Recently in News Category

Photo by Jason Wagner, via Gothamist.

This is horrible:

Greenpoint resident Chrissie Brodigan says she was riding on the L train between Bedford and First Avenue when her pug, who has health problems, overheated and began vomiting in the tote bag she was carrying him in. As she was leaving the subway station with the dog in her arms, she says a police officer's attempt to issue her a ticket turned ugly, and when she became upset the cop began saying, "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman."

Brodigan says the cop went on to punch her in the back, and in the scuffle to handcuff her, he "grabbed my breasts and pinched them." A witness's account:

Melissa Randazzo, a speech language pathologist who lives in Williamsburg, witnessed the arrest and tells us, "something about it seemed very wrong. The cop's tone seemed really inappropriate and he kept saying things like, 'Are you going to act like a woman?' She tried to walk away, and then he grabbed her and pushed her against the wall outside the turnstile."

Luckily both Brodigan and her dog are okay.

A couple of thoughts here. Because the cop who Brodigan identified as her attacker is the NYPD's lone Hasidic officer, the Gothamist comments section has a bunch of racist comments and negative stereotypes about Hasidic Jews. Can we all please just agree that racism is not a useful response?

Also, Brodigan appears to be pretty plugged-in, and has thankfully been able to draw attention to this incident. I wonder how often this sort of abuse happens, but the woman in question does not have so many resources at her disposal. How many of these incidents do we never hear about?

A new level of batshit crazy has come out of Oklahoma, and not surprisingly authored by homobigoted Rep. Sally Kern (R).

The state representative has taken it upon herself to create an "Oklahoma Citizen's Proclamation for Morality," which essentially blames the nation's sinners (you know, like the gays and divorcees) on the economic recession. Here's a snippet of the document, which can be read in its entirety here:

WHEREAS, we believe our economic woes are consequences of our greater national moral crisis; and

WHEREAS, this nation has become a world leader in promoting abortion, pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse, and many other forms of debauchery; and

WHEREAS, alarmed that the Government of the United States of America is forsaking the rich Christian heritage upon which this nation was built; and

WHEREAS, grieved that the Office of the president of these United States has refused to uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in giving recognition to our National Day of Prayer; and

WHEREAS, deeply disturbed that the Office of the president of these United States disregards the biblical admonitions to live clean and pure lives by proclaiming an entire month to an immoral behavior;

This makes me shudder to think that this woman has any clout in this state (or on earth, for that matter). Check out some video news coverage after the jump.

Dr Neera Desai, a founder of India's first women's studies program, the Research Centre for Women's Studies at SNDT Women's University, passed away last Thursday from cancer at the age of 84. Professor Vibhuti Patel, a colleague and friend of Desai and the director of department of Post-Graduate Studies and Research at SNDT said:

"I had been working with her since 1977. In all these years that I had known her, I thought of her as a warm person who was forever motivating and ever ready to experiment with new ideas. She was a major institution builder. This is a period when women's studies is coming of age. However, she started work in this field in the early 50s and for over two decades fought a lone battle to raise awareness about the same till the 70s when she began garnering support from several quarters."

She wrote a number of books on women's rights and feminism in India, including Women in Modern India (1952) and Feminism in Western India (2004). She was nominated for 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

Via (including pic) FeministsIndia.

Also check out community blogger ramlath's post.

After the news tha the remaining five defendants of the Jena 6 case were getting a plea deal today, we find that they pleaded no contest to misdemeanor simple battery, sentenced to seven days probation and fined $500 plus court costs. Color of Change's Executive Director James Rucker said:

"The story of the Jena 6 was an extreme example of what can happen when a justice system biased against black boys operates unchecked. But it's also an example of what can happen when hundreds of thousands of people across the country stand up to challenge unequal justice. Together, we drew the country's attention to this case and raised the money necessary to fund a strong legal defense."

This is great news.

Via AP, we find that the the Lousiana courts are anticipating reaching a plea deal today with five of the six black students from Jena High School in Lousiana who were being outrageously being charged with attempted murder, the outcome of a series of racist events which in turn led to a huge civil rights movement against the charges. Here's a good sum-up of what happened:

The only thing that's outdated in the video is that the sixth defendant, Mychal Bell, ended up pleading guilty in December 2007 to a misdemeanor second-degree battery charge and was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

There's no doubt that the movement that arose out of this injustice led to the plea deal expected to be made today, but we're not sure yet what that lesser charge will be. We'll keep you posted.

Related:

The Jena 6.
Jena 6: Mychal Bell Conviction Vacated
Jena 6 Information and Day of Action
Um, wow.
Jena 6 Revisited
Still awaiting justice in Jena.

States may find themselves losing money if they continue to let sexual assault in prison be swept under the rug, reports AP.

New standards are being proposed by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission to Attorney General Eric Holder on revising the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996, an act that has been problematic for survivors for a number of reasons, one being that prisoners are required to prove "physical injury" in order to file claims against prisons. (This allows courts to say that sexual assault by itself doesn't count as an injury.)

Holder has a year to write national standards. If states don't adopt them, they can lose 5% of federal prison grant money.

While folks are confident that states will sign on, some are worried that certain county prisons won't be able to afford to implement some programs that require extra funding, like hiring additional staff specialized in mental health treatment for rape survivors. But other steps to prevent sexual assault, like closer screening of inmates and staff and zero tolerance policies, can and should be taken - particularly when sexual assault is so often committed by prison guards.

Check out Just Detention, a organization that advocates for the rights of prisoners to be free from sexual assault, for more information on rape in prison.

So you may have heard that yet another prominent Republican politician, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, admitted to having an affair today.

** Insert snark about Republican leaders "defending" marriage here **

Then go read Shark-Fu's post on the subject. (It's actually about Nevada Sen. John Ensign, but the sentiment applies to Sanford, too.)

Sanford has been booted from the speakers line-up at the uberconservative Values Voter Summit this year. And speaking of values, I have to quote my colleague Tim Fernholz, who makes an important point:

It took an admittedly sensational story about Governor Mark Sanford's personal life to get the national press to converge on South Carolina and declare his political career "over" due to "values" issues. (Whatever, he wouldn't be the first southern governor to be a come back kid after marital infidelity). But when he attempted to deny much needed unemployment funding to people suffering under the recession while cutting school funding and the social safety net, in the name of an economically-baseless austerity policy that involved telling his weakest constituents to effectively drop dead, well, those decisions didn't threaten his political career or reflect on his values. That made him a "star" in the GOP. Priorities, priorities.

Word.

Finally, I was glad to see neither Ensign's nor Sanford's wife did the ol' "stand by your man" routine at the mea culpa press conferences. Hope this is a new trend of politicians standing on their own when they apologize for their personal indiscretions.

Speechless:

A plea deal that sent an ex-convict accused of raping a 4-year-old girl to jail for only a year has prompted outrage across Oklahoma, where lawmakers are calling for the removal of the judge who approved the deal and the attorney general is investigating a new set of abuse allegations.

Under the deal, David Harold Earls, 64, of the southeastern Oklahoma town of McAlester, pleaded no contest last month to first-degree rape and forcible sodomy. Normally, the rape charge carries a sentence of between five years to life in prison, but the deal he struck with prosecutors called for 19 years of his 20-year sentence to be suspended.

While many involved are saying this happened because the outcome of the case rested on the testimony of the now 5-year-old girl, whom made "contradictory statements" in pretrial hearings, Earls admitted to the crime and medical evidence showed she was sexually assaulted. Can someone in law please explain how and why this sentence was reduced so significantly, because I just can't fathom it.

An update on this story:

From the Bangor Daily News:

A pregnant, HIV-positive African woman will give birth in a Portland hospital rather than a federal prison after a U.S. District judge on Monday ordered that she be released on personal recognizance bail while her appeal to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is pending in Boston.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock last month sentenced Quinta Layin Tuleh, 28, of Cameroon to 238 days in prison -- twice as long as the recommended sentence of 114 days -- for having false documents.

The National Advocates for Pregnant Women has more about the case on their blog.

Samhita mentioned this in her What We Missed post yesterday, but I want to address it more fully.

From Talking Points Memo:

According to local law enforcement, three people posing as police officers forced their way into the home of Raul Flores in Arivaca, Arizona, about 10 miles from the Mexican border, on May 30. They shot and killed Flores and his nine-year-old daughter, and wounded Flores' wife. The three, Shawna Forde, Jason Bush, and Albert Gaxiola, were arrested and charged last Thursday and Friday.

This happened this past weekend.

After Dr. Tiller was murdered, and the guard at the Holocaust Museum was shot and killed, discussions have been afloat about how during more liberal administrations, right wing violence (of the white supremacist and anti-choice variety) tends to go up. The Department of Homeland Security even issued a report about it. For those of us in my age bracket (I'm 25), this is a really new phenomenon. It's been a long time since I could remember a liberal administration--I was pretty young when Clinton was president. This type of violence, often linked to white supremacist and anti-government organizations tends to increase when individuals believe the government is being run by the left. I can only imagine what Obama's presidency is doing to fuel their fire.

The issue of immigration reform has allowed for a new crop of anti-immigrant groups to enter the mainstream dialogue, even though many have ties to hate groups with violent records. One of the perpetrators in this crime in Arizona, Shawna Forde, has been liked to the anti-immigration group FAIR. Here is a video where she is listed as a representative of the group:

We can't let white supremacy and hate mascarade as legitimate politics through the guise of immigration "reform" just like we can't let it slip into mainstream dialogue about women's rights or the right to choose.

For more links to responses from the blogosphere, see the FIRM blog.