Tuesday, August 12, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Actor Robin Williams dead at 63, apparent suicide
CBS NEWS August 11, 2014, 7:07 PM
Last Updated Aug 11, 2014 9:38 PM EDT

The actor and comedian Robin Williams was found dead Monday at his home in Tiburon, Calif. Police say it appears to have been a suicide. Williams was 63 years old.

Emergency personnel were called to the house in Marin County, north of San Francisco, around noon. Officials say the cause of death is suspected to be asphyxiation, but a forensic exam and toxicology tests will be conducted.

Williams' wife, Susan Schneider, issued a statement Monday evening:

"This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken. On behalf of Robin's family, we are asking for privacy during our time of profound grief. As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin's death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions."

A statement from Robin Williams' press representative said he had been "battling severe depression."

Williams first rose to fame from the stand-up comedy circuit in the 1970s, with a manic improvisational style all his own. He appeared on the sitcom "Happy Days" and then starred as a lovable alien on its popular spin-off, "Mork & Mindy," from 1978 to 1982.

Williams went on to prove he had serious acting talent as well. He delivered critically praised performances in films like "Good Morning, Vietnam" (1987), "Dead Poets Society" (1989), "Awakenings" (1990), and "Good Will Hunting" (1997), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He was a comic whirlwind as a cartoon genie in Disney's "Aladdin" (1992) and as a nanny in drag in "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993).

Williams also won three Golden Globes, for "Good Morning, Vietnam," "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "The Fisher King."

In his most recent TV series, "The Crazy Ones," which aired on CBS last year, Williams played a quirky genius who ran an advertising agency with his daughter, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar.

CBS issued a statement saying, "Our world has lost a comic genius, a gifted actor and a beautiful man. We will remember Robin Williams as one of the unique talents of his time who was loved by many, but also as a kind, caring soul, who treated his colleagues and co-workers with great affection and respect. Our heartfelt thoughts and sympathies go out to his family, loved ones and friends."

Friends and colleagues paid tribute to Williams Monday night, with Steve Martin, Ellen DeGeneres, Henry Winkler and many others expressing their sorrow on social media.

"I could not be more stunned by the loss of Robin Williams, mensch, great talent, acting partner, genuine soul," Martin wrote.

Despite all the laughter on screen, his personal life was often troubled. Williams acknowledged drug and alcohol problems in the 1970s and '80s. A close friend of "Saturday Night Live" star John Belushi, Williams was one of the last to see him before Belushi died of a drug overdose in 1982. Over the years, Williams also went through two highly publicized divorces.

Williams got sober and maintained it for two decades. But in 2006, he slipped back into alcoholism and entered rehab. Then this summer, Williams spoke about fact that he had been drinking once again and checked back into rehab.

Williams was born in Chicago in 1951. He said he was shy as a child and got laughs at home by mimicking his grandmother. He joined the drama club in high school and studied acting at Juilliard, where his teacher, the renowned actor John Houseman, encouraged his talent for comedy.

Williams admired boundary-pushing comics like Jonathan Winters, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and George Carlin, and wasn't afraid to push boundaries of his own.

"You look at the world and see how scary it can be sometimes and still try to deal with the fear," he told the Associated Press in 1989. "Comedy can deal with the fear and still not paralyze you or tell you that it's going away. You say, OK, you got certain choices here, you can laugh at them and then once you've laughed at them and you have expunged the demon, now you can deal with them. That's what I do when I do my act."

Williams reportedly had several film projects in the works when he passed away, including "Night at the Museum 3" and a Mrs. Doubtfire sequel that was in the development stages.

He is survived by his wife and three children from previous marriages. On July 31, he posted an old photo of himself and daughter Zelda, with a caption wishing her a happy 25th birthday.




CBS reports, “We will remember Robin Williams as one of the unique talents of his time who was loved by many, but also as a kind, caring soul, who treated his colleagues and co-workers with great affection and respect.” Comedian Steve Martin said of him, “'I could not be more stunned by the loss of Robin Williams, mensch, great talent, acting partner, genuine soul." One article said that a number of psychologists have said that he probably suffered from Bipolar disorder, a form of mental illness that causes the patient to be “manic” at times and very depressed at others. The manic condition brought his exuberant, brilliant and hysterically funny routines, like Jerry Lewis and Jonathan Winters, and his serious side brought his sensitive and convincing acting in other roles. I only wish he had taken some good antidepressant drugs to avoid the deep lows of the Bipolar disorder. He will be greatly missed.





Spanish Priest Dies of Ebola; UN Debates Ethics – ABC
By Maria Cheng and Ciaran Giles AP
Madrid August 12, 2014

A Spanish missionary priest being treated for Ebola died Tuesday in a Madrid hospital amid a worldwide debate over who should get experimental Ebola treatments.

After holding a teleconference with medical experts around the world, the World Health Organization declared it is ethical to use unproven Ebola drugs and vaccines in the current outbreak in West Africa provided the right conditions are met. Its statement, however, sidestepped the key question of how to decide who should get the limited drugs.

Two more experimental Ebola treatments were reportedly heading Tuesday to Liberia to be used on two infected doctors — the first Africans to receive the untested drug.

The U.N. health agency says 1,013 people have died so far in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and authorities have recorded 1,848 suspected or confirmed cases. The killer virus, spread by direct contact with bodily fluids like blood, diarrhea and vomit, was detected in Guinea in March and has since spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and possibly Nigeria.

Two Americans and reportedly the Spanish priest who died had gotten the drug named ZMapp, which has never been tested in humans. But the vast majority of Ebola victims have been Africans, and some have protested that their citizens are not getting access to the novel drugs.

"We can't afford to be passive while many more die," said Aisha Dab, a Senegalese-Gambian journalist who was tweeting using the hashtag "GiveUsTheSerum."

The company that makes ZMapp said Monday that its available supply was "exhausted."

The Spanish missionary, 75-year-old Miguel Parajes, died in Madrid's Carlos III Hospital, the hospital and his order said. The hospital would not confirm that he had been treated with the drug, but his order and Spain's Health Ministry said earlier that he would be. His body will be cremated Wednesday to avoid any further public health risks, the hospital said.

Parajes had worked for the San Juan de Dios hospital order, a Catholic aid group, and had been helping to treat people with Ebola in Liberia when he became ill and was evacuated.

WHO decided it is ethical to use experimental treatments and vaccines in West Africa even though there's no evidence yet that these experimental drugs can actually help fight Ebola and it is possible they could be harmful or have no effect at all.

The agency said the size of the outbreak — the biggest-ever in history— made the experimental use of drugs ethical.

"It seems some of the usual methods we're using ... are not working as well," said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, an assistant director-general at WHO, during a press conference. "We don't have enough people to rely on the traditional methods if we want to stop the outbreak as soon as possible."

WHO said it was OK to use unproven treatments if certain criteria were met, including informed consent, confidentiality and freedom of choice.

The panel said a "more detailed analysis and discussion" are needed to decide who should have access to any experimental treatments, since there is an extremely limited supply of the novel drugs and vaccines. WHO also said the world had "a moral duty" to collect evidence about any untested treatment's safety and effectiveness in proper scientific trials.

Kieny said it was difficult to judge how the few experimental treatments have been doled out so far.

"I don't think there could be any fair distribution of something available in such small quantities," she said.



Last Doses of Ebola Drug Headed for Liberia as Death Toll Tops 1,000 – NBC
August 12, 2014

The supply of an experimental drug to treat the deadly Ebola virus is exhausted after the last doses were earmarked to be sent to West Africa, the company that makes ZMapp said Monday. The Liberian government said President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made a direct appeal Friday to U.S. President Barack Obama for the drug to treat doctors infected during an outbreak that has killed more than 1,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria. A spokesperson for the Health and Human Services Department said U.S. authorities helped by connecting the drug maker with Liberian officials, Reuters reported. It was not clear when the drug would be delivered.

The Liberian statement also said doses also were being obtained from the World Health Organization. So far, only three people are known to have been given the drug. Two Americans — a doctor and a health aid worker — were treated with ZMapp after contracting Ebola in Liberia. Both were flown back to the U.S. A 75-year-old Spanish priest has also been given the drug after being flown from Sierra Leone to Madrid. On Monday, WHO said the death toll had reached 1,013, with a total of 1,848 cases.



http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/08/02/337188425/treating-ebola-with-an-experimental-serum-why-it-might-help

Why Treating Ebola With An Experimental Serum Might Help – NPR
by RICHARD HARRIS
August 02, 2014

Last week we learned that two Americans working in Liberia for a medical charity, Samaritan's Purse, were among those who had contracted Ebola. When their symptoms took a turn for the worse, the organization announced that the two were going to get experimental treatments. One was going to get a blood transfusion from a 14-year-old boy who recovered from the disease, the organization said; the other was to get an "experimental serum." What's that?

We know there's no drug to treat Ebola (though several are in development). But sometimes the human body can mount a successful defense against this deadly virus. And 20 years ago, doctors adapted this natural defense to make an impromptu treatment during a previous Ebola outbreak.

The year was 1995. Ebola had erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Eighty percent of patients were dying. But a small group of doctors took blood samples from people who appeared to be on the road to recovery — and used that as an experimental treatment for other sick patients.

Here's the idea: A person who had managed to fight off the infection may have developed antibodies that circulate in the blood and that could neutralize the Ebola virus. This isn't as crazy as it might seem. In fact, these "sera" were a common treatment for infectious diseases in the 19th century, before antibiotics came along. Sera are proven treatments for many infectious diseases, including diphtheria and botulism. In fact, the immune globulins used to treat tetanus today are a refined version of this process.

And the source doesn't have to be other people — horses are also used to produce these antibodies for human drugs.

Because antibiotics are safer, sera fell out of favor starting in the 1940s for most diseases. And vaccines are a closely related concept — except that vaccines generally stimulate the body's immune system to produce its own antibodies, rather than transferring antibodies from somewhere else. Vaccines are much more effective because the antibodies are there at the time of infection. It's harder to knock down a disease that's already raging.

Stiehm and a pediatrician colleague from UCLA, Dr. Margaret Keller, note, in a published overview of the science, that goats were used to produce antibodies against Ebola in the early 1990s, and this serum "was then used in Russia for emergency prophylaxis for four patients exposed by laboratory accidents." Nobody got seriously ill, but it's not entirely clear what role the serum played in protecting them.

The most hopeful experience to date involves blood donors who were recovering from Ebola, back in Congo in 1995. Their blood was transfused into eight patients who were ill with Ebola. Normally 80 percent of people with Ebola die, but in this case, seven of the eight survived, according to a report by scientists from Congo and Belgium.






“After holding a teleconference with medical experts around the world, the World Health Organization declared it is ethical to use unproven Ebola drugs and vaccines in the current outbreak in West Africa provided the right conditions are met. Its statement, however, sidestepped the key question of how to decide who should get the limited drugs. Two more experimental Ebola treatments were reportedly heading Tuesday to Liberia to be used on two infected doctors — the first Africans to receive the untested drug.” Another article on the ZMAPP drug said that it will take months to mass produce a larger supply. In a prior epidemic that blood of two recovered patients was used to transfuse eight new patients, and seven of them recovered from the disease. I think they should be keeping track of who lives from the illness and doing transfusions from them on a regular basis to try to cure as many as possible. Of course if the blood type is incompatible transfusions are in themselves dangerous, but they could test for that before administering the transfusion. Also there is the use of what are called “sera” plural for “serum,” which consists not of whole blood but of a blood factor. See the above article from NPR on that subject.

“But the vast majority of Ebola victims have been Africans, and some have protested that their citizens are not getting access to the novel drugs.... 'We can't afford to be passive while many more die,' said Aisha Dab, a Senegalese-Gambian journalist who was tweeting using the hashtag 'GiveUsTheSerum.' … Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny of WHO said 'We don't have enough people to rely on the traditional methods if we want to stop the outbreak as soon as possible.'”

“WHO said it was OK to use unproven treatments if certain criteria were met, including informed consent, confidentiality and freedom of choice.” Kieny also said, however, that there was no truly fair way to distribute such a small supply of the serum to so many ill people. So far, 1,013 people have died of Ebola, with 1,848 suspected or confirmed cases under treatment. The terrible disease first emerged in Guinea in March and has spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and possibly Nigeria. Previous epidemics haven't lasted this long or traveled so far. I do hope that there is nothing new about this virus – like spreading by the air.




Russia to participate in humanitarian mission to eastern Ukraine – CBS
AP August 11, 2014, 2:13 PM

DONETSK, Ukraine - The Red Cross will lead an international humanitarian aid operation into Ukraine's conflict-stricken province of Luhansk with assistance from Russia, the European Union and the United States, Ukraine said Monday.

The Kremlin earlier announced that it was dispatching the humanitarian convoy into eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia separatists are battling the central government in Kiev.

Such initiatives have previously faced sustained opposition from Ukraine and the West, who had feared they could act as a pretext for sending Russian troops into rebel-held territory. Ukraine and the West have long accused Russia of arming and supporting the rebels, a charge that Russia has denied.

Officials in Kiev took pains to specify Monday that the Ukrainian government was behind the humanitarian convoy initiative, and that Moscow was only one of several countries involved. They also said the mission had the backing of President Barack Obama.

"Apart from deliveries provided by Ukraine, the mission will feature an international component, including aid provided to the International Committee of the Red Cross by the United States, the EU, as well as Russia," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry also laid out specific conditions for the convoy to ensure only civilians in need benefit.

"Humanitarian aid will only be distributed among the civilian population of the Luhansk province, which has long been suffering from the actions of illegal armed gangs," the ministry said in a statement.

In the last week, Ukrainian government forces have been closing in on the few remaining pro-Russian rebel strongholds in eastern Ukraine, including Donetsk, the largest city in rebel-held city. Hundreds of thousands have been fleeing the fighting.

Some of the heaviest impact on civilians has been seen in Luhansk - the rebel-held capital of the Luhansk province that had a pre-war population of 420,000. City authorities said Monday that the 250,000 residents remaining have had no electricity or water supplies for nine days.

Food, medicine and fuel are also not being delivered, Luhansk city government said.

Shortly after the Kremlin issued its statement, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko got on a phone call with Obama, according to their offices. Then Poroshenko announced the coordinated aid mission.

Earlier, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call "against any unilateral military actions in Ukraine, under any pretext, including humanitarian."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia agreed on details of a humanitarian mission with the Ukrainian leadership.

"I hope that our Western partners will not put a spanner in the works," he said.

The Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis as saying the humanitarian convoy could only be carried out under specific conditions. He said all aid would have to cross into Ukraine through border crossings under Kiev's control.

At least 60 miles of the long Russian-Ukrainian border is currently in rebel hands.

Barroso also talked to Poroshenko, emphasizing the EU's readiness to increase its support for any humanitarian mission.

Earlier Monday, rockets slammed into a high-security prison in the main rebel-held city of Donetsk, igniting a riot that allowed more than 100 prisoners to flee, authorities said.

Donetsk city council spokesman Maxim Rovinsky said a direct rocket hit killed at least one inmate and left three others severely wounded. In the chaos, he said 106 prisoners escaped, included some jailed for murder, robbery and rape.

Many of those in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine distrust the new central government in Kiev, which came to power after the February ouster of former President Viktor Yanukovych, whose power base was in eastern Ukraine.

Fighting began a month after Russia annexed Ukraine's peninsula of Crimea in March.



Wary Ukraine Tells Russia Red Cross Must Supervise Any Aid Convoy – NBC
By Albina Kovalyova and Alexander Smith
August 12, 2014

MOSCOW — Some 2,000 tons of Russian aid being driven to Ukraine will only be allowed across the border under supervision of the Red Cross, Ukraine said Tuesday. The United States has expressed fears the 280-truck convoy - which Russia says is carrying grain, baby food, medicine, and generators - could be used as a pretext for military intervention. Valeriy Chaly, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, told The Associated Press that Kiev would allow the trucks to transfer aid to ICRC vehicles at the border. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf earlier said the U.S. was "concerned Russia could try to use a humanitarian or peacekeeping operation as a pretense for inserting elements of military force into Ukraine."

NATO said some 45,000 Russian troops have amassed at the border and there was a "high probability" of a Kremlin military intervention. Russia said the aid would be delivered with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). An ICRC representative told NBC News on Tuesday the convoy's departure was a "surprise," and later told the AP the ICRC had no information on its whereabouts.




Officials in Kiev took pains to specify Monday that the Ukrainian government was behind the humanitarian convoy initiative, and that Moscow was only one of several countries involved. They also said the mission had the backing of President Barack Obama.... The ministry also laid out specific conditions for the convoy to ensure only civilians in need benefit..... Earlier, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call "against any unilateral military actions in Ukraine, under any pretext, including humanitarian." Kiev's Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis “said all aid would have to cross into Ukraine through border crossings under Kiev's control.”

“The United States has expressed fears the 280-truck convoy - which Russia says is carrying grain, baby food, medicine, and generators - could be used as a pretext for military intervention. Valeriy Chaly, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, told The Associated Press that Kiev would allow the trucks to transfer aid to ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) vehicles at the border.... An ICRC representative told NBC News on Tuesday the convoy's departure was a 'surprise,' and later told the AP the ICRC had no information on its whereabouts.” This confusion could be just a product of “the fog of war,” or evidence of a Russian lie. I hope there will be a followup to this story later.







Why Are Men Leaving The American Workforce? – NPR
by URI BERLINER
August 11, 2014

It was a great time to be an American man in the workplace after World War II. Hiring was strong for both white collar jobs and factory work while industries like autos, aviation and steel were booming. By the 1960s, that started to change.

There's a long, unfolding story about work in America that often gets overlooked. It's the story of men opting out of work altogether. These are men who have vanished from the labor force — men who don't have a job and aren't looking for one.

To describe this historic development with the context it deserves, we start with the American economy after World War II. It was firing on all cylinders, dominant globally, confident and dynamic. It was a great time to be an American man in the workplace. Hiring was strong for white collar jobs and factory work. Industries like autos, aviation and steel were booming.

If you were a man in the 1950s, you had a job, says Nicholas Eberstadt is an economist with the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank. And if you lost it, you started looking for another one.

"If you weren't in the Army and you weren't in jail, you were very, very likely working and there was probably a good reason for why you were not seeking work and not working if that was the case," Eberstadt says.

But by the 1960s that started to change. Men, slowly but surely, began leaving the workforce. If they couldn't find jobs, some simply stopped looking. And ever since, more and more men have been opting out of work.

It's a fact that's not in dispute anywhere across the ideological spectrum.

"This has been going on now for just about half a century," Eberstadt says.

Heidi Shierholz, of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, agrees.

"We've been seeing this just long, decades long, decline in men's labor force participation," Shierholz says.

That decline has been relentless, persisting through recessions and even in periods of strong growth and job creation, like the 1990s.

"It's happened during good times, it's happened during bad times," Eberstadt says.

Throughout the 1950s, the proportion of males over 16 who were working or looking for work held steady at around 85 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Then, in each successive decade that number fell, tumbling all the way to 69 percent, where it is today. Some of that decline can be accounted for by benign factors such as men retiring earlier or young men staying in school longer.

But if you strip away the students and the early retiring men, the picture doesn't change much. Men are still opting out. Back in the 1950s, just three percent of men in their prime working years (considered to be ages 25 to 54) were out of work and not seeking employment. Last year, that number was 12 percent.

"There are twice as many guys between 25 and 54 who aren't even looking for a job as who are unemployed," Eberstadt says.

As more men have opted out of work, women have streamed into the labor force for several generations now. And at the same time they have been obtaining more education. Women now receive 60 percent of all bachelor's degrees in the U.S.

David Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says women have responded to an increasingly demanding job market by getting more education but men haven't followed suit.

"You might say, 'Why haven't men responded more effectively, why haven't they educated better, more, why haven't they moved into higher wage occupations?' " Autor says. "And that is less clear."

As might be expected, economists don't agree on why so many men have left the workforce. Some possible factors they cite: There's less of a stigma today if a man doesn't work. Union clout has declined. More men are in early retirement receiving disability benefits. New technology has eliminated manufacturing jobs. And competition from abroad moved others overseas.

Autor says many service sector jobs that remain — in restaurants and retail, for example — don't pay as well as the factory jobs that disappeared.

And with so many men in the prime of life missing from the workforce it can't help but take a toll on the economy, Eberstadt says.

"The country is going to be less rich. They're going to be less rich. Growth is going to be slower. It's going to have really bad effects on wealth differences in the United States," he says.

So what can be done? Certainly more education and better education would make a difference. But that's a profound, long-term challenge. David Autor says there's one smaller fix that would help — expand the earned income tax credit. It's a subsidy that supports low-income workers when they find jobs and keep them. Right now, it primarily benefits women and children rather than single men.




“By the 1960s, that started to change. There's a long, unfolding story about work in America that often gets overlooked. It's the story of men opting out of work altogether. These are men who have vanished from the labor force — men who don't have a job and aren't looking for one.”

“Nicholas Eberstadt is an economist with the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank. 'This has been going on now for just about half a century,' Eberstadt says. Heidi Shierholz, of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, agrees. 'We've been seeing this just long, decades long, decline in men's labor force participation,' Shierholz says.... Then, in each successive decade that number fell, tumbling all the way to 69 percent, where it is today.”

Some of that decline can be accounted for by benign factors such as men retiring earlier or young men staying in school longer.... David Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says women have responded to an increasingly demanding job market by getting more education but men haven't followed suit.” I would tend to say that men aren't qualifying for many modern jobs if they don't have a college degree, but in computer tech jobs there was a recent article on women who wanted to be hired for those and who weren't getting them due to discrimination. Nearly all computer techs are men. The main change in white collar jobs that requires education is the IT field, management level jobs, medical jobs and human resource departments. Other fields that are still dominated by men are police work, science, engineering and the military, though women are moving into those now, too.

I think the loss of production jobs -- as businesses have moved their operations overseas and computers and robots do factory work – is a really big factor. The men in Thomasville NC in 1950 were mainly blue collar, but they were busy. The whole work atmosphere has changed. There used to be many blue collar jobs of all sorts, and now they have just evaporated. What we have is a severe lack of jobs. People are getting by financially in ways that would have been scorned – living on food stamps or disability, doing odd jobs, taking very low wage jobs or half time jobs and the few factory jobs that still do exist, and not because primarily they want to do that either.

I think these economists need to promote things that create jobs for men and get behind raising the Federal minimum wage. Public works operations to improve our infrastructure would be a good thing to initiate, and plugging up the tax loopholes that businesses use when they decide to ship their production work overseas is another. Republicans don't want any rules or strictures placed on “the marketplace,” but “the marketplace” cares about nobody except the top level management of large businesses, and it is not ethical or patriotic. If it's more profitable to ship all your jobs overseas where labor is cheaper, that is what businesses will want to do unless something prohibits their doing that.

In addition, during the 1970's a new term emerged – the “house husband.” Of course the 1920's and 30's had the “salty dog,” which was much the same thing. With only the woman working, a surprising number of men started staying home in the 70's with the kids and housework, and a lot of them were educated men. There has been a change in the consensus of what men should do. This means poorer households, of course, especially since women have never been paid as much as men, and both husband and wife often had student loans to pay back. A number of those men decided to try to write books, pursue art or compose music, etc. Others just didn't want to work and didn't mind letting the wife do it all. Some had part time jobs as college instructors or substitute teachers. I think a surprising number of people have made their money by selling or manufacturing drugs. I was shocked at the number of people who voted in several states to legalize marijuana. That means to me they are smoking it. I am discouraged by all of this.





Beating victim: CHP officer "was trying to kill me" – CBS
By CRIMESIDER STAFF AP  August 11, 2014, 1:50 PM

LOS ANGELES - A woman whose videotaped beating by a California Highway Patrol officer sparked outrage says she believes the officer was trying to kill her.

In her first public comments since the July 1 beating on the side of a Los Angeles freeway, Marlene Pinnock, who says she is homeless, recalled being repeatedly punched in the head while being pinned by the officer.

"He grabbed me, he threw me down, he started beating me, he beat me. I felt like he was trying to kill me, beat me to death," Pinnock told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The incident occurred on Interstate 10 west of downtown Los Angeles. The police agency has said that Pinnock was endangering herself by walking on an interstate highway and the officer was trying to restrain her. She was barefoot at the time.

Pinnock, 51, was released from the hospital last week after several weeks of treatment for head injuries and now slurs her speech, her attorney Caree Harper said.

Pinnock is suing CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow and Officer Daniel L. Andrew in federal court for civil rights violations. The lawsuit claims excessive force, assault, battery and a violation of her due-process rights. The CHP hasn't identified the officer, but the agency said he had been on the job for 1 1/2 years and is on desk duty pending completion of the internal investigation.

Farrow met with community and civil rights leaders in Los Angeles multiple times last month and pledged that the investigation will conclude in weeks rather than the usual months.

Sgt. Melissa Hammond, a CHP spokeswoman, said Sunday that she couldn't comment on the ongoing investigation.

Pinnock said she had been homeless for the last three to five years, occasionally staying at a shelter, a family member's home or living on the streets.

She said she was on her way to a place frequented by the homeless where she said she could feel safe to fall asleep. Harper said the area was only accessible by walking along the freeway ramp.

Pinnock was placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold by Andrew after the encounter, according to a document obtained by the AP.

Andrew said in his report that she was a danger to herself and wrote that "upon contacting the subject she was talking to herself. The subject began telling me 'I want to walk home' and called me 'the devil.' The subject then tried to walk into traffic lanes."

CHP investigators in July seized Pinnock's medical records and the clothing she was wearing during the encounter from Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. Harper said she was outraged by the violation of doctor-patient privacy and attorney-client privilege.

Harper declined to discuss the circumstances that led to the encounter or her client's medical condition.

"If in fact she did call him the devil, it's secondary to the fact that he proved to be either the devil or a close relative," Harper said. "Because he treated her in a manner nobody should ever be treated."

Pinnock is being supported by Harper to keep her off the street and is essentially "starting from scratch," her attorney said.

Pinnock said she's had nightmares about being beaten. However, she was also thankful for the support she's received and said she was indebted to the motorist who stopped to record the incident.

"Without the video my word may have not meant anything," she said.




“In her first public comments since the July 1 beating on the side of a Los Angeles freeway, Marlene Pinnock, who says she is homeless, recalled being repeatedly punched in the head while being pinned by the officer. 'He grabbed me, he threw me down, he started beating me, he beat me. I felt like he was trying to kill me, beat me to death,' Pinnock told The Associated Press on Sunday.”

I hate to say this, but a certain proportion of the people – mainly men – who are attracted to police or prison guard work are there because they want to hurt somebody and as an officer they can too often get away with it, especially if the victim is a black, Hispanic or homeless person. It used to be that poor whites were in the same category. Gays and prostitutes are also targets of brutality. It's because they didn't used to be able to get justice for such a crime, had no respect in the courts, and had to tolerate it and live with it. The times have changed. A surprising number of people are walking around with “smart phones” that can create a video recording of incidents. The Rodney King beating was recorded on video by a person living in an apartment house by the road. This beating also was recorded by a driver who was passing by and stopped his car, and the homeless woman was spunky enough to hire a lawyer and sue officer Andrew and the police commissioner.

The officer said she “was talking to herself” and called him “the devil.” When she started to walk into traffic lanes. He claimed that he tried to “restrain her” by throwing her down on the ground and proceeding to beat her on the face and head. "'If in fact she did call him the devil, it's secondary to the fact that he proved to be either the devil or a close relative,' Harper said. 'Because he treated her in a manner nobody should ever be treated.'” … Pinnock is suing CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow and Officer Daniel L. Andrew in federal court for civil rights violations. The lawsuit claims excessive force, assault, battery and a violation of her due-process rights.” The police commissioner has promised to investigate the case “in weeks, not months.” The police officer hasn't been fired, but is on desk duty. I expect justice will be done, because this plaintiff is suing in a Federal civil rights court.






Barneys Agrees To Settlement Over Racial Profiling Allegations__ NPR
by DANA FARRINGTON
August 11, 2014

The upscale retailer Barneys has agreed to a settlement over charges of racial profiling at its flagship store in New York.

The agreement includes a $525,000 fine, NPR's Sam Sanders tells our Newscast Desk.

"Barney's will also have to hire an independent anti-profiling consultant," Sanders reports, "and the retailer will have to implement new record-keeping measures to spot profiling and keep track of interactions with local law enforcement."

The nine-month investigation began after two black customers said they were falsely accused of credit card fraud after shopping at Barneys last year.

The New York Daily News has more on the state's review(which followed articles by the paper on complaints of profiling at Barneys and Macy's):

"State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's investigators heard from customers and former employees that a pattern of racial profiling began last year when the high-end store tried to crack down on a dramatic spike in shoplifting and credit card fraud.

"Complainants told Schneiderman's civil rights division that the store's security team — known as the 'loss prevention unit' — made a habit of keeping watch over black and Hispanic shoppers in disproportionate numbers."

Schneiderman said the agreement will "correct a number of wrongs," according the Daily News, "both by fixing past policies and by monitoring the actions of Barneys and its employees to make sure that past mistakes are not repeated."

In a statement, Barneys New York said it was "a truly progressive company that has absolutely no tolerance for discrimination of any kind."



http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/barneys-puts-store-nypd-surveillance-racial-profiling-scandal-article-1.1530928

Barneys puts store NYPD under surveillance amid racial profiling scandal

A memo released to employees Tuesday would require police to state exactly why they want to monitor a specific individual on the store’s control room monitors. The Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network cautiously praised the step and said he welcomed other retailers to follow suit.

BY KERRY BURKE , ROCCO PARASCANDOLA , GINGER ADAMS OTIS 
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Wednesday, November 27, 2013, 11:06 AM
Updated: Thursday, November 28, 2013, 12:02 AM

Barneys’ flagship store on Madison Ave. has been mired in racial profiling allegations after two black shoppers said they were falsely accused of fraud after making expensive purchases. The store and the NYPD have pointed the finger at each other.

Store security at Barneys New York is now trained on the NYPD.
The ritzy retailer released a memo to employees Tuesday detailing new security policies that include videotaping cops whenever they enter the store’s control room and keeping a log of detectives’ visits.
The memo, obtained by the Daily News, stipulates that cops can only access the control room — where employees watch store monitors — when they need to continue surveillance of an individual who entered the Madison Ave. location from the street.
Cops who don’t comply will be asked to leave, the memo said.
NYPD officers need to provide “reasonable description of the individual or individuals that they wish to place under surveillance and the reason,” the memo stated.
The new policies were issued when civil rights leaders pressed Barneys and other well-known retailers to clarify their relationship with the NYPD after two black shoppers came forward in October to say they were racially profiled at the store.
Barneys has blamed the incidents on undercover cops in the control room at the time. The NYPD said employees conferred with detectives in both cases.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network headlined a meeting last week with the retail industry, has prevailed upon the big stores to create a special task force to address the “shop-and-frisk” scandal.
“We are reviewing the memo with the entire civil rights side of the task force. We certainly look forward to seeing if other retailers will make a similar commitment,” Sharpton said Wednesday.
The News was first to report the stories of Trayon Christian, 19, and Kayla Phillips, 21, two black shoppers who said cops wrongfully accused them of debit card fraud after they bought pricey items at Barneys.
Similar allegations from two black shoppers at Macy’s soon followed.
Barneys has blamed the incidents on undercover cops in the control room at the time. The NYPD said employees conferred with detectives in both cases.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network headlined a meeting last week with the retail industry, has prevailed upon the big stores to create a special task force to address the “shop-and-frisk” scandal.

“We are reviewing the memo with the entire civil rights side of the task force. We certainly look forward to seeing if other retailers will make a similar commitment,” Sharpton said Wednesday.
The News was first to report the stories of Trayon Christian, 19, and Kayla Phillips, 21, two black shoppers who said cops wrongfully accused them of debit card fraud after they bought pricey items at Barneys.
Similar allegations from two black shoppers at Macy’s soon followed.
The Barneys controversy nearly derailed a limited-edition luxury line from Jay Z that debuted at Madison Ave. Nov. 20.

His alliance with the store initially angered many fans, but clerks Wednesday said the collection was selling well.
Jay Z’s $695 ski mask, his $1,000 humidor and $150 Gold cologne are big movers.
But a few high-tickets items — like the $58,000 alligator jacket and a $12,000 double ring — are duds. The store hasn’t sold a single one of either, a clerk said.




This is more sleazy behavior by white people in positions of authority who just can't resist abusing minorities. Black people came in the store, purchased high end goods and left the store, then were accused of debit card fraud. The charges didn't stick, but the patrons were embarrassed and insulted. Many black people, I have heard, are followed around in stores by the clerks just because they are black. That must get tiresome, at the very least, and easily could result in an unwarranted arrest. Just as in the previous article on the police beating, black people are more and more likely to sue on such grounds nowadays. The KKK just isn't around to scare them in most cases, and more white people will be supportive of them. Things are improving a little bit.