GA. White Party (Republican) Secretary of State Rolls Out Anti-Nigger Voting Policy

ThinkProgress

Giving citizens the flexibility to register to vote (or update their existing registration if they’ve recently moved) on Election Day actually chips away at Americans’ “individual freedoms,” according to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R).

During a panel discussion on voting at the conservative Heritage Foundation on Thursday, Kemp lambasted the idea of same-day voter registration. Ten ideologically diverse states, from Idaho to Wisconsin to California, have enacted the program, also known as Election Day registration. By removing barriers to voting and making it easier for citizens to register, studies have found that EDR boosts turnout on average by 7 to 14 percentage points.

Kemp dismissed EDR as a “buzzword” that is as an affront to Americans’ right not to participate in elections. “[It] really gets down to the individual freedoms of people in our state and Americans in general and their ability to decide for themselves, ‘yes I want to register to vote and participate in the process, or no that I don’t,” Kemp said.

KEMP: I think we do have to have commonsense protections to make sure that our rolls are secure to stop potential voter fraud. This whole issue with dealing with the federal government and universal registration and same-day registration and all these different buzzwords really gets down to the individual freedoms of people in our state and Americans in general and their ability to decide for themselves, “yes I want to register to vote and participate in the process, or no that I don’t.”

UN rights expert announces investigation into use of drone strikes

Jurist

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism Ben Emmerson announced [press release, PDF] on Thursday that he will begin investigating the legality of the use of drone strikes. Emmerson said that after asking the US to allow an independent investigation [JURIST report] of its use of targeted killings last year, there is still no consensus among the international community as to the legality of the conduct. He stated an investigation by the UN was necessary in order to...

Is Washington DC Trying To Hide Its Homeless Population During Inauguration?

ThinkProgress

This weekend, as many as 800,000 people will show up in downtown Washington D.C. to watch President Obama’s second inauguration. What they won’t see, however, is D.C.’s homeless population.

That’s because on Thursday, the city issued a special order requiring homeless shelters, which normally close during the day, to remain open on Sunday and Monday. As a result, many of the city’s homeless people will be indoors on inauguration weekend, out of public sight.

In and of itself, giving homeless people a refuge during the day is laudable. Doing so solely on the two days when world’s eyes will be on D.C. raises questions about whether the city is simply trying to hide its homeless residents.

On a typical day, shelters open in the afternoon or evening and accept people who need a place to sleep. Everyone must then leave early the following morning. The only times shelters are required to stay open during the day is during a hypothermia alert when the temperature dips below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

However, as confirmed to ThinkProgress by phone Friday, the city has already made a special declaration because of the inauguration that all shelters shall remain open during the day on Sunday and Monday, regardless of the weather. There is currently a high of 47 degrees on Sunday during the day, though it will be cold with wind chill.

Willis Johnson, a 53-year-old man who has spent time in the DC shelter system after moving here last year, didn’t take kindly to the city’s move, but he understood their motivation. “D.C. wants to look good for visitors,” Johnson told ThinkProgress. “Its an unfortunate means to an end.” He went on to call it a “band-aid measure to a neglected ongoing social challenge.”

Indeed, the District’s homeless population is growing. In 2012, 6,954 homeless people in Washington D.C., a 6 percent increase from the year before.

Another man currently living in a shelter, Charlie, told ThinkProgress he didn’t necessarily take umbrage at the city’s move, saying that perhaps it’s necessary for security. He was looking forward to being able to stay inside over the weekend.

It’s hard to criticize the District for devoting more resources to helping homeless people get shelter this weekend. But the question is are they willing to be as generous when the cameras are off and the city isn’t the center of attention? Last year’s city budget, which cut homeless services by $7 million even as the District enjoyed a $140 million surplus, might be an indication.

Joe Scarborough: Republicans (White Party) Only Kept House Majority Because Of Gerrymandering

ThinkProgress

MSNBC host and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough admitted on Sunday that Republicans only kept their majority in the House of Representatives as a result of gerrymandering, noting that the GOP received less votes than Democrats in the 2012 election. Scarborough argued that Republicans must prevent radical ultra-conservative voices from dominating the party’s message and pointed out that the GOP is already losing electoral ground among voters who view it as too extreme and out of touch with middle class Americans:

SCARBOROUGH: William F. Buckley in the 1960s at some point had to start defining the boundaries of conservatism. He went after the John Birch Society, Ayn Rand, George Wallace. That has to happen again with this party because it’s getting smaller and smaller. In this debate, we actually have conservative thinkers, talking about ronald reagan being a RINO — a Republican in name only, because he supported an assault weapons ban. They keep pushing themselves closer and closer to the cliff. But I just have to say one other really important point, because I made a mistake over the past month talking about how Republicans have also won a majority in the House. As this article I was referencing mentioned, we actually got a minority of votes nationwide in House races. It was just gerrymandering from 2010 that gave us the majority.

City Offers Miami Heat Tickets In Exchange For Guns

BlackListedNews

The Miami Police Department is asking residents to turn in their weapons in return for Miami Heat tickets and gift cards.

The gun buyback program is similar to those seen across the country. Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado hopes that his buyback will prevent gun violence in the area.

“What we’re doing here, we’re beating the odds,” Regalado said. “If one incident is avoided, it’s worth it.”

A buyback was held today at Jordan Grove Baptist Church where 50 weapons (mostly hunting rifles and small caliber handguns) were handed over in the first hour.

BlackListed Radio: Dave Chappelle On Secret Societies and Hollywood

BlackListedNews

Where the U.S. imports its oil from, in one map

WashPost

The United States imported about 40 percent of its oil in 2012. So where are we getting it from? It depends a lot on where you live. Over at Business Insider, Rob Wile digs up this fascinating map from RBC Capital Markets:

For refineries on the East Coast, the majority of their imported oil comes from Africa, mainly Nigeria and Angola. By contrast, refineries in the Midwest get virtually all of their imported oil via pipeline from Canada.

Also note that relatively little of America’s imported crude comes from the Middle East, with the bulk of that (about 1.1 million barrels per day) getting shipped in through ports to refineries in the South, with much of the resulting gasoline and diesel getting shipped up to the Midwest. (For more detail on the different districts and how they exchange fuel, see here.)

Now what will happen in the years ahead, as the United States ramps up its domestic oil production, thanks to new drilling in places like North Dakota and Texas? Remember, the Energy Information Administration now expects U.S. oil imports to shrink from 8.3 million barrels per day down to 6 million barrels per day by the start of 2014.

That’s where things get tricky. The United States won’t simply be able to keep buying from the countries we like and shut off imports from countries we don’t like. As a recent investigation from Bloomberg’s Matthew Philips detailed, the changes will be a lot messier than that.

Over the past few years, U.S. refineries in the Midwest and elsewhere have spent billions upgrading their facilities in order to be able to process heavy, sour crude—the stuff that comes from the tar sands of Canada, or from Venezuela and Mexico. In order to recoup their investment, those refineries are likely to continue importing heavy oil from those three countries in the years ahead.

By contrast, the light, sweet crude that’s now pouring out of shale formations in North Dakota and Texas will mainly displace oil from Africa:

Since July 2010, the U.S. has cut its Nigerian imports by half, from more than 1 million barrels a day, to 543,000 as of October 2012, the most recent data available through the EIA. Imports from Angola have dipped below 200,000 daily barrels, from an average of 513,000 in 2008.

“By the second quarter of this year, we will stop importing West African light, sweet crude into the Gulf,” Morse predicts. Those barrels will have to find another home, more than likely India, China, Europe, and Korea. [MORE]

Uganda: More Oil Found, 17 New Wells for Tullow

AllAfrica

While expectations on the sharing of oil revenues continue to build, most Ugandans will be pleased to know of additional discoveries of oil in Nwoya district in the Acholi sub-region by French oil and gas company Total SA.

The discovery comes in the aftermath of seismic studies around the Murchison falls area by its Ugandan operations, Total Exploration and Production (Total E&P) in September 2012.

Ernest Rubondo, the Commissioner for petroleum in the ministry of energy confirmed the discovery to the media early this week.

Ernest Rubondo, the commissioner for petroleum in the ministry of energy confirmed the discovery to the media early this week, adding that details are set to be disclosed by the energy minister Irene Muloni at the ongoing NRM retreat in Kyankwanzi.

"They (Total) told us that they have encountered shows, and we are waiting for more information. The Government will make an announcement in due course," he told Oil in Uganda, a sector publication.

He added that details about the volume and its commercial viability may be ready in about three weeks after analysis has been completed.

When contacted, Ahelem, the Total E&P corporate affairs manager said the Total headquarters in Paris are set to release an official statement confirming the discovery.

Huge oil deposits discovered in southeastern Iraq

presstv

Iraq has discovered substantial crude oil reserves in the southeastern province of Maysan after its state-run petroleum production companies conducted the first exploration activities in almost three decades. 

Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP on Sunday that exploration started in Maysan, on the border with neighboring Iran, last year and the deposits of crude equivalent to one billion barrels of oil were found after studies were commissioned.  

The spokesman termed the discovery as a big success for Iraq’s oil industry. 

"The initial assessment from this discovery is about one billion barrels of oil," Jihad said, adding, "It will increase production capacity for Maysan Oil Company."

Iraq largely depends on oil revenues to support most state expenditures. 

In recent years, the government in Baghdad has explored avenues to increase oil production in order to finance infrastructure projects across Iraq. 

Iraq has proven reserves of 143.1 billion barrels of crude oil and 3.2 trillion cubic meters (111.9 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas. 

Obama officially begins his second term with oath

WashPost

Barack Hussein Obama officially began his second term as the nation’s 44th president Sunday, taking the oath of office in a low-key ceremony at the White House and preparing to provide the nation his vision for the next four years on Monday.

It was a crisp and flawless 30-seconds of history just before noon in the Blue Room. Obama and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. flubbed the 35-word oath four years ago, but not Sunday. With Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha standing behind him, Obama quickly repeated the words from Roberts, who this time carried a printed text.

“Congratulations, Mr. President,” said Roberts.

“Thank you, Mr. Chief Justice,” Obama replied. “Thank you so much.”

He then kissed his wife, whom he called “Sweetie,” and told his daughters, “I did it.”

Sasha retorted: “You didn’t mess up.”

Obama’s hand rested on a Bible that Michelle Obama’s father Fraser Robinson III had given to his mother, LaVaughn Delores Robinson, on Mother’s Day 1958.

Obama and Roberts will repeat the process again Monday in a public celebration at the Capitol. The Constitution mandates that presidential terms begin on Jan. 20, and it is traditional when the day falls on a Sunday that the public ceremony take place the next day.

Washington began to play its quadrennial role as the nation’s host and seat of power: red, white and blue bunting draped official buildings and hotels; bleachers lined the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue; Jumbotrons and portable toilets sprouted around the National Mall; out-of-towners in parkas and sneakers mingled with those in gowns and heels.

The brief ceremony at the White House— from the family’s entrance to the handshakes and kisses that marked departure took less than a minute and a half — provided one of several glimpses of the 51-year-old president. He also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and worshiped at a historic African-American church.

Vice President Biden got a jump on the president by taking his oath at an early-morning ceremony at his residence at the Naval Observatory. Justice Sonia Sotomayor swore Biden in, becoming the fourth woman and the first Hispanic to administer the oath to the president or vice president.

Sunday’s White House ceremony took place before about a dozen family members and friends including Obama’s half-sisters Maya Soetoro-Ng and Auma Obama, and Michelle Obama’s brother Craig Robinson and their mother Marian Robinson. Roberts’s wife Jane Roberts stood next to the family, and Press Secretary Jay Carney watched over a small group of journalists.

That Roberts and Obama had bungled the first oath four years ago—there was a do-over at the White House days later to make sure all constitutional obligations were met—was not lost, thanks to Sasha’s “you didn’t mess up” remark.

Obama laughed before saying, “Thank you, everybody” and exiting the room along with his family and Roberts. It appeared to be the first face-to-face meeting between the two men since the chief justice cast the deciding vote last June to save the president’s biggest domestic achievement of the first term, the health-care overhaul.

DNA testing identifies lost Vietnam-war dead

Aljazeera

The Vietnam war ended almost 40 years ago, but for many people, there has been no closure. Thousands of Vietnamese are still searching for family members believed to have been killed during the conflict. Now DNA testing is helping some of them identify the remains of loved ones.

Mississippi Schools Number 1 in Sending Kids to Jail

Wonkette

Bolstered by a recent report from a coalition of civil rights organizations, Mississippi continues to excel in attracting those re-locators balancing the need for quality public schools with the desire to live near an unofficially segregated Waffle House. One of only 19 states that permits paddling in schools, Mississippi has long been a haven for parents looking to outsource the beating of their children to skilled public educators, and with the nation’s highest rate of students beaten by school staff, parents are assured the draconian laws so instrumental to their children’s success are and will continue to be applied liberally and lovingly.

The report highlights some of the unique methods utilized by Mississippi schools in recent years to rehabilitate students who engage in inappropriate behavior:

Read more at http://wonkette.com/#Kd4mGU4KPUT84bcp.99 

Previously Unreleased Interviews with The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

WYNC.org

On November 22, 1961 a radio reporter named Eleanor Fischer* interviewed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta.  She was producing a documentary series on Dr. King and that southern city for the CBC called Project 62.  She spoke to him again in late 1966 and early 1967. Fischer's raw interviews were given to the New York Public Radio Archives by her estate after she died in 2008 at the age of 73.  As far as we know, these unedited interviews have never been presented in their entirety until now. 

In this first interview tape above, Dr. King talks about growing up in Atlanta and the reasons for his decision (after considering medicine) to join the ministry.  He recounts his first awareness of racism at the age of five and his mother's efforts to explain why things were this way without conveying a sense of inferiority or loss of dignity. King describes how he arrived in Montgomery, Alabama. He had long been concerned about racial injustice and wanted to be part of solving this problem in the South. He details his church's efforts to combat the clergy's prevailing political apathy by setting up political action committees, encouraging membership in the NAACP and other civil rights organizations, and trying to increase awareness of the "social gospel." 

The 32-year-old civil rights leader tells Fischer how he came to embrace non-violent resistance, first through Jesus and then by reading about Gandhi.  He explains that it was with the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott in December, 1955 that he felt he could put the theory of non-violent resistance into practice. Dr. King views Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 as a legal and psychological turning point for the civil rights movement, which he considers a part of a worldwide struggle.

To hear Eleanor Fischer's interview with Malcolm X from the early 1960s, please go to: MALCOLM.

Gun Appreciation Day Is Sponsored By White Nationalist Party

MediaMatters

UPDATE: Following the publication of this story, Gun Appreciation Day removed the American Third Position from its list of sponsors and released a statement about its decision. A screenshot of the original listing is available here.  

Gun Appreciation Day, a prominent effort backed by conservative media outlets and activists to oppose new gun laws, has accepted the sponsorship of a white nationalist organization to promote and mobilize supporters for its January 19 event.

Gun Appreciation Day (GAD) is partnering with the American Third Position (A3P), a political group that describes itself as representing "the unique political interests of white Americans." According to a party official, the organization is composed of "white nationalists."

GAD's organizers ask supporters to visit "gun stores, gun counters, gun shows, and gun ranges to protest the Obama administration's post Sandy Hook assault on gun rights." The event has received significant media coverage and promotion in recent days.

GAD lists A3P on its "sponsors" page along with its logo, motto ("Liberty. Sovereignty. Identity") and a link to American3rdPosition.com. Other sponsors include prominent conservative media outlets like RedState, the right-wing blog edited by CNN contributor Erick Erickson. The event's main page asks visitors to "Please Support Our Sponsors."

The pro-gun event is teaming with A3P despite ample and easily found evidence of the group's fringe views. The first Google result for the group after its official website is the user-edited Wikipedia page for A3P, which currently states in its opening sentence that the group "promotes white supremacy."

According to its mission statement, "The American Third Position Party believes that government policy in the United States discriminates against white Americans, the majority population, and that white Americans need their own political party to fight this discrimination." The group also states that it "exists to represent the unique political interests of white Americans. It exists to maintain the identity, culture, and way of life of the American people, whose forefathers, from a vast wilderness, carved out an awe-inspiring extension of Western civilization, in order that their progeny--us--might live in relative peace and prosperity."

Civil rights groups have harshly criticized A3P. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) categorizes A3P as a white nationalist hate group, and states that it is a "political party initially established by racist Southern California skinheads that aims to deport immigrants and return the United States to white rule. The group is now led by a coterie of prominent white nationalists." The Anti-Defamation League calls A3P a "white supremacist political party."

In an September 2011 interview with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Harry Bertram, A3P West Virginia chairman and a failed gubernatorial candidate, explained that "we are white nationalists" who are speaking out against white "genocide":

While the party has been called white supremacist, Bertram says that's totally inaccurate.

"White supremacist is always used by left-wing liberal media types who tend to paint a broad brush on people and try to demonize them," he said. "There's nobody that I know that's a white supremacist because that's like a slave owner, someone who wants to dominate over another person or people.

"What we say, we are white nationalists which means we love our race and are willing to do something to preserve it, nationalist means putting America first.

"When you start to destroy someone's culture and identity, bringing in a different group of people who aren't the same background, that's sort of committing genocide against that group. And we're not going to stand for it without speaking out against it," said Bertram.

A3P's website posts its white nationalist views on a variety of topics. On "race issues," the group writes:                                                                                                                             

A3P stands to protect White American interests, since no other political party has shown interest in doing so. This does not make us racist, but protective of our rights - which every other race or group is encouraged and praised for doing. Discriminatory "affirmative action" programs and the invasion of illegal immigrants adversely affect the welfare of all Americans, but especially the White majority.

The goal of A3P is therefore to restore and preserve the legitimacy of White identity, White heritage, and expressions of White interests. We want to stop the divisive, orchestrated destruction of America and restore her to greatness.

On immigration, A3P warns that "our people will become a minority in America within only a few decades":

During the 1960's, our immigration system was transformed to favor persons from Third World countries incapable of assimilating into any European homeland. If current demographic trends continue, our people will become a minority in America within only a few decades. We cannot let our children grow up in a nation that is fast becoming the Brazil of the Northern Hemisphere. The vast majority of immigrants, both legal and illegal, come from nations in Latin America, Asia and Africa lacking in education, science, art, law, governance or industrial achievements in any way comparable to ours. Numerous studies have confirmed that there is no net economic benefit to the U.S. economy from Third World immigration due to the added costs of education, infrastructure, health care, welfare programs and law enforcement.

An A3P platform guide urges: "Return to Americans their traditional right of freedom of association, including voluntary racial separation; the abolishment of all forms of government-mandated and corporate-mandated racial discrimination, such as affirmative action, quotas, and all forms of 'racial sensitivity training.'"

The SPLC reported that at the time that he was named A3P chairman, William Daniel Johnson "had been advocating for the deportation of all non-white immigrants and U.S. citizens, including anyone with any 'ascertainable trace of Negro blood,' since 1985, when he wrote a book arguing for a constitutional amendment to do just that."

GAD's website contains a sponsorship registration form, and states: "If you have an Political or Member Organzation [sic], Non-Profit, For Profit, PAC, Blog, Newsletter and/or Facebook Fan Page and want to help spread the message of the first ever national Gun Apprecation [sic] Day we want to add your group to our website as a sponsor." To become a sponsor, "No cash required (we will accept contributions to help us buy ads Online and On Air) , we just ask that you spread the word to your memebers [sic], fans and followers every day until and including January 19, 2013." The website states that prospective sponsors should "fill out the form below and we will be in touch."

A3P, in turn, is promoting the day on its website along with a link to GunAppreciationDay.com and an event flyer. A3P's website posted a "position paper" on gun violence which claims that "commencing in the 60's, psychiatrists leading the liberal political left have been in charge of America's social agenda. They have stricken God from the schools, instead of ethics and morals they teach moral relativism, the entire society has been perverted through misinterpretation of the first amendment to believe that gay is OK, that violence is fine, that the new way is better." 

MSNBC.com's Zachary Roth reported on several other groups sponsoring GAD that hold extreme right-wing views. 

Gun Appreciation Day is organized by Political Media Inc., a Washington-based Republican consulting firm headed by Larry Ward. Ward, who also serves as GAD chairman, recently came under derision for claiming that "Martin Luther King, Jr. would agree with me if he were alive today that if African Americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country's founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history." Ward has stood by his comment and claims that GAD "honors the legacy of Martin Luther King, but also the entire civil rights movement."

UPDATE: In a statement responding to Media Matters' report, Gun Appreciation Day wrote that while they have attempted to screen out groups "that might detract from the message," "We mistakenly missed one. We have removed the group and reiterate this event is not about racial politics, it is about gun politics." The statement:

The small hard working staff at Political Media, Inc has been working diligently throughout the Gun Appreciation Day Campaign. The volume of support we have received has been overwhelming. We decided to have an open registration for sponsorship for Gun Appreciation Day put a screening process in place to avoid associating the event or Political Media, Inc. with groups or businesses that might detract from the message.

We mistakenly missed one.

We have removed the group and reiterate this event is not about racial politics, it is about gun politics. We believe in equal rights of ALL Americans in every race, gender, religion, location and economic class to keep and bear arms as guaranteed to them in the Bill of Rights.

Gun Appreciation Day also wrote on its Facebook page: "Guys, the screening process of our sponsors was apparently not deep enough - We have corrected the problem, but you should know the left wing media called us out on it as they should have. We know better and I apologize for not catching this...but we are forging ahead - This is about Gun Liberty for all."

White Business Owner Fires Obama-Supporting Employees to ‘Cover New Obongocare Costs’

Gawker

In the comments section of a recent Salt Lake Tribune story about a smoothie bar owner who charges liberal customers more for their drinks, another Utah business owner expressed his support for the initiative, and said he was also doing his part in the fight against different points of view.

"We had to let two employees go to cover new Obongocare costs and increased taxes," wrote Terry Lee of Terry Lee Forensics, a digital forensics company based in Cedar City. "Found two Obongo supporters and gave them the news yesterday. They wanted the idiot in the Whitehouse, they reap the benefits."

(Urban Dictionary defines Obongo as "a play on Barack Hussein Obama II's last name, citing his roots as a typical Apefrican, bongo beating, bush monkey.")

When the Tribune followed up with him, Lee tried to walk the comment back some, saying "[the employees] were not top performers."

But he readily acknowledged that the part-timers' political views weighed heavily in the decision. "Is your political affiliation protected?" he asked the Tribune rhetorically. "I don't believe it is, but I don't know."

Sadly, it isn't: According to AOL Jobs, only five states currently protect employees from being fired on the basis of their political beliefs — California, New York, Connecticut, Colorado and Mississippi.

However, the employees could potentially file a civil lawsuit against Lee for wrongful termination.

As for Lee's claim that he was offsetting the impending increase in his company's taxes and operating costs due to Obamacare? The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act imposes penalties on companies that don't provide a healthcare plan only if they have over 50 employees.

Terry Lee Forensics has nine.

White Cedar Rapids City Council Member to Black Woman: "Should we deport you back to Kenya with Obama?” and “Are you even American, are you American?"

RapidCityJournal and [HERE] 

For months, a city attorney investigation into the conduct of a Rapid City council member has been shrouded in mystery — with details of who was investigated and why kept from public view.

But now, the Journal has learned that the target of the investigation was Ward 1 Council Member Bill Clayton, who faced two separate sets of allegations. One complaint alleges that Clayton made racist comments to an African-American television news reporter during an interview. The other complaint centers on disparaging remarks Clayton reportedly made about fellow Ward 1 Council Member Charity Doyle in August.

Here are excerpts from an email conversation between the Rapid City Journal and KOTA TV reporter Taisha Walker, who filed a complaint with the city about City Council member Bill Clayton over racist comments made to Walker. The comments reportedly came in a phone interview when Walker called Clayton for comment on a city taxation issue.

According to Walker, who is black, Clayton, who is white, reportedly said to her: "Should we deport you back to Kenya with Obama?” and “Are you even American, are you American?” Clayton has not denied making the statements. The city attorney investigated the incident; the city council has taken no action against Clayton over the remarks.

Rapid City Journal: "Clayton says that 'Taisha Walker and I put this to rest.' Have you forgiven him and put it behind you?

Walker: "Bill Clayton has apologized for the comments he made to me but after I requested in my August 31, 2012 letter to the mayor (which he was carbon copied on) that he do so. The first time, he called to apologize and dispute the accuracy of one sentence in my letter – which had to do with comments he made about opinions and sexuality. He did not dispute the racist comments or those accusing me of being un-American. Weeks later, his attorney Pat Duffy initiated the second apology, which took place in person. He apologized a second time but followed it with excuses as to why he said what he said to me on August 31st.

I have accepted Bill Clayton’s apology but that does not mean that I have put the issue to rest. The alderman has made it difficult for me to do so when he admits his wrongs to me behind closed doors but when questioned about it by others, he fails to come clean. He did not deny my accusations because he knows what I said he said was true."

RCJ: Clayton has not denied saying what he allegedly said to you; nor has he said whether he thinks your account was accurate. And he also said that “Reporters do their best to get quotes as accurate as possible. Generally, they’re not complete and not always accurate.” That seems to imply that your version of what happened might not be entirely accurate.

Walker: "I’m offended by that statement. That was Alderman Clayton’s opportunity to come clean about what he said to me, but instead of giving an honest answer, he turned the tables on me and portrayed me to be a less than capable journalist. That is not the case. In the two years I have been reporting at KOTA, I can count on one hand the number of times an interviewee has called or emailed to say my account of their quotes were 'inaccurate' but I do have correspondences that say quite the opposite."

RCJ: Are you considering further action, rather than just the complaint? And can you tell me what process you went through in filing the complaint?

Walker: It was never my intent to file a formal complaint or to make the issue public. I was contacted by the City Attorney, who was looking into another incident involving Alderman Clayton, as well as other aldermen about using my letter to file a formal complaint. My purpose in doing so was to make the mayor and city council members aware of what was said to me. I also wanted Bill Clayton to issue me an apology.

Do I feel his apologies were sincere? No. How could they be when he can’t even publicly admit his wrongs and come clean to the citizens of Rapid City? While I am a news reporter, I am also a Rapid City citizen. He owes the truth to me, his constituents in Ward 1 and the city. And I’m hoping he will come through with the truth soon.

RCJ: "Can you talk a little bit about your background, how you came to Rapid City and what your general impression of the place?"

Walker: "You can refer to the bio on KOTA’s website which I’ll provide you a link. My family originates from Jamaica (not Kenya) and I was born and raised in New York City. I moved to Rapid City in August of 2010 to work for KOTA. While the night life and the food diversity doesn’t compare to New York, I enjoy living in Rapid City. I enjoy the friendliness of the people, the lack of traffic and the amazing places to hike and explore."

Joliet White Supremacist Pleads Guilty to Torching Black Family's Home

Patch

A Joliet white supremacist pleaded guilty Friday to torching the home of a black family living down the street from his house.

Brian Moudry, 36, faces up to 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on April 26. He pleaded to using fire to interfere with the housing rights on the basis of race.

Moudry admitted to pouring gasoline on the home of a black family and setting fire to the house in June 2007. The family of eight children and one adult was asleep inside but escaped the blaze without injury.

According to the plea agreement, Moudry was upset that a black family was renting a house on the same block as his own on Joliet's South Reed Street. He set the fire in hopes of driving them out and to intimidate the owner of the home, the agreement says.

Two other men who had been drinking with Moudry the night before the fire were arrested in the immediate aftermath of the blaze. Moudry was not taken into custody or charged.

One of the men was released without charge soon after his arrest. The other had an arson case pending against him for nearly nine months before prosecutors dropped it.

Moudry was arrested in May, nearly five years after the fire. He has been in custody at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center since he was picked up by FBI agents more than seven months ago.

Moudry is a disciple of incarcerated white power leader Matt Hale, who was imprisoned for plotting to kill U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow.

In March 2005, federal agents hauled Moudry and some of his associates in for questioning after Hale was suspected of ordering the execution-style slayings of Judge Humphrey Lefkow's husband and mother. The killings turned out to be unrelated to Hale, Moudry or their group.

Before he was questioned by the feds in 2005, Moudry organized a series of white power rallies in and around Joliet. His house in Joliet's sleepy Reedswood neighborhood was targeted in a gun attack following a 2004 white power demonstration.

Rush Limbaugh: If Civil Rights Activists In The '60s Had Owned Guns, "You Think They Would Have Needed Selma?"

MediaMatters 

From the January 18 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: So those of you who are not mobilizing to change the Second Amendment, those of you who are not mobilizing to make it more difficult to get guns and weapons are the modern equivalent of people who sat around and let Bull Connor turn his dogs loose on the marches at Selma. Man, I -- the foundation of what you must believe to be this out of phase. And then he said they let Bull Connor and the redneck elements of the South and the Klan take over their culture, in effect become a face of it. 

Now Bull Connor and these guys are all Democrats. But you, in Tom Brokaw's eyes, you, who are trying to defend a civil right that you have by virtue of the Constitution are the modern equivalent of people who denied civil rights to blacks in the '60s in Tom Brokaw's view. And that has governed the way he sees this country ever since it happened. And a lot of other journalists, too.  

Try this. If a lot of African-Americans back in the '60s had guns and the legal right to use them for self-defense, you think they would have needed Selma? I don't know, I'm just asking. If John Lewis, who says he was beat upside the head, if John Lewis had had a gun, would he have been beat upside the head on the bridge? Anyway, that's what we're -- and these people that think like Brokaw are all over the media. This is the way they're looking at this.  

ACLU-PA Files Suit On Behalf Of Woman Illegally Detained By ICE

ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Angelica Davila, a U.S. citizen who was born in Mexico and legally immigrated to this country at the age of 2 with her parents. After being stopped for a minor traffic violation in 2011, Davila was arrested and imprisoned in the Allegheny County Jail overnight based on the erroneous belief she was in the country illegally.

“This is a blatant example of ethnic profiling,” said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “The police had no reason to check Ms. Davila’s immigration status for a routine traffic stop when her paperwork was in order. The police questioned her status only because of her ethnicity and that of her passenger.”

On the evening of January 22, 2011, Davila and a friend, Joel Garrete, were pulled over on Perry Highway in Wexford shortly after exiting the parking lot of a Mexican grocery store. Davila, a legally licensed driver in Pennsylvania, had forgotten to turn on her headlights. She provided her license, proof of registration, and insurance card to Patrolman Andrew Bienemann of the Northern Regional Police Department. The officer also demanded identification from her friend and asked if he was in the country legally. A native of Honduras, Garrete admitted he was not lawfully present. Bienemann then called the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to check on the status of both Davila and Garrete.

Davila provided her name, country of origin, and date of birth to ICE Special Agent Brianna Tetrault over the phone and told Tetrault she was legally present in the United States. Davila, who speaks both English and Spanish fluently, agreed to translate while Tetrault spoke to Garrete.

Nevertheless, after waiting by the side of the road for two hours, both Davila and Garrete were handcuffed and eventually transported to the Allegheny County Jail at the request of ICE. During her ordeal, Davila repeatedly explained to police officers and jail guards that she was legally present.  In fact, Davila was a U.S. citizen at the time of her arrest under a law granting automatic citizenship to children of U.S. citizen parents who were under 18 on February 27, 2001.

“Spending the night in jail was a horrible experience, especially since I did not know why I was being held,” Davila said. “I want to make sure that this never happens to me or to anyone else again.”

After transporting Davila and Garrete to the jail, Bienemann received a call from ICE informing him that a mistake had been made about Davila’s identity and that she had been incorrectly detained. Despite receiving official confirmation from ICE at 9:50 p.m. that Davila was lawfully present in the United States, Bienemann made no effort to have her released from jail. Davila was eventually released the next morning after sleeping on the floor of her holding cell, which had no beds.

According to the complaint, the Northern Regional Police Department has a policy of reporting persons suspected of violating immigration laws to ICE and complying with ICE detainer requests even though there is no law requiring it to do so.

“This case is a perfect example of why local police departments should think twice before taking it upon themselves to enforce immigration laws,” said Sara Rose, an ACLU-PA staff attorney representing Davila.

“When ICE makes a mistake about someone’s immigration status – as it did in this case and in a similar case filed by the ACLU-PA on behalf of another U.S. citizen unlawfully detained for an immigration violation– the police officers who carry out the illegal detention violate the Fourth Amendment,” she added.

According to the complaint, the police officer’s decision to contact ICE to check Davila’s immigration status and the ICE agent’s decision to issue an immigration detainer for Davila also violated her right to equal protection under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution because they were based on Davila’s ethnicity.

The case is Davila v. Northern Regional Police Department, et al. Davila is represented by Rose, ACLU-PA Legal Director Vic Walczak, and Tom Farrell of the law firm Farrell & Reisinger.

More information about the case, including a copy of the complaint, is available at:
http://www.aclupa.org/legal/legaldocket/davilavnorthernregionalpol.htm

More information about a previous ACLU-PA case involving a U.S. citizen illegally held by ICE, Galarza v. Szalczyk, et al., is available here:
http://www.aclupa.org/legal/legaldocket/galarzavszalczyketal.htm

ICE Raids Wrong Home

ColorLines

An Oklahoma family is still shaken up after ICE agents entered their home at 5:30am on Saturday and handcuffed every member of the family including the father, mother, their 15-year-old daughter, and 18-year-old son.

But 5-minutes later--with guns drawn and the entire family handcuffed--ICE agents realized they had the wrong house.

"I have thousands of questions running through my head asking why this happened because this is something that just damages you profoundly," Susana Estrada told Spanish-language news station KTUZ-TV.

An ICE spokesperson sent the following response to KTQV News 9:

On Jan. 8 at about 6 a.m., officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and District 21 Task Force in Oklahoma executed a search warrant issued by a District Court judge at a Moore, Okla., residence.

Shortly after entering the residence, ICE officers interviewed the alleged target and noted a discrepancy between the residence owner's social security number and that of the target of the investigation.

Officers conducted an on-site electronic fingerprint comparison which confirmed that the residence owner was not the target of the investigation, even though they both have the same name.

Officers apologized and departed the residence. ICE immediately began investigating this incident, which is ongoing. The investigation into the original target is also ongoing.

You can watch the Spanish-language news report below.