Saturday, September 7, 2014


News Clips For The Day


New Mexico sheriff convicted of abuse during traffic stop
AP September 26, 2014, 10:36 PM

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A northern New Mexico sheriff who has fought off accusations of misconduct throughout his career was convicted Friday of abusing a driver during a bizarre traffic stop that prosecutors called a fit of road rage.

Rio Arriba County Sheriff Thomas Rodella, sitting in the defendant's chair rather than on the side of the law, and his family were visibly upset when jurors convicted him of pulling his gun on a driver and violating the 26-year-old's civil rights. His wife, state Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Espanola, sobbed after the verdict was read.

Rodella, one of the most powerful political figures in the state, now faces up to 17 years in prison. His sentencing date hasn't yet been determined.

"We take little pleasure in today's guilty verdict," said U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez, explaining that his office believes the vast majority of law enforcement officers are good public servants.

"It's a sad day when an officer is found guilty of something like this, as serious as this," Martinez said.

Driving his personal SUV and wearing street clothes, Rodella followed Michael Tafoya, pulled a gun on him and struck him in the face with his badge, authorities said.

Tafoya said the March encounter began when he turned onto a street in front of Rodella, and the two men gave each other the middle finger. Rodella, whose son was in the passenger seat, began to follow closely, Tafoya said.

When they reached a dead end, the sheriff jumped out holding his gun, dragged Tafoya into the street and struck him in the face with his badge, prosecutors said.

"I said, 'Please, don't kill me,' " Tafoya testified.

"It's too late. It's too late," Rodella replied, according to Tafoya.

Throughout the case, defense lawyers tried to portray Tafoya as a reckless driver whom Rodella was merely trying to stop in the interest of public safety. They also argued the case was largely based on a dispute with the U.S. attorney's office over U.S. Forest Service patrols in northern New Mexico.

Martinez denied that accusation.

Defense lawyers declined to comment as they left the courthouse.

It wasn't the first time Rodella has been accused of misconduct. Two other drivers testified that they had similar encounters with Rodella, although no federal charges were filed in either case. Prosecutors said the cases were presented to show a pattern of abuse.

Last year, the FBI searched the sheriff's office to investigate whether his staff accepted donations to a scholarship fund and then looked the other way on donors' traffic offenses. Rodella said the program helped students and denied any wrongdoing. No charges were ever filed.

Two years before being elected sheriff in 2010, Rodella was ousted as a magistrate judge by the state Supreme Court for several alleged infractions, including promising to rule in favor of campaign supporters during a rent dispute. The court barred him from running again for judicial office.

He had been appointed as a magistrate in 2005 by Gov. Bill Richardson, but resigned a few months later amid criticism - and pressure from Richardson - after news of his disciplinary problems with the state police became public. Rodella fired back at his critics, saying the governor was aware of his record.

Rodella retired from the state police department on a disability pension in 1995 after 13 years. During his time on the force, Rodella was disciplined for marijuana use, improper use of a weapon, falsifying official reports, abusing sick leave and using his position for personal gain, according to state reports.

State documents also show he was suspended for 30 days for firing at a deer decoy that game officers had set up to catch poachers. Rodella has declined comment on those reports.

As an incumbent in a June primary election, he lost the Democratic nomination for Rio Arriba County sheriff James Lujan by 200 votes. Lujan was a deputy Rodella whom had fired.

Since Rodella's indictment last month, some elected officials in the rural county have called for his resignation.

Rodella has refused and denied any wrongdoing and said he had no plans to step down. He has asked state police to investigate various allegations of corruption by county officials.




“A northern New Mexico sheriff who has fought off accusations of misconduct throughout his career was convicted Friday of abusing a driver during a bizarre traffic stop that prosecutors called a fit of road rage. Rio Arriba County Sheriff Thomas Rodella, sitting in the defendant's chair rather than on the side of the law, and his family were visibly upset when jurors convicted him of pulling his gun on a driver and violating the 26-year-old's civil rights. His wife, state Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Espanola, sobbed after the verdict was read. Rodella, one of the most powerful political figures in the state, now faces up to 17 years in prison. His sentencing date hasn't yet been determined.... Driving his personal SUV and wearing street clothes, Rodella followed Michael Tafoya, pulled a gun on him and struck him in the face with his badge, authorities said. Tafoya said the March encounter began when he turned onto a street in front of Rodella, and the two men gave each other the middle finger. Rodella, whose son was in the passenger seat, began to follow closely, Tafoya said. When they reached a dead end, the sheriff jumped out holding his gun, dragged Tafoya into the street and struck him in the face with his badge, prosecutors said. 'I said, 'Please, don't kill me,' Tafoya testified. 'It's too late. It's too late,' Rodella replied, according to Tafoya.'... Two years before being elected sheriff in 2010, Rodella was ousted as a magistrate judge by the state Supreme Court for several alleged infractions, including promising to rule in favor of campaign supporters during a rent dispute. The court barred him from running again for judicial office.... Since Rodella's indictment last month, some elected officials in the rural county have called for his resignation. Rodella has refused and denied any wrongdoing and said he had no plans to step down.”

If Rodella “now faces 17 years in prison,” why is he still in office? It shouldn't be a matter of his resigning. He should be disqualified for the office of sheriff immediately after being convicted of a series of crimes. Who supervises how he does his job? No one? This is an extreme case of what I think is wrong with police in general when they misbehave under the cover of doing their job. They don't have enough supervision. When they are out on the streets in their patrol car late on some dark night, they are capable of doing almost anything from abuse of citizens to murder, and nobody is there to witness or prevent it.

They have too much power in the court system and simply too much autonomy in their police work. Who is policing the police? If all officers went on patrol with a partner there would be a better chance of the officers acting legally because there would always be a witness. They also would be less likely to run into a situation in which they are actually afraid, and therefore react by shooting to kill, which is what seemed to me might have been the situation in the Ferguson killing. The officer was alone and confronted two well grown young men, who didn't immediately obey his order to get out of the street. He claimed that he was threatened. Unfortunately there was no witness to his story. With Ferguson officers now using the wearable cameras the situation should be improved there. In the present situation there, Wilson is likely to get away with murder.





Virus investigated after Colorado kids develop paralysis --- CBS
AP September 26, 2014, 7:01 PM

NEW YORK -- Health officials are investigating nine cases of muscle weakness or paralysis in Colorado children and whether the culprit might be a virus causing severe respiratory illness across the country.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday sent doctors an alert about the polio-like cases and said the germ -enterovirus 68  - was detected in four out of eight of the sick children who had a certain medical test. The status of the ninth case is unclear.

The virus can cause paralysis but other germs can, too. Health officials don't know whether the virus caused any of the children's arm and leg weaknesses or whether it's just a germ they coincidentally picked up.

"That's why we want more information," and for doctors to report similar cases, said the CDC's Dr. Jane Seward.

The cases occurred within the last two months. All nine children are being treated at Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, and most are from the Denver area.

All had fever and respiratory illness about two weeks before developing varying degrees of limb weakness. None seems to have a weak immune system or other conditions that might predispose them to severe illness, but the cases are still being investigated, Seward said. Investigators don't think it's polio - eight of the nine children are up to date on polio vaccinations.

The cases come amid an unusual wave of severe respiratory illness from enterovirus 68. The germ is not new - it was first identified in 1962 and has caused clusters of illness before, including in Georgia and Pennsylvania in 2009 and Arizona in 2010. Because it's not routinely tested for, it's possible the bug spread in previous years but was never distinguished from colds caused by other germs.

This year, the virus has gotten more attention because it has been linked to hundreds of severe illnesses. Beginning last month, a flood of sick children began to hit hospitals in Kansas City, Missouri, and Chicago - kids with trouble breathing, some needing oxygen or more extreme care such as a breathing machine. Many - but not all - had asthma before the infection.

The CDC has been testing a limited number of specimens from very sick children around the country, and as of Thursday reported 277 people in 40 states and the District of Columbia with enterovirus 68. So far no deaths have been attributed to the virus, but Seward said 15 still are being investigated.

Health officials know enterovirus can cause paralysis. Published reports count at least two U.S. children who were paralyzed and died and were found to have the virus in their spinal fluid. One was a New Hampshire 5-year-old who died in 2008. Details are scant on the second case, which happened many years earlier.

Earlier this year, Stanford University researchers said they had identified polio-like illnesses in about 20 California children over about 18 months. Two tested positive for enterovirus 68. CDC officials say it's still not clear if the virus was a factor in those cases.

Paralysis is a rare complication of enterovirus 68 infection, but with so many more cases of enterovirus being reported this year, it may not be surprising to see that problem, said Dr. Larry Wolk, chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The CDC is asking doctors to report patients 21 or younger who developed limb weakness since August 1 and who have had an MRI exam that showed abnormalities in the nerve tissue in the spinal cord.

Seward said a test that showed the germ in a patient's spinal fluid would be good evidence that the virus was causing paralysis. Unfortunately, lab tests of spinal fluid often fail to identify bugs like enterovirus 68, even if they're present, she added.




“Health officials are investigating nine cases of muscle weakness or paralysis in Colorado children and whether the culprit might be a virus causing severe respiratory illness across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday sent doctors an alert about the polio-like cases and said the germ - enterovirus 68 - was detected in four out of eight of the sick children who had a certain medical test.... The cases occurred within the last two months. All nine children are being treated at Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, and most are from the Denver area. All had fever and respiratory illness about two weeks before developing varying degrees of limb weakness.... The cases come amid an unusual wave of severe respiratory illness from enterovirus 68. The germ is not new - it was first identified in 1962 and has caused clusters of illness before, including in Georgia and Pennsylvania in 2009 and Arizona in 2010.... This year, the virus has gotten more attention because it has been linked to hundreds of severe illnesses. Beginning last month, a flood of sick children began to hit hospitals in Kansas City, Missouri, and Chicago - kids with trouble breathing, some needing oxygen or more extreme care such as a breathing machine. Many - but not all - had asthma before the infection..... So far no deaths have been attributed to the virus, but Seward said 15 still are being investigated. Health officials know enterovirus can cause paralysis. Published reports count at least two U.S. children who were paralyzed and died and were found to have the virus in their spinal fluid.”

So here we are with what may be a relatively new virus (since 1962) capable of causing polio-like illness. According to all the reports I have seen it only attacks children, and often only those with asthma. I wonder if most young people who contract the virus get over it spontaneously and then are immune to further outbreaks. This article said that anyone with these symptoms who is aged 21 or younger should be tested. Though the cases number in the hundreds, it doesn't seem to be spreading as fast as the Ebola virus in Africa, for instance, so hopefully it isn't too terribly contagious. Maybe it, like Ebola, is spread by close contact rather than through the air. It is emerging in a large number of states, however. Could the virus be based in an animal population like Ebola is, and only occasionally is transmitted to humans? Maybe we'll hear more about it within the next year or so. The mysterious and deadly hanta virus, which also attacks young people, was found to be endemic to the deer mouse, found in large parts of the western US. It was originally found in South Korea, so it has probably been flourishing in rodents for a very long time, long enough for it to migrate across the land bridge from Asia into the New World. This particular enterovirus 68 hasn't killed anyone yet this year. That's the good news.






Wage Theft Costing Low-Income Workers Billions – NBC
BY MARTHA C. WHITE
First published September 27th 2014

Americans toiling away in low-wage jobs already struggle to earn a living, and a new report says these meager paychecks are winnowed down by wage theft with alarming regularity.

Nearly $1 billion was recovered in 2012 by lawyers or regulatory agencies acting on behalf of workers who were paid below minimum wage, not paid for overtime or other wage and hour violations, according to a first-time analysis conducted by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. And the problem is growing, EPI analysts say.

Labor experts say they’re not surprised. “It seems likely that the recession would have intensified this problem,” said Ruth Milkman, a professor of sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center.

Milkman was one of the authors of a 2009 study of low-wage workers in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. About a quarter of workers surveyed said they had been paid below minimum wage within the last week. Three-quarters of those who worked more than 40 hours a week weren’t paid overtime.

“There’s been some increased effort to try and address this issue,” Milkman said. “Even with the increased enforcement, we found incredibly high violation rates at the bottom of the labor market.”

“There really is not much state local or federal enforcement going on, particularly in the low-wage industries where you’re not going to get attorneys to bring those cases.”

Even with these efforts by lawmakers and labor groups, “I think wage theft is increasing,” said Ross Eisenbrey, vice president at EPI and one of the authors of the new study. “There really is not much state local or federal enforcement going on, particularly in the low-wage industries where you’re not going to get attorneys to bring those cases.”

“The money recovered is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Tsedeye Gebreselassie, a senior staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project. The EPI report says if the 2009 study were extrapolated to the entire country’s low-wage labor market, wage theft could cost workers more than $50 billion every year.

“Resolving these wage theft complaints really relies on workers coming forward,” Gebreselassie says. Labor unions traditionally have acted as watchdogs for these kinds of violations, but they are largely out of the picture in today’s lowest-paying industries. This puts the onus on workers and advocacy groups to get the government’s attention, which isn’t easy.

'Determined and Prolonged Effort'

“It requires determined and often prolonged efforts for workers or their representatives to bring violations to the attention of the attention of enforcement authorities,” Gary Burtless, a labor economist at the Brookings Institution, said via email.

Rooting out pay violators "has always been challenging," the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division administrator, Dr. David Weil, said via email. "There are always fewer resources available than we would like to achieve our goals,” he said.

The division submitted a Congressional Budget Justification for the next fiscal year requesting an additional 300 investigators, arguing that changes like increased outsourcing and subcontracting have made the enforcement process harder. "Changes in the 21st century workplace present even greater challenges to making sure that workers are paid what they have rightly earned," Weil said.

Although wage theft takes place across the labor market, including white-collar industries like financial services and insurance, low-wage workers shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden, advocates say. Included in the $250 million in back wages secured by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division in fiscal year 2013 was $83 million in wages for workers in low-wage industries.

The smaller dollar amounts of the violations make private litigation less lucrative, but they also take on more significance for families already teetering on the financial edge. People desperate for work might keep silent for fear of being fired or other retaliation, Burtless said, and workers might not know their rights or where to turn for help, particularly if they are immigrants or undocumented.

“The other thing that’s tricky is there’s so much subcontracting in these industries,” Milkman said. “In many of those cases, we discovered that sometimes the workers were confused about who their employer was,” which means an employee being cheated on pay might not know who to report.

Wage theft can take many forms; overtime violations are common, along with minimum wage violations, since other types of violations can result in a worker being cheated out of overtime pay or being paid the equivalent of less than minimum wage.

Paychecks That Bounce

In some cases, a worker might be paid a flat fee for the day or the week. Sometimes, workers are told to clean or perform other duties before they punch in or after they punch out. Other instances involve employers denying breaks that are required by law. And in some cases, workers just aren’t paid, or they’re paid checks that bounce.

Arne Kalleberg, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, said enforcing the rules is a challenge because there are so few people at federal and state regulatory bodies tasked with addressing the issue.

“The number of inspectors is woefully small compared to the scale of the problem,” he said. “We don’t need new laws so much as enforcement of the ones we’ve already got.”

While wage-and-hour class-action settlements at big companies grab headlines, wage theft takes place at small companies at about twice as often, Milkman said. Big companies take a greater risk that worker pay violations could hurt their reputation and create a public relations headache. Also, there are many more small businesses in the country, and it’s easier for an unscrupulous restaurateur or contractor to fly under the radar and reestablish their business under a new name after fleecing employees.

“Even after they get a finding of liability… many of these workers work for fly-by-night individuals who just close up shop and disappear,” Gebreselassie said.




“Nearly $1 billion was recovered in 2012 by lawyers or regulatory agencies acting on behalf of workers who were paid below minimum wage, not paid for overtime or other wage and hour violations, according to a first-time analysis conducted by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. And the problem is growing, EPI analysts say.… “There’s been some increased effort to try and address this issue,” Milkman said. 'Even with the increased enforcement, we found incredibly high violation rates at the bottom of the labor market.' 'There really is not much state local or federal enforcement going on, particularly in the low-wage industries where you’re not going to get attorneys to bring those cases.'... 'Resolving these wage theft complaints really relies on workers coming forward,' Gebreselassie says. Labor unions traditionally have acted as watchdogs for these kinds of violations, but they are largely out of the picture in today’s lowest-paying industries. … The division submitted a Congressional Budget Justification for the next fiscal year requesting an additional 300 investigators, arguing that changes like increased outsourcing and subcontracting have made the enforcement process harder.... People desperate for work might keep silent for fear of being fired or other retaliation, Burtless said, and workers might not know their rights or where to turn for help, particularly if they are immigrants or undocumented.... 'The number of inspectors is woefully small compared to the scale of the problem,' he said. 'We don’t need new laws so much as enforcement of the ones we’ve already got.' While wage-and-hour class-action settlements at big companies grab headlines, wage theft takes place at small companies at about twice as often, Milkman said.... 'The number of inspectors is woefully small compared to the scale of the problem,' he said. 'We don’t need new laws so much as enforcement of the ones we’ve already got.' While wage-and-hour class-action settlements at big companies grab headlines, wage theft takes place at small companies at about twice as often, Milkman said.”

A billion dollars in back wages recovered, with “incredibly high rates” of pay abuse among the lowest paid workers. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has asked for 300 additional workers to enforce the laws, but that probably won't make a huge difference in the extent of the problem, as outsourcing and subcontracting have become more and more common. Small businesses sometimes close down and then reopen under a new name to avoid paying what they owe, and they violate the labor laws more often than do large firms. I don't know if it still occurs, but some restaurants used to require their wait staff to “share” their tips with the management, thereby effectively reducing their rate of pay per hour. And minority workers are sometimes paid under the minimum wage , such as the farm and construction workers, or required to go without breaks and work “off the clock.” When I was young unions were active, with strikes appearing frequently in the news. They are much weaker now, though there was an article recently of some increase in union action – McDonald's and other fast food places are facing strikes now. We need a new arousal of union organizing in this period of rampant illegal company operations by so many businesses.

The fast food workers union – Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – involved in the recent strikes is not requiring workers to join the union, but “workers centers” are organizing and conducting the strikes. An article in the last week said that McDonald's is suffering financially from a decline in business. The SEIU had a call out for people to boycott McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, and perhaps others. See the following segment from National Legal And Policy Center's article here: “http://nlpc.org/stories/2013/02/11/worker-centers-target-retail-restaurant-sites-organizing.


WORKER CENTERS:

“Over the past several years, hundreds of organizations, known as ‘worker centers,' have established a presence in the labor movement, targeting retail and restaurant chains for organizing and picketing. While they don't like being called unions, for all practical purposes they operate as such. And they have the advantage of being outside the jurisdiction of labor law. At least one is a reconstituted key affiliate of the defunct radical network, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Many are stalking horses for unions, especially the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). And they're getting results, at times even more than unions themselves are getting. 

The rise of worker centers is a logical response to the relative decline of union membership. Worker centers actually have been around for a few decades. But only recently has organized labor formed alliances with them. In 1992, there were only five centers in the country. The figure today, according to best estimates, is at least 200. These organizations tend to concentrate their organizing on immigrant and/or transient work forces, as they are more difficult to organize than other workers. The centers thus can achieve union goals without being circumscribed by laws that govern unions. It's a low-cost, non-bureaucratic win-win arrangement for ecumenical Leftism. And often employing guerrilla tactics, activists have the capacity to steer workers into unions. Labor officials, in turn, know a good thing when they see one. That's why they are willing to play a deceptively background role.

If the (worker center) organizer thinks that there might be a pattern of anti-employee policies, they piece together anecdotal information from employees and present the employer with a "bill" for perceived back wages, overtime, etc., payable of course to the worker center itself. If the employer pays or "settles," the organizers then brand him a "white hat employer" and publicly commend him or her for the responsible businesses they operate. If sanity prevails and the employer refuses to pay, the group resorts to the standard union playbook of demonstrations, protests, reputation smearing, harassment, lawsuits and other notable public attacks in hopes the employer will eventually succumb. This is reminiscent of the stereotypical mob-run fire insurance scams.

Such tactics are also reminiscent of the now-disbanded ACORN. So it's hardly a surprise that one of the more prominent worker centers, New York Communities for Change (NYCC), is in fact ACORN's New York City chapter operating under a new name. National Legal and Policy Centernoted the cosmetic change a few years ago. NYCC has orchestrated a number of employee walkouts at nonunion work sites. By encouraging employees to skip work and join a protest in support of representational picketing, the group fulfills a union role.

This ability of worker centers to assume union roles while circumventing union law is what makes them so effective. Even worker center leaders admit as much. Several years ago, Saru Jayaraman, a Brooklyn College political scientist and co-founder/executive director of the New York City-based Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC), which is closely aligned with the hotel and restaurant union, UNITE HERE, remarked that one of the main benefits of not being classified as a labor organization is the group's ability to avoid the formal rules under which unions operate. She noted that worker centers don't have to spent time and money arbitrating worker grievances because, unlike unions, they don't owe a duty of fair representation. Worker centers also aren't explicitly subject to NLRA restrictions on on-site picketing.

But the UNITE HERE-affiliated ROC knows a thing or two about using the legal system to its advantage. By the end of 2011, the group already had bagged a combined $5 million or more in settlements as a result of complaints against relatively small restaurant chains. Early last year it went after big game in the form of the Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants, parent company of the Olive Garden, Red Lobster and other brand names. With roughly 170,000 full- and part-time employees, Darden makes for a target-rich environment. ROC alleged in a federal lawsuit that Darden forced more than two dozen workers at its upscale Capital Grille chain to work "off the clock" before or after scheduled shifts and to share tips with non-tipped employees. A Darden spokesman describes the charges as "baseless." That said, says H.G. Parsa, a professor at the University of South Florida's College of Hospitality and Technology Leadership, the outcome of this suit will be watched throughout the industry.





Catalonia Defies Spain As Leader Signs Decree For Breakaway Vote – NPR
by BILL CHAPPELL
September 27, 2014

One week after the Catalan parliament gave him the power to do so, Catalonia's leader is calling for a vote in the northeast region of Spain on whether it should become independent. The vote is set for November 9, but Spain's central government has said it won't let the vote occur.

Catalonia has already launched a website for the independence vote, referring to it with the shorthand 9N. The website includes a sample ballot that asks two questions: Should Catalonia be a state, and should that state be independent?

From Madrid, NPR's Lauren Frayer reports:

"With the Catalan president's signature, the room of dignitaries erupted into applause. And so did the streets of the Catalan capital, Barcelona. Catalonia's leader Artur Mas has officially set a Nov. 9 vote on secession from Spain.

"But the Spanish constitution says the country's unity is indivisible, and that no region can opt out of that. Police could block polling stations. The Catalan president nevertheless says voting is a democratic right.

" 'And we know,' Mas said, 'that democracy is the most civilized way to resolve difficulties between nations.'

"Spain's prime minister has called an emergency Cabinet meeting to decide how to proceed."

In Madrid, Spain's central government is expected to challenge both the independence vote and the parliamentary action that authorized it, by filing appeals in the country's Constitutional Court.

After authorizing the vote today, Mas directed some of his remarks at citizens elsewhere in Spain, urging them to visit the Catalan region to get a sense of the people's wishes. According to Euronews, he also said:

"We want to vote, we want to decide and now we have the framework and the right time. I am going to take advantage of this moment to address all Spanish people: the fraternal ties that bind us to the rest of the people of Spain are intense and deep. We have a great history in common, a history that will continue with the will to build together the Europe of the 21st century."




“One week after the Catalan parliament gave him the power to do so, Catalonia's leader is calling for a vote in the northeast region of Spain on whether it should become independent. The vote is set for November 9, but Spain's central government has said it won't let the vote occur. Catalonia has already launched a website for the independence vote, referring to it with the shorthand 9N. The website includes a sample ballot that asks two questions: Should Catalonia be a state, and should that state be independent?”

There does seem to be a new nationalism appearing across Europe, and maybe the Middle East too, as groups from Scotland to Ukraine raise their own cultural flags in separatist movements. I can't say that I like it very much. It weakens the government and the economy of areas which have been stable since World War II, but often there has been discrimination against some of the citizens which is a cause for the unrest. The fact that Russian speaking people in Ukraine considered themselves to be treated unfairly by Kiev made them declare their independence and reach out to Russia to protect them. There is also the increasingly conservative to ultra-conservative groups springing up with hatred for Jews reappearing as during Hitler's reign. Maybe the experiment of the European Union is the problem. The individual countries lost some autonomy in that process and changed currencies. I think there are also latent disagreements between European groups that were carried over from WWII and before, continuing to simmer today. Of course, the border of nations were adjusted, often against the will of the population, at the end of the War. That's why Israel and Palestine today are deadly enemies. It may not be harmful in all cases, but it is certainly interesting as different groups talk of splitting off into states or nations of their own.







Ferguson Police Will Be Banned From Wearing 'I Am Darren Wilson' Bracelets – NPR
by EYDER PERALTA
September 26, 2014

Police in Ferguson will no longer be allowed to wear bracelets in support of Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager.

The shooting in August unleashed days of unrest on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.

In a letter released on Friday, the Justice Department says Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson has agreed that his police officers and any other officers brought in to patrol Ferguson will be banned from wearing "I am Darren Wilson" bracelets.

The Justice Department said it received complaints from Ferguson residents who felt offended by the accessory.

The letter, written by Christy E. Lopez, of the department's Civil Rights Division, goes on:

"We are keenly aware of the importance of individual expression of opinions, even those that some find offensive, insensitive, or harmful. We also acknowledge that the message that many officers intend to convey by wearing these bracelets may be different than the message received by many of those who see these bracelets.

"Nonetheless, there is no question that police departments can and should closely regulate officers' professional appearance and behavior, particularly where, as here, the expressive accessory itself is exacerbating an already tense atmosphere between law enforcement and residents in Ferguson. These bracelets reinforce the very 'us versus them' mentality that many residents of Ferguson believe exists."

In a separate letter, Lopez writes the department has observed officers who were not wearing name plates.

"Officers wearing name plates while in uniform is a basic component of transparency and accountability," Lopez writes.




“In a letter released on Friday, the Justice Department says Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson has agreed that his police officers and any other officers brought in to patrol Ferguson will be banned from wearing 'I am Darren Wilson' bracelets.... 'Nonetheless, there is no question that police departments can and should closely regulate officers' professional appearance and behavior, particularly where, as here, the expressive accessory itself is exacerbating an already tense atmosphere between law enforcement and residents in Ferguson. These bracelets reinforce the very 'us versus them' mentality that many residents of Ferguson believe exists.' In a separate letter, Lopez writes the department has observed officers who were not wearing name plates. 'Officers wearing name plates while in uniform is a basic component of transparency and accountability,' Lopez writes.

The more I hear about the Ferguson police, they less sympathy I have with them. They definitely are not trying to cooperate with federal authorities and cool down the racist interactions. Wearing an ankle bracelet with Darren Wilson's name on it is a show of opposition to the goal of changing the climate of hatred that I keep seeing there. They may think they are showing support for Wilson, but they are also showing their anger at the blacks whose neighborhoods they are policing. I don't see anybody singing Kumbaya there yet. The practice of some of the officers of failing to wear their name plates is even worse, as it allows officers to administer beatings or simply behave abusively without the victim's being able to prove who they are. Not good.