Saturday, March 28, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahoma-sae-racist-chant-national-fraternity-event-investigation/

School: Racist chant stems from national frat event
CBS/AP
March 27, 2015

Photograph –

A racist chant caught on video being recited by University of Oklahoma fraternity members came from a leadership cruise the national fraternity organization held four years ago, according to the findings of an investigation the school released Friday.

In a letter accompanying the findings, university president David Boren wrote there was "no indication" the chant was part of the national Sigma Alpha Epsilon organization's formal teaching.

Boren also wrote that the chant was apparently "widely known" and "informally shared amongst members on the leadership cruise."

The school's investigation found that members of Oklahoma's SAE chapter learned the chant on the cruise and brought it back to the fraternity.

The chant became "formalized" within the fraternity over time and was eventually taught to pledges, the investigation found.

The school already has disbanded the SAE chapter and expelled two students who it said were leading the chant. In the video, students on a bus can be seen taking part in a chant that includes references to lynching and uses a racial slur to describe how the fraternity would never accept black members.

A lawyer for the SAE chapter said this week that an agreement had been reached in which no other members of the fraternity will be expelled. Attorney Stephen Jones also said the two students whom Boren expelled actually withdrew from the university first.

Following its investigation, the school said Friday that punishments ranged from permanent withdrawals to community service and mandatory cultural sensitivity training.




“A racist chant caught on video being recited by University of Oklahoma fraternity members came from a leadership cruise the national fraternity organization held four years ago, according to the findings of an investigation the school released Friday. In a letter accompanying the findings, university president David Boren wrote there was "no indication" the chant was part of the national Sigma Alpha Epsilon organization's formal teaching. Boren also wrote that the chant was apparently "widely known" and "informally shared amongst members on the leadership cruise.".... Following its investigation, the school said Friday that punishments ranged from permanent withdrawals to community service and mandatory cultural sensitivity training.”

The chant was “widely known” and “informally shared,” but apparently no person in leadership at the cruise bothered to put a stop to it. From the way it is written, it sounds like high school level playground fare. I hate peer group pressure in general, especially when it involves the teaching of something evil rather than the material of a higher standard. I wouldn't want to see something like this – after all lynching is a serious social problem in this country – promoted as the “right thing to do.” I'm afraid our society really is corrupt.







LUBITZ – ADDITIONAL INFORMATION – TWO ARTICLES

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/germanwings-flight-9525-co-pilot-andreas-lubitz-area-crash-site/

Germanwings co-pilot no stranger to crash site area
CBS/AP
March 28, 2015

SISTERON, France -- The German co-pilot accused of crashing a passenger plane in the French Alps frequented a gliding club near the crash site as a child with his parents, according to a member of the club.

Francis Kefer, a member of the club in the town of Sisteron, said on i-Tele television that Andreas Lubitz's family and other members of the gliding club in his hometown of Montabaur, Germany, came to the region regularly between 1996 and 2003.

French prosecutors say Lubitz deliberately slammed the Germanwings flight into a mountain on Tuesday, killing all 150 people aboard. German prosecutors are trying to determine what caused Lubitz to take such a devastating decision.

The crash site is about 30 miles away from the Aero-club de Sisteron glider airfield.

Officials at the club would not comment Saturday.

The area, with its numerous peaks and valleys and stunning panoramas, is popular with glider pilots. In the final moments of the Germanwings flight, Lubitz overflew the major turning points for gliders in the region, flying from one peak to another, according to local glider pilots.

A special Mass was being held Saturday in the nearby town of Digne-les-Bains to honor the victims and support their families.

Bishop Jean-Philippe Nault led the Mass, attended by about 200 people from the surrounding region, deeply shaken by the crash. It was the deadliest crash on French soil in decades.

The plane shattered into thousands of pieces, and police are toiling to retrieve the remains of the victims and the aircraft from a hard-to-reach Alpine valley near the village of Le Vernet.

Not a single intact body from the 150 souls on the doomed airliner has been found, CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports.

Evidence and debris has to be taken by helicopter to an area where mobile labs have been set up, Pizzey reports. Technicians will have to use DNA to identify what is left of the victims. Dental analysis is also crucial. That includes a system of radiography, which allows them to take dental imprints, according to Col. Patrick Thuron of the French Gendarmerie.

"Normally 90 percent of victims are identified by their dental records," he said.

Lubitz's employers, authorities and acquaintances described a man who hid evidence of an illness from his employers - including a torn-up doctor's note that would have kept him off work the day authorities say he crashed Flight 9525.

Frank Woiton, another Germanwings pilot, said Andreas Lubitz told him he wanted to become a long-distance pilot and fly Airbus A380 or Boeing 747 planes.

Woiton, who like Lubitz comes from Montabaur, says he met the 27-year-old for the first time three weeks ago when they flew Duesseldorf to Vienna and back together.

Woiton told German public broadcaster WDR on Friday that Lubitz didn't stand out and appeared like any other colleague.

He says Lubitz "flew well and knew how to handle the plane."

Searches conducted at Lubitz's homes in Duesseldorf and in the town of Montabaur turned up documents pointing to "an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment," but no suicide note was found, said Ralf Herrenbrueck, of the Duesseldorf prosecutors' office.

Prosecutors didn't specify what illness Lubitz may have been suffering from, or say whether it was mental or physical. German media reported Friday that the 27-year-old had suffered from depression.

Germanwings declined Saturday to comment when asked whether the company was aware of any psychological problems Lubitz might have had.

The Duesseldorf University Hospital said Friday that Lubitz had been a patient there over the past two months and last went in for a "diagnostic evaluation" on March 10. It declined to provide details, citing medical confidentiality, but denied reports it had treated Lubitz for depression.

Neighbors described a man whose physical health was superb and road race records show Lubitz took part in several long-distance runs.

Prosecutors said there was no indication of any political or religious motivation for Lubitz's actions on the Barcelona-Duesseldorf flight.



http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/28/395966613/pilot-who-downed-airliner-vowed-to-do-something-to-be-remembered

Pilot Who Downed Airliner Vowed 'To Do Something' To Be Remembered
Scott Neuman
MARCH 28, 2015

Photograph – A German police investigator carries a box after searching an apartment believed to belong to the crashed Germanwings flight 4U 9524 co-pilot Andreas Lubitz in Duesseldorf, on Thursday.
Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters/Landov

The co-pilot who deliberately downed an airliner over the French Alps this week, killing all 150 aboard, had told a girlfriend sometime last year that he would "do something" that would make people remember his name, a German newspaper reports.

Andreas Lubitz, 27, who reportedly had hidden a note declaring him medically unfit to fly on the day he crashed the Germanwings A320, told a former girlfriend and flight attendant, identified by Bild only as "Mary W." that: "One day I will do something that will change the whole system, and then all will know my name and remember it."

She was quoted by the newspaper as saying she didn't understand what he meant by the remark until she heard of the crash on Tuesday.

She also told Bild that Lubitz had nightmares and had woken up at night and screamed "We're going down!"

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Dusseldorf confirmed that they had found a torn-up doctor's note in Lubitz' apartment that pronounced him unfit to fly.

"Medical documents were found that indicate an ongoing illness and appropriate medical treatment," the prosecutors said in a statement. "The circumstance that torn-up current medical certificates – also pertaining to the day of the act – were found, supports, after preliminary examination, the assumption that the deceased hid his illness from his employer and his professional circles."

According to Euronews:

"Germanwings said Lubitz had not given them a sick note that would have grounded him on the day of the crash.

"German law requires workers to immediately tell their employers if they are unable to work."

But The New York Times reports that there remains "considerable confusion about the precise nature and severity of his psychiatric condition. A German hospital said it had evaluated Mr. Lubitz twice in the past two months but added that he had not been there for assessment or treatment of depression."

And, The Guardian writes:

"No suicide note or claim of responsibility had been found, the prosecutors said.

"Legal experts said that on the evidence that has emerged so far – which suggests the co-pilot may have had a history of depression and psychiatric problems – the airline would find it difficult to prove that the crash was not its fault."




“The co-pilot who deliberately downed an airliner over the French Alps this week, killing all 150 aboard, had told a girlfriend sometime last year that he would "do something" that would make people remember his name, a German newspaper reports. Andreas Lubitz, 27, who reportedly had hidden a note declaring him medically unfit to fly on the day he crashed the Germanwings A320, told a former girlfriend and flight attendant, identified by Bild only as "Mary W." that: "One day I will do something that will change the whole system, and then all will know my name and remember it.".... She also told Bild that Lubitz had nightmares and had woken up at night and screamed "We're going down!".... But The New York Times reports that there remains "considerable confusion about the precise nature and severity of his psychiatric condition. A German hospital said it had evaluated Mr. Lubitz twice in the past two months but added that he had not been there for assessment or treatment of depression.".... "Legal experts said that on the evidence that has emerged so far – which suggests the co-pilot may have had a history of depression and psychiatric problems – the airline would find it difficult to prove that the crash was not its fault."

Why is psychiatric illness the subject of so much denial and lack of serious consideration in our society? A surprising number of people just don't think that mental illness is real. They think it's “a lack of faith.” A friend of mine once said to me, on the subject of a criminal being acquitted on psychiatric grounds, that she didn't think the person had been “unable to know right from wrong.” As long as courts continue to use that ridiculous definition of insanity, the average person will treat mental conditions as being simply a matter of the lack of “will power.” In fact they are thinking disorders that can run from the simplest such as depression (a mood disorder) to severe delusions, compulsions or hallucinations. This man, his girlfriend stated, had been waking up with nightmares screaming “We're going down.”

I suspect that this pilot was suffering from something much more serious than a “mood” disorder. Many mental conditions can include depression, but may have worse symptoms as well. Hearing that he was “depressed” makes people tend to think that he wasn't also a paranoid schizophrenic. I don't think this pilot should have been given a license to fly at all, much less being allowed to work that day. I wonder how many suicidal individuals are also homicidal? The ones who really hit the headlines are those who take a gun after “going off their meds” and shoot 40 or 50 people and THEN kill themselves.

There is a need for more long-term care facilities for those who are too dangerous to allow out on the streets. Unfortunately our country has been through a trend of closing those hospitals (to save government money) on the grounds that modern medicines completely take care of the problem, or worse still, that the mentally ill who are forced into permanent hospital care are being “deprived of their rights.” This carries the right to refuse medical care to the point of the ridiculous. The same is true for people who refuse treatment for Ebola, in my opinion. There are limits to rights, and the public need for safety should be one of those limitations.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/27/395728638/italys-highest-court-overturns-amanda-knox-conviction

Italy's Highest Court Overturns Amanda Knox Conviction
Krishnadev Calamur
March 27, 2015

Italy's highest court has overturned a murder conviction in the case of Amanda Knox.

The court's decision puts an end to a story that began in 2009 when Knox was found guilty of murdering 21-year-old Meredith Kirchner two years earlier. The verdict was overturned in 2011. But a year later, the Court of Cassation overturned the acquittal and sent the case back to an appeals court in Florence. Last year, that court reinstated the original guilty verdict against Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

As NPR's Scott Neuman reported at the time of the verdict in Florence: "The latest ruling reinstates the initial verdict and sentences Knox, who currently lives in Seattle, to 28 1/2 years in prison and is likely to set up a long battle over her extradition."

Knox, who left Italy after the verdict in 2011, now lives in Seattle. She told NPR in an interview in 2013 that the Italian Supreme Court's decision was looming over her.

It's this "horrendous thing that just never ends," she said. "I do not think that I will be convicted because there just simply is not that evidence. I just simply did not do it. I feel like I'm having to prove my innocence as opposed to have the prosecution prove my guilt."

Reuters reports the court also acquitted Knox's then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.




I do hope this will prove to be the final time that she will be charged with murder. I believe she is innocent. When this kind of “witch hunt” against an unpopular American girl happens, the police lose the chance to investigate the crime more intensively and find the other suspect who really did the crime.






http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2015/03/27/395777411/harry-reid-the-senator-who-never-forgot-the-path-he-took

6 Things You Might Not Have Known About Harry Reid
Amita Kelly
March 27, 2015

Photograph – Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid greets supporters in his hometown of Searchlight, Nev., during a campaign stop in 2010.
Laura Rauch/AP

Longtime Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, 75, who announced Friday he would not run for re-election in 2016, isn't exactly known for his charisma on Capitol Hill. But he has become known as someone who will always put up a fight.

That toughness can be seen throughout his life and political career. It was an essential quality during his hardscrabble childhood and time in the boxing ring. And it's what he later brought to fighting organized crime in Nevada and, more recently, taking off his gloves against the Tea Party Republicans.

"He's got that curmudgeonly charm that is hard to replace," President Obama said Friday, surprising Reid by calling into KNPR during an interview with the Senate minority leader, who has helped shepherd through major pieces of legislation for this president. "I'm going to miss him."

Obama added, though, "The system works better when over time some new blood comes in."

The president also lauded Reid's respect for where he grew up.

"I don't know anybody who understands more his roots, where he came from, what it means to not have anything when you're born, and scramble and scrape and work to get something," Obama said. "He has never forgotten the path that he took ... in terms of someone who's got heart and cares about ordinary people trying to chase the American dream, I don't think there's been anybody ever."

Here are six things you may not know about those roots and how they've informed Reid's political career:

He was born in a desert mining town.

Born in 1939, Reid was raised in Searchlight, Nev., the son of a miner. The home he grew up in had no indoor toilet or hot water and was built out of scavenged railroad ties.

"We did things that wouldn't be much fun for other kids," Reid once said in a video on his website, recalling that he used to sit on a ridge in town and count cars. "Why? Something to do." His father, a persistent drinker, committed suicide after he became ill and could no longer work.

Reid's upbringing contributed to a tough attitude that can still be seen in his life and politics — most recently when he badly injured his eye and cheek while exercising.

He played football in high school and was an amateur boxer. He met his wife, Landra, in college and they converted to Mormonism.

His hometown of Searchlight remained important to him — he moved back in the 1990s with his family and stayed there until last year, when he moved to Las Vegas to be closer to his children. His most recent home in the town was quite an upgrade compared with what he grew up in. The house he sold when he went to Las Vegas went for $1.7 million.

He became lieutenant governor of Nevada at age 30.

In 1970, Reid became the youngest lieutenant governor in Nevada history after two years in the state assembly. He ran for Senate four years later, but lost narrowly. He also ran for mayor of Las Vegas and lost. But he was appointed chairman of the state's Gaming Commission, where his work reads like a prime-time TV drama — he confronted organized crime, worried about having his phone tapped, and even once had a (failed) bomb planted in his car. The appointment put him back on Nevada's political map and by 1986, when he ran for U.S. Senate and won, the New York Times referred to him as "something of a boy wonder in Nevada politics."

He hasn't always had a clean mouth in the Senate.

"I think Sen. Reid often says what we're all thinking but perhaps are afraid to say," the late Sen. Ted Kennedy once said. As the New Yorker noted in a 2005 profile, he's called Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan a "political hack," Clarence Thomas an "embarrassment" and George W. Bush a "liar" and a "loser." Despite the forceful word choice, he generally comes across as soft-spoken, lacking charisma and, unlike some of his colleagues in congressional leadership, is not known to make himself a fixture on cable TV or Sunday morning political shows.

He once took on Nevada's brothels.

In 2011, Reid called for a ban on the state's brothels, even though they are taxed legally in some parts of the state. He said brothels harmed the state's image and dissuaded business from coming. "Nevada needs to be known as the first place for innovation and investment, not as the last place where prostitution is still legal," Reid he said.

One of Nevada's legal brothels, Sherri's Ranch, jumped into the debate by posting a list of reasons Reid's statement wasn't true — along with a photo of Reid — on its blog. "We all know that politicians and public figures enjoy the company of prostitutes as much as any other American citizen, if not more so ... So why not host political events in locations close to legalized brothels, where public servants can blow off steam in a worry-free environment?"

He's kept that stance and more recently said brothels would hurt Las Vegas' chance of being selected to host the 2016 GOP convention.

His workout routine included 250 situps, three times per week.

Reid was badly injured while exercising earlier this year, suffering broken ribs, broken bones in his face and needing surgery on his eye. He was hurt when an exercise band snapped and sent him crashing into some cabinets at his Las Vegas home. He spoke about his exercise routine to KNPR, saying he did 250 situps three times a week, along with "some yoga-type stuff."

"I don't know how many people out there could sit and do 250 situps. Or do the strength and exercise routines I did with those bands hundreds of times," he said after the accident.

He has said repeatedly, until now, that he would run in 2016.

In a video announcing he would not seek re-election, Reid said his decision did not have to do with his eye injury, the fact that he is now minority leader or his chances of re-election. But it may be all three.

In 2013, he was asked by Roll Call whether Democratic Conference Secretary Patty Murray might be in a position to become leader. Reid's response: "If I drop dead? I don't know." He also told KNPR earlier this year, after his injury, that he didn't intend to change his plans to seek re-election.

In any case, the toughness from his upbringing and boxing days came through, yet again, even in his departure announcement. In a video explaining that would not run in 2016, he said: "These bruises I have on my face, on my eye, are an inconvenience but trust me they're nothing compared to some of the bruises I got when I was fighting in the ring."




“That toughness can be seen throughout his life and political career. It was an essential quality during his hardscrabble childhood and time in the boxing ring. And it's what he later brought to fighting organized crime in Nevada and, more recently, taking off his gloves against the Tea Party Republicans. "He's got that curmudgeonly charm that is hard to replace," President Obama said Friday, surprising Reid by calling into KNPR during an interview with the Senate minority leader, who has helped shepherd through major pieces of legislation for this president. "I'm going to miss him." .... "I think Sen. Reid often says what we're all thinking but perhaps are afraid to say," the late Sen. Ted Kennedy once said. As the New Yorker noted in a 2005 profile, he's called Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan a "political hack," Clarence Thomas an "embarrassment" and George W. Bush a "liar" and a "loser." …. He said brothels harmed the state's image and dissuaded business from coming. "Nevada needs to be known as the first place for innovation and investment, not as the last place where prostitution is still legal," Reid he said.... Reid was badly injured while exercising earlier this year, suffering broken ribs, broken bones in his face and needing surgery on his eye. He was hurt when an exercise band snapped and sent him crashing into some cabinets at his Las Vegas home. He spoke about his exercise routine to KNPR, saying he did 250 situps three times a week, along with "some yoga-type stuff."

There is a great deal more to this article, and it's all important, so I will simply say that we need more Democrats the likes of Ted Kennedy, Barney Frank and Harry Reid. They say what progressives need to express, not because it's popular, but because it's true. I'm sorry he is quitting. It won't be until 2016, however, so Tea Party, don't party yet!





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/27/395869048/-nprreads-leaving-guantanamo-and-why-black-people-dont-call-police

#NPRreads: Leaving Guantanamo, And Why Black People Don't Call Police
Camila Domonoske

Photograph – After years in Guantanamo, ex-detainees find little solace in Uruguay
By Joshua Partlow @partlowj

GUANTANAMO PRISONERS

You can look at Guantanamo Bay as an issue of national security, or human rights, or law, or diplomacy or politics. But these days, a few hundred former detainees are looking from a different angle: the rear-view mirror.

Here, The Washington Post spends a week with a man grappling with the twin shocks of freedom and a foreign culture: Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Dhiab. Dhiab spent 12 years in Guantanamo, was never charged with a crime and now lives in Uruguay with five other former prisoners.

This detail-rich piece is not about the legal dispute swirling around the former detainee. Instead, it's about learning a language, rediscovering technology, grappling with anger and struggling to restart a life. Toward the beginning, a bit of symbolism strung up on a coat hanger sucked me in immediately:

"The marks of a dozen years in a cell and the hunger strikes he held there show in his gaunt 43-year-old frame, his beard flecked with gray. He hobbles around on crutches, still wearing the Army green T-shirt and sweat pants given to him in Guantanamo. The infamous orange uniform — a Bob Barker brand 65-35 poly-cotton blend made in El Salvador — hangs in his closet for safekeeping."

BLACKS AND POLICE

The New York Times' Richard Fausset paints a compelling –- even heartbreaking –- portrait of Anthony Hill, the black Air Force veteran shot and killed by a white police officer on March 9 near Atlanta. He wove a narrative that speaks to the mental health challenges veterans face in this country and the unrest surrounding what Fausset describes as the "roiling movement of Americans who questioned the value that police officers face on black lives."

Fausset writes:

"Long before two bullets from a police officer's handgun tore through Anthony Hill's chest, he had tattooed it with the words of advice that his grandfather regularly imparted to him in this small Southern city: 'Be sensible.'

"Last week, Mr. Hill's relatives buried him in Moncks Corner. On their shirts and lapels, they had pinned photos of him, smiling and sharp, in his Air Force uniform. It was a wordless rebuke to the TV news images that had shown Mr. Hill as he wandered in his last moments — naked, unarmed and acting in a way that alarmed neighbors — through his suburban Atlanta apartment complex."




Guantanamo Bay – “Here, The Washington Post spends a week with a man grappling with the twin shocks of freedom and a foreign culture: Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Dhiab. Dhiab spent 12 years in Guantanamo, was never charged with a crime and now lives in Uruguay with five other former prisoners. This detail-rich piece is not about the legal dispute swirling around the former detainee. Instead, it's about learning a language, rediscovering technology, grappling with anger and struggling to restart a life.” I'm glad to see that these people who, after all, weren't criminals or even jihadists, but simply captured and brought to Guantanamo, are in a free environment with a group of their peers from the prison. They will have a bond together and someone who speaks their language. Meanwhile they have to learn Spanish. Dhiab saved his prison uniform for “symbolic” reasons. I suppose that makes sense. I wonder what he does with his time? Do they have jobs, or worship services? I do hope Obama manages to free, or try and convict everyone at Guantanamo, and closes the camp.

Black man shot – “He wove a narrative that speaks to the mental health challenges veterans face in this country and the unrest surrounding what Fausset describes as the "roiling movement of Americans who questioned the value that police officers face on black lives." Police are very poorly trained and disciplined when necessary on issues that impact the mentally deranged. There have been a number of articles about this issue in the last 6 months or so. There is even now a trial going before the Supreme Court on the freedom of police officers to essentially execute them on the street. They should, instead, take measures to arrest them and deliver them to an inpatient mental hospital. This probably will take two or more officers to achieve, but it is worth the extra man-hours. This is an administrative and perhaps a political problem. As this article says, black lives are not “worth much” to many police officers.

A similar subject, but more alarming to me, is found on the Internet at website : http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/03/24/is-the-supreme-court-about-to-give-cops-the-right-to-execute-the-mentally-ill/. The Supreme Court is actually considering giving police carte blanche to simply shoot people who are showing mental symptoms without even trying to arrest them, or under the often specious claim that the officer “felt afraid” of them. If the court does okay this action by police, we will lose one of our most important freedoms in this country. Police officers have a dangerous job, so they should be trained well in martial arts and go in teams of two when they answer calls or patrol the streets checking for trouble. This man was unarmed, and naked – in other words, clearly mentally deranged. He should have been approached by two or more officers and apprehended with minimum force, then put into a mental facility. Most cities have a number of them for people who have been “Baker Acted.” A simple jail cell is the wrong place for mental patients, but too often they end up there, and are even tried criminally. In this case, unfortunately he was simply shot to death in the street.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/03/27/395815996/southern-baptists-dont-shy-away-from-talking-about-their-racist-past

Southern Baptists Don't Shy Away From Talking About Their Racist Past
Debbie Elliott
March 27, 2015

Photograph – Russell Moore preaching during the first plenary address, "Black, And White And Red All Over: Why Racial Reconciliation Is A Gospel Issue."
Alli Rader

Southern Baptist leaders were supposed to be talking about bioethics this week at a summit in Nashville, Tenn. That changed in December after a New York grand jury declined to return an indictment in the police choking death of Eric Garner.

When Russell Moore, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, sent out tweets expressing his shock, there was pushback. Should the church get involved in a divisive political issue?

Moore says it's an old argument: "In the 19th century, when Christians would bring up the question 'how can you claim to own another human being made in the image of God?' slaveholders would say 'that's a political issue — let's stick with preaching the gospel.' "

Race long has been a thorny issue for Southern Baptists. The convention was born from the nation's divide over race — breaking off as a denomination in favor of slavery and slaveholders in 1845.

The convention renounced its racist past and apologized 20 years ago for supporting slavery and segregation. Since then, it has drawn more diverse members and elected its first African-American pastor as president.

Even so, most Southern Baptist congregations tend to be predominantly one race or another. That's been a focus during the leadership conference in Nashville.

"Now, what people will say is, 'well we're trying to reach people with the gospel and people would rather be around people like them,' Moore said in his opening remarks. "Sure they would. And I'd like to fight and fornicate and smoke weed and go to heaven."

The mixed-race audience at the convention is mostly Southern Baptist pastors and seminary students from around the country. Longtime Mississippi civil rights activist John Perkins was an invited speaker; he says evangelical Christians have a lot to unpack.
"I think that they, like most other groups, accommodated to racism and bigotry and thought that they could preach the gospel without being reconciled, which is a mistake," Perkins says.

The emphasis for too long has been on saving souls — reconciling with God — without the companion responsibility to be reconciled to one another, says Jarvis Williams, a professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

"When I read the Bible, I see the gospel saying this is how you become a Christian," he says, "But this is also the gospel — how you live with each other and love as Christians."

Williams says that in today's climate, evangelicals have tended to respond to racial controversies like the one in Ferguson, Mo., with either cluelessness or what he calls "the sin of silence."

"They just don't understand why an African-American can ask the question — 'did he get pulled over, did he have this experience, because of his ethnic identity?'" he asks. "I think many folks in the dominant racial group are clueless to that question, because they've never experienced that degree of racism that's part of the black experience in this country."

It's hard to talk about race anyway, much less when a crisis erupts, says Williams. He thinks that's where dialogues like this one in Nashville can help.

Pastor Jamie Mosley from Hendersonville, Tenn., wants to know how to put what he's hearing into action back home.

"There's this umbrella of 'racism is sin, racism is something that the church can't stand for' — I think we can all can agree to that," he says. "But once you get under that umbrella to 'well then what do we do?' — then you have a lot of legitimate questions."




“When Russell Moore, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, sent out tweets expressing his shock, there was pushback. Should the church get involved in a divisive political issue? Moore says it's an old argument: "In the 19th century, when Christians would bring up the question 'how can you claim to own another human being made in the image of God?' slaveholders would say 'that's a political issue — let's stick with preaching the gospel.' …. Even so, most Southern Baptist congregations tend to be predominantly one race or another. That's been a focus during the leadership conference in Nashville. "Now, what people will say is, 'well we're trying to reach people with the gospel and people would rather be around people like them,' Moore said in his opening remarks. "Sure they would. And I'd like to fight and fornicate and smoke weed and go to heaven." …. The emphasis for too long has been on saving souls — reconciling with God — without the companion responsibility to be reconciled to one another, says Jarvis Williams, a professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. "When I read the Bible, I see the gospel saying this is how you become a Christian," he says, "But this is also the gospel — how you live with each other and love as Christians." Williams says that in today's climate, evangelicals have tended to respond to racial controversies like the one in Ferguson, Mo., with either cluelessness or what he calls "the sin of silence." …. "I think many folks in the dominant racial group are clueless to that question, because they've never experienced that degree of racism that's part of the black experience in this country." It's hard to talk about race anyway, much less when a crisis erupts, says Williams. He thinks that's where dialogues like this one in Nashville can help. Pastor Jamie Mosley from Hendersonville, Tenn., wants to know how to put what he's hearing into action back home.”

When the Christian Church faces this question, in the light of their religion and of their ever so important “patriotic” feelings as good American citizens, they will have to look at our Constitution and the history behind that political split between the North and the South in the 1860s. It wasn't just over States' Rights, but over black skin and white abuse. I have heard whites who don't even “believe” that blacks are human and intellectually equal to whites, and scientific studies showing the mental “differences” between us still appear sometimes. Well known anthropologists have tried to prove which of the prehistoric peoples were closer to black people. (The Neanderthals were, of course, because their skulls were somewhat thicker than those of Homo Sapiens.) The words coon, spook, jigaboo, monkeys and other despicable terms that are actually worse than the ignorant corruption of the word Negro, were heard in Thomasville, NC in my youth. That didn't occur very often, actually, because even then it was considered ignorant and rude. Calling names is not considered good behavior anywhere, but when people want to vent their hatred, they come out with those terms.

It's all because white Southerners have in too many cases failed to admit that gross mistreatment of a group of people is deeply and irrevocably immoral. They're “still fighting the Civil War,” or the War Between The States as they like to call it. Letting down their wall of self defense on these matters would make it clear that they need to, first, repent, and second, mend their ways thoroughly – integrate those churches, for goodness sake, and stop backing police brutality against blacks. Also stop calling poor white people “white trash.” It's all a part of the same evil – our antiquated and grossly unfair class structure. “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” as a great man once said. End of sermon.

Everybody in the South should go see the recent movie, “Twelve Years A Slave,” in which a free black man in the north was kidnapped by white slavers who were actually hired by Southerners to bring back their escaped slaves. That was a common practice at the time, and Northern states freely allowed them to do this. This movie is a true life story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who was sold to the slaveholder Michael Fassbender. He was finally identified as a free black by a Canadian abolitionist and freed by several federal governmental officials and the help of a lawyer. The slave owner gave him up without a fight.




http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/27/395860569/jury-rules-against-ellen-pao-clearing-kleiner-perkins-of-discrimination

Jury Rules Against Ellen Pao, Clearing Kleiner Perkins Of Discrimination
Eyder Peralta
March 27, 2015

A California jury has ruled against Ellen Pao by finding that Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers did not discriminate against her because of her gender nor did the venture capital firm deny her a promotion because of her gender.

Pao's lawsuit was the highest-profile gender discrimination case to come out of Silicon Valley.

USA Today reports:

"As the jury forewoman read out the 'no' of the first part of the verdict, Pao's lawyer, Therese Lawless, reached over and squeezed her shoulder. As the list of 'no's' continued, there were a few muted gasps in the room.

"Next came a hiccup on the question of whether or not Pao was retaliated against because she wrote a memo about what she believed was gender discrimination at the firm or because she eventually filed a lawsuit against the firm.

The AP adds:

"A court clerk previously said the jury had cleared venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers of discriminating and retaliating against Ellen Pao.

"However, the jury was re-polled in the courtroom after the announcement and the discrepancy was found involving one retaliation allegation."

The jury was asked to clear up the discrepancy and they came back soon after to clear Kleiner Perkins of the last accusation.

As we reported, Pao had sued her former employer for $16 million in damages.




"Next came a hiccup on the question of whether or not Pao was retaliated against because she wrote a memo about what she believed was gender discrimination at the firm or because she eventually filed a lawsuit against the firm. The AP adds: "A court clerk previously said the jury had cleared venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers of discriminating and retaliating against Ellen Pao. "However, the jury was re-polled in the courtroom after the announcement and the discrepancy was found involving one retaliation allegation."

Our class structure is not merely about the privileges accorded to the wealthy, but about keeping everybody else down. The same thing operates against women in the work situations around the country as it does against blacks. I am glad to say I was lucky enough to have worked for a very good investment company called the Calvert Group for a little over five years, and I can safely say that they do not, unless they have radically changed, discriminate against anyone. There are good guys in business, after all it seems.





http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/gowdy-clinton-wiped-her-server-clean-116472.html

Trey Gowdy: Hillary Clinton wiped her server clean
By LAUREN FRENCH
3/27/15

Photograph – Clinton was under a subpoena for all correspondence from her tenure as secretary of state that focused on Libya and Benghazi. | Getty

Hillary Clinton wiped “clean” the private server housing emails from her tenure as secretary of state, the chairman of the House committee investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi said Friday.

“While it is not clear precisely when Secretary Clinton decided to permanently delete all emails from her server, it appears she made the decision after October 28, 2014, when the Department of State for the first time asked the Secretary to return her public record to the Department,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi, said in a statement.

Clinton was under a subpoena order from the panel for all documents related to the 2012 attacks on the American compound there. But David Kendall, an attorney for Clinton, said the 900 pages of emails previously provided to the panel cover its request.


Kendall also informed the committee that Clinton’s emails from her time at the State Department have been permanently erased.

Gowdy said that Clinton’s response to the subpoena means he and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will now contemplate new legal actions against Clinton.

“After seeking and receiving a two week extension from the Committee, Secretary Clinton failed to provide a single new document to the subpoena issued by the Committee and refused to provide her private server to the Inspector General for the State Department or any other independent arbiter for analysis,” Gowdy said.

Clinton previously said she decided to delete the emails after her lawyers reviewed the server for work-related correspondence. She said the deletion of private emails occurred “at the end” of that review.

In a letter provided to the committee, Kendall said Clinton would not be turning over the server to a third-party for review and that the emails no longer exist on the private server located in her New York home.

“There is no basis to support the proposed third-party review of the server that hosted the hdr22@clintonemail.com account,” Kendall wrote. “To avoid prolonging a discussion that would be academic, I have confirmed with the secretary’s IT support that no emails…..for the time period January 21, 2009 through February 1, 2013 reside on the server or on any back-up systems associated with the server.”

The broad subpoena from Gowdy included any emails relating to Libya, weapons located in the country, the Benghazi attacks and administration statements following the attacks on the compound.
]
Shortly after the New York Times reported on Clinton’s private email use, she requested that the State Department make public all documents from her time at the agency. The State Department has said it’s working though these documents – which include 55,000 pages – for review.

The agency has also said it will focus on vetting the 300 pages the Benghazi Committee has already received. Kendall said the State Department is “uniquely positioned” to respond to requests for additional documents, a sign from Clinton’s camp that they believe she has fully responded to any standing legal requests.

Kendall added, “Thus, there are no hdr22@clintonemail.com e-mails from Secretary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State on the server for any review, even if such review were appropriate or legally authorized.”

The letter added that requests from a second email, hrod17@clintonemail.com, are not germane as that address was “not an address that existed during Secretary Clinton’s tenure.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said Clinton’s response “confirms” that the former secretary of state has provided all documents related to the Benghazi attacks to the committee.

“This confirms what we all knew—that Secretary Clinton already produced her official records to the State Department, that she did not keep her personal emails, and that the Select Committee has already obtained her emails relating to the attacks in Benghazi,” said Cummings (D-Md.). “It is time for the Committee to stop this political charade and instead make these documents public and schedule Secretary Clinton’s public testimony now.”

The move all but ensures congressional Republicans’ focus on Clinton will intensify. The Benghazi panel has already said it will bring Clinton in to testify at least twice — once privately about her email use while at State and at another public hearing on the Obama administration’s reaction to Benghazi. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has also signaled plans to investigate Clinton’s use of private email.

Gowdy’s subpoenas came after it was reported that Clinton stored her emails on a private server and used a personal email address while at the State Department. Clinton has already made more than 900 pages of emails available to the committee but the panel has requested the entire swath of documents – a request Gowdy has repeatedly said is necessary to conduct a thorough investigation into the 2012 terrorist attacks.




“While it is not clear precisely when Secretary Clinton decided to permanently delete all emails from her server, it appears she made the decision after October 28, 2014, when the Department of State for the first time asked the Secretary to return her public record to the Department,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi, said in a statement. Clinton was under a subpoena order from the panel for all documents related to the 2012 attacks on the American compound there. But David Kendall, an attorney for Clinton, said the 900 pages of emails previously provided to the panel cover its request..... Clinton previously said she decided to delete the emails after her lawyers reviewed the server for work-related correspondence. She said the deletion of private emails occurred “at the end” of that review. In a letter provided to the committee, Kendall said Clinton would not be turning over the server to a third-party for review and that the emails no longer exist on the private server located in her New York home..... The agency has also said it will focus on vetting the 300 pages the Benghazi Committee has already received. Kendall said the State Department is “uniquely positioned” to respond to requests for additional documents, a sign from Clinton’s camp that they believe she has fully responded to any standing legal requests. Kendall added, “Thus, there are no hdr22@clintonemail.com e-mails from Secretary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State on the server for any review, even if such review were appropriate or legally authorized.”.... Select Committee has already obtained her emails relating to the attacks in Benghazi,” said Cummings (D-Md.). “It is time for the Committee to stop this political charade and instead make these documents public and schedule Secretary Clinton’s public testimony now.”

Clinton to Republicans, “the ball is in your court.” I'm sure there will be more on this subject fairly soon. I admire Clinton's intestinal fortitude and logic. She plays like Mr. Spock did on the bridge of the Enterprise. This will make some hate her to an even greater degree, but I personally admire her move. The Republicans will undoubtedly now sue her or something. It's too late, though.