Sunday, February 2, 2014


News Clips For The Day



Video showing cop forcibly cutting woman's hair weave makes waves – NBC
By Elisha Fieldstadt

Surveillance video captures a Michigan police officer cutting the hair of a woman while in custody. Disturbing new video showing a Michigan police officer hacking off the hair weave of a young woman arrested in November is stirring controversy on social media.

In the video, Charda Gregory, 23, of Detroit is tied in a restraining chair by four officers in Warren, Mich., before a female officer rips and cuts at her long braids. Gregory appears to protest and react physically, but the officer doesn’t stop until the entire weave is removed from her head.

Gregory was arrested for allegedly damaging a motel room and police car in suburban Detroit, but charges against her were dropped, according to NBC affiliate WDIV.
Police Officer Bernadette Najor, who administered the violent haircut, said she did so because weaves pose a suicide risk, WDIV reported. Najor was suspended and later fired.  

At the time, Warren Police Commissioner Jere Green said Najor clearly violated policy.  

“There’s a real simple thing: it’s called right and wrong.  And to me this is something that I won’t tolerate, I don’t think the citizens of Warren will tolerate it,”he said. "We are always in the process of reviewing things that happen and trying to make ourselves better and more responsible to the people we work for."



Police officers should abide by the law and their department's rules when they arrest someone. This kind of thing just gives the police a bad name as “loose cannons.” This case does remind me of a judge a number of years ago who made the news for his “creative” sentencing, in other words his sentences a number of times were bizarre, and perhaps could be classified as “cruel and unusual.” According to this article below, the sentences were meant to teach the criminal a lesson rather than merely punish. I don't see how this Michigan woman could have committed suicide using her hair, though – a large belt, maybe.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2005-12-30/news/0512300328_1_sentences-judges-punishment

Creative sentencing often aims to shame
Judges differ, but some say punishment can be educational

December 30, 2005|By VINCENT J. SCHODOLSKI | VINCENT J. SCHODOLSKI,CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LOS ANGELES -- There is a song in Gilbert and Sullivan's light opera The Mikado in which the title character reveals that one of his goals is "to let the punishment fit the crime." It appears that a number of judges around the country share that objective.

In various jurisdictions and for various crimes, judges have ordered individuals to spend a night in the woods, act as a school crossing guard, stand on busy streets with signs around their necks proclaiming their misdeed and watch a film about violent neo-Nazis, American History X.

Some of the judges involved said they offered these alternative sentences as a way of making the criminals better understand the harm they caused or could have caused.
This month, an Arkansas woman who passed a stopped school bus and struck and killed a child was sentenced to spend one day a year in jail for 10 consecutive years, the date to coincide with the date on which the child died.

"The only reason for the continued use [of these sentences] is that we have had success," said Michael Cicconetti, a judge in Painesville, Ohio, who has handed out unusual sentences. "We don't see these people back. For some people jail means nothing. For them it's three hots and a cot."

Cicconetti recently handled a case in which a man was convicted of collecting money on street corners for disabled veterans but keeping it for himself.
Cicconetti said he struggled to figure out who was the victim in the crime and decided that it was the veterans who did not get the money. So he sentenced the man to visit veterans at nursing homes, taking them things to eat and spending time with them.

"Probation officers will take him around," Cicconetti said. "I'll buy the candy out of my own pocket."

James Cohen, a professor at Fordham University's law school, said there has been a trend toward "shaming" sentences for about 15 years, but he added that such punishment is a tradition.

"There is a long, long history of shaming people," Cohen said, noting the colonial practice of putting people in the stocks on village greens. Others pointed to the use of dunking stools in Elizabethan England.

He said such "punishment" sentences might have become more common because there has been a trend away from rehabilitation programs for criminals.
But some say it provides an educational experience that can be life-changing.
Tom Jacobs, a former Arizona assistant attorney general who is now retired, said he handed down such sentences when he was a family court judge:
"There is room for sentencing to be creative if it serves for rehabilitation, or educating the public."

Jacobs pointed out that a judge in Charlotte, N.C., sentenced a juvenile offender who had been part of a group that did $60,000 worth of damage to her school to wear a sign around her neck that read, "I am a juvenile criminal." She also had to help repair the damage.

Jacobs said he ordered several juveniles who committed violent crimes to watch the 1998 film American History X and to write a report on the movie.
The film deals with a neo-Nazi who is released from prison after serving a term for murder. He has decided to renounce his violent past and tries to stop his younger brother from falling into a life of racism and violence.
"They had to watch it to the very end," Jacobs said.
Not everyone supports these kinds of sentences.

"I don't necessarily approve of it," said Gino Di Vito, a retired appellate court judge in Illinois and the author of an annual state sentencing guide. "I don't think you change character that way."

He said courts tended to frown on humiliating sentences: "It is one thing to impose probation and as a condition make a person do something educational. That kind of sentence does not have any inherent humiliation."

But some sentences by judges are intended to cause shame.
Cicconetti recently ordered two teenagers who defaced a statue of baby Jesus stolen from a church nativity scene to parade down the street in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, with a donkey and to carry a sign apologizing for their offense. He was quoted in local news accounts as saying he aimed at bringing the two 19-year-olds a degree of public humiliation.

In an interview, Cicconetti said he started issuing alternative sentences a few years ago, beginning with people convicted of speeding in school crossing zones. He made them work as crossing guards to see firsthand what their actions placed in jeopardy.
"Not one of them has had another offense," Cicconetti said.

Another means of educating criminals is the "taste of their own medicine" sentence.
When Michelle Murray, 26, pleaded guilty to taking 35 kittens to two parks and abandoning them - leading to the deaths of nine of the kittens - Cicconetti sentenced her to spend a night in the woods without shelter.

The night was so cold, however, that Murray was taken back to her heated jail cell after about four hours.
Cicconetti said he is not sure whether he's a trend-setter in creative sentencing. Such sentences are issued by judges "almost every day," he said.
And Cicconetti pointed out that the shaming element in punishment had deep roots in the nation's history. "You can go back to tarring and feathering," he said.
Vincent J. Schodolski writes for the Chicago Tribune.





Woman arrested in connection with body parts dumped along Michigan roads – NBC
By Elisha Fieldstadt, Staff Writer, NBC News

A woman was arrested Saturday in connection with human remains found stuffed in garbage bags on the side of Michigan roads, police said.
The 59-year-old woman from St. Clair, Mich., was arrested and in police custody waiting to be arraigned, according to NBC affiliate WDIV. Police did not immediately identify her.

A Friday autopsy and evidence obtained from the remains revealed that the body parts were those of a missing 32-year-old St. Clair Shores man. His identity has not been released.

The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office got a call on Thursday afternoon about a “suspicious incident” on a highway and adjoining road in rural Michigan, near the Canadian border, according to St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon.
When deputies responded, they found body parts in garbage bags and spoke to a resident — not the original caller — who told them she saw garbage bags thrown from a mid-1990s-model white SUV, Donnellon said. The witness told investigators a “heavy-set middle aged white female” was in the driver’s seat.

Late Friday, St. Clair County Sheriff's Office released gas station surveillance video screenshots of a suspect and her light-colored SUV, and asked for tips from the public.

“We are treating this incident as a homicide,” Donnellon said.
On Friday, a third resident led investigators to another bag full of clothing and burnt documents. 
 


This looks like the story from one of my mystery novels. I hope there will be more detail in later news reports. At least they caught the suspect. You don't usually think of women as doing this kind of grisly crime -- killing, yes, but not dismembering the body. I wonder if she has committed other crimes as well? Some serial killers are women, though most aren't. I'll try to find any other articles that come out about it.





Christie's camp counterattacks, slamming former ally Wildstein, New York Times
By Becky Bratu and Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News

An email from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's office Saturday launched a double-barreled attack against the former ally who ordered the September bridge closures and The New York Times for publishing his allegations that Christie knew of them at the time.

"Bottom line - David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein," the email, obtained by NBC News Saturday afternoon, concluded.

Wildstein, the Port Authority official who actually ordered the closing of lanes on the George Washington Bridge last year, set off a political storm Friday over precisely when Christie learned about the controversial incident.  

In a letter to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a lawyer for Wildstein said "evidence exists tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the Governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference."

In a Jan. 9 news conference at which he apologized for the scandal, Christie said, "I first found out about it after it was over."

Later on Friday, Christie's office released a statement saying Wildstein's letter, in fact, "confirms what the Governor has said all along — he had absolutely no prior knowledge of the lane closures before they happened and whatever Mr. Wildstein's motivations were for closing them to begin with."

The email revealed Saturday, a markedly more aggressive response, not only strongly states that Christie was not involved in the controversy dubbed Bridgegate, but also attacks Wildstein's character. 

"As he has said repeatedly, Governor Christie had no involvement, knowledge or understanding of the real motives behind David Wildstein's scheme to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge," the email reads.

Read email from Christie's office slamming Wildstein
It then goes on to describe Wildstein as a "tumultuous" figure. 
"In David Wildstein's past, people and newspaper accounts have described him as 'tumultuous' and someone who 'made moves that were not productive,'" the email reads. "David Wildstein has been publicly asking for immunity since the beginning, been held in contempt by the New Jersey legislature for refusing to testify, failed to provide this so-called 'evidence' when he was first subpoenaed by the NJ Legislature and is looking for the Port Authority to pay his legal bills."

Also coming under fire from the Christie camp was The New York Times, which the email accuses of "sloppy reporting" of Wildstein's claims Friday. 
"A media firestorm was set off by sloppy reporting from the New York Times and their suggestion that there was actually 'evidence' when it was a letter alleging that 'evidence exists,'" the email reads. 

Wildstein's letter was first reported Friday by the Times. 
Christie's office on Saturday declined to comment on the memo, while Wildstein's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark on Friday met privately with the chief lawyer for New Jersey lawmakers investigating the bridge traffic jams and requested that the panel not take any steps that might interfere with its criminal probe, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Christie — who's considered a contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination — has repeatedly denied having ordered the closing of two of three local access lanes from Fort Lee, N.J., to the bridge, which is one of the busiest in the world. The closing froze traffic for four days — allegedly in retaliation over the mayor's refusal to endorse him in the 2013 governor's race.

NBC News' Michael Isikoff, M. Alex Johnson and Elisha Fieldstadt contributed to this report. 



The following are excerpts from the email issued by the Christie camp regarding David Wildstein, who has now accused Christie of knowing ahead of time about the lane changes and the reason for them.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/Christie-email.pdf

4. In David Wildstein's past, people and newspaper accounts have described him as "tumultuous" and someone who "made moves that were not productive."
• As a 16-year-old kid, he sued over a local school board election.
• He was publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior.
• He had a controversial tenure as Mayor of Livingston
• He was an anonymous blogger known as Wally Edge
• He had a strange habit of registering web addresses for other people's names without telling them

“He Was A Very Contentious Person.” (Shawn Boburg, “Ex-Blogger Is Governor Christie's Eyes, Ears Inside The Port Authority,” Bergen Record, 3/3/12)


• Wildstein Created “Culture Of Fear” Within Port Authority. “He and others referred to a ‘culture of fear’ within the authority, reflected in testimony from other authority officials about their reluctance to report to Mr. Foye or others what they considered an ‘odd’ request from Mr. Wildstein—to abruptly realign lanes that had been in place for decades and to tell no one about it.” (Ted Mann, “Port Authority Chief Testifies in George Washington Bridge Flap,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/9/13)



So both sides are vociferously accusing each other. Some of the statements made about Wildstein, especially that he set up web addresses in other people's names without telling them, are truly damning. Also the “culture of fear” – originally a charge leveled at Christie himself – is here being blamed on Wildstein.

I truly don't know who to believe. It is strange that he said he had evidence to present, and then didn't do it. Does he have evidence against Christie or not? On the other hand, if Wildstein has done these strange and shifty things, why was he trusted so highly by Christie in the past? Didn't he do a background check on him? It's really a mess. I think it will taint Christie's political future, though, because the events of the case are unforgettable. It's like the famous blue dress – Clinton survived the impeachment, but no one will ever forget about the Lewinsky dalliance.








Several People Arrested During San Francisco's 'Body Freedom' Nudity Ban Protest and Parade – NBC

Police arrested several people Saturday in San Francisco for protesting the city's nudity ban.

Advocates rallied and held what they called a "Body Freedom" parade in the Castro District. San Francisco's so-called nudity ban has been in effect for one year as of Saturday and nude activists staged the rally to mark the anniversary.
Protest leader Gypsy Taub said since the ban has been in effect, she was arrested for standing naked in front of City Hall on the first day of the ban. She said there has been growing acceptance of the body freedom movement.

"We're here to protest the nudity ban," she said. "This is draconian legislation. Somehow it's a crime to appear in your most-natural state."

There are exceptions under the nudity ban for children under 5 and for certain events, such as the Folsom Street Fair and Bay to Breakers.


http://traveltips.usatoday.com/fairs-festivals-california-4581.html
Fairs & Festivals in California
Travel Tips
Andrew Jones, Demand Media

San Francisco's Bay to Breakers stands in stark contrast to California State Fair's traditional, family-friendly brand of fun. The first nearly eigh- mile long race began in 1912. It has been run consistently since then, and is the world's longest consecutively-run footrace. In 1986, 110,000 people participated in the race, effectively breaking the Guinness World Record for largest race. Bay to Breakers is notorious for attracting large amounts of nudity, drinking, and people in crazy costumes

Another San Francisco fair that is absolutely not family friendly, but is still manages to rank as the state's third largest spectator event. Folsom Street Fair is a celebration of leather and bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism (BDSM). The leather parade that marches down Folsom street is simultaneously sexually explicit and raunchy fun. The costumes and parade attendees are often engaged in acts of sadomasochism and public displays of sexuality, but the atmosphere is encouragingly relaxed. People show up from all over the world to see and photograph the spectacle, to enjoy live music, food and drinks. The fair is usually held in September, a warm, beautiful month to be in San Francisco.



Lots of people say Californians are crazy, and if this is a sample, I have to agree. Society just works better if people keep their clothes on in public, and public displays of sexual behavior are more appropriate to the cave men indulging in their fertility festivals than citizens of a large and hopefully orderly society.

San Francisco is known for it's high gay population and being one of the last holdouts of the hippie movement. Those groups desire a higher degree of personal freedom than I do. I'm glad to see that the city has now banned nudity. I wonder what other cities in California allow. I can tell you that anywhere in the (considerably more conservative) south, public nudity would land you in jail. Personally, I'm just too old for this nonsense. I prefer to fight other causes.






Report: Keystone pipeline would have minimal environmental impact
By Michael O'Brien, NBC News

A new State Department report on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline finds that the project would have a minimal impact on the environment, an assessment likely to increase pressure on the White House to approve it. But the report sets no deadline for doing so. 

Given this evaluation of environmental impact, President Barack Obama and his administration will face increased pressure to approve the project, which enjoys widespread support among Republicans, and some measure of support among Democrats and allies of the administration, like labor unions.  

The proposed pipeline would carry crude derived from oil sands in Canada to refineries in the United States. 

"Our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution,” Obama said in June 2013. “The net effects of the pipeline's impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go forward." 

The findings by the new State Department report could hasten a decision by the administration, though there is no hard and fast deadline by which Obama or Secretary of State John Kerry must act. The evaluation fell to the State Department because the proposed $7 billion project by TransCanada Corp would cross the U.S.-Canada border. 
Quickly after the report's release, lawmakers ratcheted up pressure on Obama to act.
"Mr. President, no more stalling– no more excuses," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "Please pick up that pen you’ve been talking so much about and make this happen. Americans need these jobs."

Centrist Democrats like West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin hailed the findings, as well. 
"I have been incredibly frustrated for more than five years by the repeated and unnecessary delays in moving forward with the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline," he said. "I am pleased the State Department has confirmed there is no evidence of any negative environmental impact from building this pipeline."

In a statement Friday night, White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said the information would be "closely evaluated by Secretary Kerry and other relevant agency heads in the weeks ahead. A decision on whether the project is in the national interest will be made only after careful consideration of the (impact statement) and other pertinent information, comments from the public, and views of other agency heads."

Environmentally minded Democrats said the report paid insufficient attention to the environmental impacts of extracting the oil in the first place. 

"I will not be satisfied with any analysis that does not accurately document what is really happening on the ground when it comes to the extraction, transport, refining, and waste disposal of dirty, filthy tar sands oil," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate panel that oversees environmental issues.

Kerry said earlier in January that he hoped to move along with his own consideration of the process quickly, though he signaled that he doesn’t feel pressure to move before various analyses are complete. 

“We are doing it, and I can promise our friends in Canada that all the appropriate effort is being put into trying to get this done effectively and rapidly,” Kerry said Jan. 17 during an appearance with his Canadian counterpart. “And my hope is that, before long, that analysis will be available, and then my work begins.” 

Protesters rally about the Keystone XL oil pipeline along U.S. President Barack Obama's motorcade as he arrives at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington July 11, 2013.
Following the release of Friday’s report, what’s known as a “comment period” will take place; a comment period allow both government agencies and the public as a whole to offer their input about a proposed rule or regulation. The Keystone report will open up a 30-day comment period for the public, and a comment period for relevant government agencies of up to 90 days. 

“I'd stress, this is only one factor in a determination that will weigh many other factors as well,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a briefing on Friday. “And for Secretary Kerry, climate and environmental priorities will of course be part of his decision making, as will a range of other issues.” 

The project could also conceivably figure into political considerations for Obama. Republicans in Congress have long demanded his approval for the project. Free of major environmental objections to it, the president could conceivably extract a desired vote or policy from GOP lawmakers in exchange for giving construction of the pipeline a green light.


Oil sands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Oil shale.

The Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada, are a very large source of bitumen, which can be upgraded to synthetic crude oil.

Oil sands, tar sands or, more technically, bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit.
The oil sands are loose sand or partially consolidated sandstone containing naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay, and water, saturated with a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen (or colloquially tar due to its similar appearance, odour and colour).

Bitumen is a thick, sticky form of hydrocarbon, so heavy and viscous (thick) that it will not flow unless heated or diluted with lighter hydrocarbons. At room temperature, it is much like cold molasses".

Making liquid fuels from oil sands requires energy for steam injection and refining. This process generates 12 percent more greenhouse gases per barrel of final product than extraction of conventional oil.[7]

The exploitation of bituminous deposits and seeps dates back to Paleolithic times.[8] The earliest known use of bitumen was by Neanderthals, some 40,000 years ago. Bitumen has been found adhering to stone tools used by Neanderthals at sites in Syria. After the arrival of Homo sapiens, humans used bitumen for construction of buildings and waterproofing of reed boats, among other uses. In ancient Egypt, the use of bitumen was important in preparing Egyptian mummies.[9]

The largest bitumen deposit, containing about 80% of the Alberta total, and the only one suitable for surface mining, is the Athabasca oil sands along the Athabasca River. The mineable area (as defined by the Alberta government) includes 37 townships covering about 3,400 square kilometres (1,300 sq mi) near Fort McMurray. The smaller Cold Lake deposits are important because some of the oil is fluid enough to be extracted by conventional methods. All three Alberta areas are suitable for production using in-situ methods, such as cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) and steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD).

The Alberta oil sands have been in commercial production since the original Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor Energy) mine began operation in 1967. Despite the increasing levels of production, the process of extraction and processing of oil sands can still be considered to be in its infancy; with new technologies and stakeholders oversight providing an ever lower environmental footprint.

Because bitumen flows very slowly, if at all, toward producing wells under normal reservoir conditions, the sands must be extracted by strip mining or the oil made to flow into wells by in-situ techniques, which reduce the viscosity by injecting steam, solvents, and/or hot air into the sands. These processes can use more water and require larger amounts of energy than conventional oil extraction, although many conventional oil fields also require large amounts of water and energy to achieve good rates of production.
It is estimated that approximately 90% of the Alberta oil sands are too far below the surface to use open-pit mining. Several in-situ techniques have been developed.[26]

After excavation, hot water and caustic soda (NaOH) is added to the sand, and the resulting slurry is piped to the extraction plant where it is agitated and the oil skimmed from the top.[29] Provided that the water chemistry is appropriate to allow bitumen to separate from sand and clay, the combination of hot water and agitation releases bitumen from the oil sand, and allows small air bubbles to attach to the bitumen droplets. The bitumen froth floats to the top of separation vessels, and is further treated to remove residual water and fine solids.


See the whole Wikipedia article for all extraction methods. The following statement summarizes those methods: “All these processes take large amounts of energy and water, while emitting more carbon dioxide than conventional oil.” I wonder if the State Department's analysis can be trusted to be fully accurate – they are under pressure to please Canada as well as the oil industry. I hope Senator Boxer will see to it that the environmental issues are successfully weighed. I'll try to find other articles on this as they appear.