Even if John Stewart is Gone, We all Need to Keep taking on FOX and all the Media

I am going to put a lot of John Stewart videos in the comment section, like this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO_om3iK9kE

• Reports Accuse Bill O’Reilly of False “War Zone” Claims

You probably heard the great news – after a few years of progressive activism, FOX finally cancelled Glenn Beck’s show–but the Boycott Must Go On!!

Ten years ago, Media Matters launched with a revolutionary mission: to systematically monitor the U.S. media for conservative misinformation every day, in real time. We’ve been calling out right-wing lies for a decade — and we’re not done yet. Will you contribute now to help us raise $10,000 for our 10th anniversary?

For ten years, we’ve successfully fought back against the bad actors that poison our media with right-wing lies and smears. It’s been an amazing beginning, and we couldn’t have done it without your support.

We’re in this for the long haul. Make an anniversary gift today to kickstart the next ten years of media accountability.

Dear Kevin,
You probably heard the great news – after two years of progressive activism, FOX finally cancelled Glenn Beck’s show.
Beck was targeted after he slandered President Obama by saying, “This president has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture, I don’t know what it is… This guy, I believe, is a racist.”
Activists at ColorOfChange, Media Matters, StopBeck, FoxNewsBoycott, and of course Democrats.com responded with a boycott of advertisers on Glenn Beck’s show. Ultimately over 300 advertisers pulled their ads from Beck, costing FOX over $40 million.
Advertiser boycotts work! And it’s time to boycott all FOX News advertisers:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
We’re starting our boycott of all FOX News with Proactiv, which sells acne medicine to teenagers and young adults. Why?
First, there are lots of other acne treatments. Second, young adults above all are hurt by FOX News, which promotes right-wing policies on race, education, healthcare, the environment, and war. Let’s get our future leaders to lead the fight against FOX News!
Sign the petition to Proactiv and enter the email address of every young adult over 18 you know:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
Beyond President Obama, FOX regularly slanders nearly everyone: Democrats, unionized workers, the unemployed (including veterans and 99ers), environmentalists, feminists, blacks, Hiics, Jews, Muslims, progressives, scientists, and any other group it disagrees with.
FOX News broadcasts rightwing extremist slander, incitement to violence, political propaganda, and outright lies to promote its rightwing political agenda. This is not “news,” but rather a never-ending “war on news” – and it’s all documented in our petition.
Why would any decent company want to fund it? Tell Proactiv to stop advertising on FOX News:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
Thanks for all you do!
Bob Fertik

GLEN BECK ADMITTED in 2007, “I Am RACIST and Barack Obama is very White” THIS MAKES Boycotting FOX NEWS needed NOW

By Kevin Stoda

Dear, American supporters of the Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) news networks.

AMERICANS are getting less tolerant of your racism and stronghold on our major media.

For example, we have noted that in his 2007 TV program from FOX (See on You-Tube), Glen Beck admitted he himself was racist. Further, Beck then, in contrast to 2009, called Barrack Obama much more white than black. (Apparently, Beck now he has other nonsense to mush men’s minds.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0tgvWxC_6A

Using a major news platform to promote racism and to tell people to disrespect a whole presidential administration through mixed truths, outright lies, and xenophobia, is not to be tolerated any more.

On Democracy Now today, Amy Goodman asked Benjamin Jealous of the NAACP what he thought of Wal-Mart’s pull-out from advertising on the Glen Beck program on FOX.

NOTE: Goodman had simply asked , “The whole attack by Glenn Beck that drove this (resignation)? In your response from the NAACP to Van Jones, it says, ´The only thing more outrageous than Mr. Beck’s attack on Van Jones is the fact that there are sponsors that continue to pay him to provide this type of offensive commentary.` Do you support the continued boycott of companies like Wal-Mart of Beck’s show on Fox?”

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/8/white_house_environmental_adviser_van_jones

This is a particularly important point because Glen Beck´s HATE CAMPAIGN ON THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION led recently to a great American policy maker, Van Jones, quitting the government this week.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/06/van-jones-resigns/

Mr. Jealous said, “We certainly support them (Walmart) choosing with their dollars who they’re going to support. I mean, it’s—Glenn Beck is somebody who’s told a seven-year-old girl, a seven-year-old black girl, that he would buy her a ticket back to Africa, that she needed to go back to Africa. And then he comes out, and he says that healthcare is the beginning of reparations. I mean, this guy plays the race card on a weekly basis. He does it very aggressive—you know, in a very hateful way.”

Recall, first, that Van Jones is one of the most important and thoughtful men in America—however, the FOX (Fascist Oddball Xenophobic) news network chose to support a man, like Glen Beck, rather than seeing that tens of millions of Americans need to get health care from promoters like Jones and that our America economy needs to move starting today to the kind of economy that its competitors worldwide are already doing.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/95963/what_will_the_green_economy_look_like/

Let’s quote the wisdom and influential words of Van Jones on the absolute necessity to green the American economy NOW!

“I think it’s really important to point out that we’re sort of at the end of an era of American capitalism, where we thought we could run the economy based on consumption rather than production, credit rather than creativity, borrowing rather than building, and also, most importantly, environmental destruction rather than environmental restoration.”

Jones continued, “We’re trying to make the case in this book that that era is over. We now have to move in a very different direction. And key to that will be basing the US economy not on credit cards, but based on clean energy and the clean energy revolution that would put literally millions of people to work, putting up solar panels all across the United States, weatherizing buildings so they don’t leak so much energy and put up so much carbon, building wind farms and wave farms, manufacturing wind turbines. We argue you could put Detroit back to work not making SUVs to destroy the world, but making wind turbines, 8,000 finely machine parts in each one, twenty tons of steel in each wind tower, making wind turbines to help save the world.”

Finally, Van Jones wisely noted, “So we think that you can fight pollution and poverty at the same time. We think that you can actually power our way through this recession by putting people to work, but we’re going to have to start building things here and re-powering, retrofitting, retooling America, and that that’s the way forward both for the economy, for the earth and for everyday people.”

Note: These statements came from a program on DN from October of last year:

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/28/van_jones_on_the_green_collar

Van Beck has written a book of the same title, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems.

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061650758/The_Green_Collar_Economy/index.aspx

America needs such voices as Van Jones in government leadership in America—not Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) types.

Clean up the American airwaves of all its fascism and racism, today.

http://www.pittsburghurbanmedia.com/a-petition-against-fox-conservative-host-glenn-beck.aspx

NOTE: One way to change the noise of Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) media moguls is to support alternative media organizations

http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/index

and alternative monitoring websites.

http://americas.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/64380

Another way, is to demand that local radio and TV channels put better programming on, such as Democracy Now or news sources promoted by serious progressive journalists:

http://www.tacomapjh.org/progressive_news.htm

I’m glad I did not watch Donald Trump Interrupt Hillary Clinton 51 Times During a Super ‘Sexist’ Presidential Debate

	Donald Trump Interrupted Hillary Clinton 51 Times During ‘Sexist’ Presidential Debate
	Clinton used Trump’s swipes to address his derogatory comments towards women.
	Read full article

Which recent President increased USA debt the most? Would you believe Ronald Reagan did with his massive Defense Spending and lack of good priorities otherwise?

• Fact Check

Who Increased the Debt?

A chart from 2011 compared changes in the U.S. national debt over the last several presidencies.

Author: David Mikkelson

CLAIM: A 2011 chart compares changes in the U.S. national debt over the last several presidencies.

MOSTLY TRUE

ORIGIN:Debt is typically a major campaign issue in elections from the municipal level all the way up to the office of the President of the United States. Candidates tout their accomplishments in balancing budgets or reducing government debt as examples of fiscal prudence while pointing to increased debts during their opponents’ administrations as indicators of profligate and wasteful spending of taxpayers’ money. The chart reproduced above, which was posted to the Flickr account of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, attempted to reverse conventional political stereotypes by portraying recent Republican presidents as responsible for huge increases in the national debt, while showing recent Democratic presidents as responsible for much lower increases in the level of debt. (The chart shown above was a revised version of one prepared two weeks earlier, so we worked the numbers from the more recent version.)

As a first step in evaluating this chart, we have to determine the applicable definition of “debt.” In general, the term “public debt” (or “debt held by the public”) refers to money borrowed by the government through the issuance and sale of securities, government bonds, and bills. It includes federal debt held by all investors outside of the federal government, including individuals, corporations, state or local governments, the Federal Reserve banking system, and foreign governments. Another form of debt is “intragovernmental debt” (or “debt held by government accounts”), which refers to money that the government has borrowed from itself, such as when the U.S. government invests money from federal savings programs such as Medicare and the Social Security trust fund by buying up its own treasury securities. A variety of names have been applied to the total of these two forms of debt, including “gross federal debt,” “total public debt,” and “national debt.”

Although this chart is labeled as presenting a “percent increase in public debt,” it actually uses figures corresponding to the total described as “gross federal debt” above (i.e., a combination of debt held by the public and debt held by government accounts, rather than just the former). We checked the numbers in this chart by using (for pre-1993 years) the U.S. Treasury’s Monthly Statement of the Public Debt (MSPD), noting the total debt reported as of January 31 of each relevant year, and (for 1993 onwards) the Treasury’s The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It application, noting the total debt reported as of Inauguration Day of each relevant year.

From these records, we gleaned the following information:

Ronald Reagan:
Took office January 1981. Total debt: $848 billion
Left office January 1989. Total debt: $2,698 billion
Percent change in total debt: +218%

George H.W. Bush:
Took office January 1989. Total debt: $2,698 billion
Left office 20 January 1993. Total debt: $4,188 billion
Percent change in total debt: +55%

Bill Clinton:
Took office 20 January 1993. Total debt: $4,188 billion
Left office 20 January 2001. Total debt: $5,728 billion
Percent change in total debt: +37%

George W. Bush:
Took office 20 January 2001. Total debt: $5,728 billion
Left office 20 January 2009. Total debt: $10,627 billion
Percent change in total debt: +86%

Barack Obama:
Took office 20 January 2009. Total debt: $10,627 billion
Total debt (as of the end of April 2011): $14,288 billion
Percent change in total debt: +34%

So, as far as raw numbers go, the chart is reasonably accurate (although our calculations produced a somewhat higher debt increase for Ronald Reagan than reported). That said, however, we have to consider how valuable these numbers are; whether by themselves they present a reasonable comparative measure of presidential fiscal responsibility. In that regard, one could find a number of aspects to take issue with:

• The chart isn’t a true comparison of equals, as it includes three presidents who served two full terms (Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush), a president who served one term (George H.W. Bush), and a president who had served half a term (Obama). Obviously, the longer a president holds office the greater the opportunity for him to influence the debt, and certainly (barring a radical change in current circumstances) the increase reported for Barack Obama would be considerably higher by the time he left office.
• All presidents come into office with policies and budgets that were put into place by their predecessors in the White House and Congress, and they all pass the same along to their successors when they leave office. Therefore, determining how much of the change in debt that occurs during a given president’s administration is actually the result of his actions (rather than the consequence of factors over which he had little or no influence) would require a much more complex analysis than the one presented here.
• Which is the best measure of debt for this purpose: public debt, intragovernmental debt, or a combination of the two? As noted in the General Accounting Office’s FAQ on Federal Debt, they represent rather different concepts:
  

  Debt held by the public approximates current federal demand on credit markets. It represents a burden on today’s economy, and the interest paid on this debt represents a burden on current taxpayers. Federal borrowing from the public absorbs resources available for private investment and may put upward pressure on interest rates. Further, debt held by the public is the accumulation of what the federal government borrowed in the past and is reported as a liability on the balance sheet of the government’s consolidated financial statements.

  In contrast, debt held by government accounts (intragovernmental debt) and the interest on it represent a claim on future resources. This debt performs largely an internal accounting function. Special federal securities credited to government accounts (primarily trust funds) represent the cumulative surpluses of these accounts that have been lent to the general fund. These transactions net out on the government’s consolidated financial statements. Debt issued to government accounts does not affect today’s economy and does not currently compete with the private sector for available funds in the credit market.

• Are plain percentage changes in the national debt level a useful figure, or do they need to be placed in context to have relevance? Some would argue, for example, that the Debt-to-GDP ratio is a better measure of economic health relative to the national debt than raw debt figures alone, and a chart which tracked the change in that ratio over the last several presidencies would paint a significantly different picture of debt levels than the one displayed above.

All in all, this is a case of relatively accurate information which is of marginal value due to a lack of proper comparative context.

LAST UPDATED: 23 July 2016

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 23 January 2012

TRUTHS TO REMEMBER WHEN YOUR LEADER FALLS

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/viki2win

5 TRUTHS TO REMEMBER WHEN YOUR LEADER FALLS

This is a guest post by Lisa Whittle. She is a speaker and the author of {w}hole. You can watch the trailer for the book and download a free chapter here. You can also read Lisa’s blog and follow her on Twitter. If you want to guest post on this blog,check out the guidelines here.

The platform of a leader is often visible, broad and elevated. So when a leader falls from this place, it can be a hard fall, indeed.

I know of this experience, firsthand, as my pastor-father fell hard and fast from his visible place of mega-church leadership in the early 1990s. While the eyes of the world watched pastor scandals of famed leaders on TV, I watched one of my own unfold, inside our family home.

It was difficult and painful, on every level. But with it came some rich lessons of understanding, grace, and the value of people. It brought about insight into what every tribe member should remember when the one they follow falls.

1. Your belief in him or her was not necessarily wrong. Often, when a leader falls from their position, those who followed him or her feel duped, setup or foolish. But while we are wise to be discerning in whom we let speak into our lives, we are always to believe the best about people. This includes leaders. Even the most godly, respected leaders can fall from their position, should they allow power, wealth or influence to corrupt them.
2. You are not expected to (nor should you) take personal responsibility for them. When we choose to follow a leader, we choose to invest in their leadership. As a result, we may begin to feel like we are responsible to defend, excuse or speak for them, taking on their fall to the point where it effects us, personally. Though we can offer our support through love and grace, it is not healthy to, in any way, own their actions.
3. Your response will determine your future. Because the position of a leader elicits respect, we are influenced by their actions. For a time, this may mean that we become stagnant or discouraged, doubting our ability to make wise choices or follow trustworthy leaders. But our ability to thrive depends on what we choose next. No matter who we follow that has fallen, we have the ability to move forward, choosing well for ourselves in the future.
4. Your realistic expectation will be important. It is vital to know several things about your fallen leader, going forward. You must know that after a time of sabbatical, the leader you have followed will likely want to lead again. You must know that he or she will feel hurt and will likely attempt to self-protect. You must remember that he or she is human and expect them to respond as such, no matter the size of their platform or far their fall.
5. Your attitude toward him or her may produce change. When leaders fall, they learn to expect judgment from the watchful eyes of the world.  But they long for gracious people to believe in them again. When a leader is offered grace, it provides a measure of necessary healing to their soul, which, in turn buoys their self-esteem. A tribe member who understands this can offer his or her leader a type of leadership back by leading out in a campaign of understanding and love.

Like any other human who suffers the loss of a valued role, when a leader falls from his or her platform, they struggle to find their place. While he or she is responsible to maintain their own integrity, it is the support members of their tribe that can help them learn to stand, again, from a very public leadership fall.

Question: What have you learned in following a fallen leader? You can leave a comment byclicking here.

Why leaders need to practice compassionate accountability

from: Why leaders need to practice compassionate accountability

Lead Change Group

Leadership

Inspiring Others

Chery Gegelman is the president of Giana Consulting, an organizational development company that seeks to be a source of help, light and understanding so those they serve can more effectively accomplish their mission.

Several years ago, a friend of mine shared his business plan with me. In the middle of reviewing the plan, two statements jumped off the screen:

1. To be consistent, fair and explainable.
2. To engage with compassion and accountability.

The first statement, “To be consistent, fair and explainable,” resonated loudly as it simply and clearly stated who I hope to be.

The second statement, “To engage with compassion and accountability,” resonated with even more volume, but required more discussion and more thought. Years later, this concept still resonates at a very high level. What follows are the things I’ve come to understand:

• As humans, we will come in contact with those we immediately relate to and enjoy.
• There will be others we don’t understand well.
• And others that are prickly, annoying or even repulsive to us.

As leaders, our job is to work with beautiful and flawed humans from all three groups. People from each of these groups will make great and not-so-great contributions. Their performances will span a spectrum. And so will ours.

As leaders, it is often tempting to do what is easy for ourselves: To offer compassion to those we enjoy and to be focused only on accountability when we deal with people we don’t relate to.

But simply doing what’s easy or natural has consequences:

• If we bring compassion without accountability, our actions encourage anarchy throughout our organizations.
• If we bring accountability without compassion, our actions offer no understanding or grace for the flawed humans that we are.
• And when we swing back and forth offering one or the other depending on our individual relationships with people, we are not consistent, fair or explainable.

It is only when we bring a balance of both compassion and accountability to all of our relationships that we breathe life and credibility into our hearts, our homes, our organizations and our communities.

As a leader, I can think of times I’ve been so compassionate that I’ve been almost complacent about issues I should have addressed sooner, and other times I’ve been so focused on accountability that I did not seek first to understand why something was or was not occurring.

A few months ago, I shared this concept with a friend, who in turn had an opportunity to intentionally bring compassion and accountability to a tough conversation with a service provider that was not meeting the needs of her cognitively challenged child. She left that meeting feeling empowered and peaceful.

Compassionate Accountability:

• Two OPPOSITES that when they are linked become a vision for anyone seeking to lead at a higher level.
• Two ACTIONS that when balanced help us seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly.

**********

A recent article in Michael Hyatt’s newsletter by Lisa Whittle provides an excellent example of how to apply the concept of compassionate/accountability: 5 Truths To Remember When Your Leader Falls.

December 15, 2011

The concepts of striving to be consistent, fair and explainable and balancing compassionate/accountability are from Bev and Doug Sprague.

Tags:

accountability, compassion, Lead Change Group, leading others

On the topic of Compassionate Accountability in a World of Out of Control Drama

“It’s not about ultimatums and threats”…it is about problem solving and building relationships for the long haul.

Dr. Nate Regier’s PodCast

http://nextelementnate.podbean.com/feed/

is a great source for learning about compassionate accountability.

Nate Regier, Ph.D. | LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nateregier

Wichita, Kansas Area – ‎CEO and Co-Founding Owner, Next Element – ‎Next Element Consulting, LLC

View Nate Regier, Ph.D.’s professional profile on LinkedIn. … As CEO my purpose is to drive Next Element’s vision to be the premier global resource for training …

Next Element

next-element.com/

A description for this result is not available because of this site’s robots.txt

Learn more

Nate Regier | SUCCESS

http://www.success.com/profile/nate–regier

Jan 19, 2016 – Dr. Nate Regier is the co-founder, owner and chief executive of Next Element, a global advisory firm specializing in leadership communication.

Dr. Nate Regier on “Leading Out of Drama” – YouTube

▶ 1:05

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnl9ZBdv0p4

Mar 30, 2015 – Uploaded by NextElement1

Dr. Nate Regier on “Leading Out of Drama”. NextElement1 … 1 of 4: Dr Karpman’s lecture in Russia on his …

Dr. Nate Regier on “Compassion” – YouTube

▶ 0:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ImgcSa0GCE

Mar 30, 2015 – Uploaded by NextElement1

Dr. Nate Regier on “Compassion”. NextElement1. SubscribeSubscribedUnsubscribe 6060. Loading …

Preach, Pray or Die: PPD #25 – Dr. Nate Regier

preachprayordie.libsyn.com/ppd-25-dr–nate–regier

Dr. Nate Regier is a co-founder of Next Element Consulting, a conflict and communication consulting and mentoring firm in Newton, KS. Nate works with our …

Nate Regier, Ph.D. | SpeakerHub

https://speakerhub.com/speaker/nate–regier-phd

Fulcrum is the best word for the role Dr. Nate Regier plays as a conference keynote speaker/presenter. He literally sets the tone for an entire event or conference …

[PDF]Dr. Nate Regier CEO Next Element Consulting LLC … – Map Your Show

atd2016.mapyourshow.com/6_0/includes/_flashcheck.cfm?hasflash=true…

Apr 28, 2016 – 316.283.4200 nate@next-element.com next-element.com. Next Element Consulting, LLC, Introduces. CEO/Co-Founder Dr. Nate Regier’s New …

Can we be compassionate and accountable? Esp. if we are leaders?

Greetings from Aaron A few weeks ago I was updating several of our Certified LOD Providers with the latest version of our training curriculum and model. We spent five days together reviewing content changes, business strategy and practicing the skills we teach. Those are some of my favorite experiences. I have the opportunity to feel deep connection, I get to be active, and I learn so much. I feel blessed. I will remember that particular week for a while. In fact, I have a feeling I will remember a very specific moment during that week for a very long time. Towards the end of the week I was introducing a concept and using our props to model a situation. I volunteered to go first and demonstrate, which is our company norm. My colleague did a beautiful job playing her role and began the scenario by delivering a fantastic representation of a person in distress. My job was to demonstrate the skill we had just learned in real time. I froze. This has happened to me before and I normally recover quickly with the answer coming to me quickly and then we move on. This time I froze and I stayed frozen for longer than normal. After some painfully long silence I asked someone else to go so I could gather myself and then I jumped back in once they finished. No harm, no foul and I was assured it was a great learning experience for all. That event has stuck with me and it will continue to stick with me for a long time because the scenario we were practicing was personal. Completely unknown to my colleague at the time she delivered a phrase, one single phrase in a role play, that hit a deep place and I was temporarily stumped. I did recover and that eventful moment began a cascade of personal discoveries that I continue to explore. Stepping into the fire comes with consequences. You can get burned of course and you can also experience renewal. I think it is worth the risk. When was the last time you put yourself out there and opened up to what might happen? I would love to hear your story. Hit reply and let me know.

 

 

Something for you! What would it be like to re-frame our approach to life so that we struggled together without all of the junk…the attacking, rescuing, and giving-in? What if we counted on ourselves and each other, our best selves, in order to achieve breakthrough change at home and at work? Take a listen to this podcast to learn how Compassionate Accountability can help.

Listen to Nate Describe Compassionate Accountability

What is Compassionate Accountability?

February 29, 2016

In this interview with Dr. Nate Regier, CEO and Co-Founding owner of Next Element Consulting, he discusses the concept of Compassionate Accountability and how it can be used to improve relationships at work and home. Learn the difference between negative conflict (Drama) and positive conflict (Compassion), discover how positive conflict can be used to create amazing outcomes, and hear powerful case examples of these concepts in action.

https://www.podbean.com/media/player/audio/postId/6101435?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnextelementnate.podbean.com%2Fe%2Fwhat-is-compassionate-accountability%2F&auto=1&mini=1&skin=1

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Why Ethiopian Jews Face Increasing Discrimination and Police Brutality in Israel
	In Ethiopia, 9,000 Jews are waiting to move to Israel—but it may not be the promised land after all.
	READ FULL ARTICLE Share:

Shana tova. Happy new year.

Shana tova. Happy new year. As we take time for reflection and renewal this High Holiday season, we hope that the Gates of Repentance remain open to us and to our loved ones. While we consider our fate, our thoughts turn to the 65 million refugees and displaced people worldwide whose lives were forever altered when they fled violence and persecution in their home countries. Just as we pray to keep the Gates of Repentance open to us, we stand aware that the gates of our own country are in danger of closing to refugees. This High Holiday season, show your commitment to keeping the gates of our country open to refugees by placing a special door hanger on your door as a sign of your support. Click here to download HIAS’ High Holiday door hanger.

America simply isn’t able to Arrest its Way to Justice–Time to Move-On

Tomgram: Rebecca Gordon, Arresting Our Way to “Justice”

The figures boggle the mind.  Approximately 11 million Americans cycle through our jails and prisons each year (including a vast “pre-trial population” of those arrested and not convicted and those who simply can’t make bail).  At any moment, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, there are more than 2.3 million people in our “1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 942 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails, and 79 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons in the U.S. territories.”  In some parts of the country, there are more people in jail than at college.

If you want a partial explanation for this, keep in mind that there are cities in this country that register more arrests for minor infractions each year than inhabitants. Take Ferguson, Missouri, now mainly known as the home of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager shot and killed in 2014 by a town policeman.  The Harvard Law Review reported that, in 2013, Ferguson had a population of 22,000.  That same year “its municipal court issued 32,975 arrest warrants for nonviolent offenses,” or almost one-and-a-half arrests per inhabitant.

And then there are the conditions in which all those record–breakingnumbers of people live in our jails and prisons. At any given time, 80,000 to 100,000 inmates in state and federal prisons are held in “restrictive housing” (aka solitary confinement).  And those numbers don’t even include county jails, deportation centers, and juvenile justice institutions.  Rikers Island, New York City’s infamous jail complex in its East River, has 990 solitary cells. And keep in mind that solitary confinement — being stuck in a six-by-nine or eight-by-10-foot cell for 23 or 24 hours a day — is widely recognized as a form of psychosis-inducing torture.

And that, of course, is just to begin to explore America’s vast and ever-expanding prison universe.  The fact is that it’s hard to fathom even the basics of the American urge to lock people away in vast numbers, which is why today TomDispatch regular Rebecca Gordon focuses instead on what it might mean for justice in this country if we started to consider alternatives to prison. Tom

There Oughta Be a Law…
Should Prison Really Be the American Way?
By Rebecca Gordon

You’ve heard of distracted driving? It causes quite a few auto accidents and it’s illegal in a majority of states.

Well, this year, a brave New Jersey state senator, a Democrat, took on the pernicious problem of distracted walking. Faced with the fact that some people can’t tear themselves away from their smartphones long enough to get across a street in safety, Pamela Lampitt of Camden, New Jersey,proposed a law making it a crime to cross a street while texting. Violators would face a fine, and repeat violators up to 15 days in jail. Similar measures, says the Washington Post, have been proposed (though not passed) in Arkansas, Nevada, and New York. This May, a bill on the subject made it out of committee in Hawaii.

That’s right. In several states around the country, one response to people being struck by cars in intersections is to consider preemptively sending some of those prospective accident victims to jail. This would be funny, if it weren’t emblematic of something larger. We are living in a country where the solution to just about any social problem is to create a law against it, and then punish those who break it.

Click here to read more of this dispatch.

1. US Incarceration Rates – nap.edu‎

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2. Incarceration profiles – prisonpolicy.org‎

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3. Rates of US Incarceration – Unsustainable – lionheart.org‎

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   Support reentry and rehabilitation programs in prisons.

4. Prison and Jail Population – See how your county compares – vera.org‎

   Adtrends.vera.org/‎
   View mass incarceration trends for all states and counties in U.S. since 1970.

Search Results

Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2016 | Prison Policy Initiative

http://www.prisonpolicy.org › Reports

Mar 14, 2016 – The American criminal justice system holds more than 2.3 million people … Jail churn is particularly high because most people in jails have not …

Incarceration in the United States – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States

Wikipedia

Jump to Prison populations – Total US incarceration peaked in 2008. Total correctional population (prison, jail, probation, parole) peaked in 2007.

‎History · ‎Prison systems · ‎Prison populations · ‎Operational

United States incarceration rate – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate

Wikipedia

Jump to Prison and jail population – Total U.S. incarceration (prisons and jails) peaked in 2008. Totalcorrectional population peaked in 2007.

‎Prison and jail population · ‎Comparison with other countries · ‎Causes · ‎See also

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) – Total correctional population

http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=11

Bureau of Justice Statistics

The total correctional population includes all persons incarcerated, either in prison, … CorrectionalPopulations in the United States, 2013 U.S. CORRECTIONAL …

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) – Local jail inmates and jail facilities

http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=12

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Use of Restrictive Housing in U.S. Prisons and Jails, 2011–12 NEARLY 20 PERCENT OF PRISONAND JAIL INMATES SPENT TIME IN SEGREGATION OR …

Criminal Justice Fact Sheet | NAACP

http://www.naacp.org/…/criminal-ju…

National Association for the Advancement of Colored…

From 1980 to 2008, the number of people incarcerated in America … African Americans serve virtually as much time in prison for a drug offense (58.7 months) as …

Have you or a loved-one ever been shot while awaiting to pick up your child after school?

As a parent who has waited many times for my child to arrive home on a bus, I feel for this man and his family.–kas

BREAKING: Charlotte Police Release Two Videos of Keith Lamont Scott Shooting Death; Scott Hands at Sides, Stepping Back

SEPTEMBER  2016

WEB EXCLUSIVE

VIDEO: NBC Releases Wife’s Cellphone Footage of Police Shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte