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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

XKeyscore: NSA tool collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

XKeyscore gives 'widest-reaching' collection of online data
• NSA analysts require no prior authorization for searches
• Sweeps up emails, social media activity and browsing history

The Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Lunch of 2013.

The most interesting lunch in the political world took place Monday at the White House, though officials said the chat between President Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton was more personal than professional.

The president and his former secretary of state “have developed not just a strong working relationship, but also a genuine friendship,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

“So,” he added, “it’s largely friendship that’s on the agenda for the lunch today.”

Obama invited the former rival-turned-top-aide to a private lunch that took place on an outside patio near the Oval Office.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Gawker editor: ‘White-on-white crime scourge’ — MSNBC

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Gawker editor: ‘White-on-white crime scourge’ — MSNBC

Gawker editor: ‘White-on-white crime scourge’ — MSNBC


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Gawker editor: ‘White-on-white crime scourge’ — MSNBC

NASA: The most well-traveled 55-year-old ever | Crave - CNET

Rioting Breaks Out in Huntington Beach After Surfing Open - Many people don't want to hear this kind of tough love, of course. They'd like to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that all white children are as sweet and harmless as Taylor Swift. But the reality is that the statistics tell a different story. For instance, according to research from the Department of Justice, 84 percent of white murder victims are killed by other white people [PDF]. Similarly, white rape victims tend to be raped by other whites [PDF]. White-on-white violence is a menace to white communities across the country, and yet you never hear white leaders like Pastor Joel Osteen, Bill O'Reilly, or Hillary Clinton take a firm stance against the scourge.

Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity’s contracts in limbo at Cumulus — MSNBC. Good riddance to some bad rubbish.

Cumulus Media is expected to drop Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity’s radio shows at the end of the year, according to an industry source who told POLITICO‘s Dylan Byers. Cumulus, the second largest radio network in the country, will no longer distribute the top two highest-rated talk radio shows that are broadcasted in 40 major markets

Bradley Manning Not Guilty Of 'Aiding The Enemy'

Rachel Maddow Show: Rights rollbacks put North Carolina in civil rights spotlight

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Rachel Maddow Show: Rights rollbacks put North Carolina in civil rights spotlight

Rachel Maddow Show: Florida protesters demand legislation inspired by Trayvon Martin death

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Rachel Maddow Show: Florida protesters demand legislation inspired by Trayvon Martin death

Rachel Maddow Show: Rights rollbacks put North Carolina in civil rights spotlight

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Rachel Maddow Show: Rights rollbacks put North Carolina in civil rights spotlight

The 'Refuse to Enroll' campaign gets to work

When Reuters reported last week that Republicans and their allies "are mobilizing ... to dissuade uninsured Americans from obtaining health coverage," it caused a bit of a stir. After all, what kind of people would invest time and energy into convincing struggling families to turn down access to affordable health care? Who would be so callous as to put partisan spite over the basic health care needs of their community?

Well, now we know. The Dayton Daily News has hidden the story behind a paywall, but the paper reported yesterday on groups like the "Citizens' Council for Health Freedom," which is rallying behind the "Refuse to Enroll" campaign.


The Maddow Blog

All In : Fast food strikes spread across the nation

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All In : Fast food strikes spread across the nation: ""

(Via.)

All In : McDonalds employee: Its time to take a stand

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All In : McDonalds employee: Its time to take a stand

All In : Christie, Paul spar over national security

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All In : Christie, Paul spar over national security

All In : Pope Francis and the gay lobby

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All In : Pope Francis and the gay lobby: ""

(Via.)

Bradley Manning verdict could test notion of aiding enemy - U.S. News

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Bradley Manning verdict could test notion of aiding enemy - U.S. News

Why progressives hate the idea of Larry Summers for Fed Chair — MSNBC

Monday, July 29, 2013

Muslim Author Reza Aslan: I Knew ‘What I Was Getting Into’ By Going On Fox News | Mediaite

A discussion of just about the worst interview I have ever seen on T.V.

" “The philosophical backbone of [Green's] question is that it would be impossible for someone to write about Jesus without some kind of faith-based prejudice,” Aslan said Monday. “It’s weird to all of a sudden talk about it, that only practitioners of a faith can talk about that faith. If that were true, there would be a lot fewer books about Islam in America.

The Blanks Slate: Living While Black: Anecdotes about Dealing with Police

Most countries have foundational myths that underlie the ethos of the national character. Much of our national myth involves freedom and Enlightenment liberalism: property rights, religious freedom, and the dignity of the individual are among the core values which under-gird our national identity. This narrative leads to national cliches like "If you work hard enough, you can do anything" and 'pulling oneself up by the bootstraps' is the key to success.  The accompanying narrative overlooks what that actually looked like for much of our history including, inter alia, discriminatory legal regimes. This is important not, as many think, to enable a "victimhood" mentality among descendants. This is important to reaffirm that this country has only recently recognized that the "inalienable rights" explicitly assigned to all of mankind in our founding document apply to women and many people of color. This recognition is to understand that, since our country's inception, there have been parallel sets of rules and laws for  marginalized people that are distinct from and harsher than those for the majority. It also means "dignity of the individual" doesn't apply equally.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Reza Aslan To Fox News: Yes I 'Happen To Be A Muslim,' But Wrote 'Zealot... This Fox News Commentator is a Bigot and an idiot.

The New Yorker's Anthony Weiner Cover Is Spectacular (PHOTO)

NewImage

 

The New Yorker's Anthony Weiner Cover Is Spectacular (PHOTO): ""

(Via.)

Fox News Host's Stunningly Offensive Comment To Muslim Author

New Concerns Over NSA Access To Private Data

How Black Families Are Destroyed, In Two Simple Charts | Black Politics on the Web

White people are still largely the beneficiaries of racism, whether they know it or not. As The Nation’s Mychal Denzel Smith explains, “Not every white person is a racist, but the genius of racism is that you don’t have to participate to enjoy the spoils. If you’re white, you can be completely oblivious, passively accepting the status quo, and reap the rewards.” - See more at: http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2013/07/28/how-black-families-are-destroyed-in-two-simple-charts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlackPoliticsontheWeb+%28Headlines+from+BlackPoliticsontheWeb.com%29#sthash.7ezkPJ2Z.dpuf

NYTimes: Why Smokers Still Smoke

NYTimes: Want World Domination? Size Matters

City of Wonder, Then and Still - NYTimes.com

NewImage

Gordon Rynders/New York Daily News Archive, via Getty Images

An aerial view of the ocean liner Mauretania as it arrived in New York, in January 1956.

OXFORD, England — SIXTY years ago I went to Manhattan for the very first time, on the ocean liner Mauretania from Liverpool, and annually since then, without a break, I have returned. This year is my Diamond Jubilee visit, and everyone, New Yorkers and outsiders alike, asks me how much the place has changed.

It has certainly changed me, I can tell you that! Look around the library at my home in Wales and you will see New York books impenetrably cluttering its shelves, including a couple I have impertinently written myself, file after file of articles, street plans and prints, and a Crumpled City map of contemporary Manhattan, printed on scrunchable fabric, which Twm, one of my three sons, has just given me as a Diamond Jubilee memento. Since 1953 New York has implanted itself irrevocably in my being and altered me forever.

City of Wonder, Then and Still - NYTimes.com: ""

(Via.)

NYTimes: Mr. Putin’s War on Gays

NYTimes: A New Defense of Voting Rights

NYTimes: Defense Calls Manning’s Intentions Good

NYTimes: NBC Announces Mini-Series on Hillary Clinton

NYTimes: Lindy Boggs, Longtime Representative and Champion of Women, Is Dead at 97

NYTimes: Weiner’s Campaign Manager Quits After Latest Revelations

NYTimes: Obama Says Income Gap Is Fraying U.S. Social Fabric

Noam Chomsky (July, 2013) "The Corporatization of the University"

Friday, July 26, 2013

Hardball: Zimmerman trial juror speaks to the press

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Hardball: Zimmerman trial juror speaks to the press

Inside Groundswell: Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a "30 Front War" | Mother Jones

Believing they are losing the messaging war with progressives, a group of prominent conservatives in Washington—including the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and journalists from Breitbart News and the Washington Examiner—has been meeting privately since early this year to concoct talking points, coordinate messaging, and hatch plans for "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation," according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.

Inside Groundswell: Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a "30 Front War" | Mother Jones

My Parents and Grandparents Could not vote. On my Fathers Side i florida and on my mothers side in Texas. Never again!

We can never allow these States to suppress our votes again! To many people have fought and died for the right to vote. My mother and grandparents could not vote in their home states of Texas. My grandmother could not by law have my mother in a hospital so my mother never had a birth certificate. They gave my grandfather a literacy test in Latin in South Carolina.

Texas and North Carolina Republicans must pay a price for their voter suppression efforts. This is the only way they will learn to stop this behavior.

The Last Word: Feds target Texas voter restrictions. Is North Carolina next? Voter Suppression must be stopped!

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The Last Word: Feds target Texas voter restrictions. Is North Carolina next?

The Last Word: Republicans, race... and cantaloupes

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The Last Word: Republicans, race... and cantaloupes

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

All In : Foxs Bill OReilly loses it when talking about race - This is the enemy within that all good Americans should be fighting.

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All In : Foxs Bill OReilly loses it when talking about race

All In : Whats important about Anthony Weiners newest sex scandal - Dumb, dumb and dumber!

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All In : Whats important about Anthony Weiners newest sex scandal

America's race relations take hit after Zimmerman verdict, NBC News/WSJ poll finds - First Read

In the wake of the George Zimmerman case, U.S. views of race relations have taken a hit, and one-third of Americans say his acquittal in the death of Trayvon Martin has shaken their confidence in the legal system, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
The survey found deep divisions on the overall subject of race, along both political and racial lines, as controversy over the verdict has swirled from city street corners to the Oval Office.
Fifty-two percent of adults questioned said race relations in the U.S. are “very good” or “fairly good,” down from more than 70 percent who said that in NBC/WSJ polls between 2009 and 2011.

America's race relations take hit after Zimmerman verdict, NBC News/WSJ poll finds - First Read

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Imagine if Trayvon Killed George Zimmerman - Jasiri X

Blood On The Leaves Remix - Jasiri X

Nate Silver – Renowned Statistician, Author and Founder of FiveThirtyEight – Joins ESPN in Multi-Faceted Role « ESPN MediaZone

Nate Silver – Renowned Statistician, Author and Founder of FiveThirtyEight – Joins ESPN in Multi-Faceted Role « ESPN MediaZone

South Africa celebrates Mandela’s birthday — MSNBC

South Africa celebrates Mandela’s birthday — MSNBC

All In : Americas cash structure and myth of meritocracy

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All In : Americas cash structure and myth of meritocracy

All In : Americas cash structure and myth of meritocracy

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All In : Americas cash structure and myth of meritocracy

All In : Nationwide response continues one week after Zimmerman verdict

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All In : Nationwide response continues one week after Zimmerman verdict

Monday, July 22, 2013

In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters - NYTimes.com

The study — based on millions of anonymous earnings records and being released this week by a team of top academic economists — is the first with enough data to compare upward mobility across metropolitan areas. These comparisons provide some of the most powerful evidence so far about the factors that seem to drive people’s chances of rising beyond the station of their birth, including education, family structure and the economic layout of metropolitan areas.
Climbing the income ladder occurs less often in the Southeast and industrial Midwest, the data shows, with the odds notably low in Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis, Raleigh, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Columbus. By contrast, some of the highest rates occur in the Northeast, Great Plains and West, including in New York, Boston, Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh, Seattle and large swaths of California and Minnesota.

In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters - NYTimes.com

FISA court renews authority to collect phone records | Politics and Law - CNET News

A top-secret federal court has renewed the authority of the U.S. government to collect telephone records as part of its surveillance program. In other words: Let the federal spying keep on rolling.

The Court & the Right to Vote: A Dissent by John Paul Stevens | The New York Review of Books

The Court’s heavy reliance on the importance of a “fundamental principle of equal sovereignty among the States,” while supported by language in an earlier opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, ignored the fact that Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution created a serious inequality among the states. That clause counted “three fifths” of a state’s slaves for the purpose of measuring the size of its congressional delegation and its representation in the Electoral College. That provision was offensive because it treated African-Americans as though each of them was equal to only three fifths of a white person, but it was even more offensive because it increased the power of the southern states by counting three fifths of their slaves even though those slaves were not allowed to vote. The northern states would have been politically better off if the slave population had been simply omitted from the number used to measure the voting power of the slave states.

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Rand Paul Aide Resigns After Confederate Views Stir Controversy

It's about  time.   Rand Paul is running scared but he cannot run from his racist record.

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Microsoft: U.S. Constitution is 'suffering' from NSA secrecy | Politics and Law - CNET News

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Sunday, July 21, 2013

Math Behind Leak Crackdown - 153 Cases, 4 Years, 0 Indictments - NYTimes.com

Is this  the right way to respond to Bush Administration incompetence?  I think not.  Soon after President Obama appointed him director of national intelligence in 2009, Dennis C. Blair called for a tally of the number of government officials or employees who had been prosecuted for leaking national security secrets. He was dismayed by what he found.

Court Tells Reporter to Testify in Case of Leaked C.I.A. Data (July 20, 2013)

Guardian, via Reuters

The charges filed last month against Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, are the seventh leak-related prosecution brought by the

In the previous four years, the record showed, 153 cases had been referred to the Justice Department. Not one had led to an indictment.

That scorecard “was pretty shocking to all of us,” Mr. Blair said. So in a series of phone calls and meetings, he and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. fashioned a more aggressive strategy to punish anyone who leaked national security information that endangered intelligence-gathering methods and sources.

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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Court Tells Reporter to Testify in Case of Leaked C.I.A. Data - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — In a major ruling on press freedoms, a divided federal appeals court on Friday ruled that James Risen, an author and a reporter for The New York Times, must testify in the criminal trial of a former Central Intelligence Agency official charged with providing him with classified information.

Court Tells Reporter to Testify in Case of Leaked C.I.A. Data - NYTimes.com

Melissa Harris-Perry: What are barriers to the conversation Obama would like us to have?

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Melissa Harris-Perry: What are barriers to the conversation Obama would like us to have?

Melissa Harris-Perry: Powerful words from the most powerful man in America

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Powerful words from the most powerful man in America

There’s nothing about abortion in the Bible - Salon.com

"The Bible says nothing whatsoever about abortion. It never mentions the subject, not once, neither in the Old Testament nor the New. This isn’t because abortion was unknown in the ancient world. Much to the contrary, the ancient Greeks and Romans were well-acquainted with the idea. Surviving writings from these cultures recommend the use of herbs like pennyroyal, silphium and hellebore to induce abortion; others advise vigorous physical activity to cause a miscarriage, and some even discuss surgical methods."

There’s nothing about abortion in the Bible - Salon.com

All In : Profiling the president

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All In : Profiling the president

All In : Reaction, analysis on President Obamas impromptu speech on race in America

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All In : Reaction, analysis on President Obamas impromptu speech on race in America

All In : Reaction, analysis on President Obamas impromptu speech on race in America

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All In : Reaction, analysis on President Obamas impromptu speech on race in America

Friday, July 19, 2013

Charles Blow REACTION To Obama On Trayvon Martin Case Zimmerman Verdict ...

The Trayvon Martin Killing and the Myth of Black-on-Black Crime - The Daily Beast

But there’s a huge problem with attempt to shift the conversation: There’s no suchthing as “black-on-black” crime. Yes, from 1976 to 2005, 94 percent of black victims were killed by black offenders, but that racial exclusivity was also true for white victims of violent crime—86 percent were killed by white offenders. Indeed, for the large majority of crimes, you’ll find that victims and offenders share a racial identity, or have some prior relationship to each other.

The Trayvon Martin Killing and the Myth of Black-on-Black Crime - The Daily Beast

Martin Bashir: President Obama’s surprise speech on Trayvon Martin, race in America - It was not the conversation I heard among African American men this week. It was far to weak.

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Martin Bashir: President Obama’s surprise speech on Trayvon Martin, race in America

Obama Takes Over White House Press Briefing To Speak On Trayvon Martin - It was Far To Weak And Timid.

It is about time President Obama something even though it was somewhat weak. The state's have never respected the human rights of African Americans. He needed to speak more to the racial bigotry that caused this to happen. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of Black folks speaking straight with other Black folks and meekly to White folks. Until we confront, combat and defeat racism. The problem is the attitude of supremacy felt by to many White folks. There are plenty of fair minded White folks but attitudes of far to many are unacceptable and must change. We cannot wait.

Approximately the same percentage of White folks kill White folks as Black folks kill Black folks. White folks are far more likely to own guns than Black folks. White folks are the problem. White folks need to deal with the bigotry among themselves. We, as Black folks need to find ways to raise the decision costs when White folks act out on racism. There must be a price for this behavior. Unless their is a price there is no incentive to change.

Obama Takes Over White House Press Briefing To Speak On Trayvon Martin (VIDEO)

Rick Scott Refuses To Budge On 'Stand Your Ground' After Meeting With Protesters.  It is time for massive,  civil disobedience in Tallahassee. Fill the jails and shut the city down.  Never Again!

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Rachel Maddow Show: Clinic closures likely as Perry signs anti-abortion law

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Rachel Maddow Show: Clinic closures likely as Perry signs anti-abortion law

Rachel Maddow Show: Gun lobbys power in Florida an obstacle to Stand your ground reform

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/18/19544182-living-tombs-thousands-of-california-inmates-protest-solitary-confinement-with-hunger-strike?lite

Rachel Maddow Show: Gun lobbys power in Florida an obstacle to Stand your ground reform

All In : The mystery behind strange allegations against Texas protestors

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All In : The mystery behind strange allegations against Texas protestors

All In : Rick Scott faces mounting pressure on Stand Your Ground

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All In : Rick Scott faces mounting pressure on Stand Your Ground

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

All In : In North Carolina, a strategy to disenfranchise voters - Enough is enough. We must raise the decision costs for America. This turning back of the clock must be stopped.

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All In : In North Carolina, a strategy to disenfranchise voters

All In : NY Congressman: Ray Kelly should not be Homeland Security chief - This nomination of Ray Kelly is totally unacceptable. President Obama must be opposed relentlessly on this issue Kelly has been a perpetrator of the unconstitutional "stop and frisk" policies in NYC and the unconstitutional privacy and 4th Amendment violations against Muslims in both NYC and New Jersey.

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All In : NY Congressman: Ray Kelly should not be Homeland Security chief

The Secret Power Of Black Twitter - BuzzFeed Mobile

Last night Black Twitter killed a George Zimmerman trial juror’s book deal. But that’s not a surprise: The hive has become a swarm. It’s diffuse, powerful, and all around you.

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All In : Surveying the aftermath of the George Zimmerman Trial

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All In : Surveying the aftermath of the George Zimmerman Trial

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - Political Comedy - Fake News | Comedy Central

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - Political Comedy - Fake News | Comedy Central

The Whole System Failed Trayvon Martin


In a way, the not-guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman for his killing of Trayvon Martin was more powerful than a guilty verdict could ever have been. It was the perfect wrenching coda to a story that illustrates just how utterly and completely our system of justice — both moral and legal — failed Martin and his family.



The Whole System Failed Trayvon Martin

Disembodied Racism and the Search for Racist Intent: The Trayvon Martin Case » Sociology Lens

The Trayvon Martin case has become a national media event complete with competing individual evaluations, competing definitions of racism and competing blame narratives.  In these “racial events,” Americans propensity for individualistic analysis coalesces with America’s racialized culture in order to produce a mix of individual evaluations and sweeping claims about racial groups and the institutional privileges and disadvantages of different racial groups.  In my experience, this process reinforces many of the flawed ideas about race that sociologists regularly debunk and challenge.

Disembodied Racism and the Search for Racist Intent: The Trayvon Martin Case » Sociology Lens

The Last Word: Zimmerman trial reignites the national conversation on race

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The Last Word: Zimmerman trial reignites the national conversation on race

All In : A look back: Florida woman sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot

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All In : A look back: Florida woman sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot

All In : Aftermath: Nation reacts to Zimmerman verdict

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All In : Aftermath: Nation reacts to Zimmerman verdict

All In : The Next chapter in the Trayvon Martin saga

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All In : The Next chapter in the Trayvon Martin saga