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Category Archives: Viva!
Nancy Reagan Called, She’d Like Her War On Drugs Back
No mention of pressing charges against Purdue. The company used a bonus system to incentivize its pharmaceutical representatives to increase OxyContin sales. The average bonus exceeded the representatives’ annual salaries. Of course, Purdue was not alone in marketing its pain-relieving products in this way. But this is just a ruse for inflaming people against POC “drug dealers” and not drug companies. The return of Just Say Nyet. CBS: “Mr. Trump commends the DOJ’s action in prosecuting drug trafficking crimes, saying “If you break the law and illegally peddle these deadly poisons, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we … Continue reading →
Challenging Cuomo
Sounds like making America, err New York good again still draws headlines.
The actress Cynthia Nixon officially jumped into the race for governor of New York on Monday, setting off what promises to be a tumultuous six months as she challenges Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in this year’s Democratic primary.
Ms. Nixon, 51, has never before run for elected office and has chosen a huge undertaking for her first bid: seeking to unseat a two-term incumbent (and son of a three-term governor) who is sitting atop more than $30 million in campaign cash.
“Our leaders are letting us down,” she says in a video posted on Twitter, talking about the inequities in New York spliced between images of her walking on the streets of New York City and taking the subways.
“Something has to change,” she says in the ad. “We want our government to work again, on health care, ending mass incarceration, fixing our broken subway. We are sick of politicians who care more about headlines and power than they do about us. It can’t just be business as usual anymore.”
If she supports doing everything she can to smash the IDC and get control of the Assembly by actual Democrats, that would in itself be reason to support her. And a serious challenge to Cuomo is useful even if it doesn’t succeed — but I think Nixon has a real chance.
Ohio Parole Board Recommends Clemency for Death-Row Prisoner William Montgomery
Read this – don’t instantly discount or believe – read.
Faced with doubts about prosecutorial misconduct and the accuracy of forensic evidence, the Ohio Parole Board has recommended that Governor John Kasich grant executive clemency to William T. Montgomery (pictured), scheduled to be executed on April 11. Montgomery was convicted and sentence to death in 1986 for two murders he has long maintained he did not commit. An Ohio federal district court, affirmed by a federal appeals court panel, overturned his conviction in 2007 because prosecutors had suppressed evidence and witness statements that undermined its version of how the crime occurred, but with five judges dissenting, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reinstated the conviction. Montgomery’s supporters argued to the parole board that there was too much doubt about his guilt to risk executing a potentially innocent man. Prosecutors argued at trial that Montgomery murdered Debra Ogle and then killed her roommate, Cynthia Tincher to prevent her from testifying against him, then dumped Ms. Ogle’s body in the woods where it was not discovered for four days. However, prosecutors withheld from the defense evidence that multiple witnesses had seen Ms. Ogle alive four days after she supposedly had been killed and an independent review of the autopsy report showed that Ms. Ogle’s body likely had been discovered within hours of her death. The report noted that a body left in the woods for four days in above-freezing temperatures would have shown signs of decomposition, insect infestation, and animal predation, none of which were present, and the body’s state of lividity indicated death had occurred within twelve hours of its discovery. Adding to the doubt in the case, Montgomery’s co-defendant, Glover Heard told police five different stories before settling on a version of events that fit the prosecution’s theory and, instead of facing the death penalty, was sentenced to a term of years with eligibility for parole. Montgomery’s lawyers also presented the parole board with affidavits that undermined its confidence in the jury verdict, including one from a juror who was confused as to what the law required, another from a juror who had doubts about Montgomery’s guilt, and a third juror whose psychiatric behavior raised questions about her ability to serve. The Board majority cited both the State’s failure to disclose the witness reports that Ms. Ogle was alive after the State claimed she had been killed and the jurors’ affidavits as reasons for recommending commutation. Four Board members opposed commutation, arguing that the information presented was insufficient to overturn the jury verdict and finding no “manifest injustice” in the case that they believed warranted clemency. In an op-ed in the Toledo Blade, Phyllis Crocker, Dean of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and a former member of the Ohio Supreme Court Joint Task on the Administration of Ohio’s Death Penalty, wrote: “At best, Montgomery was convicted on a false set of facts and at worst, he may be actually innocent. In death penalty cases there must be no doubt whatsoever. There is too much doubt to allow this execution.” Montgomery’s lawyer, Jon Oebker, reiterated that his client’s assertion of innocence and said the defense plans to “explore every avenue we can.” Governor Kasich must issue a decision on the pardons board’s recommendation before the April 11 execution date.
(Jim Provance, Parole board recommends clemency for William T. Montgomery, Toledo Blade, March 16, 2018; Phyllis L. Crocker, Op-Ed: Next Ohio execution raises too much doubt, Toledo Blade, March 10, 2018; Jim Provance, Death row inmate William T. Montgomery seeks new trial, Toledo Blade, March 3, 2018; Jim Provance, Forensic experts question prosecution’s theories, Toledo Blade, March 8, 2018.) Read William Montgomery’s application for clemency here and the Ohio Parole Board’s clemency recommendation here. See Clemency, Innocence, and Prosecutorial Misconduct.
- 48 reads
Mississippi governor signs bill banning abortions after 15 weeks
Trump to Hire Lawyer Who Has Pushed Theory That Justice Dept. Framed the President
Same lawyer believes that Alex Jones is secret brother of President Trump! The lawyer, Joseph E. diGenova, will serve as an aggressive player on the president’s legal team.
Justices won’t block new congressional maps in Pennsylvania – SCOTUSblog
Source: Justices won’t block new congressional maps in Pennsylvania – SCOTUSblog
Justices won’t block new congressional maps in Pennsylvania
One day before the filing deadline for the primary election, the Supreme Court rejected a request by Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania to block a remedial plan adopted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from going into effect. The ruling means that the state’s 2018 congressional elections will likely go forward under the new maps, which could allow Democrats to pick up three or four more of the state’s 18 seats in the House of Representatives – which could in turn increase Democrats’ chances of taking back the House.
Monday Open Thread | Cambridge Analytica in the Hotseat
Cambridge Analytica scrambles to halt Channel 4 exposé
Firm with links to Trump election under pressure after Facebook ban over data harvesting
Cambridge Analytica, the data firm alleged to have used the personal information of millions of Facebook users without their knowledge in its work for Donald Trump’s election campaign, is trying to stop the broadcast of an undercover Channel 4 News report in which its chief executive talks unguardedly about its practices.
Channel 4 reporters posed as prospective clients and had a series of meetings with Cambridge Analytica that they secretly filmed — including at least one with Alexander Nix, its chief executive. Channel 4 declined to comment.
Mr Nix referred the FT to Cambridge Analytica’s spokesperson when asked if he was aware of the Channel 4 report, which is due to air this week, according to people briefed on the situation. Cambridge Analytica’s spokesman declined to comment on the undercover Channel 4 report.
The company is under mounting pressure over how it uses personal data in political and election campaign work. It was banned by Facebook on Friday, which claimed it had violated the social network’s rules by failing to delete Facebook user data collected by an app for research purposes.
Press reports on Saturday claimed the company had harvested data from more than 50m profiles mostly belonging to US voters.
Christopher Wylie, a former Cambridge Analytica employee, showed documents to the New York Times, The Observer and Channel 4 News, which the news outlets said detailed a programme that used data from a survey without users’ permission. Some 270,000 users had granted permission for their data to be used for research purposes, not passed to a political data analytics firm, and they may have exposed data from their friends in the process.
From the beginning, I have said that the data always leads back to:
a) Kushner
b) The Mercers
Facebook is only taking this step NOW, after being revealed that they continuously lied about what they knew about Russian involvement in using Facebook during the 2016 Election. They think that these actions are going to stop folks from digging deeper about what Facebook knew, and what they’ve been LYING about. Not gonna happen.
From AM JOY:
Cambridge Analytica: Facebook data of 50 million allegedly seized
Cambridge Analytica is coming under fire for reports that the Facebook data of 50 million users was allegedly stolen by the company for use by the Donald Trump presidential campaign. Joy Reid and her panel discuss how this could ‘add a new dimension’ to Robert Mueller’s investigation
And, then they tried to lie on the people who did the 2008 Obama Campaign.
I ran the Obama 2008 data-driven microtargeting team. How dare you! We didn’t steal private Facebook profile data from voters under false pretenses. OFA voluntarily solicited opinions of hundreds of thousands of voters. We didn’t commit theft to do our groundbreaking work. https://t.co/CyVIFDB2Tz
— Michael Simon (@mbsimon) March 18, 2018
The data ALWAYS leads back to the same places:
Re-upping this piece as a reminder of when Jared Kushner was so proud to take full credit of Cambridge Analytica and the Trump data operation. I guess tooting his own horn will soon come back to haunt him. https://t.co/OOhc5NAe7T
— Ali H. Soufan (@Ali_H_Soufan) March 18, 2018
Forty-five U.S. trade groups urge Trump to avoid tariffs against China
He only cares about looking good to himself for the next five minutes – WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Forty-five U.S. trade associations representing some of the largest companies in the country are urging President Donald Trump not to impose tariffs on China, warning it would be “particularly harmful” to the U.S. economy and consumers.
We cannot let France silence its humanist Jews
Jewish anti-occupation activist Olivia Zemor faces a lawsuit from a pro-Israel group after calling for celebrities to boycott Israel. Here’s why I’m going to France to testify on her behalf.
By Udi Aloni
Palestinian and French activists hold up signs during a demonstration against the Sseperation wall in Bil’in, West Bank, August 14, 2009. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
This week I am traveling to Paris to serve as an expert witness in court. In an unprecedented move, the French government has allied with a right-wing, pro-Israeli group to file a SLAPP lawsuit against the nonviolent struggle for justice in Palestine, and specifically against Olivia Zemor, a Jewish activist from the left-wing NGO Europalestine.
The story began seven years ago when French activist and chairwoman of Europalestine, Olivia Zemor, called on French singer Vanessa Paradis and actor Johnny Depp not to perform in Israel. Now, a pro-Israel right-wing lobby is trying to censor, intimidate, and silence Ms. Zemor by burdening her with the cost of a legal defense, until her group abandons its call for justice for Palestine. The prosecution accuses Zemor of hate speech and racism. The most absurd part is that Zemor herself is of Jewish origins.
I am going to testify as an Israeli Jew, and as an advisory board member of Jewish Voice for Peace, for two reasons. The first and most obvious one is to defend the basic right of the Palestinian people to nonviolent struggle against Israel’s apartheid, occupation, and illegal settlement project. The second reason is the necessity of making a tikkun (repair) from within the depths of Jewish culture itself. I am going to France to fight the frightening and bizarre new wave of anti-Semitism in Europe — an anti-Semitism that is depriving diaspora Jews of their right to struggle against the apartheid practices of the Israeli state. I am going to defend the idea that Jews can have diverse, independent points of view.
Seventy-four years after the fall of the Vichy regime, the French government is choosing to declare war on the right of Jews to live out their faith, the right to believe that to be Jewish is to be human — in the spirit of Primo Levi’s writings — not in the colonialist spirit of the State of Israel in 2018.
I am traveling to Paris to make a last stand for my right to be the decent Jew I learned to be in my mother and grandmother’s home. Will Israel succeed — as other oppressive regimes have— in silencing opposition in the diaspora? Is Israel functioning as a kind of colonialism-by-proxy on behalf of Europe and America?
These questions might be answered by the verdict in Paris, yet even acquitting Zemor will not be enough. The court must exact a heavy fine on those who are manipulating the justice system into a tool that is anti-Jewish, anti-Palestinian, anti-French, and anti-human.
Following the Holocaust, it was natural for Jews around the world to be the at the forefront of human and civil rights struggles, standing side by side with Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and others. The Jewish people gave birth to some of the greatest humanist thinkers of the 20th century, such as Primo Levi, Martin Buber, Hannah Arendt, and even my mother, Member of Knesset Shulamit Aloni, to name a few. Unfortunately, the Israeli state has chosen the opposite of the humanist Jewish spirit; instead of adopting the spirit of the prophets, it has adopted the spirit of the occupation.
The Bible says: “love the other; for you were others in the land of Egypt.” As a Jew, I will maintain my particularity and identity only in relation to this mitzvah (deed), and only in full realization of the values of liberté, égalité, et fraternité. Because we were all made in God’s image.
My love for Palestine and my love for Israel are one and the same. As long as one people is not free, the other does not deserve liberty. I am part of a minority among the Jewish people, as the resistance was a minority of French citizens at the time of Vichy rule. We are the resistance among the Jewish people, and we are fighting for our future and for the future of Jewish morality. The French government should not only respect our right to do so, it also has the obligation to help us in our task — not just for Palestinians, not just for Israeli Jews, but for all humans.
Udi Aloni is an Israeli American filmmaker, writer, artist and activist whose works focus on the interrelationships between art, theory, and action. His last film Junction 48 won the Tribeca film festival and the Berlinale Audience award among many others. His book What Does a Jew Want? was published In Columbia University Press.

I ran the Obama 2008 data-driven microtargeting team. How dare you! We didn’t steal private Facebook profile data from voters under false pretenses. OFA voluntarily solicited opinions of hundreds of thousands of voters. We didn’t commit theft to do our groundbreaking work.
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