Subject: First Amendment Implications of Journalist's Five-Year Sentence

Friday, January 23 2015 View Recent Newsletters Tell a friend about Truthout! Donate Today! Truthout is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization; donations are tax deductible.

BuzzFlash The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return soon. US House Passes Stringent Abortion Restrictions Read the Article at Salon   Joni Ernst's Family Received Nearly $500,000 in Farm Subsidies Read the Article at Raw Story   Obama Says Treating Drug Use as a Criminal Problem Is "Counterproductive" Read the Article at The Huffington Post   Advocates Call for State Investigation Into Shooting of Black Man in Traffic Stop Read the Article at The Guardian   US Militarization and the "War on Terror" Create a Tinderbox of Violence Read the Article at BuzzFlash   Anti-Muslim Incidents Soar in France Read the Article at The Local France   King Dies, New Tyrannical Leader for Saudi Arabia Read the Article at USA TODAY     At Truthout, we are in this for one reason, and one reason alone: you. We work hard, every single day, to make you more informed than you were the day before. In turn we rely on you, too. Will you support our mission by making a tax-deductible donation today? Click here to donate. (Truthout is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN: 20-0031641) You can also donate by check, made payable to: Truthout, P.O. Box 276414, Sacramento, CA 95827 (Please include your email address on your check.) Or call in your donation: 213.489.1971 The Chilling First Amendment Implications of Journalist Barrett Brown's Five-Year Sentence Candice Bernd, Truthout: Concluding a case which has lasted more than two years, and which has frightening implications for journalists and researchers of all stripes, a federal judge in Dallas sentenced journalist and transparency activist Barrett Brown to 63 months in prison on Thursday. Read the Article  The New "Oppressed Peoples' Movement": Can the Tide of Resistance Continue? James Kilgore, Truthout: What are some of the possibilities and tensions in the mass uprisings and new social movements that have appeared in the wake of the murder of Michael Brown? Read the Article  Sundarbans Oil Spill: An Urgent Wake-Up Call for the Bangladeshi Government Iara Lee, Truthout:  The catastrophic oil spill in Sundarbans tidal mangrove forest has mobilized activists to work even harder to prevent construction of a planned coal plant nearby. Read the Article  Is Reinvestment a Good Strategy for the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement? Carlos Davidson and Cynthia Kaufman, Truthout: Fossil fuel divestment is emerging as a powerful strategy in the fight against climate change. It is crucial that activists focus on the political impact of divestment, and not get distracted by the economics. Read the Article  Sen. Bernie Sanders | Roads and Bridges Need $1 Trillion. It Is Time to Rebuild the US Bernie Sanders, Campaign for America's Future: "For many years we have underfunded the maintenance of our nation's physical infrastructure. That has to change. It is time to rebuild America. I will soon be introducing legislation for a $1 trillion investment, over five years, to modernize our country's physical infrastructure." Read the Article  Dissing DuVernay and the Lessons of Selma Sikivu Hutchinson, The Feminist Wire: The lessons of Selma itself are relevant to DuVernay's "omission" from the Academy Awards nomination for Best Director. True to Frederick Douglass' assertion that "power concedes nothing without demand," the snub of DuVernay is criminal, but of course, not unprecedented. Read the Article  The 2015 State of the Union Address: A Major Omission David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation: In President Obama's 2015 State of the Union Address, the only mention of nuclear weapons was in relation to the agreement the Obama administration is seeking to negotiate with Iran. Read the Article  Do the United States' Hungry Children Matter? Mariana Chilton, Moyers & Company: This is supposed to be the year when the US ends its child hunger crisis. That was the promise then-president-elect Obama made during his first campaign. At that time some 12.4 million children lived in homes that self-reported as food insecure. Today there are 15.8 million such children. Read the Article  The 1% Are Bad for Your Health - It's Time to Tax Them More Kate Pickett, The Conversation: The evidence that large income differences have damaging health and social consequences is very strong, and in many countries inequality is increasing. Narrowing the gap is vital to improve our health and well-being. Read the Article  "American Propagander": Six Ways Paul Reickhoff's American Sniper Column Deeply Bothers This US Veteran Emily Yates, Emily Yates Does Everything: "When I first laid eyes on the guest column Paul Rieckhoff wrote about American Sniper, I thought I'd read the byline wrong. This has to have been written by the Department of Defense, I thought." Read the Article  Richard D. Wolff | Economic Update: Spinning Out of Control Richard D. Wolff, Truthout: This episode provides updates on Obama's State of the Union speech, the European Central Bank pumping up the money supply to stimulate Europe, forgiving Greece's debts and housing extremes in the US. We also respond to questions on global wealth inequality and Switzerland's currency maneuvers. Finally, we interview Dr. Harriet Fraad on the US economy's disastrous impact on children. Listen to the Audio Segment

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Subject: PETITION - Support bill to reform the grand jury system

The email below is from Congressman Hank Johnson, who represents Georgia's 4th Congressional District. Congressman Johnson started a petition on CREDO Mobilize, where activists can launch their own campaigns for progressive change. Will you help Rep. Johnson pressure Congress to pass the Grand Jury Reform Act by signing his petition and sharing it with your friends and family? Sign the petition: Reform the grand jury system now. Dear Concerned Citizen, The apparent unjustified killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and countless other African-American men and boys and the subsequent, and inevitable failure of grand juries to indict the police officers responsible, presents incontrovertible evidence that our current secret grand jury process is broken. As a lawyer and former judge, it has affected me personally to see justice so ill-served. On Wednesday I introduced the Grand Jury Reform Act, which would require a special prosecutor to conduct a public probable cause hearing when reasonable grounds exist to believe that criminal charges should be considered in a police-involved killing. We have to speak out now to reform the grand jury system. That's why I started my own campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. My petition, which is to Congress, says the following: The recent failure of grand juries to bring charges over the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others have ignited suspicions that whenever police officers kill people in the line of duty, the secretive grand jury process will be manipulated by prosecutors to protect and favor the police officers who they work closely with every day. As a result, the public has lost confidence in the criminal justice system. This loss of confidence erodes public respect for the rule of law, and undermines public trust for the integrity of our judicial system. To restore public confidence in the grand jury process and in the concept of equal justice under the law, we, the undersigned, urge Congress to pass the Grand Jury Reform Act. Tell Congress: Pass the Grand Jury Reform Act. Click here to sign the petition. Because government prosecutors and local law enforcement agencies are usually called on to act together in other criminal cases, it can create a conflict of interest for government prosecutors to be called in to prosecute a police officer. Appointing a special prosecutor removes that conflict. The Grand Jury Reform Act requires the appointment of a special prosecutor along with the state's top law enforcement agency to investigate and prepare the case for presentment to a judge prior to presentment to the local, secret grand jury. The hearing would be held in open court and before a judge who would decide whether reasonable grounds existed to believe that the officer involved should face criminal charges. Because local prosecutors and police officers regularly work closely together in the performance of their official duties, the closeness of their relationship creates a strong appearance of favoritism towards each other, which drives the suspicion that local prosecutors are inclined to use the secretive grand jury process to clear police officers who should be prosecuted for killing citizens, particularly unarmed African-American males. Appointing a special prosecutor along with an independent investigating agency can help allay these well-founded suspicions. Sign the petition: We must reform the grand jury system. Click here to sign the petition. While the federal government currently has no law on the books authorizing federal prosecutors to bring murder charges against local police officers, Congress does control the federal budget and all local law enforcement agencies receive some federal funding. Congress can use its "power of the purse" to bring transparency and accountability to local prosecutors by adding requirements to the grand jury process at the local level. If state governments fail to appoint special prosecutors or keep the probable cause hearings open to the public in accordance with the Grand Jury Reform Act, local law enforcement agencies would forfeit any federal funding they receive. This denial of funds serves as a powerful incentive for local agencies to ensure that justice is truly served. Public support is critical in persuading my fellow Members of Congress, including House Speaker John Boehner, to support these changes. Join me in urging them to cosponsor the Grand Jury Reform Act. Will you join me and add your name to my petition urging Congress to pass the Grand Jury Reform Act? Thank you for your support. Congressman Hank Johnson CREDO Mobilize helps activists like you make progressive change and fight regressive policies by creating online petitions. Click here to start a petition today. Share on Facebook Post to your wall Tweet this Post to Twitter Re: Social Politics-101 is public service minded blog that donates space & time.

Subject: Relationships in Movies That Are Just Plain Wrong

Vintage Photos of Big Stars at the Sundance Film Festival

The Weeknd's 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Music Video Leaves Nothing to the Imagination

Relationships in Movies That Are Just Plain Wrong

Star-Lord and Captain America Are Betting on the Super Bowl

When the Same Actors Play Both Lovers & Family Members

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