LEADING THE CHARGE--House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., displays a letter of praise from President Obama to Gregory Hicks, former deputy chief of mission in Libya, number two in rank to slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, during a House Oversight Committee hearing about last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 8. House Republicans insist the Obama administration is covering up information about the attack, rejecting administration assurances to the contrary and stoking a controversy with implications for the 2016 presidential race. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

by Michael Arceneaux
Dear Republicans:
I know that in your mind, Benghazi is all the rage out here on these streets, or at the very least, ought to be. However, I need to inform y’all (for the umpteenth time) that Benghazi is not going to be the big Democratic-hurting scandal you want it to be. No matter how hard you try, the give-a-damn quotient has been reached by the public at large and there is no reset button.

Yes, we mourn the loss of those who were killed in the attack, and of course, if there’s any connection to terrorist organizations, as hinted by some, that information should be released. But as far as this angle to smear members of the Obama administration — okay, Hillary Clinton — goes, it’s never going to be as big a deal as desired.

So tell folks like Mike Huckabee to be quiet. The sooner the better. According to Huckabee[1], while he has no idea how damning information about a secret conspiracy surrounding Benghazi will come about, once it does, “This President will not serve out his full term.

I know that in your mind, Benghazi is all the rage out here on these streets, or at the very least, ought to be. However, I need to inform y’all (for the umpteenth time) that Benghazi is not going to be the big Democratic-hurting scandal you want it to be. No matter how hard you try, the give-a-damn quotient has been reached by the public at large and there is no reset button.

Yes, we mourn the loss of those who were killed in the attack, and of course, if there’s any connection to terrorist organizations, as hinted by some, that information should be released. But as far as this angle to smear members of the Obama administration — okay, Hillary Clinton — goes, it’s never going to be as big a deal as desired.

This sounds like the political equivalent of thinking Jay-Z has to sacrifice seven souls each Saturday to Satan in order to maintain pop cultural supremacy.

At the very least, though, Mike Huckabee is nothing more than an out-of-power politician playing crazy games to maintain cred among conservative media.

He is not in charge of anything, but unfortunately, people with some actual clout are acting just as stupidly.

On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee held a daylong hearing[2] starring three State Department officials that were personally invited by Republicans. What did they find? That security was handled poorly in the Libyan city and that members of the Obama administration tried to conceal what exactly what happened.

In related news, the sky is blue, water is wet, and Mitt Romney will never be president.
And yet, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, says, ”This hearing is now over, but this investigation is not.” He went on to encourage “whistle-blowers” and “witnesses who have been afraid to come forward” to step up and “tell us your story, and we will make sure it gets public.”

Here’s a thought: They don’t exist. If memory serves, there was a major independent inquiry [3]that largely absolved Clinton of fault.

All this nonsense does is tickle the fancy of your right-wing milita head cases who think their WalMart-purchased glock can take down the government and its drones, military, and nuclear arsenal if need be.
Stop it.

This is not going to help you defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. If anything, you’re already guaranteeing that she’s going to have one hell of a chance at winning her second term. Moreover, none of these hearings will help defeat Democrats in next year’s midterm elections. Besides, your gerrymandering has already done wonders in the way of helping you keep the House in 2014.

If you want to look appealing to voters: Embrace marriage equality; crawl out of women’s vaginas; pass a job’s bill; support a raise in minimum wage; stop trying to stop Blacks from voting; embrace immigration reform.

And for the record, if the GOP couldn’t conjure this much energy in to President Bush’s ignorance, which led to the worst terrorist attack in American history — and a war under false pretenses — no one is going to take you seriously now when all you have is a bunch of hearsay pulled from where you sit…and other hypotheticals.

Again, shut up, and find some other way to campaign against Hillary Clinton for the next three years. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bill Clinton is somewhere already planning to turn the traditional (and trite) First Lady Cookie Contest into a jazz BBQ on the front lawn of the White House.
The way y’all are behaving, who could blame the guy?

Michael Arceneaux is a Houston-bred, Howard-educated writer and blogger. You can read more of his work on his site, The Cynical Ones. Follow him on Twitter: @youngsinick[5][6]

References
^According to Huckabee (www.nbcnews.com)
^held a daylong hearing (hosted.ap.org)
^inquiry (www.reuters.com)
^Despite Scandal, Ex-SC Gov. Mark Sanford Back In Office (newsone.com)
^The Cynical Ones (thecynicalones.com)
^@youngsinick (twitter.com)
Read more http://newsone.com/2444243/benghazi-hearing/

 by Lisa Bloom

(CNN) -- Our country is obsessed with the perils of attractive young White women, as this week's trio of high profile crime stories about Amanda Knox, Jodi Arias and the Cleveland kidnapping victims demonstrates. We don't see breathless coverage of the disproportionately large number of African-American men tried for crimes in our system. We see almost no coverage of missing boys, or missing children of color, or crimes against nonwhites.

KIERA WILMOT

(AP)--It's clear that being a kid today, in 2013 America, is different than other generations remember.

As with everything, there's good and there's bad. The good? Amazing technological advances makes information on anything literally at your fingertips. The bad? Danger seems to be lurking around every corner, and sometimes it feels like no place is truly safe.

That said, it's clear our nation's schools are trying to do their best to keep our kids safe. But at what cost? Over the past decade and a half, in the shadow of the Columbine shooting and the country's continued battle on drugs, many schools have taken a zero tolerance policy on a host of issues, from bringing weapons or pills to campus, to violence against fellow students and faculty (Yet, we still can't get a handle on bullying?).

Certainly you can understand the effort. But if our legal system has taught us anything, it's that judging people without context can lead to trouble. For your consideration:
Dateline: Bartow, Florida. Last month, a 16-year-old student arrives at school, early on a Monday, to work on a science experiment. As Miami's News Times reports: "Kiera Wilmot got good grades and had a perfect behavior record. She wasn't the kind of kid you'd expect to find hauled away in handcuffs and expelled from school, but that's exactly what happened after an attempt at a science project went horribly wrong."

Wilmot mixed some chemicals in a plastic bottle. The reaction "caused a small explosion that caused the top to pop up and produced some smoke. No one was hurt and no damage was caused." Her principal would later tell a local TV station that "She wanted to see what would happen (when the chemicals mixed) and was shocked by what it did. Her mother is shocked, too." He added he didn't believe she meant to hurt anyone.

Wilmot was taken into custody by a school resources officer, was charged (including a felony) and will be tried as an adult. Suffice to say, she was also expelled from school. Last week, when asked about the punishment, the school district said that children need to learn "there are consequences for their actions."

Dateline: Sumter, South Carolina. Earlier this year, a 6-year-old brings her brother's clear plastic toy gun to class — to show her friends as she'll later tell a local TV station — and not only was expelled from class, but, as New York's Daily News reports, "Little Naomi McKinney is apparently such a threat that a district official sent a letter ... warning her parents that if she's caught on school grounds she'll be 'subject to the criminal charge of trespassing.'"

That report had references to three other, similar incidents from the past several months, from around the country.
Yes, we need to be sensitive, perhaps overly so, to certain things most adults may roll their eyes at. (After all, as mentioned above, these are different times.) Is bringing a clear plastic toy gun to school a mistake? Of course. Does a 6-year-old comprehend the severity of that action? Of course not. Can mixing chemicals at school be dangerous? Of course. Should authorities consider the context of that action — conducting the experiment well before school, when no other students were around; Wilmot's prior record — in this case? Yes!

There's a fine line between keeping students safe and ruining their academic careers (sometimes before they even begin, as in the case of the kindergarten student). Might we suggest schools embrace near-zero-tolerance policies, on these and other issues students are challenged by on a daily basis.

Editorial The Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer, May 2, 3013

WILLIAM REED

(NNPA)—“Brighter days are ahead.” And “The check is being put in the mail.”

That is what the Republicans seem to be saying after they released their “Growth and Opportunity Project” report in March. Six months after Republicans took a drubbing in the 2012 elections, GOP National Committee Chair Reince Priebus announced a $10 million outreach program to seek more minorities as members.

The Republican National Committee provides national leadership for the Party.  It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, coordinating fundraising and election strategy. The problem for Priebus and the party is that the RNC is often viewed as “an old White guy’s club” that is unsympathetic to the needs of Blacks and minorities.