Daily Archives: 07.11.2016
PSYCHOLOGY: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: “Hansen Unplugged: ‘An Attack on Our Basic Humanity'” / Dale Hansen ☮
WFAA’s Dale Hansen shares his thoughts after an ambush in downtown Dallas left five police officers dead and seven others wounded.
WHITE-WING CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN RACISM: “Sarah Palin Doesn’t Understand What Black Lives Matter Means” / The Young Turks / Cenk Uygur ☮
Sarah Palin is on the warpath against Black Lives Matter. She’s sure they’re not peaceful, but rather violent thugs and rioters. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
“Former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin once again took aim at Black Lives Matters protesters Sunday, calling them “thugs” and demanding the media “quit claiming that these rioters are people.”
In an interview on radio show “Breitbart News Sunday,” the former Alaska governor argued that the Black Lives Matter movement is in part responsible for the actions of a lone sniper (who was not affiliated with the peaceful movement) who fatally shot five police officers in Dallas last week.
“They’re not protesters,” she said. “These are thugs. They’re rioters. And yeah, I’m calling out the media, saying quit claiming that these rioters are people. They’re stomping on our flag, figuratively and literally, shouting death to cops, celebrating violence.”
Her use of “thug” isn’t without racial connotations. Many argue that it’s merely thesocially acceptable version of the N-word, and some members of the media have vowed not to use it.
HUMANISM: “What Happened When a Black Lives Matter Protest Group Met a Counter-Protest Group on the Streets in Dallas”
WHITE-WING CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN IDIOCY: “Fox Noise Pastor: Police are ‘Ministers of Gawd, Sent by Gawd'” / Secular Talk / Kyle Kulinski ☮
Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas, lashed out at what he called “bogus ministers” who did not preach about having “respect for the police.”
During an Sunday interview on Fox & Friends, Jeffress called on churches “to instill in their a members a respect for the police.”
CANNABIS: “Legal Weed Hurting Profits for Big Pharma Opioid Dealers” / The Young Turks / Cenk Uygur, and Ana Kasparian ☮
New data shows that legal marijuana is hurting the profits of corporate opioid dealers, aka Big Pharma. Look for them to double their efforts and their legalized bribes to congress to keep pot illegal nationally. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
“Research published Wednesday found that states that legalized medical marijuana — which is sometimes recommended for symptoms like chronic pain, anxiety or depression — saw declines in the number of Medicare prescriptions for drugs used to treat those conditions and a dip in spending by Medicare Part D, which covers the cost on prescription medications.
Because the prescriptions for drugs like opioid painkillers and antidepressants — and associated Medicare spending on those drugs — fell in states where marijuana could feasibly be used as a replacement, the researchers said it appears likely legalization led to a drop in prescriptions. That point, they said, is strengthened because prescriptions didn’t drop for medicines such as blood-thinners, for which marijuana isn’t an alternative.
The study, which appears in Health Affairs, examined data from Medicare Part D from 2010 to 2013. It is the first study to examine whether legalization of marijuana changes doctors’ clinical practice and whether it could curb public health costs.”
POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “Top U.S. and World Headlines — July 11, 2016” / Democracy Now! / Amy Goodman ☮
POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “Hillary Clinton and Cory Booker are Wall Street Match Made in Heaven” / TYT Politics / Emma Vigeland ☮
In part two of a multi-video series examining the corporate influence of potential Vice Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton may choose, TYT Politics Intern Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) reported on New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.
Booker is a Democratic establishment darling who has charisma, but deep ties to Wall Street and a questionable history with bribery.
NEOLIBERAL TOTALITARIAN POLICE STATE: “Legalized Murder and the Politics of Terror” / Chris Hedges ☮
Police officers carry out random acts of legalized murder against poor people of color not because they are racist, although they may be, or even because they are rogue cops, but because impoverished urban communities have evolved into miniature police states.
Police can stop citizens at will, question and arrest them without probable cause, kick down doors in the middle of the night on the basis of warrants for nonviolent offenses, carry out wholesale surveillance, confiscate property and money and hold people—some of them innocent—in county jails for years before forcing them to accept plea agreements that send them to prison for decades. They can also, largely with impunity, murder them.
Those who live in these police states, or internal colonies, especially young men of color, endure constant fear and often terror. Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” calls those trapped in these enclaves members of a criminal “caste system.” This caste system dominates the lives of not only the 2.3 million who are incarcerated in the United States but also the 4.8 million on probation or parole. Millions more are forced into “permanent second-class citizenship” by their criminal records, which make employment, higher education and public assistance, including housing, difficult and usually impossible to obtain. This is by design.