Uber will Hire Ex-Felons under Prop 47:  Uber, the ride-sharing company, announced last week that it plans to hire ex-felons whose felony sentences have been reduced to misdemeanors under California's Proposition 47.  William Bigelow of Breitbart reports that previously, Uber barred the hiring of drivers with felonies, even those whose felonies were reduced to misdemeanors under the voter-approved measure, but have since notified disqualified applicants to inform them that they are now eligible to apply despite their criminal records.  Contrary to state taxi companies, Uber uses court records rather than Live Scan, which relies on an FBI database and fingerprinting technology, to perform background checks, prompting district attorneys in San Francisco and Los Angeles to criticize the checks as "completely worthless."  Last August, the ride-sharing company made headlines reporting that it had hired registered sex offenders, identity thieves, burglars, a kidnapper and a convicted murderer.

Suspect who Killed OH Cop Arrested:  A man with a lengthy criminal history who had alleged plans to kill cops was arrested Monday for gunning down an Ohio police officer.  Fox News reports that 32-year-old Herschel Ray Jones III was arrested for killing Danville Officer Thomas Cottrell behind the Danville Municipal Building shortly before midnight, taking the officer's service weapon and cruiser.  A short time before the shooting occurred, Jones' ex-girlfriend called police to warn them that Jones "had weapons and was looking to kill an officer."  Jones had priors dating back to 2001 for breaking and entering, burglary, receiving stolen property and carrying a concealed weapon.  He served four years in prison after being convicted in 2011 for receiving stolen property and possession of chemicals for manufacture of drugs, and was released in April 2015.

Comey v. Holder on Policing and Racism:  The contrasting views between FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Eric Holder on race, crime and the police, and the fact that Holder's statements were given much more attention than Comey's, exemplifies the tendency for the mainstream to bury its head in the sand in spite of "essentially irrefutable data" that shows the disproportionate amount of crime committed by people of color.  Barry Latzer has this op-ed in the Washington Examiner arguing that while Comey explained that our problem with race and policing "is rooted in the reality of high crime in minority communities and the way our police are affected by it," Holder asserts that the "overrepresentation of young men of color in our criminal justice system" is a product of racism.  Data from the Centers for Disease Control and nationwide Census Bureau crime victimization surveys show that blacks commit, on a per capita basis, about two to five times the prison eligible offenses as whites.  Blacks are more likely to be victims as well, suggesting the tendency of victims and perpetrators to share the same demographics, with 94% of black homicide victims killed by black murderers. Comey's remarks coupled with data show that the over representation of people of color in our criminal justice system is "not a reflection of police racism but rather of misconduct by African-Americans."