This is the beat the beat we fight to!!

drugpolicyreform:

Wading into the debate over stop-and-frisk police tactics, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to ask legislators on Monday for a change in New York State law that would drastically reduce the number of people who could be arrested for marijuana possession as a result of police stops.
The governor will call for the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana in public view, administration officials said. Advocates of such a change say the offense has ensnared tens of thousands of young black and Latino men who are stopped by the New York City police for other reasons but after being instructed to empty their pockets, find themselves charged with a crime.
In this case, the governor would be acting against the wishes of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and in spite of a September directive from the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, who instructed officers not to arrest people who take small amounts of marijuana out of their pockets or bags after being stopped by the police.
Though the governor’s legislation does not address the high number of stops by the police, it would take aim at what many black and Hispanic lawmakers as well as advocacy groups say has been one of the most damaging results of the aggressive police tactics: arrest records for young people who have small amounts of marijuana in their pockets.
“For individuals who have any kind of a record, even a minuscule one, the obstacles are enormous to employment and to education,” said Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “When it’s really a huge number of kids in the community who go through this, and all have the same story, the impact is just devastating.”
The police in New York City made 50,684 arrests last year for possession of a small amount of marijuana, more than for any other offense, according to an analysis of state data by Harry G. Levine, a sociologist at Queens College. The arrests continued — one in seven arrests made in the city was for low-level marijuana possession — even as Commissioner Kelly issued his directive.
(Read more)

Wading into the debate over stop-and-frisk police tactics, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to ask legislators on Monday for a change in New York State law that would drastically reduce the number of people who could be arrested for marijuana possession as a result of police stops.

The governor will call for the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana in public view, administration officials said. Advocates of such a change say the offense has ensnared tens of thousands of young black and Latino men who are stopped by the New York City police for other reasons but after being instructed to empty their pockets, find themselves charged with a crime.

In this case, the governor would be acting against the wishes of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and in spite of a September directive from the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, who instructed officers not to arrest people who take small amounts of marijuana out of their pockets or bags after being stopped by the police.

Though the governor’s legislation does not address the high number of stops by the police, it would take aim at what many black and Hispanic lawmakers as well as advocacy groups say has been one of the most damaging results of the aggressive police tactics: arrest records for young people who have small amounts of marijuana in their pockets.

“For individuals who have any kind of a record, even a minuscule one, the obstacles are enormous to employment and to education,” said Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “When it’s really a huge number of kids in the community who go through this, and all have the same story, the impact is just devastating.”

The police in New York City made 50,684 arrests last year for possession of a small amount of marijuana, more than for any other offense, according to an analysis of state data by Harry G. Levine, a sociologist at Queens College. The arrests continued — one in seven arrests made in the city was for low-level marijuana possession — even as Commissioner Kelly issued his directive.

(Read more)

(via ikenbot)

16 seconds ago -

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Obama campaign to media: Stop letting Romney off the hook

ryking:

Mitt Romney: “Massachusetts ranked 47th in job creation under me because I inherited a bad economy.”

Barack Obama: “I inherited a bad economy too. The second worst economic downturn in America — and the world — since the Great Depression.”

Mitt Romney: “Inheriting a bad economy is no excuse, you socialist Kenyan!”

Media: “Mr. President, why are you making excuses?”

11 minutes ago -

7

Where oppression comes from

amodernmanifesto:

EVERYWHERE WE turn, we find evidence of a society where people are mistreated based on various physical, sexual (or sexual preference), linguistic, age and national characteristics.

— An exonerated Black man in Chicago, who had spent 15 years in prison, goes to a car dealership, puts $20,000 down for a car and is given the runaround by employees, who claim to lose his application. After the man sees the application on a desk and raises a complaint, the police are called in, and they Taser and arrest him.

— An 11-year-old boy in Springfield, Mass., hangs himself with an extension cord after being bullied all year by his school peers for acting “feminine.”

— A restaurant manager in Silver Springs, Md., explaining that his restaurant is a “family establishment,” asks two lesbian women to leave after they hug each other.

— An immigrant mother from Oaxaca has her newborn taken away from her by a judge in Pascagoula, Miss., because she cannot speak English, and this makes her “unfit.”

— The advertisements for a new film includes the phrase, “Deaf girls never hear you coming”—making a joke out of both rape and hearing impairment.

13 minutes ago -

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(Source: hummelsonesque, via communitythings)

(Source: meme-meme)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Oh Tobias XD

(via thebluthcompany)

28 minutes ago -

1317

(via oestranhomundodek)

30 minutes ago -

6127

thefilmfatale:

PAPER PROMETHEUS

If a trailer made entirely out of paper isn’t even enough to make you go watch Prometheus, you need to seriously reevaluate your life. This is the most awesome video I’ve seen.

33 minutes ago -

6

Me:	Ugh, why isn't my pizza done yet?
Mom:	It's been in for three minutes. Just wait.
Me:	I DID MY WAITING!
Mom:	Oh, god, not again.
Me:	TWELVE YEARS OF IT!
Mom:	Every time.
Me:	IN AZKABAN!

35 minutes ago -

30130

azspot:

Top Presidential Campaign Donors

(via seriouslyamerica)

41 minutes ago -

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