Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Why the 'Joker' Gun Violence Protests Miss the Mark








Reader Supported News
03 October 19
It's Live on the HomePage Now:
Reader Supported News

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Why the 'Joker' Gun Violence Protests Miss the Mark
A still from the film 'Joker.' (photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, The Hollywood Reporter
Abdul-Jabbar writes: "To him, we are all amoral sleeper agents awaiting the secret code word to awaken us to selfish violence. Yet, even if the universe is indifferent, most people are not."
READ MORE

Protesters who support President Trump's impeachment rallied outside of the Capitol last week. (photo: Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times)
Protesters who support President Trump's impeachment rallied outside of the Capitol last week. (photo: Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times)



Trump Calls for China to Investigate Bidens; Former Ukraine Envoy Testifies on Capitol Hill
John Wagner and Felicia Sonmez, Bloomberg
Excerpt: "President Donald Trump on Thursday called on both Ukraine and China to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter in relation to the younger Biden's business dealings during the tenure of the former vice president."
READ MORE

Members of the U.S. military install multiple tiers of concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande near the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas, in November. (photo: Eric Gay/AP)
Members of the U.S. military install multiple tiers of concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande near the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas, in November. (photo: Eric Gay/AP)

Trump Also Wanted US Forces Equipped With Bayonets at Border
Olivia Messer, The Daily Beast
Excerpt: "In addition to a border-wall moat that could be filled with dangerous reptiles and for U.S. forces to shoot approaching migrants in their legs, President Trump also told aides last year that he wanted U.S. border forces to be armed with bayonets to block people from crossing the border from Mexico."
READ MORE

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. (photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty)
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. (photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty)

IRS: Sorry, but It's Just Easier and Cheaper to Audit the Poor
Paul Kiel, ProPublica
Kiel writes: "The IRS audits the working poor at about the same rate as the wealthiest 1%. Now, in response to questions from a U.S. senator, the IRS has acknowledged that's true but professes it can't change anything unless it is given more money."
READ MORE

New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor, center, and Megan Twohey appear in conversation with The Washington Post's Bob Woodward to discuss their new book, 'She Said,' at Sixth & I synagogue Wednesday. (photo: Ari Strauss/IG)
New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor, center, and Megan Twohey appear in conversation with The Washington Post's Bob Woodward to discuss their new book, 'She Said,' at Sixth & I synagogue Wednesday. (photo: Ari Strauss/IG)

Bob Woodward Heckled for Pushing 'She Said' Authors to Explain Weinstein's Motivations
Lisa Bonos and Emily Yahr, The Washington Post
Excerpt: "It seemed like the perfect combination of three Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalists: the Washington Post's Bob Woodward interviewing the New York Times's Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey on Wednesday about their best-selling book, 'She Said,' a deep dive into their investigation of sexual assault and harassment allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein."
READ MORE

Demonstrators at a protest rally over unemployment, corruption and poor public services in Baghdad. (photo: Thaier al-Sudani/Reuters)
Demonstrators at a protest rally over unemployment, corruption and poor public services in Baghdad. (photo: Thaier al-Sudani/Reuters)

Iraq Protests: Death Toll Rises to 20 as Unrest Spreads
Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "The death toll from three days of mass anti-government protests in Iraq has risen to 20, with hundreds more wounded as authorities imposed curfew in several cities and cut internet access across much of the country to quell unrest."
READ MORE

Critics of the Trump administration's war on science participated in the 2017 March for Science in cities across the country. (photo: Molly Adams)
Critics of the Trump administration's war on science participated in the 2017 March for Science in cities across the country. (photo: Molly Adams)

Trump Administration's War on Science Has Hit 'Crisis Point,' Experts Warn
Oliver Milman, Guardian UK
Milman writes: "The treatment of science by the Trump administration has hit a 'crisis point' where research findings are manipulated for political gain, special interests are given improper influence and scientists are targeted for ideological reasons, a nonpartisan taskforce of former government officials has warned."

excerpt:
The taskforce, formed under the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, cites the recent “sharpiegate” scandal, in which Trump erroneously claimed a hurricane would hit Alabama, subsequently holding up a doctored map. Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were reportedly pressured to back the president or face being fired.
In another case, economists at the Department of Agriculture were relocated after they published findings showing the Trump administration’s trade policies would harm farmers. Meanwhile, the Department of Interior reassigned a climate scientist to an accounting role after he warned about the impact of global heating on Arctic communities.
At the Environmental Protection Agency, scientific advisory boards have been redrawn to include more industry representatives. The EPA’s leadership also told scientists to reverse their findings in a report that showed the economic benefits to protecting wetlands from pollution, while suppressing a separate study that found a far greater threat is posed by a toxic chemical in water than previously thought.









Comments