Abby Zimet for Common Dreams:
The city council of Henderson, Nev. has approved a settlement of $158,500 after police brutally beat a man in diabetic shock after they stopped him for what they thought was drunken driving. Video shows five officers screaming at, pulling guns on and subduing Adam Greene as a sixth kicks him hard enough to break several ribs. Then they figured out he was ill. Who is it these guys work for again?
Mark Wachtler writes in the Examiner:
For the second time in just five primary states, the Republican Party, with the assistance of the national corporate news media, is raising questions about the legitimacy of this season’s primary election system. First, the Iowa Republican Party and the entire American media knowingly reported the wrong Iowa Caucus results with the wrong person being declared the winner. Last night, it appears the same thing may be happening in Nevada. And again like Iowa, critics are accusing the GOP of suspicious activity.
Perhaps it’s indicative that the beneficiary of these recurring vote counting “mistakes” always seems to be former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. He’s just happens to be the same man that both the Republican Party establishment and the four corporations that own all of America’s news media outlets are actively supporting.
Photo: aturkus (CC)
Jessica Bruder writes in the Christian Science Monitor:
This mining town of 300 people clings like a burr to the back of the Black Rock Desert. For years, it was marked on state Highway 447 by a two-story sign reading, “Welcome to Nowhere.”
On June 20, that tongue-in-cheek greeting will become a fact. Empire, Nev., will transform into a ghost town. An eight-foot chain-link fence crowned with barbed wire will seal off the 136-acre plot. Even the local ZIP Code, 89405, will be discontinued.
Many towns have been scarred by the recession, but Empire will be the first to completely disappear. For only a few days more it will remain the last intact example of an American icon: the company town.
Since 1948, the United States Gypsum Corporation (USG), which is the nation’s largest drywall manufacturer, has held title to all of Empire: four dusty streets lined with cottonwoods, elms, and silver poplars, dozens of low-slung houses, a community hall, a swimming pool, a cracked tennis court, and a nine-hole golf course called Burning Sands…
Read More: Christian Science Monitor… Read the rest
John Markoff writes in the NY Times:
Google, a pioneer of self-driving cars, is quietly lobbying for legislation that would make Nevada the first state where they could be legally operated on public roads.
The cars, hybrids, have a laser range finder on the roof, as well as radar and camera sensors and more equipment in the trunk.
And yes, the proposed legislation would include an exemption from the ban on distracted driving to allow occupants to send text messages while sitting behind the wheel.
The two bills, which have received little attention outside Nevada’s Capitol, are being introduced less than a year after the giant search engine company acknowledged that it was developing cars that could be safely driven without human intervention.
I’ve always wondered since I saw Richard Pryor in the underrated ’80s comedy classic, Brewster’s Millions, why voting for no one on the ballot isn’t a viable option in U.S. elections.
Well, turns out that the state of Nevada has this option, so it will be interesting to see the outcome there given the strong disapproval ratings for both Harry Reid and the ethnically-confused Sharron Angle.
For more thoughts on having an “against” option in your vote, check out this “Radical Reboot” article from Mickey Kaus on Slate.
