{"id":14825,"date":"2015-03-02T11:58:28","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T19:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=14825"},"modified":"2015-03-02T11:58:28","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T19:58:28","slug":"open-thread322015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/02\/open-thread322015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–3\/2\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s another super-busy day, because I have the Monthly Report to write, and I have an essay to write on why prisoners\u2019 memories of crimes committed years before, don\u2019t always line up with police reports and victim statements.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s took me 2:59 (average 4:51).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Lynn\u2019s New Mouse<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"0302Mouse\"<\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From Daily Kos<\/a>: <\/font>Yesterday Georgia became the first southern state to ban the box<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

This policy, signed into law by Governor Nathan Deal through an executive order, postpones questions about a job applicant\u2019s criminal history until it is demonstrated that he or she is one of the most qualified candidates. The policy also requires that the applicant have the opportunity to explain his or her criminal history before denial, and that only a relevant conviction will be used as the basis for disqualification.    – See more at: http:\/\/www.gjp.org\/…<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Kudos to the people of Georgia. Frankly, I’m surprised that Raw Deal didn’t veto it. In Oregon, only Multnomah County (one if the three that make up the Portland Metro Area) and the City of Portland have banned the box.<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>The Justice Department has nearly completed a highly critical report accusing the police in Ferguson, Mo., of making discriminatory traffic stops of African-Americans that created years of racial animosity leading up to an officer\u2019s shooting of a black teenager last summer, law enforcement officials said.<\/p>\n

According to several officials who have been briefed on the report\u2019s conclusions, the report criticizes the city for disproportionately ticketing and arresting African-Americans and relying on the fines to balance the city\u2019s budget. The report, which is expected to be released as early as this week, will force Ferguson officials to either negotiate a settlement with the Justice Department or face being sued by it on civil rights charges. <\/p>\n

Oh My! The Ferguson PD is racist?!!? Are you as surprised as I am?<\/font><\/p>\n

From Washington Post<\/a>: <\/font>\u2026ISDS would allow foreign companies to challenge U.S. laws \u2014 and potentially to pick up huge payouts from taxpayers \u2014 without ever stepping foot in a U.S. court. Here\u2019s how it would work. Imagine that the United States bans a toxic chemical that is often added to gasoline because of its health and environmental consequences. If a foreign company that makes the toxic chemical opposes the law, it would normally have to challenge it in a U.S. court. But with ISDS, the company could skip the U.S. courts and go before an international panel of arbitrators. If the company won, the ruling couldn\u2019t be challenged in U.S. courts, and the arbitration panel could require American taxpayers to cough up millions \u2014 and even billions \u2014 of dollars in damages. <\/p>\n

If that seems shocking, buckle your seat belt. ISDS could lead to gigantic fines, but it wouldn\u2019t employ independent judges<\/a>. Instead, highly paid corporate lawyers would go back and forth between representing corporations one day and sitting in judgment the next. Maybe that makes sense in an arbitration between two corporations, but not in cases between corporations and governments. If you\u2019re a lawyer looking to maintain or attract high-paying corporate clients, how likely are you to rule against those corporations when it\u2019s your turn in the judge\u2019s seat? <\/p>\n

If the tilt toward giant corporations wasn\u2019t clear enough, consider who would get to use this special court: only international investors, which are, by and large, big corporations. So if a Vietnamese company with U.S. operations wanted to challenge an increase in the U.S. minimum wage, it could use ISDS. But if an American labor union believed Vietnam was allowing Vietnamese companies to pay slave wages in violation of trade commitments, the union would have to make its case in the Vietnamese courts\u2026<\/p>\n

This just a snippet from an article by Elizabeth Warren, explaining a huge reason to oppose the TPP. I urge you to click through to read it all.<\/font><\/p>\n

Cartoon<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"0302Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s another super-busy day, because I have the Monthly Report to write, and I have an essay to write on why prisoners\u2019 memories of crimes committed years before, don\u2019t always line up with police reports and victim statements. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 2:59 (average 4:51).  To do it, click here.  How did you […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-personal","category-politics","category-35-id","category-3-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}