"People are 3,615 times more likely to report a UFO sighting than they are to commit in-person voter impersonation, according to national data."
Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur recently discussed just how common voter fraud is as Republicans across the nation pass "Voter ID" laws.
Though 37 state legislatures, many of them Republican-led, have passed tighter voter-ID laws to toughen up on perceived instances of fraud, a new analysis shows that the feared offense almost never occurs. A review of 2,068 cases of alleged fraud over the past 12 years showed that despite there being 146 million registered voters in the U.S., there were only 10 cases of voter impersonation at the polls since 2000—a finding that undercuts the case made by those who say IDs must be more tightly regulated to ensure fair elections.
Israelis try to extinguish flames from a protester who set himself on fire during a demonstration in the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on July 14, 2012 to mark the first anniversary of last summer's social justice demonstrations that swept the country to protest the spiralling cost of living (AFP Photo/Ben Kelmer). The video contains scenes some viewers might find disturbing.
Thousands held protests to mark the anniversary of last year's tent city rallies against social injustice throughout Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv, where one man covered his body with gasoline, then lit himself on fire. People in the crowds put the flames out before rescue workers arrived, but he still said to be in serious condition.
The man left a note at the scene that read:
"The state of Israel stole from me and robbed me. It left me helpless," it says according to the Haaretz newspaper. “Two Housing and Construction Ministry committees rejected me, even though I had a stroke.”
He also says that he blames "the state of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the finance minister, Yuval Steinitz, for the humiliation that the weakened citizens go through every day, taking from the poor and giving to the rich."
The rallies were organized by social activist Dafni Leef. That rally culminated in a large demonstration outside government offices on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv.
"We want a fair society,” Leef was quoted by Haaretz as saying. “Today we are also celebrating. Suddenly, when people take to the streets they understand that they have power and that they are right."
In another area of Tel Aviv, an event called "The Million Man March" was held, and in other cities:
Some 500 Jews and Arabs took part in another rally in Haifa, calling on the Israeli government to do more for social justice and spend less on the military. Slogans included “Money for the neighborhoods, not for the settlements” and “Money for welfare, not for wars.”
Around 200 protesters took part in a similar event in Jerusalem, while some 300 activists rallied in Be’er Sheva.
Tens of thousands pitched tents and joined in the protest against the rising cost of living, and demanded a return to the welfare state. The movement peaked in September when nearly half a million people took to the streets in one night. When the government promised to give in on some of the protesters demands, interest waned and finally police moved in during October to dismantle the tent city.
Leef and other activists tried to re-establish the tent city just last month, and were stopped by the police, and she was arrested during a scuffle with officers as she layed on the ground. The following night thousands returned to the streets protesting police brutality and social injustice. That rally turned violent as police attacked protesters, and protesters smashed windows and blocked highways.
Occupy the Midwest Conference to be held in St. Louis March 15th – 18th. Their website is here and they give a detailed timeline of events and working groups. This is a huge event and should really energize the occupy movement all through out the Midwest.
We, the General Assembly of Saint Louis, in the spirit of solidarity call upon our brothers and sisters in occupied spaces across the country to join us in forming the Midwest Regional Summit. We feel that it is time for us to create new spaces to connect in; new ways to share knowledge, experience, resources, and to express our solidarity.
Early in the pre-dawn hours of Jan 5, Park Police went from tent to tent in the freezing night to wake up sleeping Occupy Washington protestors at Freedom Plaza, a block away from the White House. But they were not about to evict the 100 people camping there for three months hoping to "get big money out of politics" as they say.
Instead, on the coldest night of the winter to date, with temperatures down in the low teens, the police were making sure that no one died of hypothermia in the freezing night.
"We were glad they came – we couldn't have woken everyone up," said Joe Bieber, 39, one of the Occupy leaders at the site.
The police came at 1 a.m. and then returned at 4 a.m., the depths of the cold, to be sure everyone could respond to their questions and was not going into life-threatening hypothermia.
It's rare to have an opportunity to say such on a site devoted to the occupy movement, but sincerest thanks, and kudos to those wonderful officers!
