Here’s your week in review in haiku.
1.
Who had “elect a
dead pimp” in the office pool?
I’ve got some good news!
2.
Dow is down… oh wait,
no, it’s back up…wobbling…
okay, down…no up
3.
Take them off the bus:
They vote. Take them off the rolls:
They will find a way.
4.
Any guy who can
survive a body slam is
the guy to cheer for
5.
What were his last thoughts,
with the blade raised to his throat,
alone, forsaken?
Have a safe and uplifting weekend.
On Point
| Jamal Khashoggi’s last column |
| Here is the lede, submitted without comment. “I was recently online looking at the 2018 “Freedom in the World” report published by Freedom House and came to a grave realization. There is only one country in the Arab world that has been classified as ‘free.’ That nation is Tunisia. Jordan, Morocco and Kuwait come second, with a classification of ‘partly free.’ The rest of the countries in the Arab world are classified as ‘not free.’ As a result, Arabs living in these countries are either uninformed or misinformed. They are unable to adequately address, much less publicly discuss, matters that affect the region and their day-to-day lives. A state-run narrative dominates the public psyche, and while many do not believe it, a large majority of the population falls victim to this false narrative. Sadly, this situation is unlikely to change." |
| Washington Post |
| The most openly racist ads in the 2018 mid-term election cycle |
| HuffPo’s Julia Craven has done the world a great service by compiling an on-going list of racist attacks made on candidates of color by the opponents, political organizations, or some sort of official surrogate. They’re all awful in their way, some are subtle, others not so much. (You can tell how nervous Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum is making his opponents by the ugliness of the attacks against him.) The number of the openly racist ads are enough to put you back on your heels. If you see any yourself, ping her to add to the list. Me? I can’t even with this fringe group's effort to support Arkansas’s Congressman French Hill. |
| Huffington Post |
| A black teen files a lawsuit alleging she was mocked by her teacher after refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance |
| The daughter of a raceAhead reader is suing her teacher and the school board, saying she was “mocked and shamed” for refusing to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance. The unnamed fourteen-year-old black teen said a group chose to remain seated during the Pledge in a “peaceful and non-disruptive expression of their belief that African-Americans suffer from racial discrimination in the United States,” according to the lawsuit. The teacher is alleged to have thanked the other students for standing, then brought in another teacher to lecture the students on their lack of patriotism. The suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court naming a teacher at Waterbury Arts Magnet School, Ralph Belvedere, and the district’s school board. Please read and share. |
| Hartford Courant |
The Woke Leader
| New report: Black citizens in Alabama four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white ones |
| A new report by the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center show enormous disparities between the treatment of black and white Alabama residents when it came to both misdemeanor and felony marijuana possession. Their examination also identified seven police forces that were ten times more likely to arrest black residents than white ones. The punishments are often life-altering; arrestees can lose access to student loans, face crippling court costs and have their driver’s license suspended. The stories of people swept up into Alabama’s “War On Marijuana” are wrenching; the report comes ahead of a key District Attorney race in Jefferson County, Alabama. Danny Carr, the reformer candidate has made his position clear. “[I]t’s hard to imagine that our limited resources should be devoted to jailing individuals for marijuana possession instead of focusing on serious violent crimes.” |
| The Appeal |
| Canadian CEOs band together for basic income |
| One hundred Canadian CEOs and business owners, with a combined annual revenue of more than $1.8 billion are calling for the continuation of a basic income pilot program that had been in put in place by the Ontario government. In an open letter, they cite the globalization of jobs, the rise of technological job replacement, and the switch to gig-work as reasons why the Canadian middle class needs a safety net. “These global trends are causing structural changes to the economy that are depressing wages, reducing the number of middle-class jobs available to Canadians, and affecting a decline in entrepreneurship.” |
| CEOs For Basic Income |
| Meet the Frederick Douglass 200 |
| This year marks the bicentennial celebration of the birth of Frederick Douglass, and this list is designed to draw attention to his life and legacy. You’ll find many familiar names on this list, and quite a few new ones, proof positive that Frederick Douglass is still doing great things. It was curated by Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University in Washington DC., and is a chance to honor two hundred people who embody the spirit of Douglass’s work as abolitionist, politician, writer, feminist, educator, entrepreneur, and diplomat. More names will be added weekly through November, and awardees will be honored next year at the Library of Congress. |
| The Guardian |
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