Cover Story
Teaching Old Drug Dogs A New Way To Sniff? Washington ‘Weed Heads’ Beware (Video)
In Washington state, changes in law enforcement procedures – especially allowing for legal marijuana possession and use – has come with unique challenges. Unique for now… I’m sure other states will eventually have to go through challenges like this: How do you get a dog to respond differently when sniffing for weed in Washington – to let “personal use” ride but still alert handlers to “intent to sell” situations? Some of Washington’s law enforcement agencies have an answer: Stop training drug-sniffing dogs to alert for marijuana.
WHAT??!! Is that a round of applause I hear? Wait. You know I have to posit the downside on stuff like this. But I am not alone this time: My worry is ACLU’s worry. Not all law-enforcement agencies are changing procedures for training or using narcotics dogs, as the possession of marijuana is still illegal under FEDERAL law. That’s one thing, but not the MAIN thing. Holcomb has a concern that
Hate stop and frisk? Try stop, SNIFF, frisk, and DETAIN UNTIL COPS FIND SOMETHING TO ARREST YOU FOR.
READ: LEGAL POT MEANS BIG CHANGES FOR DRUG-SNIFFING DOGS
– @ojones1
Dirty Wars (Trailer)
“America knows war. They are war masters.”
In the war on terrorism, almost anything goes. And that ‘almost’ (e.g. what America won’t do) part of the war strategy is getting smaller all the time. Drone strikes, night raids, torture enhanced interrogation …and civilian casualties. Author, investigative reporter and whistle-blower Jeremy Scahill documents the rise of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the most secret fighting force in U.S. history in “Dirty Wars,” exposing operations carried out by men who officially ‘do not exist’ (and who are therefore beyond the reach of domestic or international law). No target is off-limits. NO TARGET IS OFF LIMITS!
Wake up America! We can find some justification for some of this to be certain. But how far will we take these “Dirty Wars” when we know there is no real accountability for whatever atrocities are done in our name? Who determines who is an ‘enemy of the United States’ (maybe an American citizen… maybe in America)?
VICE: Chicago’s Gang Problem & The Inequitable Sharing Of Nigeria’s Oil Resources (Video)
YES! Damn smart move by VICE: posting its HBO shows online for their fans who don’t have premium cable.
“Don’t nobody wanna talk no more. It’s so easy to get a gun out here. Everybody wanna shoot it out.”
Wow. Remember how we posted on ‘Chi raq’ (Chicago being a war zone akin to Iraq)? Well, VICE addresses that in this episode’s first half. For the last half, VICE documents Nigeria’s oil industry – oil theft, financial and social costs, and more.
California Cleared To Start Force-Feeding Inmates On Hunger Strike (Video)
You’d think once folks saw the atrocity that is force-feeding of inmates on hunger strike they’d stop the practice, right? But you probably guessed that officials would do just the opposite. But that was just at Gitmo – a military prison in Cuba. The United States would NEVER allow such to happen on its soil… right? Right…? WRONG! A California judge just cleared the way for force feeding of the state inmates on hunger strike given ‘certain conditions.’
‘US District Judge Thelton Henderson is allowing prison doctors in California to force-feed inmates who are participating in a hunger strike. According to the ruling, if a prisoner is near death then a doctor is allowed to step in and intervene in the matter. As of now, 136 inmates are protesting living conditions and policies in place at facilities in the Golden State.’
Sorry, Yasiin. It doesn’t seem that publicity surrounding your courageous effort was enough to change the hardliners’ hearts and minds. We posted the gruesome Yasiin Bey force-feeding demo on here a while back.
– @ojones1
History/Politics: After 50 Years, Civil Rights Pioneer John Lewis Still Says ‘We Cannot Give In!’ (Video)
RESPECT to the only living speaker/organizer from the 1963 March on Washington DC, Congressman John Lewis! What were you (or will you be) doing at 23? Probably not getting beaten trying to achieve the right to vote, thanks to the Congressman, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Bernard LaFayette and other activists who marched and fought for for that right for us! Check out the video of the Civil Rights pioneer still speaking on it above. We cannot give up… we cannot give in!
Representative Lewis, referencing his suffering at ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Selma decades ago, is talking about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent stripping of the Voting Rights Act; as Dixie-crat states in the South are now allowed to make voting laws without having them cleared by the Federal Court or Government. Come on! There was a REASON we needed to have Federal oversight of Southern states’ voting policymaking… to make/keep things fair! If you need a ‘refresher’ course, Google ‘Gomillion v. Lightfoot’ (and Tweet me if you like; as I am from Tuskegee, Alabama… we can talk).
READ: REP. JOHN LEWIS – MARCH ON WASHINGTON 2013 (NEWSONE)
– @ojones1
The Kali Muscle Story: Fresh Out – Life After The Penitentiary [Video]
Incredible documentary video (from the ‘Fresh Out‘ series) on former ex-con turned actor & professional bodybuilder Kali Muscle.
‘“Happier than a BodyBuilder Directing Traffic†is a Geico commercial we all know and love. That bodybuilder goes by Kali Muscle and he has an incredible backstory with a troubled past. Much like what happened with CT Fletcher, Kali is spreading across the internet after his short documentary surfaced on the Strength Project.’
Business: How Worker-Owned Companies Operate (Video)
I was speaking with a friend who is also an Oakland Raiders fan like myself. The Raiders have major financial obstacles in their attempts to get a new stadium built in Oakland or anywhere else in Northern California. The Oakland Raiders have also recently been ranked by Forbes magazine as the least valuable NFL franchise despite having a huge global fanbase. The Raiders have one of lowest amount of operating dollars of all the 32 teams in the NFL. Fans may not be able to help the stadium situation, but they can definitely change the value of the team. I have said on numerous occasions it would be great if the Raiders adopted a similar ownership system like the Green Bay Packers in which the fans of the team can become shareholders. The Green Bay Packers are the only NFL franchise that operates in this manner. Current NFL rules require an owner to have no less than a 30% majority share of the team. I feel this could work for the Raiders if owner Mark Davis offered a 49% or less share to the fans. Our discussion then turned to the corporate aspect of worker owned companies. Ironically I ran across this interesting short documentary on the topic while surfing the web that goes to further illustrate the point that collective ownership is the key to win in many instances.
READ MORE ABOUT HOW WORKER OWNED COMPANIES OPERATE AT MOYERS & COMPANY
Inmates and Prison Officials Agree: “The House I Live In” Documentary Exposes The Failures of The U.S. War On Drugs Policy (Video)
HEADLINE: Inmates and Prison Guards AGREE on Failures of the Drug War!
Above is a behind-the-scenes teaser for a screening for Eugene Jarecki’s documentary “The House I Live In.” The venue: Joseph Harp Correctional Center (Lexington, Oklahoma, USA). Making a documentary at a jail… sure. But viewing it there, that’s different. But you know drug enforcement policy is more than a bit *messed* up if the C.O.’s and the prisoners can agree that it is!
See clips from the film (executive producers: Brad Pitt, John Legend, Russell Simmons and Danny Glover) after the jump. VERY interesting…
DOCUMENTARY: THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (ITUNES)
TWITTER: @DRUGWARMOVIE
FACEBOOK: DRUG WAR MOVIE
VICE: Israeli Killer Robots (Video)
‘Israel is the world’s biggest exporter of military drones, used around the world for everything from surveillance to precision rocket attacks on speeding cars in remote locales. Israel’s drone program hasn’t stirred as much controversy as its American counterpart, but not because their targeted killings are any less fatal. VICE sent Simon Ostrovsky to a drone testing airfield in Israel to find out what their latest eye-in-the-sky can see.’
ESPN’s Outside The Lines: Carry On (Trailer)
I watched this on ESPN Sunday afternoon and found it to be nothing short of inspiring. Wow.
The network initially profiled Dartanyon Crockett – legally blind, homeless and motherless – and his friend, Leroy Sutton, who was often found on Crockett’s back (the result of his losing his legs after being run over by a train when he was 11) four years ago. ESPN revisited and updated the touching story of the friendship and bond of these two young athletes today.
Vice: Venezuelan Body Counts (Video)
Damn. Vice has a knack for bringing awareness to realities that we should really know and care about through its documentaries. With perspectives that bring focus to peculiarities and injustices around the world, you’ve seen many a Vice post here because the videos are really worth watching. That said, this 3-part video “Venezuelan Body Counts” ranks among the most impactful. And that’s saying a lot. Part 1 above. Parts 2 and 3 after the jump.
Last year alone, Caracas had more violent deaths than Baghdad (Iraq). Vice’s Ryan Duffy traveled to Venezuela to investigate the country’s crime epidemic.
– Vice
Hard To Earn, Too Costly To Learn: How For-Profit Colleges Saddle African-American Students With Staggering Debt
President Obama echoes the sentiment of Black people throughout the ages in America: The key to “winning the future†is to get educated. Get educated, get paid, live the American Dream. That’s the path to prosperity right… right?
Well, Kai Wright of Salon.com writes that something isn’t right:
Have we been had, hoodwinked, and bamboozled again? Kai makes a powerful argument. And were he here to speak on it today, Malcolm X might well quip: Plymouth rock landed on us. We climbed from under it. Then they dropped a mountain of debt on top of us!
Several of the top for-profit colleges are run by financiers, not educators. Damn. Now, more than ever, it costs to be poor; and it pays to exploit those striving for more.
Malcolm X: Make It Plain (Documentary)
Happy Birthday El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz! Thank you for teaching us to love ourselves. In honor of Malcolm X’s birthday today check out this 1994 PBS documentary entitled “Malcolm X: Make It Plain”
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Angela Davis & Assata Shakur’s Lawyer Lennox Hinds Denounces The FBI’s Adding Of Exiled Activist To Terrorists List (Video)
It’s interesting that Assata Shakur is being called a terrorist recently after a 40-year-old case. The U.S. once called Nelson Mandela a terrorist as well back in the day too. Mandela was on the U.S. terrorism watch list up until 2008. It makes silly the whole ideal of who & what a terrorist really is by the U.S. Check out this interview with Angela Davis & Assata Shakur’s attorney Lennox Hinds (who was also Nelson Mandela’s attorney) as they speak on the case on Democracy Now.
“One day after the exiled former Black Panther Assata Shakur became the first woman named to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list, we’re joined by another legendary African-American activist, Angela Davis, as well as Shakur’s longtime attorney, Lennox Hinds. Davis, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is the subject of the recent film, “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners.” She argues that the FBI’s latest move, much like its initial targeting of Shakur and other Black Panthers four decades ago, is politically motivated. “It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflects the very logic of terrorism,” Davis says. “I can’t help but think that it’s designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles today. Forty years ago seems like it was a long time ago. In the beginning of the 21st century, we’re still fighting around the very same issues — police violence, healthcare, education, people in prison.” A professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University, Hinds has represented Shakur since 1973. “This is a political act pushed by the state of New Jersey, by some members of Congress from Miami, and with the intent of putting pressure on the Cuban government and to inflame public opinion,” Hinds says. “There is no way to appeal someone being put on the terrorists list.”
ASSATA SHAKUR IN HER OWN WORDS (1998)
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Cover Story: ‘I Robbed Banks for the CIA!’
This is an INCREDIBLE read! I am so glad I have a subscription to Businessweek. I admit though: I almost missed this article (shout out to JayForce for suggesting I take a second look at the issue for it).
READ THE FULL ‘ROBBING BANKS FOR THE CIA’ ARTICLE HERE.
The article goes on… The DIA/CIA ‘contact’ who ran the operation, recruited Torres and his cohorts, ultimately arranged for his legal defense and more would only identify himself as ‘Theo.’ Several in-the-know officials noted in the story – including a veteran cop with decades of experience, high-caliber attorneys-at-law with experience at the CIA, one a retired U.S. Marine said to have worked in intelligence – were admittedly suspicious of Theo but still ‘felt’ his story true enough to believe. Theo’s op (that’s short for ‘operation’) – eventually referenced as ‘Operation Downstrike’ – was substantiated by documents that appeared real enough; like the redacted (that’s spy talk for ‘mostly blacked out’… I LOVE THIS SH!T) one that appears above. ‘The purpose of Operation Downstrike, he said, was to train Torres for clandestine work’ (according to Theo) outside the U.S.
Now, before you holler ‘bullsh!t’ and declare how you would have never been sucked in by any of this… or how Downstrike was obviously never official… Get this:
‘Brady [that’s right, “Theo” was a cover name] could have faced up to five years in prison for forgery, but the government is recommending he be sentenced instead to three years of [of ‘modified’ punishment]. He may even get his seized computers and the encrypted Operation Downstrike documents back.’
THE GOVERNMENT IS GETTING THIS DUDE OUT – NO JAIL TIME!! Talk that talk now. Maaannn, go read the article. Please!
– @ojones1
Crate Diggers: J Dilla (Video)
“In this episode, we celebrate legendary producer J Dilla, who has worked with The Roots, Common, Erykah Badu, Janet Jackson and A Tribe Called Quest. Then we join musician friends J. Rocc, DJ Spinna, Frank Nitt and Grap Luva in Detroit to open Dilla’s storage locker, never-before-seen to the public. Crate Diggers profiles people with extraordinary vinyl record collections, with owners displaying and telling the stories behind their collections.” – Fuse TV
WATCH: PREVIOUS CRATE DIGGER EPISODES (VIDEOS)
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Countdown To 2042: Talib Kweli
By 2042 the U.S. is expected to become the most diverse it’s ever been racially speaking. The way the demographics are going, the U.S. will not have an ethnic majority. The team over at TheMMXLII interviewed Talib Kweli about growing up in the “melting pot” of Brooklyn and what diverse communities can teach us about self-identity and heritage. It’s the power of diversity
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The Ghost In The Machine: Playboy Interviews The D.O.C. (Video)
“Twenty-five years after the release of his hugely successful debut album ‘No One Can Do It Better’ and the subsequent car crash that tragically took his voice, rap legend The D.O.C. announces his plans to reinvent himself in an exclusive new interview in Playboy magazine’s April Sex & Music 2013 issue (on newsstands and i.Playboy.com). Known as one of the most prolific ghostwriters in rap history, The D.O.C. has penned rhymes for legends including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eazy-E and Tupac. In Ghost in the Machine by Alex Pappademas, The D.O.C reveals that for the first time in his career, he will now write songs with new artists as part of a reality show titled HipHopDraft Presents ‘I Got My Voice Back’ premiering this spring.”
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Reality TV Shows: Battling The Stereotypes Of Black Men (Video)
Some great discussions surrounding the Black Male: Re-Imagined II conference that took place. More lectures & discussions below…
Reality TV Shows: Battling the Stereotypes of Black Men from Open Society Foundations and American Values Institute on FORA.tv
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