PBC News & Comment: Freddy’s Dead, Baltimore Riots

Curtis Mayfield’s 1972 hit “Freddie’s Dead” reminds us that drug war and abusive police have changed little in 40+ years….
--national guard patrols streets as curfew is imposed
--gang members deny plot to kill cops, as reported yesterday
--in new book, Bill Clinton admits that while he was president, we “put too many people in prison”
--Supreme Court hears oral arguments on marriage equality, another issue that was badly handled by Clinton
--radical GOP senators try new amendments to undermine peace talks with Iran
--cat and mouse navy game underway between Iran and US in Persian Gulf
--more US money goes missing in Afghanistan, this time it’s only $1.3 billion
--Sweden’s top court agrees to hear appeal from Julian Assange
--PEN, group that advocates for writers’ freedoms, tries to honor Charlie Hebdo for free expression while denouncing what’s been expressed; Glenn Greenwald comments
--your “smart tv” hears verbal commands, and everything else said in front of it…new law tries to prevent spying
--as trial of Batman movie theater shooter James Holmes gets underway, media scrubs “Batman” from the coverage