"Why Did Jury NEVER see Trayvon Martin as a CHILD?"

by zizi @ the obama diary~

Snip***

"In his impromptu remarks this afternoon in the White House Press Room, President Obama asked a most salient question: “If Trayvon Martin had been of age and armed would he have been justified in standing his ground on that sidewalk?” Of course that hypothetical question is premised on Trayvon having the right to carry a weapon as an adult. But Sybrina Fulton yesterday put her finger on the more immediate concern. To her the jury did not consider Trayvon as their own Child. In other words, Empathy Deficit. But there is a reason for that. American culture has NEVER had a place for children of color in its construction of childhood."

Snip***

Six days since the phrase “Not Guilty” was curtly announced at the George Zimmerman trial about the killing of Trayvon Martin, a lot has been written from various perspectives endorsing, questioning, or parsing the verdict. A wave of activism has also sprung up in its wake demanding revisions to Stand Your Ground laws in states like Florida, while campaigns such as the NAACP’s #HesNotaSuspect seek to validate the human worth of black male children.

However at the crux of the court case, a key element never came up: What were Trayvon’s RIGHTS as a CHILD in the encounter with George Zimmerman that fateful night? What provisions do Stand Your Ground laws have to protect children in any encounter with an adult? What is a child supposed to do when confronted by an armed assailant/stalker/intruder/stranger?

The Rest~
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/19/why-did-jury-never-see-trayvon-martin-as-a-child/#more-127185

Obama Celebrates his Victory in Nomination Fight: Richard Cordray

Snip***

He had a reason to smile. The event was Obama’s victory lap after the figurative nuclear brinksmanship in the Senate this week ended largely in the president’s favor. The CFPB is viewed by Democrats as a key part of the president’s legacy, and Obama was clearly happy to win the long fight over a permanent director. “

For two years, Republicans in the Senate refused to give Rich a simple yes or no vote. Not because they didn’t think he was the right person for the job, but because they didn’t like the law that set up the consumer watchdog in the first place,” Obama said. “Yesterday, Richard was official confirmed.”

The Senate confirmed Cordray after Republicans backed off their plan to deny Obama a CFPB director until Democrats agreed to dramatically alter the law governing the agency. The GOP obstruction plan kept Elizabeth Warren, Obama’s first CFPB nominee, out of the job and eventually drove Warren to her successful Democratic Senate bid in Massachusetts.

End Snip***

http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/obama-celebrates-his-victory-in-nomination-fight?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter





http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/17/chat-away-198/

[font color=blue]THIS IS POSTED IN THE BARACK OBAMA GROUP[/font]

"How To Deal With the Zimmerman Verdict" from Marc Lamont Hill, AJ Callloway, Tameka Mallory,

"that's it?" Kids' Reactions to the Cheerios Commerical.. Out of the Mouths of Babes..

“17 years and 22 days forever……”

Statements from NRDC and Sierra Club on PBO's Climate Change Plan..

Frances Beinecke’s Blog

Obama's Climate Action Plan Will Protect Our Health and Our Communities

President Obama has announced a robust plan for tackling climate change and reducing dangerous carbon pollution. This marks an historic turning point. No longer will power plants be allowed to dump unlimited amounts of carbon into our atmosphere, threatening our health and environment. Instead, we can clean up our skies and leave future generations with a more stable climate.

Without this kind of presidential leadership, our children and grandchildren would be left to cope with the devastating consequences of unchecked climate change. We can’t pass this burden on to them, especially when we can already see what climate disruption can do to people’s lives. From the Colorado residents who lost their homes in recent fires to the children who suffer more asthma attacks because of dirtier air, Americans are reeling from climate impacts right now.

President Obama’s plan will help us turn the tide. It will make a profound and lasting difference in America’s fight against climate change.

Most significantly the plan will reduce carbon pollution from power plants—the largest source of global warming emissions in the country. America has set limits for arsenic, lead, and mercury, but we let power plants release as much carbon pollution as they want even though it has serious implications for our health. Several states have stepped in and required power plants to cut carbon. Now it’s time for the Environmental Protection Agency to close this loophole and reduce this climate threat.

Setting carbon limits is something the EPA can do right now. It already has the authority—and the duty—under the Clean Air Act to create carbon standards for power plants. The agency can give states the flexibility to figure how to meet those standards. NRDC’s experts outlined a similar approach, and we concluded it can cut carbon pollution 26 percent by 2020 and save people money on electricity bills. This represents real and far-reaching carbon reductions.

- more -

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/fbeinecke/obamas_climate_action_plan_wil.html


President Obama Releases Bold Climate Plan

Doug Howell

Seattle, WA – Today President Barack Obama announced his administration's next steps for building a legacy of action to fight the climate crisis. The plan includes new energy efficiency standards for federal buildings and appliances, scales up responsible clean energy production on public lands with an ambitious new commitment to power 6 million homes by 2020, and uses the full authority of the Clean Air Act to cut dangerous carbon pollution from power plants.

"Today's climate announcement from the White House demonstrates the kind of bold leadership we've been waiting for to put us on the right path to fighting the ever-growing climate crisis. We are heartened by his commitment to taking this giant step forward toward meeting our carbon reduction and clean energy goals.

"This news should dramatically impact our Washington utilities. Last month Puget Sound Energy (PSE), a major owner of the Colstrip coal fired power plant in Montana--the largest climate polluter in the Northwest--released its 20 year energy plan without accounting for carbon in its final recommendation. With this additional information, we call on PSE to re-consider the economic risks associated with continuing to rely on its dirty and increasingly expensive coal plant.

"Rather, the commitment to establish new energy efficiency standards for federal buildings and appliances and the promise to increase responsible clean energy production on public lands, is the recipe for a sustainable energy future in Washington.

"The President is stepping up to reduce the carbon pollution that is destabilizing our climate, threatening our economy, and endangering our communities. We now look to our local leaders, regulators and Puget Sound Energy to ensure we take responsibility for this dangerous climate disrupting pollution."

http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2013/06/president-obama-releases-bold-climate-plan

thanks to ProSense http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023093205#post4

Obama to announce Tuesday he will regulate existing power plants as part of climate strategy

I had to think about that one.. Oh

yeah.. so

Obama Liberals Aren’t Buying the Media’s False Equivalency to Bush

"The remarkable consistency of President Obama’s job approval numbers"

is very Encouraging for the majority of sanity in this country, SKP. Those whose only job it is .. to take down the President are failing. And, that looks good for the upcoming elections.

Here's to being even stronger in Nov 2014.