A Badge is an American Halo

A badge is an American halo,

We have to abide just because you say so?

But what if your intentions are not rightful...

They give you a badge and the same rule I'm supposed to follow, you don't follow.

Is it justice or do you have your own gang that supports you just because you have that metal thing?

Treyvon, Michael, or Samantha were just some that were taken from a badge with a gun.

When will it stop?

By Nakila

San Bernardino sees more votes amid historically low turnout

SAN BERNARDINO >> Record-low voter turnout throughout the state, including San Bernardino County, had an anomaly Tuesday — significant turnout growth in the city of San Bernardino.

Out of about 77,000 registered voters, the vote on whether to change the city charter’s drew nearly 19,000 votes (all of this election’s turnout numbers will increase slightly as another 15,365 votes are counted countywide, according to the Registrar of Voters). That’s more than 50 percent more than voted in what elections officials thought was a “compelling” but disappointingly ill-attended February election that chose Carey Davis as mayor.

Measure Q still received votes from less than one in every four registered voters — a group that already consists of only a fraction of the city’s 210,000 residents.

“It’s still nothing to be proud of,” City Clerk Gigi Hanna said. “Part of that might be people not feeling connected — but the way to be heard is to vote. It’s so sad that people let this issue, however you feel about it, be decided by such a small number of people.”

But the increase — a large one — comes amid almost universal drops in turnout. The national turnout isexpected to be the lowest in a midterm since World War II. California expects to fall below 2002’s record low. San Bernardino County’s 33 percent is almost certain to be a record low, according to Registrar of Voters Michael Scarpello.

So what’s different about this city, this year?

For one thing, people come out to vote when state and federal offices are on the line, said Fernando J. Guerra, director of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University and assistant to the president for civic enagement.

“You should have elections where the voters are,” Guerra said. “If people are voting in November of even years, that’s when you should have the elections.”

Guerra was head of a commission charged with finding ways to boost voter turnout in Los Angeles, whose first recommendation this year was to change the LA city charter to consolidate its elections with the state’s.

Proposition 47 Passes!

Proposition 47 lowers penalties for some nonviolent, low-level offenses and in doing so gives women and men a fair chance to rebuild their lives. Penalties for six low-level offenses will be reduced from potential felonies to misdemeanors, shortening the time people spend behind bars.

At the same time Proposition 47 saves the state money, as high as $1.25 billion in the first five years. Those savings will be allocated to K-12 after school programs, mental health and substance abuse treatment programs and victim services programs.

Read our October 3, 2014, Huffington Post article in support of Prop 47.

Why did we support this proposition? Because Proposition 47 supports women. Women are more likely to have been convicted of a crime involving drugs or property, just the offenses covered by this initiative. In California, women are three times more likely to be in prison for forgery or fraud and twice as likely for petty theft.

Our research also shows that women suffer disproportionately upon release from prison. Our recent report Bias Behind Bars revealed that, compared to men, women incarcerated for felonies are less likely to obtain public benefits and find stable housing. Despite the low risk women with criminal records for nonviolent crimes pose to public safety, women also have more difficulty finding employment upon release. This is due to the over representation of women in the fields of retail, childcare and home health care—all fields where criminal records are of great concern. Some states legally bar those with criminal records from working with children and seniors. Fields that tend to be male-dominated, such as construction and manufacturing, generally are focused less on employees’ backgrounds.

The harmful effects of a felony charge extend beyond women’s lives to those of their families. Today, six out of 10 women behind bars are mothers of minors. Thousands of children are growing up without a mother at home to fix their meals, get them ready for school or contribute to the family income. While mothers are languishing in prison, children are languishing at home.

So how does Proposition 47 work? It changes six non-violent, low-level offenses (such as simple drug possession, petty theft and writing a bad check) from felonies to misdemeanors. Of course, women and men who commit these offenses would be held accountable for their actions… but they would not be considered felons, would avoid the stigma that comes with that charge, would serve in county jails closer to home and closer to their children and, because their sentences would be shorter, they would be reunited with their families sooner.

We wanted to acknowledge our Race, Gender and Human Rights (RGHR) giving circle for supporting Proposition 47 from the get-go by funding the organizing and outreach efforts by the Californians for Safe Neighborhoods and Schools.

The mission of RGHR is to promote human rights and racial and gender justice by challenging the criminal justice system and its use of mass incarceration in California.

via: http://womensfoundationofcalifornia.org/proposition-47-passes/

2014 California Ballot Measure Results!

California voters on Tuesday approved billions in borrowing for water projects, the creation of a tighter budget reserve fund, and lighter penalties for drug crimes and theft while rejecting measures to regulate health insurance rates and to drug test doctors while raising a cap on medical malpractice payouts.

Two ballot initiatives passed by the Legislature and promoted by Gov. Jerry Brown more vigorously than he campaigned for his own re-election – a water bond and a measure creating a rainy day reserve fund for state budgets – passed handily. You can read more about the water bond here.

A pair of health-related measure that ignited massive spending lost by large margins.

Proposition 45 sought to empower California’s elected insurance commissioner to oversee health insurance rates, prompting a well-funded opposition campaign by the insurance industry. Proposition 46 was the latest flareup in a long-smoldering fight between doctors and lawyers over California’s medical malpractice laws. In addition to lifting a $250,000 cap on pain-and-suffering damages recoverable in malpractice lawsuits, the measure would have imposed mandatory physician drug testing.

Proposition 45 lost by nearly 20 points. The gap for Proposition 46 was close to 35 points.

With California in the midst of a years-long effort to reduce prison overcrowding, proponents of Proposition 47 said the measure would improve criminal justice efforts by converting petty theft and drug possession from felonies to misdemeanors, while targeting savings at programs to reduce truancy and substance abuse. Despite law enforcement warnings that the measure would reduce penalties for possession of date-rate drugs and gun theft, Proposition 47 led by 17 percentage points in unofficial returns.

Voters rejected Proposition 48, a referendum that targeted a single casino but carried a broader context.

The “no” vote on the measure blocks a pact with the state to allow the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians to operate a Vegas-style casino miles from the tribe’s existing land. Opponents of the facility warned that the deal would lead to a spike of new casinos near urban areas. Some tribes with nearby casinos poured millions of dollars into the campaign to defeat Propositio 48.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article3577731.html#storylink=cpy

Get Out the Vote Tomorrow!

 

Tomorrow, join the thousands that will make their voice heard and Get Out Your Vote!

Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. You can find your polling place  

here. 

This election Gladys (right) voted for the very first time in her life. After years of incarceration and people making decisions for her she finally had the opportunity to choose for herself and let her voice be heard! 

Take Action California wants you to remember that Your Voice Matters! 

You are NOT Invisible!