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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday February 04 2018, @03:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the process-improvements dept.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker has ruled that Florida's system for restoration of voting and other civil rights to convicted felons is unconstitutional. Florida is likely to appeal the ruling:

A federal judge has declared unconstitutional Florida's procedure for restoring voting rights to felons who have served their time. In a strongly worded ruling seen as a rebuke of Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who is the lead defendant in the case, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said the disenfranchisement of felons who have served their time is "nonsensical" and a violation of the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Although nearly every state bars incarcerated criminals from voting, only Florida and three others — Iowa, Kentucky and Virginia — do not automatically restore voting rights at the completion of a criminal sentence.

Walker, an Obama administration appointee, decried the state's requirement that someone with a felony conviction must "kowtow" to a partisan panel, the Office of Executive Clemency, "over which Florida's governor has absolute veto authority" to regain their right to vote. "[Elected], partisan officials have extraordinary authority to grant or withhold the right to vote from hundreds of thousands of people without any constraints, guidelines, or standards," the judge said. [...] The judge cited one clemency hearing where Scott announced the panel "can do whatever we want" as evidence of its arbitrary nature.

Last month, Floridians for a Fair Democracy reached the signature threshold needed to get a constitutional amendment onto the 2018 ballot that would end the disenfranchisement of 1.5 million Floridians with past felony convictions.

Also at the Miami Herald and Orlando Sentinel:

Walker blasted Florida's process at length, writing that it makes felons "kowtow" to a board that can accept or deny their application for any reason. "A person convicted of a crime may have long ago exited the prison cell and completed probation. Her voting rights, however, remain locked in a dark crypt," Walker wrote. "Only the state has the key — but the state has swallowed it. Only when the state has digested and passed that key in the unforeseeable future, maybe in five years, maybe in 50, ... does the state, in an 'act of mercy' unlock the former felon's voting rights from its hiding place."


Original Submission

Related Stories

Bruce Reilly: Convicted Murderer Turned Lawyer and Felon Voting Rights Activist 33 comments

He Committed Murder. Then He Graduated From an Elite Law School. Would You Hire Him as Your Attorney?

Last September, a group of academics and activists gathered at Princeton University to discuss the limits of artificial intelligence in public policy. The longest debate concerned some of the most sensitive decisions in the justice system, like whether to release a person on bail or parole. Many in attendance were queasy about using algorithms to determine prison stays — not least because crime data tends to reflect racial bias. But one conference goer in particular stood out for his skepticism.

His name was Bruce Reilly. The deputy director of a New Orleans organization called VOTE, which advocates for the formerly incarcerated, Mr. Reilly is a minor celebrity in the field. He was a sounding board for the leader of the recent Florida ballot campaign that restored voting rights to up to 1.4 million former felons, and helped lead similar initiatives in Rhode Island and Louisiana. Mr. Reilly, 45, has playful eyes, weathered skin and a boyish voice, and at Princeton, he wore a dark blazer that did not appear to be his natural uniform. Though it was barely midmorning, his shirt was already threatening to decamp from his pants as he turned to address a Princeton postdoctoral researcher sitting next to him.

"Statistically," Mr. Reilly told her, "the safest person to let out of prison is a murderer." The academic, Madelyn Sanfilippo, screwed up her face in apparent disbelief. "You seem like a person who cares about statistics," Mr. Reilly continued, arguing that people convicted of lesser crimes often cycle in and out of prison, while someone serving a long sentence for murder has typically matured out of crime by the time he is released.

"That makes sense," Ms. Sanfilippo said, warming to the claim. They talked amiably for a few more minutes. When they were done, Mr. Reilly turned and whispered in my ear: "She has no idea."

Related: Virginia Court Overturns Order That Restored Voting Rights to Felons
Florida Voting Rights Restoration Process Found Unconstitutional


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:23AM (#632788)

    Not often you get to cheer on Florida :D

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by SpockLogic on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:27AM (21 children)

    by SpockLogic (2762) on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:27AM (#632790)

    Scott is a crook and should be in jail for overseeing the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history.

    --
    Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII
    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:30AM (16 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:30AM (#632791)

      Everything should be given to us for free because we demand it! Even if we're illegal! Especially if we're illegal! Only people we don't like should have to obey laws. Fuck those Nazis for daring to expect personal responsibility and/or not letting in millions of criminals just because Democrats really need the votes right now.

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @05:15AM (10 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @05:15AM (#632810)

        Personal responsibility= being born white? This is why we cannot have white supremacy! White folks just be too dumb! Here, listen to Senator Leahy: https://youtu.be/e7VrFL5XNy4 [youtu.be] So I say, let's fuck the Nazis for evading personal responsibility, and trying to claim some kind of "special" entitlement on the basis of their skin color, which is suspect, because it seems that Weev, and Anglin are Jewish, Ceronovinich is a Slav (Non-ARYRAN!!!!), and Milo is a gay half-greek jew. So even there attempt to avoid personal responsibility are fake! So I have to say again, punch a Nazi in the face, for the sake of personal responsibility! My Grandfather did, he said it was the most satisfying thing he ever did in his life. Fucking Nazis are still the enemy of America, they never surrendered, so if they pop up anywhere, punch them in the face! Repeatedly if necessary! And then cut a frigging swastika into their forehead, so that everyone will know who they are, where ever they go, even if they end up fronting Amway, Blackwater, and the Department of Education! Do not get me riled up, AC!

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @05:39AM (9 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @05:39AM (#632816)

          by all means. get riled up. no time like the present. git 'er dun.

          • (Score: 4, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday February 04 2018, @06:44AM (8 children)

            by aristarchus (2645) on Sunday February 04 2018, @06:44AM (#632834) Journal

            Damn right! So right now I am patrolling for Nazis willing to take personal responsibility for the Holocaust. If I find one that admits it, the forehead treatment should suffice. If they do not accept responsibility, and still keep spouting this "White Identity" and "Proud Boy" shit, I will have to give them a lesson in what it is like to have people who wish harm upon you only because of who you are. Only, in their case, they don't have to be, it is is choice. A stupid, racist, and ugly choice, but, hey, personal responsibility! Not like being a fuctard white supremacist is that same a being black or gay, or female, or ambidexterous. Just saying.

            • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @10:39AM (7 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @10:39AM (#632871)

              If it is OK to have black pride and black churches and a special month for black people, then it is OK to have all those things for white people. (likewise, if one is not OK then the other is not OK)

              Evidently you disagree. This makes you a racist.

              • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Bobs on Sunday February 04 2018, @12:26PM (5 children)

                by Bobs (1462) on Sunday February 04 2018, @12:26PM (#632888)

                The government / system in the USA spent ove 200 years telling black people they are lesser people, sub-human. People living today were part of the system where all that was legal.

                Seems like a relatively minor thing to then spend a bit of time staying ‘non-white people are good, too.’

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @12:35PM (4 children)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @12:35PM (#632893)

                  Not to forget shipped millions of negro slaves over in the first place.

                  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @03:52PM (2 children)

                    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @03:52PM (#632934)

                    Where would their descendants be if slavery never happened? Worse off? A question that I haven't seen asked yet... So not being racist.

                    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @06:35PM

                      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @06:35PM (#632979)

                      Yeah! White powder, bro! If only my ancestors had be kidnapped, beaten, packed in to ships where 30% fatalities were acceptable, and then treated as property for generations! We would be so much better off! But instead, they had sclep accross the Atlantic on their own, could go where they wanted, take land away from the indigenous people, get an education, vote, and build up capital and privilege for future generations! So unfair!

                      But the worse thing, the most unjust and unfair thing of all, is that my ancestors, and unfortunately myself as well, were assimilated into this thing called "white", something that only existed because it was not Negro or Injun. They, after a while, anyway, threw my ancestors in with friggin' Germans, for god's sake, and racist Brits! If only my ancestors has been slaved, we would not have to put up with the indignity of being identified with the people who slaved other people, on the basis of race. It's so embarrassing.

                    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday February 05 2018, @03:31AM

                      by Thexalon (636) on Monday February 05 2018, @03:31AM (#633127)

                      Yes, you're being racist. That's the classic expression of the racist ideology that was historically used to justify slavery. The slightly longer version of the same argument that was common from around 1500 to around 1900:

                      Those poor ignorant savages, they're so dumb they can't manage their own affairs properly, which is why we had such an easy time barging in and taking their land and their stuff. So we're going to civilize them by putting them at the bottom of our social and economic system, and when they've become wiser thanks to our white teaching methods (which involve making them work and beating them if they don't), they'll someday rise to the level of free manual laborers and menial servants rather than slaves. They'd never be quite as smart or as capable as us white folks, of course, but they'd at least not be as bad off as they were in those horrible villages and such.

                      And yes, the people who ended up on slave ships would in fact have been much better off had they been able to stay in Africa. For starters, 1/5 or so of them who boarded the boat didn't make it off the boat. And if they were part of the majority of slaves who went to the Caribbean and Brazil, something like 1/3 of new arrivals didn't survive 10 years of slavery there. Now, that does mean the slaves in the USA were probably better off than the slaves elsewhere in the Americas, but that doesn't mean that it was good to be a slave.

                      So why did you think they might have been better off in the Americas than in Africa? Well, because things suck in Africa now. But the reasons things suck in Africa now have very little to do with mistakes by Africans and a lot to do with the Europeans barging in and taking over pretty much all of Africa by force. And Europeans still largely own most of the mineral wealth of Africa, so most of the money from gold mining, oil drilling, diamonds, etc is not going to Africans.

                      --
                      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
                  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @05:15PM

                    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @05:15PM (#632958)

                    Yeah and let's not forget the assholes that rounded up the slaves and sold them (or just traded for guns and amo) to the slave ports in the first place! Those were the real White Supremacists!

              • (Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday February 06 2018, @06:33AM

                by sjames (2882) on Tuesday February 06 2018, @06:33AM (#633665) Journal

                I am not aware of a church in the U.S. that won;t let you in if you're not black. You might be the only non-black person there, but they'll let you in.

                They have black history month because the rest of the time we learn the history of white people. We could have a white history month, but other than a few banners it wouldn't be distinguishable from any other month in school.

      • (Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday February 04 2018, @07:32AM (4 children)

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Sunday February 04 2018, @07:32AM (#632843) Homepage Journal

        So many of our Dems think the way you do. They sign up illegal immigrants to vote for crooked Dem candidates. We have massive voter fraud, so many people voting who shouldn't be. Millions of them. And Crooked Hillary almost won. Disgusting!

        • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @08:26AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @08:26AM (#632844)

          We have massive voter fraud

          That's a federal felony.
          So, clearly, they're all in prison and (like Joe McCarthy) you have a list of those names.
          What's that? No names to share with us? Thought so.

          Oh, and Trump's little commission for voter suppression, headed by Kris Kobach of Kansas (KKK), completely fizzled and is now disbanded.

          U.S. President Establishes Commission on Election Integrity [soylentnews.org]
          [Previously,] After considerable investigation [years and years] and prosecution, [Kansas Secretary of State Kris] Kobach secured six convictions for voter fraud; all were cases of double voting and none would have been prevented by voter ID laws.

          -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday February 04 2018, @08:47AM (2 children)

            by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Sunday February 04 2018, @08:47AM (#632851) Homepage Journal

            Kris, in Kansas, made a beautiful list. Which a lot of the states have been using. So I invited him to lead my Commission on Election Integrity, to make an even better list. And they tried very hard to make that list. By asking the states for their information. The Social Security Numbers, the names, where they live, what party they're in. And what felonies they did. A lot of that is public, anybody can get it. We didn't even ask who they voted for. I ask people all the time, who'd you vote for? And almost all of them voted for me. That's how I know there's a lot of voter fraud going on. But we have a lot of Dem states, they're obstructionists. They told us "no." Of course they did. They'll do anything to stop us from having integrity in our elections. And we could have sued, we could have gotten bogged down in a lot of lawsuits. Which we would win. But I said, let's do this a different way. So I turned it over to my DHS, to Kirstjen Nielsen. She's a looker. And she gets things done.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @10:07AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @10:07AM (#632870)

              Within a few days, about half of the Secretaries of State told Kobach to take his request and jam it up his ass sideways.

              Most of the others had already colluded with Kobach and they should be in prison for violating their oaths of office and for fraud.

              -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

            • (Score: 5, Troll) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday February 04 2018, @11:34AM

              by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday February 04 2018, @11:34AM (#632877)

              You channel the Creamsicle Charlatan so well (save that you're coherent and can spell) it's almost scary.
              Definitely my favorite poster.

              --
              Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by KiloByte on Sunday February 04 2018, @05:07AM (3 children)

      by KiloByte (375) on Sunday February 04 2018, @05:07AM (#632806)

      On the other hand, it's interesting that the party bias among actual crooks is so strong that Ds vs Rs fight tooth-and-nail here.

      --
      Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
      • (Score: 5, Interesting) by DrkShadow on Sunday February 04 2018, @06:14AM (2 children)

        by DrkShadow (1404) on Sunday February 04 2018, @06:14AM (#632821)

        Florida has a population of 20.5 million (according to Google). Florida has a population of 1.5 million felons.

        What does it say that 1 in 13 people of your state are felons? Seems to say a _LOT_ about the law.

        • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @05:20PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @05:20PM (#632959)

          Are you saying we should change the law so so many people do not end up with felonies because it makes them feel bad? OK let's start with that pesky thing known as armed robbery, let's just class that as a misdemeanor with 60 hours of community service as maximum punishment. Aggravated assault? Why not! After all, what is more aggravating than being jailed: NOTHING! What else can we do away with? Maybe fraud, I mean there is no real victims there, as there is no such thing as private property in our Utopia. How can you be fleeced of some thing you should have no right to own in the first place! And let's do away with rapes of all kinds, that's just rough, kinky sex. And legalize all drugs. This will allow the police to focus on the real terrible crimes like bigotry and racism!

          • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 05 2018, @01:32AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 05 2018, @01:32AM (#633098)

            More likely victimless drug offenses

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Gaaark on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:39AM (10 children)

    by Gaaark (41) on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:39AM (#632795) Journal

    Anyone who commits a crime and gets caught because THEY DON'T WEAR A BELT and their pants are falling down around their ankles deserves to have to ask to get back the right to vote, I think.

    Them and anyone who says "He mah babby-daddy"....fuckingStupidPeople!!!

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @09:15AM (9 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @09:15AM (#632857)

      THEY DON'T WEAR A BELT and their pants are falling down

      Do you have any idea how that fashion trend got started?

      Hint 1: They don't let you have a belt in prison.
      Hint 2: USA has 2.3 million people in its correctional systems.
      That's more than any other country including China and India which have over 4 times USA's population.
      With 5 percent of the global population, USA has 25 percent of the world's prison inmates.
      (Do you believe that USAians are simply more criminal by nature?)
      Hint 3: 1 in 3 Black men in the USA will do time in prison.[1]
      N.B. In Maryland, the prison population is 72 percent Black.
      This is grossly disproportionate to racial demographics AKA "selective enforcement".

      [1] ...after which e.g. voting rights will be blocked and employment opportunities will be even more limited than before being imprisoned.

      So, if you start out with a 66 percent chance that you won't be railroaded into prison, why even try to make something of yourself?
      ...and why not make a political statement with the way you wear your clothing?

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Sunday February 04 2018, @01:01PM (4 children)

        by fyngyrz (6567) on Sunday February 04 2018, @01:01PM (#632902) Journal

        if you start out with a 66 percent chance that you won't be railroaded into prison, why even try to make something of yourself?
        ...and why not make a political statement with the way you wear your clothing?

        ...I can think of several reasons, not the least important of which is that doing these things is much more likely to move you into that 33%.

        If you adhere to culture that is abrasive, or perceived as abrasive, to those in power, you will be the nail that sticks up. And as the saying goes, the nail that sticks up is the one most likely to be hammed down.

        How you are treated absolutely should not be about skin color. But I can't say the same about abrasive cultural modes you choose to embrace. Some of those seem entirely appropriate as triggers for treating you this way or that way. It goes both ways: you walk into my office seeking a job and you're dressed well, I'm not concerned with it, and otherwise will at least hope that you will continue the practice. OTOH, you walk into my office dressed like you don't care if I give you a job or not, you had better believe I will carefully take that into consideration, and not in a way that will accrue to your benefit.

        It's not just how you dress or if you speak the language reasonably well. Other things, such as being well supplied with tattoos, piercings, etc. matter too. All of these things are visible manifestations of your (lack of) good judgement. That has to figure in when trying to evaluate how you're going to fit in, or not. Jobs, personal relationships, etc.

        To put it another way, if you plug yourself into a highly obvious, easily identified subculture, you can reasonably expect that specific subculture to accept you, and others, not so much. So if your chosen subculture doesn't offer desirable employment and/or whatever other good things in life you want, perhaps you should rethink your choice(s.)

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:34PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @04:34PM (#632946)

          OTOH, you walk into my office dressed like you don't care if I give you a job or not, you had better believe I will carefully take that into consideration, and not in a way that will accrue to your benefit.

          This is why I own my own business: To avoid dealing with shallow corporate rules. Why not just evaluate the candidate's skills rather than relying on shallow dress codes? Maybe they don't have the same sense of style that typical business environments ask of them. Maybe they don't like being mindless slaves who dress the way others want them to. Maybe they don't care about such aesthetics at all. In any case, none of it means they don't have the comprehension to do the job properly. None of it even so much as indicates such a thing. Plenty of con men and liars in general are able and willing to meet or exceed these dress codes, so good luck.

          • (Score: 4, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Sunday February 04 2018, @08:44PM

            by fyngyrz (6567) on Sunday February 04 2018, @08:44PM (#633017) Journal

            Why not just evaluate the candidate's skills rather than relying on shallow dress codes?

            Because how the person dresses is a highly visible flag of the person's mindset. You walk in wearing a Hell's Angel vest, we're going to take a signal from that. Likewise if you dress like a ghetto thug, or you smell really bad, or your hair is a mass of grease and knots.

            And there's no "rather", it's "and": of course we evaluate the candidate's skills.

            There's an entire raft of things that are unfairly applied in most operation's candidate testing that should not be: many of them have to do with history, which is past and most likely should be ignored in favor of an in-the-present skills evaluation; others are age, sex, family headcount, that sort of thing.

            Yet when you walk into an interview, how your dress, your manners, your level of cooperation all present – all of this is you as you are now and that's where we start. Do we want this person representing the face of the business? Will other people be able to stand being next to this person all day? Will business partners be put off by this person?

            These things all have real-life consequences, potentially financial ones, and so mistakes made here can impact everyone who works for the business. If an account or a relationship may be lost or damaged because we've got someone toxic on staff, that's going to matter. Not taking it into account is simply irresponsible to everyone else affected by the business.

            If your personal "thing" is so important to you – or everyone else's is so unimportant to you – then you need to be prepared to go it on your own, because your "thing" has made you less important to them as well. Society is very much synonymous with interaction, the smoother the better. And business exists grounded in the smooth operation of society. If you intentionally throw sand in the gears, people will take cues from that, and to expect otherwise is either blind or stupid.

            Maybe they don't have the same sense of style that typical business environments ask of them.

            Then they're going to negatively affect relations with other businesses on that same level if they're publicly exposed so it matters. Can you seriously not understand that?

            Maybe they don't like being mindless slaves who dress the way others want them to.

            As an employee, your whole thing is to do what others expect you to do. If you can't even manage that in an interview, why would it make any sense at all to expect that you would in the office, the lab, the field?

            Maybe they don't care about such aesthetics at all.

            Then they are going to be a problem unless they can be hidden off in a closet somewhere. Pretending there is no social aspect to a business in the lab, the office, the field is just disingenuous nonsense. If you look/smell/sound/act like a problem, the business takes a hit or hits, and so do your interactions within it.

            Plenty of con men and liars in general are able and willing to meet or exceed these dress codes, so good luck.

            That's a strawman. There is no distinction to be made by dress for "con men and liars", nor did I say there was one. But that doesn't mean there aren't other consequential distinctions to be made – and in fact, there are.

        • (Score: 2) by number11 on Sunday February 04 2018, @06:00PM (1 child)

          by number11 (1170) Subscriber Badge on Sunday February 04 2018, @06:00PM (#632962)

          if you plug yourself into a highly obvious, easily identified subculture, you can reasonably expect that specific subculture to accept you, and others, not so much.

          There's truth in that. Such subcultures include "asshole corporate shill" and "bankster thief". As Woodie Guthrie sang, "some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen." It may just be me, but I find the former more honorable (though scarier) than the latter. Of course if you want to be a monkey, you have to ape the higher-status ones.

          It's interesting that among my younger (that is to say, born in the 1960s or later) relatives and acquaintances, piercings and tattoos have become the norm. These are mostly white, middle-class college grads. Me, I'm an old fart, I think that unless you can get proper coherent yazuka style tats, they just make you look like a bulletin board with random cartoons thumbtacked. But at least they don't make you look like a bankster defrauding people.

          • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Sunday February 04 2018, @08:52PM

            by fyngyrz (6567) on Sunday February 04 2018, @08:52PM (#633018) Journal

            Such subcultures include "asshole corporate shill" and "bankster thief".

            Yes. And racists, jingoists, violent radicals, and so on.

            The smart ones hide well. The others don't, and that makes them somewhat easier to avoid. And they should be avoided whenever possible. So paying attention to easily visible and currently present flags carried in by the individual to the interview process is one way to clear the decks of the obvious ones.

            When someone interviews with me, they start fresh. But that doesn't mean they can't start badly.

      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday February 04 2018, @01:14PM

        by Gaaark (41) on Sunday February 04 2018, @01:14PM (#632906) Journal

        Yes I know the origins, but stupid does stupid.... A smart criminal (black, yellow, Neapolitan coloured, doesn't matter) plans an op and MINIMALLY WEARS A BELT!

        If your going to rob a place, you don't show them your ID first or yell your name and address, so why would you not temporarily put on a belt? Because 'political statement'?!?

        Stupid does stupid, smart doesn't get caught.

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
      • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by wisnoskij on Sunday February 04 2018, @09:22PM (2 children)

        by wisnoskij (5149) <{jonathonwisnoski} {at} {gmail.com}> on Sunday February 04 2018, @09:22PM (#633029)

        America is simply the only developed nation with such a high number of blacks. The crime rate of blacks in america falls right in the middle of other nations like Nigeria and Ethiopia. The crime rate of whites in america falls right in the middle of Norway and Sweden pre-refugees. We find that internationally, you can predict a group's crime rate very accurately with nothing but a racial makeup. Their is no evidence that this can be changed significantly taken as a whole statistically. Social economic status can have an effect, as well as a hundred other things, but these other variable show little to no correlation taken singularly.

        • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday February 05 2018, @02:39AM

          by Reziac (2489) on Monday February 05 2018, @02:39AM (#633116) Homepage
          --
          And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
        • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 05 2018, @03:50AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 05 2018, @03:50AM (#633128)

          Clearly, you don't comprehend the concept of selective enforcement.

          When USA.gov "outlawed" slavery via the 13th Amendment, they left in a giant loophole:
          Slavery in prisons was specifically excluded.

          So, now the White Ownership Class, which had previously owned these humans, had to figure out a way to get their labor again at a cost below the market value of White workers and even below the labor rate of free Black men.

          That's when "vagrancy" became a thing.
          You're Black and you can't prove that you have an employer and you don't have $20 on you?
          You are a vagrant. That's a crime.

          You will now be tried (by a White judge), convicted (for sure), and imprisoned.
          The state, via the warden of the prison, will now contract out your labor to the White Ownership Class and you get none of the money.
          Pretty neat system, huh?
          Some called it "Jim Crow".
          Author Douglas A. Blackmon calls it Slavery by Another Name. [google.com]

          You're Black and you're in the wrong part of town after dark?
          That's a crime.
          Rinse and repeat for every racist thing you can think of and you see why the Black "crime rate" is high.

          .
          Move on to modern day Ferguson, Missouri.
          A Black teen is walking somewhere other than on the side of the road.

          If that was a White kid, the cop would write him a ticket and move on, or scold him and move on--or, most likely, just ignore the "crime".
          Instead, the cop uses his police-issue SUV as a weapon and assaults the Black teen with it.
          The cop shoots at the Black teen--mostly at the teen's back--emptying his 10-round magazine and finally killing his victim for jaywalking.

          Seeing yet why the Black "crime rate" is so high in USA?

          -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @06:25AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @06:25AM (#632824)

    Seems like the straights have lost. The criminalization of a common weed is about to be rescinded. Millions of Americans who were criminals only because of this weed are now looking for revenge. This is all Nixon's fault, and thus puts the target directly on the ass of the Republican Party! Republicans are finished as a national party, and their alt-light-up Libertarian fellow travellers (never heard that a Libertarian is just a Republican that smokes pot? Oh, and engages in perverse sex) are finished, too. Time to bring back the Whigs! Real conservatives! Fiscal responsibility, none of this deficit for tax cuts for the rich, or spending for Mercenary forces that provide pork for their own districts! Real conservatives! Real dead and near mythological conservatives! Unicorn conservatives.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Sunday February 04 2018, @12:31PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday February 04 2018, @12:31PM (#632891) Journal

      What if Florida, typically regarded as a battleground state, voted for Democratic Party Presidents and Senators consistently? That's what's at stake here. If the constitutional ballot measure passes, this could be wrapped up by 2020.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
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