Helen H. Moore's Blog, page 667
September 8, 2016
Trump, in education policy speech: “I was opposed to the [Iraq War] from the beginning”
Donald Trump speaks at the Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., September 8, 2016. (Credit: Reuters/Mike Segar)
GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump opened what was supposed to be an education policy speech in Cleveland on Thursday afternoon with a drawn-out defense of his decidedly false claim that he’d always been “totally against the war in Iraq.”
“I opposed going in — and I did oppose it, despite the media saying ‘no, yes, no’ — I opposed going in, and I opposed the reckless way Hillary Clinton took us out … letting ISIS fill that big, terrible void,” Trump said, apparently responding to critics who argued that he expressed indifference to a U.S. invasion of Iraq in a 2002 interview with Howard Stern.
“I was opposed to the war from the beginning, long after my interview with Howard Stern,” he continued, citing a TV interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto that aired “three months before the war started,” in which Trump said, “Perhaps we shouldn’t be doing it yet and that … the economy is a much bigger problem as far as the president is concerned. This was before the war started, by a very short distance.”
Trump then read his own quote from a 2004 Esquire cover story, the earliest — albeit retrospective — proof he’d opposed the Iraq War: “I would never have handled it that way.”
September 7, 2016
Trump lavishes praise on Putin during Commander-in-Chief forum: “He’s been a leader far more than our president has been a leader”
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks with 'Today' show co-anchor Matt Lauer at the NBC Commander-In-Chief Forum held at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum aboard the decommissioned aircraft carrier Intrepid, New York, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Credit: AP)
In between repeatedly lying about his past support for U.S. military intervention in the middle east and refusing to back down from his victim-blaming tweets about sexual assault in the military, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump defended and praised Russian President Vladmir Putin during the first ever specifically dedicated commander-in-chief forum for presidential nominees.
At Wednesday’s Commander-in-Chief forum, co-hosted by NBC News and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, moderator Matt Lauer miserably failed to hold the political neophyte turned White House aspirant to account for his well documented support for both the 2003 invasion of Iraq and U.S. intervention in Libya, but did press Trump on his recent praise for Putin.
Calling him a ‘‘leader’’ who has ‘‘great control over his country,’’ Trump cited Putin’s 82 percent approval rating in Russia as a shield from an array of hostile international actions carried out by him.
“But do you want to be complimented by that former KGB officer,” Lauer grilled Trump.
“I think when he calls me brilliant I’ll take the compliment, but it’s not going to get him anywhere,” Trump responded. “If he says great things about me, I’m going to say great things about him.”
When Lauer continued to press Trump on his support for Putin, the GOP nominee compared the Russian leader to U.S. President Barack Obama.
“He’s been a leader far more than our president has been a leader.”
Watch below, via NBC News:
Video — Trump says Putin is a stronger leader than Obama, says he’ll take his compliments #NBCNewsForum https://t.co/8MonyVA5Ln
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) September 8, 2016
Sheriff issues arrest warrant for Green Party’s Jill Stein after North Dakota oil pipeline protest
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has faced obstacle after obstacle. First the Commission on Presidential Debates refused to let her participate in the presidential debates; now a warrant has been issued for her arrest.
The sheriff’s department in Morton County, North Dakota announced on Wednesday that it had issued arrest warrants for Stein and her vice presidential candidate, Ajamu Baraka.
Both have been charged with criminal trespass and criminal mischief, class-B misdemeanors, after participating in protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
For weeks, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has led demonstrations against the massive oil pipeline, which will span at least 1,168 miles, from North Dakota to Illinois. Residents say the $3.7 billion project will contaminate their water and land.
The same day the arrest warrants were issued for the Green Party candidates, a federal judge granted part of the tribe’s emergency request to halt construction of a section of the oil pipeline.
In July, NPR reported, the tribe filed a lawsuit arguing that, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorized the Dallas-based company Energy Transfer Partners to build the pipeline, it did not follow proper procedures.
The Army Corps replied saying it “does not oppose” the tribe’s motions for a temporary restraining order.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe also said the Dakota Access Pipeline developer “desecrated and destroyed” some of its “historically, culturally, and religiously important” sites.
Activists from movements around the country, such as Black Lives Matter, have sent contingents to stand in solidarity with the tribe.
Stein and Baraka joined the protests this week. On Tuesday night, the Morton County sheriff’s department posted a photo of Stein to Facebook, accusing her of “vandalizing Dakota Access Pipeline equipment.” It said authorities were investigating the protest, which it called a “criminal act.”
The Green Party candidates are standing by their protest.
“The Dakota Access Pipeline is vandalism on steroids,” Stein tweeted.
I hope ND presses charges against the real vandals who bulldoze sacred burial sites. #NoDAPL https://t.co/34e6stP5wQ pic.twitter.com/6Hn3LT1500
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 7, 2016
“I hope the North Dakota authorities press charges against the real vandalism taking place at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation: the bulldozing of sacred burial sites and the unleashing of vicious attack dogs,” she added in a statement.
Ajamu Baraka, a longtime human rights activist, accused the authorities of double standards. “ND pipeline that threatens water supply for millions, attack dogs that bite peaceful protestors and the state charges me and Jill,” he tweeted.
“It’s during these times of resistance when we are witness to who is truly being protected and served,” Baraka added.
It's during these times of resistance when we are witness to who is truly being protected and served. #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/8vize12NJA
— Ajamu Baraka (@ajamubaraka) September 7, 2016
Major news networks have paid little attention to the ongoing protests against the oil pipeline.
Independent media outlet Democracy Now captured video of security pepper spraying and siccing dogs on activists.
The Green Party released a statement noting that pipeline management “unleashed vicious attack dogs on the peaceful protestors and sprayed pepper spray into protesters’ faces.”
“I hope they take action against the Dakota Access Pipeline company that is endangering drinking water not only for the Standing Rock Sioux, but for millions of people downstream of the reservation who depend on the Missouri River,” Stein said in the statement.
“The pipeline will carry up to 570,000 barrels of highly polluting Bakken crude oil per day. This would be another deadly blow to a climate teetering on the brink. It cannot be allowed to go forward,” she added.
Stein stressed, “Our campaign supports the courageous Indigenous leaders who are taking a stand to protect future generations from the deadly greed of the fossil fuel industry. We approve of their vision and courage.”
She concluded with jabs at her opponents: “Donald Trump, on the other hand, will support the pillage of the planet as his energy advisor’s company intends to run oil through the destructive pipeline; and Hillary Clinton’s silence on the Dakota Access Pipeline represents tacit approval of the continued assault on Mother Earth.”
Critics on social media pointed out that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, mishandled classified information but was not indicted by the FBI; yet Stein was charged with a misdemeanor for partaking in an act of civil disobedience in solidarity with indigenous Americans.
This is not Stein’s first with encounter the authorities. She was also arrested in Texas in 2012, during her previous presidential campaign, for another protest against another oil pipeline. Police charged her with trespassing for trying to take food to activists trying to stop the Keystone XL pipeline.
“Everyone seems in a rush”: Twitter responds to NBC’s harefooted Commander-in-Chief Forum
NBC News on Wednesday held its first ever “Commander-in-Chief Forum” with moderator Matt Lauer interviewing back-to-back Democratic and Republican presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, respectively.
By some logistical miscalculation, Lauer had only 30 minutes per candidate to ask a handful of national security questions and take a couple of questions from the all-veteran audience at the Intrepid Museum in Manhattan. So a large part of Lauer’s job involved 1) preventing candidates from grandstanding and 2) pressing Trump for any policy detail, as evidenced by viewers’ Twitter reactions:
“As briefly as you can.” Everyone seems in a rush. 30 minutes is not a lot of time… #NBCNewsForum
— Dori Toribio (@DoriToribio) September 8, 2016
#NBCNewsForum I did this quick: pic.twitter.com/Tb8oCEG9PX — Maureen Johnson (@maureenjohnson) September 8, 2016
Safe to say that if candidates had wanted this #NBCNewsForum to be longer, it would’ve been longer.— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 8, 2016
Holy hell @realDonaldTrump for the 1000th time you CANNOT “take the oil” – THAT WOULD BE A WAR CRIME #NBCNewsForum — Montel Williams (@Montel_Williams) September 8, 2016
I have a plan. The generals may have a plan. There’s going to be a plan. A secret plan. Esquire ’04. #NBCNewsForum — Mark Joyella (@standupkid) September 8, 2016
The solution for veterans @realDonaldTrump is describing is a socialized healthcare system. Great idea! #MedicareForAll #NBCNewsForum
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 8, 2016
5-Deferment Don insulted every man & woman who, unlike him, served in uniform. @realDonaldTrump #NBCNewsForum @iava pic.twitter.com/4bKjQxZMFq
— Col. Morris Davis (@ColMorrisDavis) September 8, 2016
“Star Trek” in the age of Trump: Why we need to embrace its 50-year mission now more than ever
(Credit: Getty/Alex Wong/CBS/Photo montage by Salon)
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission, no, wait, 50-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life for itself, to boldly remain relevant across space and time.
And it has. Especially today, in the age of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the message of “Star Trek” — openness, harmony and the spirit of exploration — feels more applicable than ever.
The unstoppable science-fiction franchise turns 50 tomorrow, with the first episode having hit NBC airwaves on Sept. 8, 1966. Over its subsequent half-century run, “Star Trek” has spanned 13 movies, including a new installment, “Star Trek Beyond,” which opened in July. There have been six TV series (a seventh comes in 2017), plus a handful of fan-created homages. The “Trek” phenomenon has also inspired Trekkers to dress in costume, collect merchandise, buy comic books, adopt the Vulcan salute “Live long and prosper” and quote lines from movies as daily parlance.
But unlike Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and their shipmates, who traveled to new worlds every week, Americans remain, like Khan, the show’s recurrent fictional villain, marooned on a somewhat hostile planet. Just as Khan was exiled to Ceti Alpha V, where he forged a new society, most of us — for the time being at least — are stuck on planet Earth. Here in 2016, our nation is engaged in its own terrestrial wars between alien-like political foes — Democrats versus Republicans, conservative Christians against Muslims, police supporters against Black Lives Matter activists, the haves battling the have-nots.
In these contentious times, the spirit of “Star Trek” still speaks to us.
What the show has always boldly declared is this: Disregard the doomsayers, those who predict our species’ demise, those who look to disharmony. Instead, the goofy, awkward optimism of the “Star Trek” franchise suggested, Aim forward into a future of cooperation and harmony.
Sure, if you’re gold-shirted officer Kirk, you get to sleep with wayward crew and alien species from time to time. If his bedroom shenanigans were a bit self-serving, didn’t that amorous touch also foster interspecies understanding? By and large, he came in peace.
This fall as the presidential race hits warp speed, “Star Trek” still offers a vision of how we could and should be. (Depending on which Romulans or Changelings you speak to, Hillary Clinton is either one of the gold-shirted good guys or a nefarious Orion slave girl bent on revenge; Trump is either a warmongering Klingon or a disposable Redshirt who doesn’t survive the episode.)
“Star Trek” first launched during a time of great unrest: the 1960s. The ground war in Vietnam had been launched in an effort to stop Communist expansion in Asia. On the homefront, racial tensions flared and violence erupted. Fears about overpopulation and environmental destruction haunted Americans. Yet here was a show whose multiracial, multiethnic, multinational and, yes, multispecies crew worked together. From Spock to Uhura, Chekov to Sulu, “Star Trek” proposed a melting pot of humans, male and female, white and black, Asian and Russian — and even Vulcan — who all work together toward a common goal. In “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” the diverse crew even included a robot, Data, and a member of a onetime enemy species, the Klingon Worf.
That mission was the exploration of space, “the final frontier,” in the spirit of knowledge and science.
This vision is a powerful counter to Trump’s demagoguery, which places the problems of our country at the feet of “bad people” from foreign lands, who have darker skin, who practice alien customs and who, we are told, mean us harm. For Trump and the supporters he engages, our differences aren’t outweighed by what we share. Trump’s vision of the future depends on having enemies to attack — Hillary Clinton, Mexican immigrants, Fox News’ Megyn Kelly. What would make America great again, in his mind, is more mistrust and taller walls.
This hive mind-like approach is not unlike that of the cybernetic Borg of “Star Trek” who want to assimilate every foreigner they encounter.
Imagine a son or daughter of an undocumented immigrant on Trump’s crew. That’s not the galaxy Trump that lives in. Perhaps in an alternative universe, he might embrace these ideals, and the legions of white nationalist, neo-reactionary, alt-right nativists might be less afraid of “the other.” But until we invent a way to travel through a wormhole — or send Trump and his ilk through one — making his supporters feel less paranoid and less likely to blame anyone but themselves for their problems isn’t going happen anytime soon.
Meanwhile, walls keep rising between African-Americans and police, veterans and civilians, Wal-Mart workers and billionaires.
We must remember the immortal words of Spock: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.”
The four-year mission of the U.S.S. Trump could not be more opposed than the original five-year “Star Trek” mission of cooperation, adventure and hope.
Let us hope that it is Trump who is the alien species, not those of us who believe in science, exploration and a peaceful universe. After all, you can’t build a wall in space.
A road album without borders: R.E.M.’s “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” turns 20
(Credit: Warner Bros.)
There’s no right or wrong way to make an album. Some bands hunker down in the studio for months on end, with an eye toward perfecting existing songs or creating elaborate, lush music. Other groups prefer to record in short, concentrated bursts in order to preserve first-take instincts and on-the-floor live energy. A certain breed of bands even writes music while on tour, letting off steam from the rigors of traveling by jamming and being creative. During its decades-long career, R.E.M. made records using all of these approaches. The Athens, Georgia, quartet’s 10th studio album, however, “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” — which turns 20 years old on Sept. 10 — was notorious for having been constructed mostly on the road.
“It’s a travelogue” is how bassist Mike Mills described the LP to The New York Times. “It was recorded all over the world, with a variety of techniques, some more hi-fi than others.” More specifically, “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” came together while R.E.M. was on a world tour supporting 1994’s “Monster.”
In fact, the band debuted many new songs live during those 1995 concerts — to name a few, the buzz-sawing “Departure,” the murky surge “Undertow” and an organ-heavy, glitter-glam homage “The Wake-Up Bomb.”
“Most bands at our level go out and play hits,” guitarist Peter Buck told Reuters. “Not only were we not playing hits we had, but we were spending hours every day working on stuff no one had ever heard.”
That kind of road testing wasn’t necessarily out of character: From very early on, R.E.M. made a point to play new tunes in front of an audience. But as Mills told Mojo in 1996, the plan all along was that these tryouts would lead to a new record. “We discussed making an album of on-the-road stuff a year and a half before we went on the ‘Monster’ tour,” he said. “We wanted to get some of the looseness and spontaneity of a soundcheck, live show or dressing room.” And so R.E.M. sound checks in Atlanta (“Leave,” “Low Desert”), Memphis (“Bittersweet Me”), Phoenix (“Electrolite”) and Orlando (“So Fast, So Numb”) produced a bevy of songs that were filed away for what would become “New Adventures in Hi-Fi.”
As the tour wore on, the steady stream of new songs assumed greater significance. In a sense, that they existed at all was a relief because the “Monster” tour was marred by medical maladies: Mills had unexpected abdominal surgery in Europe, frontman Michael Stipe had a hernia operation and most notably drummer Bill Berry experienced a ruptured brain aneurysm while onstage in Switzerland.
After the “Monster” tour when R.E.M. headed to Seattle to round out the album, members of the band were still grateful for the group’s being intact. “We got into the studio feeling very happy and relieved that everyone was okay, especially Bill,” Mills said. “It brought us all much closer and made us realize how important we are to each other. Once we’d been through a crisis like that, making a record was a piece of cake.”
“New Adventures in Hi-Fi” is effortlessly, almost exuberantly, diverse. Sure, the LP shares DNA with 1992’s “Automatic for the People”: See the undulating folk of “New Test Leper” and tropical dirge “Zither” — and the glinting, slash-and-burn electric guitars permeating “Monster.” The single “Bittersweet Me,” meanwhile, trades on Buck’s familiar, jangly riffs.
But it’s too easy to say that “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” equals album A + era B: Not only did every R.E.M. record possess a distinct personality, but this LP continued to open up the band’s sound to new vistas and approaches. The piano-spun “Electrolite” twinkled like an antique music box. “Low Desert” kicked up bluesy, bar-band dust, courtesy of hefty organ and hollow guitar twang. And the roaring “Binky the Doormat” boasted Farfisa organ and snake charmer-like rhythms.
“I do think that we touch on a wider range of music than just about anyone right now,” Buck told dotmusic at the time. “The Beatles used to do it, Led Zeppelin used to do it and I don’t think we get enough credit for doing it.”
“New Adventures in Hi-Fi” does feel like a photo scrapbook of all the places that R.E.M. had been, full of vignettes about what members of the band saw and experienced. But perhaps more important, the album’s sonic variety conveys the turbulence of travel. The frantic, ARP Odyssey synth ostinato on “Leave” is ominous and (occasionally) uncomfortable because its whine never wavers, while the off-kilter piano on “How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us” is unsteady on its feet, like jazz collapsing into a sinkhole. And Stipe’s vocals sound grizzled and weary on highlight “So Fast, So Numb,” which sounds like it’s about to careen out of control — but is reined in by a jumpy, live-wire bass line, boogie-woogie piano and Berry’s cucumber-cool drumming.
Naturally, the record’s lyrics also contain plenty of references to traveling. In particular, meditative first single “E-Bow the Letter” — which boasts electric sitar, Mellotron, Moog synths and guttural, haunting vocals from Patti Smith — is still stunning, a song that’s both wistful and wrenching. “I’ll take you over,” Stipe murmurs tenderly in the background of the song’s coda, almost imperceptibly. “I’ll take you there.”
The deeply romantic “Be Mine” is similarly comforting: It pledges loyalty and fidelity to a partner through thick and thin — “I’ll ply the tar of your feathers/ I’ll pluck the thorns out of your feet” — with the subtext being that the couple will walk through life together defiantly, despite any objections to the union. And the album-closing “Electrolite” lets itself be swept away by breathtaking scenes of celestial beauty and tangible stardom. The protagonist is overwhelmed rather than frightened by the vastness of the world and extraordinarily grateful to be alive.
The idea of safe passage is an anomaly on “New Adventures in Hi-Fi,” however. Instead, the mind-warping nature of movement — how it creates emotional and spatial disorientation, not to mention uncertainty — is much more profound. “Departure,” for example, starts with these dizzying, rapid-fire lyrics: “Just arrived Singapore, San Sebastian, Spain, 26-hour trip/ Salt Lake City, come in spring.” The water imagery in “Undertow” is at once suffocating and salvation giving (“I don’t need a heaven/ I don’t need religion/ I am in the place where I should be/ I am breathing water”), while the main character in “Bittersweet Me” is in constant motion, but feeling lost: “I don’t know what I’m hungry for/ I don’t know what I want anymore.” The seven-minute centerpiece “Leave” is even more bereft: The song speaks of loss and personal oppression exacerbated by shifts in perspective and the passing of time.
In an interesting twist, “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” reinforces its precarious sense of faith by taking a decidedly spiritual bent. Pointed references to biblical imagery crop up throughout, with the most explicit appearing on the standout, “New Test Leper.” In a 2008 question-and-answer session, Stipe explained, “The ‘test’ is short for testament, the New Testament of the Bible being the reference” before also adding, “The protagonist as I wrote it was inspired by a transvestite on a TV talk show trying to explain and defend her choices and orientation.” Added Stipe: “It was painful to watch her basically humiliated simply by the decision to be on the show. And with commercial breaks. I couldn’t imagine what was said when they were off camera. Glaring, horrible studio lighting.”
On “New Test Leper,” simply moving through the world is dangerous — a profoundly moving idea which adds even more dimension to the record.
These days, fans frequently characterize “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” as underrated. That’s a descriptor developed in hindsight: Back in 1996, the record debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard album charts, went platinum and spawned several alt-rock radio hits. The record does feel underrated, however, mainly because extracurricular distractions (e.g., chatter about a new Warner Bros. record contract and in 1997 about Berry leaving the band) soon started overshadowing R.E.M.’s narrative and music. That’s an even bigger shame: “New Adventures In Hi-Fi” was nonchalant about its experimentation and premise and remains a collection of diffuse songs that hangs together brilliantly precisely because of its unmoored roots.
WATCH: Sean Hannity has change of heart and forms ironic bond with Julian Assange
Julian Assange on Fox News' "Hannity" on September 6, 2016
Continuing a media tour that has included interviews on “Meet the Press” and “Real Time with Bill Maher,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity” last night to criticize Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified documents when she ran the State Department.
Never afraid of brazen proclamations, Assange told Sean Hannity that WikiLeaks has released thousands of emails from Clinton that used the classified marking she once pleaded ignorance to.
“It’s absolutely incredible for Clinton to lie, she is lying about not knowing what that is,” Assange said.
In a twist of irony, Assange also blasted the FBI for dumping the newest report on the Friday before a holiday weekend, “I do think it poses questions as to what sort of game the FBI is trying to play,” Assange said.
WikiLeaks, of course, faced similar backlash in July when critics questioned the convenient timing of the hacked Democratic National Committee emails that leaked on the eve of the party’s convention.
The biggest irony of all, however, is that Hannity invited the controversial guest in the first place. Back in 2010, Hannity accused Assange of “waging war against the U.S.” by publishing sensitive documents obtained by U.S. Army private Chelsea Manning.
In 2016, the game Assange and Hannity are playing is fairly recognizable: Both want to see Hillary lose in November.
Never afraid of hypocrisy, Hannity now finds solidarity with the WikiLeaks founder, “I hope you do get free one day. I wish you the best,” Hannity said to close the interview.
Heroin prohibition is killing the people it’s supposed to save — it’s time to legalize and regulate
(Credit: Alex Malikov via Shutterstock)
A drug normally used to tranquilize livestock and elephants is now being ingested by human users to disastrous ends and may have contributed to a recent spate of overdoses in Cincinnati. It’s a powerful opioid called carfentanil, and is only the latest such drug with a funny name to burst onto the national scene: Fentanyl now rivals heroin as a leading cause of overdose deaths, and another drug called Opana fueled an HIV epidemic in Indiana. But as the opioid crisis cuts its widening swath across the country, an important fact often remains invisible: Heroin prohibition is driving the problem, not fixing it.
Legalizing and regulating unsavory drugs remains a controversial proposition. For many people, legalization and regulation seem to confer or imply approval. But the logic behind doing so is straightforward: the most dangerous things about opioid addiction, including ingesting drugs of unknown provenance and quality, and disastrously reorganizing one’s life to pay for a fix, are in large part byproducts of a drug’s illegal status.
Prohibiting dangerous substances has not only clearly failed to keep people from using them, it has also made the use of those substances more dangerous. And it has incentivized the rise of more dangerous opiates, because drug traffickers benefit from packing the highest level of potency into the smallest shipment at the lowest cost possible. To the extent that people who take fentanyl largely would prefer heroin, access to regulated heroin used under medical supervision would keep many from dying by overdose, and would help drive more potent narcotic interlopers like fentanyl from the market.
This is a debate worth having, and a debate that can be won. Most people, if they really think about it, oppose heroin for common-sense reasons, not as an end but as a means. The idea isn’t simply that we don’t want people to use heroin. More importantly, we don’t want people to use heroin because it so often makes them sick, miserable or dead. So the goal should be to reduce, as dramatically as possible, the sickness, misery and death associated with the drug’s use. Heroin prohibition isn’t the way to do that. In fact, it causes more of everything we don’t want.
These are the basic arguments undergirding a philosophy known as harm reduction. It’s an approach that, now more than ever, is winning new adherents. Officials in some states and cities are exploring the creation of supervised drug use sites, which has shown evidence of decreasing overdose deaths in Vancouver, Canada. In Maryland, one lawmaker has introduced legislation that would make pharmaceutical heroin, overseen by a doctor, available to users in some cases. Just last year, the federal government finally lifted its ban on funding needle exchanges. Harm reduction measures don’t encourage people to use drugs. In fact, they can make it easier for people to seek and access treatment when they are ready — treatment that they’ll be in a better position to make use of if their lives haven’t been destroyed beforehand.
The drug war has lost credibility with the public because it is a demonstrable failure, and law enforcement has in many places shifted to handling drug addiction as a matter of public health. That’s a good first step. As a recent New York Times investigation makes clear, it’s not happening everywhere: Many rural and suburban areas are cracking down harder than ever, even as cities ease up. And some prosecutors, including United States Attorneys’ offices under the Obama administration, are in some cases pursuing unusually harsh sentences against opioid dealers, in the mistaken belief that it will ease the crisis. Even when it comes to drug users, the U.S. is far from embracing decriminalization, as Portugal has done with great success.
Locking up drug dealers doesn’t stop the flow of drugs, and keeping drug users out of jail isn’t enough to keep them safe. The only way to confront the overdose crisis is to replace the underground criminal market with an aboveground legal market, turning a profit opportunity for drug cartels into a government-supervised public health endeavor. We can’t limit drug legalization to drugs we don’t think are that bad in the first place, like marijuana. Too many people are dying. The war against drugs, all drugs, is making things worse.
The real issues: How can the Trump campaign have a Miami office if it doesn’t have a Miami office?
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks with members of the press, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, aboard his campaign plane, while flying over Ohio. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
If GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign doesn’t have an office in Miami, why is there a Donald Trump for President Dade County Office? And what gets wetter as it dries?
The Miami Herald solved the riddle on Tuesday, revealing the Facebook page’s admin, Mark Bernstein, made the parody page as an accessory to a Trump-themed New Year’s party.
“I didn’t think it would ever last this long,” Bernstein, 39, told The Herald. “But in the void left by him not actually having any infrastructure, it’s been listed on Google Maps!” It’s true.
Bernstein, a Democrat who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primary and plans to vote for Hillary Clinton in November, said he’ll maintain the page’s conservative façade until Trump’s people realize what’s up.
“The day his lawyer sends me a threatening letter,” Bernstein said, “is the day I frame it and put it in my office as the crowning achievement of my life.”
Read the full story here.
Amid national anthem controversy, Colin Kaepernick’s jersey reaches No. 1 in online sales; QB pledges to donate all proceeds
FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2015 file photo, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick watches from the sideline during the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the San Diego Chargers in Santa Clara, Calif. Kaepernick's decision this week to refuse to stand during the playing of the national anthem as a way of protesting police killings of unarmed black men has drawn support and scorn far beyond sports. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File) (Credit: AP)
When Colin Kaepernick refused to participate in a pregame national anthem, the 49ers quarterback sparked a national controversy. In the immediate aftermath to Kaepernick’s public protest against police brutality and racial injustice, outraged fans burned his jersey.
Two weeks later, that same jersey is in high demand. According to the NFL, Kaepernick’s red 49ers jersey has become the No.1-selling jersey online.
The staggering rise in jersey sales is extraordinary considering Kaepernick lost the starting quarterback role to teammate Blaine Gabbert over Labor Day weekend. While Kaepernick’s future as a franchise-leading quarterback is now in doubt, his new role as a high-profiled athlete turned activist is not in question.
This has become apparent as fans and fellow celebrities choose to make a political statement by wearing Kaepernick’s jersey:
J. Cole performed in a Colin Kaepernick jersey over the weekend https://t.co/TbbN4xskyl pic.twitter.com/tfD1EuR6XW
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 6, 2016
Kaepernick’s rebound in the public eye is a reminder that sports fans can embrace activism.
But not everyone in the sports community is commending Kaepernick’s actions. Hall of Famer and former 49ers great Jerry Rice condemned Kaepernick on Twitter for “disrespecting the flag.” An anonymous NFL executive labeled him a “traitor.” And ex-Rangers coach John Tortorella recently promised to sit any players in the World Cup of Hockey if they fail to stand during the national anthem.
As Kaepernick continues to sit, and his jersey sales continue to rise, the San Francisco 49ers franchise faces some backlash. Over the weekend, the Santa Clara police union threatened to stop providing security at games in which Kaepernick makes public displays against the flag.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick has pledged to donate 100 percent of the sales “back into the communities,” according to ESPN.
