Charlie Pierce:
You know who in the media really created He, Trump? Anyone who laughed at Ronald Reagan's casual relationship with the truth and with empirical reality. Anyone who blew off Iran-Contra. Anyone who draped C-Plus Augustus in a toga after 9/11. Anyone who cast Newt Gingrich as a serious man of ideas. Anyone who cast Paul Ryan as an economic savant, that's who. Anyone who wrote admiring profiles of how shrewd Lee Atwater and Karl Rove were. Anyone who put Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck on the cover of national magazines based simply on their ratings. Anyone who put Matt Drudge on a public-affairs program. Anyone who watched the conservative movement, the only animating force the Republican party has, drive the party further and deeper into madness, they are the ones who share the blame. He, Trump merely has taken the bark off ideas that were treated as legitimate for far too long by far too many people, most of whom don't really give a damn about the plight of the vanishing middle class except for its use as fuel for rage-based, self-destructive politics.
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Bail Practices Just One Way Justice System Gives Alaska Natives the Shaft
More than a fourth of Alaska’s inmates haven’t been convicted of a crime. They are arrested and cannot make bail and so wait in jail for trial. Since Alaska Natives tend to make less money—Native villages have some of the lowest average incomes in the nation—they have a harder time making bail and spend more time waiting.
Defendants stuck in jail face a huge disadvantage. Their lawyers must make difficult, time-consuming visits just to meet them. For overworked public defenders, the meetings are usually about pleading guilty.
If you can’t make bail, pleading guilty is often the quickest way to get out of jail, regardless of whether you committed the crime. [...]
In Alaska, the average pre-trial detainee spends 44 days in jail for non-violent felonies, and 16 days for violent misdemeanors. If you’re poor, a judge’s discretion on bail can decide your fate.
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TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2010—Insurers Say They Don't Have to Cover Sick Kids Yet:
The NYT's Robert Pear continues coverage of the key story coming out of last week's passage and signing of health insurance reform: the contention by insurers that a key part of the law that is supposed to take effect immediately will not. That is, they are asserting that the provision that prevents them from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions--intended to begin with policies that begin on or after Sept. 23, 2010--doesn't do that at all. |
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin rounds up news: Susan Sarandon says a thing; superdelegates still at issue for Dems. Monte Frank announces the new Team 26 Sandy Hook Ride on Washington. FL enables more #GunFAIL. GOP delegate selection intrigue!
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