Tag Archives: black

Mitt Romney Is Going to Run for President Again? WTF?

by JoannaSims Posted on January 14, 2015

Mother Jones

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I’m sort of slowly catching up on things I missed over the past couple of days, and most of it at least makes sense. Wall Street panicked over a single bad economic report. Check. Boko Haram massacred another village in Nigeria. Check. Tea partiers still control the Republican agenda in Congress. Check. Mitt Romney is going to run for president again. Ch—

Wait. Mitt Romney is going to run for president again? Seriously? That’s insane, isn’t it? Can anyone aside from Romney’s overpaid team of advisors and consultants actually make a good case that he can win?

I’m still a little woozy, so I’m not up to the job of trying to figure this out. But there’s just no way. Parties don’t rally around losers, and Romney is now a two-time loser. Ann Romney may still be nursing a planet-sized grudge about the way Mitt was treated in 2012, but that buys no votes. Besides, he’ll be treated the same way this time around. Once a plutocrat, always a plutocrat. Maybe that’s fair, maybe it’s not, but nobody ever said life was fair.

So I guess I’m caught up. Except for this one thing. What the hell is Romney thinking?

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Mitt Romney Is Going to Run for President Again? WTF?

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Yep, Gasoline Lead Explains the Crime Decline in Canada Too

by JacelynSUN Posted on January 14, 2015

Mother Jones

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Erik Eckholm of the New York Times writes that violent crime has plunged dramatically over the past two decades. But the reasons remain elusive:

There are some areas of consensus. The closing of open-air drug markets….revolution in urban policing….increases in drug and gun sentences….Various experts have also linked the fall in violence to the aging of the population, low inflation rates and even the decline in early-childhood lead exposure. But in the end, none of these factors fully explain a drop that occurred, in tandem, in much of the world.

“Canada, with practically none of the policy changes we point to here, had a comparable decline in crime over the same period,” said Franklin E. Zimring, a law professor and an expert in criminal justice at the University of California, Berkeley. He described the quest for an explanation as “criminological astrology.”

I’m happy to see lead at least get a shout out. Unless I’ve missed something, this might actually be the first time the New York Times has ever mentioned childhood lead exposure as a possible explanation for the decline in violent crime. Progress!

But while Eckholm is right to say that none of the other factors he mentions can explain a decline in violent crime that happened all over the world, he’s wrong to include lead in that list. It’s the one explanation that does have the potential to explain a worldwide drop in crime levels. In particular, the chart on the right shows the use of gasoline lead in Canada, which peaked in the mid-70s and then began dropping as catalytic converters became more common. Leaded gasoline was banned for good in 1990, and is now virtually gone with a few minor exceptions for specialized vehicles.

So what happened? As Zimring says, Canada saw a substantial decrease in violent crime that started about 20 years after lead emissions began to drop, which is exactly what you’d expect. I calculated the numbers for Canada’s biggest cities back when I was researching my lead-crime piece, and crime was down from its peak values everywhere: 31 percent in Montreal, 36 percent in Edmonton, 40 percent in Toronto and Vancouver, and 53 percent in Ottawa. CompStat and broken windows and American drug laws can’t explain that.

“Criminological astrology” is a good phrase to describe the relentless effort of US criminologists to explain a worldwide phenomenon using only parochial US data. But there is one explanation that really does work pretty well everywhere: the reduction in gasoline lead, which happened all over the world, but happened at different times in different places. And everywhere it happened, crime started to decline about 20 years later. No explanation is ever perfect, but this one comes closer than most.

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Yep, Gasoline Lead Explains the Crime Decline in Canada Too

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Two Promising Factlets About American Schools

by WDCIsmaeltjydj Posted on January 12, 2015

Mother Jones

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So how are our schools doing? Here are two factlets that crossed my radar yesterday.

First: Neerav Kingsland says that SAT scores of new teachers are rising and that most of them are staying in teaching for at least five years. He comments: “If I was going to bet on whether American education will improver, flatline, or get worse — I would look very hard at the academic performance of teachers entering the profession, as well as how long these better qualified teachers stayed in the classroom. The aforementioned data makes me more bullish on American education.”

Second: Adam Ozimek says we’re selling charter schools short when we say that on average they do about as well as public schools. That’s true, but there’s more to it:

I would like to propose a better conventional wisdom: “some charter schools appear to do very well, and on average charters do better at educating poor students and black students”. If the same evidence existed for some policy other than charter schools, I believe this would be the conventional wisdom.

….The charter sectors’ ability to do better for poor students and black students is important given that they disproportionately serve them….53% of charter students are in poverty compared 48% for public schools. Charters also serve more minority students than public schools: charters are 29% black, while public schools are 16%. So not only do they serve more poor students and black students, but for this group they relatively consistently outperform public schools.

It’s been a while since I took a dive into the data on charter schools, so I’m passing this along without comment. But it sounds right. I continue to believe that as long as they’re properly regulated, charter schools show substantial promise.

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Two Promising Factlets About American Schools

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Happy New Year! This Is the Best NYE Scene Hollywood Has Ever Made.

by Remona20Ax Posted on January 1, 2015

Mother Jones

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Happy New Year! This Is the Best NYE Scene Hollywood Has Ever Made.

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The Wonkosphere’s Top Evergreen Stories, Explained

by JohannaG58 Posted on December 24, 2014

Mother Jones

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The news business has always had evergreen stories. When Time magazine asks “Why Did Jesus Have To Die?” on its cover, it’s following in its own footsteps along with hundreds of others. If it’s Easter, we have stories about Jesus.

The wonky blog world has its own odd set of evergreens. These are stories that might have been interesting the first time I read them, but which I’m now heartily sick of. So even though I’m a day late for this to be part of the Festivus airing of grievances, here are a few examples:

Does Daylight Savings Time really reduce energy consumption?
An economist explains why Christmas gift giving is inefficient.
The Declaration of Independence wasn’t really signed on July 4th.
Christmas and those crazy Asians: KFC in Japan and Spam in South Korea explained.
Scientists are adding a second to the year today. Here’s why.
The Dow is a lousy proxy for the actual state of the stock market.
Etc.

Of course, if this year happens to be the first time you see any of these evergreens, they’re fresh and new to you. It’s only the fact that I’ve seen them so many times that makes them so tired to me. So feel free to ignore my griping on this subject. In fact, feel free to mock me for it if you like.

Anyway, I was reminded of this by the inevitable spate of bloggish stories last week about why Christmas is inefficient, and then reminded again by not one, not two, but three bloggy pieces about KFC in Japan that I happened to see within five minutes of each other this morning. (Bad luck, that!) And it got me thinking: ordinary old-school evergreens all seem pretty understandable. But these wonkish blog evergreens seem….a bit odd. So I’m curious: what is it that makes a subject a bloggy evergreen? What do these kinds of stories have in common?

Once I figure it out, I plan to write a blog post about it every year. Sort of like the one I write every year about the origins of Black Friday. Are you sick of that one yet?

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The Wonkosphere’s Top Evergreen Stories, Explained

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Dozens of Staffers Just Walked Out of Congress. This Powerful Picture Shows Why.

by ToneyMarra Posted on December 11, 2014

Mother Jones

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On Thursday afternoon, dozens of congressional staffers walked out in protest of the recent grand jury decisions failing to indict the two officers who killed Eric Garner and Michael Brown. The result was an incredible display of solidarity, with staffers raising their hands in the air to invoke Brown’s “hands up, don’t shoot” image. See the photos below:

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Dozens of Staffers Just Walked Out of Congress. This Powerful Picture Shows Why.

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Bill de Blasio Explains Why Encounters with Police Are “Different for a White Child”

by LeandroRuff Posted on December 8, 2014

Mother Jones

In his call for Americans to begin an “honest conversation” about broken race relations in America, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio defended earlier statements he made explaining why his biracial son Dante needs to be especially careful in encounters with law enforcement.

“What parents have done for decades, who have children of color, especially young men of color, is train them to be very careful when they have a connection with a police officer,” de Blasio opened up to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.

“It’s different for a white child. That’s just the reality in this country. And with Dante, very early on with my son, we said, look, if a police officer stops you, do everything he tells you to do, don’t move suddenly, don’t reach for your cell phone, because we knew, sadly, there’s a greater chance it might be misinterpreted if it was a young man of color.”

His appearance on Sunday follows a previous statement he made revealing the personal story of when he and his wife sat down with Dante with instructions on how he should act if he were to ever be stopped by an officer. The anecdote drew outrage from police union leaders who criticized the mayor for “throwing officers under the bus.”

In the aftermath of last week’s decision by a grand jury not to indict the officer who placed Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold, de Blasio has had the difficult task of demonstrating support for both protestors and members of the New York City Police Department. Many have applauded the mayor for being able to view Garner’s death from a raw, personal standpoint.

Backing de Blasio’s personal views are a number of studies showing that even absent conscious, blatant racism, our brains are wired with implicit biases that cause all of us, including police, to instincitvely react with prejudice.

After his appearance on Sunday, however, Ed Mullins of the Sergeants Benevolent Association rejected the mayor for doubling down on his comments and suggested the mayor should move out of the city if he can’t trust his own police force.

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Bill de Blasio Explains Why Encounters with Police Are “Different for a White Child”

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Grand Jury Doesn’t Indict Staten Island Cop in Death of Eric Garner

by AdriennYJFF Posted on December 3, 2014

Mother Jones

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A Staten Island grand jury has declined to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner.

The “no-bill” decision comes despite the fact that Pantaleo was caught on camera putting Garner in a chokehold during his July 17 arrest.

Cell-phone video of Garner’s July 17 arrest shows Pantaleo wrestling him to the sidewalk on Bay Street, with the white cop’s arms wrapped around the neck of the black suspect.

On the ground, Garner was heard repeatedly yelling “I can’t breathe!” as Pantaleo and other cops held him down and handcuffed him.

The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Garner’s death a homicide caused by “compression of neck (chokehold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.”

Police union leaders denied that Pantaleo used a chokehold — which is banned by the NYPD — and blasted the autopsy as part of a “political” witch hunt.

The fact that this video exists, that the cop saw it being recorded, that the grand jury watched it and then still declined to indict, should chasten anyone who thinks body cams will be a cure-all for police abuse.

Read about the science of implicit prejudices and what we can do to better train police.

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Grand Jury Doesn’t Indict Staten Island Cop in Death of Eric Garner

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Here Are the Places Ferguson Protesters Have Shut Down

by WDCIsmaeltjydj Posted on December 3, 2014

Mother Jones

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Since a grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson early last week, thousands have taken to the streets around the country to protest, with some using tactics aimed to disrupt: They’ve marched onto freeways in traffic, chained themselves across commuter train cars, and staged “die-ins” in malls on the busiest shopping day of the year.

In downtown Dallas, Interstate 35 was shut down in both directions for two hours last Tuesday night, after protesters carrying signs that said “Black Lives Matter” climbed in front of traffic. In the St. Louis region, three malls experienced significant disruptions on Black Friday, with one closing three hours early. And in Oakland, a handful of young activists chained themselves in a line across the West Oakland BART station, intending to keep the station closed for four and a half hours, the amount of time Michael Brown’s body laid in the street.

A protester refuses to move in front of the police on Interstate 44 in downtown St. Louis on Tuesday, November 25. Protesters occupied the flyover lanes in both directions for about a half hour until police made several arrests, including this man, and forced the protesters to leave. J.B. Forbes/AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Protesters block all lanes of Interstate 75/85 northbound near the state capitol building in Atlanta one day after the grand jury decision. David Tulis/AP

Protesters stage a “die in” inside Chesterfield Mall, on Friday, November 28, in Chesterfield, Missouri. Jeff Roberson/AP

Protesters block Interstate 580 in Oakland, California, on Monday, November 24. Noah Berger/AP

A demonstrator is arrested on Tuesday, November 25, after a large group of protesters attempted to march onto Interstate 93 in Boston. Christopher Evans/AP/Boston Herald

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Here Are the Places Ferguson Protesters Have Shut Down

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Here Are Two Videos of NYPD Officers Pummeling Teenagers Suspected of Weed Possession

by AlvaroZDDysb Posted on October 8, 2014

Mother Jones

Two videos emerged this week capturing officers of the New York City Police Department beating two reportedly unarmed teenagers suspected of marijuana possession.

The first recording is of surveillance footage showing officers swiftly approaching 16-year-old Kahreem Tribble after he was seen tossing a black bag onto a Brooklyn street. The video appears to show Tribble then slowing down, attempting to surrender.

Tribble puts his hands in the air, but the officers ignore him and begin pistol-whipping him in the face. He reportedly suffered cracked teeth, bruises, and bleeding in the mouth.

One officer has been suspended without pay; another placed on modified duty.

The second video, reported today, just one day after Tribble’s incident was uncovered, shows 17-year-old Marcel Hamer lying on the street while being placed under arrest. Hamer can be heard screaming, “Mister! It was just a cigarette!”

The arresting officer proceeds to punch Hamer in the face, who is immediately knocked out and appears lifeless on the street.

“Yeah, get it on film,” the officer can be heard taunting onlookers.

Hamer’s family says he now has brain damage.

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Statistics to keep in mind as you sit there bewildered and disgusted: New York City is home to 30,000-50,000 marijuana arrests a year, despite repeated calls to decriminalize low-level pot possession. Studies have shown time and time again, blacks are no more likely to smoke weed than whites. But data from 2002 to 2012 indicate an overwhelming 87 percent of those arrested for possession are either black or Latino youths.

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Here Are Two Videos of NYPD Officers Pummeling Teenagers Suspected of Weed Possession

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