Gov J Brown: Veterans may qualify for California Proposition 47, Reduced Penalties for their minor crimes in overcrowded unconstitutional prison cells
To congress The US is ‘WeAreSomalia‘
Arguments in favor of
20 Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.
21 And except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope.
U.S. soldiers who suffer from injuries use opioid drugs which are a quick fix; what they really need is a safe pain management that will help them cope in the long run. It appears that the returning soldiers’ chronic pain is mainly caused by combat injuries. The researchers noted that the soldiers who endured some kind of combat injury are almost three times more likely to experience chronic pain and twice more likely to use narcotic painkillers.
War Times
War is like a great beast composed of the bodies men and women. War has little respect for life and limb or property. Once unleashed war is hard to control, it swallows up men, women, and children, towns and villages, laying waste to all in its path. War’s success or failure is always counted in the dead. (by B.Gray)
“War is really hard on the body,” Walter Reed Army Institute of Research clinical psychologist and study author Lt. Cmdr. Robin Toblin from Silver Spring, Md. said. “People come home with a lot of injuries, and as you can imagine they experience a lot of pain. There seems to be a large unmet need of management, treatment and assessment of chronic pain.”
Stops government waste and redirects hundreds of millions from prison spending to K-12 and treatment: California counties will save hundreds of millions annually and state prison reductions will generate between $750 million to $1.25 billion in savings over the next five years alone. Those savings will be shifted into K-12 school programs (25%), victim services (10%) and mental health and drug treatment (65%).
California Proposition 47, the Reduced Penalties for Some Crimes Initiative, was on the November 4, 2014 ballot in California as an initiated state statute. The measure was approved.
The initiative reduces the classification of most “nonserious and nonviolent property and drug crimes” from a felony to a misdemeanor. Specifically, the initiative:[1][2]
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- Mandates misdemeanors instead of felonies for “non-serious, nonviolent crimes,” unless the defendant has prior convictions for murder, rape, certain sex offenses or certain gun crimes. A list of crimes that will be affected by the penalty reduction are listed below.
- Permits re-sentencing for anyone currently serving a prison sentence for any of the offenses that the initiative reduces to misdemeanors. About 10,000 inmates will be eligible for resentencing, according to Lenore Anderson of Californians for Safety and Justice.[3]
- Requires a “thorough review” of criminal history and risk assessment of any individuals before re-sentencing to ensure that they do not pose a risk to the public.
- Creates a Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund. The fund will receive appropriations based on savings accrued by the state during the fiscal year, as compared to the previous fiscal year, due to the initiative’s implementation. Estimates range from $150 million to $250 million per year.
- Distributes funds from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund as follows: 25 percent to the Department of Education, 10 percent to the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board and 65 percent to the Board of State and Community Correction.
The measure requires misdemeanor sentencing instead of felony for the following crimes:[1][2]
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- Shoplifting, where the value of property stolen does not exceed $950
- Grand theft, where the value of the stolen property does not exceed $950
- Receiving stolen property, where the value of the property does not exceed $950
- Forgery, where the value of forged check, bond or bill does not exceed $950
- Fraud, where the value of the fraudulent check, draft or order does not exceed $950
- Writing a bad check, where the value of the check does not exceed $950
- Personal use of most illegal drugs
As many as 1 million Californians may be eligible to change past felony convictions on their records under Proposition 47. [4]
The initiative was pushed by George Gascón, San Francisco District Attorney, and William Lansdowne, former San Diego Police Chief.[5]
Supporters of the initiative referred to it as “The Safe Neighborhood and Schools Act”.
Period between the world wars
Even though the U.S. government was nominally neutral in the wars waged by Fascists against Ethiopia and Fascists and Nazis against the Spanish Republic in the mid-1930s, African Americans found it hard to be neutral and many became Antifascist.[25]
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
On October 4, 1935, Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia. Being the only non-colonized African country besides Liberia, the invasion of Ethiopia caused a profound response amongst African Americans.[26] African Americans organized to raise money for medical supplies, and many volunteered to fight for the African kingdom.[27] Within eight months, however, Ethiopia was overpowered by the advanced weaponry and mustard gas of the Italian forces.
Many years later Haile Selassie I would comment on the efforts: “We can never forget the help Ethiopia received from Negro Americans during the crisis. … It moved me to know that Americans of African descent did not abandon their embattled brothers, but stood by us.”[27]
Spanish Civil War
When General Franco rebelled against the newly established secular Spanish Republic, a number of African Americans volunteered to fight for Republican Spain. Many African Americans who were in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade had Communist ideals. Among these, there was Vaughn Love who went to fight for the Spanish loyalist cause because he considered Fascism to be the “enemy of all black aspirations.”
African-American activist and World War I veteran Oliver Law, fighting in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, is believed to have been the first African-American officer to command an integrated unit of soldiers.[28]
James Peck was an African American man from Pennsylvania who was turned down when he applied to become a military pilot in the US. He then went on to serve in the Spanish Republican Air Force until 1938.[29] Peck was credited with shooting down 5 Aviación Nacional planes, 2 Heinkel He-51s from the Legion Condor and 3 Fiat CR.32 Fascist Italian fighters.
Salaria Kee was a young African American nurse from Harlem Hospital who served as a military nurse with the American Medical Bureau in the Spanish Civil War. She was one of the two only African American female volunteers in the midst of the war-torn Spanish Republican areas.[30] When Salaria came back from Spain she wrote the pamphlet ‘A Negro Nurse in Spain’ and tried to raise funds for the beleaguered Spanish Republic.[31]
Mar 18, 2015 – The ongoing effort to address America’s mass incarceration problem has thus far focused on lawmaking. There are bills working their way …
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Apr 11, 2014 – Yes, California, Your Prison Conditions Are Still Unconstitutional … The U.S. Supreme Court ruling addressed the overcrowding issue, finding …
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Feb 25, 2014 – An exhibit from the Supreme Court case showing overcrowding in California prisons. See more photos here. The judges responsible over …
May 26, 2011 – High court: California prison overcrowding unconstitutional. Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Google Plus Share by Email.
Apr 14, 2013 – Jerry Brown won’t obey a federal court ruling over state prisons. … and eliminate overcrowding as the primary cause of unconstitutional medical …
May 23, 2011 – Believing that a remedy for unconstitutional medical and mental health ….. The degree of overcrowding in California’s prisons is exceptional.
… Weigh in on Brown v. Plata, Case involving Prison Overcrowding” [Press Release] May 23, 2011. … “Unconstitutionally Crowded: Brown v. Plata and How the …
Supreme Court Upholds Order to Reduce Calif. Prison …
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/us/24scotus.html
May 23, 2011 – WASHINGTON — Conditions in California’s overcrowded prisons are so bad that they violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and …
The US wants to label and define who we are,in order to extort at will, H.R.2899 – CVE Act would label and define black youth as “(g) Violent extremism defined.—In this section, the term ‘violent extremism’ means ideologically motivated terrorist activities. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2899/text, even though Black you have fought in every US war to defend the 1st amendment rights of other Americans. Congress’ answer is to make a new (Not small Gov) law to keep private prison free labor secure.