Les Tours de Laliberté

lundi 5 janvier 2015

Caricature Patriots vs Ravens 2015

Caricature de DAVE GRANLUND, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

Un bon match en perspective. Pas certain que les Patriots soient si heureux de croiser les Ravens.

Edward W. Brooke III, premier sénateur noir élu, meurt à 95 ans

C'est une page d'histoire qui se tourne avec le décès de Brooke. Il ne fut pas le premier noir à siéger au sénat, cet honneur revient à Hiram Rhodes Revels, mais le premier à y être élu. Il est bon de rappeler que nos voisins du sud n'élisent leurs sénateurs que depuis 1913. Dans toute l'histoire du sénat on ne retrouve que cinq noirs élus (plusieurs autres ont été nommés) dont Barack Obama qui y siégeait avant de devenir président. Si aujourd'hui on considère généralement que les noirs votent majoritairement pour les démocrates, le sénateur, comme la majorité des noirs de son époque, était républicain.

"Mr. Brooke never presented himself as a black politician and grew tired of being called “first this, first that,” he said. He represented all the people of Massachusetts, he said, and wanted no part of being “a national leader for the Negro people.”

Edward William Brooke III was born on Oct. 26, 1919, in Washington. He was the third child and only son of the former Helen Seldon and Edward W. Brooke II, a lawyer for the Veterans Administration and a Republican, as most blacks were then.

He grew up in “a cocoon,” he wrote in his autobiography, “Bridging the Divide: My Life” (2007). He had a stable home, firm religious guidance — he was an Episcopal altar boy — and a good education, attending Dunbar High School, a prestigious black school in Washington."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/us/edward-brooke-pioneering-us-senator-in-massachusetts-dies-at-95.html?ref=obituaries

Djokhar Tsanaev: éviter la peine de mort

La sélection du jury pourrait s'échelonner sur plusieurs semaines et tout indique que la défense concentrera ses efforts à éviter la peine de mort pour le plus jeune des deux frères qui auraient orchestré l'attentat du marathon de Boston. Tsarnaev dispose d'une bonne équipe d'avocat et Judy Clarke est déjà parvenue à éviter la peine de mort plusieurs de ses clients.

"Tsarnaev’s attorneys might lay the groundwork for an explanation involving mental health, said Christopher Dearborn, a professor at Boston’s Suffolk University Law School. That could include any persecution his family could have suffered as ethnic minorities in Kyrgyzstan, where the brothers spent most of their lives before moving to the United States with their parents and two sisters.

“I think the real value in that may be to start to try to generate even a little bit of empathy around this and humanize the kid a little bit, hopefully enough to save a life,” Dearborn said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/jury-search-begins-in-trial-of-boston-marathon-bombing-suspect/2015/01/04/3ea40438-942f-11e4-aabd-d0b93ff613d5_story.html?hpid=z4

Procès Tsarnaev: la sélection du jury a débuté

C'est aujourd'hui que débute la sélection du jury pour le procès de Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

"The first wave of as many as 1,200 potential jurors who will be vetted for the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev began the arduous security screening at 7:30 this morning at U.S. District Court in South Boston.

Shivering, toting shopping bags and glancing warily at throngs of news cameras, they lined up in the cold under the watchful eyes of law enforcement agents and the Boston Police Department bomb squad and the steady throb of helicopters circling overhead.

There has been no sign of Tsarnaev, 21. His defense team previously indicated he would not attend jury selection until the formal empanelment process.

Potential jurors were herded through two lines of metal detectors after the mandatory surrender of all electronic devices.

Groups of jurors today, tomorrow and Wednesday will be greeted by the trial teams and hear brief introductory remarks before receiving questionnaires that remain sealed from public view, but are expected to flush out any biases or established beliefs as to Tsarnaev’s guilt or innocence.

To be seated, the jurors must be open to imposing the death penalty, according to instructions by federal Judge George O’Toole Jr. Tsarnaev’s lawyers have repeatedly requested a delay in the trial and a change of venue, saying it will be impossible to find an unbiased jury in Greater Boston."

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/01/jurors_enter_federal_court_to_begin_tsarnaev_trial_screening

Des archéologues auraient-ils trouvé le site du procès de Jésus?

Une découverte majeure pour ceux et celles qui tentent de concilier récits bibliques et histoire.

"It started 15 years ago with plans to expand the Tower of David Museum. But the story took a strange turn when archaeologists started peeling away layers under the floor in an old abandoned building adjacent to the museum in Jerusalem’s Old City.

They knew it had been used as a prison when the Ottoman Turks and then the British ruled these parts. But, as they carefully dug down, they eventually uncovered something extraordinary: the suspected remains of the palace where one of the more famous scenes of the New Testament may have taken place — the trial of Jesus."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/archaeologists-find-possible-site-of-jesuss-trial-in-jerusalem/2015/01/04/6d0ce098-7f9a-45de-9639-b7922855bfdb_story.html?hpid=z1

Les républicains sont prêts pour Hillary

Plusieurs candidats républicains songent sérieusement à se lancer dans la course et, contrairement à la dernière élection, il y a des candidatures solides. Hillary Clinton devra en prendre bonne note.

"Conservatives do have one thing to be thankful for: The fact is that Hillary Clinton learned so many lessons from her surprising 2008 defeat that she’s repeating each of them all over again. Once more she is running as the overconfident, inevitable nominee with safe speeches filled with mush and a bloated campaign staff that already is leaking against each other in the press.

Which is probably why so many Republicans, fresh off of their 2014 election triumphs, are excited. They have a chance. It is also why so many prospective GOP candidates—18 or 20 by some estimates—are considering a run. Indeed, the GOP field looks to be so crowded that its first debate may have to be held on an aircraft carrier. The USS Ronald Reagan is available.

Almost all of the oft-mentioned candidates are people of quality and worth, with impressive resumes and realistic shots at the nomination, if circumstance fall a certain way. (This is the point at which your conflict-of-interest plagued columnist should concede that I’ve worked with some of the potential candidates, even worked for some of their enemies and in one instance worked for one of their brothers in the White House.)"

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/republicans-2015-ready-for-hillary-113956.html?ml=tb#.VKqiVSuG81I

Quinze dates importantes pour 2015

Le site de POLITICO identifie déjà les dates importantes de la prochaine année en prévision des élections présidentielles de 2016.

" Un exemple: "March 19 — Hillary’s last paid speech

One of 2015’s biggest questions is when Hillary Clinton will formally announce she’s running for president. The former secretary of state has committed to delivering the keynote address on March 19 at a conference organized by the New York and New Jersey chapter of the American Camp Association.

She could always cancel this engagement, or she might also choose to roll out her candidacy soon after this. Many on her team believe the Democrat erred during her last run by announcing too early, in January 2007. Clinton is also giving paid speeches in Silicon Valley and Canada in late February, earning as much as $300,000 a pop, sums that have already opened her up to criticism."

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/2015-politics-calendar-113962.html?hp=t2_r