Fox's Hannity Claims Voter Fraud in Philly Precincts Where No One Voted for Mittens

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MediaMatters

Seizing on a newspaper report, Fox News host Sean Hannity claimed voter fraud was to blame for Mitt Romney failing to get a single vote in 59 voting divisions in Philadelphia. But anecdotal and historical evidence showed that these totals were not only possible but highly likely.

Repeating a Philadelphia Inquirer article, Hannity said on his syndicated radio show it's "mathematically impossible" that no one voted for Romney in these districts and that, if true, "that means we've got cheating going on in our elections."  American Center for Law and Justice chief counsel Jay Sekulow agreed with Hannity.

Hannity added to these claims on his Fox News show, claiming there was "speculation about voter fraud" and asking, "Is it possible the Governor Romney didn't appeal to a single voter -- not one -- in these places?" Democratic strategist Mo Elleithee explained to Hannity that Romney, George W. Bush, and John Kerry all had won precincts where their opponents won zero votes. Nevertheless, Hannity insisted that the possibility of this happening is "zero," adding, "I don't believe it. I think this is voter fraud."

International Voting Observers Condemn US Policies to Disenfranchise Felons

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SentencingProject

OSCE REPORT CRITICAL OF U.S. DISENFRANCHISEMENT POLICIES

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSDE/ODIHR) sent a team of observers to monitor the 2012 general elections in the United States. The observation mission assessed the implementation procedures of the election in regard to compliance with OSCE commitments and other international standards, as well as national legislation.

In its assessment of the impact of felony disenfranchisement on the elections, the OSCE’s preliminary report notes that “An estimated 5.9 million citizens were disenfranchised due to a criminal conviction, including some 2.6 million citizens who have served their sentences. This is at odds with the principle of universal suffrage and the commitment to ensure proportionality in the restriction of voting rights as enshrined in paragraphs 7.3 and 24 of the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document.” The report further notes that “The deprivation of the right to vote is a severe penalty and it should be proportionate to the underlying crime. In addition, once a sentence has been served, authorities should take effective measures to facilitate the restoration of voting rights.” The OSCE is expected to produce a final report on the elections in the coming months.

MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT RULING CLARIFIES VOTING RIGHTS

In 2010, Enjoli Rosas pled guilty to felony possession of marijuana and was placed on five years probation. In place of accepting her guilty plea, however, the court granted a stay of adjudication, stipulating that if Rosas successfully completed her terms of probation, she would not have a conviction on her record. Although Rosas was not convicted of a felony, the Ramsey County probation office incorrectly told her that she could not vote, and that doing so would result in a new felony offense. It was then that the Council on Crime and Justice, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit criminal justice research and advocacy organization, filed an elections action with the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Although the probation office subsequently contacted Rosas to notify her that she could indeed vote, many others like Rosas may have been discouraged from voting. The Ramsey County Attorney’s office has since issued a memo clarifying that individuals with a stay of adjudication can vote, and the Minnesota Supreme Court has issued an order providing a clear and succinct statement of the law, reiterating that those not convicted of a felony may vote. An editorial in the New York Times praised the efforts of the Court, and added that all states should take steps to simplify the rights restoration process. The editorial attributes the confusion around voting rights to the “crazy quilt” of disenfranchisement and restoration policies among states, counties, cities, and towns.

 

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White Man Unhappy about Black President Kills Himself (R.I.P.)

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The Grio

A former tanning salon owner who told his partner he was “not going to be around” if President Barack Obama won a second term was found dead two days after the election.

The body of Henry Hamilton was discovered in his condo on November 8th with the words “F**k Obama!” written over his will and two empty prescription bottles nearby, according to the Miami Herald.

The 64-year-old Florida man was “very upset about the election results,” his partner, Michael Cossey, told police.

Police spokeswoman Alyson Crean said that a cause of death has not yet been determined, but made clear that “There’s absolutely no evidence of foul play.”

According to the police report, Cossey returned to the condo he shared with Hamilton after a night out and fell asleep on the couch around 6 am.

It was not until an officer came to check on Hamilton at the request of an unidentified friend worried about his well-being that Hamilton’s body was found in the bedroom.

 

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BET (B is for BAD not Black) Cuts Back on 'Don't Sleep'

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TheGrio

When T.J. Holmes left CNN to host his own show on BET, Don’t Sleep, some called it a risky move, while the network’s viewers seemed to be excited.

Holmes saw it as an opportunity to “reach out and report on stories that directly affect the African-American community.”

Unfortunately, the viewership has not lived up to hype.

Holmes’ show combines comedy, news and commentary not unlike The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Don’t Sleep airs in the 11 pm time-slot and drew 400,000 viewers on to its October 1 premiere.

The October 9th episode drew 1 million viewers, but since then, it has slipped to as low as 203,000.

“To be honest, the ratings haven’t been great in the past two weeks. Our audience always says they want this kind of programming, but they don’t show up,” said Debra Lee, BET’s CEO.

As a result, Don’t Sleep will now be on for one hour once a week, instead of every night.

BET released a statement saying, “The viewers have spoken and due to the overwhelming demand, Don’t Sleep will now be expanded to a one hour weekly format allowing for a more comprehensive discussion of the issues and events affecting the African-American community,”

 

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Petition urging Macy’s to ‘dump’ Donald Trump gets over 500,000 signatures

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TheGrio

Following President Barack Obama’s re-election, Donald Trump went on a tirade insulting the president and the election process.

“This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy!” he said via Twitter.

He also claimed “our nation is a once great nation divided” and “the world is laughing at us.”

And he encouraged a “revolution in this country.”

After all of Trump’s outbursts in the past year, this seemed to be the straw the broke the camel’s back for some of his critics.

A petition on SignOn.org asks the retail giant Macy’s to end their relationship with Donald Trump, citing, among other things, his racially charged birtherism, and denials of climate change.

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In Border States, Judges Face Criminal Caseloads More Than 11 Times The National Average

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ThinkProgress

With judicial nominations stalled by obstructionist Senate Republicans, and immigration and drug prosecutions skyrocketing, federal trial judges in states on the U.S.-Mexico border are facing criminal caseloads as much as 11.5 times the average, according to a new report.

In New Mexico, judges faced an average of 7,020 cases per judge since 2006, compared to Washington, D.C.’s 147. And in Texas, the caseloads throughout the state range from 5,467 to 3,872 per judge. The border states face such onerous caseloads in part due to an influx of immigration and drug prosecutions. The report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University explains:

While apprehensions along the southwest border haven’t grown – indeed they generally have been falling for more than a decade or more – the onslaught of criminal immigration prosecutions that have engulfed federal district courts has occurred as a result of a policy shift to increase criminal prosecutions for illegal entry rather than use civil and administration procedures to remove and sanction individuals found to have illegally entered the U.S.

It is worth noting that these differences in criminal caseloads don’t fully reflect the comparative dockets of these courts. Some courts have much higher civil dockets relative to their criminal dockets. But the report notes that the variance in civil caseloads does not explain the difference. Even accounting for civil cases, for example, New Mexico still has twice the caseload per judgeship of the District of Columbia.

 

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Bitter Mittens Says Obama Only Won Because he Gave ‘Big Gifts’ To Blacks And Latinos

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ThinkProgress

Mitt Romney is attributing his loss in the 2012 election to the “gifts” President Obama gave to minority voters, the Los Angeles Times is reporting. Speaking to donors on Wednesday, the former Massachusetts governor praised his own campaign, but speculated that Obama won because he was “very generous” to his base:

Mitt Romney told his top donors Wednesday that his loss toPresident Obama was a disappointing result that neither he or his top aides had expected, but said he believed his team ran a “superb” campaign with “no drama,” and attributed his rival’s victory to “the gifts” the administration had given to blacks, Hispanics and young voters during Obama’s first term.

Obama, Romney argued, had been “very generous” to blacks, Hispanics and young voters. He cited as motivating factors to young voters the administration’s plan for partial forgiveness of college loan interest and the extension of health coverage for students on their parents’ insurance plans well into their 20s. Free contraception coverage under Obama’s healthcare plan, he added, gave an extra incentive to college-aged women to back the president. [...]

“The President’s campaign,” he said, “focused on giving targeted groups a big gift—so he made a big effort on small things. Those small things, by the way, add up to trillions of dollars.”

 

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Locked away for decades - the plight of California’s isolation prisoners

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Joe is one of the estimated 25,000 prisoners who are being held in “supermaximum” isolation facilities in at least 44 states across the USA and in the federal system.

Of those, more than 3,000 are held in high-security isolation units known as Security Housing Units (SHUs) in California, in what Amnesty International recently described as “shocking conditions of detention”.

No other state in the country holds as many prisoners in isolation for such long periods of time. In fact, it is believed that as many as 78 men have been held in isolation for more than 20 years each.

Amnesty International’s experts who visited Pelican Bay and other SHU units in late 2011 said inmates are held for upwards of 22 and a half hours a day in cells measuring fewer than eight square metres with no windows and with poor access to natural light or fresh air.

The 1,000 men held with Joe in Pelican Bay are only allowed to leave their cells for one and a half hours each day to exercise in a bare, concrete yard with 20-foot-high walls with only a patch of sky visible through a partially meshed plastic roof.

Rehabilitation programmes are almost non-existent, there are no group activities, and human contact with anyone is severely restricted.
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US Military prosecutors seek death penalty for Psychopathic White Soldier who Killed 16 Non-White (Afghan) civilians (9 children)

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Jurist

US military prosecutors on Tuesday urged the death penalty for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales [JURIST news archive] who is accused of having murdered 16 Afghan civilians in a late-night rampage in March. After a week long investigatory hearing [JURIST report] under Article 32 [text], prosecutor Maj. Rob Stelle urged the presiding officer to subject Bales to a military court-martial where prosecutors will seek the death penalty. During the pre-trial hearing the court heard [LAT report] video testimony from witnesses to the attack who recounted stories of numerous shootings, stabbings and the immolation of still-living victims. Testimony was also given by other US soldiers who recounted drinking contraband whiskey and watching a Denzel Washington film about a man who goes on a retributive killing spree before Bales left the base in the middle of the night. At the conclusion of the pre-trial hearing prosecutor Stelle said the death penalty should be pursued because of the brutal nature of the act. Bales' civilian defense attorney, Lance Rosen, has challenged the assertions made in the hearing claiming that only one side of the story has been heard and suggesting that Bales' mental state might be at issue given that his toxicology report showed he had alcohol, steroids and sleeping aids in his system and that Bales may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The officer presiding over the hearing, Col. Lee Deneke, said he will submit a written opinion by Friday.

Bales is not the first US soldier prosecuted in relation to deaths of civilians in Afghanistan. In February the US Army dropped charges [JURIST report] against Army Specialist Michael Wagnon, the last of five soldiers to be charged in connection with the killing of three Afghan civilians. In November US Sgt. Calvin Gibbs was convicted on 15 charges [JURIST report] of murder, assault, and conspiracy in the same case. Before Gibbs was convicted, in March of last year, Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock admitted to three counts of murder [JURIST report] as part of a plot with other soldiers to kill Afghan civilians.

Another Angry White Party (GOP) Customer: 'I want to go down in history as the guy who killed Obama' - white man busted

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DailyMail

A Colorado nursing student was arrested yesterday after telling his therapist of his desire to shoot children, kill people on Halloween and assassinate President Obama, court records show.

Mitchell Kenneth Kusick, 20, of Westminster, was being held on suspicion of a federal charge of threats against a president. 

He identified himself as a student at Colorado Mesa University in western Colorado, investigators said.

The documents said that he claimed to have owned a .22 caliber rifle and an assault rifle, but his parents made him get rid of the weapons.

He told his therapist on October 29 about his plan and allegedly said he wanted to go down in history as the 'guy who killed Obama.'

His comments came just days before the president held a campaign rally in Boulder.

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CA to White Party (GOP): Adios.

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LA Times

There are many ways to illustrate the descent of the California Republican Party into oblivion. A starting point is the demographic breakdown of the members of Congress elected last week in the state.

Assuming the leaders in the few remaining close races hold their leads, there will be 38 Democrats and 15 Republicans representing California in Congress come January. Of those 38 Democrats, 18 are women, nine are Latinos, five are Asian Americans, three are African Americans, four are Jews and at least one is gay. Just 12 are white men. Of the 15 Republicans, on the other hand, all are white men — not a woman, let alone a member of a racial minority or a Jew, among them.

The composition of the state's new Democratic congressional delegation merely reflects the state's demographic changes. Latinos (72% of whom backed Obama) were 23% of the California electorate in 2012, up from 18% in 2008. The share of Asian voters (who voted for Obama at a 79% rate) doubled, from 6% to 12%, between those two elections. Voters under 30 increased their share of state ballots cast from 20% in 2008 to 27% in 2012, and backed Obama at a 71% rate. The state's proportion of white voters, meanwhile, fell from 65% in 2004 to 63% in 2008 to just 55% last week.

More sentient Republicans now say the party needs to modify its position on immigration. But a deeper look into the politics of the increasingly young and multicolored electorate suggests that the GOP is estranged from this new America on more issues than just immigration. The exit polling on Proposition 30, the tax hike on the wealthy promoted by Gov. Jerry Brown to keep the state's schools and universities from further disastrous budget cuts, shows key elements of the Democrats' new majority consigning the old Howard-Jarvis-no-tax-hike California to history's dustbin. Voters under 30 supported Proposition 30 at a 67% rate, and Asian Americans gave it 61% support.

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In Arizona, Suspended Mexican American Studies Classes Could be Restored in High Schools

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LatinoFoxnews

A pact that could bring closure to a 1974 lawsuit over racial segregation in southern Arizona's public schools, could reinstate -even expand- Mexican American studies courses eliminated from classrooms earlier this year by the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) under pressure from the state government.

Groups representing black and Latino plaintiffs have reached an agreement with the TUSD that could bring closure to the decades old discrimination lawsuit, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) said Monday. The proposal aims to increase racially and ethnically integrated schools, improve magnet schools and programs to promote integration and educational quality and enhance the racial and ethnic diversity of TUSD's administrators, teachers and staff, among other goals.

If approved, however, the plan would also restore courses on Mexican American history and culture that the TUSD eliminated in January, MALDEF Western Regional Counsel Nancy Ramírez said.

"The restoration and expansion of literature and social studies courses that focus on Mexican American experiences recognizes the important role these courses play in engaging students and improving their academic achievement and graduation rates and is a critical strategy for closing the achievement gap for Latino students," she said.

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NRC -Juvenile justice reforms should incorporate science of adolescent development

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Sciencecodex

Legal responses to juvenile offending should be grounded in scientific knowledge about adolescent development and tailored to an individual offender's needs and social environment, says a new report from the National Research Council. Accountability practices should not be carried over from criminal courts to juvenile courts; in particular, confinement should be used only in rare circumstances such as when a youth poses a high risk of harming others.

The specific aims of the juvenile justice system are to hold youths accountable for wrongdoing, prevent further offending, and treat offenders fairly. "Many jurisdictions are still operating under harsh laws passed in the 1990s that rejected the relevance of the developmental differences between adolescents and adults to justice policy," said committee chair Robert Johnson, dean of the New Jersey Medical School in Newark. "But adolescents' brains, behavior, and needs are different from those of adults, and states should align their laws and policies with that evidence."

Research shows that an imbalance in developing brain systems is linked to adolescents' lack of mature capability for self-regulation, heightened sensitivity to external influences, and poorer ability to make decisions that require consideration of the future. Individual development and likelihood of offending are also strongly affected by youths' interactions with their environment, which includes parents, peers, schools, and communities, the report says. Much adolescent involvement in illegal activity is an extension of the kind of risk-taking that is part of the developmental process, and most adolescents mature out of these activities.

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Thousands call for Georgia to secede (Un-vetted Signatures from 10 Angry White Guys from out of state)

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AJC

Following President Barack Obama’s re-election, residents of more than 30 states have signed petitions asking to secede from the union.

Georgia, with one notable secession under its belt, is among them.

By Tuesday evening, the Georgia petition online at whitehouse.gov was approaching the 25,000 signatures needed to prompt an official White House response. The petition asks that the onetime 13th colony be allowed to create its “own new government.”

As the online movement grows, so do theories about the motives of its backers. Is the political disaffection that prompted thousands to take to their keyboards tinged with racial animosity?

Tyrone Brooks, president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, sees it otherwise. “It’s nothing but race,” he said. “Some people are upset at the fact that we have an African American president. People forget about the fact that half of him is white.”

Because the signatures are not vetted and are generally just a person’s first name and last initial, tracking down supporters can be as difficult as the act of secession itself. It’s not even clear how many of the people who signed the document actually live in Georgia.

Further confusing things, the website shows at least two separate petitions requesting that Georgia be allowed to hand over its Union membership.

A tweeted request from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for Georgians willing to discuss the phenomenon — with full names attached — drew no one who had signed the petitions. But many responded with emails expressing skepticism, if not disgust.

White People Buying A Lot of Guns - Sales soar after Obama's re-election

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Telegraph

Owners of guns have been stocking up because they are concerned about a potential tightening of regulations on assault weapons in the president's second term.

In October the number of background checks on people applying to buy guns, an indicator of future sales, increased by 18.4 per cent.

There was a similar jump when President Obama was first elected in 2008. A total of 12.7 million background checks were carried out that year, up from 11.2 million the year before, and the number has been rising since then. Shares in weapons manufacturers like Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger also surged after Mr Obama's re-election.

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Last Hurrah for the Vanishing White Majority in Texas: 70,000 demand secession from US

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Rt.com

Houston, we have a problem: more than 70,000 people have signed a petition on the website of the White House asking for Texas to secede from the United States.

Less than a day after RT first reported that a petition demanding the secession of The Lone Star State from the US was on track to cross the 25,000 signature threshold to warrant an official response, the tally of people requesting the speedy removal of Texas from the United States tripled, going from 21,777 signees to 72,861 in under 24 hours.

The Texas petition was published on the White House’s official website on November 9, but wasn’t the first to ask for secession. While the request from the oil-rich home of the Alamo was published just two days after Pres. Obama was declared victorious in his quest for re-election, Louisiana was the first state to ask for an exit from the union on WhiteHouse.gov, just hours after ballots were tallied on Nov. 6. By the end of that weekend, Texas and 18 other locales had created copycat petitions of their own, although the Lone Star State is by and large the first to cross the 25,000 signature threshold.

According to the rules on WhiteHous.gov, now either US President Barack Obama or a member of his administration or staff will be required to address the overwhelming number of votes to “Peacefully grant the State of Texas to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.”

The next step, according to a guide posted on the executive office’s website, will be a full review followed by a response.

From WhiteHouse.gov:

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Denzel Washington to Daughter: 'You're Dark-Skinned' So You'll Have to Work Harder

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Colorlines 

All four of Denzel Washington's children have gone in to the entertainment industry. He says he has extra advice for his daughter Olivia who is currently studying acting at New York Universary.

In 'The Actors' roundtable interview with The Hollywood Reporter Washington shared the advice he gives to his daughter. "I say, 'You're black, you're a woman, and you're dark-skinned at that, so you have to be a triple/quadruple threat.'

Below is Washington's full answer to the Hollywood Reporter:

I tell my daughter -- she's at NYU -- I say: "You're black, you're a woman, and you're dark-skinned at that. So you have to be a triple/quadruple threat." I said: "You gotta learn how to act. You gotta learn how to dance, sing, move onstage." That's the only place, in my humble opinion, you really learn how to act. I said: "Look at Viola Davis. That's who you want to be. Forget about the little pretty girls; if you're relying on that, when you hit 40, you're out the door. You better have some chops."

Resisting arrest charges dropped against Vikings’ Adrian Peterson

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TheGrio

A grand jury in Houston has dismissed a misdemeanor resisting arrest charge against Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson after hearing from the four-time Pro Bowl running back and other witnesses.

Derek Hollingsworth, one of Peterson’s attorneys, said Tuesday the case stemming from Peterson’s July 7 arrest outside a night club is expected to be formally dropped on Wednesday. Peterson was due in court for a pretrial hearing on Thursday before Judge Natalie Fleming.

Hollingsworth said Peterson testified before the grand jury on Tuesday, two days after he rushed for 171 yards on the Vikings’ 34-24 win over Detroit. Peterson is the NFL’s leading rusher this season, averaging 112.8 yards per game. The Vikings (6-4) have their open date this week.

Support For Repealing Obamacare Plunges To An All-Time Low

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ThinkProgress 

Now that President Obama has been elected to a second term, political opponents of his landmark health care reform law are beginning to concede that Obamacare is here to stay. And the general public agrees.

As a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll reports, the majority of Americans don’t support repealing Obamacare. In fact, after the presidential election, the number of Americans advocating for a full repeal of the health reform law dropped to an all-time low at just 33 percent — compared to nearly half of Americans who would rather keep the law in place:

 

Last week, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) acknowledged that Obamacare is “the law of the land,” suggesting that Republicans in Congress may finally cease their repeated attempts to repeal the law. But his office quickly walked those statements back, clarifying that Republicans remain very committed to opposing Obama’s health reform.

However, if Republican lawmakers continue to stand in opposition to Obamacare by undermining some of the health law’s key provisions, public opinion still isn’t on their side. Previous polling has shown that Americans tend to be broadly supportive of Obamacare’s individual provisions — such as allowing young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance plans, and preventing insurance companies from discriminating against Americans with pre-existing conditions — even if they remain unsure about what the entire law means for the country.

The declining support for repealing the health law is a blow to the anti-Obamacare candidates who poured over $20 million into advertisements attacking the Affordable Care Act during the 2012 election cycle. On the other hand, at least six candidates in tight races across the country won last week after advocating for the health reform law throughout their campaigns.

Polling Data Shows that White Party (GOP) Cant just run a bunch of McNegro Latino Candidates: Sen-Elect Ted Cruz Received No Boost From Latinos

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ThinkProgress

After President Obama cleaned house among Latino voters last week, Republicans are already considering how they can reach out to this growing demographic that showed little interest in what the GOP was selling this election cycle. Polling data from the state of Texas, where Latino Republican Sen-elect Ted Cruz was on the ballot, suggests that Republicans will not be able to close this gap simply by running Hispanic candidates. Although there is no exit polling from Texas in the 2012 election, polling data from Latino Decisions indicates that Texas Latinos overwhelmingly favored Cruz’ opponent:

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