Buzz Blog

The juror from the Trayvon Martin case who says Zimmerman “got away with murder” speaks with Democracy Now!---

Top of the Alty World “Juror B29 Says Zimmerman "Got Away With Murder," Intensifying Scrutiny of Prosecution and Florida Laws”--Democracy Now!

Female inmates in federal prison in the Northeast are being shipped to Alabama, far from their families and legal aid.--Slate

ProPublica looks at six ways Congress could reform NSA snooping.--ProPublica

A Senate committee will look at closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center, but the effort seems to lack urgency.--Rolling Stone

Top of Alty Utah

The Utah House Speaker has replaced the chair of a committee to investigate Attorney John Swallow for having a conflict related to one of Swallow's scandals.--Utah Political Capitol

This is the Place state park had to revamp policies and sell off more than 20 of its animals after USDA inspections found serious animal-neglect issues.--Salt Lake City Weekly

Bryan Schott points out that if too many senators speak out about their thoughts on John Swallow, their forced recusal could make it hard for the Senate to actually act as the jury to impeach him.--Salt Lake City Weekly

United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told Utah attorneys that “activist judges” brought on the Nazi holocaust.--Q Salt Lake

Rantosphere

Bryan Schott says Democrats have fumbled again by having former presidential hopeful Howard Dean kick off their voter registration drive.

“Sure, the former Vermont governor, Chair of the DNC and erstwhile presidential candidate will make Utah’s Democrats feel good about themselves, but his appearance may do more harm than good outside of their little political bubble. An East Coast liberal who is most famous around these parts for the “Dean scream” is probably not the image Utah’s Democrats want to pop into the minds of the average Utah voter.”--Schott Happens

The Long View

A reflection on white privilege, personal responsibility, entitlement and “the worst of white folks”:

"The worst of white folks, I understood, wasn’t some gang of rabid white people in crisp pillowcases and shaved heads. The worst of white folks was a pathetic, powerful “it.” It conveniently forgot that it came to this country on a boat, then reacted violently when anything or anyone suggested it share. The worst of white folks wanted our mamas and grandmas to work themselves sick for a tiny sliver of an American pie it needed to believe it had made from scratch.

It was all at once crazy-making and quick to violently discipline us for acting crazy. It had an insatiable appetite for virtuoso black performance and routine black suffering. The worst of white folks really believed that the height of black and brown aspiration should be emulation of its mediocre self. The worst of white folks inherited disproportionate access to quality health care, food, wealth, fair trials, fair sentencing, college admittance, college graduations, promotions and second chances, yet still terrorized and shamed other Americans who lacked adequate access to healthy choices at all. White Americans were wholly responsible for the worst of white folks, though they would do all they could to make sure it never wholly defined them.”--Gawker