Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

When I was faster i was always behind.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

The revolution will be supervised.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Everybody saw this coming.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Monday Evening Open Thread: “America’s Prisons Are Broken”

Monday Evening Open Thread: “America’s Prisons Are Broken”

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… with special appearances from adorable puppets, and clips from Sen. Al Franken, also venal Arizona pols and Florida Gov. Rick “Bat Boy” Scott!

A small ray of hope, from NYMag:

In a move to address the absurdly overcrowded American prison system, where about half of those locked up are in for drug crimes, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously today to apply its newly reduced sentencing recommendations retroactively. As a result, according to the Associated Press, as many as 46,000 inmates could be eligible for early release — with cuts averaging 25 months — beginning in November 2015…

“It makes little sense, of course, to reform harsh sentencing laws proactively but not retroactively,” added Drug Policy Alliance executive director Ethan Nadelmann in a statement of his own. “But that’s what politicians do when they’re scared of allowing people out of prison early. The Sentencing Commission really had no choice but to rectify the moral absurdity of keeping people locked up based on sentences that are no longer the law. What they did today was right and just.” (Congress has until November of this year to oppose the plan but is not expected to act.)…

***********
Apart from the general smorgasbord of terribleness that is today’s news, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

182Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Congress has until November of this year to oppose the plan but is not expected to act.

    It’s nice when the dysfunction works in our favor.

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Your endangering the rather nice living that overcrowded private prisons afford people like Jan Brewer’s family.

    Naughty, naughty.

  4. 4.

    askew

    That is excellent news. Booker and Rand Paul are also working on a prison reform bill. You never know. Paul might do something useful for once.

  5. 5.

    raven

    150 years ago tonight Jason J Figg was part of “Hardees Corps”. They marched south on McDonough Rd almost to Lakewood and then turned back north. They marched all night and then, in the late afternoon, joined in the Battle of Atlanta at what is now 1-20 and Moreland Ave. Jason was killed as 11,000 casualties were suffered by both sides.

  6. 6.

    Anonymouse

    The catch in all this is that the sentencing judge can, and in the big drug sentencing regions often does, just say “f___ you” and decline to reduce the sentence. And nothing to be done. Also, if there’s already a mandatory minimum, also some other anti-loopholes. Annoying as hell.

  11. 11.

    lamh36

    Movie night here at my sister’s house with my nephew and my cousin. Unlike me my sister has surround sound and a big “media” room that she rarely uses to watch movies.

    So I figured, pick up a movie or two, make my own popcorn and snacks (and have my cousin cook up some dinner for later) and there you have it, dinner and a movie, my laptop and my sister’s dog polo on my lap

    First up was Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. I actually enjoyed it. It was pretty good.

    Now watching I Frankenstein. it was not as good, but didn’t hate it.

  14. 14.

    Iowa Old Lady

    That Oliver spot is powerful. I haven’t watched Sesame Street in a good many years. I’m shocked they have to explain jail to kids because such a huge percentage of Americans are incarcerated.

  18. 18.

    askew

    @lamh36:

    I am a huge fan of the Harrison Ford Jack Ryan movies and even liked the Ben Affleck Jack Ryan movie, but the Chris Pine Jack Ryan movie was a huge dud. I was really disappointed in the movie. I am not sure if casting the world’s most boring actor, Kevin Costner, was why it was so dull or if it was the screenplay. But, I really hated it.

    On the other hand, I watched The Way, Way Back the other day and man that was an incredible movie. Every cast member was pitch perfect especially Sam Rockwell.

  19. 19.

    raven

    @NotMax: I think this moron Hice will win. These people in GA 10 are goddamn idiots and so is he. Kingston will probably prevail I suspect. In the hotly contested district 3 race in Athens, you know the district that the pukes gerrymandered into having both the most progressive neighborhood an a heavily African American area, two women who are friends of ours are running against each other. One is nice and the other has been a wild ass, name calling “activist” for years. We chose to stay out of the campaign and just vote but we can’t wait till it’s over. These dopes made it a 6 week runoff and it’s been awful.

  20. 20.

    scav

    @raven: I think the 78th IL was resting up, wasn’t Peachtree Creek just over? I’m nowhere near your level of knowledge, but the regiment history has them arriving at the Siege on the 22nd. Oddly enough, some of them would be coming from McDonough county.

  23. 23.

    Mike E

    I’m scanning slides (then pics and negatives) using an old HP PhotoSmart…I need Bill in Glendale to swoop in with some handy tips!

  29. 29.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Lord Voldemort is on line two to the Florida Governor’s office for copyright infringement.

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Admit to not keeping close tabs, but from what I’ve read, Hice is Allen West without the charm.

    (And before I get lambasted, West and charm have never been in the same place together.)

  32. 32.

    Anoniminous

    @raven:

    Least I could do seeing as how it is possible one of my ancestors with the 6th Iowa Infantry regiment or the 1st Battery Light Artillery (Iowa) killed one of yours.

  34. 34.

    raven

    @Anoniminous: Wouldn’t be surprised. All my life I have identified with Illinois and now I find out I have Confederate blood too. Goes to show you never can tell.

  35. 35.

    Bob In Portland

    I’ve been traveling and off the grid since Saturday. Has the news, or Obama, or anyone in the mainstream media mentioned the Ukrainian fighter seen on radar accompanying the airliner until the time of the crash?

  36. 36.

    Mike E

    @NotMax:

    West and charm have never been in the same place together

    But with tire rims and anthrax? You betcha!

    eta see ^^^above^^^

  37. 37.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @raven: On my father’s side, there were ancestors on both sides of the Late Unpleasantness. On my mom’s side, all Union (that I know of).

    I have always identified with the North, however. Even when I was a little kid, I knew the Confederacy was basically evil.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @
    Karen in GA

    Before Dustin H. snagged it, Grodin was high up in the running for the lead in The Graduate. Can’t begin to imagine the train wreck that would have been.

    Haven’t seen O’Donnell in much, but he seemed more wooden than outright totally boring.

  45. 45.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    Even before the GOP primary runoff they are already running “Michelle Nunn: Wrong for Georgia” ads with pix of MN photoshopped next to a scary-looking Preznit Obama. It’s going to be a full-time job just to keep on top of all the lies and counter them before they become received truth.

  49. 49.

    lamh36

    Movie night continues. Just finished I Frankensein, now watching Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

  50. 50.

    RSR

    Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, via Atrios, the police chief will not stop arresting people for pot, even though City Council has voted to decriminalize it:

    264 Charged With Marijuana Possession Since City Council Voted to Decriminalize

    On June 19th, Philadelphia City Council voted to decriminalize the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, passing a bill introduced by Councilman Jim Kenney. But Mayor Michael Nutter opposes the bill, and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey has said that he will continue to make marijuana arrests, even if the bill is signed into law. In the month following the bill’s passing, 264 citizens were charged with the crime.

    http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/07/21/marijuana-legalization-philadelphia-decriminalized-city-council/

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Still have months before the ‘Obama lusts over white woman who puts designer mustard on her croissants’ ad seeps out.

    (Really wish I were completely kidding about such things.)

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @RSR:

    Commissioner Ramsey is gonna get his ass sued off if he’s intentionally arresting people for a crime that doesn’t exist.

  56. 56.

    Tripod

    Warehousing the poor and mentally ill in prisons was a monumentally stupid idea.

    Fuck Ronald Reagan.

  57. 57.

    Karen in GA

    @NotMax: Some actors aren’t very good, but have some kind of on-screen charisma that makes people watch (Keanu Reeves, or maybe Aidan Gillen). Some actors are passable but just… bland. Like you can’t even think of a way to describe them without falling asleep. I always thought Chris O’Donnell was decent enough, but lacked whatever intangible thing it is that makes you want to watch certain people on screen.

  60. 60.

    srv

    Happy hour pizza is just not cracked up to what it used to be.

    Lawn, get off.

    @bago: Bring me the head of Carlos, the Spaniard Air Traffic Controller.

  62. 62.

    Karen in GA

    @NotMax: I always liked him, actually. Loved Kiss of the Spider Woman when I was a teenager. I haven’t seen it since then, though — I wonder what I’d think of it now.

  64. 64.

    Mike E

    @NotMax: Cool movie. Though Kiefer Sutherland, not so much…his Morocco Mole impersonation was a rather 1 note affair.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @Mike E

    Yeah. Kiefer leaped with both feet beyond his limits into some weird zone where actors should not tread.

    Still a good flick, however, well worth the time. Spookiest little kid ever.

    (LOL at the Morocco Mole reference. Ever see Barfly? Mickey Rourke channels Snagglepuss for the whole thing.)

  67. 67.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Bob In Portland: You wouldn’t have a link to this, would you, Bobbo? Of course not.

    Anyway, nobody’s talking about it because it didn’t happen, for the same reason nobody talks about the Knicks winning the NBA championship this season.

  68. 68.

    Mike E

    @NotMax: Damn! Now I gotta watch Barfly again…

    @srv: A 40″ and a 27″…heh, all I got is a 27″ Trinitron and a 13″ Montgomery Ward in my Command Center. How cool was James Garner!

  69. 69.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Prison is the shitty, nasty welfare system that white middle-class America is prepared to pay for, sort of, as long as it keeps people locked up. This is why it looks the way it does. It is an institutional projection of the majority’s collective psyche.

  71. 71.

    Little Boots

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    maybe. I wonder if it’s even that thought out, or if it’s just a bunch of neuroses turned into bars and walls and chains. it’s like the Inquisition or the witch hunts. the manifestation of a whole lot of crazy.

  73. 73.

    Suffern ACE

    Hey. Look, our prison complex may be large, but don’t say no one benefits from it. For example, in the 80s, more enterprising inmates formed the maras within their walls, which we then deported back to the Latin American countries, which are now sending their children back to us. So we take petty criminals, upscale them to organized gang members, and get back innocent children in return. It’s quite an investment in human capital.

  75. 75.

    Redshift

    Now we know the new RT conspiracy theory. I guess the previous one, claiming that Ukraine was trying to shoot down Putin on his flight back from Brazil is “no longer operational.”

  78. 78.

    Little Boots

    legalizing pot would go a long way to ending the prison complex, and it is happening, although slowly.

  79. 79.

    askew

    @Karen in GA:

    And apparently Chris O’Donnell is a douchebag. He threw a temper tantrum and screamed at my cousin because they didn’t have a luxury car for him to rent. He kept screaming “don’t you know who I am?”. My cousin had no idea who he was, which just made him madder.

  80. 80.

    Little Boots

    @askew:

    “don’t you know who I am?” the moment it all begins to fall apart for any celebrity.

    this is hilarity.

  81. 81.

    PurpleGirl

    @Suffern ACE: From the “People laying in 7 days of garbage”, I went over to the article on the artist building tiny homes for homeless people. I love the idea and the pictures are really good.

    I am sometimes alarmed at the amount of packaging we deal with and wish most of it could be designed away, the same way it is designed to be used. I do try to recycle and reuse as much as I can; it is often hard.

  82. 82.

    Cain

    @askew:

    And apparently Chris O’Donnell is a douchebag. He threw a temper tantrum and screamed at my cousin because they didn’t have a luxury car for him to rent. He kept screaming “don’t you know who I am?”. My cousin had no idea who he was, which just made him madder.

    The blithe response would have been “Yeah, some kind of asshole. The door is right behind ya, fella!”

  87. 87.

    Karen in GA

    @askew: Why would your cousin know who he is? I would think your cousin might try to watch something he’s in, but fall asleep three seconds after he appears on screen. Nowhere near long enough to make any kind of impression.

  88. 88.

    Mnemosyne

    @askew:

    “Don’t you know who I am?” is always an answer unto itself.

    Believe it or not, I have not actually run into that despite living in Los Angeles for 20+ years. Either I know who the person is, or I don’t know but they’re secure enough not to make a big deal out of it.

  91. 91.

    Steeplejack

    @Little Boots:

    I’m running at periscope depth, trying to install a new wireless mouse—well, it’s installed, but I’m fiddling with some of the esoteric functions—and pondering whether to bother to catch up on a whole weekend’s worth of threads. My brother’s big gay wedding was Saturday, and I have had four straight days of more socializing than I usually get in a month. I’m spent.

    Heard this oldie on my way out to Micro Center tonight: People, “I Love You.” I loved this song, and I was appalled that I hadn’t heard it in so long that I had forgotten it.

  92. 92.

    askew

    @Karen in GA:

    I’d guess he thinks he is hot shit now that he’s in that NCIS/CSI show that is crazy popular. But, really everyone has to be watching just to see Ice-T take his shirt off.

  95. 95.

    Steeplejack

    @Little Boots:

    Here are the six stages of stardom according to Steep:

    1. Who is this Little Boots I’m hearing about?

    2. Get me Little Boots!

    3. Get me somebody like Little Boots.

    4. Get me anybody but Little Boots.

    5. Whatever happened to that Little Boots guy?

    6. Who was Little Boots, Daddy?

  97. 97.

    Violet

    @askew: He’s always seemed like a douchebag to me. I wish the Kardashians or Snowbilly Snookie would get to the point of unknown where they’d have to scream, “Don’t you know who I am?” while the rental car clerk or hotel concierge or waiter just looks at them blankly.

  99. 99.

    Violet

    @Little Boots:

    I am still not apparently loved around here. strangely.

    1. How do you know that?
    2. Do you think you should be “loved around here”? If so, why?

  101. 101.

    Mike J

    @Steeplejack:

    You’re the type of guy that can’t control your girl
    You try to buy her love with diamonds and pearls
    I’m the type of guy that shows up on the scene
    And gets the seven digits, you know the routine

  103. 103.

    askew

    @Steeplejack:

    @askew:

    LOL. It’s LL Cool J. “Don’t you know who I am?”

    LOL. I was sure it was one of Ices but couldn’t remember which one.

  104. 104.

    Steeplejack

    @Mike J:

    And gets the seven digits, you know the routine.

    Which turn out to be the phone number of a dry cleaner in the Valley.

  108. 108.

    Little Boots

    @Violet:

    you seemed a little psych major. in answer, I do not expect to be loved. I still like everyone here.

  110. 110.

    Steeplejack

    @Violet:

    Well, “Do you think you should be ‘loved around here’? If so, why?” does sound a little “insensitive rookie therapist.” Just sayin’.

  115. 115.

    Suffern ACE

    @Mnemosyne: yeah. But I think he could do voiceovers. He could keep the career going that way, and be known for it. Like Gilbert Godfrey.

  141. 141.

    Steeplejack

    @Suffern ACE:

    The band has been around for a long time, but I think this song is new. I heard it on some obscure SiriusXM channel with a “Now is the time when we dance on Sprockets” announcer rhapsodizing over it.

    By the way, I got the wireless mouse installed on the other computer. That is, this is the other computer. Now I just need to figure out why one machine will do micro-scrolling with Alt + mouse wheel in Firefox and the other one won’t. I think I must descend into the depths of about:config to compare and contrast. But I digress.

  144. 144.

    Steeplejack

    @Suffern ACE:

    If anything ever needed a trigger warning . . .

    I was getting creeped out just by the titles of the other videos linked on that page. “Sheath Cleaning 101” (with picture of horse). Do not want.

  147. 147.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, got my Alt + mouse wheel micro-scrolling. Good old mousewheel.with_alt.delta_multiplier_y.

  154. 154.

    Steeplejack

    @Little Boots:

    Don’t know how much longer I can hang on tonight. Had a four-day weekend of major social hoopla surrounding my brother’s wedding. Just lapsed back into my usual monastic lifestyle today. Need some R&R. And maybe rehab after all the champagne.

    ETA: Naw, who am I kidding? In my perfect world I would drink champers every day.

  161. 161.

    Steeplejack

    @Little Boots:

    All right! Take us out with one of your favorite songs. I’m almost done with Craig Ferguson, and I can’t keep it together after that.

  169. 169.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Amir Khalid:

    He said Ukraine was open to any investigation about its planes and that the Russians should provide evidence for such a statement.

    Russian spokesman: “Because we said so!”

  179. 179.

    burnspbesq

    @Baud:

    Commissioner Ramsey is gonna get his ass sued off if he’s intentionally arresting people for a crime that doesn’t exist

    The crime still exists, under both Pennsylvania and Federal law. What is required here is for the DA to take the Commish aside and tell him in no uncertain terms that all charges will be immediately dropped. Then he can go back and explain to his rank and file officers why they are doing all that fucking paperwork for nothing.

  181. 181.

    raven

    @Anoniminous: No, he was born in Alabama and entered the army in Nashville. His brother, Robert Morgan, was my grandfathers maternal grandfather. Robert was in the 1st Tennessee Cavalry and survived the war to become a Chicago firefighter,

  182. 182.

    J R in WV

    @RSR:

    The way to deal with a police manager who won’t enforce the law correctly, is FIRE his lame butt!

    He’s costing the city lots of money, and once the new law kicks in he will be vulnerable to law suits for arresting people for something that isn’t illegal. Maybe that right there will fix the situation, the courts awarding big bucks to arrested people from his OWN POCKET!

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