Wednesday, January 06, 2016

White justice vs. black justice

Two systems of criminal justice in America:

1. Armed white anti-government radicals seized federal property in Oregon, holing up in a wildlife refuge to protest the principle of public land ownership. (The protesters claim that the land was stolen from ranchers, but it was actually stolen by white settlers like the Bundy posse via a broken treaty with the Paiute Indian tribe in 1878.) After nearly a week, the gunmen continue their occupation undisturbed, and say only that they believe warrants have been issued for their arrest.

2. Twelve-year-old African-American Tamir Rice is holding a toy gun in a public park in Cleveland. A 9-1-1 call goes out in which the caller states twice that the gun is "probably fake." City police pull up and shoot him dead less than two seconds, before their car has even come to a full stop. The killer cop, Timothy Loehmann, is given immunity from prosecution under the legal claim that the officer believed the gun to be real, Rice to be an adult and an immediate threat to the cop’s well-being. All this even though the two officers argued that they believed Rice looked like an adult and Ohio is a “right to carry” state. Video also shows Rice's 14-year-old sister being forced to the ground, handcuffed, and detained by the officers after the shooting and her running to her brother's aid. It also shows the officers waited four minutes before administering any first aid. Six months after the shooting, when the police department announced that it had almost concluded its investigation, Mother Jones magazine uncovered that neither of the two officers involved in the shooting had yet been interviewed in the investigation.

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The NFL’s Rams, as anticipated since the day two years ago that Stan Kroenke acquired a large block of land near Hollywood Park in Los Angeles, have officially filed for franchise relocation. The St. Louis Rams could cease to exist as early as January 14th.

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In the relocation application that the Rams submitted to the league, a line reads that any team that signs on to St. Louis' and Missouri's new proposed riverfront stadium plan-- which includes $350 million in public money, "will be well on the way to public ruin, and the League will be harmed." This is the billionaire son-in-law of Bud Walton claiming that it's impossible for a pro football franchise valued at $1.45 billion, and with $290 million in annual revenue, to make do with a new stadium built with only $350 million in taxpayer money.

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It was a sad day for Ken Griffey, Jr. and Mike Piazza. It was announced that they would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer, but their induction is robbed of meaning because the greatest hitter and pitcher of their generation were left waiting on the same ballot.

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