FFM

Charles M. Blow had an excellent article today in the New York Times regarding "black lives matter" which prompted me to write this post. Charles M Blow We are letting emotion drain our brain of logic on this subject. Yes society is biased against blacks and the poor. However, when it comes to the number of black people in prison compared to the total population the thought process used here does not take into account other important factors, Crime is more likely to occur by someone who is poor and/or poorly educated. A disproportionate percentage of citizens falling in these categories are black. As a result it follows that the ethnicity of prisoners will tend to be disproportionately black not just because of their skin color but also because of their education and poverty level? I suspect the same relationship exist between whites who are incarcerated and education. The segment of the white population that are less educated are more likely to be incarcerated.

Here is a 2 minute video recorded in July 2015 of Kevyn Orr discussing the Grand Bargain. You will notice there is no mention of the value of art given away for pennies on the dollar and no mention of all the assets given up by the city to reduce the debts by $7 billion. In addition to the art the city surrendered ownership of the Joe Louis Arena, cash flow from the Windsor Tunnel and a number of parking garages and parking lots.

The above audio is a discussion from On Point Radio, WBUR Boston, which lasts 47 minutes. The topic is the Clinton Foundation and whether there is a conflict with contributions from foreign citizens and governments during the time Hillary was Secretary of State, now as a presidential candidate and huge speaking fees received by Bill Clinton from these same donors. There were safeguards set up after she became SOS, but were they sufficient. Below is a summary of this discussion. Are these foreign donors looking for future favors from a future President? The original purpose of the Clinton Foundation in 1997 was to raise money to build the presidential Clinton Library in Little Rock Arkansas. At the time President Clinton wanted to do more after his term expired then building a library and President Jimmy Carter's post presidential activities were an inspiration. The foundation had $3 million after the library was completed and this became the seed money for the other activiti