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Rebecca Kavanagh Profile picture
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4 May, 7 tweets, 3 min read
I am so with @donlemon calling out @ChrisCuomo for giving a platform to trash like Rick Santorum. But it's not just Santorum.

Cuomo's show has becomd prime time for bigots, in particular, Michael Smerconish, who has become not just a regular guest, but a fill-in host.
Smerconish was former Philadelphia police commissioner and mayor, Frank Rizzo's, campaign manager.

Rizzo, who opposed the desegregation of Philadelphia's schools and prevented the construction of public housing in White neighborhoods, ran for Mayor on the slogan, "Vote White."
During Rizzon's tenure as police commissioner and mayor, the Philadelphia police department engaged in patterns of police brutality, intimidation, coercion, and disregard for constitutional rights, in particular towards African-American people.
In May 2020, a statue of Rizzo in front of Philadelphia's Municipal Building was removed after being damaged during protests after the murder of George Floyd.

Mayor Jim Kenney stated:
"The statue is a deplorable monument to racism, bigotry, and police brutality for members of the Black community, the LGBTQ community, and many others. The treatment of these communities under Mr. Rizzo's leadership was among the worst periods in Philadelphia's history."
This is also Michael Smerconish. This is who @CuomoPrimeTime and @CNN platforms.
PS. Not that @donlemon doesn't give a platform to a bunch of problematic guests like police commissioners and GOP strategists etc. But tonight he had a moment of righteous anger and @ChrisCuomo with the Chicago police union presidents etc is definitely in a whole other category.

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More from @DrRJKavanagh

Rebecca Kavanagh Profile picture
4 May
In 2017, Arkansas executed Ledell Lee, even though there was no physical evidence connecting him to the crime, he had 4 alibi witnesses, and his showing he had incompetent defense counsel.

Today, DNA evidence showed another person committed the crime.

theappeal.org/arkansas-execu…
The DNA testing shows genetic material and fingerprints at crime scene, including a bloody shirt and the murder weapon, does not match Ledell Lee, but instead an unknown person.

arkansasonline.com/news/2021/apr/…
The forensics testing could have been done *before* Mr. Lee was executed, but it was not requested by his appellate attorneys until @ACLU and @innocence got involved the month before his execution.
Read 5 tweets
Rebecca Kavanagh Profile picture
3 May
That's a central tenet, but it is so much more. It's a school of jurisprudence, founded by Derrick Bell, which says that the law isn't a neutral arbiter of fact, as law schools traditionally teach, but rather functions to uphold white supremacy
One of the key concepts is something Professor Bell called interest convergence: the idea that Black people only make progress when their interests converge with White Americans, the classic example being Brown v. Board of Education.
He saw that decision as arising out of a need to shore up America's reputation abroad during the cold war, when, proclaiming it represented democracy and freedom, while have legally segregated school system was starting to become problematic.
Read 11 tweets
Rebecca Kavanagh Profile picture
3 May
He literally opened the door so rioters could enter the state capitol - and they charged him with misdemeanors.

And yet, prosecutors will charge Black and Brown people with serious felonies in a heartbeat if they're even present at the scene of a crime.
slate.com/news-and-polit…
They could charge him with any of the offenses with which they charged the rioters - on an acting in concert theory.

They use that all the time to charge groups of people who play different roles in, for instance, a robbery - where one was a lookout, the get away driver etc.
But they also often will charge way too many people, like maybe where a group of kids got into a fight, they will charge 20 teenagers with gang assault, and some of them were literally just onlookers, who ran away when the police arrived.
Read 6 tweets
Rebecca Kavanagh Profile picture
1 May
So, Australia's borders have been closed for more than a year now, even to its own citizens, leaving untold numbers stranded overseas.

Now, 9,000 Australian citizens in India may also be subject to fines or imprisonment if they try to return home. smh.com.au/politics/feder…
The government has also provided no financial support to its citizens stranded in foreign countries except for one-time loans in the amount of $1,500 US.

It's the only country in the world which has closed its borders to its own citizens.
There are limited flights from Europe and the US, but the caps on entry are so low, they sell out within seconds, and airlines give priority to people flying business and first class.

A one way ticket from Europe or the US right now costs between $10,000 to $30,000 US.
Read 6 tweets
Rebecca Kavanagh Profile picture
30 Apr
A judge has found Harold O'Bryant liable in the wrongful death of 21-year-old Willie Brown Jr. who was found hanging from a tree in O'Bryant's front yard in 2018.

Willie, who was Black, was dating and had a child with O'Bryant's stepdaughter, who is White.clarionledger.com/story/news/loc…
According to the statement of facts presented to the court, on the night in question, Willie was at O'Bryant's house arguing with O'Bryant's stepdaughter, Alexis.

O'Bryant grabbed a gun, which his wife begged him to put away.

Willie then left the house, closing the door.
O'Bryant followed Willie outside.

While outside, O’Bryant and possibly others “confronted and battered Jones and used nylon rope to hang him."

wlbt.com/2021/04/27/hin…
Read 7 tweets
Rebecca Kavanagh Profile picture
27 Apr
An Alabama court ruled today that Evan Miller, who at 14 was the youngest child ever sentenced to life without parole, and who was the plaintiff in the landmark SCOTUS case, Miller v. Alabama, will never be released from prison. al.com/news/2021/04/e…
In Miller v. Alabama, SCOTUS ruled that mandatory life sentences for children were unconstitutional. Each sentencing decision had to consider the individual person, and LWOP sentences limited only to children who demonstrated “irreparable corruption.”
thenation.com/article/archiv…
Last week, SCOTUS issued a decision that essentially gutted Miller v. Alabama, and a subsequent decision in Montgomery v. Louisiana, ruling it was not necessary for a court to find a child demonstrated "irreparable corruption" to sentence them to LWOP.
nytimes.com/2021/04/22/us/…
Read 8 tweets

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