When Roger West first launched the progressive political blog "News From The Other Side" in May 2010, he could hardly have predicted the impact that his venture would have on the media and political debate. As the New Media emerged as a counterbalance to established media sources, Roger wrote his copious blogs about national politics, the tea party movement, mid-term elections, and the failings of the radical right to the vanguard of the New Media movement. Roger West's efforts as a leading blogger have tremendous reach. NFTOS has led the effort to bring accountability to mainstream media sources such as FOX NEWS, Breitbart's "Big Journalism.
Roger's breadth of experience, engaging style, and cultivation of loyal readership - over 92 million visitors - give him unique insight into the past, present, and future of the New Media and political rhetoric that exists in our society today.
What we are against:
Radical Right Wing Agendas
Incompetent Establishment
Donald J. Trump
Corporate Malfeasence
We are for:
Global and Econmoic Security
Social and Economic Justice
Media Accountability
THE RESISTANCE
The only thing that stops a shoplifter is a vigilante bystander with a gun. Or, at least, that’s what an unidentified woman apparently decided shortly before she opened fire on an SUV carrying a man who was fleeing the nearby Home Depot.
The incident occurred Tuesday afternoon at a Home Depot parking lot in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Store security chased the alleged shoplifter as he jumped into an SUV that was waiting to help him flee. According to the Detroit Free Press, that’s when a 48 year-old woman drew a gun and began firing shots at the vehicle.
The woman, who has a license to carry a concealed firearm, is reportedly “cooperating with police.”
If this “Good Gal” with a gun were an actual cop, she almost certainly would have violated the Constitution. Under the Supreme Court’s decision in Tennessee v. Garner, law enforcement may not use deadly force “unless it is necessary to prevent the escape and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.”
Based on publicly available information, there’s no indication that the fleeing man, who allegedly stole power tools and welding equipment, presented a sufficient threat to the public to justify the use of deadly force.
The vigilante shooter may face criminal charges. Among other things, Michigan law provides that anyone who “because of carelessness, recklessness or negligence . . . shall cause or allow any firearm under his control to be discharged so as to destroy or injure the property of another” may be sentenced to up to 90 days in jail. Depending on the woman’s intent at the time of the crime, she could potentially face much more serious charges — including attempted murder.
MICHIGAN POLICE PROTECTING AND SERVING THE SHIT OUT OF FLOYD DENT
On January 28, Floyd Dent was arrested in Inkster, Michigan and charged with resisting arrest, assault and possession of cocaine. The charges seemed unusual considering Dent had worked at Ford for 37 years and had no criminal history.
A video of Dent’s arrest, released today, reveals a far more disturbing picture. It shows Dent being dragged from his car, placed in a chokehold and struck 16 times in the head. Dent was also Tasered three times.
In all, 10 cops arrived at the scene. They were all white, according to Dent’s attorney.
According to the police, when Dent exited the car he said, “I’ll kill you.” There is no audio recording of the incident. The officer who had Dent in a chokehold says that Dent bit him, but he did not seek medical attention or photograph his alleged injury.
Dent says the bag of crack cocaine the officers claim they found was planted and, according to his attorney, there is unreleased video which shows the officers planting the drugs. The officer who repeatedly punched Dent was “was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for planting evidence and falsifying reports” in 2003. He was ultimately found not guilty.
“I’m lucky to be living. I think they was trying to kill me, especially when they had choked me. I mean, I was on my last breath. I kept telling the officer, ‘Please, I can’t breathe,’” Dent said in a media availability today.
This incident is just one of hundreds, where a cowardly pack of sadistic hyenas that should be charged for at a minimum, excessive force.
A federal judge has overturned Michigan’s constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex marriage. In the decision, Judge Bernard Friedman, a Regan appointee, argued that this is a case about people’s equal protection, lauding the couple that brought the case for the sacrifices they've made to raise their children:
In attempting to define this case as a challenge to “the will of the people,” state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people. No court record of this proceeding could ever fully convey the personal sacrifice of these two plaintiffs who seek to ensure that the state may no longer impair the rights of their children and the thousands of others now being raised by same-sex couples. It is the Court’s fervent hope that these children will grow up “to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their community and in their daily lives.” Today’s decision is a step in that direction, and affirms the enduring principle that regardless of whoever finds favor in the eyes of the most recent majority, the guarantee of equal protection must prevail.
Michigan’s trial was unique because it included testimony from a panel of experts, and the state brought in several researchers that have been responsible for fueling conservatives’ claims that children of same-sex couples fare worse than those raised by a married mom and dad. Outlining the case’s findings of fact, Judge Friedman rejected the anti-gay researchers’ claims, saying in particular of Mark Regnerus’s testimony that it was “entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration”:
Marks, Price, and Allen all failed to concede the importance of “convenience sampling” as a social science research tool. They, along with Regnerus, clearly represent a fringe viewpoint that is rejected by the vast majority of their colleagues across a variety of social science fields. The most that can be said of these witnesses’ testimony is that the “no differences” consensus has not been proven with scientific certainty, not that there is any credible evidence showing that children raised by same-sex couples fare worse than those raised by heterosexual couples.
In other words, though the research on same-sex parenting is still advancing, nothing worth considering has yet contradicted the consensus that same-sex couples make just as effective parents as their heterosexual counterparts.
Friedman’s decision follows similar rulings in Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, Oklahoma, Ohio, Illinois, and Utah.
Faux News has been raging over the airwaves with reports and interviews surrounded by what they are characterizing as a unprovoked assault, and assault on one of their own "contributors" - by a bunch of “leftist union thugs”. Unfortunately for The American Taliban, a simple review of their own raw video footage clearly shows Crowder knocking a union member to the ground, who in turn leveled several punches back at Crowder. And rightly so!
Steven Crowder, the Fox News contributor and Breitbart acolyte who admits he went to Lansing, Michigan union protests looking for trouble and is now touting, with a lot of help from Fox News, a highly-edited video showing him getting punched by “union thugs,” was on Hannity again last night. But this time, there was another guest who accused Crowder of pushing the man to the ground first. Hannity denied that happened. But Crowder never did.
Unfortunately for Mr. Crowder, a look at the video broadcast on the Sean Hannity show appears to show quite clearly that he left out an important section of the footage when he put together his edit. A section of the Fox News broadcast preserved by the Web site Mediaite shows that Mr. Hannity’s producers at Fox News started the clip five seconds earlier than Mr. Crowder did. What the extra footage reveals is the man who punched Mr. Crowder being knocked to the ground seconds before and then getting up and taking a swing at the comedian.
There is one more anomaly in Mr. Crowder’s edit of the footage shot by his associates. The still frame he used for the clip’s title image on YouTube, which offers a much clearer image of the man punching him, was obviously shot by a second camera, from an entirely different angle than the rest of the footage he presented of the man hitting him. If Mr. Crowder wants to clear up the mystery of exactly what happened just before he was punched, it might make sense for him to release any footage of the incident shot from that second angle.
Steven Crowder, like the dead Andrew Breitbart, is not so great at editing videos. You would think that these asshats would better trained [as film makers and editors] before releasing second grade workmanship, but knowing the dead Breitbart, he would be proud of his protégé , would be tweeting away about raping the poor Crowder - publishing blogs for years on how Crowder was man-handled by a more manly man than he.
ANDY IN BETTER TIMES
Crowder's footage has obviously been edited to cut out a portion where he pushes the man to the ground. Notice the choppy edit at 0:38.
CROWDER'S EDITED VERSION
We have learned much over time, and the list is long, a list of radical tea baggers whom would toss their own flesh under the bus for 15 minutes of fame, or to portray the Democrats in an bad light: Breitbart.com et al, Dana Loesch, Chris Crowder, James O'Keefe, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck would be a few whom have few scruples when it comes to reporting on "leftist socialist".
Crowder went on Fux Ewes the very night of his pummeling and was seen stammering about threats of arrests, bounty money to find the man whom kicked his ass, to challenge the man to a sanctioned cage match fight.......hopefully Crowder fights better inside an octagon rather than how poor he did at the Union busting rally, as his cowering girlish antics in Michigan would certainly garner him a much bigger and sever ass whipping! I would pay much to see someone legally beat the shit out of Steven Crowder!
Hey Steven Crowder, "Hey Mr. America", in the most famous words of your beloved mentor.......behave yourself, behave yourself you freak, stop raping the videos! You filthy, filthy freak, stop raping the videos.
Steven Crowder, this weeks worst person in the world!
The Michigan State Senate continued with its power grab and passed HB 5711, an omnibus anti-abortion bill that sparked widespread protests over the summer when it was first considered in the House, by a 27-10 vote on Wednesday afternoon. The legislation has been stalled since it passed Michigan’s House in June.
The measure represents one of the nation’s most far-reaching abortion restrictions. When Michigan lawmakers first took up HB 5711 over the summer, hundreds of protesters rallied against the massive 45-page, GOP-sponsored legislation. HB 5711 would impose a host of new restrictions on women seeking to terminate a pregnancy — such as requiring doctors to prove that their patients haven’t been “coerced” into having the procedure, limiting abortion access for women in rural areas, and imposing guidelines for disposing of fetal remains in the same way that the state disposes of dead bodies. The legislation also seeks to mandate unnecessarily and complicated regulations that could force the state’s abortion clinics out of business.
In addition to the recently approved anti-union legislation that Michigan lawmakers pushed through their current lame duck session, state legislators have also been busy advancing a slew of extreme anti-choice initiatives over the past week. The Michigan Senate approved measures that will prevent private insurance companies from offering coverage for abortion services and allow doctors to refuse to perform abortions based solely on their personal beliefs.
HB 5711 is now headed back to the House to be considered for final passage, since the Senate made a few minor changes to the legislation. Republicans hold the majority in the state’s House by a 59-51 margin.
Armed with tear gas canisters, pepper spray and batons, State Police officers guarded the Capitol as protesters shouted "No justice, no peace!" and "Shut it down!" Amid throngs of protestors Michigan’s House of Representatives passed the “right-to-work” law for public sector unions, 58-51. It is expected to vote on similar legislation applying to private sector unions later today. Gov. Rick Snyder (R) is also expected to sign the legislation into law today or early tomorrow.
Michigan Republicans [Michigan's version of "The American Taliban] claim the state needs the measure to stay competitive with Indiana, where lawmakers passed “right-to-work” last year. In reality, though, such laws have negative effects on workers and little effect on economic growth. Here is what you need to know about the state GOP’s campaign:
THE LEGISLATION: Both the state House and state Senate passed legislation on Thursday that prohibits private sector unions from requiring members to pay dues. The Senate followed suit and passed a different but similar measure that extends the same prohibition for public sector unions, though firefighters and police officers are exempt. The state House included a budget appropriations provision that is intended to prevent the state’s voters from being able to legally challenge the law through a ballot referendum. Due to state law, both houses are prevented from voting on legislation passed by the other for five days, so neither will be able to fully pass the legislation until Tuesday at the earliest.
THE PROCESS: Union leaders and Democrats claim that Republicans are pushing the legislation through in the lame-duck session to hide the intent of the measures from citizens, and because the legislation would face more trouble after the new House convenes in January. Michigan Republicans hold a 63-47 advantage in the state House, but Democrats narrowed the GOP majority to just eight seats in November. Six Republicans opposed the House measure; five of them won re-election in 2012 (the sixth retired). And Michigan Republicans have good reason to pursue the laws without public debate. Though the state’s voters are evenly split on whether it should become a right-to-work state, 78 percent of voters said the legislature “should focus on issues like creating jobs and improving education, and not changing state laws or rules that would impact unions or make further changes in collective bargaining.”
THE CONSEQUENCES: While Snyder and Republicans pitched “right-to-work” as a pro-worker move aimed at improving the economy, studies show such legislation can cost workers money. The Economic Policy Institute found that right-to-work laws cost all workers, union and otherwise, $1,500 a year in wages and that they make it harder for workers to obtain pensions and health coverage. “If benefits coverage in non-right-to-work states were lowered to the levels of states with these laws, 2 million fewer workers would receive health insurance and 3.8 million fewer workers would receive pensions nationwide,” David Madland and Karla Walter from the Center for American Progress wrote earlier this year. The decreases in union membership that result from right-to-work laws have a significant impact on the middle class and research “shows that there is no relationship between right-to-work laws and state unemployment rates, state per capita income, or state job growth,” EPI wrote in a recent report about Michigan. “Right-to-work” laws also decrease worker safety and can hurt small businesses.
Union leaders are, of course, aghast at Snyder and the GOP’s right-to-work push. “In a state that gave birth to the modern U.S. labor movement, it is unconscionable that Michigan legislators would seek to drive down living standards for Michigan workers and families with a law that will do nothing to improve either the state’s economic climate or the quality of life for Michigan residents,” RoseAnn DeMoro, the executive director of National Nurses United, said in a statement.
Radical Tea Baggers obviously didn't get the message last November. These remaining douche bags in office need to be sent packing when it's time for their re-election! Make your voice heard readers!
