November 26, 2014

Pair battling Michigan gay marriage ban adopt 4th child

from the Detroit Free Press:


A day after Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette took his fight to block same sex marriage to the nation's highest court, Hazel Park nurses April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse finalized the adoption of their fourth child this morning during a ceremony filled with laughter and tears.

Two-year-old Rylee DeBoer-Rowse, dressed in a red taffeta and black velvet dress, her hair in pigtails, squirmed and played with her brother's hair as Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Lisa Gorcyca finalized her adoption.

"I've had a chance to follow the love you feel for your entire family," Gorcyca said.

The adoption — along with five other families adopting eight children this morning in the Oakland County Board of Commissioners auditorium — was part of Michigan Adoption Day, taking place across the state. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2014/11/25/gay-nurses-adopt-fourth-child-fight-goes-overturn-michigan-ban-marriage/70102128/

November 26, 2014

Ferguson protesters shut down I-75 in Detroit

from the Detroit Free Press:



Outraged over the grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., protesters held several rallies Tuesday in Detroit, including one that shut down the northbound I-75 highway for a few minutes just after 6 p.m.

Outside the federal courthouse, district court, and a Detroit jail, protesters called for justice in the death of Michael Brown. A group of anywhere between 30 to 100 protesters walked onto the highway on I-75 near Mack Ave. exit, shutting down traffic for a few minutes, said Lt. Michael Shaw, spokesman for Michigan State Police. Local and state police then escorted the protesters off. There were no arrests, he said.

There was also a rally at Hart Plaza led in part by Marxist groups that marched to the Wayne County jail. They chanted "No justice, no peace, no racist police" as they walked down Woodward Avenue through Greektown and to the jail. Detroit Police officers in cars and two on horseback escorted them from behind.

Their outrage was shared by other groups, including Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity, the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, and the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion. On Wednesday, Advocates & Leaders for Police and Community Trust (ALPACT) will host a community conversation tomorrow on Ferguson at 4 pm at the Michigan Roundtable's office in Detroit. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2014/11/25/detroit-courthouse-protest-ferguson/70094076/

November 26, 2014

Chris Hedges interviewed by Laura Flanders just before the Ferguson decision

November 25, 2014

Eugene Robinson: Does Hagel’s Departure Pave the Way for Combat Troops to Iraq?

by Eugene Robinson


It’s a surprise to see President Obama actually fire someone. But I have to worry that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s forced departure may signal further expansion of U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Syria.

Obama hardly ever gives anybody the boot, often sticking with aides and appointees long past their sell-by dates. Obama said Monday that Hagel “came to me” to discuss a possible departure, but multiple news reports quoted senior officials as saying he was forced out. Coming after last week’s in-your-face executive action on immigration, the move seemed to suggest that Obama’s patience, at this point in his tenure, no longer rivals that of Job.

That’s all to the good. Obama will accomplish more in his last two years if he is seen as taking the initiative rather than reacting to events—and if he has the right team in place.

From the start, Hagel seemed kind of wrong. He stumbled and fumbled through his confirmation hearings, despite the fact that he was among old friends: He had served two terms in the Senate. In the end, he won the votes of just four fellow Republicans. ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/does_hagels_departure_pave_the_way_for_combat_troops_to_iraq_20141125

November 25, 2014

Pics from Michael Brown protests from across the country (via the Guardian UK)

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2014/nov/25/darren-wilson-verdict-protests-ferguson-us-in-pictures

New York



Seattle



Chicago



Washington DC



Los Angeles



Philadelphia

November 25, 2014

Robert Reich: Why College Is Necessary But Gets You Nowhere

Why College Is Necessary But Gets You Nowhere
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2014


This is the time of year when high school seniors apply to college, and when I get lots of mail about whether college is worth the cost.

The answer is unequivocally yes, but with one big qualification. I’ll come to the qualification in a moment but first the financial case for why it’s worth going to college.

Put simply, people with college degrees continue to earn far more than people without them. And that college “premium” keeps rising.

Last year, Americans with four-year college degrees earned on average 98 percent more per hour than people without college degrees.

.....(snip).....

But here’s the qualification, and it’s a big one.

A college degree no longer guarantees a good job. The main reason it pays better than the job of someone without a degree is the latter’s wages are dropping.

In fact, it’s likely that new college graduates will spend some years in jobs for which they’re overqualified. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://robertreich.org/post/103472733520

November 25, 2014

Acceptance of same-sex couples is growing ..... until they start kissing and holding hands in public

from the Pacific Standard:



The notion that gay couples should be treated the same as straight ones has grown enormously in acceptance in recent years. But new research suggests there is a limit to all of this tolerance.

According to a research team led by Indiana University sociologist Long Doan, heterosexual Americans believe gay couples should have the same legal rights as straight couples. However, they remain uncomfortable with public displays of affection by gay and lesbian couples.

Surprisingly, the study finds gay men also take a relatively dim view of same-sex public kissing and hand-holding, while lesbians hold mixed opinions on the subject.

Writing in the American Sociological Review, the researchers describe a survey of 1,073 Americans—258 lesbians, 310 gay men, 240 straight women, and 265 straight men. They were randomly assigned to read a brief vignette about a couple that met, fell in love, and have been living together for the past two years. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/homosexual-lgbt-gays-rights-great-ixnay-pdas-public-display-affection-kissing-94953/

November 25, 2014

Hoo boy. Tonight is not the night to have a discussion with one of your conservative FB friends ....

....... Fox News talking point after Fox News talking point about the Michael Brown case. So willfully ignorant.

I had to delete the thread I started because reading it pissed me off so badly.

November 25, 2014

A hard truth from W.E.B. Dubois ......

November 25, 2014

Wall Street’s Takeover of American Pensions: ‘A Policy Justified Entirely on Ignorance’

via truthdig:



A key part of Wall Street’s $300 million expenditure on the recent midterm elections is the goal of moving as much of working Americans’ $3 trillion that sits in unguarded government pension funds into “privately managed, high-fee investments” as possible, Murtaza Hussain writes at The Intercept.

Hussain reports:

Illinois, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island all recently elected governors who were previously executives and directors at firms which managed investments on behalf of state pension funds. These firms are now, consequently, in position to obtain even more of these public funds. This alone represents a huge payoff on that $300M investment made by the financial industry, and is likely to result in more pension money going into investments which offer great benefits for Wall Street but do little for the broader economy.

But Wall Street’s agenda goes beyond any one election cycle. It has been fighting to turn public pensions into private profits for quite some time, steering retirement nest eggs into investments that are complex, charge hefty fees, and that generate big profits for management firms. And it has been succeeding. Of the $3 trillion in public assets currently in pension funds throughout the country, almost a quarter of that has already found its way into so-called “alternative investments” like hedge funds, private equity and real estate. That translates to roughly $660 billion of public money now under private management, invested in assets that are often arcane and opaque but that offer high management and placement fees to Wall Street financiers.

… In many cases, the decision to invest state pension money in alternative investments of questionable value seems to have been driven less by concern for the welfare of future pensioners (gasp!) than by political considerations and the concerted efforts of financial industry lobbyists. The simple fact is that these investments are not very good. While they offer lucrative fees for Wall Street middlemen, they have been shown to often significantly underperform against the market.

In addition to putting pension funds at risk, the flow of public money toward Wall Street “fundamentally alters the future shape of American society by changing how public funds will get spent,” Hussain writes. It’s money that could be spent on public projects that benefit local communities. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/wall_streets_takeover_of_american_pensions_20141124