Thomas Paine On Society
Posted on August 17, 2012 in Quotes
An apt reference point when dealing with obstinate libertarians.
The Life Of A Professional Snitch
Posted on August 17, 2012 in Articles
The Article: Alex White, Professional Snitch by Ted Conover in the New York Times.
The Text: Kathryn Johnston was doing pretty well until the night the police showed up. Ever since her sister died, Johnston, 92, had lived alone in a rough part of Atlanta called the Bluff. A niece checked in often. One of the gifts she left was a pistol, so that her aunt might protect herself.
The modest house had burglar bars on the windows and doors; there had been break-ins nearby.
Eight officers approached the house, and they didn’t knock. The warrant police obtained, on the basis of a false affidavit, declared they didn’t have to — the house where their informant had bought crack that day, the affidavit said, had surveillance cameras, and those inside could be armed. Because they couldn’t kick down the security gate, two officers set upon it with a pry bar and a battering ram in the dark around 7 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2006.
A Tragic Catch-22
Posted on August 16, 2012 in Videos
The private sector really does know what’s best for people, doesn’t it?
Job And Profit Creation Aren’t The Same Thing
Posted on August 16, 2012 in Political Cartoons
Can’t drill this into heads enough.
America & Hip Hop
Posted on August 16, 2012 in Articles
The Article: How America and hip-hop failed each other by Touré in the Washington Post.
The Text: If you’re wondering why hip-hop has often been angry, sneering, nihilistic and dystopic, you can blame the war on drugs, and how it feels to be on the wrong side of it.
President Nixon announced a war on drugs, but it was President Reagan who started the modern battle in 1982, when hip-hop was in its infancy. This fight would not only shape the black community but also mold hip-hop, a music and culture whose undercurrent remains black male anger at a nation that declared young black men monsters and abandoned them, killing any chance they had at the American Dream.
As Nas rhymed on the recent song “Triple Beam Dreams”: “I would be Ivy League if America played fair.” Instead, he’s trapped in a virtual prison. “New York is like an island, a big Riker’s Island,” he says in another recent song, “The Don.”
