Friday, March 20, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2015/03/19/394051742/what-if-everyone-in-america-had-to-vote

What If Everyone In America Had To Vote?
Dominico Montanaro
MARCH 19, 2015

Australia has near 100 percent turnout in its elections. How do the Aussies do it? They, like 25 other countries, require people to vote.

President Obama wondered aloud Wednesday whether it was time for the United States to consider a similar move.

"In Australia and some other countries, there's mandatory voting," Obama said at an economic event in Cleveland. "It would be transformative if everybody voted — that would counteract money more than anything."

Of course, this is something that is unlikely to ever happen in this country. In addition to the pushback from conservatives it would face, it also cuts against the grain of the American idea of being free not to do things, including vote.

What's more, in these other countries, the enforcement mechanisms run the gamut — from fines to even jail time.

In Belgium, if you don't vote, you might not be able to get a public-sector job. In Bolivia, you won't get paid. And in Italy, you might even not be able to get a day care placement for your child.

There's a political reason Democrats in the U.S. would flirt with the idea. Despite President Obama's winning two presidential elections with at least 51 percent of the vote — the first time that's happened in this country since Eisenhower — midterms have been a different story for the president's party.

Why? The very groups that bolstered Obama's victories — young voters, minorities, and unmarried women — are the same ones that tend to turn out in lower numbers in midterms.

In fact, with the 2014 Democratic losses, Obama now has the distinction of his party losing the most House seats since Harry Truman — 76.

"If everybody voted," Obama maintained, "then it would completely change the political map in this country."

That is true. If the U.S. embraced mandatory voting, it would put get-out-the-vote operations out of business, pollsters wouldn't have to weight for past voting trends, and it would be relatively easy to tell what the outcome of an upcoming election would be, based on demography.

And, right now, that favors Democrats.

Another benefit: The cliche "It all comes down to turnout" would finally be retired from the the pundit lexicon.

But this is America, not Australia, so it will all very likely still, well, come down to turnout.




“Australia has near 100 percent turnout in its elections. How do the Aussies do it? They, like 25 other countries, require people to vote. President Obama wondered aloud Wednesday whether it was time for the United States to consider a similar move.... What's more, in these other countries, the enforcement mechanisms run the gamut — from fines to even jail time. In Belgium, if you don't vote, you might not be able to get a public-sector job. In Bolivia, you won't get paid. And in Italy, you might even not be able to get a day care placement for your child. …. Why? The very groups that bolstered Obama's victories — young voters, minorities, and unmarried women — are the same ones that tend to turn out in lower numbers in midterms. In fact, with the 2014 Democratic losses, Obama now has the distinction of his party losing the most House seats since Harry Truman — 76. "If everybody voted," Obama maintained, "then it would completely change the political map in this country."

When I first saw this headline I wondered immediately what the penalty for failing to vote is. I would not like to see the government involved in most personal matters of this kind. We just need to become more active in the communities to “get out the vote”. Those who vote do so because they care about the outcome of the election and take pride in being an active citizen. I would be in favor of voting by mail or on the Internet, both of which would be easier than going to the polling place and standing in line for as much as an hour. The laws that allow early voting also reduce the problem of a long waiting line, and the possibility that someone might be there to purposely invalidate selected voters in order to cut down on the Democratic vote. The mandated state level requirement of a picture ID based on the birth certificate are generally considered to be for the purpose of the elimination of black and Hispanic voters, who are are likely to be too poor to buy a card. Many of those people also don't have a birth certificate. We should repeal those laws, in my opinion. In some states they charge $15.00 or so for the card. If Republicans are worried about the wrong people voting they should change the voter registration card itself to include all of the person's names spelled out in full rather than just first, last and middle initial, plus the address and a photo, and then require the improved voter ID card at the polls to receive a ballot. I understand that the fear of the SS# being used as a “big brother” number generally prevents their being acceptable as a part of ID information. Poll workers never ask for the actual voter ID card any more, and that's supposed to be the purpose of the card. In many other situations when positive ID is required, a utility bill made out to the voter which has been sent through the mail is acceptable proof. My point is that the more information that is actually on the Voter ID Card, which would then be an official document like the Social Security Card, would be an improvement and less o a run around. Voting without a Voter ID card should not be allowed.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/which-is-worse-booze-or-pot-a-doctor-weighs-in/

Which is worse, booze or pot? A doctor weighs in
CBS NEWS
March 19, 2015

Worrying about teen drinking and drug use has kept many a parent up at night. With marijuana becoming increasingly available and legal in some parts of the country, the question has taken on new urgency: If teens are going to experiment, which is safer, booze or pot?

"The first answer always has to be neither," Dr. Aaron Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, told CBS News. But then he acknowledges they're not exactly equivalent -- and he considers alcohol much more dangerous.

Carroll wrote a provocative piece for the New York Times exploring what's known about the risks of these two popular but easily abused substances. And while doesn't advocate underage users trying either one, he says it's clear that overall, alcohol causes a lot more harm.

"After going through all the data and looking at which is more dangerous in almost any metric you would pick, pot really looks like it's safer than alcohol," he said. "So I guess if I had to choose, that would be the answer."

Though many people associate drugs with crime, Carroll notes that most of the criminal activity tied to marijuana has to do with illegal distribution, not violence committed by people who smoke it.

"On the other hand, the number of crimes that are committed that have some sort of alcohol component related to them are massive -- hundreds of thousands a year, if not more," he said. "It's far worse than what's going on with pot."

Violent assaults, in particular, are often fueled by alcohol. In contrast, Carroll says research shows rates of interpersonal or domestic violence are actually "lower in people who smoke marijuana than people that don't."

Also tipping the scales against drinking is the fact that 1,800 college students die each year from alcohol-related accidents and almost 600,000 are injured while under the influence of alcohol, according to the National Institutes of Health.

A study published last year, looking at data from more than 7,400 U.S. high school seniors who said they had used alcohol or marijuana at least once, found drinking alcohol was associated with more unsafe driving, damage to relationships with friends and romantic partners, and regret about actions while under the influence of alcohol, especially among females.

"We always worry about pot as a gateway drug," Carroll said, "but research shows us that about 9 percent of people who experiment with pot will become dependent or abuse it. The percent that later become dependent or abuse alcohol is greater than 20 percent. So more people who use alcohol are actually going to have a problem with it later in life."

Why is alcohol more socially accepted, despite all the evidence stacking up against it? Carroll thinks that's an accident of history -- because it's been around and legal for a longer period of time. "It's hard to argue from data or from actual science that that's the way it should be," he said.

"We have to have a conversation. There are risks and benefits, and in moderation everything is fine."




“If teens are going to experiment, which is safer, booze or pot? "The first answer always has to be neither," Dr. Aaron Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, told CBS News. But then he acknowledges they're not exactly equivalent -- and he considers alcohol much more dangerous.... Though many people associate drugs with crime, Carroll notes that most of the criminal activity tied to marijuana has to do with illegal distribution, not violence committed by people who smoke it. "On the other hand, the number of crimes that are committed that have some sort of alcohol component related to them are massive -- hundreds of thousands a year, if not more," he said. "It's far worse than what's going on with pot." …. rates of interpersonal or domestic violence are actually "lower in people who smoke marijuana than people that don't."

Both drugs are impossible to get rid of entirely, because yeasts will turn fruit juice into alcohol in a few days time, and marijuana is easy to cultivate. Many dwellings are used to grow it. One thing that has been used to spot a “grow house” is that the electricity bill will be very high due to the required use of lights day and night. I would much rather have both drugs off the market and the streets as well, but despite the supposed medical uses of marijuana, it is also considerably more entertaining than alcohol, therefore it may become the drug of choice. Alcohol, however, gives complete oblivion like opium if a great deal is consumed, and for a depressed or hyperactive individual – such as being in the throes of a manic episode – it calms the user temporarily. In the 1800's alcohol was used to kill pain when no narcotic was available.

Marijuana however has been shown to cause brain damage and in some individuals psychotic symptoms. That really frightens me. A person who has a family history of schizophrenia may have episodes triggered by marijuana. The thing I noticed about it on the few occasions that I smoked it is that it makes the senses increased in intensity – the experiences of music, dancing, deep conversations – are enhanced. I didn't use more of it because it was illegal. Though this news article puts down the actual danger of marijuana, I think it is dangerous and I would like to see its use be less prevalent rather than more. We're more likely to get violent on alcohol and have our balance and judgment impaired, but we are less likely to become insane, at least until a long time of usages passes. Alcohol, too, does kill brain cells every time it is used, I have heard. It is so much better for people to learn to accept life, “live in the day,” tackle each chore as it comes up, and become endeavor to become gentler and more loving. In other words, Alcoholics Anonymous, a calming religion like Buddhism or a good psychiatric counselor will produce the effect that drug users are actually trying to achieve.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2015/03/19/394061512/obama-to-prince-charles-well-never-be-royals

Obama To Prince Charles: We'll Never Be Royals
Amita Kelly
March 19, 2015

Photograph – Prince Charles, Prince of Wales smiles with President Obama at the White House Thursday.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images

President Obama may be having some postcode envy.

As members of the press corps poured into the Oval Office in the White House to get pictures of Obama and Prince Charles, Obama whispered to Charles, "I think it's fair to say that the American people are quite fond of the royal family."

He went on: "They like them much better than they like their own politicians."

Prince Charles, laughing, gave the only polite answer he could in return: "I don't believe that."

Charles, who is on a four-day trip to the U.S. with wife Camilla, may not believe it, but Obama might be right.

The president's job-approval rating stands in the mid-to-high 40s — 46 percent in the latest CNN/ORC, NBC/WSJ, and McClatchy Marist polls. (Congressional approval is even worse — only 16% of likely U.S. voters think Congress is doing a good or excellent job, per Gallup.)

But the Queen's popularity in the U.S. was around 82% — a 15-year high — according to a 2012 CNN/ORC poll. And in the U.K, 90 percent of Brits said they were satisfied with the way the Queen was doing her job, according to a 2012 Ipsos/Mori poll.

Of course, any time someone is viewed outside of a political lens, they're always seen more favorably. Just look at Hillary Clinton's ratings as secretary of state versus as a candidate.

But if TV ratings are any indication of popularity, President Obama can be consoled there. Only 23 million Americans watched the royal wedding in 2011. But nearly 32 million Americans did tune into Obama's State of the Union address in January — even though it was his lowest-rated one yet.

And despite what started as a troubled relationship back in the 1700s, the royal family seems to today love America right back.

This trip is Prince Charles's 19th to the United States. Speaking to the president, he also praised his "nice" trip to Mount Vernon Tuesday.

"Because, you know, I went there 45 years ago — in 1970," the prince said, "so it was fantastic. It is very special there."




“As members of the press corps poured into the Oval Office in the White House to get pictures of Obama and Prince Charles, Obama whispered to Charles, "I think it's fair to say that the American people are quite fond of the royal family." He went on: "They like them much better than they like their own politicians." .… The president's job-approval rating stands in the mid-to-high 40s — 46 percent in the latest CNN/ORC, NBC/WSJ, and McClatchy Marist polls. (Congressional approval is even worse — only 16% of likely U.S. voters think Congress is doing a good or excellent job, per Gallup.) …. But the Queen's popularity in the U.S. was around 82% — a 15-year high — according to a 2012 CNN/ORC poll. And in the U.K, 90 percent of Brits said they were satisfied with the way the Queen was doing her job, according to a 2012 Ipsos/Mori poll..... But if TV ratings are any indication of popularity, President Obama can be consoled there. Only 23 million Americans watched the royal wedding in 2011. But nearly 32 million Americans did tune into Obama's State of the Union address in January — even though it was his lowest-rated one yet. And despite what started as a troubled relationship back in the 1700s, the royal family seems to today love America right back.”

It is very natural that so many in the US, including myself, love the UK in all of its parts. Our fairy tales when we were three years old came from Britain, they look just like us because they are our direct ancestors, they have a wonderful sounding accent if they are from the upper class, and even if they get into trouble like Prince Andrew sometimes did, they do it with great panache. People in the press lovingly called him “Randy Andy,” a few years back when he got a little drunk and danced suggestively on a table. On the other hand, if our politicians get caught in a sex scandal, they are likely to lose their place in the Congress or wherever they are employed – it's not that the average Joe in this country is such a moral individual as we sometimes pretend, but the overriding moral code here today is still directly related to that of the prudery and fear of witchcraft common in the 1700-1800s. Being a “real man” in this country is mandatory for a high social status, but getting into trouble with it is shameful and embarrassing.

I did take a ten day trip around the UK with a woman friend of mine. We drove a car and I only got into one minor bump up on what they call a “roundabout.” They also call an overpass a “flyover.” Once I was in a shop to ask directions and the lady told us to go to “Carne”. I looked on the map and couldn't find that and she impatiently pointed it out to me. It was spelled “Calny.” We saw four major archaeological sites, three castles, acres and acres of sheep herds on the very green grass there, several charming thatch covered cottages, and a tiny intact Medieval town. We ate famous British food such as Yorkshire pudding and crumpets, stayed away from alcoholic beverages but sat in half a dozen pubs and soaked up the atmosphere, got hustled by a middle aged man in one of them. The pubs are all attractive and mostly old, and each has an individualistic and artful painted sign over the door announcing its name. I collected photos of every pub sign I ran across. Every now and then I go through that album of English photographs and let my mind flow back to that trip. It was a deeply satisfying experience for me and I remember it fondly.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/03/19/394062861/despite-cease-fire-skirmishes-carry-on-along-ukraines-front-line

Despite Cease-Fire, Skirmishes Carry On Along Ukraine's Front Line
Corey Flintoff
MARCH 19, 2015

Photograph – A Ukrainian serviceman walks in the village of Pisky in the region of Donetsk controlled by Ukrainian forces on Feb. 26.
Oleksandr Ratushniak/AFP/Getty Images

Fighting in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatists has died down after a cease-fire agreement last month, but there are stretches of the front line where shooting has never really stopped.

Near the village of Pisky, for instance, you can hear the dull thud of incoming mortar rounds, coming in sporadic waves.

Pisky is on the Ukrainian government side of the front line, but it's not far from the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk.

The shelling is more than a mile from a militia camp set up in what used to be a small hotel and cafe.

The fighters aren't paying much attention to the distant sound. Most of them are more focused on target practice with their Kalashnikovs.

These troops rotate back and forth to the front, and right now, they're on a break.

Their commander, who goes by the nickname "Mongol," says the separatists and the Russians have never observed the cease-fire.

"They haven't stopped shelling," he says. "They didn't pull back their heavy artillery, their tanks, their mortars — nothing. We moved all our stuff back 50 kilometers (30 miles), but they didn't."

A Tenuous Truce

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says both sides have blocked some access for observers, so it's not fully possible to confirm that all heavy weapons have been pulled back, or that weapons aren't returned to the front when monitors aren't around.

Mongol charges that the separatists and their Russian allies have recently fired cluster munitions, shells filled with bomblets that often scatter and become a hazard to civilians.

Human Rights Watch says there's evidence that both sides have used cluster munitions.

Mongol sits with his men in an unfinished log building that serves as his headquarters.

On the wall behind him is the red-and-black banner of the Right Sector, the far-right political group that formed its own armed force to fight in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian media often accuses the Right Sector of being neo-Nazi and fascist, charges that Mongol shrugs off.

"Patriots, we're just patriots. They say we eat kids, and all that, but it's just lies, and any sane person understands that," he says.

Mongol says the reason he joined the Right Sector militia is because it was the unit that was always closest to the front.

The fighters say they've been taking casualties nearly every day since the cease-fire officially began about a month ago.

The Fighting Goes On

The wounded come first to a makeshift medical station that is run by a cheerful woman who goes by the nickname "Mama."

"We get guys from the front line here, with concussions or shrapnel or gunshot wounds," she says. "We stabilize them and send them on to a hospital."

The "station" is actually an old ambulance, donated to the region years ago by the fire department in Fairfax, Va.

And Mama is a 47-year-old grandmother who worked as an anesthesiologist at a maternity hospital before the war. She says she came to Pisky to be close to her son and husband, after they joined the Right Sector as medics.

"Our whole family's here," she says.

Mama knows the risks. Not long ago, she says, she saw her son drive up and deliver a wounded man. The tires on his car had been shot out, and he was driving on the rims.

She watched as he got into another car and drove right back to the front.

Some of the medical treatment at the front is given by two Ukrainian Orthodox priests, striking figures in long black cassocks, with camouflage jackets and helmets.

"It would be hard to be here without faith," says Father Olexandr Golovchenko. "If you just look with physical eyes and put God away, there's no hope. If l look with God's eyes, there's hope everywhere, and even when guys are dying, no one dies in vain."

More than 6,000 people have been killed in a year of fighting in eastern Ukraine, and the shooting goes on.




“Fighting in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatists has died down after a cease-fire agreement last month, but there are stretches of the front line where shooting has never really stopped. Near the village of Pisky, for instance, you can hear the dull thud of incoming mortar rounds, coming in sporadic waves. Pisky is on the Ukrainian government side of the front line, but it's not far from the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk. …. Their commander, who goes by the nickname "Mongol," says the separatists and the Russians have never observed the cease-fire. "They haven't stopped shelling," he says. "They didn't pull back their heavy artillery, their tanks, their mortars — nothing. We moved all our stuff back 50 kilometers (30 miles), but they didn't.".... Mongol sits with his men in an unfinished log building that serves as his headquarters. On the wall behind him is the red-and-black banner of the Right Sector, the far-right political group that formed its own armed force to fight in eastern Ukraine. The Russian media often accuses the Right Sector of being neo-Nazi and fascist, charges that Mongol shrugs off. "Patriots, we're just patriots. They say we eat kids, and all that, but it's just lies, and any sane person understands that," he says..... The wounded come first to a makeshift medical station that is run by a cheerful woman who goes by the nickname "Mama." "We get guys from the front line here, with concussions or shrapnel or gunshot wounds," she says. "We stabilize them and send them on to a hospital." The "station" is actually an old ambulance, donated to the region years ago by the fire department in Fairfax, Va.”

I have a number of people who communicate with me on Google Plus, one of whom has a name with 8 or ten consonants and three vowels, so I recognize that he is Slavic. He posted several pictures of “Ukrainian Beauties,” who were a very large group of young women in colorful costumes doing what looks to be a folk dance. I really would love to go to Ukraine. I knew a girl from there who worked on the data entry crew with me at the Calvert Group in Bethesda, MD. She was strikingly beautiful with light eyes and skin, but jet black hair. We talked a lot together. She said I reminded her of her mother. That's really why I am so interested in what goes on in Ukraine. I have a positive opinion of the people. I don't believe for a minute that just because they want a democratic way of life and freedom from Russia, they are “Neo-Nazis.” One news article in which a Jewish Rabbi was talking to the reporter quoted him as saying that the Western Ukraine – which Russia calls fascist – is not where Jews have been harassed, but rather the Russian speaking side. I know millions of Jews left Russia down through time to escaped pogroms. Hitler's was not the only government to kill Jews.





POLICE NEWS


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/madison-wisconsin-police-shooting-tony-robinson-mother-uncle/

Killings by police "an epidemic," victim's mother 
By AMANDA ART CBS NEWS
March 20, 2015

Video – Madison protests grow after police shooting of unarmed teen

MADISON, Wis. -- Almost two weeks after Tony Robinson was shot and killed by a police officer in Madison, Wisconsin, the 19-year-old's family said Thursday they were struggling to make sense of what happened.

Robinson, whose mother is white and father black, died March 6 after an alleged altercation with veteran police officer Matt Kenny, who was investigating a disturbance call. The teen was not armed at the time.

Andrea Irwin speaks with CBS News about her son, Tony Robinson, as a photograph taken at his high school graduation hangs nearby, March 19, 2015, in Madison, Wisconsin.

In her first network interview, Andrea Irwin told CBS News the time since her son's death has been "horrible -- every mother's worst nightmare. I feel like I'm in a dream and I just want to wake up."

Other women who have lost children to violence have reached out to Irwin, who said it was "a club I never wanted to join." Their support has been "some of the most comforting" at a time when "I don't even understand what I'm going through," she said.

"I'm hoping for some form of change so that this doesn't have to be me, speaking to another mother a year from now, having to try and help her cope with what's going on," Irwin said.

If she had the chance to speak with Kenny, Irwin said she would want to know why events transpired the way they did.

"What was his reason for taking my son's life?" Irwin asked. "What exactly was it that made him feel like that was his only option, that there was no other option? And for it to be death, and to impose that sentence on my son."

Wisconsin's Department of Justice is investigating the shooting, the latest in a string of killings by police nationwide that have stirred protests and racial passions. Demonstrations in Madison have been peaceful, which Robinson's family has urged.

"This is not an isolated event and it's a systematic issue, as it pertains to the procedures that the police force are using against unarmed teens, and more specifically -- because of the disproportionate numbers -- black unarmed teens," his uncle, Turin Carter, told CBS News.

Robinson was "your average 19-year-old kid," according to Carter, who said, "We do not paint Tony as a saint or someone who has never done anything wrong."

According to CBS affiliate WISC-TV, court documents connected with a 2014 armed robbery conviction of Robinson show he had been diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety and depression, and was prone to boredom and anger.

At the same time, Carter said, Robinson was "the face of America."

"I think that our family dynamic shows that this is a universal issue, because we are not a family of just one race. We are a family of many races," Carter explained. "You can not say that this just affects Tony Sr. (Robinson's father), and not my sister Andrea ... and you cannot just say this affects me and doesn't affect my mother. This affects everybody of all races and all creeds."

Irwin has met with Madison Police Chief Mike Koval and said investigators are keeping her informed about their progress.

"I know that I cannot point my finger at many for the act of one," she said. "I think that the police need to reevaluate their procedures as a whole, and something needs to change. People cannot keep dying, you know? I think the police have been -- the chief has talked to me and the police have been open thus far to talking about some form of a change in just the procedures in general."

Irwin said the issue goes beyond the individual victims whose names have become well-known.

"This is extensively more in-depth than just the few that we know of," she said. "And it's heartbreaking to know that all these children are dying, and they shouldn't be. They're not even allowing them to live their lives or start their lives. This is -- what it seems to me is an epidemic, the slaughtering of children. And no answers behind it, no retribution."

According to Irwin, Robinson's memory is helping her to cope.

"My son keeps me going, and I need to make sure that he didn't die for nothing, he didn't die in vain," she said. "My son is my complete and total motivation. Every morning, I wake up and I say to him, 'I'm not going to forget you, I won't let anybody forget you, and we will make some changes. I won't let you have died on that porch for no reason at all.'"




“Robinson, whose mother is white and father black, died March 6 after an alleged altercation with veteran police officer Matt Kenny, who was investigating a disturbance call. The teen was not armed at the time..... "This is not an isolated event and it's a systematic issue, as it pertains to the procedures that the police force are using against unarmed teens, and more specifically -- because of the disproportionate numbers -- black unarmed teens," his uncle, Turin Carter, told CBS News.... According to CBS affiliate WISC-TV, court documents connected with a 2014 armed robbery conviction of Robinson show he had been diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety and depression, and was prone to boredom and anger. At the same time, Carter said, Robinson was "the face of America." …. "I know that I cannot point my finger at many for the act of one," she said. "I think that the police need to reevaluate their procedures as a whole, and something needs to change. People cannot keep dying, you know? I think the police have been -- the chief has talked to me and the police have been open thus far to talking about some form of a change in just the procedures in general."

This article says in two separate sections that the fault in most of these police killings lies in the nature of police procedure. I agree. When I first started collecting these stories I looked up articles on their policing policy, and the so-called “broken windows” policing method involves police cracking down hard on people in troubled (black/Hispanic/very poor) neighborhoods for an endless run of minor crimes. This is supposed to take “the criminal element” off the street before much more serious crimes occur and teach the citizens a lesson, but it results in a kind of reign of terror on minority neighborhoods with events like the Ferguson situation eliciting harsh reactions such as beating or shooting people over a very minor “crime.” Sometimes the people are mentally deficient or homeless and are basically unable to avoid the notice of the police. One night on the CBS news show a CA trooper was shown on his webcam beating up a woman who had wandered into the street, for the crime of being in traffic and endangering people. She was lying on the ground and he was hitting her with both fists. It turned out she was mentally deranged and homeless.

I know police aren't psychiatrists, but they need to remove the deranged individual with as little harm to him as possible and put him into a treatment center or group home. Unfortunately, police are generally not progressives/liberals but rather “conservative,” believing that the purpose of the police is to “punish” people for things like not immediately and very passively “obeying” the policeman. The case a couple of days ago was of a deaf and homeless man from Africa who didn't even understand why he had been detained and was not provided with a lawyer or an American Sign Language interpreter. Unfortunately he couldn't read English. They did try to write notes to him to no avail. The police spokesperson said to the reporter that an ASL interpreter was “expensive.” He was in jail without even understanding what his “crime” was – it was sleeping on a public bench at a terminal – for over a month before a pro-bono attorney was finally provided for him.

Things like that really shouldn't happen, bu instead they are commonplace. Too many times the people who are hired to be police are basically bullies and not overly bright about human relations. Too often police just don't think that poor, dirty, homeless, black or Hispanic, mentally disturbed people are “worthwhile” at all and they are quite capable of essentially executing them. I understand policing is a rough job, but when cops become so cynical that they just don't care about people they should quit the force or be fired. I think more lawsuits filed by their victims will help. Ferguson is trying to make changes with the DOJ on their neck. What has tended to happen for years – as long as I can remember actually – is that police officers do whatever they feel like doing and are spared even a mention in the newspaper, much less punishment for what amounts to rather stupid and cruel behavior. We do need cops, but we need good ones, not rogues.






http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-investigating-body-of-african-american-man-found-hanging-in-mississippi-official-says/

FBI investigating body of black man found hanging in Miss., official says
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS NEWS
March 19, 2015

CLAIBORNE COUNTY, Miss. - The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi have joined the investigation into the death of an African-American man found hanging from a tree in Claiborne County, Miss.

The FBI is conducting a preliminary inquiry as well.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation says the body was discovered Thursday as the Claiborne County Sheriff's Department and the Mississippi Wildlife Fisheries and Parks conducted a ground search for a man who had been missing since early March.

During the search, officers located a man hanging in the woods near Roddy Road in Port Gibson, about a half mile from the missing man's last known residence.

An FBI Evidence Response Team is processing the scene and authorities have not released the name of the person found.

A law enforcement official tells CBS News no positive identification has been made partially due to the deterioration of the body of the victim and the fact that no ID was found. The official says the body has been taken to the state crime lab for identification.

The official said the person's hands were not tied behind his back and he was fully clothed.

According to the official, law enforcement are still working to determine whether it was a suicide or murder.




“The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation says the body was discovered Thursday as the Claiborne County Sheriff's Department and the Mississippi Wildlife Fisheries and Parks conducted a ground search for a man who had been missing since early March. During the search, officers located a man hanging in the woods near Roddy Road in Port Gibson, about a half mile from the missing man's last known residence. An FBI Evidence Response Team is processing the scene and authorities have not released the name of the person found.”

In this case there is apparently insufficient evidence to decide whether this was a murder – a lynching – or a suicide. I do hope this is not a case of KKK action. We don't need that organization. There is hatred and evil enough with ordinary citizens, especially in the South and West.