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Word for Word: Pres.Trump Signs Criminal Justice Reform Bills Into Law ... Thanx to C-SPAN **** this was a "great historic masterpiece"? ... President Trump just suddenly made us/ America "safe"? ... heh, heh, heh, heh, heh {:-) ... this is silly {:-)
This posting will be Part 34 of the "Incarcerated American" series and Part 19 of the "How To Privatize America" series of this journal/ blog, with an opening video above. This is to look at the new prison reform package that President Trump just signed called the "First Step Act" (wikipedia), which I've browsed through what was available. This reform is being praised by just about everyone, it has received bipartisan support across the board, and was a landslide slam- dunk win ... House, Senate, and President. So many have worked on getting this through for months, the President been hot on it with his son- in- law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka (even though, he done not much of anything), celebrity influence such as Kim Kardashian West, hubby Kanye, and others, billionaire Koch brothers even played their part in drafting this over the months, as well as the 2 largest private prison corporations GEO Group and CoreCivic, and so many establishment politicians of Democrats and Republicans, and lobbyists. When I first heard this on the tele news right after it passed the Senate, I was impressed and surprised both of this being pushed by Republicans with enormous bipartisan support and praise to the President, etc. MSNBC which is considered liberal, called it a "bipartisan Christmas miracle" (YouTube), and praised the bipartisan support, saying bipartisanship is what the American people were voting for last midterm (I certainly didn't vote for bipartisanship this year for a reason). Fox News, which is considered conservative, were very excited, because this shows how much the President and Jared care about all these people of colour (YouTube) that have been victims of mass incarceration. Then I went to CNN, which is considered as neutral, or more bipartisan ... they were excited as little toddlers on Christmas morning getting their gifts, saying this is historic, great and beautiful, with everyone coming together (YouTube). So I guess that's it, eh? ... I mean, all the mainstream media, right, left and center got it covered, Democrats and Republicans are now texting buddies, prisoners nationwide cheering "free at last" etc. There should be a "little" credit here, because it is just that ... a "first step" that is decades past due, and many look at this as a sort of template to roll down to the states ... a trickle down type justice I guess, but this is deeper than what we are seeing here.
And when you have only corporations/ lobbies/ investors doing most of the draft legislation with minimal input from the public or even several so called lawmakers, you got to alwayz follow the money, and expect that it's all about such ... much of this, is just a corporate/ investor cash grab. Many of these folks that draft/ write these bills on issues that concern us, really don't even halfway understand what our problems are, they live in a bubble of sort, so you cannot expect them to know the real problems, unless they themselves lived it or been there. That is why we need to push them so hard, and hold them accountable some way, they are sort of blind to too much. I linked some pieces below out of several I reviewed looking for some straight talk, to look at the other side of this ... it was difficult getting past so much of the tearjerker broadcasting from professional journalism in this, even from some that are more progressive usually, I guess so many folks are desperate, and havent heard anything halfway decent come out of Washington in so long. And this isn't just a matter of "my" opinion why I chose these few below, this is a matter of reality, not opinion, so unfortunately, I can't put sugar coated nonsense on here, if I did, it would not be accurate or real ... just more fantasy nonsense. Probably one of the best pieces I read, short and to the point, had to be German Lopez at Vox. Karl's piece at OpenSecrets is very importante to look at the political and monetary/ profits angle to this ... which is also importante in understanding how this too, leads to more profit driven privatization and expansion of tax funded private investments into post- prison and other related services that serve our communities. I wanted to get The Real News piece in here, because I alwayz like to get Eddie Conway's view on these issues, since he been in the trenches and prison system for years ... and he's also executive producer of TRNN and host of "Rattling the Bars", and the imput of Dr.Natasha Pratt- Harris and Aajah Harris, being interviewed by TRNN's Marc Steiner, hear them out. I also wanted to add Damon K Jones to get a view from an activist who is also in the National Black Police Association and with the Westchester County (NY) Department of Corrections. At the bottom, I will add a little something to this.
***** VOX | GERMAN LOPEZ: First Step Act: the criminal justice reform bill is not an "overhaul" ... (newsread)
***** OPEN SECRETS.ORG | KARL EVERS- HILLSTROM: For- profit prisons strongly approve of bipartisan criminal justice reform bill ... (newsread)
***** THE REAL NEWS: Trump's Criminal Justice Reform Act Is a Meaningless Smoke Screen ... (video/ transcript)
***** BLACKS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT OF AMERICA | DAMON K JONES: The First Step Act: Lesser Federal Sentencing Compromise for Big Bucks to Corporate Prisons ... (newsread)
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***** PD/ RCJ: "INCARCERATED AMERICAN" ... PART'S 33 THRU 1
***** PD/ RCJ: "HOW TO PRIVATIZE AMERICA" ... PART'S 18 THRU 1
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Thomas Hudson Pickering/ Ranch Chimp
First of all, credit to all those who are actually pushing for prison and sentencing reform changes, without them, this would not even be on most politicians tongues. Coming into this, Democrats who jumped on board with this, were some of the same ones earlier in the year who opposed much of it, because it was not significant enough to sell to those who want reform, because it fell way too short of what is needed. Republicans at the same time, never would even touch this issue with a 10'ft pole over the years, they just totally ignored it, and now all of the sudden they're in favour as a majority? ... go figure. Democrats are now in a spot where they have to go with it as is, if they don't, or whoever don't on either of these sides, will be painted as uncompassionate to these inmates and so many of colour, poverty, and detained immigrants ... so in that sense, it's hilarious, because both sides are looking to improve their public image, looking for something to hold against their opponent in the 2020 election ... so, much of that is nothing but political, as usual. There is a low public approval rating for most in Washington, even on both sides, and both sides know this ... today, many folks just vote against what they hate "most", and are losing confidence in these political institutions, just like many religious institutions. Both of these sides looking at the last 40 years under neoliberalism wealth control, have contributed to this mass, now corporate, incarceration. Kushner's dad had to do a short stretch of fed time, for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, witness tampering ... he got gravy time for all he done, and fed is "easy time", not like state or county time. I read of a lady recently, I believe in Texas, that voted when she was not supposed to, and she gets like 5 years or so, Kushner's dad should have got what everyday people get every day for doing much less harm or criminal ... bottom line.
Right now, you even have several of Trump's buddies and others related to corporations and government officials being investigating, charged/ tried, and even pending almost certain convictions, all of which will fall into sentencing to federal guidelines, facilities and supervision, this bill importantly also makes it so judges (many in the pockets of those with wealth through financial support) have more flexibility to act more favourably on certain cases, where a judge can weaken charges and sentencing guidelines for those at the top. This bill/ law/ act will benefit those the most, that are big players with money, that do far more foul shit at destroying the integrity of our government, and stealing from the majority of people in this country, to crushing peoples rights, and trampling on our constitution, along with basically making a mockery with their corrupt wayz, of our justice system. So there was also consideration when making this (especially from Republicans) to protect and allow room for judicial leniency for those at the top and big player criminals of white collar, they will in turn release a few thousand regular folks, and only in fed facilities, it's a trade, price of business, etc ... like if a major bank were to intentionally rip off a billion in some scam, they're ready and eager to pay several million in fines "IF" they get caught. This does nothing "as is", for the vast majority of people all over America, doing time in state, private and county confinement/ corrections institutions. If you're the average swinging dick doing a little couple years down in state/ county/ private on some trumped up bullshit dope possession case where you felt pressured to plea deal on, or some petty parole/ probation violation like not filing your change of address on time, or related nonsense ... don't yet jump for joy, homeboy. And YES, all these prison work strikes that pop up from time to time are needed and justified, don't keep respecting that which has no respect for you.
The private prison industry right now been planning on broadening their business/ services, they have so many contracted in right now for investors in institutional detainment services, plus it makes them look better, since the private institutions have a shitty record for the abuses and neglect in their facilities. They have also many small contractors peddling medical/ health, clothes, food, phone/ video services, finance/ credit services, etc, to inmates and their families, all to milk a few more bucks off of folks miseries, their families and taxpayers. They want to expand that into post- prison services ... all the halfway houses are good investments for those in these industries, because you get to house the ex- inmate, after also getting tax funded money out of prisons for some bullshit job training, for minimal wage jobs out in the world, many of which would be in major corporations, which will also drive regular employees wages down over time, because of pay competition. I know a gal for instance, who received a culinary certificate from a private ran state facility she was doing a 2 year dope conviction plea deal at, she was involved in their inmate training programme, she earned it cooking 2000+ pancakes every morning starting at like 4am for the inmates (so they don't have to hire actual cooks from the private sector, in fact, most institutions are totally self reliant as far as any needs), no other training, many places she applies for employment won't honour her certificate?, because it's not accredited/ legit, I told her when she questioned me ... if they do, it will be for a dirt low wage, and having her do 2- 3 other jobs with it. What I mean is, the inmate gets out, is locked down in another way to a halfway house, has some mediocre job, you collect fees from taxes for housing, and also get a rent fee from the person being housed, petty extra fines and fees, along with more fees from the state and ex- inmate, for drug/ alcohol testing and counseling, ankle/ electronic monitoring, administrative fees, and probation/ parole type fees. Plus, the ex- inmates want to earn good time, with programmes for them to do all the maintenance work at the house/ facilities in their so called "free world" post release, along with community services. And they will eventually want to also privatize the parole/ probation offices that states/ counties now control.
As far as cutting down the recidivism of folks in the revolving door system we have now ... all these private prison players bank on and want recidivism, don't believe this nonsense that they don't, or are thinking about our communities, their love for us or related trash talk. Unless you change so much as far as what qualifies as a release conditions violation, you will have high recidivism rates, many Texas parole violator facilities are already privatized even, where offenders do 3- 6 months to maybe 2 years max, equivalent to state privatized jail places as far as how long sentences are. We take people on bullshit charges, incarcerate them, make money off it, send them back into the same community they violated in, they are back in the same rut and around the same crowds, marked and tagged by every cop in the community that needs a quick bust to make his/ her quota, the person on parole/ probation has a list of 100 things they can be violated on, so have more pressure on them, than when they first got arrested when they went in ... why do you think so many folks ask to do the time instead of being put on probation? ... because of how hard it is to make it out in the world on paper (probation). The cops base promotions and points on quotas nowadayz, bonding agencies make a bundle, assistant prosecutors get convictions galore in their portfolio, judges use them to campaign on, low scale attorneyz make a bundle off bundling groups of cases in one hearing, court appointed attorneys work with the prosecution in most cases, to lock up or "lock in" those charged to a probationary deal/ plan, the charges are jacked up and excessive. Many major corporations even depend on prison labour (Global Research), and private investors depend on prisoners for profits ... private prisons are manipulating even state legislation (ACLU), not just federal, some private prison companies require "lockup quotas", or threaten to sue states for not enough prisoners (Prison Legal News) ... this IS THE REALITY of America. So as far as changing any of this, you can't even touch it, without changing all the dependence we have on locking up people for petty things, that are no harm to anyone.
Neither is the war on drugs halfway working, again, just a bunch of folks/ investors making a bundle off it. We need to start treating drug addiction for what it truly is, it is an illness, like alcoholism. Today, the pharmaceutical industry is as much a problem as the major illegal drug cartels. Even much of the rehabilitation is falling short of what it should produce as results, in the meantime as awful as this may sound to folks, or out of the question, radical, etc ... we need to find wayz for existing drug addicts to legally and safely use their drugs in designated areas. This also cuts down on scattered street use and distribution, use of many vacant properties, including black market dealing in public/ parking lots/ properties, if we can supply/ subsidize drugs as well as drug paraphernalia/ supplies, until those can get help, this also cuts petty crimes such as stealing ... this is safer for communities as far as crime, even for health and sanitation, disrupts illegal trafficking, it can be monitored, and is a substantial savings to the taxpayer. I know how awful that may sound, or hard to swallow ... but we have a serious issue, that cannot get stabilized the way we do things ... we have failed across the board on making any progress. Most people addicted don't really like being addicted, deep down ... and some need to hit rock bottom or come close to death before they can make that decision, and it's a hard fight mentally and physically ... much of our incarceration is related to this. We also do not give communities the tools they need to do the needed work in their communities changing things, these communities percentage- wise even pay more taxes collectively than many of the wealthy or their corporations, they deserve more money for tools. And frankly, regardless of all the crocodile tears in Washington, many of them don't give a shit, except what they can use for political or monetary gain, we live in a predator and prey semi- puritanical society, regardless of what we may fantasize it is, or think how liberated we are. All this talk right now about how this will trickle down to states, or how President Trump will go down in history as the compassionate reformer or related talk, is just jumping the gun. Sure, a half step is better than no step, BUT ... don't overrate the template. Other than that, try to have a fun and enjoyable New Year's Eve.
That's the Reality ... Word Out ....
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***** RANCH CHIMP JOURNAL "WELCOME" POST
***** RCJ MUSIC/ ART'S HONOUR ROLL SOCIETY (my hand- selected music/ arts picks)
***** "THE RESISTANCE | PERILS OF THE POWER POSSE" ... ( a 2 part futuristic Ranch Chimp Journal dream to dream on )
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