Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Demovictory9
Demovictory9's Journal
Demovictory9's Journal
December 13, 2019
Kentucky Gives Voting Rights to Some 140,000 Former Felons
The state’s new Democratic governor said he would ease one of the nation’s strictest policies. Iowa will be alone in barring voting by all felons.
Kentucky’s newly elected Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, signed an executive order on Thursday restoring the vote and the right to hold public office to more than 140,000 residents who have completed sentences for nonviolent felonies.
With that move, Kentucky joined a fast-growing movement to return voting rights to former felons, leaving Iowa as the only state that strips all former felons of the right to cast a ballot.
Since 1997, 24 states have approved some type of measure to ease voting bans, according to the Sentencing Project, a Washington group that advocates criminal justice policy changes. Kentucky joins Virginia, Florida, Nevada and other states that have extended voting rights in the last few years.
Mr. Beshear said the order would apply to more than half of the estimated 240,000 Kentuckians with felonies in their past, as well as those who complete their sentences in the future.
Kentucky's new Dem Governor Gives Voting Rights to Some 140,000 Former Felons
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/us/kentucky-felons-voting-rights.htmlKentucky Gives Voting Rights to Some 140,000 Former Felons
The state’s new Democratic governor said he would ease one of the nation’s strictest policies. Iowa will be alone in barring voting by all felons.
Kentucky’s newly elected Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, signed an executive order on Thursday restoring the vote and the right to hold public office to more than 140,000 residents who have completed sentences for nonviolent felonies.
With that move, Kentucky joined a fast-growing movement to return voting rights to former felons, leaving Iowa as the only state that strips all former felons of the right to cast a ballot.
Since 1997, 24 states have approved some type of measure to ease voting bans, according to the Sentencing Project, a Washington group that advocates criminal justice policy changes. Kentucky joins Virginia, Florida, Nevada and other states that have extended voting rights in the last few years.
Mr. Beshear said the order would apply to more than half of the estimated 240,000 Kentuckians with felonies in their past, as well as those who complete their sentences in the future.
December 13, 2019
“We’ve seen that happen in Georgia time and time again where it’s the minority voter community who are more disadvantaged by these poll closures than anyone else, and that raises serious concerns."
HAZLEHURST, Ga. — When local election officials shut down a polling site in a predominantly black area of a rural Georgia county, displaced voters couldn’t look to the federal government to intervene as it once did in areas with a history of racial disenfranchisement.
So residents banded together, circulating petitions pressuring the Jeff Davis County elections board to reconsider, while advocacy groups sent pre-lawsuit demands and organized turnout at board meetings. The grassroots struggle took two years, but county officials finally relented and agreed to reopen the polling site.
With hundreds of voting sites closing or consolidating nationwide, the victory in Jeff Davis stands out as a rare expansion of in-person voting access since the 2013 Supreme Court decision that freed Georgia and other states from the Voting Rights Act of 1965’s requirement to prove to the federal government that voting changes won’t be discriminatory.
Most of the African American residents of Hazlehurst, about 100 miles west of Savannah amid pine forests and cotton fields, have voted at the polling site for years and were surprised when it was shuttered in August 2017. They were reassigned to a new, consolidated poll across town just as the Georgia governor’s race was beginning to heat up.
“We couldn’t understand or see why the poll was closed,” Helen Allen said in a recent interview.
Georgia voting site in rural black community reopened after grassroots fight
Georgia voting site in rural black community reopened after grassroots fight“We’ve seen that happen in Georgia time and time again where it’s the minority voter community who are more disadvantaged by these poll closures than anyone else, and that raises serious concerns."
HAZLEHURST, Ga. — When local election officials shut down a polling site in a predominantly black area of a rural Georgia county, displaced voters couldn’t look to the federal government to intervene as it once did in areas with a history of racial disenfranchisement.
So residents banded together, circulating petitions pressuring the Jeff Davis County elections board to reconsider, while advocacy groups sent pre-lawsuit demands and organized turnout at board meetings. The grassroots struggle took two years, but county officials finally relented and agreed to reopen the polling site.
With hundreds of voting sites closing or consolidating nationwide, the victory in Jeff Davis stands out as a rare expansion of in-person voting access since the 2013 Supreme Court decision that freed Georgia and other states from the Voting Rights Act of 1965’s requirement to prove to the federal government that voting changes won’t be discriminatory.
Most of the African American residents of Hazlehurst, about 100 miles west of Savannah amid pine forests and cotton fields, have voted at the polling site for years and were surprised when it was shuttered in August 2017. They were reassigned to a new, consolidated poll across town just as the Georgia governor’s race was beginning to heat up.
“We couldn’t understand or see why the poll was closed,” Helen Allen said in a recent interview.
December 13, 2019
https://gcn.ie/watch-lesbian-actresses-shut-down-sexist-gang-of-men-on-london-train/
In a video clip now being shared across the internet, actresses Josie Kemp and Lauren Soley stood up to a group of drunken men on a London train on Saturday night due to the group’s disrespectful and disruptive behaviour. The Les Miserables actresses, who are also a couple, were horrified with the actions of the men on the train and, after another woman tried to speak out against the sexist gang and was jeered into silence, the pair confronted the group with Josie capturing the interaction on video.
Josie explained to PinkNews that the men were causing trouble as soon as they boarded the train, allegedly “mimicking an Indian accent” of another passenger just moments after stepping foot into the carriage. She went on to discuss how the men started the sexist chant as the train left the platform, as heard in the video later posted by Josie to Youtube. The aforementioned woman telling the men to shut up can be heard at the beginning of the clip with the response of laughter and snide comments from the men before Josie and girlfriend Lauren step in to also attempt silencing the large group.
In the video Lauren can be heard arguing with the drunken men, explaining to them why their actions were wrong, sexist, homophobic and racist. The men rebutled loudly, causing even more of a disturbance egregiously denying the women’s claims, much of which had video evidence to back them up. The sexist gang went on to mock LGBT+ identities in a last ditch attempt to defend themselves as they now were aware they were being filmed while also continuing to belittle and humiliate the women on board.
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/uk-news/uk-actresses-publicly-shame-group-of-men-for-screaming-sexist-chants.html
Actresses Publicly Shame Group Of Men For Screaming Sexist Chants
https://twitter.com/josie_kemp_/status/1203672203067310081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1203672203067310081&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.republicworld.com%2Fworld-news%2Fuk-news%2Fuk-actresses-publicly-shame-group-of-men-for-screaming-sexist-chants.html
All aboard the hate train. Actresses Publicly Shame Group Of Men For Screaming Sexist Chants
https://gcn.ie/watch-lesbian-actresses-shut-down-sexist-gang-of-men-on-london-train/
In a video clip now being shared across the internet, actresses Josie Kemp and Lauren Soley stood up to a group of drunken men on a London train on Saturday night due to the group’s disrespectful and disruptive behaviour. The Les Miserables actresses, who are also a couple, were horrified with the actions of the men on the train and, after another woman tried to speak out against the sexist gang and was jeered into silence, the pair confronted the group with Josie capturing the interaction on video.
Josie explained to PinkNews that the men were causing trouble as soon as they boarded the train, allegedly “mimicking an Indian accent” of another passenger just moments after stepping foot into the carriage. She went on to discuss how the men started the sexist chant as the train left the platform, as heard in the video later posted by Josie to Youtube. The aforementioned woman telling the men to shut up can be heard at the beginning of the clip with the response of laughter and snide comments from the men before Josie and girlfriend Lauren step in to also attempt silencing the large group.
In the video Lauren can be heard arguing with the drunken men, explaining to them why their actions were wrong, sexist, homophobic and racist. The men rebutled loudly, causing even more of a disturbance egregiously denying the women’s claims, much of which had video evidence to back them up. The sexist gang went on to mock LGBT+ identities in a last ditch attempt to defend themselves as they now were aware they were being filmed while also continuing to belittle and humiliate the women on board.
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/uk-news/uk-actresses-publicly-shame-group-of-men-for-screaming-sexist-chants.html
Actresses Publicly Shame Group Of Men For Screaming Sexist Chants
https://twitter.com/josie_kemp_/status/1203672203067310081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1203672203067310081&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.republicworld.com%2Fworld-news%2Fuk-news%2Fuk-actresses-publicly-shame-group-of-men-for-screaming-sexist-chants.html
December 12, 2019
man's quick thinking saves dog
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2019/12/11/dog-elevator-rescue-texas-orig-ll.cnn/video/playlists/atv-trending-videos/
December 12, 2019
This Is What Racism Sounds Like in the Banking Industry
A JPMorgan employee and a customer secretly recorded their conversations with bank employees.
Jimmy Kennedy earned $13 million during his nine-year career as a player in the National Football League. He was the kind of person most banks would be happy to have as a client.
But when Mr. Kennedy tried to become a “private client” at JPMorgan Chase, an elite designation that would earn him travel discounts, exclusive event invitations and better deals on loans, he kept getting the runaround.
At first, he didn’t understand why. Then, last fall, he showed up at his local JPMorgan branch in Arizona, and an employee offered an explanation.
----
Mr. Kennedy had been under the impression that he had been granted the coveted “private client” status that Mr. Peters had promised. When Mr. Kennedy learned that was not the case, he complained to Mr. Belton — and then to Mr. Venniro.
Mr. Belton warned Mr. Kennedy not to talk to Mr. Venniro again. In two secretly recorded conversations in October last year, he asked Mr. Kennedy to think about the impression he left on people at the bank. He pointed out that Mr. Kennedy was a big black man in Arizona. And he said that Mr. Venniro had been afraid to tell Mr. Kennedy that his application to become a private client had been deleted when Mr. Peters was fired.
A few days later, Mr. Kennedy went back to the branch, and the conversation returned to the question of why the bank refused to grant Mr. Kennedy the status and perks of being a private client.
Mr. Belton said that bank employees were scared of dealing with him and that therefore Mr. Kennedy would be better off interacting only with Mr. Belton.
“They’re not going to say this, but I don’t have the same level of intimidation that they have — you know what I’m saying? — not only being a former athlete but also being two black men,” Mr. Belton said. Referring to Mr. Venniro, he added, “You sit in front of him, you’re like three times his size — you feel what I’m saying? — he already probably has his perception of how these interactions could go.”
Moments later, he said: “We’ve seen people that are not of your stature get irate, and it’s like, ‘Well, if this dude gets upset, like what’s going to happen to me?’”
---------------------------------
JPMorgan employees considered millionaire black athlete as too scary to give "private client" status
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/business/jpmorgan-banking-racism.htmlThis Is What Racism Sounds Like in the Banking Industry
A JPMorgan employee and a customer secretly recorded their conversations with bank employees.
Jimmy Kennedy earned $13 million during his nine-year career as a player in the National Football League. He was the kind of person most banks would be happy to have as a client.
But when Mr. Kennedy tried to become a “private client” at JPMorgan Chase, an elite designation that would earn him travel discounts, exclusive event invitations and better deals on loans, he kept getting the runaround.
At first, he didn’t understand why. Then, last fall, he showed up at his local JPMorgan branch in Arizona, and an employee offered an explanation.
----
Mr. Kennedy had been under the impression that he had been granted the coveted “private client” status that Mr. Peters had promised. When Mr. Kennedy learned that was not the case, he complained to Mr. Belton — and then to Mr. Venniro.
Mr. Belton warned Mr. Kennedy not to talk to Mr. Venniro again. In two secretly recorded conversations in October last year, he asked Mr. Kennedy to think about the impression he left on people at the bank. He pointed out that Mr. Kennedy was a big black man in Arizona. And he said that Mr. Venniro had been afraid to tell Mr. Kennedy that his application to become a private client had been deleted when Mr. Peters was fired.
A few days later, Mr. Kennedy went back to the branch, and the conversation returned to the question of why the bank refused to grant Mr. Kennedy the status and perks of being a private client.
Mr. Belton said that bank employees were scared of dealing with him and that therefore Mr. Kennedy would be better off interacting only with Mr. Belton.
“They’re not going to say this, but I don’t have the same level of intimidation that they have — you know what I’m saying? — not only being a former athlete but also being two black men,” Mr. Belton said. Referring to Mr. Venniro, he added, “You sit in front of him, you’re like three times his size — you feel what I’m saying? — he already probably has his perception of how these interactions could go.”
Moments later, he said: “We’ve seen people that are not of your stature get irate, and it’s like, ‘Well, if this dude gets upset, like what’s going to happen to me?’”
---------------------------------
December 12, 2019
victims handed 100K in cash over to psychic for her to double that amount with her blessings.
Sacramento police are searching for a woman they say posed as a psychic in order to bilk victims out of $100,000.
Perlita Afancio-Balles, 29, ran a double-your-money scam according to the Sacramento Police Department, which just put Afancio-Balles on its most-wanted list. Police say Afancio-Balles would "earn the trust" of marks before telling them she would bless their money if they gave it to her. After handing over some $100,000, the victims said Afancio-Balles promised to return later with double that amount.
When the victims went to her home, "they realized Afancio-Balles vacated this residence and left with their money," police said.
Sacramento police are seeking Afancio-Balles on a felony warrant for grand theft and obtaining money by false pretenses.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Sacramento-most-wanted-perlita-afancio-balles-14899201.php
December 11, 2019
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/12/10/someone-is-gluing-miniature-cowboy-hats-pigeons-las-vegas/
For several days, multicolored-cowboy-hat-wearing pigeons have been spotted strutting the streets in Las Vegas. No one knows who’s outfitting the birds.
Vegas resident Bobby Lee uploaded a video of two birds wearing the miniature hats — one red and one pink — to Facebook last week. The “birds have hats on, bro,” he exclaims in the clip. The post, which was shared extensively, quickly made rounds on the Internet and landed with Mariah Hillman, co-founder of a local pigeon rescue called Lofty Hopes.
Hillman, 47, and her 30-year-old daughter’s search for the birds took off swiftly. They began by canvassing known areas, where they handed out business cards and told passersby, “If you see them, feed them. We’re only three miles away, and we can get there pretty quick.”
-------------------
It was too late to go looking, but the following morning, as soon as Hillman pulled into the gated community, she saw the red-hatted pigeon, perched to the right. She slowed her car and said, “Howdy partner.”
“He was shaking his head, trying to get the hat off. It’s definitely glue,” she told The Post of the adhesive used on the bird. “We either have to molt it off, which will take time, or have it removed.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/12/10/someone-is-gluing-miniature-cowboy-hats-pigeons-las-vegas/
Walcott also said he isn’t worried about the pigeons, who are acting pretty normally and don’t seem to be distressed. The hats are “certainly light enough,” he told the Times. “They look like happy pigeons to me. It is hard to know, of course, because they will not talk to us.”
someone is gluing hats on wild birds. I don't like it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/12/10/someone-is-gluing-miniature-cowboy-hats-pigeons-las-vegas/
For several days, multicolored-cowboy-hat-wearing pigeons have been spotted strutting the streets in Las Vegas. No one knows who’s outfitting the birds.
Vegas resident Bobby Lee uploaded a video of two birds wearing the miniature hats — one red and one pink — to Facebook last week. The “birds have hats on, bro,” he exclaims in the clip. The post, which was shared extensively, quickly made rounds on the Internet and landed with Mariah Hillman, co-founder of a local pigeon rescue called Lofty Hopes.
Hillman, 47, and her 30-year-old daughter’s search for the birds took off swiftly. They began by canvassing known areas, where they handed out business cards and told passersby, “If you see them, feed them. We’re only three miles away, and we can get there pretty quick.”
-------------------
It was too late to go looking, but the following morning, as soon as Hillman pulled into the gated community, she saw the red-hatted pigeon, perched to the right. She slowed her car and said, “Howdy partner.”
“He was shaking his head, trying to get the hat off. It’s definitely glue,” she told The Post of the adhesive used on the bird. “We either have to molt it off, which will take time, or have it removed.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/12/10/someone-is-gluing-miniature-cowboy-hats-pigeons-las-vegas/
Walcott also said he isn’t worried about the pigeons, who are acting pretty normally and don’t seem to be distressed. The hats are “certainly light enough,” he told the Times. “They look like happy pigeons to me. It is hard to know, of course, because they will not talk to us.”
December 11, 2019
Trump refers to FBI agents as "scum." He then refers to John Durham as "Bull Durham." He then refers
Trump refers to FBI agents as "scum." He then refers to John Durham as "Bull Durham." He then refers to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama."
https://twitter.com/Bill_Maxwell_/status/1204564039503712259
December 11, 2019
"Are my eyes failing me or does Trump look extra orange tonight? "
watch when he turns around.. no makeup on around the ears
https://twitter.com/ThePubliusUSA/status/1204571077327904768
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: California
Member since: Tue Feb 27, 2018, 10:32 PM
Number of posts: 32,475