Jan 4, 2014 | Criminal Justice/Prison-Industrial Complex, Health & Wellness (Physical), Internet Culture, Marijuana Legalization and the War on Drugs, mic
Published: mic (January 4, 2014) You may have already seen this headline all over social media: "Marijuana Overdoses Kill 37 in Colorado On First Day of Legalization" Already Twitter and Facebook feeds are abuzz with this news item, as right-wingers purr with delight at the opportunity to tweak their left-wing and libertarian friends with proclamations of "I told you so!" Upon further...
Dec 2, 2013 | Criminal Justice/Prison-Industrial Complex, mic, Race and Racism
Published: mic (December 2, 2013) We need to keep Kalief Browder in the news. Back in May 2010, Browder was walking home from a party in the Bronx when a strange man suddenly accused him of being a thief. Before he knew it, he was under arrest and facing criminal charges. Because his family couldn't afford his $10,000 bail, Browder was forced to wait in jail until his trial. More than two years...
Aug 12, 2013 | Criminal Justice/Prison-Industrial Complex, Marijuana Legalization and the War on Drugs, mic
Published: mic (August 12, 2013) On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department will stop imposing mandatory minimum prison sentences on a number of non-violent drug offenders. As he explained in a prepared statement: "I have mandated a modification of the Justice Department's charging policies so that certain low-level, nonviolent drug offenders who have no ties...
Jul 14, 2013 | Criminal Justice/Prison-Industrial Complex, mic, Race and Racism
Published: mic (July 14, 2013) More than a century ago, the French novelist Emile Zola drew attention to one epidemic of bigotry that was infecting his country. In his classic essay "J'Accuse," he pointed the finger of accusation at anti-Semites throughout the Western world who were celebrating a wrong that had been perpetrated against a Jew, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, because he was a Jew. As I...
Jun 24, 2013 | Criminal Justice/Prison-Industrial Complex, Gender and Sexism, mic, Science and Technology
Published: mic (June 24, 2013) Anyone with a passing interest in the politics of 2012 will recall the drivel spewed by the likes of Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock on so-called "scientific" facts about rape. Ironically, though, there IS recent scientific work that has provided us with valuable information on rape, most notably in the areas of ascertaining the credibility of victim reports and...
May 27, 2013 | Criminal Justice/Prison-Industrial Complex, mic, Race and Racism
Published: mic (May 27, 2013) After facing a wave of controversy for their decision to release Trayvon Martin's private cell phone records to the public, George Zimmerman's attorneys are defending themselves by claiming they merely wish to demonstrate that Martin was "hostile." In their own words, their sole goal is to "assist the jury in understanding why Trayvon Martin chose to hide then...
Mar 30, 2013 | Criminal Justice/Prison-Industrial Complex, Gender and Sexism, Gun Control, mic
Published: mic (March 30, 2013) One might hope that a law which keeps guns out of the hands of perpetrators of domestic violence would receive bipartisan support. One would think. As reported by the Huffington Post, "a Colorado bill that prohibits convicted domestic violence offenders from possessing firearms passed in the House Judiciary Committee on a 7-4 party line vote, with all Democrats...
Mar 10, 2013 | Criminal Justice/Prison-Industrial Complex, Marijuana Legalization and the War on Drugs, mic, President Obama
Published: mic (March 10, 2013) The marijuana editorial you are about to read begins with a recent speech by Ron Paul and ends with a tongue-lashing penned more than a century ago by a presidential prostitute. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Last Friday, former Congressman Paul (R-Texas) spoke to a gathering of prominent Canadian conservatives to declare that "the drug war needs to be...