Motley Moose – Archive

Some of you may have read DKos diarist LaurenMonica’s FoxNews’ outrage: Black rapper performing at the WH

Here is the actual event:

Let me state up front that I do.  Unequivocally.  Even when I do not agree with the crime that put a person on death row. Nor do I believe that everyone on Death Row is guilty – but that is a subject for another diary.

I was looking at a poll attached to a recent diary by Meteor Blades at Daily Kos.

Open thread for night owls: Illinois bans capital punishment and it seems from those results,  55% of those who voted, 2787 votes out of 5002 votes, agreed with “No, I oppose the death penalty in all circumstances.”

I now submit this news (which I did not see diaried here) for the consideration of those 2787 Kossaks who voted against (and hopefully others) from Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now:

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s sentence overturned

Just in case the sturm und drang of negative voices carping at the POTUS from the right, from pun-idjits and from the self-appointed green-hued purists of the purportedly left persuasion are beginning to wear on anyone’s nerves (’cause they are on mine) just wanted to share a little anecdotal joy.

AP: Students beaten by police during protests

While much of our attention has been focused on Wisconsin, and the cabal of other right-wing Republican governors on the mainland, much of the dirty work of Republican Luis Guillermo Fortuño has not been on our radar.  Labor unions, teachers and students are under attack on the island under his administration.  Thousands of people have been protesting over the last year, but as usual, much of what happens on the island gets little coverage in the mainstream media.

A Day of Remembrance: the Orangeburg Massacre

Today, Feb the 8th is the anniversary of what took place at South Carolina State University (SCSU) in Orangeburg in 1968. Three young men lost their lives, 28 were wounded (most shot in the back) a pregnant young woman lost her baby and a young activist Cleveland Sellers was railroaded into jail.

These are the young men who were murdered:

Henry Smith, Delano Middleton,and Samuel Hammond Jr.

Rachel Maddow reporting:

Story is still evolving but at least is not getting

shoved to the back pages.

Let us not forget one of the other Congresspeople in AZ targeted by vandals, xenophobes and haters.

HuffPo reports:

Grijalva: Tea Party Must Look At Their Own Behavior

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who represents a district adjacent to Gabrielle Giffords’s, said that Saturday’s shooting is a consequence of the vitriolic rhetoric that has arisen over the past few years among extreme elements of the Tea Party.

“The climate has gotten so toxic in our political discourse, setting up for this kind of reaction for too long. It’s unfortunate to say that. I hate to say that,” Grijalva said in an interview with The Huffington Post. “If you’re an opponent, you’re a deadly enemy,” Grijalva said of the mindset among Arizona extremists. “Anybody who contributed to feeding this monster had better step back and realize they’re threatening our form of government.”

Kamala Harris sworn in as first African-American Asian-American Attorney General of California

Harris’ ceremony was held at the California Museum for History, Women & the Arts.

She is the first woman and first African American/Indian-American elected as California’s attorney general.

The California Museum For History, Women & The Arts showcases the achievements of Californians throughout history. Former First Lady Maria Shriver led the effort to re-establish the museum in 2005.

The Museum was the perfect place for this historic swearing-in ceremony.

Things are certainly heating up in the race for Mayor of Chicago.  Since I am not from Chicago (though my dad and other family members are) I am watching avidly as an outsider, since the mayoral race for Chicago, the third largest city in the US, behind New York and LA with a population of over over 2.8 million residents is not small peanuts.