WORKER UNIONS - Amazon vs Unionization

"A look into Amazon’s employee conditions as the company pushes back against unionization" PBS NewsHour 3/29/2021

Typical corporate greed butting company profits first and not wanting employees having any say on safety, pay and benefits.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  For almost two months, Amazon workers have been voting on whether to unionize at one of the company's major warehouses in Alabama.  The voting concludes today.  Since Amazon is the second-largest private employer in the country, the stakes are high and the battle is being closely watched.  Paul Solman reports.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 9/6/2019

"Shields and Brooks on Democrats’ climate plans, Trump’s Dorian claim" PBS NewsHour 9/6/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including whether Democrats are taking a “politically risky” approach to climate change policy, President Trump’s fixation with Alabama being hit by Hurricane Dorian, Trump’s diversion of Defense Department funds for border security and "Trump fatigue" in the GOP.

Judy Woodruff f (NewsHour):  And now to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Hello to both of you.  It's good to see you on this Friday.  There's so much to talk about.

Mark, I want to start with you about this Hurricane Dorian.  We have been watching it now for well over a week, I guess almost two weeks.

And you have got scientists talking more openly now about whether these hurricanes are connected to climate change, to global warming.  And you have got Democratic candidates for President, more of them, coming out with pretty aggressive positions on climate.

Is this something that's realistic for Democrats?  Does that mean they think they're more likely to win over voters if they talk about climate?

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  I'm not sure that they see it as a great winning issue.  I think they see it as an important issue.

I would say, among Democratic candidates, first of all, they all agree that there is climate change.  All the deniers are on the other side.  They're not in the Democratic field or in the Democratic Party right now.

And, two, that it's manmade, man contributes to it.  I think those are two important differences that go undebated among Democrats.  Democrats assume that.

And you're right.  They got into a competition.  And the gravity of the problem is real.  I mean, you have got — now you have got 72 percent of people saying storms are stronger.  And half of them believe that climate change is contributing to that.

(CROSSTALK)

Judy Woodruff:  Go ahead.

Mark Shields:  So you have got, I think, a growing public awareness.

The fear for the Democrats on a very practical level is that they get into a bidding war.  I mean, Bernie Sanders now has a $16 billion tag.

David Brooks, New York Times:  Trillion-dollar.

Mark Shields:  Trillion — excuse me — trillion-dollar tag on it.

And you fear, from a political perspective, practical political perspective, Judy, that you get into unrealistic promises, like the Republicans on their pledge every four years to repeal prohibition — a prohibition against abortion, to balance the budget.

And I think that's — I think that's one of the apprehensions that Democrats have at a voting level.

Judy Woodruff:  More than half of them talking about putting a tax on carbon dioxide pollution.

David Brooks:  That was, to me, the big breakthrough.

I think most economists of right and left think a carbon tax or some carbon mechanism is the right way to go, because you let the markets sort of sort it out.  No politician ever says that, because taxing this stuff is very politically unpopular, or at least moderately politically unpopular.

But you had five Democrats, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, said, yes, I'm for that.  They didn't elaborate.  But, to me, that's an important breakthrough.  And is, I think, a political courage.  I think it's also extremely politically risky.

And then Bernie Sanders is not so much for carbon pricing, but he's for semi-nationalizing the utilities.  And that's a pretty radical break.  And so the — I give them a lot of credit.  The debate was very substantive this week.  And their solutions are at least equal to the size of the problem.

But whether it can fly in the fall when Donald Trump gets to run against a carbon tax or a tax on you driving your car, that could be politically risky.

Judy Woodruff:  And speaking of President Trump — and I wasn't actually going to ask about this.

But, tonight, the White House, the President is tweeting out a video, a video tweet, where he's doubling down, David, on his defense of his forecasting some date — last weekend — that Alabama was in the eye of Hurricane Dorian.

This has been a big subject for the press this week.  But is this something you think we have made — that too much has been made of?  We haven't reported on it on the "NewsHour," but we have certainly watched it.

David Brooks:  Yes.

Judy Woodruff:  And it's a remarkable scene.

David Brooks:  I know, because the storm is right over Arizona now.

(LAUGHTER)

Mark Shields:  Look out, Phoenix.

(LAUGHTER)

David Brooks:  Yes, right.

No, on the one hand, we have made too much, because it's a line on a map.  And it's sort of an Onion article.  On the other hand, it is Donald Trump being Donald Trump.

Judy Woodruff:  Right.

David Brooks:  A refusing to admit error when he made an error, B counting his staff to pretend that no error had — made and C spreading false information, which he picked up on TV.

And the President gets the right to be briefed.  And when — there was one weatherman — apparently, he saw him on CNN — who said this.  But it was clear that wasn't the true story.

And the primary responsibility of the President is not to make himself look good by sticking to this.  It's to protect the country by saying, oh, I saw one weather report, but it turns out that's not right.  It's going up the — it's going up the coast.

So Donald Trump is being Donald Trump.  And the question is, do we always react to his exaggerations and lies again and again and again?  Maybe that's the right thing to do just to preserve norms.  It gets a little old, though.

Judy Woodruff:  And, Mark, somebody in the White House drew that line that we just — we just showed, that black…

Mark Shields:  Somebody did, and somebody with a sharpie.

And I don't know who in the White House uses a sharpie.

(LAUGHTER)

Mark Shields:  I'll say this, Judy.

It's bizarre in this sense.  Alabama, for some reason, occupies an enormously important emotional and political, almost sentimental spot in the President's galaxy of affections.  It was there he had his first rally in Mobile, where Jeff Sessions endorsed him in the summer of 2015.

He returned after the election to thank him.  He got a bigger percentage of the vote in Alabama than anybody since Richard Nixon against George McGovern in 1972.

But in the process, what he did was, he kind of gave short shrift and ignored the plight and the suffering, not simply the human tragedy in the Bahamas, but constituents in the important states of Florida and North Carolina.

And he just seems — he just seems absolutely absorbed with it, and when he could just say, gee, thank goodness, I'm happy to report, I'm relieved to report I was wrong, and that…

Judy Woodruff:  That Alabama was spared.

Mark Shields:  Alabama was spared.  And thank you, God, and go — roll, Tide.

David Brooks:  Yes, "I was wrong" has never passed those lips.

Mark Shields:  Yes.  OK.  I'm sorry.  Yes, OK.

(LAUGHTER)

SLAVERY IN AMERICA - The Last Slave Ship

"How discovery of the slave ship Clotilda informs U.S. history" PBS NewsHour 5/23/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The remains of the last slave ship that came to America have been found.  In 1860, the schooner Clotilda brought 110 Africans to U.S. shores, decades after it was illegal to import slaves into the country.  The wreckage of the boat was discovered in Alabama’s Mobile River.  Megan Thompson reports on the search for Clotilda, its history and the significance for the descendants of those slaves.

DEADLY TORNADOES - Eastern Alabama

"In eastern Alabama, communities reel from tornado’s ‘annihilation’" PBS NewsHour 3/5/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Officials have released the names of 23 people confirmed dead from a tornado that hit Lee County, Alabama, on Sunday.  Rescue efforts are winding down, though many residents will face a long road to recovery after losing homes and livelihoods to the 170 mile-per-hour winds.  John Yang reports and Judy Woodruff talks to Mayor F.L. “Bubba” Copeland of Smiths Station, one of the hardest hit areas.

RACE IN AMERICA - Emmet Till Murder

"The brutal Emmett Till murder case is being reopened.  Here’s what we know" PBS NewsHour 7/12/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Based on new information, the Justice Department is reopening the investigation into the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, the African-American boy whose brutal killing by two white men in Mississippi became a galvanizing event that helped spark the civil rights movement in America.  William Brangham gets reaction from Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala).

CHASING THE DREAM - Poverty in America

"The story of American poverty, as told by one Alabama county" PBS NewsHour 7/7/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  More than 18 million Americans live in “extreme poverty,” according to a report from the United Nations, which ranked poverty in the U.S. alongside some of the poorest areas in the world.  The UN Special Rapporteur for Extreme Poverty paid a visit to the U.S. last year, drawing worldwide attention to his findings.  NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Simon Ostrovsky followed in his footsteps to report from Lowndes County, Alabama.  This is part of an ongoing series of reports called “Chasing the Dream,” which reports on poverty and opportunity in America, and is supported in part by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

CHASING THE DREAM - Alabama Students Improving Lives

"How these Alabama architecture students are improving lives with low-cost home designs" PBS NewsHour 6/28/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  For decades, students and faculty from Auburn University’s Rural Studio have been working, studying and living in Hale County, Alabama, and using architecture to serve the greater good.  There, more than two dozen different homes that cost only $20,000 have been designed, constructed and given to residents.  John Yang reports as part of our ongoing series, Chasing the Dream.

ALABAMA - Doug Jones WINS 😂

aka "A Republican pedophile looses Senate race in Alabama"

"‘Solid red state’ Alabama elects Democrat Doug Jones to Senate" PBS NewsHour 12/12/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Democrat Doug Jones is projected to win the Alabama special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in a race that wasn’t expected to be competitive.  The NewsHour's Daniel Bush and Don Dailey of Alabama Public Television join Judy Woodruff from Birmingham to discuss what led to Jones’ victory and how Republican Roy Moore fell short.

"What are Alabama voters expecting from Doug Jones?" PBS NewsHour 12/13/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  With a surprisingly strong turnout, voters in one of the most Republican states elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate and repudiated its controversial GOP nominee.  John Yang reports on the upset in Alabama’s election and Judy Woodruff talks to Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell [D-Al] -- who up till now was the only Democrat in that state’s delegation -- about what we can expect from Doug Jones in office.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 11/17/2017

"Shields and Brooks on sexual misconduct in politics, Republican tax goals" PBS NewsHour 11/17/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the week’s news, including allegations of sexual misconduct against and very different responses by Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore and Sen. Al Franken, President Trump’s criticism of Franken despite his own history being accused by women, plus the GOP tax plans.

Hari Sreenivasan (NewsHour):  But first to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That’s syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

It’s a bit like Groundhog’s Day here.  We’re going the cover some topics you probably have never thought of before, sexual harassment and taxes.  But there are developments, after more and more developments of both of these stories.  And we will get to some more stuff, too.

But this week, we saw new women coming out and alleging sexual misconduct by Roy Moore, some of them underage.  And then we had Al Franken’s behavior in 2006, including a disturbing photograph that nobody can deny.

They are not parallel incidents, but the responses have been very different.

David Brooks, New York Times: Yes, I mean, I guess it’s inevitable, death, taxes, and harassment these days.

It seems to me the one failure that we’re seeing among a lot of people is how partisan the reaction would be, starting with the President.  Sexual harassment is not a Republican thing, or it’s not a Democratic thing.  It’s just a thing.  And it’s amazing how many people are reacting depending on which party the person is in, the guy is in, how their reaction is.

I personally, overall, still think this is a good thing.  Our standards are raising.  People who have done misconduct are being punished, an we’re cleaning out the swamp, as they — we’re supposed to say.

Alongside that, I think it’s important to make some distinctions among the different levels of sin here.  It seems to me what Harvey Weinstein did and what Roy Moore did has the highest level of vileness, and should be career-enders.

Then there are other levels of sin which probably should be career-enders, setting a predatory environment, whether it’s Bill Clinton or the guy — some of the journalists who have been involved.

And then I would put Al Franken so far in a different category, frankly.  What he did was callous and narcissistic and insensitive and just pathetic.  But if it’s one time, and if he can apologize, and then do real penance, my first instinct is that it shouldn’t be a career-ender for him.

Hari Sreenivasan:  But, Mark, oftentimes it’s not one time.  Oftentimes, we start to reveal a pattern of behavior that might be in the background, as more people feel empowered to speak up.

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  No, and that’s what we have found so far in these instances.  It’s not usually a single, solitary event.

But I think David makes a very persuasive point about what we have with Roy Moore, quite frankly, the reaction, in the opening news summary, when the governor, Kay Ivey, of Alabama says she has no reason not to believe the women, but she’s still going to vote for Roy Moore.

Now, there is a disconnect there.  And the only explanation can be just blind, unyielding, total partisanship, and I don’t care.

Let’s be very blunt about it.  There were feminists who rallied to Bill Clinton’s support during his long, complicated lying to the American people about a disproportionate power relationship that he had with a 21-year-old intern and adulterous behavior, who rallied to his support because Bill Clinton was pro-choice on abortion.

And there are those now who are ready to skewer Roy Moore — and I’m not going to deny that he needs skewering — for ideological reasons, and because he has proved he’s anti-woman by his political positions.

But if we’re just talking about behavior here, and not blind partisanship, I don’t think that Al Franken’s behavior rises to the level of eviction from the Senate or anything of the sort.

That is not — but for a party that has based an awful lot of its appeal on identity politics, that we are the women’s party, that we believe in women’s rights, that we respect women, and that Republicans don’t, this is a body blow.

And Al Franken has been a major fund-raiser for Democrats, and he has been an aggressive inquisitor on committees and — representing the Democrats.  So, I think it is serious.

I don’t know where it’s going to stop, and — but I think, in the final analysis, we have to come to grips.  It is power.  And it’s been men exercising power, generally speaking, with — almost overwhelmingly speaking, and the women in the position of supplicant, without the resources, without the means of protesting or just bringing to justice to these people.

David Brooks:  If I could add one thing on the — first on the Clinton thing, I think it’s — we just have to look back and say the people who ignored the testimony of Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick helped set the stage for this.

And the Democrats who defended Clinton in those Clintons, they helped set the atmosphere for what we’re seeing and for the behavior that Harvey Weinstein and the rest can get away with.

The second thing to be said is, there is a word for what defenders of Roy Moore are doing, the people who said they were vote for him nonetheless, and — well, two words.  One word is idolatry, and the other word is heresy, because the people who are putting — who are going to sacrifice morality for politics are making an idol out of politics.

They’re saying politics is higher than morality.  And no honest person can possibly believe that.  And if you’re putting politics above personal morality, above the way we treat each other, above the nature of your own soul, you’re just — you’re making an idol out of it.

And that is the ultimate in heresy.  And to see — I saw a tweet from Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, defending Moore, you know, sort of, oh, they’re all a bunch of hypocrites up there.

It’s just appalling.  It’s just — it’s almost mind-boggling that people who — especially people who have been steeped in any faith could make this kind of fundamental error, which is warned against again and again in the Bible, and to be heretics.  They’re heretics.
-----
Hari Sreenivasan:  Let me ask you if you are surprised about something else that’s happened this week, which is the progress of the Republican tax plan.  Do you think that it — what do you think happens in the Senate?

Mark Shields:  I would say, first of all, I think that Paul Ryan, whom I have criticized, certainly did perform as speaker.  He got it through.  He rallied his Republicans, mostly, to it.

There’s just a couple things about it.  I have been going to Republican Conventions since 1976.  I have heard the party time and again solemnly pledge in its compact and covenant with the American people that we will support and fight for a balanced budget constitutional amendment.

I hope that never appears again, because they have proved that they don’t care about that.  All this tax cut is about, this tax thing, is cutting the corporate rate from 35 percent to 20 percent.  That’s all it is.

Everything else is window dressing.  And there are other factors to it that are important, that touch people’s lives.

And, usually, when there’s a tax cut, there is some behavior is required.  For a charitable deduction, you have to give — make a donation to a charity.  For a child care credit, you have to have a child, and there has to be some — there is nothing required of these corporations.

There is not a nickel they have to spend in investment.  There’s not a nickel they have to spend in retraining.  There’s not a nickel they have to spend in anything for their own workers.

And the idea that they’re going to pass this on and increase wages goes back to John Galbraith’s theory of economics, which is, if you stuff enough oats into the horse, that, eventually, a little will pass through to the road, and the sparrow will be fed.  And I just find it absolutely mind-boggling.

And the only other aspect to it that I found fascinating is the Republican Party that has stood for states’ right, and the states that have actually taxed themselves to improve their education and to improve their health care are going to be punished.

Hari Sreenivasan:  Yes.

Mark Shields:  That’s been in the tax code since 1913 that it was inducted.  They’re going to remove it.

Hari Sreenivasan:  So, David, that analogy of trickle-down economics, I have not heard before.

David Brooks:  Still following the biology of that thing.

(LAUGHTER)

David Brooks:  No, I wish it was only a corporate tax cut, because I think there’s a lot of good economic evidence that, if you give corporations tax cuts, they have more cash on hand, they do invest, and that there’s a fair bit of data on this.  And so I wish it were that.

And I think there are other good things in the bill.  Capping the mortgage interest deduction is a good thing.  I think maybe adjusting the state and local taxes is a good thing, because 90 percent of the benefit goes to people making over $100,000 a year.

The problem with it is, first, it explodes the deficit.  Second, it is a raw piece of political exploitation, taking the tax code and benefiting our people, at the expense of blue states.  And we shouldn’t turn the tax code into a spoils system.

And, third, it’s taxes the universities and the nonprofits in a way that I think is unconscionable.  So, I’m against it.  But there are some good things in it.  If they fell back to a corporate tax cut, which had sympathy in the Obama administration, it would be a little happier story.

ALABAMA GOP - The Albatross Roy More

IMHO:  I find it typical that people tend to disbelieve women who make such allegations against men.  It's the chauvinistic prejudice of a male society.  The women's allegations are credible and Roy More's denial typical.

As for the timing, it's the #MeToo movement that has freed women to face their attackers, which is never easy, the strength given by the numbers.

"GOP candidate Roy Moore faces new allegations, new pressure to quit Senate race" PBS NewsHour 11/13/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The Senate's top Republican Mitch McConnell told reporters that he believes the women who have accused Roy Moore of inappropriate actions and that Alabama's GOP candidate must step aside.  While the former state Chief Justice insists he is innocent, McConnell’s condemnation comes as another woman has spoken up.  Lisa Desjardins reports that voters appear to have mixed opinions.

Full announcement (34:21)


"What Alabama voters think of the Roy Moore assault allegations" PBS NewsHour 11/13/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Another woman came forward on Monday to accuse Senate candidate Roy Moore of assaulting her when she was 16, sparking additional political backlash from his own party.  But allegations of sexual misconduct against teenage girls haven’t seemed to shake Moore supporters in his home state.  Judy Woodruff gets an update from Don Dailey of Alabama Public Television.

"The predicament of the Alabama Senate race for Republicans" PBS NewsHour 11/15/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  GOP lawmakers have called for Roy Moore to step aside from the Alabama Senate race amid allegations of sexual misconduct toward teens.  How does that tension fit into a larger party rift?  John Yang talks to Matt Schlapp of the American Conservative Union and Karine Jean-Pierre of MoveOn.org, about what’s at stake with the special election and how the GOP tax reform plans are shaping up.

RACE MATTERS - To Police, Students Still Children

"Alabama lawyer seeks to remind school-based police that students are still children" PBS NewsHour 8/8/2016

I just cannot believe this, a pregnant teen gets maced and arrested FOR CRYING!  This is sick!

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Last September, a federal court in Alabama ruled that the disciplinary practices used by the Birmingham Police Department toward high school students were unconstitutional.  The police department's appeal will be heard next month.  Ebony Howard, the lawyer who filed the class-action suit, speaks with special correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault about the specific police conduct and the settlement.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Last September, a federal court in Alabama ruled that the Birmingham Police Department's disciplinary practices, including the use of pepper spray for minor discipline problems, is in violation of student rights and unconstitutional.

Attorney Ebony Howard of the Southern Poverty Law Center filed the class-action suit, and returns to court next month when the police department's appeal is heard.

As part of our year-long Race Matters conversations focusing on solutions, special correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports from Birmingham about reducing tensions between African-American high school students and the police.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT (NewsHour):  This video of a white South Carolina policeman roughly ejecting a black student from her classroom went viral and ignited a conversation about the proper role for police in schools.

Ebony Howard, a lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center, has been involved in that conversation as a result of her successful suit against police macing students in Montgomery, Alabama.

Ebony Howard, thank you for joining us.

EBONY HOWARD, Southern Poverty Law Center:  Thank you for having me.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT:  Can you tell us briefly about the case you won in Birmingham last year?

EBONY HOWARD:  Sure.

The case was about police officers who are stationed in Birmingham City high schools who are there to protect students, and they were using mace, or pepper spray is what it's sometimes called, against students for engaging in what amounts to normal adolescent behavior.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT:  Like what?

EBONY HOWARD:  Like, for example, one of our plaintiffs, plaintiff K.B., she was leaving class and going to another class with a fellow classmate.  And as she walked, a boy came up to her and started to call her really foul names that I won't repeat.

But as he called her those names, his friends who had come with him, they started to laugh.  And the more they laughed, the more names he called her.  And so she tried to walk away from him.  And as she walked away, he followed her and his friends followed her, and he continued to call her lots and lots of names.

And so eventually, as she walked the entire length of the school building, she started to cry.  And she became hysterical.  And when she reached the end of the school building, a police officer walked up.  And you would think that he would have taken care of her, but what he did was, he told her to calm down or he was going to arrest her.

And when she didn't stop crying, he put her in handcuffs.  And she continued to cry after he handcuffed her, and he told her, calm down.  And when she didn't calm down fast enough, he sprayed her with mace.

The other point that I forgot to mention, though, was that she was four months' pregnant at the time when he sprayed her with mace.  She was arrested and taken to the local juvenile facility, where she had to take off her pants and her underwear and squat and cough as a part of a strip search.

RACE MATTERS - The Question Yet to be Asked

"How one chief tried to reverse police wrongs of the civil rights era" by Kenya Downs, PBS NewsHour 2/18/2016

Excerpt

Growing up, retired Montgomery County police chief Kevin Murphy wondered why no one in his home state of Alabama formally acknowledged the injustices and violence committed against Rep. John Lewis by police during his time as a student activist.  During the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, he did just that.  Murphy publicly apologized to Lewis, and personally handed him his badge.

Witnessing the negative interactions of police with minority communities as a youth has guided Murphy’s approach to law enforcement.  After becoming chief, one of the first things he did was implement a program for his officers to learn racial bias in policing, using lessons on important parts of Montgomery’s civil rights history.  The class has since be added to regular police training, including a tour of the Rosa Parks Museum and scenarios that mimic real-life scenarios of improper policing.  His goal was to caution new officers on how to use the power of their uniforms ethically.  He has a message for law enforcement agencies across the country on how to be more effective at serving their communities.

“Law enforcement needs to start hold themselves accountable,” he said.  “There’s no such thing as street justice.  You have to abide by the law when you’re wearing a uniform and set the example.  When you don’t do that you’ve lost all credibility with the public you serve.”

Special correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault (NewsHour) traveled to Montgomery to report.

POLICE - Force Not Always Black and White

"Police use of force not always black and white" PBS NewsHour 2/20/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In recent days, two incidents have added to national concern about excessive police force against minorities.  Police shot and killed a Hispanic man in Washington state, and in Alabama, an Indian man was partially paralyzed after an officer knocked him down.  Judy Woodruff talks to Suman Raghunathan of South Asian Americans Leading Together and David Klinger of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The issue of how police use force is again making headlines, this time outside the lens of black and white.  The Hispanic and Indian-American communities are in the spotlight after separate encounters with police left one man dead and another partially paralyzed.

A warning:  This report contains graphic images.

The two confrontations making headlines happened in opposite corners of the country, Alabama and Washington State, first, Pasco, Washington, early last week.  This cell phone video captured 35-year-old Antonio Zambrano-Montes seeming to throw something at police and then run away, before turning around with open arms.  That’s when three officers shot and killed him.

The police involved say the man was throwing rocks.  The community in the majority Hispanic town quickly reacted with protests and a call for a federal investigation.  The officers involved are on paid leave.  In a news conference yesterday, local police said they want their officers to defuse community tension.

SGT. KEN LATTIN, Kennewick Police Department:  And regardless of what anybody might say to you, do the right thing and now, more than ever, show everybody who we are, and that we are — we can be fair, we can be just.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  From the Pacific Northwest to the Southeastern U.S. and Madison, Alabama, on February 6.  Police car video shows officers confronting 57-year-old Sureshbhai Patel.  A neighbor had called 911 concerned about a — quote — “skinny black man” walking down the street.

Patel is from India, visiting his son and grandchild and doesn’t speak English.  Officers ask him not to move.  Video from a second police car shows a slight movement and then one officer forcefully knocks him to the ground.  That action injured Patel’s spine, leaving him partially paralyzed and in the hospital.  The family is suing the police department.

COMMENT:  Since when is it a crime to just walk down a street?  It's a crime in Alabama if you are NOT white.

ALABAMA - Huntsville Failed Legal Mandate to Integrate

"In Desegregation Case, Judge Blasts School Officials and Justice Department" by Nikole Hannah-Jones, ProPublica 7/15/2014

A federal judge in Alabama says local school board has failed to meet legal mandate to integrate.

A federal judge in Alabama has taken the rare step of ruling against a local school board in a desegregation case, rejecting the board's claims that it had done all it could to end segregation in its schools.

In a lengthy, at times scathing ruling issued last month, U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala said she could not "conclusively" determine that the Huntsville City Schools District wasn't still operating an unconstitutionally segregated system or that it had made a "good faith effort" to significantly integrate its schools.  As a result, Haikala refused to approve a student assignment plan that had been proposed by the Huntsville school board.

The Huntsville ruling is important, both because the district is racially diverse and because it is the largest in the state still under federal mandate to desegregate.

In May, ProPublica published a story showing the state of inaction and confusion surrounding scores of federal school desegregation orders, the once-powerful tool for compelling school districts across the country to provide equal educational opportunities to students of color.  Many of the orders had been allowed to sit dormant for decades, often with no one monitoring school officials to make sure they were complying with federal mandates to integrate.  And in many other instances, judges had routinely lifted existing orders even when those districts remained highly segregated.

For some parents and civil rights lawyers, the inaction and allegedly one-sided decisions amounted to an abdication of responsibility by the country's federal bench.

In Alabama, however, two federal judges, Judges Myron Thompson and William Harold Albritton III, had bucked the trend, refusing to see the decades-old orders as relics that should simply be brought to a close.  And now, it looks like those two judges may have company.

"Until the board achieves the goal" of eliminating "segregation to the extent practicable," Haikala wrote.  "The Court must continue to supervise the Board's efforts."

In April, ProPublica chronicled the fortunes of the school district in Tuscaloosa, Ala.  There, the city's schools, after years of successful integration, had effectively been re-segregated after the district had won its freedom from a longstanding court order.  ProPublica's reporting showed that the re-segregation that had happened in Tuscaloosa was happening in school districts throughout the nation.

Huntsville's schools had been under court order since 1965.  Though the district itself is racially balanced, most of the district's schools are either heavily white or heavily black.  A new zoning plan proposed by the board in 2013 would have increased segregation for many black students.

The U.S. Department of Justice, a party to the case, objected to the assignment plan and in February the dispute landed before Haikala, who'd been appointed to the bench by President Obama in 2012.

In the judge's 107-page ruling, she blasted school officials for failing to provide required reports on the district's integration progress for two decades.  She also criticized the Justice Department for failing to be "proactive" and to "keep an eye on" the marked disparities in schools serving mostly white children and those serving mostly black ones.

Huntsville officials, in response to an interview request, released a statement to ProPublica, stating, that as a result of the order, the district intended to work with the U.S. Department of Justice "to create a roadmap" to satisfy the judge's demands and ultimately gain "the return of control of Huntsville City Schools to local officials."

Justice Department officials did not respond to an interview request before publication.

Huntsville officials, as is common in these cases, argued that their schools had been fully desegregated for years.  Any enduring segregation or other inequities, they argued, had to do with housing patterns and other forces outside of their control.

These arguments, ProPublica's reporting shows, have often proved successful before federal judges.

But Haikala wasn't persuaded.

"The record in this case is not as clear as the Board suggests, and the fact that the district integrated the student bodies of many of its schools in the early 1970s does not automatically lead to the conclusion that the district does not currently operate a dual system," she wrote.  She pointed out that not only were many schools still segregated, but the opportunity to take advanced classes also appeared linked to race.

She noted testimony from a white mother who withdrew her child from a predominantly black high school because it offered fewer advanced academic courses than other schools.

"While private choices seem to have precipitated the existing racial polarization of the district's schools, it is not clear...that the district has not contributed to the situation," she wrote.  "There is a significant disparity between the educational programs in the district's predominately African-American secondary schools and the educational programs in the district's predominately white schools."

That disparity, she said, could even be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Huntsville schools had taken several steps to improve educational outcomes for black students, including adopting universal school breakfast programs and increasing pre-kindergarten classrooms.  But the judge's ruling seemed skeptical of whether the district would continue these efforts once court oversight ended.

"The Board submits that the district's conduct over the past 50 years demonstrates good faith.  Recent events, though, have hurt the board's record," she wrote.  She cataloged Huntsville's 20-year failure to file required reports, its track record of missing data and incomplete information, and its public criticism of a requirement in the order that the district allow students to transfer into schools where they are a racial minority.

Haikala set two magistrate judges to the task of gathering information and to work with the district and the Justice Department to come up with a plan to address any other issues needed to get the district in compliance with the order, and ultimately, to end it.

Huntsville's children, she wrote, "have no control over where they live now, but giving them a strong education is the surest way to ensure that they will have choices about where they will live in the future and what they will do when they become adults."

You can read Judge Haikala's entire order here (PDF).  You can search ProPublica's database to see whether your district is, or has ever been, under a school desegregation order and check school segregation in your hometown.

LAW - From the Gossip Column

"Sex, Drugs, And Violence Are At The Heart Of Divorce Case Against Siegelman Judge Mark Fuller" by Roger Shuler, The Public Record 5/22/2012

Excerpt

A request for admissions can be one of the most entertaining documents in a lawsuit. The requesting party, in so many words, is saying, “We all know the following statements are true, so why don’t you admit to them so we can haggle about something else?”

It can be a rare moment of clarity in a legal action, where one party is trying to cut through the many layers of BS and establish facts. That doesn’t mean the receiving party is going to admit to everything–or anything–in the request. But the effort to get at what one party considers to be the clear truth can be most enlightening.

From that standpoint, a request for admissions in a divorce case involving U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller certainly does not disappoint. Fuller is a George W. Bush appointee who is best known for presiding over the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and codefendant Richard Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth Corporation.

Lisa Boyd Fuller is suing the judge for divorce. If even half of the items in her request for admissions are true, it’s a wonder Judge Fuller could even pay attention during the Siegelman case–much less rule correctly on key matters of law, with the freedom of two men at stake. (You can read the Fuller request for admissions at the end of this post.)

Lisa Fuller’s request is filled with sex, drugs, and violence–but no rock and roll (so far). The 18 items hint at a judge with a clouded mind, a nasty temperament, a lust for women other than his wife, and a monumental sense of entitlement.

The process for a request for admissions here in my state is governed by Rule 36 of the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure. It’s one of my favorite rules because it essentially says, “Let’s dispense with all the posing and posturing and get on the record what we all know to be the case–that these statements are true.” A savvy defense lawyer, of course, can take steps to ensure that the truth is clouded–and Mark Fuller’s lawyer is likely to do just that. But you at least have to admire the thought behind Rule 36.

Here is how the committee comments to the Alabama rule sum things up:

The purpose of this rule is to expedite the trial and to relieve the parties of the cost of proving facts which will not be disputed at the trial and the truth of which can be ascertained by reasonable inquiry. The rule is self-sufficient, and clearly defines its purpose and limits its effect, and it should be liberally construed.

ALABAMA - How Workers, Farmers, and Businesses Deal With New Immigration Law

"For Undocumented Workers, It's Not-so-Sweet Home Alabama" PBS Newshour 10/28/2011

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): Next, how workers, farmers and businesses in Alabama are dealing with a new immigration law that's attracting national attention.

NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman visited the state and filed this story, part of his ongoing reporting on Making Sense of financial news.

Another excerpt

PAUL SOLMAN: But Keith Smith says the global market sets price, not farmers.

KEITH SMITH, sweet potato farmer: If we pay more, it eventually puts us out of business is what's going to happen. And you're going to end up with food supplies, instead of coming from America, they're going to be coming from Mexico, from Chile, from Honduras, where they're not really regulated like we are.

PAUL SOLMAN: Moreover, the farmers insist, most Americans just can't or won't do farm work. When Smith's immigrants fled, he hired locals to help harvest his sweet potatoes.

KEITH SMITH: I probably had three or four out of 50 that is really worth anything, as far as being a good worker. It's just a lot of it is, is, they're not skilled and they don't know how to do what we're doing, and they ain't durable enough.

PAUL SOLMAN: They aren't durable enough?

KEITH SMITH: They ain't durable enough, because they're not used to doing that kind of stuff. They come out and work two to three hours and: Whew. I have had it. I can't take this anymore.

PAUL SOLMAN: Come the fall, some 40 workers usually pick Smith's sweet potatoes. He's down to 15, many of whom live nearby.

This was Melinda Martinez's (ph) fourth day on the job.

WOMAN: And I had to go home yesterday. I couldn't handle it. It's backbreaking.

PAUL SOLMAN: Martinez couldn't keep pace. At 40 cents per bucket, she made $30 for the day, compared to $75 and up for a practiced picker.

PAUL SOLMAN: Martinez couldn't keep pace. At 40 cents per bucket, she made $30 for the day, compared to $75 and up for a practiced picker.

WOMAN: It ain't really worth the gas I'm spending to get here.

PAUL SOLMAN: Jerry Spencer has been ferrying unemployed workers from Birmingham, an hour away. Most last a day or two.

JERRY SPENCER, Grow Alabama: City workers are unprepared physically, mentally and in training. And I'm seeing some good hardworking people coming out of the cities that may stick with it, but -- but you can bet, as the economy gets better, they find a job in the city, that's where they're going.

Take special note of the comment "If we pay more, it eventually puts us out of business is what's going to happen. And you're going to end up with food supplies, instead of coming from America."

That's what the politicians do NOT understand. Pay workers more = higher prices at the market for Americans. This WILL drive the markets to look elsewhere to lower their costs. As for jobs outside agriculture, how many people do you know that actually make a good living at the same jobs immigrants take today?

ECONOMY - Alabama's Immigration Law

"Alabama's Immigration Law: Assessing the Economic, Social Impact" PBS Newshour 10/13/2011

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): Alabama's new immigration law, recently upheld by a federal judge, is now starting to have an economic impact in the state. Representatives of the agricultural and construction industries say they are losing a significant portion of their work force.

And it is against that backdrop that the state's Hispanic community is voicing opposition.

The Miami-Pueblo supermarket in Birmingham closed its doors yesterday, joining Hispanic-owned businesses across Alabama to take a stand against the state's tough new immigration law.

WOMAN: We, all the Hispanics, we should all be together to represent you know our -- how we feel to the state about it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The work stoppage also hit the poultry industry. The parking lot was almost empty at a Tyson Foods chicken plant in tiny Albertville in northeastern Alabama. Operations slowed or even stopped, as many Hispanic employees staged a one-day sick-out.

It was the latest and perhaps largest protest against the law known as HB-56 passed earlier this year. One key provision authorizes police to detain anyone who's suspected of being in the country illegally. Supporters say it's intended to help legal residents by pushing illegal immigrants out of the work force.

COMMENT: This highlights the fact that the faulty-reasoning that immigration takes away American jobs. The reality is that Americans would not take the jobs immigrants take for the same wages. At least if Americans want low-cost goods.

(click for better view)

IMMIGRATION - Alabama, Still a Red-Neck State

LEO: OK you look Hispanic. Show me your papers.

DRIVER: My family is from India.

LEO: You're brown-skinned, show me your papers. Alabama driver's license will do.

DRIVER: But I'm not from Alabama, just here on business. (driving a rent-a-car)

LEO: Just show me your driver's license. (hands over Origin driver's license)

LEO: Humm... this looks suspicious.

DRIVER: It's just dog-eared, old.

LEO: Show me your birth certificate or immigration papers.

DRIVER: I'm a U.S. citizen, born in Origin, and do YOU carry your birth certificate....

LEO: (draws weapon) Refusing to comply! You're under arrest, smart-ass!

"Alabama's Immigration Law: Radical or Within Reason?"
PBS Newshour 8/24/2011