legislation
The bills that Congress reject are as informative as the ones it does. Reviews of all the legislation that meet their fate in government halls.
Solidarity Against White Supremacy 8/27/17
I took a new friend to today’s demonstration at the Federal Plaza on Adams and Dearborn that consisted of an estimated 3 thousand plus citizens toward Trump Tower in Downtown Chicago. This protest was in response again to the Trump/Pence regime’s consistent indifference of not discrediting Neo-Nazi/Confederates for the violence in Charlottesville, while at the same time condemning counter-protesters as equally to blame for the bloodshed. Furthermore, the 45th president continues to show his incompetence and blatant disregard for Americans on a regular basis such as pardoning ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio, passing the ban on trans Americans in the Armed Forces and the delayed aid to the victims of the Hurricane Harvey disaster in Texas.
Myles D. GoethePublished 7 years ago in The SwampThe Life and Times of the Liberal Nigerian
If you have been reading my articles, by now you will pick up that I am a very progressive person (Liberal AF!) and I am African (it's literally in my bio). I strongly advocate for social change and implementing liberal ideas in general society. I also believe in equal rights, equity, respect and opportunity for men, women, black, white, disabled or abled, queer or straight etc. Many people may see that and think, "Oh that is completely fine and nothing hard about that" (or that I'm another snowflake...fuck all yee Ann Coulters then...but SIKE!). Being the only progressive in a space that is aggressively conservative is similar (not the same!) to being the only black person in a completely white space. You cannot fully express yourself due to fear of hostility and being seen as the dangerous other thus, you are pressured to blend in as much as you possibly can (and its hard out here in these streets). Being a Liberal young woman in a Nigerian environment is way tougher than one can imagine and I will tell you why.
PHILLY THE AFRICANAPublished 7 years ago in The SwampCampaign to Bring Justice Back to the Law
Campaign to put justice back as the center of legal systems. Laws were originally written down because the king of that time — who was absolute ruler — wanted all the people under his rule to get the same justice in disputes. I do not mean to affront the feminists but in late “Dark Ages”, pre-medieval, when Alfred the Great in Britain first started having his laws writing down, only men were kings since their first duty was to fight in hand-to-hand battles. The rights were, by modern standards, very limited but his objective was to impose his rule on the whole kingdom and stop local “Lords” imposing their own laws on the local people.
Peter RosePublished 7 years ago in The SwampAllen Andrade's Horrific Hate Crime
Angie Zapata, an 18-year-old transgender woman, met Allen Andrade, a 31-year-old unemployed man, on an Internet dating site and invited him into her home in Greeley, Colorado on July 15, 2008. Angie borrowed her mother’s car to pick Andrade up and bring him to her home.
Kathy CraigPublished 7 years ago in The SwampThey Have You in Their Sights
Targets used to be something to aim at (see illustration). Nowadays they are (a) a means of control and (b) a sure fire way of screwing up the systems they are meant to regulate. Nominally introduced to ensure that certain services are being delivered or improved (sales, hospital care, student retention etc.), they have evolved into the main point of the exercise, whatever that may be. Want to cut hospital waiting lists? Then do as many ingrown toenails as possible and hey presto! You have met your target! Need to keep a tight hold on the hospital budget? Then avoid all those expensive life-saving therapies and operations, and concentrate on — well, toenails, obviously. Hand-in-hand with the tick-box, targets are the bureaucrats' dream, positive-performance indicating and cost-cutting everything in sight!
Kevin McClintockPublished 7 years ago in The SwampWhat We Must Do to Drain the Swamp in DC!
OUR REVOLUTION image is credited to Bernie Sanders and his organization as the copyright owners. A Brief Background on My Shifting Political Landscape
Erik MiddlewoodPublished 7 years ago in The SwampLand of the "Free"
Baltimore Police are being accused of planting evidence on a suspect who was incarcerated for several months on drug charges. Whether the Department released the footage, or it was revealed against their wishes, I am not certain. What the video shows are three officers behind a building and one of them puts the drugs into a trash can. Then they exit to the front of the property, where he turns his body-cam on, unaware that the camera is always “on,” but only saves video starting from 30 seconds before the button is pushed. Then he walks back and “discovers” the evidence in the trash, which is public domain and not subject to a search warrant, and resulted in the suspect’s arrest.
Mickey FinnPublished 7 years ago in The SwampAre Europhiles Right to Criticize Polish Judicial Reform as Undemocratic?
Some MEPs, European officials, and pro-European protesters are execrating the most recent Polish judicial reform initiative. The proposed bill, among other things, gives Polish MPs the power to appoint 15 out of 25 judges to the National Judicial Council (KRS) without consulting legal experts or judicial circles and without any popular consent whatsoever, but how is it possible that a 24-year-old international entity having severe democratic deficits and institutions whose members are entirely appointed lambasts one of the world's oldest democracies for presumably being undemocratic?
Taxes
Okay, so I will be the guy who asks the common-sense question about wealth and taxes: If they “hurt the rich” the way that the Occupy Movement says they would, why are all of these wealthy people supporting the party hiking taxes the most? The thing that no one tells you about taxes is that the super-wealthy “one-percenters” love them. They protect their investment by making it that much harder for us, the average person, to cut into their slice of the pie. The best part is that they get the assistance of the Federal Government, who will send armed men to your door and haul you off to jail. Just as King George III viewed taxes as a way to keep his wealth ahead of that of his subjects, the wealthiest political party in the world, the Democrats, protect the wealthy with taxes and overly complex tax codes.
Mickey FinnPublished 7 years ago in The SwampAmeriAid
Recently, while reading George W. Bush's memoir Decision Points, I began to wonder about my own contributions to my community and society as a whole. I realized I helped to better my community in minute ways: reorganizing and writing the bylaws of a non-profit community store that helped people with clothes, food, utility payments, and even rent while supporting their growth through faith based initiative; organizing and speaking at an event to bring together a city falling apart to drugs and crime in Ohio; starting temporary programs of my own that helped families with winter clothing, paying their bills, paying their rent or getting an apartment, or having a meal to prepare for the holidays. Overall though, I was missing a greater contribution to help the nation I love to regain a lost independence. I contemplated what the hot topic of debate was that was serious enough to attract my attention. Then, I had it come to me. Healthcare! Therefore, in the following, I will expound upon my epiphany.
Dr. Brian SmithbergerPublished 7 years ago in The SwampHart and International Law
Introduction In chapter 10 of his The Concept of Law, Hart asks whether International Law is genuinely law or is it better seen as international morality? He argues that international law is law, but different in some important aspects from state law.
Jim GilliamPublished 7 years ago in The SwampInstitutional Balance vs. Separation of Powers
Introduction The concept of institutional balance—much used in EU legal publications appears to be a concept that is as elusive as the Unicorn. It is further clouded by parallels often drawn between it and the principle of separation of powers.
Jim GilliamPublished 7 years ago in The Swamp