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'SportsCenter' Pays Homage To Stuart Scott

ESPN
As Scott Van Pelt and Steve Levy say farewell to Stuart Scott, SportsCenter leaves a chair empty in his honor. 

Defying U.S. & Israel, Will ICC Membership Bring Justice to Stateless & Occupied Palestinians?
democracynow
http://democracynow.org - In a move opposed by the United States and Israel, Palestinian leaders have submitted a request to join the International Criminal Court and sign over a dozen other international treaties. The Palestinian Authority says it will seek the prosecution of Israeli officials for war crimes in the Occupied Territories. In retaliation, Israel has halted the transfer of tax revenues needed to pay for Palestinian salaries and public services. The Palestinian Authority opted to join the ICC after the United States and Israel successfully lobbied against a U.N. Security Council measure calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2017. 

From Drone Strikes to Black Sites, How U.S. Foreign Policy Runs Under a Cloak of Secrecy
democracynow
http://democracynow.org - At least nine Pakistanis were killed Sunday in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan, the first reported drone strike of 2015. News accounts of the strike are based on unnamed Pakistani government and security officials. The Obama administration has said nothing so far. For years, the United States did not even publicly acknowledge the existence of the drone strikes. The drone program is just one example of the national security state's reliance on secret operations. The recent Senate Intelligence Committee report revealed another example: the shadowy network of overseas CIA black sites where the United States held and tortured prisoners. The report also noted the CIA shrouded itself in a cloak of secrecy keeping policymakers largely in the dark about the brutality of its detainee interrogations.

Freeway Rick Ross on How He Introduced Crack to the U.S. and Made Millions Off the War on Drugs
ReasonTV
After making millions of dollars selling drugs, when asked what his life would have been like if there hadn’t been a war on drugs, Freeway Rick Ross replies matter-of-factly: “Without this artificial price that we put on cocaine, I wouldn’t have been selling cocaine.”

The notorious drug dealer from the 1980s who is widely credited with introducing crack cocaine in Los Angeles and, eventually, nationwide recently sat down with Reason TV’s Zach Weissmueller to talk about his rise to—and fall from—power, the impact of crack on Los Angeles and the rest of the country, and his views on the effectiveness of the war on drugs.

Ross has a new autobiography out, will be featured in the upcoming documentary Freeway: Crack in the System, and is portrayed by Michael K. Williams in the new movie Kill the Messenger, which tells the story of the late journalist Gary Webb.
Rolls-Royce Breaks Sales Record
WochitBusiness
Rolls-Royce sold a record number of cars last year, breaking through the 4,000 mark for the first time in its 111-year history.
The luxury car maker sold 4,063 cars, up 12% on last year, and marking the fifth consecutive year of record sales.
Sales in the US increased by almost a third, by 40% in Europe and in the Middle East by 20%, the firm said.
Its Wraith model and strong orders for its new Ghost Series II helped drive the strong performance. The company, which is owned by Germany's BMW and based in West Sussex, said it had created 200 new permanent jobs over the past 18 months to meet the strong demand, employing more than 1,500 people.

Detained for 19 Days: Immigration Checkpoint Refusal Gone Wrong
ReasonTV
You’ve probably seen them before: internal border checkpoint refusals, now a popular YouTube genre. Some are funny. Others are hostile. But for Greg Rosenberg, a naturalized U.S. citizen who speaks accented English, an encounter with South Texas border patrol resulted in weeks of jail time without a single charge being prosecuted.

Rosenberg immigrated to America 10 years ago from Armenia. Memories and family stories of Soviet rule in his country of origin infused him with strong political beliefs and a reverence for individual rights.

"Back then [in Soviet-controlled Armenia], if you complained about the government, they took you to Siberia," says Rosenberg.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that Rosenberg is a checkpoint protester. As a long-haul trucker, he has to drive through these all the time. After all, there are about 170 of them scattered across the United States.
Justice or Vengeance?: ACLU Raises Concerns as Boston Marathon Bombing Trial Begins
democracynow
http://democracynow.org - Jury selection began Monday in the case of "The United States v. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev," one of the most high-profile federal trials in decades. The 21-year-old Tsarnaev is accused of planting bombs near the finish line at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and wounded more than 260 on April 15, 2013. It was the nation's worst bombing since the Oklahoma City attack of 1995. Tsarnaev faces 30 counts, more than half carrying the death penalty — although Massachusetts abolished capital punishment in 1984. Jury selection will take several weeks followed by a trial of up to five months. But as bombing victims and the wider Boston community search for closure, concerns around due process could prolong the case for years. We are joined by Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

As Obama Hosts Peña Nieto, Explosive Report Ties Mexican Federal Police to Students' Disappearance
democracynow
http://democracynow.org - As President Obama hosts Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto at the White House today, human rights groups want Obama to press the Mexican government on its failure to investigate and prosecute abuses by state security forces. The meeting comes on the heels of an explosive new report that directly contradicts the Mexican government's claims they were unaware of what happened the night 43 students went missing after an attack by local police in the state of Guerrero. According to the Mexican magazine Proceso, federal police played a role in the attack, and federal authorities likely tortured key witnesses. The case has ignited protests across Mexico and around the world. We are joined by the reporters who broke the story, Anabel Hernández and Steve Fisher. Hernández is a leading Mexican investigative journalist and author of "Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers."

"David Duke Without the Baggage": Will Top GOPer Steve Scalise Resign over Speech to Racist Group?
democracynow
http://democracynow.org - As Congress begins a new session today, one of its top Republicans has acknowledged he once addressed a gathering of white supremacists and neo-Nazis. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise has confirmed reports he spoke at a 2002 convention of EURO — the European-American Unity and Rights Organization. EURO is founded by David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader and perhaps the country's most notorious white supremacist. Scalise was serving as a Louisiana state representative at the time. "Mr. Scalise reportedly described himself as 'David Duke without the baggage,' so it'll be up to Republicans to decide what that says about their conference," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on Monday. We speak with Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, who says that Scalise's denials are not believable. 




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