A collection of opinionated commentaries on culture, politics and religion compiled predominantly from an American viewpoint but tempered by a global vision. My Armwood Opinion Youtube Channel @ YouTube I have a Jazz Blog @ Jazz and a Technology Blog @ Technology. I have a Human Rights Blog @ Law
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Arab Leaders Silent, Viewing Hamas as Worse Than Israel - NYTimes.com
"The Arab states’ loathing and fear of political Islam is so strong that it outweighs their allergy to Benjamin Netanyahu,” the prime minister of Israel, said Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Wilson Center in Washington and a former Middle East negotiator under several presidents. “I have never seen a situation like it, where you have so many Arab states acquiescing in the death and destruction in Gaza and the pummeling of Hamas. The silence is deafening.”
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
NYTimes: Poll Finds Support for Treating Child Migrants as Refugees
"Most Americans surveyed in a poll released Tuesday said the United States should give shelter and assistance to children from Central America coming here illegally without their parents while the authorities decide whether they can stay.
In the poll, by the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan organization that conducts research on religious values in public life, 69 percent of respondents said the children should be treated as refugees and should be allowed to stay “if authorities determine it is not safe for them to return to their home countries.”
Israel's Campaign to Send Gaza Back to the Stone Age - The Daily Beast
GAZA CITY — Israel’s assault on Gaza has hit a new level of intensity as its navy, artillery, drones and F16s rain fire on residents across the besieged strip.
As the dust cleared this morning after a night of bombardment that felt as if it would never end, Gaza’s main power plant was out of commission and the already brittle civilian infrastructure lay in shards. The Gaza City port had been bombed and the finance ministry was flattened. Tens of thousands more people had fled their homes as Israeli flares lit up the night sky, and shells and rockets pounded residences, businesses and government buildings. By Tuesday afternoon over 100 more Gazans had been added to the list of more than 1,000 who had died earlier in what Israel calls Operation Protective Edge.
Israel's Campaign to Send Gaza Back to the Stone Age - The Daily Beast
Sunday, July 27, 2014
In Ferry Deaths, a South Korean Tycoon’s Downfall - NYTimes.com
"Scores of cabins and even an art gallery laden with marble were added to the ferry’s upper decks, making the ship top-heavy. So much extra cargo was crammed on board that there was sometimes no space to secure it properly with chains and lashings. And, prosecutors say, the ferry’s crucial ballast water, needed to balance all the additional weight, was deliberately drained so that the vessel would not sit too low — a telltale sign to inspectors that the ferry was dangerously overloaded to bring in more money."
The New York Times Calls for Marijuana Legalization - NYTimes.com
It took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished. It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol.
The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana.
We reached that conclusion after a great deal of discussion among the members of The Times’s Editorial Board, inspired by a rapidly growing movement among the states to reform marijuana laws.
There are no perfect answers to people’s legitimate concerns about marijuana use. But neither are there such answers about tobacco or alcohol, and we believe that on every level — health effects, the impact on society and law-and-order issues — the balance falls squarely on the side of national legalization. That will put decisions on whether to allow recreational or medicinal production and use where it belongs — at the state level.
We considered whether it would be best for Washington to hold back while the states continued experimenting with legalizing medicinal uses of marijuana, reducing penalties, or even simply legalizing all use. Nearly three-quarters of the states have done one of these.
But that would leave their citizens vulnerable to the whims of whoever happens to be in the White House and chooses to enforce or not enforce the federal law.
The social costs of the marijuana laws are vast. There were 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012, according to F.B.I. figures, compared with 256,000 for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives. Even worse, the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals.
There is honest debate among scientists about the health effects of marijuana, but we believe that the evidence is overwhelming that addiction and dependence are relatively minor problems, especially compared with alcohol and tobacco. Moderate use of marijuana does not appear to pose a risk for otherwise healthy adults. Claims that marijuana is a gateway to more dangerous drugs are as fanciful as the “Reefer Madness” images of murder, rape and suicide.
There are legitimate concerns about marijuana on the development of adolescent brains. For that reason, we advocate the prohibition of sales to people under 21.
Creating systems for regulating manufacture, sale and marketing will be complex. But those problems are solvable, and would have long been dealt with had we as a nation not clung to the decision to make marijuana production and use a federal crime.
In coming days, we will publish articles by members of the Editorial Board and supplementary material that will examine these questions. We invite readers to offer their ideas, and we will report back on their responses, pro and con.
We recognize that this Congress is as unlikely to take action on marijuana as it has been on other big issues. But it is long past time to repeal this version of Prohibition.
The New York Times Calls for Marijuana Legalization - NYTimes.com
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Russia, MH17 and the West: A web of lies | The Economist
"The shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, the killing of 298 innocent people and the desecration of their bodies in the sunflower fields of eastern Ukraine, is above all a tragedy of lives cut short and of those left behind to mourn. But it is also a measure of the harm Mr Putin has done. Under him Russia has again become a place in which truth and falsehood are no longer distinct and facts are put into the service of the government. Mr Putin sets himself up as a patriot, but he is a threat—to international norms, to his neighbours and to the Russians themselves, who are intoxicated by his hysterical brand of anti-Western propaganda."
NYC Approves Apartment Building With Separate Entrance for Poor People
"It would be difficult to come with a more on-the-nose metaphor for New York City's income inequality problem than the new high-rise apartment building coming to 40 Riverside Boulevard, which will feature separate doors for regular, wealthy humans and whatever you call the scum that rents affordable housing.
Extell Development Company, the firm behind the new building, announced its intentions to segregate the rich and poor to much outrage last year. Fifty-five of the luxury complex's 219 units would be marked for low-income renters—netting some valuable tax breaks for Extell—with the caveat that the less fortunate tenants would stick to their own entrance."
Friday, July 25, 2014
Did a third intifada begin tonight? As the death toll continues to mount in Gaza, thousands of protesters marched from the West Bank to Jerusalem, where they clashed with Israeli security forces. Chris Hayes talks with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, one of the founders of the Palestinian National Initiative party, and NBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
MSNBC and Rula Jebreal: Can this cable network take a little criticism? - The Washington Post
"On Monday’s edition of the MSNBC program “Ronan Farrow Daily,” Rula Jebreal blasted the very network that was broadcasting her comments, accusing it of favoring Israel in the ongoing hostilities in Gaza. “Look at how [much] air time [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his folks all have on air on daily basis. Andrea Mitchell and others. I’ve never seen one Palestinian being interviewed on these same issues.”
Matters got a bit testy, as Farrow sought to “push back on that a little. We’ve had Palestinian voices on our air.”
To which Jebreal countered: “Maybe for 30 seconds and then you have 25 minutes for Bibi Netanyahu.”
As she spouted those words, Jebreal was identified on the very program as an MSNBC “contributor,” a term with a certain meaning in the world of cable news. Contributors receive compensation to spew their soundbites on air."
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Hank Aaron 'money-bombs' Michelle Nunn
TLANTA -- Less than an hour after Jack Kingston conceded the Republican Senate primary to David Perdue, Michelle Nunn's campaign was pushing to November. "I couldn't be prouder of everything that Michelle and our grassroots team have already accomplished, but with the head-to-head matchup finally here, it's about to kick into overdrive," campaign manager Jeff DiSantis wrote.
Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, Sports and Entertainment | Atlanta, GA | 11Alive.com WXIA TV
Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, Sports and Entertainment | Atlanta, GA | 11Alive.com WXIA TV
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Is America’s power receding in the world? Melissa Harris-Perry details how the consequences of long simmering global tensions came to a head this week with Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Hillary Mann Leverett, Col. Jack Jacobs, Adrian Karatnycky and Amaney Jamal join to discuss.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Staten Island man dies after NYPD cop puts him in an illegal chokehold — SEE THE VIDEO - NY Daily News
These are the kind of cops where I grew up on Staten Island. I hated them. They were the enemy of all that was decent and good.
Staten Island man dies after NYPD cop puts him in chokehold — SEE THE VIDEO - NY Daily News
Staten Island man dies after NYPD cop puts him in chokehold — SEE THE VIDEO - NY Daily News
Friday, July 18, 2014
Thursday, July 17, 2014
The Culture of Self-hatred Still Present Among Some Black Folk - Higher Educationb
" by Dr. Elwood Watson
Anyone who has been meticulously perusing prominent Black websites over the past week or so has probably come across Why I Hate Being a Black Man, an article written by Canadian journalist Orville Douglas. He has made national and international headlines with the column discussing the self-hatred he has internalized and consumed due to the fact that he is Black. Yes, indeed, the Black bloggersphere (and all other avenues of social media) have been dutifully dissecting, critiquing, discussing and certainly reacting and responding to Douglas’ article. Douglas has engaged in a stroke of public relations genius.
Mild sarcasm aside, no one can deny from his piece that this young Black man is grappling with a vehement level of hate, disgust and resentment, both toward himself and those who share his racial heritage."
Tears for the Border Children - NYTimes.com
"This is not the best face of a great nation. This is the underside of a great stone, which when lifted sends creepy things slithering in all directions. We are better than this. We are more compassionate than this. We are more honorable than this.
This is not the time to give in to our lesser angels, but the time to rise with our better ones."
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Recommended read from Salon.com: Disorder in the court: Embarrassments pile up for Boehner's lawsuit
"Key Republicans distance themselves from Boehner's lawsuit, and its legal backers contradict themselves"
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science | Mother Jones
"Reasoning is actually suffused with emotion (or what researchers often call "affect"). Not only are the two inseparable, but our positive or negative feelings about people, things, and ideas arise much more rapidly than our conscious thoughts, in a matter of milliseconds—fast enough to detect with an EEG device, but long before we're aware of it. That shouldn't be surprising: Evolution required us to react very quickly to stimuli in our environment. It's a "basic human survival skill," explains political scientist Arthur Lupia of the University of Michigan. We push threatening information away; we pull friendly information close. We apply fight-or-flight reflexes not only to predators, but to data itself."
Scientists Are Beginning to Figure Out Why Conservatives Are…Conservative | Mother Jones
"Hibbing and his colleagues make an intriguing argument in their latest paper, but what's truly fascinating is what happened next. Twenty-six different scholars or groups of scholars then got an opportunity to tee off on the paper, firing off a variety of responses. But as Hibbing and colleagues note in their final reply, out of those responses, "22 or 23 accept the general idea" of a conservative negativity bias, and simply add commentary to aid in the process of "modifying it, expanding on it, specifying where it does and does not work," and so on. Only about three scholars or groups of scholars seem to reject the idea entirely.
That's pretty extraordinary, when you think about it. After all, one of the teams of commenters includes New York University social psychologist John Jost, who drew considerable political ire in 2003 when he and his colleagues published a synthesis of existing psychological studies on ideology, suggesting that conservatives are characterized by traits such as a need for certainty and an intolerance of ambiguity. Now, writing in Behavioral and Brain Sciences in response to Hibbing roughly a decade later, Jost and fellow scholars note that
There is by now evidence from a variety of laboratories around the world using a variety of methodological techniques leading to the virtually inescapable conclusion that the cognitive-motivational styles of leftists and rightists are quite different. This research consistently finds that conservatism is positively associated with heightened epistemic concerns for order, structure, closure, certainty, consistency, simplicity, and familiarity, as well as existential concerns such as perceptions of danger, sensitivity to threat, and death anxiety. [Italics added]"
KKK Capitalizing on Border Crisis to Recruit New Members - NBC News.com
A hate-group watchdog says attempts by the Ku Klux Klan to capitalize on anti-immigration sentiment amid an influx of undocumented people at the border won’t likely result in any significant uptick in membership.The Ku Klux Klan said it has been recruiting in the South in recent months, and over the weekend left fliers on cars in two Atlanta neighborhoods with the message: “Save the land. Join the Klan.” A vice president with the Klan chapter that handed out fliers in Atlanta’s Cabbagetown and Candler Park neighborhoods said they received 25 applications from their drive, and that the “immigration crisis is recruiting members for us.”
At Dinner Tables, a Restless Obama Finds an Intellectual Escape - NYTimes.com
"As Mr. Obama once said about the Senate Republican leader from Kentucky: “Some folks still don’t think I spend enough time with Congress. ‘Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?’ they ask. Really? Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?”
Valerie Jarrett, the White House senior adviser, who has been asked by the president to organize some of the dinners, was more diplomatic. The president, she told reporters recently, “could talk to the same people all day long, every day, and so he has to make a deliberate effort to expand that.”
“It keeps life interesting,” she added. “It keeps him fresh. It gives him new ideas to think about.”
Sunday, July 13, 2014
How One College Handled a Sexual Assault Complaint - NYTimes.com
"In the early-morning hours on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in central New York, the friend said, he found her — bent over a pool table as a football player appeared to be sexually assaulting her from behind in a darkened dance hall with six or seven people watching and laughing. Some had their cellphones out, apparently taking pictures, he said."...
How One College Handled a Sexual Assault Complaint - NYTimes.com
How One College Handled a Sexual Assault Complaint - NYTimes.com
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Are children crossing border refugees? In the decades since the world reached a consensus on the treatment of refugees, their population around the globe has only become more crowded, their reasons for leaving more complex and the needs of countries trying to help them more challenging. Megan McKenna, Juan Cartagena and Lindsay Jenkins join to discuss the recent wave of immigrant children crossing the southern border of the U.S. and why they should be considered refugees.
"If you Google "Rand Paul Civil Rights Act," the first prompt that comes up is "unconstitutional," so it was definitely heartening to see his apparent about-face on the act's 50th anniversary, when he attended a local commemoration at the Shelbyville, Kentucky, home of Dr. Maurice F. Rabb, a prominent civil rights activist in the 1940s and '50s. “Every major civil rights activist that came to the South stayed with my parents,” Chris Rabb said. “They were not allowed to stay in hotels.”
Paul has previously voiced his objection to the Civil Rights Act precisely because it put an end to such private-sector discrimination. But on this occasion, he released a statement saying, “'It is simply unimaginable to think what modern America would be like if it were not for the brave men and women who stood up for the rights of all Americans. The legislation changed the future of our nation by enforcing the belief that all men and women are created equal."
Friday, July 11, 2014
Meth madness: How American media’s drug hysteria vilifies the poor - Salon.com
"Columbia University psychology professor Carl Hart—author of the book High Price—has released a new report via Open Soceity Foundatins titled “Methamphetamine: Fact vs. Fiction and Lessons from the Crack Hysteria” to address the overstated perceptions of the problems associated with meth. He argues that the dangers of meth are exaggerated today just like the dangers of crack were blown out of proportion three decades ago.
“I just want people to understand that we’ve seen this movie before, so just be aware that’s what’s going on [with meth] and try not to fall into that trap,” he said."
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Did You Know That Antonin Scalia's Son Is Sabotaging Wall Street Reform? | Mother Jones
"Eugene Scalia is quietly freeing big banks from the rules meant to keep them from crashing the economy again."
Monday, July 07, 2014
Sunday, July 06, 2014
Friday, July 04, 2014
Thursday, July 03, 2014
Japan and the Limits of Military Power - NYTimes.com
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has disturbed many in Japan and increased anxiety in Asia by reinterpreting his country’s pacifist postwar Constitution so that the military can play a more assertive role than it has since World War II. While a shift in Japan’s military role was never going to be readily accepted by many, Mr. Abe’s nationalist politics makes this change even harder to swallow in a region that needs to reduce tension.
It is difficult to overstate the significance of what Mr. Abe has done. Since 1947, Japan’s Constitution, written and imposed by the American Army, has permitted the military, known as the Self-Defense Forces, to engage only in self-defense. That meant the large and technologically advanced armed forces was barred from “collective self-defense” — aiding friendly countries under attack — and thus was far more constrained than those of other nations.
Japan and the Limits of Military Power - NYTimes.com
Japan and the Limits of Military Power - NYTimes.com
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has disturbed many in Japan and increased anxiety in Asia by reinterpreting his country’s pacifist postwar Constitution so that the military can play a more assertive role than it has since World War II. While a shift in Japan’s military role was never going to be readily accepted by many, Mr. Abe’s nationalist politics makes this change even harder to swallow in a region that needs to reduce tension.
It is difficult to overstate the significance of what Mr. Abe has done. Since 1947, Japan’s Constitution, written and imposed by the American Army, has permitted the military, known as the Self-Defense Forces, to engage only in self-defense. That meant the large and technologically advanced armed forces was barred from “collective self-defense” — aiding friendly countries under attack — and thus was far more constrained than those of other nations.
Japan and the Limits of Military Power - NYTimes.com
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
New AJC poll shows voters disapprove of Georgia’s new gun law | www.ajc.com
By Kristina Torres
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia voters roundly disapprove of lawmakers’ expansion this year of the state’s gun laws despite being more likely to believe gun ownership helps protect people from becoming victims of a crime, according to a new poll conducted for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The poll, conducted by Abt SRBI of New York, is the first time Georgians have weighed in on the expansion since legislation passed the state Legislature in March and Gov. Nathan Deal signed it in April. The results come only weeks ahead of the May 20 primary election and affirm an AJC poll in January that showed voters strongly opposing what was then one of lawmakers’ signature proposals.
Among respondents in the new poll, 59 percent gave House Bill 60 a thumbs-down. The legislation, which goes into effect July 1, expands the list of places where Georgians may legally carry firearms to include schools, bars, government buildings and, for the first time, churches.
The results come even as 57 percent of Georgia voters said they believe owning a gun helps protect people. Thirty-five percent said gun ownership puts people’s safety at risk. A majority, 55 percent, also said they or someone they live with owns a gun.
The AJC poll surveyed 1,012 adults statewide between May 5 and May 8. The margin of error for each response is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The full story will be in Saturday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution and on MyAJC.com later today. More poll results will come out in Sunday’s AJC.
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
The Illogic of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance - NYTimes.com
"Imagine yourself in a bar where a pickpocket takes money out of your wallet and with it buys you a glass of chardonnay. Although you would have preferred a pinot noir, you decide not to look that gift horse in the mouth and thank the stranger profusely for the kindness, assuming he paid for it. You might feel differently, of course, if you knew that you actually had paid for it yourself.
Persuaded by both theory and empirical research, most economists believe that employed-based health insurance is an analogue of this bar scene.
The argument is that the premiums ostensibly paid by employers to buy health insurance coverage for their employees are actually part of the employee’s total pay package – the price of labor, in economic parlance – and that the cost of that fringe benefit is recovered from employees through commensurate reductions in take-home pay."
SCOTUS claim of ‘narrow’ ruling defies reason Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor for Slate magazine, talks with Rachel Maddow about the contradictions and impracticalities built into the Supreme Court’s Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ruling and outlined in Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent.
SCOTUS claim of ‘narrow’ ruling defies reason
Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor for Slate magazine, talks with Rachel Maddow about the contradictions and impracticalities built into the Supreme Court’s Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ruling and outlined in Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent.
Court not swayed by violent threat to clinics | MSNBC
Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor for Slate magazine, talks with Rachel Maddow about the contradictions and impracticalities built into the Supreme Court’s Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ruling and outlined in Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent.
Court not swayed by violent threat to clinics | MSNBC