MSNBC: Must-Watch Maddow Segment on New GOP Voting Restrictions Barring Elderly Women From the Polls

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From progressive to regressive voting laws. What has his world (aka the right to democratic inclusion) come to. — Submission by Cesar Flores.

The poll tax that isn’t a poll tax is arriving around the country in the form of new GOP-instated voter restrictions–and the ACLU is filing suit.

The anticipated victims of these stringent ID requirements include the poor, the young who don’t drive, students, and minorities, and as Rachel Maddow noted in a devastating segment last night, the elderly. Maddow focused on two lovely elderly women who cannot vote now, including an 84-year-old who is a member of her town council–who has cast her vote in elections regularly for 63 years. Now, thanks to efforts by the one and only Scott Walker, she cannot exercise her rights in this upcoming race.

It’s a must-watch.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Family Power Can Triumph Over Police Abuse

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Powerful afternoon at De-Bug’s ACJP. The Custodio family shared their experiences, wisdom, and energy with a San Mateo Filipino family who are the victims of extreme police violence — repeated tasing and beating (including of an elder) of this family. And as these stories go, the police made-up and filed false charges against the family — the more excessive the police abuse the more unreasonable the charges. The Custodios — founding members of ACJP — shared their strength, as they had gone through a similar road, inspiring a community as the went (check out the video of their story made by one of our youth from 2007). Stay posted, big win coming out of San Mateo County in 2012. Family by family, family to family, true justice will be won…

California: Appeals Court Approves Cell Phone Search During Traffic Stop

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Submission by Gail Noble:  Do you feel like your 4th Amendment is being violated if police searched your Blackberry/cell phone during a traffic stop without a warrant?  Check out California v. Nottoli, and you decide.

Reported by mulltiple sites, including pogowasright.org (a privacy politics site)

Reid NottoliThe California Court of Appeal on September 26approved a police officer’s rifling through the cell phone belonging to someone who had just been pulled over for a traffic violation.

Reid Nottoli was pulled over on December 6, 2009 just before 2am as he was taking a female friend home. Santa Cruz County Deputy Sheriff Steven Ryan said Nottoli’s silver Acura TL had been speeding on Highway 1. After speaking with Nottoli on the side of the road, Ryan suspected the 25-year-old was under the influence of a stimulant drug. His license was also expired, so Ryan said he would impound the vehicle. Nottoli asked if his car could stay parked on the side of the road, which was not heavily traveled and out of the way. Ryan refused so that he could conduct an “inventory” search prior to the towing.

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San Francisco Bay Guardian: SF Supervisors Urge City To Defy Federal Immigration Holds

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The Santa-Clara-fication spreads.  Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a similar policy to Santa Clara urging the City to limit cooperation with federal immigration officials and not spend county resources to do ICE’s job.  Great job to the San Francisco Immigrant Rights Defense Committee for pushing this forward, and to Supervisor Eric Mar for sponsoring the resolution.  We need more and more of our jurisdictions to turn the tide against the criminalization of immigrants.  Post by Charisse Domingo

 

SF supervisors urge city to defy federal immigration holds

by Steven Jones
12/14/11

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors yesterday (Tues/13) approved a resolution calling for the city to adopt stronger policies for resisting federal efforts to deport undocumented immigrants who live here. It is the latest move to support the city’s Sanctuary City status and counter the federal Secure Communities (S-Com) program, a new database that allows the feds to circumvent local policies protecting local immigrants who have been arrested but not convicted of any crimes.

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New York Times: Court to Weigh Arizona Statute on Immigration

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The supreme court will take on anti-immigration laws in the near future, could this cause turbulence to the presidential election coming up? I think so. -Submission by Cesar Flores

WASHINGTON — In the space of a month, the Supreme Courthas thrust itself into the center of American political life, agreeing to hear three major cases that could help determine which party controls the House of Representatives and whether President Obama  wins a second term.

The court announced Monday that it would decide whether Arizona was entitled to impose tough anti-immigration measures over the Obama administration’s objections. The case joined a crowded docket that already included challenges to Mr. Obama’s signature legislative achievement, the 2010 health care overhaul law, and a momentous case on how Texas will conduct its elections. Continue reading →

SF Bayview: Real Talk on Three Strikes

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YES YOU!!!

Post Submission by Blanca Bosquez —

By Richard Wembe Johnson — For many years, the “three strikes” law has rained havoc and waste over the state of California, plunging its state debt increasingly deeper each and every year, which the taxpayers are paying for without any real justification. In getting the three strikes law passed in the first place, the general public was duped into believing that the law was directed to all those violent repeat offenders – child molesters, murderers, rapists and so on.

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NEW YORK TIMES: NYPD OFFICERS HAVE FUN WITH RACIST FACEBOOK GROUP

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NYPD officers have fun with racist Facebook group

NYPD officers have fun with racist Facebook groupAttorney Bejamin Moore, from the Brooklyn Defenders Services went that extra mile in his research to find out what kind of Police Officer he was dealing with.-Submission by Gail Noble

New York — If you’re not too keen on the New York Police Department, don’t worry — the feeling is mutual.

Officers within the NYPD allegedly typed racist and revealing comments on a public Facebook page seemingly undetected until a New York attorney uncovered them. Continue reading →

San Jose Mercury News: Convicted teens appear before peers for sentencing

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Is giving teens the power to convict their peers for the prevention of juvenile recitivism a good idea? You be the judge. -Submission by Cesar Flores

In the painful world of adolescence, often nothing looms larger than what other teens think of you.

Santa Clara County’s fledgling Peer Court hopes to take advantage of that mindset, by placing low-level criminal offenders in front of a jury of their peers.

In the fourth session since its start last month, on Tuesday 12 teen jurors will decide the punishment for a student defendant represented by two teen defenders, facing off against two teen prosecutors. Continue reading →

Meadville Tribune: Meadville cop involved in Tasering to retire

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Its time for Tasers to the shelved, check out this article about a cop that just filed for retirement. — Submission Blanca Bosquez

A lethal "non-lethal" weapon.

MEADVILLE — The Meadville police officer who fired a Taser that took out a resident’s eye has filed for retirement.

Sgt. Glen Peterson, a 32-year veteran of the Meadville police force, has declined to speak to the media. City officials say that while the Aug. 23 Taser incident did weigh on Peterson, it was not the primary reason he decided to retire. Continue reading →

New York Times: The Certainty of Memory Has Its Day in Court

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According to the Innocence Project, 75% of post-conviction DNA exoneration cases cited witness misidentification testimony as a factor, making it the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the United States.  This month, the Supreme Court heard the first of oral arguments in a case that questions witness testimony as the “gold standard” of criminal prosecution.  Submission post by Charisse Domingo

THE CERTAINTY OF MEMORY HAS ITS DAY IN COURT
by Laura Beil
New York Times
November 28, 2011

Witness testimony has been the gold standard of the criminal justice system, revered in courtrooms and crime dramas as the evidence that clinches a case.

Yet scientists have long cautioned that the brain is not a filing cabinet, storing memories in a way that they can be pulled out, consulted and returned intact. Memory is not so much a record of the past as a rough sketch that can be modified even by the simple act of telling the story.

For scientists, memory has been on trial for decades, and courts and public opinion are only now catching up with the verdict. It has come as little surprise to researchers that about 75 percent of DNA-based exonerations have come in cases where witnesses got it wrong. Continue reading →