Perspectives on the #EricGarner case: Chief Bratton, #NYPD, Protests, Police Union

Watching Commissioner Bratton’s Face The Nation interview was a cringe-worthy experience. The commissioner rendered very opinionated answers, most of the time, very matter-of-factly and underhandedly. When you pressed your ear close to the TV speaker, you could tell that what was said so calmly wasn’t anything that should be taken as friendly to the people.

When asked how he felt when viewing the Garner choke-hold video, Bratton replied almost glibly:

“I don’t think that anybody watching that video isn’t disturbed by what they saw, that policing using involving use of force, it always looks awful. We have an expression: “lawful but awful…”

Continue reading Perspectives on the #EricGarner case: Chief Bratton, #NYPD, Protests, Police Union

Jared Bernstein: A deeper dive into the weeds of the CBO household income data

Jared Bernstein

November 25, 2014

Yesterday, I published a report by myself and Ben Spielberg analyzing the Congressional Budget Office’s comprehensive data series on household income. Here we dive a bit deeper into some of the weeds, expanding on some of our findings.

One motivation for our report was to correct the record of those who claim that the trend of increasing income inequality is significantly reduced when accounting for government taxes and transfers. In fact, as we show, between 1979 and 2011, inequality measured by the Gini coefficient rose 24% based solely on market outcomes and by 22% based on CBO’s comprehensive, post-tax and transfer income data.

Continue reading Jared Bernstein: A deeper dive into the weeds of the CBO household income data

#BlackLivesMatter: Commemorating those who fell to American racism

This is a partial list of recent victims of racism in America. It was compiled with the help of my good friend Charlie. Please look through it and, if you know of anyone else who fell to the militarized racist police state, please give me a name, date, and location.

Thank you. Continue reading #BlackLivesMatter: Commemorating those who fell to American racism

MT: Fireworks on .@AC360: NYT’s @CharlesMBlow vs. Dan Bongino on #NYPD Choking Death

By Matthew Balan | December 4, 2014

Charles Blow of the New York Times faced off with conservative Dan Bongino on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 on Wednesday over whether an inherent racial “bias” against blacks in American society fed into the controversial case of a NYPD officer choking Eric Garner to death during an arrest. Blow claimed that “society…acculturates us to fear, and…that is how the whole justice system becomes corrupted and biased….we are not always even aware that we have the bias.” Bongino, himself a former NYPD officer, ripped the liberal writer’s claims as “utterly absurd.” Blow cited apparent “social science” supporting his “bias” claims, and blasted the former Secret Service agent’s critique as “offensive,” especially in the wake of a grand jury choosing not to indict the policeman in the Garner case: Continue reading MT: Fireworks on .@AC360: NYT’s @CharlesMBlow vs. Dan Bongino on #NYPD Choking Death

‘#MorningJoe’ Panel: #MichaelBrown Was A ‘Thug,’ Protests Are Based On ‘Lies’

Blogger’s comment:

Does anyone believe these people, including former Congressman Joe Scarborough took the time to read through the copious amounts of evidence released by Robert McCulloch? No? That was McCulloch’s point in flooding the jury with it and after the verdict, the rest of us.

McCulloch wins. This is retro-racial America. Continue reading ‘#MorningJoe’ Panel: #MichaelBrown Was A ‘Thug,’ Protests Are Based On ‘Lies’

Take this Hammer: James Baldwin in Oakland, 1963

When people think of James Baldwin, they think of Go Tell It On The Mountain, The Fire Next Time, or Giovanni’s Room.

They might think of his articles for The New Yorker. They wouldn’t readily think of him as a documentarian. He was that too! Continue reading Take this Hammer: James Baldwin in Oakland, 1963