"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
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Mike Driver
pixel skylines
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Xuebing Du
Love Begins
tumblr dot com
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NASA
RMH
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
Keni
styofa doing anything
One Nice Bug Per Day
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KIROKAZE
occasionally subtle
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
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@therealnotasecretagent
Leon Smallwood-Bey:
"I'm currently going into serving my 18th year of a life sentence for a non-violent drug crime, which is equivalent to a death sentence. But if I were to be sentenced today under new drug laws, I wouldn't be sentenced to die in prison."
Leon Smallwood-Bey was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and given a life sentence, even though then courts didn't know the amount he had.
Golf Clap
Michelle Alexander wrote a book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness", and made known racism that wasn't acknowledged previously. She points out that racism is nowhere near gone, it's just hiding behind our criminal justice system. Although I would add it's more class-ism than racism, since I feel like it's more people in poverty turn to and are caught with (and therefore thrown in jail) drugs than are more privileged people.
The Thirst for Prisoners
Maddie Valle, someone in the other English Wr section, is writing about California's drought. The California drought and prison overcrowding across the United States are both rooted in greed. Mother Nature doesn't want to share her water with the majority of California, and wants to keep it for herself. Private-prison higher-up want more prisoners so that they can get more money from the government (who get their money from taxing the public). If drugs were legalized, there would be a lot less prisoners, more free people, and a lot more money for everyone else, plus a more efficient police force. Likewise, if Mother Nature gave more of her rain with California, more seeds could be freed from their (prison) cells, and there would be more oxygen for everyone!
Things I Like
Again, not related to my topic, but an assignment for this class. It's a remix of GW #24, from Unit 2. The original assignment was to list things I don't like, and then talk more in depth about one of them.
Martial arts - Math - Dancing - Science - Doctor Who - Music - Movies - Guitar - Practicing singing while alone
I really enjoy martial arts. When I practice my martial art (Poekoelan), all of my problems disappear for the hour I train. I can relax and focus only on the present. After training I usually can concentrate better, since my mind is clearer and my will-power feels stronger.
1. "So what are you in for?" 2. "Really want to know, buddy?" "Tell me." 3. "They found my girlfriend's cocaine on me. My parents are raising my kids. You?" "Damn." 4. I robbed a bank and killed two tellers, it was fun." Note, I added the last three words and they aren't in the comic. Assumptions are interesting, huh? Also these were intended to be the same two people in every comic #ArtSkillz #StickFiguresAreHard
How could we prevent children from gaining easy access to addictive drugs if all drugs are made legal? Even if there are age restrictions placed on the sales of these drugs, it will be as easy for underage children to have access to these drugs as they do with alcohol now.
I don’t think prevention is the solution. That’s what we’re doing now, and everyone (any age) that’s using drugs currently, is finding a way to get them: illegality isn’t stopping anyone, so they might as well be legal. A lot of these ways are shady, and are also the reason for a fair amount of crime. We can educate students and regulate drugs as we do now with alcohol and cigarettes. If heroin was legalized but you needed to be 21, would you ask someone to buy you some? Maybe? More than likely I’m guessing not.
Part of the reason why so many underage people are able to smoke marijuana, for example is because drug dealers don’t care how old the person they’re dealing to is. If we regulate the drugs, I believe it will be harder for a lot of teens to get drugs
Context Lens
I am always trying to better myself, in any way I can, and as someone who believes that everyone should have the right/chance to ameliorate themselves as well, I really think drug imprisonments and punishments are unjust, unfair, and unreasonable in that sense (they are in most senses though). No one chooses to be addicted to drugs, and a lot of times the drug smog enshrouding their brains can't be cleared without help. Putting people in prison doesn't really help them at all. If they were using drugs to cope with stressors in their lives, imagine what prison is/does to them.
A pretty creative, well edited video designed to catch individuals attention long enough to get them to listen. The chorus is really catchy, and has a very good point.
"The worst thing stoned people do
Is steal their roommate's oreos
And that's a misdemeanor at most"
And also that we don't treat alcoholics like this. Alcoholism is treated as a disease or mental illness, dependent drug users need medical help, not a jail cell. More often than not after jail, they end up going back because their addiction wasn't cured, and the cycle continues.
Interview
I had to interview someone for my class, and I asked my RA Sean to help me answer some questions I had.
1. Do you think the war on drugs is working? Why or Why not?
I think the war on drugs is a futile effort. The legality of drugs is a very complicated issue. Major things need to be changed and the classification of how harmful the drugs are need to reflect the consequences.
2. Do you think decriminalizing drugs would noticeably decrease prison populations?
I don't know the exact statistics but I would assume yes; that a majority of inmates are in jail for drug possessions.
3. Why do you think the government has not yet legalized most drugs?
The legal system is slow to adjust and react to new research and social opinion.
4. Do you think drug arrests are discriminatory? Why or why not?
I think the job of police officer attracts a certain type of person who ends up with that job and their inherent biases are reflected in arrest rates.
Thank you Sean!
GW #1 Remix
This isn't directly related to my blog, but it's a remix assignment for my English class, so here goes...
The original assignment was to write about a recent day (or something like that) and use 5 sensory words. Instead of using sensory words, I'm going to use gifs. I was a minute mover (which I totally forgot about until today), and I helped Freshmen and multi-years move in.
First, proper stretching was required so you didn't hurt yourself:
How the freshmen arrived:
When they got out of the car:
When freshmen parents asked me about partying:
How I felt when I got offered a tip (which I didn't take b/c we weren't supposed to):
How I felt helping out multi-years:
Trying to make small talk with multi-years:
What I wanted to do to people that weren't thankful:
Lastly, how I felt at the end of the day after doing two shifts (instead of one):
What would happen if marijuana were legal, taxed and regulated just like a pack of cigarettes? Read on to find out.
I think 1,3,4 & 7 are important, and they're all tied together. States would have more money from taxation to spend on actual crimes, money would be saved, and gang/cartel violence would lessen. What would gangs fight over if drugs were legal? They could go back to running gambling operations, but with all that new police money, would it work?
Michelle Alexander, a civil rights advocate, explains how the “War on Drugs” has affected the arrest rates for people of color. Drug use and the selling of drugs is just as prominent in white communities as it is black or Hispanic communities, yet people of color are a lot more likely to get targeted for these crimes. She also tells the audience that it’s hard to prove racial discrimination in court cases because that requires evidence of conscious racial bias.
My issue of prison overcrowding definitely relates to this. Police definitely arrest more minorities than they do whites, and a big part of why they're able to do that is because drugs are illegal.
Also fun fact, the reason for most drug-related imprisonments isn't that people were found with drugs, but that that they were paroled, then found with illegal substances in their system, and then put in prison.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
For folks that know little about why the prison industrial complex is horrible, this is a pretty good intro take on it.
Dropping the soap references in spongebob, Puss N' Boots, omg. A lot of good information here. Sesame Street explains prison to children. Talks about how white people don't really go to jail for drug arrests while blacks/other minorities do. Also some good information about how we're not taking care of our prisoners (bad food, bad healthcare), which doesn't really make sense given the amount of money we spend on them...
Repost by @unitedstatesofgreed ROI - return on investment. This is a term used in economics and business to determine how good an investment is to the investor. Sadly we hardly ever use this concept to determine the efficiency of social programs. We spend more money imprisoning people than we do educating and opening doors for them. I only ask that you ponder this one question: How much is punishing people like Roy Brown worth to you? How is the return on investment for YOU the citizen, because remember that it is YOUR investment (taxes) that are paying for his punishment. Is there a better way to fix this problem that could bring a higher ROI to our society? A new report from In the Public Interest (ITPI) revealed last week that private prison companies are striking deals with states that contain clauses guaranteeing high prison occupancy rates. The report, “Criminal: How Lockup Quotas and ‘Low-Crime Taxes’ Guarantee Profits for Private Prison Corporations,” documents the contracts exchanged between private prison companies and state and local governments that either guarantee prison occupancy rates (essentially creating inmate lockup quotas) Source: http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/6-shocking-revelations-about-how-private-prisons-make-their-money #massincarceration #prisonindustrialcomplex #capitalpunishment #politics
Exactly, I would be unable to have said that better myself. When prison's have a lock-up quota, that means that they need to have enough prisoners to be able to get enough taxes to continue making a profit. Does that give any economic justice toward us? I'm sure inmates don't like it either. If we spent even 1/10 of that money on rehabilitation, we wouldn't need as many prisons, and have as many prisoners
Blog to Follow that I've Followed
http://descentintotyranny.tumblr.com/
This blog talks about a lot of social injustice, and I think putting people in prison for drug offenses that could/can/do ruin people's futures, fits under that category.
via orapaic
http://thepeoplesrec.com/
While most of what I talk about are drug related crimes, people arrested for protesting are also a demographic affected by for-profit prison, albeit nowhere nearly as much.
via orapaic
http://npr.tumblr.com
NPR talks about everything, including social issues, my issue, although they don't write that much about prison reform.
via orapaic
Money Spent on Students vs. Prisoners
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/prison-spending-education-spending_n_5484787.html
This has an (unfortunately) cool little chart that shows you how much each state spends per prisoner vs per student. Now maybe my logical reasoning is flawed, but I would think that spending more money on education, would help disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged stay out of jail.
Maybe if we made K-12 for-profit, the government would spend more money on education. Until then, I guess we'll just spend more on for-profit prisons...
This is your country on #drugs. No I’m not talking about individuals, but a system that was clearly fucked up enough to pass such laws had to be shitting shrooms, coughing clouds of purple haze and bleeding crystal meth.
In 1971 when Nixon declared war on drugs, what started happening? Making drugs illegal doesn't really do any good. If you want drugs, you'll find them whether or not they're legal. So why do we spend so many resources arresting people for non-violent offenses?
Drugs and drug habits are expensive, a lot of poor people commit actual crimes (robberies, burglaries) that they wouldn't otherwise so they can pay for the illegal overpriced drugs.
