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Steve Scalise's Problem Is the Republican Party's Problem

John Nichols The Nation
The Republican rising star struggled for two days to get clarity with regard to his appearance at a "white pride" - Ku Klux Klan event in 2002. Initially, his office tried to keep things vague, suggesting it was "likely" Scalise attended. He was a veteran state legislator then, elected from the same precincts where David Duke once ran strong. When it became clear he was not just present but a presenter, Scalise started spinning scenarios that might explain it all away.

Stop Kidding Yourself: The Police Were Created to Control Working Class and Poor People

Sam Mitrani Labor and Working-Class History Association
The liberal way of viewing the problem rests on a misunderstanding of the origins of the police and what they were created to do. The police were not created to protect and serve the population. They were not created to stop crime, at least not as most people understand it. They were not created to promote justice. They were created to protect the form of wage-labor capitalism that emerged in the mid to late nineteenth century from the threat posed by the working class.

Labor Must Reject Pat Lynch’s Bitter Bile

Jonathan Tasini New York Daily News
Unions have a special duty to help the city heal. We confront a communitywide moral crisis. A simple, broad labor statement of unity — supporting the mayor’s efforts, protesters’ rights in a democracy and the good work of the overwhelming majority of decent police officers, and calling for a new campaign to regulate handguns like the one used to murder two policemen and a citywide dialogue on racism and policing — is in order.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s 'The Era of the People'

Liam Flenady Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
[The people] are supposed to exercise power through parliamentary assemblies. But the financial oligarchy which rule our present situation have taken upon themselves the right to veto their decisions. This is why the system doesn’t fear the left, which it has been able to control … But it has a clear-headed fear of the people.

The 10 Worst Civil Liberties Violations of 2014

Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern Slate
While the country has evolved on marriage equality, it often appears to be backtracking on just about every other advance we have made, from the racial and gender progress of the 1960s to the most basic principles of the criminal justice system. Below, we’ve listed the top 10 civil liberties nightmares of 2014 in no particular order.

The Republicans' Magical Mystery Tour (Starting Next Week)

Robert Reich Robert Reich
Economic statistics? Evolution? Climate change? If you don’t like the facts, make them up. Or have your benefactors finance “think tanks” filled with hired guns who will tell the public what you and your patrons want them to say. If all else fails, fire experts who tell the truth, and replace them with people who will pronounce falsehoods.

Grassroots Message Against Police Violence—and All Violence—Stands Firm

Heidi Boghosian Common Dreams
The 50-foot banner on our building’s call for an end to police violence is as urgent this week as it was last week; none of the issues have changed, and the tragic murder of two New York City police officers won't—can't—slow our efforts to end violence, impunity and abuse of power by law enforcement.

High School Basketball Team Banned From Tournament Over ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Shirts

Travis Waldron ThinkProgress
The boys and girls teams from Mendocino (CA) High School had worn the shirts, which bear a slogan that has become a rallying cry in nationwide protests against police killings of unarmed black men, before previous games. But the principal and athletic director at Fort Bragg High School, the tournament host, decided that the teams could not play in the tournament unless they agreed not to wear the shirts during it.

An Atheist’s Christmas Dream

Mark Bittman The New York Times
Christmas is a commercial, obnoxious holiday. But the so-called golden rule — do unto others — that is ostensibly a core principle of every major religion, well that is a reality we have never approached, but should aim for.

How to Read the Senate Report on CIA Torture

Alfred W. McCoy History News Network
Despite its rich fund of hard-won detail, the Senate report has, at best, produced a neutral outcome, a draw in this political contest over impunity. Unless we inscribe the lessons from this Senate report deeply into the country’s collective memory, then some future crisis might prompt another recourse to torture that will do even more damage to this country’s moral leadership.