Part One: We talk with Mel Goodman, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. A former CIA analyst, Goodman is the author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA and National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism. and A Whistleblower at the CIA. His most recent book is “American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump” (Opus Publishing), and he is the author of the forthcoming “The Dangerous National Security State” (2020).” Goodman is the national security columnist for counterpunch.org. We discuss the article, Donald Trump: Finally Caught Crossing A Red Line by Mel Goodman in https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/06/16/donald-trump-finally-caught-crossing-a-red-line/
The “line” referred to is the use of military forces in American cities, against American citizens.
The language being used is warlike, and assumes that the police should behave as if they were soldiers. Techniques used against peaceful protestors are techniques used in foreign countries against insurgents. Examples: helicopters as intimidation to protesters, use of rubber bullets, teargas, etc. The general who accompanied Trump across Lafayette Square wore combat fatigues, rather than his dress uniform as would be proper when visiting the president. There were unidentified armed personnell standing guard. This goes against the separation of the military and civilian division as designed by the Founders. Trump has hollowed out the normal checks and balances in our government. Some military leaders have begun to push back. It is ironic that it may be the military that may save our democracy. The populace seems blind to what is happening.
Part Two: We talk with Cynthia Golembeski, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar, Rutgers University, Newark.
The topic is what happens to persons who are convicted of a crime.
“Being convicted of a crime has thousands of consequences besides incarceration – and some last a lifetime” by Cynthia Golembeski.
https://theconversation.com/being-convicted-of-a-crime-has-thousands-of-consequences-besides-incarceration-and-some-last-a-lifetime-139192
bio: Cynthia Golembeski teaches with the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP) at Rutgers-Newark. She is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar and Vice President of the New Jersey Public Health Association. She is a former USAID Research and Innovation fellow and a Fulbright grantee to South Africa. She actively collaborates on health equity and criminal justice reform initiatives to achieve advocacy, policy, research, and service objectives for governmental agencies, academic institutions, and NGOs. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Correctional Health Care and World Medical and Health Policy. Research interests include criminal justice and health policy and management; equity; ethics; nonprofit management and philanthropy; state and local politics; and citizen-state relations.
The population in the United States is 320 million. There are 77 million Americans who have criminal records. If a person has a criminal record, there are 44,000 direct and indirect consequences. One of these, of course, is the ability to obtain employment, especially for black men. For example, white men with criminal convictions find it easier to get a job than black men without a criminal conviction. The circumstances are that ex-convicts are set up to fail. There is no support upon release, and many regulations (regarding subsidized housing, SNAP, various licensing regulations, etc.) forbid ex-convicts from participating, even after they have completed their sentences. These conditions do nothing to help ex-offenders to reintegrate into society
Further reading:
https://theconversation.com/being-convicted-of-a-crime-has-thousands-of-consequences-besides-incarceration-and-some-last-a-lifetime-139192
