Civil & Human Rights

Some people cling to the belief that Eric Garner was killed by everything but the cops who killed him

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Steve King

Rep. Steve King (R-NY) told CNN that Eric Garner’s death was caused by his obesity and not by the choke hold administered by five Staten Island cops.

“You had a 350-pound person who was resisting arrest. The police were trying to bring him down as quickly as possible,” King said in an appearance on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” “If he had not had asthma and a heart condition and was so obese, almost definitely he would not have died from this. The police had no reason to know he was in serious condition.”

The confrontation between Pantaleo and Garner was also caught on video that showed Garner repeatedly telling the officer he couldn’t breathe. King said police hear that kind of thing all the time.

“But if you can’t breathe, you can’t talk,” he argued.

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Strike Fast Food

Fast Food Workers #FightFor15 & Strike Today Nationwide

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Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has organized another fast food strike today, December 4 in Tucson and around the country. This is the third nationwide fast food strike in a year, with one in December 2013 and one in September 2014. Protesters, strikers, and supporters will meet around 12:30 at Casa Maria,  401 E 26th … Read more

Republican senator signals the return of SB1062 under, you guessed it, the banner of Hobby Lobby

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hl 1062

On Monday the AZ Republic featured a pair of op-eds from a Republican State Senator and the outgoing Democratic House Minority Leader about the prospect of a reformulated SB1062 in the upcoming Arizona legislative session.

Here’s Senator Nancy Barto (R) explaining why opponents of discrimination are misguided meaniebutts:

To start — the vast majority of the attacks against this simple bill were at best misunderstandings of the legislation, or at worst outright lies with the endgame of conditioning the public into automatically equating faith with bigotry — in the name of equality and fairness.

On the contrary, SB 1062 brought Arizona in line with federal law and would not have created any “new right” to discriminate (i.e. refusing people taxi, hotel or restaurant service).

The Supreme Court made this clear in June when they said the Green family, who own Hobby Lobby, couldn’t be forced to pay for abortion-causing drugs in their insurance plans as “Obamacare” mandated — meaning they didn’t have to surrender their First Amendment rights simply because they started a business.

This is exactly what SB 1062 would have clarified in Arizona.

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Certification of canvass of the vote today, CD 2 automatic recount to follow

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barber mcsallyOn Thanksgiving Day, a federal judge in Tucson rejected the Ron Barber for Congress campaign’s request for a temporary restraining order to count an additional 133 ballots that were not counted for various reasons.

The certification of the canvass of the vote will occur today. The Secretary of State will file the request for an automatic recount with the Superior Court in Maricopa County later today. Federal judge rejects Barber lawsuit:

U.S. District Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson rejected arguments made on Wednesday, including that the rejection of the 133 ballots was the result of mistakes made by election officials in Pima and Cochise County.

“Plaintiffs have not met their burden to show pervasive error that undermines the integrity of the election,” wrote Jorgenson.

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Speaking of “thugs”.

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

belardinePhoto of Matthew Belardine from Scottsdale PD

Per KPHO comes this report of three arrests in downtown Scottsdale, including of two men who accosted Ferguson decision protesters, which led to a brawl.

Two people arrested for fighting in front of the Wasted Grain bar were not part of the protest group, said Scottsdale police Sgt. Ben Hoster. The pair had approached the protesters and started yelling obscenities at them, Hoster said. The two men then began fighting with the protesters and they were quickly arrested, he said.

They are identified as Samuel Lee Busic, 26, of Phoenix. He was charged with assault. Matthew Belardine, 27, of Ohio. He was charged with disorderly conduct.

A very alert Facebook friend with a long memory pointed out that Busic and Belardine were both volunteer football coaches at Steubenville High School and that Belardine was convicted and served jail time for his role in providing the conditions in which a 16 year old girl was raped and the attack was filmed and passed around social media.

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