Thursday, March 26, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11496066/Andreas-Lubitz-and-Patrick-S-What-do-we-know-about-the-pilots-on-Germanwings-flight-4U9525.html

Andreas Lubitz: First picture of Germanwings pilot and what we know about him

Marseille prosecutor says co-pilot Andreas Lubitz probably crashed plane 'deliberately' - both he and pilot Patrick S trained at Lufthansa Flight Training School in Bremen

By Raziye Akkoc, and Justin Huggler, Berlin



The Marseille prosecutor has said that the co-pilot of the Germanwings flight, Andreas Lubitz probably crashed the plane deliberately.
"The co-pilot is alone at the controls," prosecutor Brice Robin said, drawing on information gathered from the black box recorder. "He voluntarily refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and voluntarily began the descent of the plane."

Mr Robin said the 28-year-old had a "deliberate desire to destroy this plane. He ... refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and deliberately began the descent of the plane."

Lubitz was identified as a German citizen and Mr Robin said he was not known to terrorism links or extremist links, but the prosecutor said he was expecting more information from the German authorities. Mr Robin added his religion was "unknown".

AFP reported Lubitz lived with his parents in the western town of Montabaur and had a flat in Dusseldorf, the town's mayor Gabriele Wieland told national news agency, DPA.

Lubitz was an avid runner who often took part in local races, according to public records.

Earlier, it became clear that one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit before the Germanwings plane descended and tried to get back in - to no avail, according to a senior source within the investigation team.

The pilot knocked on the door but there was no answer, according to the New York Times source after Flight 4U 9525 crashed on Tuesday near Digne-les-Bains in the French Alps. It was one of France's worst aviation disasters.

The source said: “The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door, and there is no answer. And then he hits the door stronger, and no answer. There is never an answer.”


The information came to light after the cockpit voice recorder - 'black box' - was found after the Airbus A320 operated by the budget subsidiary of Lufthansa crashed during its route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.

According to Brice Robin, the French prosecutor:

“For the last 20 minutes the conversation was normal, courteous, nothing abnormal.

Then we heard the captain talk and the copilot's response appeared laconic.

We heard the captain ask the copilot to take control, then we hear the noise of a seat that goes back and a door open, we can assume he went to relieve himself.

The co-pilot was alone. It is it this moment that the copilot manipulates the buttons of flight monitoring system to action the descent of the plane.

The action of this selectioner of altitude can only be deliberate.

We hear the captain then speaks via an interphone to speak to the copilot, no response of copilot, he taps on door, no response of copilot, all we can hear is the sound of breathing, until impact suggesting the co-pilot was alive until impact.”

Who were the two pilots?

German media have identified the pilot as Patrick S, a father to two children. Bild newspaper said he flew for over 10 years for Lufthansa and Germanwings and had completed more than 6,000 flight hours on the Airbus 320.

Europe1, a French website, has an interview one of his former colleagues

"He was one of the best," the report quotes a retired Lufthansa pilot identified only as Dieter.

"He was someone very reliable, he was one of the best pilots we had," he said. "I am 100 per cent sure they did the best they could. That's what I think because I knew him very well, he was one of the best, he had a lot of experience, he had more than 6,000 flight hours behind him. "

The First Officer was Andreas Lubitz, 28. He was "young". He was from Montabaur, in Rhineland-Palatinate. He had 630 flight hours. He joined Germanwings in September 2013 straight from the Lufthansa Flight Training School in Bremen.

Lufthansa said both pilots were trained at the Lufthansa Flight Training School in Bremen. The captain had over 6,000 flight hours' experience and joined Germanwings in May 2014. Previously he was a pilot with Lufthansa and Condor, a Lufthansa partner airline.

The first officer joined Germanwings in September 2013. He had about 630 flight hours. They were unable to confirm whether this was his first job as a professional pilot, or any previous experience.

The German newspaper Bild reported the first officer was from Montabaur in Rheinland-Pfalz and cited the city mayor Gabriele Wieland speaking to the DPA press agency.

A flying club which the First Officer was a member of has released a statement in tribute to him:

Andreas died as First Officer on the tragic flight. Andreas became a member of the association as a teenager, he wanted to realise his dream of flying. He began as a gliding student and made it to become a pilots on an Airbus 320.

He was able to fulfill his dream, the dream he has now so dearly paid for with his life. The members of the LSC Westerwald mourn Andreas and the other 149 victims of the disaster on March 24, 2015.

Our deepest sympathy goes out to the families. We will not forget Andrew. The members of the Luftsportclub Westerwald.

The first officer lived with his parents in Montabaur and also kept a residence in Dusseldorf, according to Ms Wieland.

The German pilots' union said they are making no comment and giving out no information until the next Germanwings press conference, which will be at 2.30pm CET (1.30pm GMT). They added that naming the pilots was for the company to do so.




This article is self-explanatory, so I leave you to simply read it all. Another article on the Net stated that the co-pilot had passed psychological, medical and skills tests “with flying colors.” It seems possible to me that if his body was available for autopsy the examiners might find a tumor or a burst blood vessel in the brain. The psychological test was given a number of months earlier. He was hired two years prior to today which gives an opportunity for brain changes to occur. I was interested to see that at the age of 28 and having a well-paid job, he was still living at home with his parents. Sometimes people who do that have mental problems. There is also always the possibility of undiscovered terrorist attempts to draw him into their fold. I hope the next few days or so produce more information about him.





DEMOCRATS FOR 2016 – TWO ARTICLES


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/views-on-hillary-clinton-and-the-email-controversy/

What Americans think of Hillary Clinton's email practices
CBS NEWS
By Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Anthony Salvanto, and Fred Backus
March 26, 2015

Video – McCarthy: Hillary Clinton should come clean with Benghazi emails

Most Americans (65 percent) say their opinion of Clinton has not changed in the wake of the email controversy, but 29 percent say their opinion of her has grown worse. Forty-nine percent of Republicans say their opinion of her is worse, as do 28 percent of independents.

More generally, 26 percent of Americans now have a favorable view of Hillary Clinton, while 37 percent view her unfavorably; another third are undecided or don't have an opinion of her. As Clinton weighs a presidential bid, her favorable views are 12 points lower than they were in the fall of 2013, just months after leaving her position as secretary of state. Her unfavorable views have ticked up slightly, but the percentage that is undecided about her has risen eight points.

Clinton's highest favorable rating in CBS News polling occurred in March 2009, early in her tenure as Secretary of State, when 58 percent of Americans viewed her favorably. Clinton received her lowest favorable rating - 24 percent - in June 2003, soon after the publication of her memoir Living History.

Negative views of Clinton have risen among Republicans. Seventy-two percent hold an unfavorable view of her today, compared to 60 percent almost two years ago. Also, the percentage of independents who view Clinton favorably is now half of what it was in the fall of 2013. Many independents now say they are undecided or don't know enough about Clinton to have an opinion. Most Democrats (55 percent) continue to hold favorable views of Clinton but that percentage has dropped eight points since November 2013.

Hillary Clinton: Qualities and Characteristics

When asked to evaluate Hillary Clinton on some key characteristics, the public gives Clinton her most negative marks on honesty. Fewer than half - 42 percent- say she is honest and trustworthy, while more - 47 percent - don't think she is.

Clinton gets more positive assessments on leadership and empathy. Fifty-seven percent says she has strong qualities of leadership, while 38 percent don't think she does.

More than half of Americans (56 percent) think Clinton cares about the needs and problems of people like themselves, but that includes just 22 percent who say she cares a lot.

Democrats are especially likely to view Clinton positively on these attributes, while Republicans take the opposing view. Most independents think Clinton is a strong leader and half say she cares about their problems, but just 34 percent describe her as honest and trustworthy. Also, women hold more positive opinions of Clinton on these measures than men.

The Email Controversy

More than six in 10 Americans do not think it was appropriate for Hillary Clinton to use a personal email address and server for work-related matters as secretary of state. Democrats divide on whether it was appropriate for Clinton to do this, but majorities of 80 percent of Republicans and 64 percent independents do not think her actions were appropriate.

Members of Clinton's own party - 65 percent - say her motivations for using a private email were about convenience, but 62 percent of Republicans think Clinton was trying to keep information from becoming public.

Along similar lines, the public is divided on whether they find Clinton's explanation regarding her use of personal email and server for work satisfactory. Democrats are satisfied with her explanation, but Republicans are not. Independents are split.

A majority of Americans have heard or read at least some about Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email address and server for her work as Secretary of State, although Republicans are more likely than Democrats or independents to have heard or read about it.

This poll was conducted by telephone March 21-24, 2015 among a random sample of 1,023 adults nationwide. Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Media, PA. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups may be higher. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.




“More generally, 26 percent of Americans now have a favorable view of Hillary Clinton, while 37 percent view her unfavorably; another third are undecided or don't have an opinion of her. As Clinton weighs a presidential bid, her favorable views are 12 points lower than they were in the fall of 2013, just months after leaving her position as secretary of state. Her unfavorable views have ticked up slightly, but the percentage that is undecided about her has risen eight points..... More than half of Americans (56 percent) think Clinton cares about the needs and problems of people like themselves, but that includes just 22 percent who say she cares a lot. Democrats are especially likely to view Clinton positively on these attributes, while Republicans take the opposing view. Most independents think Clinton is a strong leader and half say she cares about their problems, but just 34 percent describe her as honest and trustworthy. Also, women hold more positive opinions of Clinton on these measures than men..... Along similar lines, the public is divided on whether they find Clinton's explanation regarding her use of personal email and server for work satisfactory. Democrats are satisfied with her explanation, but Republicans are not. Independents are split.”

I've always had a good deal of interest and empathy for Hillary Clinton, but I don't think that she is as strong a candidate and Democrat as her husband was. He survived the scandal due to his quick-witted and intelligent handling of issues, at least in my opinion, but Hillary is not as strong a leader. Her use of the private server and the admixing of personal with private correspondence should have been avoided on her part. The mixture of personal and private funds in a business is illegal for the same reason that this is a problem. If she did this, at least in part, to ensure total privacy, it was misguided. It just makes her look guilty of something, thus subjecting her to party based political warfare of the type that is occurring now. I would prefer to see Senator Elizabeth Warren run on the Democratic ticket. She is clearly a true liberal/progressive, courageous, a very intelligent woman, and is a “fresh face” for the public consumption. See the article on her potential candidacy below (Huffington Post).



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/martin-omalley-and-elizabeth-warren-can-beat-any-republican_b_6937318.html

Why Martin O'Malley and Elizabeth Warren Can Beat Any Republican, Including Walker, Bush, Paul and Cruz

H. A. Goodman 
Columnist, journalist, and author published in The Hill's Congress Blog, The Jerusalem Post, Salon.com, and other publications

Posted: 03/25/2015


A paradigm shift is needed in today's Democratic Party.

Rising stars in the Democratic Party like Tim Kaine, Jim Webb and especially Martin O'Malley and Elizabeth Warren are all formidable candidates, despite the fact that one liberal icon has amassed $328,755,858 and owns her own server. If Republicans can be proud of the fact that Ted Cruz would "most likely" be able to serve as president, Democrats should trumpet the plethora of talent within their ranks. The truth is that presidential elections are decided by electoral votes, not the soap opera we'll all witness for the next 593 days. To win the White House a candidate needs 270 electoral votes; far fewer than the 332 votes Obama won in 2012 to beat Romney. Martin O'Malley and Elizabeth Warren can defeat anyone Republicans have to offer in 2016, primarily because they possess ideas and attributes that resonate with the majority of Americans.

First, let's analyze how President Obama was able to rout the Romney campaign in 2012. In an article for The Wall Street Journal just days before the election, Karl Rove made the following observations about America's political landscape:

It comes down to numbers...
In addition to the data, the anecdotal and intangible evidence--from crowd sizes to each side's closing arguments--give the sense that the odds favor Mr. Romney. They do. My prediction: Sometime after the cock crows on the morning of Nov. 7, Mitt Romney will be declared America's 45th president. Let's call it 51%-48%, with Mr. Romney carrying at least 279 Electoral College votes, probably more.

Why are Rove's words important for Democrats in 2016? Romney won only 206 Electoral College votes for several reasons. The numbers and especially the "anecdotal data" Rove referenced didn't reflect the damage done by Romney's 47% statement. When a wealthy Republican candidate states that 47% of Americans are "dependent upon government" and "believe that they are victims," this might speak to conservatives, but it doesn't resonate with the average American. For Republicans, everything from Obamacare's death panels to Obama's birth certificate were grounds to usher in a new president in 2012, but the average voter in a presidential election doesn't go to CPAC conferences. Rove, like other Republicans, predicted a landslide for Romney primarily because conservative rhetoric might work for a room full of Romney donors, but this dialogue hurts the GOP in presidential elections.

Therefore, the hot button issues important to conservatives, like Scott Walker's ability to defeat unions, aren't enough to ensure that a state like Wisconsin won't go to a Democrat in 2016. According to The New York Times, Wisconsin went blue despite Paul Ryan being Romney's choice for Vice President:

Despite Mr. Ryan's Wisconsin pedigree, President Obama won the state by nearly six percentage points, thanks, at least in part, to support from labor unions and voters who approved of the auto industry bailout. A majority of voters in exit polls also blamed President George W. Bush, not Mr. Obama, for the economy's problems.

When Scott Walker flaunts his ability to confront unions and compares this talent to fighting ISIS, people like Karl Rove cite the "anecdotal evidence" of roaring conservative crowds to justify their predictions.

However, these prognostications ignore the fact that most Americans don't side with Republicans on key issues. Like Wisconsin, other battleground states that went to Obama can easily vote for a Democrat once again in 2016. According to Pew Research, "Nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) say there should be a way for people in the United States illegally to remain in this country if they meet certain requirements." In addition, 51% of Americans support labor unions, most Americansbelieve in global warming, 73% of Americans favored increasing the minimum wage in 2014, and 52% of Americans support same-sex marriages. On almost all of these issues, Scott Walker and Ted Cruz don't side with the majority of Americans. As for Rand Paul and Jeb Bush, some of the mainstream values they espouse (immigration reform) are overshadowed by extremely conservative policies on the economy, wealth inequality, climate change, and issues like the minimum wage. Conversely, all the Democratic candidates in 2016 (not just Wall Street Republican's dark secret) hold views that resonate with most voters.

Therefore, Wisconsin went blue and Rove had to eat his words for the same reasons that rising Democratic stars like Martin O'Malley and Senator Elizabeth Warren can beat any GOP challenger. In O'Malley's case, The Daily Iowan has likened the former Maryland Governor to JFK:

He packs the executive leadership often craved by presidential voters: eight years at the helm of Maryland government and before that as mayor of Baltimore, where, supporters say, he reversed the Eastern industrial city's decline.

O'Malley has the ability to captivate the nation and rise from a relatively unknown to a political juggernaut as John F. Kennedy did in the 1960s, more than 50 interviews with The Daily Iowan show.

...O'Malley has slowly but surely chipped away at Rodham Clinton's political gravitational pull, climbing from an inadequate public speaker to prime presidential product, should he announce a Democratic run.

Would anyone on the planet compare Scott Walker or Ted Cruz to JFK? Also, it's important to note that Governor O'Malley has focused on the economy, job creation, wealth inequality, and other important topics; not just pandering to an extreme end of his political party like Ted Cruz.

As for Elizabeth Warren, don't be so certain she won't run in 2016. An article by Anna Galland in The Boston Globe titled Elizabeth Warren, run for the White House explains why Democrats and the nation would benefit for the Massachusetts Senator running in 2016:

Put simply, this moment was made for Elizabeth Warren. With income inequality at its highest level on record, and corporations and lobbyists wielding enormous power in Washington and state capitals around the country, we need a president who is firmly grounded in making government work for regular people. Senator Warren has spent her career taking on corporate interests and winning historic financial protections for workers and small businesses. She's not only been critical of lobbyists and powerful financial firms, but has even taken on President Obama on occasion.

In addition, Galland states that there's a reason Move.on.org launched Run, Warren, Run: this moment in U.S. history "was made for Elizabeth Warren." From reinstating Glass Steagall to protecting the average American from another 2008 financial collapse, Elizabeth Warren is one of the few Democratic voices loud enough to confront Paul Ryan Republicans and Wall Street. She embodies the spirit of the Democratic Party, battling both President Obama and Republicans on last year's spending bill.

America in 2016 will be the same America that voted twice for Obama through electoral maps dominated by blue ink. Martin O'Malley and Elizabeth Warren, in addition to others like Kaine and Webb, can beat any GOP challenger simply because on key issues, they speak to the most people. Democrats don't need to pin their hopes on one candidate; we have a plethora of talent and should trumpet our candidates like the GOP flaunts its challengers. Like 2008, Hillary Clinton could be overshadowed by a newcomer named O'Malley or a courageous woman named Warren. If this happens, both Democrats and the average American will win big in 2016.





“When Scott Walker flaunts his ability to confront unions and compares this talent to fighting ISIS, people like Karl Rove cite the "anecdotal evidence" of roaring conservative crowds to justify their predictions. However, these prognostications ignore the fact that most Americans don't side with Republicans on key issues.... According to Pew Research, "Nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) say there should be a way for people in the United States illegally to remain in this country if they meet certain requirements." In addition, 51% of Americans support labor unions, most Americansbelieve in global warming, 73% of Americans favored increasing the minimum wage in 2014, and 52% of Americans support same-sex marriages. On almost all of these issues, Scott Walker and Ted Cruz don't side with the majority of Americans. As for Rand Paul and Jeb Bush, some of the mainstream values they espouse (immigration reform) are overshadowed by extremely conservative policies on the economy, wealth inequality, climate change, and issues like the minimum wage. Conversely, all the Democratic candidates in 2016 (not just Wall Street Republican's dark secret) hold views that resonate with most voters.”

If it is true that most Americans are going to vote their true interests in this 2016 election, rather than, sheep-like, trotting along after the ultraconservative religious right, then we Democrats have a number of candidates who are strong and who support improvements for the Middle Class and the poor. The ultra conservative voices nationwide are speaking for things like closing the public schools or watering down the curriculum so that it is not objectionable to the Christian right, destroying the funding of our social safety net, continuing to diminish the ability of the poor to vote in elections, and protecting the very rich from their fair share of taxes.

They are using the words of ultra-patriotic and too often racist and anti-Hispanic people, broadcasting that rhetoric via the daily news sources, hoping to fire up their political base so that on the local and state levels their undemocratic laws will be passed. I am glad to say that in Jacksonville during the last week the Democratic candidates for Mayor and Sheriff are ahead by a good ten points, but that is close enough to force runoff votes. I will leave the hospital if necessary to go to the polls and vote for my candidates. Local and state votes are important. I can't give much money to the party, but I can get myself out the door and express my views.






http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-officers-beat-tased-floyd-dent-traffic-stop-under-investigation/

Michigan cops probed over violent traffic stop
CBS NEWS
March 26, 2015

Police officers in a Detroit suburb are under investigation for a violent traffic stop. Dashcam video from January shows an officer beating and using a Taser on 57-year-old Floyd Dent.

Dent, a former auto worker with no criminal history, and the cops, have differing stories describing how the traffic stop turned into a bloody beat down, reports CBS News correspondent Vinita Nair.

It's another case involving white cops and a black suspect in a city that is largely African American, with questions of whether excessive force was used. Officers say they thought he was reaching for a gun. Dent says he was framed.

Seconds after the two Inkster, Michigan, police officers approach Dent's car, they pull him to the street.

No audio of the incident exists, but according to Dent, the officers told him to, "get out the car" or they'd "blow [his] brains out."

Once on the ground, one of the officers put him in a chokehold, then began punching him in the head -- 16 times according to Dent's lawyer.

"I told him 'I can't breathe' and he kept on choking me," Dent said.

More officers arrived and used the Taser on him at least three times before he was finally brought to his feet, his face bloodied and clothes torn. Officers put Dent in the back of the patrol car. According to the police report, the arresting officer, William Melendez, said he thought Dent was reaching for a gun, ignored orders to show his hands and threatened to kill them.

Melendez also said cocaine was found under the passenger seat of Dent's car. No weapon was found and Dent said the drugs were planted. He also denies making threats or biting the officer.

"It's really important to know we're not hiding from this. We started the investigation. We launched internal investigation without a complaint being filed," Inkster Police Chief Vicki Yost said.

A local pastor led a march outside the police department Wednesday demanding the two officers that stopped Dent be arrested.

Dent's attorney, Gregory Rohl, is asking for patience from the community.

"We're saying essentially, 'let the system work,'" Rohl said. "We believe it will work. We believe justice will prevail."

Dent has his own idea of justice.

"To me, justice is having the person that done this to me locked up," he said.

A district judge threw out two of the three original charges, assault and resisting arrest, after reviewing the dashcam tape. Dent still faces the drug charge.

The arresting officer William Melendez was accused of misconduct previously, when he worked at the Detroit Police Department.

In 2004, federal prosecutors charged Melendez and seven other officers with civil rights abuses, including planting evidence. Melendez and the other officers were acquitted.




“It's another case involving white cops and a black suspect in a city that is largely African American, with questions of whether excessive force was used. Officers say they thought he was reaching for a gun. Dent says he was framed. Seconds after the two Inkster, Michigan, police officers approach Dent's car, they pull him to the street. No audio of the incident exists, but according to Dent, the officers told him to, "get out the car" or they'd "blow [his] brains out." In 2004, federal prosecutors charged Melendez and seven other officers with civil rights abuses, including planting evidence. Melendez and the other officers were acquitted..... According to the police report, the arresting officer, William Melendez, said he thought Dent was reaching for a gun, ignored orders to show his hands and threatened to kill them. Melendez also said cocaine was found under the passenger seat of Dent's car. No weapon was found and Dent said the drugs were planted. He also denies making threats or biting the officer. "It's really important to know we're not hiding from this. We started the investigation. We launched internal investigation without a complaint being filed," Inkster Police Chief Vicki Yost said..... Dent's attorney, Gregory Rohl, is asking for patience from the community. "We're saying essentially, 'let the system work,'" Rohl said. "We believe it will work. We believe justice will prevail." Dent has his own idea of justice. "To me, justice is having the person that done this to me locked up," he said.”

Melendez was charged with misconduct when he worked for Detroit, but was hired here anyway. One of the conclusions in a number of this year's cases like this is that police departments too often fail to recognize it when an officer shows himself to be “a bad egg,” and strongly discipline or fire him outright. One police officer a couple of months ago stated under the cloak of anonymity that the lack of punishment is the main cause of so many of these instances. Shockingly, the police union has been known to pay the fine assigned to officers by the court so that it costs them nothing – no punishment at all in effect.

I continue to say that we need more DOJ investigations and sanctions against these police departments where the “bad apples” are allowed to use egregious violence. In this case, according to the dashcam, the police crudely ordered him out of the car with the threat of “blowing his brains out” within seconds of stopping him and with no attempt at hurting the officer. All of Officer Melendez's charges against Dent were dropped by the police department when the dashcam evidence was viewed, but the charge of drug possession remains. The article points up that planting evidence was part of the reason Melendez was fired from Detroit. This is malicious assault and he should spend several years in prison for it.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-warns-saudi-arabia-sunni-states-to-stop-yemen-airstrikes/

Iran warns Saudi over "dangerous step" in Yemen
CBS/AP
March 26, 2015

Photograph – People carry the body of a man they uncovered from under the rubble of a house destroyed by an airstrike near Sanaa Airport, March 26, 2015.  REUTERS

SANAA, Yemen -- Iran's foreign ministry called Saudi-led airstrikes against Shiite Muslim rebels in Yemen a "dangerous step" Thursday, and said they would only worsen the crisis in the country.

The statement from Tehran came after Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes, along with Jordan and possibly other predominantly-Sunni states, targeting military installations in Yemen held by the Houthi rebels who are storming south in a bid to secure their hold on the country.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif called for an immediate stop to the airstrikes, according to the Al Jazeera television network.

Iran, the world's Shiite Muslim powerhouse, is seen as backing the Houthis, who are also allied with former Yemeni strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Articles for extra reading:

How minority Houthi rebels seized Yemen
Yemen president flees country as country's turmoil worsens
ISIS claims increasing stake in Yemen chaos

Tension between Tehran and Sunni Muslim states, including Saudi Arabia, has flared amid the ongoing wars in Iraq and Syria.

In addition to the Houthis, Iran provides support -- and in some cases, direct military aid -- to Shiite militias fighting against ISIS and other Sunni extremist groups in both of those countries and others in the region.

The two main sects of Islam split hundreds of years ago, but animosity between them still fuels much of the violence threatening to ignite the Middle East in a large-scale sectarian war today.

Some of the airstrikes hit positions in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

The initial statement from Iran Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham did not name Saudi Arabia but called the airstrikes an "invasion."

Pakistan, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan were also taking part in the operation in Yemen, the Saudi Press Agency reported Thursday. According to the Saudi official who announced the action Wednesday, there was a coalition of "over 10 countries" taking part.

The White House said in a statement late Wednesday that the U.S. was coordinating military and intelligence support with the Saudis but not taking part directly in the strikes.

Yemen is on the brink of violent collapse. On Wednesday, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, a close U.S. ally, fled the country by sea after the rebels started taking over the southern port city of Aden where he had sought refuge.

They also briefly seized the airport in Aden, but were later fought off at that site by forces loyal to Hadi.

The collapse of the government already spelled bad news for the U.S., which benefited from the fact that Hadi allowed the American military to conduct drone strikes there against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). With Hadi gone, the last vestiges of his power also vanish and leave an uncertain future for U.S. Security.

"We have a critical counterterrorism need in Yemen," said CBS News senior national security analyst Juan Zarate. "Al Qaeda's branch in the Arabian peninsula, the al Qaeda brand in Yemen, is still deemed by American counterterrorism officials as being the most lethal, most active in terms of going after the West."

In addition to the top al Qaeda bomb maker, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has dedicated senior-level operatives running their western-oriented operations, and the group controls more and more territory because of the chaos in Yemen.

"That's a problem because you have a safe haven with a group committed to hitting the United States that now may fall under less pressure rather than more, and without a U.S. presence on the ground working with Yemeni counterparts you have less pressure," Zarate said.




“Tension between Tehran and Sunni Muslim states, including Saudi Arabia, has flared amid the ongoing wars in Iraq and Syria. In addition to the Houthis, Iran provides support -- and in some cases, direct military aid -- to Shiite militias fighting against ISIS and other Sunni extremist groups in both of those countries and others in the region.” …. The initial statement from Iran Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham did not name Saudi Arabia but called the airstrikes an "invasion." Pakistan, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan were also taking part in the operation in Yemen, the Saudi Press Agency reported Thursday. According to the Saudi official who announced the action Wednesday, there was a coalition of "over 10 countries" taking part. The White House said in a statement late Wednesday that the U.S. was coordinating military and intelligence support with the Saudis but not taking part directly in the strikes. Yemen is on the brink of violent collapse. On Wednesday, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, a close U.S. ally, fled the country by sea after the rebels started taking over the southern port city of Aden where he had sought refuge.”

It's really hard for the US and other Western powers to navigate the mine field of Islamic politics. According to this article Israel has had nothing to say about it. This is unfortunate, because our relationship with all these nations is important to our position there, especially since ISIS has emerged on the scene. I will be alert for more information in the coming days.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-2-ohio-1st-graders-accused-of-sexually-assaulting-another-student/

Report: Ohio 1st graders accused of sexually assaulting classmate
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS NEWS
March 24, 2015

Photograph – Rise and Shine Academy in Toledo, Ohio  CBS AFFILIATE WTOL

TOLEDO, Ohio - Two first graders at a school in Toledo, Ohio are accused of forcing another student to perform sex acts, reports CBS affiliate WTOL.

The mother of the alleged victim - a 7-year-old girl - was reportedly contacted last week by her daughter's school, Rise and Shine Academy.

The mother, who did not want to be identified, told the station the school advised her that her daughter was asked to perform sexual favors by two other girls - ages six and eight.

The mother says both her daughter and the school said the incident occurred while the students were on a bathroom break.

"My daughter is considered the victim. They think that they bribed my daughter into doing things," the mother told the station. "Not once but twice. And the first time she said she didn't say anything because she was scared."

The situation has caused the girl's mother to keep her home from school, file a police report, and contact Children's Services, reports WTOL.

"Something needs to be done. Especially if they're not keeping a close eye on the children and this is what's going on at the school," she said.

The Rise and Shine Academy, whose web site describes the school as a free, community-based K-6 college preparatory program, has reportedly fired the teacher who was responsible for the students at the time of the incident and has brought in a psychologist to work with the students.

In a statement, according to WTOL, the school said the situation is "still under investigation" and that "additional policies have been put in place to ensure the continued safety of our children."

Children's Services is reportedly aiding in the investigation.

The girl's mother says she still wants some sort of repercussion for the other students involved. She says her daughter is scared and will not return to the school until something more is done.




“The situation has caused the girl's mother to keep her home from school, file a police report, and contact Children's Services, reports WTOL. "Something needs to be done. Especially if they're not keeping a close eye on the children and this is what's going on at the school," she said. The Rise and Shine Academy, whose web site describes the school as a free, community-based K-6 college preparatory program, has reportedly fired the teacher who was responsible for the students at the time of the incident and has brought in a psychologist to work with the students.”

Forty years ago when really young children did something like this it was not taken too seriously. It was called “playing doctor.” Looking at it through modern eyes, however, it is an assault. The children responsible definitely should be confronted and counseled, possible with a mental health professional. The two events happened in the girls' restroom, and authorities wouldn't tend to know about it until this victim told her mother and a lawsuit was filed. This is supposedly a college prep academy, so the parent may have paid a high tuition for her child to attend. The good news is that the teacher who was responsible has been fired, and a psychologist has been called in.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-driver-was-recording-video-when-she-hit-3-teens/

Police: Driver was recording video when she hit 3 teens
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS/AP 
March 25, 2015

Video – Elizabeth Dove
 CBS AFFILIATE KOIN

GRESHAM, Ore. -- The driver of a car that hit three Oregon high school students on Jan. 15 was allegedly recording a video with her cell phone at the time of the accident, and did not have her hands on the wheel, reports The Oregonian.

Elizabeth Rachel Dove, 23, of Gresham, Ore., was arrested on March 4. She is charged with three counts of assault, five counts of reckless endangerment and one count of reckless driving.

The Oregonian reports that in a 19-second long clip on Dove's cellphone recorded just before the crash, the device is in her left hand and she can be seen gesturing at her young son with her right hand.

The three injured girls, between 14 and 15-years-old, were at a crosswalk near their high school. They survived the crash, but all sustained broken bones and other injuries.

The father of one of the victims told CBS affiliate KOIN that the crash caused an injury to his daughter's leg that will likely affect her for the rest of her life.





This young woman is very pretty and she looks well-to-do, but she clearly has some problems. Her face shows no regret or disturbance in what appears to be her “selfie” video, but instead is smiling slightly. Driving with her child in the car, she takes both hands off the steering wheel as she shoots a video on her cell phone. Did she intentionally target the teen girls, or is she totally unaware of the dangers of her actions? Beautiful but dumb? Was she impaired with drugs or alcohol? I'm glad to see that she has been arrested. She also should lose custody of her son. Parents who are caught driving around drunk with their child in the car are almost always stripped of the parental rights under charges of child endangerment, and this is just as bad.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/25/395127577/scientists-discover-a-new-form-of-ice-its-square

Scientists Discover A New Form Of Ice — It's Square
Nell Greenfieldboyce
Correspondent, Science Desk
MARCH 25, 2015

Photograph – Almost all ice, from the ice cubes in your freezer to the hoarfrost seen on this glass, has the same hexagonal internal structure. It's why snowflakes have six arms. But the ice that scientists detail in the journal Nature is unlike anything seen before.
iStockphoto

Scientists recently observed a form of ice that's never been seen before, after sandwiching water between two layers of an unusual two-dimensional material called graphene.

It's the latest surprise from the lab of a guy who is perhaps best-known for levitating a frog in a magnetic field, even though it's his groundbreaking work with graphene that won him a Nobel Prize.

Graphene is a flat sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a structure that looks like chicken wire. Andre Geim, who is a physicist at the University of Manchester in the U.K., and a colleague were the first to isolate this molecule — using plain old adhesive tape to peel flakes off a chunk of ordinary graphite, the stuff found in pencils.

Graphene has a lot of odd properties, so Geim and his team recently decided to explore how it interacts with water.

They took a sheet of graphene, put a tiny drop of water on it, then laid another sheet of graphene on top. Most of the water was squeezed out, but some got trapped inside. The researchers examined the little pockets of trapped water using a form of microscopy that can reveal the pattern of molecules.

What they saw was that the water molecules were arranged in a lattice of squares.

Geim said that a couple of years ago, they did some theoretical work that suggested they might see square, room temperature ice, though he didn't think they actually would.

"To our own surprise, we found exactly what theory predicted: an ice which is only 1 atom thick," Geim says.

Ice, of course, is just a crystal. And a crystal is just a material with an orderly arrangement of atoms or molecules. Almost all the ice on Earth is so-called hexagonal ice — that's why snowflakes have six-fold symmetry.

But when water is compressed, like under a massive ice sheet, other crystal structures can form, says Alan Soper, a physicist and expert on the structure of water at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the U.K. village of Harwell.

Almost all known forms of ice, including our familiar hexagonal ice, are made up of an underlying motif of water molecules arranged into triangular pyramids, or tetrahedrons, Soper says. But this new form of ice, described in the journal Nature, doesn't have that.

"What's really odd about it is, it loses this tetrahedral structure," Soper says. "That is the thing that's quite surprising, because I don't think it's been observed before."

He says it's unclear whether this observation will have any practical applications anytime soon, but it adds to a growing interest in what water does when it meets a surface.

"You know, we've probably got a reasonably good idea of what water is like and what ice is like. But when it gets near a surface, it becomes a different beast, and we don't really understand it at all," Soper says. "It's quite interesting that even today we're able to come up with new scenarios for water that we haven't previously thought of."

Geim notes that even though water is everywhere and humans are mostly made of water, we forget that lots of water exists in places that, to us, seem bone dry.

"You go to the driest desert, there will be water absorbed everywhere," Geim says. "You crack any rock, there will be capillaries inside filled with water."

And we know almost nothing about the behavior of water in these tiny, confined spaces, Geim says. "Until recently, we didn't even know that the structure of water would be so different from the structure of conventional ice, when it goes to the nanoscale."




“Graphene is a flat sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a structure that looks like chicken wire. Andre Geim, who is a physicist at the University of Manchester in the U.K., and a colleague were the first to isolate this molecule — using plain old adhesive tape to peel flakes off a chunk of ordinary graphite, the stuff found in pencils. Graphene has a lot of odd properties, so Geim and his team recently decided to explore how it interacts with water. They took a sheet of graphene, put a tiny drop of water on it, then laid another sheet of graphene on top. Most of the water was squeezed out, but some got trapped inside. The researchers examined the little pockets of trapped water using a form of microscopy that can reveal the pattern of molecules.... Geim said that a couple of years ago, they did some theoretical work that suggested they might see square, room temperature ice, though he didn't think they actually would. "To our own surprise, we found exactly what theory predicted: an ice which is only 1 atom thick," Geim says.... "What's really odd about it is, it loses this tetrahedral structure," Soper says. "That is the thing that's quite surprising, because I don't think it's been observed before." He says it's unclear whether this observation will have any practical applications anytime soon, but it adds to a growing interest in what water does when it meets a surface.... "You go to the driest desert, there will be water absorbed everywhere," Geim says. "You crack any rock, there will be capillaries inside filled with water." And we know almost nothing about the behavior of water in these tiny, confined spaces, Geim says. "Until recently, we didn't even know that the structure of water would be so different from the structure of conventional ice, when it goes to the nanoscale."

This article makes sense, though it shows a level of technical advance since I was in college that is amazing. At first I was caught be the phrase two-dimensional that stopped me. It simply means that the matter is only one atom thick. In the 1980s I subscribed to an inexpensive scientific journal (or magazine, perhaps) called Science News and saw the term nanotechnology. That was fascinating. When I was in college electron microscopy was discussed in a textbook, so the microscope needed for this research on one atom layers of water is probably of that type or something even more precise.

This finding of nanoscale water found in deserts and inside rocks may be pertinent to attempts to find minute life forms on planets like Mars which are thought to have lost all of their liquid water down through time. Maybe the mysterious meteor found during the Clinton administration will turn out to be, not full of forms that are merely “similar” to lifeforms, but actually minute bacteria or viruses. I hope there will be more articles on the subject which give us some more evidence of the origin of life here on earth and in other places. I expect both Geim and Soper will be getting Nobel Prizes for this research if other scientists can duplicate the results. See Wikipedia biographies of Geim and Sopel below.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Geim

Andre Geim
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Andre Konstantin Geim, FRS (born 21 October 1958) is a Soviet-born Dutch-British physicist working at the University of Manchester.[19]Geim was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Konstantin Novoselov for his work on graphene.[20][21] He is Regius Professor of Physics and Royal Society Research Professor at the Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

Research

Geim's achievements include the discovery of a simple method for isolating single atomic layers of graphite, known as graphene, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Manchester[40] and IMT. The team published their findings in October 2004 in Science.[41][42][43]

Graphene consists of one-atom-thick layers of carbon atoms arranged in two-dimensional hexagons,[44][45] and is the thinnest material in the world, as well as one of the strongest and hardest.[46] The material has many potential applications and is considered a superior alternative to silicon.[47]

Geim said one of the first applications of graphene could be in the development of flexible touchscreens, and that he has not patented the material because he would need a specific application and an industrial partner.[48]

Geim was involved in the development of a biomimetic adhesive which became known as gecko tape[15]—so called because of the adhesiveness of gecko feet—research of which is still in the early stages.[49] It is hoped that the development will eventually allow humans to scale ceilings, likeSpider-Man.[50]

Geim's research in 1997 into the possible effects of magnetism on water scaling led to the famous discovery of direct diamagnetic levitation of water, and led to a frog being levitated.[51] For this experiment, he and Michael Berry received the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize.[14] "We were asked first whether we dared to accept this prize, and I take pride in our sense of humor and self-deprecation that we did".[29]

Geim has also carried out research on mesoscopic physics and superconductivity.[35][52]

He said of the range of subjects he has studied: "Many people choose a subject for their PhD and then continue the same subject until they retire. I despise this approach. I have changed my subject five times before I got my first tenured position and that helped me to learn different subjects."[33]



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Soper

Alan Soper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Education

Soper was educated at the University of Leicester where he was awarded a PhD in 1987 for research into the structure of aqueous solutions.[5]

Research

Soper's research investigates molecular-level structures and dynamics in structurally disordered systems.[2][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]Soper is chair of the prestigious Gordon Research Conferences on water and aqueous solutions and is the co-designer of the Near and InterMediate Range Order Diffractometer (NIMROD) instrument[20][21][22][23]on the ISIS neutron source.

Alan Soper is distinguished as the world leading experimentalist on the structure of water and aqueous solutions, and an internationally outstanding expert on the structure of liquids in general. Besides making major and seminal contributions to the study of water and other aqueous systems, including complex systems of high chemical and biological importance, he has been influential in studies of many other liquids and glasses, and has developed novel diffraction instruments and techniques that have revolutionised the field. He has also pioneered the wider use of computer simulation as a tool for building three-dimensional models of the disordered states of matter based on measured data.[1]