amusing most times it is not.

I found this up to date info here: https://powertodecide.org/what-we-do/information/national-state-data/teen-pregnancy-rate

KEEP THE COVERAGE

The Supreme Court Takes Up the Issue of Birth Control Coverage – Again

The Supreme Court just announced that it will hear yet another case about the Affordable Care Act's birth control coverage requirement. If you are experiencing déjà vu, you are not alone. Court battles over the birth control coverage requirement have been raging for almost a decade. We strongly support religious liberty – but allowing companies and universities to use religious beliefs to block employees' and students' birth control coverage is discrimination, not religious liberty. Everyone should have birth control coverage, regardless of where they work or where they go to school. Here's a look at how we got here. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/the-supreme-court-takes-up-the-issue-of-birth-control-coverage-again/

By Brigitte Amiri

January 17, 2020

From: https://oag.ca.gov/ab1887

PROHIBITION ON STATE-FUNDED AND STATE-SPONSORED TRAVEL TO STATES WITH DISCRIMINATORY LAWS (ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 1887)

States Subject to AB 1887’s Travel Prohibition

The following states are currently subject to California’s ban on state-funded and state-sponsored travel: 1.Alabama 2.Iowa 3.Kansas 4.Kentucky 5.Mississippi 6.North Carolina 7.Oklahoma 8.South Carolina 9.South Dakota 10.Tennessee 11.Texas

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 28 2020

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/01/lgbtq-people-suffer-religion-government-mix/

LGBTQ people suffer when religion & government mix

Christian conservatives say it's discrimination to not let them make legal decisions based on their religion - but LGBTQ people's beliefs are forced to the sidelines.

Friday, January 24, 2020

A pair of recent decisions from two of the southern federal Circuit Courts of Appeals should be alarming us all. Instead, they’re only alarming a handful of us – because, overall, our community still clings to the inexplicable belief that religion can be our friend or, at least, a friend that we will be able to use to defend ourselves from certain others who also claim religion to be their friend.

Of the two recent decisions, only one has a direct LGBTQ component. Even so, it is truly difficult to say which one is the more disturbing, though the non-LGBTQ one, United States v. Brown, probably deserves the nod.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated January 29 2020

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/act-now-protect-social-security-oppose-the-trump-administrations-cruel-policy

ACT NOW: PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY. OPPOSE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CRUEL POLICY.

The last time this policy was implemented, 21,176 people died.

Click “start writing” to submit an official comment to the Social Security Administration and stop the Trump administration’s cruel policy before it’s implemented.

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/take-action-call-on-congress-to-pass-the-presidential-tax-transparency-act

TAKE ACTION: CALL ON CONGRESS TO PASS THE PRESIDENTIAL TAX TRANSPARENCY ACT

The American people have a right to know if the sitting president and candidates for president have any financial conflicts of interest―foreign or domestic―and if they’re paying their fair share of taxes.

Right now, we have three billionaires running for president. And between them, only Democrat Tom Steyer has released his tax returns. Michael Bloomberg has indicated that he’d release his if he was to win the Democratic nomination.

After three years in office, Donald Trump is still refusing to share his with the American people.

We still don’t know how Donald Trump and his family are benefiting from the Trump-GOP tax scam, which handed $2 trillion mostly to the rich and corporations.

We still don’t know how Trump and his family may have abused our tax laws to avoid paying their fair share of taxes over many years.

And we still don’t know the full extent of the financial relationship between Trump and foreign powers such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Click “start writing” to send a message to your members of Congress and tell them to pass the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, which would require the president and all major party candidates for president to release their tax returns.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated February 01 2020

Sign this petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-the-petition-demand-congress-address-dark-money-in-politics-and-end-unlimited-spending-on-our-elections

I am signing this because nothing should be done in darkness; when it comes to political elections in our country.

Sign the petition: Demand Congress address Dark Money in politics and end unlimited spending on our elections

Dark money continues to seep into executive, legislative, and even judicial elections, threatening the impartiality of state supreme courts across the country. Without transparency, voters don’t know who is trying to influence them or to whom a candidate is beholden.

It keeps getting worse. Dark money has invaded Florida’s elections and campaigns, making it difficult for voters to receive factual information. Just this month, dark money drove Congress to kill surprise medical billing legislation, despite the fact that it was backed by a bipartisan effort.

Grits

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020

Confronting racism at Austin PD, ↓ TX solitary numbers may be an illusion, driver license suspensions not enhancing collections, Big-D bail reform collapses into confusion, and other stories

Here are a few odd and ends that merit Grits readers' attention:

https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/01/confronting-racism-at-austin-pd-tx.html

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020

DNA mixture math errors discovered in 2015 weren't the first

Grits this week revisited the 2007 "Bromwich report" regarding what then was the Houston PD crime lab while researching DNA-mixture evidence issues and realized something I hadn't understood at the time - or perhaps just never connected the dots: Errors calculating DNA-mixture probabilities were at the center of the years-long crisis that engulfed the Houston crime lab's DNA section for most of the aughts. Read more: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/01/dna-mixture-math-errors-discovered-in.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated February 02 2020

Got this must post email this morning:

February is a time to celebrate the incredible impact and accomplishments of black Americans.

America has a complicated and painful relationship with race. Our history is marred by slavery, Jim Crow, and the lingering effects of institutional racism. This month is a time for us to reflect on the vital contributions black Americans made to our nation’s history and their role in shaping our democracy into a more perfect union.

Shirley Chisholm: "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."

But it’s not enough to post on social media and send an email once a year about black history - we have to fight for black Americans too, because our current system doesn’t do enough.

Dan Crenshaw? He can pay lip service to minority communities all he wants, but we see his actions. He takes away healthcare, promotes gun violence, and works against our public schools.

An elected official for the people fights for ALL people in their district, not just those who look like them. And that’s what I will do as the first Congresswoman from Texas’s 2nd District.

This February, consider a visit to the Houston Museum of African American Culture >>> http://hmaac.org/

ARCHIVAL OUTRAGE

The National Archives Doctored a Women's March Photo Critical of Trump. We're Demanding Answers.

Last week, reporters revealed that the National Archives had doctored four protest signs in a photograph of the 2017 Women's March. The photo was displayed as part of an exhibit, "Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote." Words on the signs were blurred. Instead of documenting history, the National Archives altered artifacts to mask criticism of the president and erase our bodies. We're demanding answers. As a first step to restoring that trust, the National Archives must be fully transparent and make public all records concerning its troubling decision to rewrite history. We won't rest until it does. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/the-national-archives-doctored-a-womens-march-photo-critical-of-trump-were-demanding-answers/

ACADEMIC FREEDOM?

The Government is Trying to Strip Student Workers of the Ability to Unionize

The federal government recently proposed a rule that would strip graduate student workers of their ability to organize under the National Labor Relations Act, which grants most private sector employees the right to engage in collective bargaining. The National Labor Relations Board argued that allowing graduate student assistants to bargain collectively would "uniquely imperil the protection of academic freedoms." The government is wrong. Like any other employee, student workers seek to organize to improve their working conditions – not to exert control over academic matters. "Protecting academic freedom" is just the government's phony justification for limiting workers' ability to unionize, and, as an organization deeply devoted to both academic freedom and free association, we won't stand by it. That's why we're opposing the proposed rule. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/the-government-is-trying-to-strip-student-workers-of-the-ability-to-unionize/

Click here to sign this petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-the-petition-demand-congress-investigate-rick-perry

Trump’s former Secretary of Energy Rick Perry is rejoining Dakota Access Pipeline company Energy Transfer LP’s board of directors this year. His return to a pipeline company responsible for so much climate destruction is alarming.

While serving as the Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry not only supported the fossil fuel industry by meeting with major coal leaders and proposing to bailout the entire coal industry, but he has been mired in Trump’s Ukraine scandal.

Eventually House Democrats were left with no choice but to subpoena Perry given his negotiation of gas deals with Ukrainian leaders.

As Energy Secretary during the climate crisis, Rick Perry had a duty to everyone across the country to support the expansion of renewable energy projects. But now he will return to Energy Transfer LP’s board, further enabling destructive energy projects and threatening our climate.

Given this and with other Trump officials like Interior Secretary David Bernhardt standing to privately benefit from deals made as a public servant, Congress must investigate Rick Perry.

Sign the petition: Demand Congress investigate Trump’s former Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

Participating Organizations:

CCAN Action Fund

Climate Hawks Vote

Daily Kos

Endangered Species Coalition

Friends of the Earth Action

Progress America

198 methods

Our Message to U.S. Congress:

Trump’s former Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, is rejoining pipeline company Energy Transfer LP’s board of directors this year. His return to a pipeline company responsible for so much climate destruction is alarming.

The American people deserve public servants who will not use their positions to reap financial benefits. I am counting on you to exercise oversight responsibilities by investigating Trump’s former Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

Grits

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 01, 2020

Drug War propping up Texas criminal caseloads in a time of declining crime

The new 2019 annual statistical report for the Texas Office of Court Administration provides these broad datapoints about the Texas criminal-justice system: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/02/drug-war-propping-up-texas-criminal.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated February 04 2020

Grits

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2020

Trump Super Bowl ad bolsters red-state #cjreform prospects

It's a sign of changing times that two Super Bowl ads ran yesterday (worth >$5 million each) related to criminal-justice reform. One was from the NFL (on police shootings), which I suppose could be considered a house ad. But the more surprising one by far was a new commercial from President Donald Trump's re-election campaign touting his clemency for Alice Free and passage of the First Step Act, which among other things shortened sentences for thousands of presently incarcerated federal prisoners.: Read more here:

https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/02/trump-super-bowl-ad-bolsters-red-state.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated February 05 2020

Grits

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020

No R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Jury trials not only place for Texas criminal-defense lawyers to shed Rodney-Dangerfield image

"Want to earn a prosecutor's respect?," asked the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association on Twitter. "Beat them in a jury trial."

So how much respect are Texas criminal-defense lawyers earning?

From the 2019 annual statistical report of the Texas Office of Court Administration, here are a few data points on trials I wanted to record for my own purposes. Maybe some Grits readers will also find them interesting.

Overall, reports the OCA, attorneys in Texas are taking about 5% of felony cases to trial. That's more than I would have expected, and as I'll discuss below, may be overstated. Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/02/no-r-e-s-p-e-c-t-jury-trials-not-only.html

Click here to send letter to reps: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/take-action-to-end-surprise-medical-bills-2

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2020

No R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Jury trials not only place for Texas criminal-defense lawyers to shed Rodney-Dangerfield image

"Want to earn a prosecutor's respect?," asked the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association on Twitter. "Beat them in a jury trial."

So how much respect are Texas criminal-defense lawyers earning?

Overall, reports the OCA, attorneys in Texas are taking about 5% of felony cases to trial. That's more than I would have expected, and as I'll discuss below, may be overstated.

Take Action to End Surprise Medical Bills

In 2019, Congress left unfinished business on surprise medical bills. Since then, roughly 10,000 Americans have been hit with an out-of-network surprise medical bill per day.

In the coming months, your elected officials will get another chance to pass legislation to end surprise medical bills – and they need to hear from you.

Send an email to your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative today to demand action to end surprise medical bills.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated February 09 2020

Using Bail as Ransom Violates the Core Tenets of Pretrial Justice

Across the country, people are forced to surrender bail money to pay future debts before they're ever convicted of a crime. In places such as Nashville, Tennessee, anyone trying to post bail on behalf of a friend, loved one, or community member must agree that the money posted is subject to garnishment for any future debts assessed in the case. In other words, anyone paying cash bail must agree that the defendant's court costs, fines, fees, or restitution can be deducted from their deposit. These policies prevent organizations such as the Nashville Community Bail Fund from continuing their vital work. This week, we sued in federal court to stop this unconstitutional practice and ensure that bail funds across the country are allowed to keep working, uninhibited by government officials' attempts to turn cash bail deposits into a revenue stream. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/using-bail-as-ransom-violates-the-core-tenets-of-pretrial-justice/

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated February 12 2020

Click here to fight for cancer research and medical treatment

Dear [Decision Maker],

As a constituent and a volunteer for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, I'm asking you to please reject these proposed cuts in the FY2021 budget, and save more lives from cancer.

The Administration's recently proposed budget for FY2021 calls for an over $3 billion cut to medical research at the National Institutes of Health(NIH), including nearly $500 million in cuts for the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The budget also calls for almost $43 million in cuts to important cancer screening and prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a constituent and volunteer with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, I ask that you reject these cuts in the FY2021 budget.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated February 13 2020

Grits

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020

What the jury didn't hear, against SWAT raids for routine search warrants, bail explainers, courthouse architecture, and other stories

Here are a few odds and ends that merit Grits readers' attention: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/02/what-jury-didnt-hear-against-swat-raids.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated February 18 2020

I unsubscribed from a bunch of emails asking me for money and now I am hardly getting any emails at all. I hate reading though 150 emails to find one good one, it can take hours to do this argues task. Apparently the emails I like are linked together with emails I do not like. It is very frustrating and that is why I have not been posting here as much. I am going to continue to unsubscribe out of my frustration of having to many emails.

I read this email today because I have more time to read emails rather than reading hundreds of emails to find 1 good one. I liked reading this email so much I am going to post it here:

From: https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/ashker-v-brown

California prisoner class reps issue public report

Last week, the “four main reps”—Todd Ashker, Arturo Castellanos, George Franco, and Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa—issued a “public report on the current state of California prisons from prisoners.” The reps planned and led the three historic 2011-2013 California mass hunger strikes that had 30,000 participants across the state. They are also our clients in Ashker v. Governor of California, the class-action lawsuit challenging long-term indefinite solitary confinement. Together we achieved a landmark settlement in 2015 and have been monitoring the situation since. In their report on the state of California prisons today, they point out, “No voice has more expertise about the experience and impact of incarceration than the voice of prisoners.” Read their statement in the San Francisco Bay View.

Ashker v. Governor of California is a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of prisoners held in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison who have spent a decade or more in solitary confinement. The case charges that prolonged solitary confinement violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and that the absence of meaningful review for SHU placement violates the prisoners’ rights to due process. The legal action is part of a larger movement to reform conditions in SHUs in Calfornia’s prisons that was sparked by hunger strikes by thousands of SHU prisoners in 2011 and 2013; the named plaintiffs in Ashker include several leaders and participants from the hunger strikes. The case is part of CCR’s broader efforts to challenge mass incarceration, discrimination, and abusive prison policies.

SHU prisoners spend 22 ½ to 24 hours every day in a cramped, concrete, windowless cell. They are denied telephone calls, contact visits, and vocational, recreational, or educational programming. Hundreds of Pelican Bay SHU prisoners have been isolated under these conditions for over 10 years and dozens for more than 20 years, causing harmful and predictable psychological deterioration. In fact, solitary confinement for as little as 15 days is now widely recognized to cause lasting psychological damage and can constitute torture under international law.

In addition, the suit charges that prisoners are denied any meaningful review of their SHU placement. California, alone among all 50 states and most other jurisdictions, imposes extremely prolonged solitary confinement based merely on a prisoner’s alleged association with a prison gang. Gang “affiliation” is assessed without considering whether a prisoner is – or ever was – actually involved in gang activity.

Ashker v. Governor of California amended an earlier pro se lawsuit filed by Pelican Bay SHU prisoners Todd Ashker and Danny Troxell. The case is before Judge Claudia Wilken in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Join us in NYC for a live podcast recording!

As part of our Black History Month celebration, we will be recording an upcoming episode of our podcast, "The Activist Files," before a live audience. For "How it Would Feel to Be Free: Southern Resistance to Race and Gender Oppression," we will be in conversation about the fights for racial, gender, and LGBTQIA+ justice that Southern leaders are spearheading. Podcast guests include Lakeesha Harris—Reproductive Justice and Sexual Health Program Manager at Women With a Vision—Valencia Robinson—CEO and founder of Mississippi in Action—and Quita Tinsley—Deputy Director of Access Reproductive Care-Southeast.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated February 21 2020

Grits

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2020

A brief hiatus

I'd mentioned earlier that your correspondent recently had a cancer diagnosis and a lump removed from my neck in December, leaving an ear-to-Adam's-apple scar that my granddaughter announced was reminiscent of Nearly Headless Nick from the Harry-Potter series.

I'm now in the midst of radiation therapy and, in the last week, it has knocked me down significantly more than I anticipated. (In particular, my 1/8-ton frame was not quite ready for the abrupt, no-solid-food switch!) As such, I'm going to suspend the blog until this is finished and I'm feeling better, hopefully in 5-6 weeks. No podcast this month; we'll see about March. It's possible I'll stick my head back in here a time or two if my energy improves or something urgent comes up. Otherwise, I'm focused on my health and perhaps catching up on reading and Netflix binging. Haven't had the energy for much else.

Wish me luck, folks! I'll report back in a few weeks.

My post for him on this page: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/02/a-brief-hiatus.html

SOFAQ said...

Prayed with my wife for you to get well and will continue to do that. I believe there is no doubt that what you do pleases God. I hope you will remember that during your recovery and that will help heal you quicker. You must do everything you can to stay in shape with your doctor's advice.

2/21/2020 08:00:00 AM

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated February 23 2020

AT LAST, HIS DAY IN COURT

U.S. Resident Indefinitely Detained Without Charge Secures His Day In Court

Adham Hassoun, a long-time U.S. resident and a father of three, will finally have his day in court. A federal judge has rejected the government's sweeping claim that it can, on its own say-so, indefinitely imprison him without charge and without a fair trial. Adham completed his criminal sentence and was set to be released from prison almost three years ago. But the government – claiming unprecedented and unconstitutional powers – is seeking to keep him locked up indefinitely, perhaps for the rest of his life, based on executive fiat. As we argued to the court, the government cannot use the Patriot Act to circumvent Adham's constitutional rights. If the government has reason to detain Adham, it must charge him with a crime or at least present its evidence before a court and give Adham an opportunity to mount a defense – as the Constitution demands. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/u-s-resident-indefinitely-detained-without-charge-secures-his-day-in-court/

PROSECUTORIAL POWER

Our Vision to Transform What it Means to Be a Prosecutor

Many players have a hand in our mass incarceration crisis, but there's one actor with almost unlimited power to determine who ends up locked up and who goes free – the power to charge (or not), to divert people from incarceration (or not), to plea bargain (or not). That person is the prosecutor. Prosecutors not only have the power to ruin lives – they have the power to save them. As we have seen in a handful of places around the country, prosecutors committed to reform can use their discretion to choose liberty over incarceration and rehabilitation over punishment. This is our vision for the future of transformational prosecution. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/our-vision-to-transform-what-it-means-to-be-a-prosecutor/

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 01 2020

REFUSAL OF CARE

February 27, 2020

A Hospital Refused to Provide Medically Necessary Surgery Because I Am Transgender

Evan Minton, an ACLU plaintiff, was denied healthcare because he is transgender under the guise of religious liberty. Minton writes about this harrowing experience, which is just one of many cases of sex-based discrimination that the current administration is trying to allow against LGBTQ people. Less than a year after Minton's case was filed, the Department of Health and Human Services issued the Refusal of Care Rule to support religious people and entities in limiting the care they provide. The Refusal of Care Rule will reach far beyond trans people. It will profoundly impact access to reproductive health care, particularly for the millions of patients – who are disproportionately Black and Latinx – seeking options counseling and a referral for abortion in the Title X program. Minton testified in Congress this week to defend his right and his community's right to access healthcare. Read more →https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/a-hospital-refused-to-provide-medically-necessary-surgery-because-i-am-transgender/

February 27, 2020

COMMUNITY-LED VICTORY

"Do Not Kill in My Name" – How Colorado Finally Repealed the Death Penalty

Colorado is about to become the 22nd state in the nation to repeal the death penalty. Its path to get there highlights the power of community-led organizing that centered the experiences of people with direct contact with the state's death penalty system. Across Colorado, people made their voices heard: "Do not kill in my name." This time, Colorado's legislators were listening. As Colorado moves closer to repeal, we look to states across the country who are standing up to say that in a society that aspires for fairness and justice, there is no room for the death penalty. Read more →https://www.aclu.org/news/capital-punishment/do-not-kill-in-my-name-how-colorado-finally-repealed-the-death-penalty/

Grits

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2020

TDCJ-mail crackdown, prisons remain understaffed, how TDCJ staffing policies brought African cuisine to East Texas, and other stories

Hey folks, your regular correspondent remains under the weather but our pal Keri Blakinger of the Marshall Project was kind enough to send me an email, with permission to publish, updating us on a range of Texas criminal justice stories. Since I can't eat solid foods at the moment, this is much better than a casserole! Here's her email in full. Thanks, Keri! Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/02/tdcj-mail-crackdown-prisons-remain.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 05 2020

Thanks to my GayUSA email for the lead on this story: http://gayusatv.org/

From: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/us/teacher-wins-lgbtq-school-settlement-trnd/index.html

Teacher of the year suspended for showing students a picture of her fiancée wins $100,000 settlement

CNN

Updated 5:18 AM ET, Fri February 28, 2020

(CNN)A Texas art teacher who was placed on administrative leave after talking about "her future wife" in class hopes her settlement with a school district will change the lives of other LGBTQ people.

Stacy Bailey, who was on paid leave, reached a $100,000 settlement with the Mansfield Independent School District last week, her attorney said.

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/texas-democrats-picked-lesbian-republicans-rejected-religious-right-candidate/

ELECTION NEWS

Texas Democrats picked a lesbian while Republicans rejected a religious right candidate

The race for a Texas congressional seat shows just how purple the state is becoming.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Texas voters proved just how purple the state is becoming on Super Tuesday. While LGBTQ candidates did extremely well statewide, the 23rd Congressional District results are particularly striking.

Democrats overwhelmingly chose out lesbian Gina Ortiz Jones as their candidate in Texas’s 23rd, which covers most of western Texas. Republicans roundly rejected an oil-and-gas businessman backed by the religious right.

In 2018 Gina Ortiz Jones came within just 926 votes of defeating Republican Will Hurd. Hurd is not running for re-election.

Jones, who would be the first LGBTQ person elected to Congress from Texas, won with 70 percent of the vote. McFarlin came in last in a five-way race for the Republican nomination.

McFarlin’s wife credited a religious right “missionary” running for Congress in California for talking her husband into running. Both men are believers in “dominionist Christianity” and they both lost their respective races.

“Texans have never sent an openly LGBTQ person to represent them in Congress, but I am confident Gina will end that come November,” former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, told LGBTQ Nation. “Gina speaks openly and eloquently about her experiences and perspectives as an LGBTQ woman, first-generation immigrant, and a veteran, and that authenticity resonates with voters.”

“Gina’s primary victory puts a crack in the lavender ceiling that has held back LGBTQ Congressional candidates in Texas for generations – and that ceiling will shatter on Election Night,” Parker added. “We have an opportunity to double the number of openly LGBTQ members of Congress this election cycle and Gina’s primary victory makes it that much more likely.”

Four openly LGBTQ non-incumbent candidates won their Texas state House primary races Tuesday night as did all five incumbent out state legislators.

I’m honored to be the Democratic nominee in #TX23. I’ve dedicated my life to public service, and I’m running for Congress to expand the opportunities that allowed me to grow up healthy, get a quality education, and serve our country. https://t.co/fmkHbLCrHe

— Gina Ortiz Jones (@GinaOrtizJones) March 4, 2020

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 08 2020

FREE SPEECH RIGHTS IN PERIL March 5, 2020

Will SCOTUS Protect the Right to Protest?

We are asking the Supreme Court to challenge a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision which, if allowed to stand, would threaten the First Amendment rights of millions. The Fifth Circuit decision stems from protests in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after two white police officers shot and killed Alton Sterling. After the protest, a police officer filed a civil suit on allegations that a person in the crowd threw an unidentified object which hit the officer. The officer filed this suit against activist DeRay Mckesson. The Fifth Circuit's conclusion that Mckesson could be held liable for foreseeable, unintended actions of a fellow protester would severely chill Americans' ability to protest. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/our-protest-rights-are-in-the-supreme-courts-hands/

ANTI-TRANS BILLS EMERGE AT STATE LEVEL March 4, 2020 By ACLU Staff

Trans People Belong

State legislators across the country are attacking the fundamental rights of transgender and non-binary people by limiting their access to healthcare, basic services, educational institutions, and public spaces. Multiple anti-trans bills limiting trans peoples' ability to access healthcare and participate in sports have been introduced. These bills marginalize trans athletes by compromising their privacy, health, and social and emotional development. Exclusionary anti-trans bills affect trans people of all ages and backgrounds, but disproportionately fall on Black trans women and other trans people of color – contributing to high rates of homelessness, suicidality, and violence. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/trans-people-belong/

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 09 2020

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/evangelical-christians-linking-lgbtq-people-coronavirus-now/

I can play the blame game too, and use the Bible to do it. Maybe we can blame the coronavirus on the Christian's. The Bible says that the Christians on the earth right now are the worst in the history of the world. God says in the Bible that Christians today disgust Him so much that He has to spit them out of His mouth like sour milk.

Separation from church and state has never been so, so important; as it is today.

BIAS WATCH

Evangelical Christians are linking LGBTQ people to the coronavirus now

That didn't take long.

Friday, March 6, 2020

Evangelical Christians have blamed LGBTQ people for all sorts of natural disasters and diseases, from Ebola to earthquakes, and now they’re starting to falsely link the community to the new coronavirus COVID-19.

Steven Andrew from USA Christian Church has named March “Repent of LGBT Sin Month” to protect “the USA from diseases, such as the Coronavirus.” The flamboyant preacher has been nicknamed “Pastor Jazz Hands” by blogger Joe Jervis.

Related: Trump puts Pence in charge of coronavirus outbreak even though he botched Indiana’s HIV epidemic

“God’s love shows it is urgent to repent because the Bible teaches homosexuals lose their souls and God destroys LGBT societies,” the minister said in a video posted to YouTube.

“Our safety is at stake since national disobedience of God’s laws brings danger and diseases, such as coronavirus, but obeying God brings covenant protection… God protects the USA from danger as the country repents of LGBT, false gods, abortion and other sins.”

Right-wing pastor E.W. Jackson told listeners of his radio show that the “homovirus” has infected America. Jackson was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 2013 and he ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2012 and 2018. He lost all three races.

“The last thing in the world the black community needs is more destruction of the family, more attacks on the family, and that’s all this whole homosexual movement amounts to,” Jackson said. “It is a virulent, violent attack. You know what? I’m going to get in trouble for this one, but this is right off the presses: It is the homovirus for the family.”

“Of course, I am speaking from a spiritual and a psychological perspective. I hope that no one misunderstands my little putting together of two things, because you know we’re talking about this coronavirus. I’m not talking about physical illness. I’m not talking about pronouncing any physical curses on people.”

Earlier last month, televangelist Jim Bakker said his STI cure – Silver Solution – completely cures the coronavirus in 12 hours even though “it hasn’t been tested on this strain of the coronavirus.” The product costs $115 on his website, and the website is also required by California state law to tell people that Silver Solution contains chemicals that “cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.”

Bakker has been ordered to stop “making misleading claims regarding the Silver Solution’s effectiveness” by the New York Attorney General’s office. The letter demands that a representative from the show contact the office within 10 days to confirm compliance and threatens “to bring suit to enjoin any deceptive acts and practices, and to seek restitution, damages, and penalties of up to $5,000 per violation” if Bakker ignores the demand.

The disgraced televangelist, who went to jail for defrauding followers and who was accused of raping a woman who worked for him, has turned his television show into an infomercial for “End Times” buckets of dehydrated foods and quack medical “supplements” and cures. A vociferous defender of President Donald Trump, he regularly promotes rightwing conspiracy theories and has warned that civil rights for LGBTQ people will lead to Americans slaughtering Christians in the streets.

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/alabama-senate-passes-bill-making-felony-doctors-help-trans-youth/

If this isn't, the one of many reasons; to avoid this state, I do not know what is. I mean; what is the plan, to let people die because they are trans? This is the most unchristian you can be. Christians should never treat any human being like this. I suspect; since it is a fact according to the Bible; that Jesus hung out with known sinners, there had to be some LGBTQ type people around him. According to the Bible Jesus died for the whole world; even trans people. It may just be that people that behave like this, are not Christian's; just plain insane, ether way, this is anti-American. This state should be taken over by the federal government for it's own good and all these types of bazaar laws; be rendered null and void.

Alabama senate passes bill making it a felony for doctors to help trans youth

Alabama Republicans want to give doctors up to 10 years in prison for providing science-backed treatment to trans youth.

Friday, March 6, 2020

Alabama senate passes bill making it a felony for doctors to help trans youth

The Alabama state senate passed a bill that would make it a felony for doctors to provide gender confirmation treatments to transgender people under the age of 19, including puberty blockers.

The Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act was introduced by Alabama Sen. Shay Shelnutt (R) and it would make it a Class C felony for doctors to prescribe hormone therapy or puberty blockers to transgender youth in the state and punishable with up to ten years in prison.

Related: Republican lawmaker compares parents of trans kids to Nazis

The bill passed the state senate by a vote of 22-3, sending it to the state house. There are currently 77 Republicans and 28 Democrats in the Alabama House of Representatives, and a House committee has already approved similar legislation.

The bill would also ban gender confirmation surgery for minors, even though Shelnutt admitted that he didn’t know of any minors are actually getting gender confirmation surgery in his state.

“I just don’t think and others don’t think that kids should be given experimental drugs or surgeries that could have irreversible consequences for the rest of their life,” he said.

Puberty blockers are meant to delay puberty so that transgender youth have more time to assess their options before the body undergoes permanent changes, and getting puberty blockers has been linked to a lifelong drop in suicidality among transgender people who wanted them.

“Kids are not fully developed until later in life,” Shelnutt said. “I think we can all agree that kids aren’t capable of making certain decisions until certain ages. And so, we want to just stop these procedures from happening in Alabama.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement in 2018 that affirmed the use of puberty blockers as part of a care model for young people with gender dysphoria.

“Pubertal suppression creates an opportunity to reduce the distress that may occur with the development of secondary sexual characteristics and allow for gender-affirming care, including mental health support for the adolescent and the family,” the statement said.

“It reduces the need for later surgery because physical changes that are otherwise irreversible (protrusion of the Adam’s apple, male pattern baldness, voice change, breast growth, etc) are prevented.”

Alabama Sen. Vivian Davis Figures (D) opposed the bill because she said that the decision should be left to children and their parents, not the government.

“We call on the House to treat trans children and their families with more empathy than the state senate and reject this bill as the harmful, divisive legislation it is,” said Mia Raven of the Yellowhammer Fund, a women’s advocacy group in Alabama.

If the bill passes the Alabama House of Representatives, it will be sent to Gov. Kay Ivey (R). At least ten other states are considering similar legislation.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 11 2020

From: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/hiv-medication-just-used-cure-coronavirus/

How ironic; the very people the evangelicals say are the reason for the coronavirus, are the ones that can save us all.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

HIV medication was just used to cure coronavirus

A 62-year-old man was successfully treated for coronavirus with a protease inhibitor.

By Alex Bollinger Monday, March 9, 2020

A doctor with a mask holding a vial labeled

A drug commonly used to manage HIV was successfully used to treat a man with coronavirus.

The Spanish newspaper El País reports that Miguel Ángel Benítez, 62, was successfully treated for coronavirus at a hospital in Seville with lopinavir/ritonavir (marketed as Kaletra), a protease inhibitor.

Related: Here are tips that LGBTQ people can use to deal with the outbreak of Coronavirus

“It’s an experimental usage of the drug that has given good results with other viruses,” said Albert Bosch, president of the Spanish Virology Society.

“One of the biggest advantages is that they are already approved for use, so there is little doubt about their safety.”

Protease inhibitors are antiviral drugs that bind to certain enzymes necessary to produce parts of the virus, inhibiting production of the virus in cells.

Kaletra was paired with interferon beta, a signaling protein that cells produce when they are infected and that increases resistance to viruses.

“The results we have so far for the use of these drugs to treat coronavirus give us hope,” said Santiago Moreno, head of infectious diseases at Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid.

Of course, success in one case does not mean that the medications will work for everyone, and further testing and research is needed.

Sign this petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/petitions/add-your-name-demand-a-coronavirus-response-that-protects-working-families

Campaign Action

Add your name: Demand a coronavirus response that protects working families

As coronavirus rapidly spreads across the country, Donald Trump is reportedly considering new tax cuts for major corporations impacted by the coronavirus — but has not offered any relief for working families.

Most workers — especially low-wage workers — have no paid sick leave, limited health care coverage, and are only one paycheck away from financial ruin. These conditions make it all but impossible to comply with medical quarantine advice.

To address the White House's lack of leadership during this crisis, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer detailed a proposal to help workers, including:

Paid sick leave — workers impacted by quarantine orders or responsible for caring for children impacted by school closures must receive paid sick leave to alleviate the devastating consequences of lost wages;

Enhanced Unemployment Insurance — we must ensure unemployment insurance benefits are available and sufficient for workers who may lose their jobs from the economic impacts of the epidemic;

Food security — we must expand SNAP, WIC, school lunch and other initiatives and suspend implementation of any regulations that weaken federal food assistance, in order to ensure vulnerable populations do not lose access to food during this epidemic;

Affordable treatment for all — patients must be reimbursed for any non-covered coronavirus-related costs, or else the epidemic will be worsened because Americans will fear they cannot afford the costs associated with treatment;

Anti-price gouging protections — we must ensure that Americans are protected from price gouging of medical and non-medical essentials during this emergency; and more.

We cannot allow working families to be left behind as the Trump administration drains public coffers to give major corporations tax breaks. Please add your name today.

Add your name: Demand a coronavirus response that protects working families.

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Our Message to Congress :

An effective coronavirus response must consider the reality of workers and families who live paycheck to paycheck, don't have health care coverage, and are at risk of economic and physical devastation if they come into contact with COVID-19. Please prioritize the financial and physical security of America's families.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 15 2020

AN EPIDEMIC BEHIND BARS

Are Our Prisons and Jails Ready for COVID-19?

March 6, 2020

Worldwide, drastic precautionary measures are being taken to prevent the spread of this new Coronavirus. But little has been said about one of the most vulnerable sectors of our population: the people in our prisons and jails. Though many people may think of jails and prisons as closed environments, they are not. Further, many incarcerated people are in relatively poor health and suffer from serious chronic conditions due to lack of access to healthcare in the community, or abysmal healthcare in the correctional system. All this means that prison and jail populations are extremely vulnerable to a contagious illness like COVID-19. Here’s a look at actions that should immediately be taken to protect people in prisons and jails. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/are-our-prisons-and-jails-ready-for-covid-19/

We had a local article about this too:

Sheriffs In Dallas, Collin County React To COVID-19 Threat By Not Arresting Class C Misdemeanor Offenders

March 13, 2020 at 4:13 pm

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – In an unprecedented move, Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner sent a letter to police agencies asking officers to avoid bringing low level offenders to the jail to lower the risk of COVID-19 infiltrating the inmate population.

DAMNING DATA

San Diego Police Stop Black People at a Rate 219 Percent Higher Than White People

March 10, 2020

A new report commissioned by the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties offers a disturbing look at the reality faced by Black San Diegans, Black Californians, and Black Americans. In spite of California’s history as one of many destinations of refuge for Black families seeking respite from racism and violence in the South, the report’s authors found the San Diego Police Department stopped Black people at a 219 percent higher rate than white people. The SDPD was more likely to conduct searches of Black San Diegans than their white neighbors, and more likely to use force. California has begun to make headway in this regard by passing AB 392: The California Act to Save Lives, which created a higher standard for when police can use force. Now, we need to raise the standard for when police can stop and search people – in California and across the country. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/san-diego-police-stop-black-people-at-a-rate-219-percent-higher-than-white-people/

FIRST AMENDMENT FIGHT

Will SCOTUS Protect the Right to Protest?

March 5, 2020

Since this country’s founding, when we’ve had something to say, we have taken to the streets. We’ve come together to celebrate our identities, to protect our land and our communities – and to push for change following injustice and tragedy. But if a recent decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals involving a Black Lives Matter protest is left standing, the right to protest will be in serious jeopardy. That’s why we asked the Supreme Court to take the case. The Fifth Circuit’s logic is dangerously flawed, and isn’t how the Supreme Court has ever looked at rules of liability in the context of protected expression. The high court should take this opportunity to make clear that it’s not how it looks at those rules now. Otherwise, we may find our streets much emptier. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/our-protest-rights-are-in-the-supreme-courts-hands/?

This Law Makes Voting Nearly Impossible for Native Americans in Montana

March 12, 2020

Voting has never been easy for Native Americans living on rural reservations in Montana, which are often geographically isolated, with limited access to postal service and transportation. The passage of the Montana Ballot Interference Prevention Act (BIPA) has made these obstacles even greater, severely inhibiting Native Americans’ access to the ballot. In a state where the majority of individuals vote by mail, rural tribal communities often work with get-out-the-vote organizers who collect and transport ballots to election offices that would otherwise be inaccessible. These ballot collection efforts are often the only way Native Americans can access the vote. BIPA would effectively end the practice of ballot collection efforts, and would thus disenfranchise Native American voters en masse. That’s why we’re suing. Read more → https://www.aclu.org/news/voting-rights/this-law-makes-voting-nearly-impossible-for-native-americans-in-montana/

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 17 2020

New report suggests additional burial grounds of enslaved people likely exist on proposed plastics plant site

On Wednesday, community members of RISE St. James submitted an expert report to the St. James Parish Council that shows as many as seven cemeteries likely containing the remains of enslaved people may exist on property slated for development of a massive facility by Formosa Plastics.

Archeologists from Coastal Environments, Inc. (CEI), working on their own and behind the scenes, first alerted the Louisiana Division of Archaeology to the existence of two of the cemeteries on the Formosa site, which led to further site investigations by Formosa’s consultants and confirmation of one of the cemeteries on the former Buena Vista Plantation. Using detailed maps from 1877 and 1878 combined with a process known as cartographic regression, CEI was able to identify the likely location of three cemeteries shown on those maps on former plantations, as well as four other possible cemeteries that did not appear on the historic maps. They also concluded that Formosa’s consultants looked in the wrong place each time they searched for a cemetery on the former Acadia Plantation.

“Our ancestors are crying out to us from their graves—they are telling us to not let industry disturb their burial sites. Formosa Plastics did not inform the citizens of St. James or the parish council of the existence of the graves when they knew—they don’t care, they just want to profit from St. James parish,” said Sharon Lavigne of RISE St. James.

Learn more on our website. : https://ccrjustice.org/home/press-center/press-releases/once-anonymous-archeologists-come-forward-report-indicating-more

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 18 2020

Every once and a while I like to share my opinion about things here. I took part of my email to my mom and pasted it here along with some more of my thoughts.

This coronavirus; I believe was not created by God but it is definitely used by God. I think one of the first things Christians learn is; not one person dies unless God allows it. The deaths caused by this virus is used by God. Why does God allow things like this to torment people? He does it for people to cry out to Him and pray themselves back to where they should be in their walk with God. Also it causes unsaved people to be saved. I do not trust communist's or all that is comunism and considering where all this started; that makes me distrust the origin story of this completely. They need to revial the true patitient 0. I like Chinees people and thier food and lifestyle and thier respect of thier elders:

From:https://www.aplaceformom.com/blog/10-10-16-how-different-cultures-take-care-of-seniors/

How Do Different Cultures Take Care of Seniors?

Posted On 10 Oct 2016

"While obligation is one of the driving factors to care and show dignity toward elderly, the Chinese culture has always stressed respect toward elders. So practices of honor and kindness toward seniors is normal life in China."

There is no way the Chinese would ever want this virus to be anleash on thier people considering thier reverance for thier elders. There is no way they meant for this virus to be unleash on people.

If only the Chinees would give up on comunism. That would be a cause for world wide celibration for many years to come. Through all these hardships; maybe that should be a part of our many prayers, we have been saying lattly. Maybe that would be the one thing worth all of this suffering we have all suffered.

China has saved my life; with low priced motorcycle safety gear and made me want to live long, with purchases, like my low priced electric guitar and low priced computer equipment. If it was not for China; I would have never even considered to buy these life giving and saving items.

This is the first time I have seen the word coronavirus appear in spell check. That is the quickest I have ever seen a word appear in spell check.The internet AI is getting amazing.

Sign this great Daily Kos petiton here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/petitions/sign-the-petition-to-congress-implement-a-national-moratorium-on-foreclosures-and-evictions

Our Message to Congress :

Housing is a human right. Please include a national moratorium on foreclosures and evictions—both new and those currently in progress—in COVID-19 relief bills. No one should have to face losing their home during this unexpected crisis.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 19 2020

Thanks to http://gayusatv.org/ for the lead on this story.

Trans Woman Wins Case Against Real Estate Broker Who Sexually Harassed Her And Told Her She Couldn't Live Near 'People Or Children'

Mar. 12, 2020

In 2015, Giana Desir of Brooklyn, New York faced the prospect of homelessness after being denied a lease renewal for an apartment she had lived in for two years. While living in the apartment, Desir began her transition from assigned male to female.

Like many transgender people, Desir had difficulty finding a place to live as her authentic self.

Needing assistance, Desir turned to a real estate broker. But rather than help, Henry Walter and Empire State Realty Management only offered housing discrimination and sexual harassment.

Initial interactions on the phone were characterized as "jovial." However once Desir met Walter, things quickly turned sour.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 20 2020

Please sign this great petiton here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/petitions/sign-the-petition-to-credit-card-issuers-waive-payments-and-interest-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic

Our Message to All credit card issuers :

You must waive credit card payments and interest during the coronavirus pandemic. Please join other lenders like Goldman Sachs, American Express, and Capital One who have committed to do right by their customers in this time of financial crisis.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 21 2020

We need to pray! We all need to pray about this corona virus; every chance we get. My wife and I have been praying for a cure and a vaccination for the coronavirus; since we first read about it. Actually my wife was the first one to pray about a cure and vaccine and I followed immediately. I learn allot listening to my wife pray sometimes. She also opened my eyes the other day when she said she was thankful. I forget to be thankful for what we have sometimes; during trying times like these. I think we should not forget to be thankful for what we have.

My wife was listening to the president the other day and I could hear it too since she sits side by side, next to me in the living room. 2 things stand out to me from hearing the president talk about the corona virus.

1) Right-to-try law:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-try_law

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Right-to-try laws are U.S. state laws and a federal law that were created with the intent of allowing terminally ill patients access to experimental therapies (drugs, biologics, devices) that have completed Phase I testing but have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Prior to the passage of right to try laws, patients needed FDA approval to use experimental drugs. Currently, 41 U.S. states have passed right to try laws. The value of these laws has been questioned on multiple grounds, including the fact that pharmaceutical manufacturers would have no obligation to provide the therapies being sought.

If you or your friends and family is sick from the coronavirus; yell out RIGHT TO TRY! I am thankful for this law that stops the FDA and the pharmaceutical manufacturers form killing us. If you don't believe me ask the old time LGBTQ folks about how many people died of Aids in the early 1980's.

2) I guess CBS was listening to the president too and posted this YouTube video:

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93TpfCzpM3Y

'Coronavirus drug in 6 months after producing API'

| TNN | Updated: Mar 21, 2020, 09:23 IST

At present, there is no treatment for Covid-19. While clinical data on HIV, anti-virals, and anti-malarials for treating coronavirus patients is yet to be established, with over 10,000 deaths globally, experimental drugs and combinations are being used.

It is time for democrats and republicans and the pharmaceutical manufacturers to work together, or we will be posting things like this ten years latter; blaming the people that killed a huge number of people: just like Aid's, in the early 1980's.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 23 2020

I fell behind on things I wanted to post yesterday so I am going to just post links to my favorite online articles and petitions. Sometimes I ask myself why do I do all this? I rack my brains and body to post things like I do, on this blog. For what? I think the main thing that keeps me going is a journal of how I cared about our country and even the world. If anything this is a record of my efforts to help others. Other than that; I do not know if it does any good now, like it should. Pretty sad. I have always been a big time optimist; that is another reason; why I do what I do here.

https://www.aclu.org/news/topic/covid-19-pandemic-response/

https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/police-prosecutors-sheriffs-parole-officers-and-governors-can-help-stop-the-spread-of-covid-19-heres-how/

https://www.aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/we-know-prisons-need-covid-19-plans-our-arizona-prison-tour-suggests-its-not-happening/

Petitions:

https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/letters/sign-and-send-to-your-us-senators-no-blank-check-bailouts-for-corporations-put-people-first

https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/letters/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-congress-ban-the-practice-of-government-officials-trading-individual-stocks-while-in-office

If you watch television; at least get a second opinion about the news concerning the coronavirus here:

https://www.mediamatters.org/

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 25 2020

I know I keep saying this and I will continue to do so. I keep seeing fighting in the news between the republicans and the democrats over the corona virus. I see the republicans moving one way and the democrats moving the other on the coronavirus. If this all goes bad; that will be the exact reason why. We need to all work together to defeat this terrible virus. I have no doubt we can defeat all of this; concerning the coronaviris; with our vast technology and the most advance science this earth has ever know. We need to all work together to become victorious over this virus.

We are so vulnerable right now and it would not take much of a effort from our enemies to push us over the edge. The internet is full of trolls; some of whom actually get paid by there country's to troll the internet with anti American propaganda. Like I always say these people outnumber Americans overwhelmingly even posing as Americans. During these days we need to be absolutely aware of that at all times. No laws should have ever been made; with influence from the internet as it's premise. I have always said that and say that especially now; with the greatest emphasis, someone in my position can ever muster.

“every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:”: Jesus

These articles below, are ridiculous and disgusting and just plain wrong. To say things like this is fake news and conspiracy theories all rapped up in a bundle of lies. To repeat myself for the uncountable amount of times, to myself: these people; if they are Christians, they are the worst Christians ever to inhabit the earth. In fact all Christians that inhabit the earth are the most disgusting Christians to inhabit the earth; according to the Bible. God is so disgusted by Christians today; he spits them out of his mouth because they are too repulsive to him. With false judgments like these; it is no wonder there are so many Christian's in prison. These people are more like ignorant hate groups than Christians. Church's should never have influence over politics. Our forefathers saw this centuries ago; it is called separation of church and state. Like I always say; without our foundation as a country, our house will just fall over.

PA may declare a “State Day of Humiliation” for “presumptuous sins” to stop coronavirus pandemic deserve-hell-scaled

The "State Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer" is needed because the pandemic "may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins." Read more here: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/pa-may-declare-state-day-humiliation-presumptuous-sins-stop-coronavirus-pandemic/

Trump-endorsed news outlet says it’s God’s “judgment” that a gay activist died from coronavirus rick-wiles

The site's publisher was one of the first to say the coronavirus was part of God's plan to kill sinners and that Christianity will protect people from the virus. Read more here: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/trump-endorsed-news-outlet-says-gods-judgment-gay-activist-died-coronavirus/

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated March 31 2020

Another edit today to my words of wisdom. Of course there are times we have to help ourselves. I put the change in bold, second sentence down. Another way to put all this is; always follow the golden rule: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule

I have been wanting to post this for a while, but I have been having computer problems. That would explain would explain why I would make a extreme statement without thinking or explaining it further. When I said: No laws should have ever been made; with influence from the internet as it's premise. (see above in my last post); I meant no law should be made by what is trending on the internet. The mob mentality of the internet; can get barbaric because of what is popular. There is always people that will cheer on a hanging; just to be part of the stupid gang. I believe in petitions and protest and the like; to help people that deserve helping. Helping ourselves is sometimes right, helping others is always right. If you follow that rule you will never commit a crime. In my opinion the basis of all crime is from being selfish. Now I am getting even more philosophical. Being extreme is the right thing to do like have a stick nutritional diet. To completely ignore the internet would be a extreme; that would not be right.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 01 2020

Viciously anti-LGBTQ group runs Central Park tent hospital & forces volunteers to reject gay rights

Volunteers have to agree that transgender people don't exist, same-sex marriage is a sin, and gay people should be celibate or risk "damnation and eternal punishment." Read more here: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/viciously-anti-lgbtq-group-runs-central-park-tent-hospital-forces-volunteers-reject-gay-rights/

Arrest warrant issued for megachurch pastor who won’t stop holding services

In the middle of a pandemic, he's holding packed services where he says God will reward people with "supernatural" rolls of toilet paper. Read more here: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/arrest-warrant-issued-megachurch-pastor-wont-stop-holding-services/

“Twinks for Trump” founder held a “corona potluck” to spread the virus

"We have completely handed over our civil liberties," one of the attendees complained about the quarantine.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 03 2020

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) | CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Trump, Coronavirus Task Force hold White House press briefing | 4/2/20 - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1y9KOesF6w

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 24.6M subscribers Adam Sandler debuts a song about life during the coronavirus, shouting out essential workers and medical professionals helping everyone through the pandemic. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1axBGWFm4U

Coronavirus: After shipment seized from Canada, FBI redistributing nearly 1M masks and gloves

Global News

Posted April 3, 2020 12:58 pm

Medical supplies shipped from Canada to a New York man accused of price-gouging are now being redistributed to doctors and nurses amid the new coronavirus pandemic, according to U.S. authorities.

Baruch Feldheim, 43, was arrested on Monday in Brooklyn and charged with lying to federal agents after he allegedly sold a doctor approximately 1,000 N95 masks and other medical materials for $12,000, a roughly 700 per cent markup, according to the FBI.

Feldheim was also charged with assaulting FBI detectives after allegedly coughing on them during his arrest, claiming to have COVID-19, the agency said in a statement.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 06 2020

Grits

Blakinger: Myriad pandemic updates, conflicting accounts on intra-prison transports, and one happy story to cheer you up

Our pal Keri Blakinger offered up another excellent and much-appreciated email update while Grits' blog content ramps back up. I couldn't be more grateful, thanks Keri! Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/04/blakinger-myriad-pandemic-updates.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 08 2020

I have never prayed for so many people in my life so *wholeheartedly. I am praying for everyone effected by this terrible virus. Everyone needs to pray; this could be our greatest opportunity to defeat this virus as best we can. I am encouraged to see people making masks. Homemade masks can really help. My wife actually knows people who are doing this and gave her one.

How To Make Up To !400 Face Masks From A Car Cover | Budge:

https://www.budgecovers.com/how-to-make-up-to-400-face-masks-from-a-car-cover

Make your own face mask—no sewing machine required ...

https://www.popsci.com/story/diy/make-diy-face-masks/

*From: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wholehearted :

Definition of wholehearted

1: completely and sincerely devoted, determined, or enthusiastic

2: marked by complete earnest commitment : free from all reserve or hesitation

Grits

TUESDAY, APRIL 07, 2020

'The Peter Parker Problem': With great (judicial) power comes great responsibility

What does that Spiderman story have to do with judges setting bail? From a psychological perspective, as it turns out, everything! Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-peter-parker-problem-with-great.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 09 2020

Democratic state rep. explains why she opted for unproven COVID-19 treatment, not hospital

Posted: Wed 12:22 AM, Apr 08, 2020 |

Updated: Wed 11:04 AM, Apr 08, 2020

FLINT/DETROIT (WJRT) - (04/07/20) - Michigan State Representative Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit) was sick for weeks before she was officially diagnosed with COVID-19.

”It was just out of nowhere, like, you literally had no time to think,” Whitsett said.

Whitsett described the moment her lungs filled with fluid and took her breath away. She did not want to go to the hospital, which may have been fruitless anyway because she says the two near her Detroit home were full. She also didn’t like the idea of being by herself.

"You go to the hospital, you're going with no one,” she said. "All I could think of is...if I go in here, I may not come out."

”If he had not been pushing it on a federal level, I would have not had access to it, and I would not be alive today,” she said.

After one doctor denied her request for the drug, the Detroit Democrat turned to Dr. Mohammed Arsiwala.

Whitsett says she started feeling better within two hours of taking the medicine, but maintains the choice to use the drug is up to you and your doctor. She had previous success with it while treating her Lyme disease.

The President mentioned how much he appreciates the Grocery Cashiers and Clerks See video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w03N9TyvvIo

Sign this petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/petitions/prohibit-government-officials-from-profiting-off-their-positions-by-trading-stocks

Prohibit Government Officials From Profiting Off Their Positions By Trading Stocks

Sign MoveOn's petition and demand that Congress pass the Ban Conflicted Trading Act – legislation to prohibit members of Congress and their staff from abusing their positions for personal financial gain through trading individual stocks and investments while in office.

Last week, we learned that North Carolina Senator Richard Burr sold off up to $1.7 million in stock after receiving private, closed–door Senate briefings about the possibility of an economic crash because of the coronavirus pandemic. Profiting off of a crisis that has taken nearly 20,000 lives worldwide and led to hundreds of thousands of Americans losing their jobs is despicable.

While Burr’s actions are repugnant, the fact is that both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of putting their pockets ahead of the public interest. For years, politicians have been buying and selling stocks while making decisions that affect the stock’s value. This is inherently a conflict of interest. And we must put a stop to it.

Grits

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 08, 2020

Litigation challenges Abbott's executive order on COVID-19 jail releases

The Texas Fair Defense Project, ACLU of Texas, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law sued Governor Greg Abbott over his executive order (GA-13) related to pretrial jail releases in response to the coronavirus, as well as Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has vowed to aggressively enforce it. The Harris County Attorney's office has also signed onto the litigation, and 16 Harris County Criminal Court at Law judges number among the plaintiffs. It was filed in a Travis County district court. Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/04/litigation-challenges-abbotts-executive.html

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 12 2020

Considering we are *The Laodicean Church (the worst Christians in the history of the world) it is a good idea not to go to 99% of all churches. These days it could be a matter of life or death. Although I am not a advocate; if you have to go to church why can't people Skype it or something similar.

From: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/4/1934049/-Evangelical-churches-run-smack-into-coronavirus-lethal-reality-but-some-continue-to-resist

The likelihood that these evangelical churches can become major disease vectors for COVID-19 is based in immediate reality: One such church in Sacramento County, California—the Bethany Slavic Missionary Church near Rancho Cordova—is the source of 71 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus, and one death so far. Overall, more than a third of that county’s 314 cases are connected to church services.

*The Laodicean Church:

I am amazed at how accurate Wikipedia is; when it comes to the Bible sometimes:

The Laodicean Church in the Revelation of John (Revelation 3:14–22)

In John's vision, recorded in the book of Book of Revelation, Christ instructs John to write a message to the seven churches of Asia Minor. The message to Laodicea is one of judgement with a call to repentance.

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (KJV).

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laodicean_Church

Email I got this morning from the NAACP:

Around the world, and in our community, Easter has been a longstanding tradition for many families but one that will be celebrated a little differently this Sunday.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Easter lessons of hope, faith and courage remain especially poignant this year. As a global community, we are experiencing a new normal, and our spiritual institutions continue to play a critical role in offering comfort and guidance in these uncertain times.

This is a period of divine reflection for many. And although we must maintain our physical distance from our places of worship, our churches and faith centers are still providing the spiritual capacity for us to pray and reflect safely. In fact, many of our faith leaders continue to support our communities not just through sermon, but by actively addressing social needs and redressing social wrongs.

While we continue to advocate for an equitable recovery from this crisis, now is the time to uplift the plight of churches and faith centers across this nation. It is important that the sacred institutions that have long been the bedrock of the African American community receive the support that they need to continue their mission.

We all need support in these trying times, and even though things may seem bleak now, we are reminded that there is promise in tomorrow if we just have faith.

On behalf of the entire NAACP family, we wish you good health in this season. May our prayers bring forth healing and a transformative rebirth unto our nation.

Peace and Power,

Derrick Johnson

President and CEO

NAACP

Pray!

I have learned the Bible say's to be specific when you pray. I have realized that I should name the virus when I pray. When this first started; I would say the virus, in my prayers. Now when I pray I say the "Coronavirus". I think I will also say COVID 19, as well; when I pray.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 14 2020

Virginia is the first state in the South to make it illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ people

"No longer will LGBTQ Virginians have to fear being fired, evicted, or denied service in public places because of who they are.”

Monday, April 13, 2020

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 16 2020

Georgia police were reportedly using Grindr and other “web-based platforms” to entice men into fake hookups and then arresting them for prostitution when the men arrived. Police claim the nine men offered to “trade” poppers or pot in exchange for sex.

The cops are publishing the men’s mugshots and charges in the local newspaper, but Project Q Atlanta has reviewed the entire Grindr conversation from one of the men arrested and it shows that there is no truth to the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office’s claims.

Related: 26 men arrested in a DC sex sting that has cops posing as horny gay men

The outlet shared screenshots of the Grindr conversation with the LGBTQ legal organization Lambda Legal. Greg Nevins, senior counsel at the group’s Southern Regional Office in Atlanta, said the pandering charge is nonsense.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2020

Harris County DA: Judges cannot consider health issues as part of pretrial release decisions.

We're still waiting for the Supreme Court of Texas to rule whether Governor Greg Abbott's executive order on COVID-related jail releases is valid (see Grits' writeup here).

Grits

In the meantime, though, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has filed an "emergency motion" with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals arguing that judges do not have authority under the Code of Criminal Procedure to consider "public health matters," including the risks associated with people catching the coronavirus in jail, when they make bail determinations. Her motion opined that:

This just came to my wife and I:

We have been praying for a cure and a vaccine for the Coronavirus.

We will continue to pray that way.

We should pray for the Coronavirus to end.

We should pray for the COVID-19 to stop infecting people.

We should pray for the Coronavirus to not infect one more person.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 19 2020

Grits

SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2020

Austin PD racism, local media's lapdog nature, all exposed by one report

Grits has said many times that the local press in Austin reside, in large part, in the breast pocket of their law enforcement sources and generally do more to cover up problems than expose them. That was certainly true of initial coverage of a just-published report commissioned by the City Council regarding allegations of racism among Austin PD command staff. Headlines included:

"Probe finds no proof of racist remarks by Austin police leader, but calls for change"

"Investigator largely unable to corroborate claims of bigotry against high ranking Austin police"

"Independent investigation into APD racism, homophobic allegations finds no policy violations"

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 21 2020

I want to make it clear that I do not take marijuana and would never consider it; unless it was legal. This kind of thing really disgust's me and proves what I always say about our perverted, unjust, so called justice system.:

Today, we're releasing new data on marijuana arrests nationwide. At a time when the criminal legal system is facing increasing pressure to release people vulnerable to COVID-19, this report could provide a road map to governors, prosecutors, judges, and others across the country to take steps to decarcerate – and save lives.

We've uncovered that law enforcement made 6.1 million marijuana related arrests – the majority for possession – over the past eight years, despite reform efforts. Just as troubling, racial disparities in these arrests haven't improved.

In every state – legalized, decriminalized, illegal – Black people are 3.6x more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people, despite similar usage rates.

In fact, disparities have actually worsened in most states over the past decade.

One thing is certain: There's so much more we could be doing to ensure that marijuana is not just legalized – but done so in a way that combats racial disparities in arrests head-on. Our report outlines how to do just that. Learn more.: https://graphics.aclu.org/marijuana-arrest-report/

Texas has lower-than-average racial disparity, with Black people 2.6 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people. Van Zandt County has the highest racial disparity in the state.

Grits

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

Snapshot of coronavirus in Texas county jails

Today, as Grits catches up on all that's happened while I've been under the weather, I decided to check in on the extent of coronavirus contagion reported so far in Texas county jails. Here's an update. Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/04/snapshot-of-coronavirus-in-texas-county.html

We need to appreciate our community's law enforcement more these days. My heart goes out to them; working through these days of turmoil and troubles. After reading these stories two stories in one afternoon; I had to stop and pray for our police officers with my wife:

Texas Bus Hijacking Leaves 2 Officers Wounded and Gunman Dead

April 19, 2020

A gunman hijacked a transit bus near Dallas on Sunday, setting off a chase and shootout that injured two officers.Credit...The Dallas Morning News, via Associated Press

Texas police officer shot and killed, 2 others injured after domestic disturbance

The two other officers are in critical condition.

April 19, 2020

One police officer is dead and two others were injured after a shooting that was allegedly linked to a domestic violence incident Saturday night in San Marcos, Texas.

Tracking the True Toll of the Coronavirus Crisis

April 21, 2020

These numbers undermine the notion that many people who have died from the virus may soon have died anyway. In Paris, more than twice the usual number of people have died each day, far more than the peak of a bad flu season. In New York City, the number is now four times the normal amount.

In many European countries, recent data show 20 to 30 percent more people have been dying than normal. That translates to tens of thousands of more deaths.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 23 2020

Grits

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

Austin PD made bodycam policy worse, and no one in the Austin press reported it. Shocking.

Grits is still catching up on all that went on while I was under the weather these last few months, and wanted to visit the new, much-worse bodycam policy enacted by Austin PD on March 16. Farah Muscadin at the city's Office of Police Oversight put out a formal objection to the new policy two weeks ago that deserves readers' attention. Read more here: https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/04/austin-pd-made-bodycam-policy-worse-and.html

Fact Check: Did The Texas Woman Who Passed Away Due To Coronavirus, Call It A Hoax?

Fact Check: A post is making rounds on social media that a Texas woman claimed COVID-19 was a hoax but tragically passed away due to the same.

Updated On: April 09, 2020 15:17 IST

Pastor who criticized coronavirus ‘mass hysteria’ dies from illness

April 7, 2020 | 12:39pm | Updated

Coronavirus: 91-year-old church goer dies after pastor hosted service that infected 34

'Respect and compassion for the people around us must dominate our self-discipline'

Thursday 26 March 2020 17:50

Pentecostal Pastor Won’t Stop Church for COVID-19

What if congregations don’t comply with public health orders? We’re about to find out.

March 19, 2020 5:20 PM

‘Take it very seriously’: Pastor at Arkansas church where 34 people came down with coronavirus sends a warning

California megachurch linked to spread of more than 70 coronavirus cases

Bishop who said "God is larger than" Covid-19 has died from the disease

CNN

Updated 3:14 PM ET, Tue April 14, 2020

Bishop Gerald Glenn, the pastor of New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Virginia, has died, the church announced on Sunday. Glenn had tested positive for coronavirus, according to a video posted by his daughter Mar-Gerie Crawley.

Despite warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to avoid mass gatherings and maintain social distancing, Glenn said in a sermon on March 22, "I firmly believe that God is larger than this dreaded virus," and announced he was not afraid to die.

Despite coronavirus risks, some Texas religious groups are worshipping in person

April 2, 2020

Nearly four dozen people also were hospitalized in Washington state last week after they met for a two-and-a-half-hour choir practice in a church. Two members have died.

Coronavirus has already affected his congregation directly: Parishioner T.J. Mendez died March 26 from COVID-19 at the age of 44. Mendez’s family was very active in the church; one of his daughters was an Oakwood staff member.

Florida pastor says he'll keep church open during coronavirus outbreak, claims to have most sterile building in America

Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 5:11 PM

On Wednesday, a Virginia pastor died from COVID-19 after saying "the media is pumping out fear" and "doing more harm than good." Last month, South Korean authorities announced that a Christian megachurch believed to be a cult was responsible for at least 2,000 COVID-19 cases in its region. The church founder, 84-year-old Lee Man-hee, has since apologized.

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 25 2020

Com on people! You have to wear mask's. I hate wearing masks too.Wearing a mask is like working out; you do it because it is good for you, not because you like it. If you can not get one; make one. A handkerchief or two; work's really good too.

More than half of Americans wear masks as coronavirus' new normal takes hold: POLL

An overwhelming majority of Americans remain concerned about the virus.

April 10, 2020, 5:00 AM

9 min read here: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/half-americans-wear-masks-coronavirus-normal-takes-hold/story?id=70073942

BEST HOMEMADE FACE MASKS TO PROTECT FROM COVID-19 COMBINE COTTON AND SILK, STUDY FINDS

4/24/20 AT 11:29 AM EDT

Read here: https://www.newsweek.com/best-homemade-face-masks-covid-19-cotton-silk-study-1500059

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 28 2020

Anti-LGBTQ extremist busted cruising Grindr looking for a top

He told the media he doesn't know what Grindr is. And then he messaged the man who exposed him, saying, "I thought I could trust you dude." Read more here: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/04/anti-lgbtq-extremist-busted-cruising-grindr-looking-top/

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated April 29 2020

Grits

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2020

Number of Texas jail inmates with COVID rose 187% in 8 days

Governor Abbott may want to open the economy back up, but in county jails, the problem is only getting worse. The number of Texas county jail inmates diagnosed with COVID-19 increased by 187% in just over one week!

Constitutional Rights Blog Updated May 01 2020

Happy May Day:

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day

May Day is a public holiday usually celebrated on 1 May or the first Monday of May. It is an ancient festival of Spring and a current traditional spring holiday in many European cultures. Dances, singing, and cake are usually part of the festivities.

I just got this link from a email from one of my favorite radio personality's, a good old Texan; Jim Hightower. I have not read his emails for a while because he seemed over board after the last elections. I never unsubscribed though, maybe because he does not send emails everyday or sign me up for spam like so many advocate email list's do. I first heard and heard of Jim on the David Pakman show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pakman.

Check out Willie Nelson here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0bB281GeMU

Jim Hightower is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Hightower

James Allen Hightower (born January 11, 1943) is an American syndicated columnist, progressive political activist, and author. From 1983 to 1991 he served as elected commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture.

Born in Denison in Grayson County in north Texas, Hightower comes from a working class background. He worked his way through college as assistant general manager of the Denton Chamber of Commerce and later landed a spot as a management trainee for the State Department. He received a Bachelor of Arts in government from the University of North Texas in Denton, where he served as student body president. He later did graduate work at Columbia University in New York City in international affairs.

I also got his link from the Jim Hightower email:

Please sign this petition here:

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-during-this-pandemic-support-our-public-postal-service

Tell Congress: During This Pandemic, Support Our Public Postal Service

As most Americans shelter in place, postal workers are delivering people’s prescriptions, keeping small-enterprises in business and connecting families. The USPS has always been our emergency distribution system when our country is in crisis.

But, at this unprecedented time, that work is under threat. The Coronavirus shutdown is plummeting postal revenues while increasing costs. The Postal Service could run out of money as early as June.

The loss of the USPS would shatter our response to the Coronavirus pandemic, hit already weakened businesses, and ravage communities. Our public Postal Service needs all American leaders - Democrats and Republicans alike - to provide urgent and ongoing financial support from the Federal Government during this public health and economic crisis.

Add your name. Email your Congress members now.

From: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/us/politics/trump-administration-intelligence-coronavirus-china.html

Trump Officials Are Said to Press Spies to Link Virus and Wuhan Labs

Mr. Trump made clear on Thursday evening of his interest in intelligence supporting the theory the virus emerged accidentally from a Wuhan lab. In response to a question from a reporter, the president said he had seen intelligence that supported the idea but quickly backtracked, adding that he “was not allowed” to share the intelligence and that his administration was examining multiple theories about the origin of the virus.

A few scientists and national security experts have pointed to a history of lab accidents infecting researchers to suggest it might have happened in this case, but many scientists have dismissed such theories.

But Richard Ebright, a microbiologist and biosafety expert at Rutgers University, has argued that the probability of a lab accident was “substantial,” pointing to a history of such occurrences that have infected researchers.