#city politics news

[politijohn]

Source

Source

Source

[santaclaralocalnews]

Plastics and their environmental impact was the theme of the Sunnyvale City Council’s most recent meeting. The council discussed two items at its Sept. 11 meeting. The first was a study session on single-use plastics and the plan to eliminate them, while the second drudged up a topic from last month regarding the benefits of grass as opposed to turf. In addition to studying turf, the council broadened the scope of work to include an assessment of its grass fields. That study will require an additional $50,000, but the council felt it was worthwhile. Read complete news at svvoice.com.

[typhlonectes]

[mysharona1987]

[jdragsky]

i'm gonna go one step further and say it's actively good to engage with media you have fundamental ideological disagreements with, especially when you use that as a testing ground to conceptualize your own worldview and help you crystalize your perspective on things

[dadaonice]

UN Security Council rejects ceasefire proposal in Gaza Strip

[ithacanradio]

why does it always gotta be "oh im a communist but not like those marxists leninists-" we had this debate. in the 1800s. in fact marx AND lenin wrote about it: you are either for some nebulous idea of communal living that gets you nowhere OR you realize that you have to start from the current material conditions, and organize, and the organization has to be centralized for it to work and you have to study a lot and also act in group because going to protests on your own is just perpetuating an individualist ideology. they were saying marx was outdated in 1915!! guess what happened two years later. like you can incorporate all you want from feminism and queer theory and even anarchy but at the end of it all. only one line of action can bring about revolution, has revolution as its objective and has in fact done so before. it's marxism leninism. you have just been conditioned to think it's outdated so you wouldn't use the only weapon that actually works! people cant afford to eat and the west's quest to maintain economic hegemony is pushing us into ww3 and you will not use the concepts of plusvalue, imperialism, and political party, why? because the ruling class told you identity politics are more modern?

[relaxedstyles]

AOC at the DNC

[reasonsforhope]

"The New York City Council voted to ban most uses of solitary confinement in city jails Wednesday [December 20, 2023], passing the measure with enough votes to override a veto from Mayor Eric Adams.

The measure would ban the use of solitary confinement beyond four hours and during certain emergencies. That four hour period would be for "de-escalation" in situations where a detainee has caused someone else physical harm or risks doing so. The resolution would also require the city's jails to allow every person detained to spend at least 14 hours outside of their cells each day.

The bill, which had 38 co-sponsors, was passed 39 to 7. It will now go to the mayor, who can sign the bill or veto it within 30 days. If Mayor Adams vetoes the bill, it will get sent back to the council, which can override the veto with a vote from two-thirds of the members. The 39 votes for the bill today make up 76% of the 51-member council. At a press conference ahead of the vote today [December 20, 2023], Council speaker Adrienne Adams indicated the council would seek [a veto] override if necessary.

For his part, Mayor Adams has signaled he is indeed considering vetoing the bill...

The United Nations has said solitary confinement can amount to torture, and multiple studies suggest its use can have serious consequences on a person's physical and mental health, including an increased risk of PTSD, dying by suicide, and having high blood pressure.

One 2019 study found people who had spent time in solitary confinement in prison were more likely to die in the first year after their release than people who had not spent time in solitary confinement. They were especially likely to die from suicide, homicide and opioid overdose.

Black and Hispanic men have been found to be overrepresented among those placed in solitary confinement – as have gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

The resolution in New York comes amid scrutiny over deaths in the jail complex on Rikers Island. Last month, the federal government joined efforts to wrest control of the facility from the mayor, and give it to an outside authority.

In August 2021, 25-year-old Brandon Rodriguez died while in solitary confinement at Rikers. He had been in pre-trial detention at the jail for less than a week. His mother, Tamara Carter, says his death was ruled a suicide and that he was in a mental health crisis at the time of his confinement.

"I know for Brandon, he should have been put in the infirmary. He should have been seeing a psychiatrist. He should have been being watched," she said.

She says the passage of the bill feels like a form of justice for her.

"Brandon wasn't nothing. He was my son. He was an uncle. A brother. A grandson. And he's very, very missed," she told NPR. "I couldn't save my son. But if I joined this fight, maybe I could save somebody else's son." ...

New York City is not the first U.S. city to limit the use of solitary confinement in its jails, though it is the largest. In 2021, voters in Pennsylvania's Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, passed a measure to restrict solitary confinement except in cases of lockdowns and emergencies. The sheriff in Illinois' Cook County, which includes Chicago, has said the Cook County jail – one of the country's largest – has also stopped using solitary confinement...

Naila Awan, the interim co-director of policy at the New York Civil Liberties Union, says that New York making this change could have larger influence across the country.

"As folks look at what New York has done, other larger jails that are not quite the size of Rikers will be able to say, 'If New York City is able to do this, then we too can implement similar programs here, that it's within our capacity and capabilities," Awan says. "And to the extent that we are able to get this implemented and folks see the success, I think we could see a real shift in the way that individuals are treated behind bars.""

-via NPR, December 20, 2023

[leroibobo]

really do not think people understand the extent to which palestinian sites/landmarks (especially muslim ones) were destroyed, beginning in 1948 until now, even in cities. the oldest extant mosque in jaffa (al-bahr mosque) was built in 1675, even though islam came there in the 7th century

[mxdae]

SHOW YOUR TEAM SPIRIT!

Politics may just be theatre, but that doesn't mean it's always a shitshow! Celebrate the most recent win for the United States by sporting these jersey-styled merch!

Redbubble | Threadless

[politijohn]

Source

[santaclaralocalnews]

With the Santa Clara Superior Courthouse in San Jose backed up with court cases, the perjury trial of Santa Clara City Council Member Anthony Becker had taken a back seat to other trials more than once. That’s not the case now. On Sept. 16, Judge Elizabeth C. Peterson assigned the trial to Judge Javier Alcala at the South County Superior Courthouse in Morgan Hill. Judge Alcala heard arguments from Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky and Deputy Public Defender Chris Montoya on Sept. 17. The meeting happened in chambers. Read complete news at svvoice.com.

[taviamoth]

🚨 IOF warplanes carried out 3 airstrikes on eastern Rafah in the southern #Gaza Strip amidst heavy firing by IOF helicopters in the area, as well as an airstrike on eastern Gaza City in the northern #Gaza Strip. An IOF drone also targeted a group of citizens north of Rafah, leading to injuries.

Scenes show the aftermath of a massacre carried out by the IOF in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City today, which resulted in a number of martyrs and wounded, as Civil Defense crews try to recover casualties. The second video shows the recover of a child martyr from under the rubble of a home bombed by the IOF in Abasan in Khan Younis in the southern #Gaza Strip, while the third shows the IOF's bombing of residential blocks in Al-Zaytoun in Gaza City.

[mysharona1987]

“Were the aid workers intentionally murdered?”

But, come on. You don’t have to be Sherlock to figure this situation out.

That and hitting them three separate times as they fled into other cars.

[animentality]