Author Archives: Kyle Schmidlin

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 24, 2015

Posted under

Police, Politics

Comments

Leave a comment

DEA scandal reveals the failure of American hole-patching

Outgoing DEA Administrator, Michele Leonhart, speaks at a conference.

Outgoing DEA Administrator, Michele Leonhart, speaks at a conference.

In May, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Michele Leonhart, will resign from her post amid allegations that agents participated in sex parties with prostitutes paid for by Colombian drug cartels. This is only the latest and raunchiest in a litany of alleged offenses committed by the agency during Leonhart’s reign, including bribery, prisoner abuse, withholding information in trials, excessive surveillance, and the shooting of children. As David Graham, who catalogued several such offenses in a recent Atlantic piece, put it, “It’s not that the outrage in this case is misplaced – it’s that it’s a day late and a trillion dollars short.” Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 14, 2015

Posted under

Activism, Media, Police

Comments

1 Comment

White people shouldn’t need a video to demonstrate police racism

Community-oriented keepers of the peace slap handcuffs on a dying man who the officer on the left just shot five times in the back.

Community-oriented keepers of the peace slap handcuffs on a dying man who the officer on the left just shot five times in the back.

Add another notch in the American police force’s belt. This time, it’s Walter Scott, a black man in North Charleston, South Carolina, summarily executed by sociopath-in-blue Michael Slager. Scott is just one of, statistically, three people to be killed by a cop that day, April 4. But his story has generated special attention for two important reasons: first, his murder was filmed by a passerby, and second, his killer has been fired and charged.

Because of shoddy recordkeeping, there’s no accurate count of how many citizens have been killed by police, justifiably or otherwise. But in just the past eight months, several high-profile cases have made household names of black Americans killed by police. There was Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old who was shot for the crime of playing with a toy gun in Cleveland; Eric Garner, the man who was choked to death for selling loose cigarettes; Michael Brown, the 18-year-old who was shot in the climax of an altercation that began with his jaywalking; and now, Walter Scott, who was executed for fleeing a broken taillight traffic stop. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 6, 2015

Posted under

Foreign Policy, Media, Politics

Comments

Leave a comment

War, from a last resort to the first

Leaders discuss Iran's nuclear future.

Leaders discuss Iran’s nuclear future.

Last week, the United States – along with five other powerful nations – reached an agreement with Iran on its nuclear program. In exchange for the lifting of some sanctions, Iran will diminish its nuclear ambitions and agree to international inspections, marking a mild diplomatic milestone. Naturally, for conservatives, this makes it an apocalyptic disaster. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 31, 2015

Posted under

Activism, Culture, Politics

Comments

Leave a comment

Activists: use Indiana’s religious freedom law to let satirical religions flourish

The unbearable trauma felt by some Christian bakeries at having to top their cakes with adorable figurines like this one is why Indiana had to pass a law protecting their right to discriminate.

The unbearable trauma felt by some Christian bakeries at having to top their cakes with adorable figurines like this one is why Indiana had to pass a law protecting their right to discriminate.

In the mad race state legislatures are running to out-crazy one another, Indiana recently pulled into the lead with its Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The bill is articulated in such a way that it clearly offers provisos to private businesses allowing them to discriminate against clientele on the basis of religious belief. Widespread condemnations of the law ensued almost immediately, including boycotts from businesses, the band Wilco and the state of Connecticut.

Really, the law just demonstrates the hysterical victimization complex of the Christian right. It’s a rather remarkable situation where this entitled crowd is scoring legislative victories because their right to discriminate is being oppressed. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 20, 2015

Posted under

Foreign Policy, Politics

Comments

1 Comment

Nuclear negotiations are no time for political games

Leaders discuss Iran's nuclear future.

Leaders discuss Iran’s nuclear future.

Obstruction has defined and united Congressional Republicans since the earliest days of President Obama’s term. Few Republican maneuvers, though, have generated as much rage as Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton’s cynical, stupid and dangerous letter to Iran. Forty-seven Republican senators signed the letter, attempting to undermine or diminish the nuclear deal being worked out between Iran and the U.S.

Per the deal, in exchange for the U.S. lifting some of its sanctions on Iran, Iran will agree to keep its nuclear program within certain agreed-upon parameters, including postponing any nuclear weapons programs. As the specifics continue to be ironed out, Cotton’s letter provided a senseless, politically motivated distraction. Fortunately, the Iranians are more serious than Senate Republicans, and the letter hasn’t derailed the diplomats having the real conversation. Representatives from the most powerful nations on the globe – the U.S., Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China – are all working with Iran to come up with an internationally agreeable program. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 4, 2015

Posted under

Foreign Policy, Police

Comments

Leave a comment

Homan Square isn’t quite Chicago’s Gitmo

This innocuous-looking warehouse is used by Chicago police as a CIA-style "black site" for detaining and interrogating suspects.

This innocuous-looking warehouse is used by Chicago police as a CIA-style “black site” for detaining and interrogating suspects.

If only the mildest claims about it are true, Chicago’s Homan Square is a frightening escalation in the War on America currently being waged by domestic law enforcement. The Chicago Police Department has been using the building – to outside appearances, an equipment warehouse – as an off-the-book “black site” to detain suspects without charging them or giving them access to a lawyer.

Immediately, the similarities between Homan Square and the prisoner abuse scandals in places like Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay are obvious. Many observers already refer to Homan Square as “Chicago’s Gitmo,” and activists have begun using a hashtag, #Gitmo2Chicago. Suspects taken into Homan Square are roughed up, bound in compromising positions for hours at a time, locked in cages that resemble dog kennels, and not processed through any official booking. Attorneys are turned away at the front door. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

February 28, 2015

Posted under

Culture

Comments

1 Comment

Atheism is not the best alternative to religion

atheistlogo

The “A” is a logo often used by atheist groups.

There are a seemingly infinite number of ways a person can define him or herself in relation to the spiritual world. Regardless of your views on religion, the supernatural and the metaphysical, there is likely a word to describe you – believer, agnostic, atheist, deist, spiritual, and all manner of subcategories in between. A tragedy is buried here, though, and it’s the fact that people must identify as one of these or another in the first place. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

February 19, 2015

Posted under

Culture, Economy, Politics, Science

Comments

1 Comment

Justified distrust of doctors fuels vaccine skepticism

A child receives a vaccine.

A child receives a vaccine.

In his “Jammin’ in New York” special, George Carlin holds up a glass of water and asks the audience if it’s safe to drink. An immediate, unanimous chorus of negative responses warns him that it’s not. Carlin takes a drink anyway and lets the crowd know he was only setting them up: “Everywhere I go I say, ‘How’s the water?’ Haven’t gotten a positive answer yet. …It amuses me that no one can really trust the water anymore. And the thing I like about it the most is it means the system is beginning to collapse.”

Not unlike the fear of local water, opposition to vaccines is a manifestation of the public’s growing distrust of institutions. It’s reached such heights that vaccine skeptics have been given their own derogatory nickname: anti-vaxxers. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

February 5, 2015

Posted under

Culture, Foreign Policy, Politics

Comments

Leave a comment

‘American Sniper’ caps the war film’s evolution from satire to grim propaganda

Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in the film "American Sniper."

Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in the film “American Sniper.”

War has been a popular theme for literature, poetry, music, theater and film since the earliest days of the mediums. Over such a long history, it’s been treated just about every way, from levity to grim reverence. Whatever else may be about American Sniper, it definitely falls into the second category. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

January 30, 2015

Posted under

Activism, Economy

Comments

Leave a comment

Work is killing America

In 2014, the

In 2014, the “Respect the Bump” campaign sought to force Walmart to end its discrimination of pregnant women.

At a time when so many Americans are struggling just to earn a decent living and find adequate employment, it may seem counterintuitive to indict the work people are doing as one of the biggest problems facing the country. But when you take a look at what our work is turning us into and what it’s actually accomplishing, it becomes clear that our priorities are all out of whack. Continue reading →