More than fifteen years after the “kids for cash” scandal shocked the nation, it’s back, stirring not just public incredulity but, for some, soul-slicing memories of hell on Earth.
This is thanks to Joe Biden’s decision to grant clemency to Michel Conahan, one of two juvenile-court judges in Luzerne County. Pennsylvania, convicted of accepting cash from private detention centers – as much as $2.8 million over a period of about six years – in exchange for sending them children (my God, as young as 8-years-old) convicted of petty offenses, such as fighting, shoplifting, underage drinking, to serve prolonged sentences in prison.
Conahan, along with Mark Ciavarella, had collected cash for sending more than 2,300 children to prison. Many of them were scarred for life by this experience. Some committed suicide.
Thursday, December 19, 6-9pm
Dick's Den, 2417 N. High Street
We will celebrate the 84th birthday of the the great singer/songwriter and activist Phil Ochs with an evening of his music performed by acts from the Columbus Ohio area. Phil once lived in Columbus, where he attended The Ohio State University and began his topical musical journey here. Please join us for this special night honoring this brilliant, unsung performer.
Hear songs by Phil and original music by:
Eric Nassau
Joanie Calem
Ed Forman
Barry Chern
Dan Dougan
Brian Clash
Join the "Small Circle of Friends" and hear music that is as relevant today as it was 60 years ago!
Editor note: I do not publish all of Mazin Qumisiyeh work. His posts are heartbreaking. Please consider subscribing to his newsletter.
If the incoming Republican administration does try to report some 10 million or so illegal immigrants, there are likely to be some complications. Maybe a few hundred thousand legal immigrants and actual US citizens will also be deported by accident because they "looked illegal." This may result in billions of dollars in lawsuits later. Maybe a few million immigrants will go into hiding, work underground, and assume new identities.
Many of these immigrants are not just fleeing poverty, but they are possibly escaping being murdered in their home countries. Most of the time, they are willing to jobs that no American would do. Immigration is not as big a problem as Republicans would have people believe.
Every immigrant in the US has the right to have their cases heard. Right now, the justice system is already so overloaded with immigration cases that some won't even get hearings until 2027 or 2028. This is why the Republicans are not going to be able to deport 10 million immigrants all at once.
Over 8,000 Americans die every day, many of them unnecessarily.
Why? Because the United States still doesn’t have a national health care system that guarantees everyone adequate medical attention.
One particular American’s death has driven that point home. On December 4, a gunman murdered Brian Thompson, UnitedHealthcare’s 50-year-old CEO. The bullet casings from the shooting read “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.”
Those three words neatly sum up the gameplan America’s giant insurers so relentlessly follow: deny the claim, defend the lawsuit, depose the patient.
The Ohio state legislature has done it again.
Two years ago, lawmakers stuffed House Bill 507, a bill about how many poultry chicks could be sold in a batch, with unrelated amendments – at the last minute during lame duck session, with no notice or chance for people to comment. One of those amendments REQUIRED fracking our state parks.
Last week, during the 2024 lame duck session, legislators stuffed HB 308 – a bill that declares nuclear energy to be “green” – with a series of amendments, during its last committee hearing, again with no public notice or chance to comment.
This time, one of the amendments extends fracking leases for our state parks and public lands from three years to five years, with an option to extend for another three years – meaning that every lease doled out to the oil and gas industry allows them to frack our state parks and wildlife areas for up to EIGHT years.
Over 8,000 Americans die every day, many of them unnecessarily.
Why? Because the United States still doesn’t have a national health care system that guarantees everyone adequate medical attention.
One particular American’s death has driven that point home. On December 4, a gunman murdered Brian Thompson, UnitedHealthcare’s 50-year-old CEO. The bullet casings from the shooting read “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.”
Those three words neatly sum up the gameplan America’s giant insurers so relentlessly follow: deny the claim, defend the lawsuit, depose the patient.