Report: Reducing U.S. prison population reduces crime

Here's yet another conservative myth busted [emphasis mine]:

The [Sentencing Project's] report points to New York, New Jersey and California as examples of how moving toward more lenient punishments for non-violent offenders is linked to lower rates of both violent crime and property crime. While the nation's state prison population shot up by 10 percent from 1999 to 2012 with violent and property crime dropping by 26 percent and 24 percent, respectively, New York and New Jersey each slashed their prison populations by 26 percent and saw crime drop a respective 31 percent and 30 percent during the same period.

"At least in three states we now know that the prison population can be reduced by about 25% with little or no adverse effect on public safety," The Sentencing Project's Marc Mauer and Nazgol Ghandnoosh wrote in their report. "Individual circumstances vary by state, but policymakers should explore the reforms in New York, New Jersey, and California as a guide for other states."

Locking Up Fewer People Doesn't Lead To Increased Crime, Report Says

By Lydia O'Connor

July 24, 2014 | Huffington Post

URL: http://huff.to/1AhblxG

Attack on California's grid shows lack of 'homeland security'

I've been saying for years that terrorism in the U.S. is too easy, hence all these screenings at airports, cyber security, NSA spying and fighting the terrorists "over there" are big distractions.

You don't buy a fancy home security system and then leave your front door unlocked and the windows open.    

Partly, the lack of focus on physical security of our key infrastructure such as electrical grid, ports and bridges is that the problem is very big and yet not at all sexy; and partly because simply physical security like sheet metal screens doesn't lend itself to outsourcing to the big military-industrial contractors that charge $ billions for expensive technological solutions.  

'Military-Style' Raid on California Power Station Spooks U.S.

BY Shane Harris

December 27, 2013 | Foreign Policy 

URL: http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/12/24/power-station-military-assault#sthash.t4ESArKb.dpuf

Obamacare IS working...especially in McConnell's Kentucky!

California, the most populous state in America, is on track to hit its Obamacare enrollment targets for 2014!

"But," said MSNBC host Chris Hayes, "the most fascinating Obamacare success story comes from the state of Kentucky. It is the only state in the South both expanding Medicaid and operating a fully state-based exchange."

The irony of Kentucky being Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's home state was not lost on Hayes. McConnell "just happens to be up for re-election next year, a race he will now have to run from a state where health reform is working."

Obamacare: Working the way it’s supposed to

All In With Chris Hayes

November 19, 2013 | MSNBC

Can't find hate? Here's a map

This "Hate Map" of the U.S. is very interesting.  Certainly population density plays a role -- there's nobody in flyover country -- but frankly I was surprised to see so much hate speech in the Rust Belt and Northeast, where many of my liberal comrades dwell.  

California really stands out though as a highly populated bastion of tolerance, just as we liberals would expect.  Way to be, Left Coast!

Let me note that this research started from a data base at the University of Kentucky, woo-woo. 

I also note that all this hate speech was brought to us by the great folks at Twitter.  Man, what a worthless fucking invention Twitter is!  And even if you avoid Twitter like the plague as I do, you still see the bilious tweets of celebrity idiots like Amanda Bynes reprinted as mainstream news. (Sigh)

But Twitter's not the only problem.  And at least it's not anonymous. Most open online forums and 'Comments' sections on websites, including sites like CNN and FOX, are filled with nastiness of every kind.  Online anonymity obviously allows many people to turn into raging dicks, racists, sexists, homophobes and political extremists.  The Internet slang word "troll" falsely suggests such behavior is confined to a few malcontents.  It's not true. There is meanness everywhere on the 'Net, from top to bottom.  

I really worry that the Internet is not making us more rude, less tolerant communicators, and terrible listeners.  

By the way, I always try to be polite to commenters on my blog, as my long-time readers (all 3 of you) may have noticed. 

Haters Gonna Hate, As Shown On A Map

By Kate Chow

June 1, 2013 | NPR

URL: http://n.pr/11akgNl

USG finally getting serious about zombies

Finally, the U.S. Government is getting serious about an inevitable Zombie Apocalypse.  Seriously:  

"This is a very real exercise, this is not some type of big costume party," said Brad Barker, president of Halo Corp, a security firm hosting the Oct. 31 training demonstration during the summit at a 44-acre Paradise Point Resort island on a San Diego bay. "Everything that will be simulated at this event has already happened, it just hasn't happened all at once on the same night. But the training is very real, it just happens to be the bad guys we're having a little fun with."

Hundreds of military, law enforcement and medical personnel will observe the Hollywood-style production of a zombie attack as part of their emergency response training.

Meanwhile, America's zombie electorate is finally getting serious about the 2012 presidential race, which affects the living and undead alike.  Not seriously.

(My favorite zombie-voter complaint from a zombie Soccer Mom: "47% of zombies feel entitled to brain stamps, and the government should just hand out brains to them.")

Seriously though, zombie soccer moms aside, Republicans have the most to fear from zombies taking over America, because as every good Republican knows, dead people vote Democrat.  No exceptions.

Happy Halloween!

CA city to invoke eminent domain on underwater homes?

If the City of Sacramento, California goes through with this, it will surely drive the banks and libertards nuts, and probably reach the Supreme Court.

Let's remember it was a SCOTUS decision in 2005 that let this genie out of the bottle by giving localities the right to invoke the 5th Amendment eminent domain clause for economic development purposes.

Eminent Domain As Underwater Mortgages Fix: Why Some Cities Are Considering Unorthodox Measure

By Peter Goodman

October 1, 2012 | Huffington Post

URL: http://huff.to/RuLex7

Glenn Beck's Goldline forced to refund $4.5 M... What about Beck?

The company Goldline scammed its customers into buying overvalued collectible gold coins instead of real gold bullion. Essentially, they were convincing their clients to pay a risk premium for coins, where the supposed risk was government confiscation of personal gold.

ABC broke this story, and they mention that Goldline used Glenn Beck ("The people I trust are the people at Goldline".... "You see, back in 1933, FDR said, 'OK, we're gonna take all your gold...'"), and other conservative pundits and politicians (Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson) to sell its overvalued gold coin business.

Goldline has agreed to refund $4.5 million to its customers and set up a fund of $800 K for further claims; in exchange a Santa Monica court dropped 19 criminal charges.

This is actually the second time a gold company advertised by Beck has run afoul of California law. I wonder if Glenn Beck, et al, will donate the revenues they received from Goldline?....

But this is about more than money. Goldline's pitch was based on a paranoid view that even buying gold wasn't safe, because the federal government could come and take it away. (Which is bogus, incidentally.) Without conservative talk radio and FOX, such paranoid beliefs would not be so widespread.

The real crime here is irresponsible talking heads leading millions of Americans to believe their government is fundamentally corrupt and out to get them. Too bad Goldline's celebrity accomplices like Glenn Beck don't have to pay any share of this settlement.

Goldline Agrees to Refund Millions to Customers

By Matthew Mosk

February 22, 2012 | ABC News

URL: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/goldline-agrees-refund-millions-customers/story?id=15768897

Progressive California pulling the rest with it, again

Thank goodness for the United State of California, the 8th largest economy in the world. When California says "jump," industry asks "how high?"

California is so big that their progressive reforms will trickle down to the Red States and flyover country, too -- in fact all over the world. This is the very opposite of the "race to the bottom," the dark side of globalization.

California Imposes Battery Charger Energy Standards For Mobile Devices

By Naoki Schwartz

January 13, 2012 | Huffington Post

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/13/california-battery-charger-energy-standards_n_1204969.html

California's budget crisis is a warning to supply-siders

Clearly California's state legislature has a pro-business agenda, and has had for about 20 years. We are now seeing the combined disastrous effects of recession and "supply-side" tax policy in California, the world's 8th largest economy. California is a bellwether for the U.S. and should serve as a warning to those preaching irresponsible fiscal policy in the name of economic growth.

66% of respondents in a recent poll said that Americans are overtaxed. And teabaggers argue incessantly that we are overtaxed, and that the situation is only getting worse.

That's true -- but only if you're poor! For instance, in California, the bottom 20% of earners pays 11.1% of income in local taxes, whereas California's top 1% of earners pays 7.8%. If you added in FICA for the two groups, the disparity would only get worse.

Check out this amazing post by business writer Michael Mandel which shows the average tax burden for the whole U.S. economy is actually the lowest it's been since 1966.

Even the anti-tax Tax Foundation admits that so-called "Tax Freedom Day" (the day in the year when the average U.S. worker starts earning for himself after paying all taxes) is the earliest it's been since at least 1971.

The answer is not to raise everybody's taxes, but to increase taxes on the rich and corporations, who are paying less than their fair share, historically. Indeed, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in 2008 that 72% of all foreign corporations and about 57% of U.S. companies doing business in the U.S. paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005. And in 2005 about 25% of the largest U.S. companies paid no federal income taxes despite $1.1 trillion in gross sales. Recently Forbes noted that huge global companies like Exxon and G.E. paid no U.S. income tax in 2009.

Supply-siders and business gurus like JPMorgan Chase's chief executive sleazeball Jamie Dimon respond that if gov't raised their taxes from, well, zero to some egregious number greater than zero, that corporations would simply pass on this cost to consumers and hold it back from workers. But workers are being denied the benefits of pro-business, supply-side tax policy right now!

And indeed, very few have mentioned stagnant wages as a cause of the Great Recession, and not a result: without growth in wages, U.S. households have had no choice but to borrow to finance the 70% of U.S. GDP which is private consumption. Wall Street banks were happy to provide them credit, as long as it was speculatively profitable. Then we all know what happened next.

This liberal for one trusts Big Guvmint more to redistribute their wealth than corporations themselves, who are obviously, inarguably, doing a terrible job of it. Social Security and Medicare make up about half of the federal budget and they are overwhelmingly popular programs that nobody -- left, right, or center -- really wants to cut. They are so important that it's hard to make a rational cost-benefit analysis, because we'd only know how much suffering and privation these programs prevented if we abolished them -- a prospect so frightening, nobody wants to contemplate it.

California's poor pay the highest tax rate

By Martin Wisckol

April 13, 2010 | The Orange County Register

California households in the lowest 20 percent of income pay the highest portion of their earnings when it comes to state and local taxes, according to a new report from the California Budget Project.

Additionally, changes in state tax law have benefited corporations while costing individual taxpayers more, according to the report. And the net income of corporations has grown 411 percent from 2001 to 2008, while the adjusted gross income income of individuals has risen just 27.8 percent during the period.

The report rates California a "moderate tax state," noting that in 2008-09 it ranks 21st in the U.S. in terms of state taxes as a percentage of personal income.

At a time when many Republican candidates are calling for more tax breaks for businesses and lower taxes for individuals, the California Budget Project offers a somewhat different perspective. The CBP has a history of presenting data that often supports policies on the Democratic side of the aisle, but its methodology and research are usually sound.

However, the CBP's latest report does not appear to contradict the GOP mantra that the state's problem is not income, but spending.

Among specific findings:

• The bottom fifth in family income pay 11.1 percent of their earnings in state and local taxes.
• The top 1 percent pay 7.8 percent.
• The state's median wage has risen 25.6 percent from 2001 to 2008.

"Over the past two decades, the cost of funding state services has shifted from corporate to personal income taxpayers. The Department of Finance estimates that personal income tax receipts will provide 53.2 percent of General Fund revenues in 2009-2010, up from 35.4 percent in 1980-81. Corporate tax receipts are expected to provide 10.7 percent of General Fund revenues in 2009-2010, down from 14.6 percent in 1980-81."

The report continues, "New, increased, and expanded corporate tax breaks and the 1996 corporate tax rate reduction are responsible for the decline in the share of state revenues provided by the corporate income tax. Additional corporate tax cuts were included in the September 2008 and February 2009 budget agreements that will result in a loss of nearly $2 billion per year when fully implemented."

Meanwhile, the Tea Party activists say everybody is being taxed too much. Read this story about what's ahead for the movement.