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Miami Cop Shoots and Kills Homeless Man in a Park in Front of Dozens of Kids- reminder


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A Miami police officer shot and killed a homeless African-American man in front of up to 60 witnesses including children attending summer camp. Police officials said the violent suspect refused to drop a metal pipe he was holding. Miami Police Chief Rodolfo Llanes said officers were responding to a report of a violent dispute on Thursday morning. He said several dozen people were in Gibson Park, many of them children, who may have witnessed the events that unfolded. “I understand the anxiety that’s been created across the country from police-citizen interactions, but I would ask that everyone, wait for the facts of the case and not make up your own story,” Llanes told reporters. “We will know what the facts of the case are.” The chief added that the officer involved in the shooting, who is a 20-year veteran of the department, will be reassigned to administrative duties pending the…

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Blue Cross rejecting payments for HIV/AIDS medication

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Mike Reitz: Stop AIDS discrimination by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana.

    By Robert Darrow

            Shreveport, Louisiana
Due to a new policy from Louisiana’s largest health insurer, hundreds of people living with HIV and AIDS are in danger of losing access to essential medication.BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana (BCBSLA) is rejecting checks from a federal program designed to help these patients pay for AIDS drugs and insurance premiums and has begun notifying customers that their enrollment in its Obamacare plans will be discontinued because it will no longer accept “third-party payments.” This funding was established through the Ryan White CARE Act of 1990 which has been crucial to ensuring that those living with HIV and AIDS can gain access to the medication they need.Several months ago, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) encouraged health plans to stop accepting “third-party payments,” but this weekend (February 8th), CMS stated unequivocally that “federal rules do not prevent the use of Ryan White funds to pay for health care plans.” BCBSLA said it is “reviewing and considering this new information,” but we need commitments to help save and extend hundreds of lives in Louisiana.

As someone living with AIDS who helped found the local organization in Shreveport that oversees Ryan White funding, I know these funds change lives — and I’m afraid that if BCBSLA gets away with denying this coverage, other insurers across the country could follow suit. Please join me in tell BCBSLA to accept federal funding for people living with HIV and AIDS and to stop this discrimination.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Abusive & Racist Language Degrades Us All


I am taking a stand for civility.

In March of 2010, we saw people with signs acting as if not only had they lost their minds but were transported back to a time when no person of colour wants, will go or be forced to accept in the 21st century. There is no place in our political discourse for the abusive, derogatory and racist language used against or by our members of Congress yet since the overwhelming GOP vote in 2010 a group called the TeaParty has decided racial activism is the only way to win .  We have seen a generation prove that primitive behavior that I call hate speech has been given a pass by judges on all levels the first amendment is being misused abused by those in positions of power. I want justice for what is clearly racist hate speech, that used to be treated and prosecuted accordingly.  Now, we see those with privilege acting out and getting away with using nasty ugly words we all know are racist offensive threats to the lives of the President.  There are folks making ugly threats, hopefully our secret service, FBI and CIA visit the homes of people who keep feeling their words of hate are covered by the first amendment … No one has the right to make threats of bodily harm to any human being no matter what race creed or ethnic origin

This sort of language degrades us all and undermines our democratic process.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio …


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Rights Versus Resources in the Amazon


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Rights Versus Resources in the Amazon

Texaco oil well in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Tar sands, hydraulic fracking, deep water drilling. All are examples that we are living in the age of extreme oil. With most major reserves of traditional crude found or tapped, the industry is encroaching into some of the most geologically-complicated, environmentally-risky and socially-conflictive terrain than ever before. As the price of crude hovers at $100, companies are eager to get at what was once impossible crude, much to the peril of people and the planet.

In some cases, this means pursuing non-conventional sources of oil, once technologically or financially out of reach, but now lucrative, despite being more energy intensive to extract than the final crude produced. In other cases, this means attempting to access “shut in” reserves – oil fields trapped by local resistance or above-ground ecological importance.

There is no greater example of this clash than what is playing out in the forests of Ecuador’s Amazon. There is a new oil boom underway, fuelled by the country’s rising debt, China’s energy demands, Ecuador’s leftist government’s plans to finance its “citizen’s revolution”, and the massive increase in public spending with expanded drilling.

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