Jed Morey

www.longislandpress.com — Okay, so now we're all armed. Present company included. Great job, America. Now what? The debate over gun control would be uproarious if it wasn't so pitiful. In typical American fashion we have taken to the streets and airwaves in the aftermath of Sandy Hook to engage in an irrational debate that, once again, places misguided ideology over common sense and humanity. If we're going to have this conversation, let us at least place the discussion within its proper historical context so we may raise a more troubling question: Why bother taking the guns when you can indefinitely detain their owners?

www.longislandpress.com — Pentagon Unilaterally Grants Itself Authority Over 'Civil Disturbances' The manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects offered the nation a window into the stunning military-style capabilities of our local law enforcement agencies. For the past 30 years, police departments throughout the United States have benefitted from the government's largesse in the form of military weaponry and training, incentives offered in the ongoing "War on Drugs." For the average citizen watching events such as the intense pursuit of the Tsarnaev brothers on television, it would be difficult to discern between fully outfitted police SWAT teams and the military.

Long Island Press — A single juror has the ability to acquit a defendant in a trial for any reason. Even if the juror believes the defendant is guilty. This is called jury nullification. This is not a loophole. Nor is it illegal. But it's a secret and it shouldn't be. With that said, let's begin. A cursory review of prison statistics illustrates the nightmare that is African Americans' experience with our criminal "justice" system. There are currently more than 7 million Americans caught up at some point in the prison system between probation, incarceration and parole.

jedmorey.com — Ah, the Great White North. America's attic. Uncle Sam's hat. The land of self-deprecation, Tim Hortons donuts and ice fishing. Less notably, it is the land of my birth. Although I became a U.S. citizen in the fifth grade, my Canadian roots were always a source of pride, despite precluding me from ever becoming president. It has always amazed me how little we Americans think of our sister nation to the north. With the occasional exception of the tabloid coverage that accompanies "Bieber Fever," the media here are devoid of Canadian news.

jedmorey.com — Jeffrey Sprecher built a better mousetrap. But a mousetrap big enough to catch a whale? Apparently so. Sprecher is the founder and president of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) based in Atlanta. For all practical purposes he is the poster-boy of electronic trading and the man responsible for the meteoric rise of commodities trading. He's also about to become the owner of the New York Stock Exchange. Do I have your attention yet? In little more than a decade the commodities market has gone from $10 billion- a speck on the trading horizon - to more than half a trillion dollars.

Long Island Press — Imagine the American political spectrum as a steel rod. On the far left are stalwarts of the progressive liberal movement forged in academia and protest movements from the 1960s and '70s. The furthest point to the right is a blend of neoliberal free-market ideologues and libertarians fused together to form the extreme core of the modern conservative movement. Most Americans lie somewhere between these two extremes-two camps that for the better part of the past half century have drifted further and further apart. Now imagine a single issue that is so heavy, it bends our ideological steel rod into a perfect circle that unites both sides.

Long Island Press — Almost every “too big to fail” bank has a significant ownership stake in both the ICE and NYSE Euronext, soon to be one entity. This combined entity will also soon control LIBOR, the world’s largest rate-setting mechanism. In trader’s parlance, this would be considered the perfect “corner.”

truth-out.org — Corporate personhood and the civil and criminal protections it affords, accompanied by the ability to craft legislation and pour unlimited funds into the political process, exacerbate inequality and destroy principles. Suddenly, it is in vogue to discuss economic inequality. The idea of inequality and how it is interpreted today is relatively new in human history and has its roots in the Enlightenment period. By the same token, the discourse surrounding it is old enough to have evolved greatly since this period to the form it enters in the public consciousness via the mainstream broadcast media today.