Breaking News Tweets: Riots in Baltimore

Here a compilation of tweets regarding the rioting in Baltimore which escalated yesterday; the top image is from the 1968 riots which these incidents have been compared to. The middle image is the logo for the Baltimore Orioles; the bottom image is of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The riots were caused by alleged criminal wrong-doing by the Baltimore Police Department which resulted in the death of Freddie Gray, 25, while in police custody:

1) Occupy Wall Street: The 'riots' in Baltimore are not a 'civil disturbance' they are a primal scream to fix a systemically racist world.

2) Jeff Barker (Baltimore Sun): There is a doubleline blocking North Ave- row of police and a line of people with arms locked urging non-violence.

3) Mayor Rawlings-Blake: And to those actively demonstrating, I call for peace. Tonight we must be OneBaltimore. Thank you for holding the line.

4) Talking Points Memo: Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) is sending 150 state troopers to join the 2,000 national guardsmen bound for Baltimore.

5) Baltimore Police: A crowd continues to block intersection of Pennsylvania Ave and North Ave. We are asking motorists to avoid this area.

6) Christopher Hayes (MSNBC): Situation is being managed by protestors w tremendous discipline and care right now.

7) Ben Casselman (Five-thirtyeight): The unemployment rate for young black  men in Baltimore is 37 percent. For whites, it's just 10 percent.

8) Reason (Libertarian right journal): Barack Obama on Baltimore_ We need 'political mobilization' to solve problems.

9) Justin Fenton ("Baltimore Sun"): Many comments from officials about looting being 'kids.' Police clarify there were 235 arrests, only 34 of which were juveniles.

http://www.baltimoresun.com

This is NOT an Endorsement-3 Third Party Candidates

Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, a former Congressman from Rocky Mount, Va., is trying to become Virginia's ninth president. Good luck!

Here is a look at Goode and two other individuals running for president as third party candidates, and yes_ one of them is actress/comedian Roseanne Barr, who also turns 60 today.

Virgil Goode: In an interview with "Huffington Post Politics," Goode, who served in Congress from 1997-2009, said that President Barack Obama had done a bad job in the White House, and if elected Mitt Romney would be just as ineffective.

Ironically, Goode, who went from Democrat to Republican to the Constitution Party, a third party with a far right agenda, could help Obama win a second term since he man from Franklin County has a loyal following in south central and southwest Virginia. He is expected to take votes away from Romney, and "Politico" shows Virginia, our home state, as a virtual dead heat which is very slightly leaning towards the Republican Party candidate.

Goode also helped Doug Wilder become Virginia's first black governor, but this was when Goode was a Democrat. No one seems to be sure if Goode actually underwent an ideological change as he has been known for being fiercely independent. Even when he was a Democrat, Goode had a more conservative voting record than the likes of Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va).

The Rocky Mount native has also been a strong supporter of guns and the tobacco industry, which went through his congressional district in areas, such as Danville and South Boston.

Goode was defeated by Democrat Tom Perriello in 2008; though Perriello was respected on the Hill for being a hard-working freshman, he was voted out by the conservative constituents in his district who favored Robert Hunt, who is now running against John Douglass to keep his house seat.

Jim Clymer is Goode's running mate.

Gary Johnson: The former Republican who served as governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003 is known for supporting radically low taxes. But, he is most known for calling for the legalization of marijuana. During his time in Santa Fe, Johnson worked to decriminalize pot. Johnson also opposes the war in Afghanistan and he has called for immediate troop withdrawal. Interestingly,  Johnson has received support from ardent liberals who see Barack Obama as being 'conservative.' And, as one might expect, Johnson is popular with the Ron Paul crowd, and he has been supported by the libertarian magazine "Reason." Johnson's running mate is Jim Gary, a California judge, who supports legalization of marijuana.

Roseanne Barr: Surprisingly, there are two presidential candidates who were born in Utah. Neither of them is Mitt Romney, who was born in Michigan, and both Barr and Rocky Anderson, who are both running to the left of Obama, are not Mormons.

Barr won an Emmy for her title role in the sitcom "Roseanne" (1998-1997), and she was a standup comedian before that. After losing the Green Party bid to Jill Stein, Barr joined the Peace and Freedom Party, which has actually been in existence since it dawned as a protest group opposed to the Vietnam war in 1968.

Cindy Sheehan, who became well-known as an anti-war activist after her son who was serving in the military was killed in Iraq, is Barr's running mate; neither of them has held political office. 


http://www.goodeforpresident2012.com

http://www.garyjohnson2012.com

http://www.reason.com

http://www.roseanneforpresident2012.org/

For a look at three other third party candidates, go to our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time:" http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Wall Grafitti

We are continuing to add blog entries in honor of the Berlin Wall coming down twenty years ago this week.

I saw that the subject is a cover story in the current issue of "Reason" magazine, a libertarian publication (since I am a centrist Democrat, I subscribe to "The New Republic" instead).

And, when I lived closer to Washington, DC, a few years ago, I saw a great exhibit on the Berlin at the Newsuem.

The collapse of the Berlin Wall also made for an interesting recent entry from my friend Christopher Knight's blog "The Knight Shift" (theknightshift.blogspot.com)

Ironically, this photo was not taken in Berlin, but London, England. Apparently, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who is the subject of a very amusing anti-Thatcher anthem by Elvis Costello on his "Spike" album, was one of the few western leaders who expressed reservation about the unification of Germany in 1989.