Quote 56
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Posted 1 year ago
I find it puzzling that NPR objects to my exercising my rights as an American citizen — the right to free speech, the right to peaceable assembly — on my own time in my own life. I’m not an NPR employee. I’m a freelancer. NPR doesn’t pay me. I’m also not a news reporter. I don’t cover politics. I’ve never brought a whiff of my political activities into the work I’ve done for NPR World of Opera. What is NPR afraid I’ll do — insert a seditious comment into a synopsis of Madame Butterfly?

NPR freelancer Lisa Simeone • Discussing her firing as the freelance host of two NPR music shows, Soundprint and World of Opera, for playing spokesperson for Occupy DC. We can to some degree see her point, but … this is NPR we’re talking about here. They’ve had to fight off two pretty significant controversies in the past twelve months, and they’ve approached them with some hardcore seriousness. So, yes, while the Occupy movement has nothing to do with opera, she’s also working with what’s perhaps the organization that needs to walk on eggshells the most regarding ethics scandals. Say what you will Lisa — you do have some valid points — but you should’ve been aware of how NPR would’ve handled this based on what happened with Juan Williams. (via shortformblog)

This is actually why I haven’t been posting on here as much lately. As I’ve recently been told, taking part in any kind of political activity hurts your reputation as a journalist. For instance, blogging about my political beliefs seriously puts my job prospects in jeopardy when I graduate - which is why I’ve stopped posting here. I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do with this blog instead (though it’ll probably just shift to less political commentary and more news).

While it does suck that journalists aren’t allowed to do things like this - whether it’s support the Occupy movement or contribute to a political campaign - it is a necessary evil. I see the need to not show your political affiliations as a working journalist. It’s just more professional. And sure it sucks, but that’s what it’s about - being unbiased. When it comes down to it, it’s more for the safety of the newspapers/news organizations I suppose, but it’s still a good practice.

via shortformblog
Link 3
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Posted 1 year ago

How can I make this better for you?

justinreadsthenews:

I haven’t been posting as much as I should, and partially that’s because I’ve been swamped with homework this semester, but I can get over that now that I’m getting more in the swing of things and I know how to balance everything since I’ve been back at school for a bit.

Now, I have a question for you - how can I make this blog better for you? I never really know exactly what I should post other than current events - I’m trying to focus, and I wanted your help with that.

Lots of blogs on Tumblr focus on current events. What I’d like to do is to focus on something that you all seem to be most interested in. What do you want to see from me?

The link above is to my ask box - feel free to tell me what I should be writing. Also, if you have any questions for me, feel free to ask! I’ll always answer to the best of my ability.

Thanks for reading, and I hope I can make this blog into something that can be enjoyed by all of my followers!

via justinreadsthenews
Link 3
Notes
Posted 1 year ago

How can I make this better for you?

I haven’t been posting as much as I should, and partially that’s because I’ve been swamped with homework this semester, but I can get over that now that I’m getting more in the swing of things and I know how to balance everything since I’ve been back at school for a bit.

Now, I have a question for you - how can I make this blog better for you? I never really know exactly what I should post other than current events - I’m trying to focus, and I wanted your help with that.

Lots of blogs on Tumblr focus on current events. What I’d like to do is to focus on something that you all seem to be most interested in. What do you want to see from me?

The link above is to my ask box - feel free to tell me what I should be writing. Also, if you have any questions for me, feel free to ask! I’ll always answer to the best of my ability.

Thanks for reading, and I hope I can make this blog into something that can be enjoyed by all of my followers!

Text
Posted 1 year ago

fuckyeahshitkatelikes replied to your post: On Troy Davis

Thank you for this. You put my thoughts into words, and I couldn’t agree more. You should look into the Innocence Project and the Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

I have, and I think I’m going to get more involved with them. I just hope we all can make a difference - there’s no reason for this barbaric institution to remain.

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Posted 1 year ago
johnishate: Welcome to the South. Zoom

johnishate:

Welcome to the South.

via mohandasgandhi
Text 14
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Posted 1 year ago

On Troy Davis

I doubt I’ll say anything that hasn’t been said already, so if you don’t want to read this, feel free to scroll on by. But I had to say something. This had a huge effect on me. I wanted to write this last night, but I was too upset about his execution.

Let me begin by saying that this issue is bigger than politics. I saw conservatives on Twitter calling for Davis’ death, and calling out liberals for supporting him.

A human life is not part of a political debate. It’s disgusting that in many cases, it came down to that last night.

In addition, there was so much reason to doubt that he was guilty. But we all knew that. That’s why there were demonstrators. That’s why there were bloggers. That’s why there was media coverage. That’s why he made a difference. Because he was innocent and he knew it, and he had something to say.

Another man was killed last night, a case that was much less known, because that man was actually guilty. Lawrence Russel Brewer was a white supremacist who killed a black man in a horrific murder. While it as evident that he was guilty, the father of the victim of the crime called for Brewer not to be executed. “You can’t fight murder with murder,” he said.

He has the right idea.

I could go on and on about why Troy Davis was probably executed. How it was essentially a legal lynching. How racial inequality is alive and well in this country. I could throw numbers at you, like the fact that unemployment for African-Americans is double the national average and that a black man from a low-income family is more likely to end up in prison than in college. For Troy Davis, it wasn’t about innocence or guilt - it was about the color of his skin.

Through this case, it’s easy to see that now more than ever we are powerless. Demonstrators around the world supported Troy Davis. He was killed anyway. Despite the protests. Despite the petitions. Despite the lack of evidence.

That’s why this has to stop.

I’m about to depart from my regular news/political commentary and get philosophical, which is one of my favorite pastimes but rarely makes it on my blog. Please, bear with me.

Who are we as human beings to judge who deserves to live and who deserves to die? We don’t have that right. Regardless of what anyone has done, we are not the ones who can make the decision about someone else’s life. Not me, not you, not your neighbor, and not the goddamn president of the United States.

No matter what someone does, we cannot decide that they deserve to die. If you believe murder is wrong and believe the death penalty is right, you are a fucking hypocrite. End of story. You cannot fight murder with murder. Not to mention it’s just a bad idea, After all, what kind of people would give their government permission to kill them based on weak evidence? It’s just not smart.

So please, don’t forget Troy Davis. Don’t forget that feeling of anger. I know that I won’t. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, but something has to be done. Something has to change, because I can’t stand living in a country like this anymore.

One more thing to note. Another execution is set for tonight, and in this case, even the judge that sentenced the man to death is requesting that he isn’t killed. So far, the state of Alabama is going through with it. In this case, the prisoner is black, and the victim was white.

We have to stop the death penalty. We have to stop allowing the U.S. government to legally kill its citizens. We have to stop sending innocent people to die, because one innocent person dead is too many. We have to realize that we aren’t the ones to judge who lives and who dies.

We have to stop fighting murder with murder.

Quote 373
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Posted 1 year ago
I have yet to see a death case among the dozens coming to the Supreme Court on eve-of-execution stay applications in which the defendant was well represented at trial… People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg (via absurdlakefront)
via soupsoup
Link
Posted 1 year ago

Live Stream of the demonstration in Georgia

A 16-year-old just talked about why he supports Troy Davis.

This is extremely important. Going to do a huge post on what I think of this situation, probably tomorrow morning.

Thanks to itsthemusicpeople for the link.

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Posted 1 year ago
This. Zoom

This.

(Source: mgolladwyne)

via technipol
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Posted 1 year ago

I'm asking for a favor, Tumblr

thepoliticalnotebook:

psydoctor8:

In repsonse to aatombomb’s and approachingsignificance’s post about Troy Davis, I propose we DO SOMETHING about it that takes 30 seconds.

We’ve all seen Tumblr do some amazing things ranging from donating thousands of dollars to friends in need, raising tens of thousands for countries who faced disaster to finding a place for friends to live, finding them a job or just giving moral support everyday. I’m not asking for money, but how about signing a petition that may save an innocent man from the death penalty?

From the Innocence Project:

Davis was convicted almost exclusively on the basis of eyewitness identification testimony, which has been shown through DNA exonerations and thousands of academic studies to be unreliable. Seven of the nine witnesses who testified at his trial have since recanted and strong evidence points to another person as the real perpetrator in the case. 

The only man that can stop the execution scheduled for tonight, September 21 at 7pm, is GA District Attorney Chisolm and he needs to hear from us asap.  And so does Mr. Davis.

Sign here. Reblog. Thanks.

Done. Signed. 

I don’t usually reblog these kinds of things, but this is extremely important and literally took me 30 seconds to sign. Don’t even say you don’t have 30 seconds to sign a petition that could help save someone’s life. 

via thepoliticalnotebook