Sunday, April 19, 2015

News Clips For The Day


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/17/400387536/why-a-blockbuster-of-a-trade-deal-with-asia-matters

Why A Blockbuster Of A Trade Deal With Asia Matters
Jackie Northam
April 17, 2015

Photograph – Freighters wait to unload cargo at the Tanjung Pagar container port in Singapore.
Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images

It has been a decade in the making, but when completed, it will be a free trade agreement to beat all others — representing 40 percent of the world's economy.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, agreement would bring together the economies of the U.S., Japan, Australia and nine other Pacific Rim nations, allowing the free trade of everything from agriculture to automobiles and textiles to pharmaceuticals.

President Obama said Friday that the deal is critical for the U.S. Market.

"Ninety-five percent of the world's markets are outside our borders. The fastest growing markets, the most populous markets, are going to be in Asia," he noted.

Negotiations over the trade agreement are in the final, toughest stages. Analysts say the sticking points are now between the U.S. and Japan, the two largest economies in the TPP. Both sides are trying to protect key sectors — for Japan, it's agriculture; for the U.S., it's automobiles.

Those negotiations got a new shot of life Thursday when congressional leaders agreed to give President Obama the authority to "fast track" the deal through Congress.

The move overcomes a significant hurdle in the talks because President Obama will be able to complete the deal without the details being picked apart by Congress.

Under the agreement reached Thursday, lawmakers would have the opportunity to give the TPP an up-or-down vote, but they cannot alter terms of the final agreement reached between the U.S., Japan, Australia and other countries around the Pacific Rim.

However, if the final agreement doesn't meet standards laid out by Congress on the environment, human rights or labor issues, a 60-vote majority could shut off the fast track trade rules and open the deal to amendments, according to The New York Times.

Japan and the U.S. are due to have Cabinet-level meeting over the trade deal next week, according to The Associated Press. Japan's economy minister, Akira Amari, told reporters, "We are pretty sure our talks won't break down."

Agreeing to give President Obama the authority to fast-track the deal marks a shift on the political landscape. Many Republicans are behind the bill to give the president more power. As NPR reported earlier, the trade deal is vigorously supported by the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.

But many Democrats oppose giving the president fast-track authority, known formally as the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), saying negotiations over the Asia-Pacific trade deal are held in secret and that there would be no way to amend the details. There are also deep-seated concerns that U.S. corporations would invest in foreign factories and then ship goods back to America.

President Obama on Friday acknowledged the concern about the free trade agreement, particularly among Democrats, because people have memories about outsourcing and job loss.

Still, Obama said, "If we do not help to shape the rules so that our businesses and our workers can compete in those markets, then China will set up rules that advantage Chinese workers and Chinese businesses."

China is not part of the TPP.

The agreement giving the president fast-track authority comes less than a month after Beijing humiliated the U.S. and Japan by persuading dozens of countries, including key American allies, to join a regional infrastructure bank over objections by Washington, according to The Wall Street Journal.

It also gives new significance to an upcoming visit to Washington by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.



http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Trade/NAFTA/NAFTA-Made-Outsourcing-Easy

NAFTA Made Outsourcing Easy

NAFTA supporters argued the pact would create jobs in the United States. More recently, supporters of FTAs with South Korea, Panama and Colombia made similar claims. But history has shown, and research supports that each new trade agreement may cost thousands of U.S. jobs.  According to EPI, the five states that experienced the largest percentage of local jobs displaced by trade with Mexico since NAFTA began are Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. The five that have the largest actual number of jobs displaced due to Mexico trade deficits are California, Texas, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois.

Contrary to the promises that NAFTA would create U.S. jobs, it made outsourcing to Mexico much more attractive for U.S. companies. Most of the jobs displaced by trade with Mexico—415,000 jobs, or 60.8 percent of the total 682,000 jobs lost—have been in manufacturing. 

When the United States loses jobs due to trade agreements, a major misconception is that an American company has been out-competed by a foreign-company and simply could not make its products as efficiently.  Since NAFTA, however, that has not been the case.  Instead, NAFTA (and the NAFTA-style trade agreements that have followed) provided large corporations with special incentives to invest outside the United States.  And many so-called “American” companies have done just that: shutting down U.S. manufacturing facilities and moving production—and jobs—offshore. 

The industries hardest hit by NAFTA have been computer and electronic parts (150,300 jobs lost or displaced, or 22 percent of the total number of jobs) and motor vehicles and parts (108,000 jobs, 15.8 percent). There has been a huge surge in motor vehicles and auto parts since 2007 years that cost 30,000 U.S. jobs, according to the report.

While trade and globalization are a fact of life, the AFL-CIO is working hard to shape American trade and globalization policies so they work for workers, not just corporations.  This means eliminating incentives that make it more attractive to invest outside the United States, including strong, enforceable labor standards and ensuring that trade rules do not interfere with our nation’s ability to enact domestic policy. 



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

United States Chamber of Commerce
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is a business-oriented American lobbying group. It is not an agency of the United States government.

Politically, the Chamber is generally considered to be a conservativeorganization. It usually supports Republican political candidates, though it has occasionally supported conservative Democrats.[1][2] The Chamber is one of the largest lobbying groups in the U.S., spending more money than any other lobbying organization on a yearly basis.

History[edit]

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's own history of itself describes it as originating from an April 22, 1912, meeting of delegates.[5] The Chamber was created by President Taft as a counterbalance to the labor movement of the time.[2]

In 1993, the Chamber lost several members over its support for Clinton's healthcare reform efforts. The Chamber had chosen to support healthcare reform at that time due to the spiraling healthcare costs experienced by its members. However, House Republicans retaliated by urging boycotts of the organization. The Chamber operated its own cable television station, Biz-Net until 1997 in order to promote its policies. The Chamber shifted somewhat more to the right when Tom Donohue became head of the organization in 1997. By the time health care reform became a major issue again in 2010-2012, the organization opposed such efforts.[2

Legislation[edit]

Opposed to using the government shutdown and debt ceiling limit as negotiating tactics [10]
Supported the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).[11]
Support for business globalization, free trade, and offshoring.[12]
Qualified opposition to financial regulation.[2]
The Chamber views some reform as necessary, but opposed the Dodd/Frank legislation that was passed, asserting that it would damage loan availability.[2]
Campaigned against portions of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act.[13]
Opposes the DISCLOSE Act, which aims to limit foreign influence on U.S. elections.[14]
Opposed the Affordable Health Care for America Act.,[2]
Opposes action on climate change. The Chamber believes that climate change is real, but disputes the scientific consensus that warming mostly results from human activity and questions whether anything can be done to reduce climate change. The Chamber emphasizes the economic impact of climate decisions.[15][16]
Supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[2]





“... it will be a free trade agreement to beat all others — representing 40 percent of the world's economy. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, agreement would bring together the economies of the U.S., Japan, Australia and nine other Pacific Rim nations, allowing the free trade of everything from agriculture to automobiles and textiles to pharmaceuticals. …. "Ninety-five percent of the world's markets are outside our borders. The fastest growing markets, the most populous markets, are going to be in Asia," he noted. ….  As NPR reported earlier, the trade deal is vigorously supported by the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups. But many Democrats oppose giving the president fast-track authority, known formally as the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), saying negotiations over the Asia-Pacific trade deal are held in secret and that there would be no way to amend the details. There are also deep-seated concerns that U.S. corporations would invest in foreign factories and then ship goods back to America. President Obama on Friday acknowledged the concern about the free trade agreement, particularly among Democrats, because people have memories about outsourcing and job loss."

How is President Obama going to lessen the concerns of Democrats, his party after all, about the great potential here for more outsourcing and job loss? The poor are getting poorer every day. If US workers aren't going to make money on this by keeping their jobs and maintaining good pay scales, as the AFLCIO article above mentions, who will gain besides big businesses who are already filthy rich, and who will scrutinize the terms of this agreement to prevent job loss, I don't want to see this agreement go through. Will the AFLCIO be involved in the planning? That would probably help, because they certainly will look afer the interests of workers. The presence of the Chamber of Commerce in the deal bothers me, too, because they are considered to be concervative. See the above articles from Wikipedia on the AFLCIO and the Chamber Of Commerce on its history of anti-labor stances.






http://www.npr.org/2015/04/18/400396747/wordless-ads-speak-volumes-in-unbranded-images-of-women

Wordless Ads Speak Volumes In 'Unbranded' Images Of Women
NPR Staff
April 18, 2015

Seven Ad Photographs – Must see.

Advertisements don't need any words to say a lot about a culture.

That's one of the messages that shines through in the work of artist Hank Willis Thomas. In 2008, Thomas removed the text and branding from ads featuring African-Americans, creating a series he called Unbranded, which illustrated how America has seen and continues to see black people.

In the run-up to the 2016 election — and the possibility of a white woman being nominated — he's mounted a new exhibit, featuring women in print. It's called Unbranded: A Century of White Women, and it features images from mainstream commercial print advertisements from 1915 to today.

Stripping away the normal elements of an advertisement and reducing it to pure image is powerful, Thomas says.

"I think what happens with ads — when we put text and logos on them, we do all the heavy lifting of making them make sense to us," he tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer. "But when you see the image naked, or unbranded, you start to really ask questions.

"That's why we can almost never tell what it's actually an ad for, because ads really aren't about the products. It's about what myths and generalizations we can attach, and the repetition of imagery of a certain type."

Interview Highlights

On what surprised him when he laid out the advertisements chronologically

I actually was amazed to look at how advertising can function as a mirror for the hopes and dreams — or the anxiety — of a society at a period of time.

The one that really kind of struck a chord with me was this image from 1955 of a woman being dragged by her hair in a corset and holding a telephone. When I first saw the ad I was struck by the violence in it — it's a man, kind of dressed like a caveman ... dragging her. And the text said, "Come out of the Bone Age, darling." And the suggestion was that corsets were made with bones, and that if you wanted to be advanced, like a modern woman, you would wear synthetic [materials].

But at the same time that that image was produced, Emett Till was killed in the United States for whistling at a "white woman." And I found it fascinating that her virtue could be so challenged and maybe besmirched by him whistling at her, allegedly, but it would be OK in the public to present images of white women being dragged by their hair by white men.

On how in the late '50s and early '60s the images became more sexualized

I also think that it's amazing that it really happens almost immediately after World War II. And I think this sexualization in mainstream ads, which is what I use, was part of this need for women to be kind of put in a place.

On whether it got any better for women as decades passed

Mr. Mom came out [in 1983], and we see that kind of switching of positions. And then the '90s is where I think things start to get more diverse — and then into the aughts it gets, I think, crazier. Because we see really sexist images, but we see images where African-Americans appear for the first time as equals to white women, we see men being kind of in a lesser position than women in certain images, and we even see same-sex couples.

But the final image is an image from 2015 for a Ram truck, where it looks like — it's based off an image of "Washington Crossing the Delaware" ... and there's all these women in bikinis in the cold. It really speaks to the ridiculousness of it.




“That's one of the messages that shines through in the work of artist Hank Willis Thomas. In 2008, Thomas removed the text and branding from ads featuring African-Americans, creating a series he called Unbranded, which illustrated how America has seen and continues to see black people. In the run-up to the 2016 election — and the possibility of a white woman being nominated — he's mounted a new exhibit, featuring women in print. It's called Unbranded: A Century of White Women, and it features images from mainstream commercial print advertisements from 1915 to today. …. "That's why we can almost never tell what it's actually an ad for, because ads really aren't about the products. It's about what myths and generalizations we can attach, and the repetition of imagery of a certain type." …. But at the same time that that image was produced, Emett Till was killed in the United States for whistling at a "white woman." And I found it fascinating that her virtue could be so challenged and maybe besmirched by him whistling at her, allegedly, but it would be OK in the public to present images of white women being dragged by their hair by white men. …. And I think this sexualization in mainstream ads, which is what I use, was part of this need for women to be kind of put in a place. On whether it got any better for women as decades passed. Mr. Mom came out [in 1983], and we see that kind of switching of positions. And then the '90s is where I think things start to get more diverse — and then into the aughts it gets, I think, crazier. Because we see really sexist images, but we see images where African-Americans appear for the first time as equals to white women, we see men being kind of in a lesser position than women in certain images, and we even see same-sex couples.”

This is of course the time period during which I grew up and became a woman. I remember lots of put-down references to women made by all kinds of people in my life and on TV, which came out in Thomasville among the less wealthy people around 1952, as far as I can remember. I remember watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on our set, and we were sent home from school to watch it. It was considered more educational than our schoolwork. Comedians like Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, and others used Stitch comedy based on just how dumb women are. Gracie Allen played the ultimate scatterbrained woman, but George Burns loved her anyway. In real life he told an interviewer just how very intelligent she was. He not only was tolerant of her, he clearly adored and admired her. Like Lucile Ball, also playing an extremely wacky woman, they were so competent at the portrayals that I would dissolve into giggles when they were on.

In 1963 I was 18 years old and some very competent female characters were available on the more serious dramatic shows and in movies. Comedy was no longer king, but secondary to good well-written, produced and acted plots. It was possible to find a thought-provoking or sad story which actually wasn't full of schmaltz. That was the year of the Equal Pay Act signed by John Kennedy and the blockbuster book by Betty Friedan called The Feminine Mystique. America was growing up. There are still some “conservative” men who want women to remain “barefoot and pregnant” and stop causing trouble in the workplaces. Men had to adjust to women bosses in scattered instances and stop telling crude and filthy jokes about sex there. Rapists would very likely face stiff competition on the witness stand by women who were no longer afraid to stand up in public and talk about the attack. In the old days of the 1950s and before women would hide at home and talk to nobody about those things because they were shamed by members of their neighborhood or even their own family.

In 1970 I was on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, married, and had joined the National Organization For Women at the urging of my former college roommate. I was very dissatisfied with being married and the consciousness raising groups helped me work through it. I ended up getting divorced, which was sad, but we weren't sexually or psychologically suited to each other. It was actually a kind of tragedy for both him and myself, because we had been together since high school. We were hurting each other on a daily basis, not physically but emotionally. I began to date other men and adjusted to being single. Women's role had changed radically by that time in the society in general, and women were focused more on achieving in the workplace, in academics and being politically active. I had a great deal of emotional baggage to work through and went to a therapist while taking anti-depressants for two years. With her help I adjusted to most of my issues and became more mentally healthy. I am classified as Bipolar, but my medication works and my life is productive and much more relaxed now.

I don't know how much of this has to do with being a woman in those years, but I think probably a great deal. Let's face it, in 1950 if you had emotional “issues” you were really “weird,” and you'd better get over it fast. There was no help available. Lord help you if you were a lesbian. Some people then did go to psychiatrists if they were suicidal, but the drugs were not as effective as those we have now, and often made you feel sleepy, sluggish or confused. Luckily I didn't get “help” in those years, because the help available was by and large experimental (such as shock treatments and lobotomies) and incompetent. Gradually Freudian theory was replaced by other techniques such as the Behaviorists. Talk therapy became either group therapy where you get information and feedback from everybody, or a logical and much more equal kind of talking that was immediately helpful rather than merely lying on a couch and effusively going on and on about yourself.

Well, I've done it again. Some topics bring up things in my mind that are deep, may be dark, and aren't very jolly at all. Sorry about that!





http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/israel-nuclear-weapons-117014.html#.VTBIk9zF9kl

How Israel Hid Its Secret Nuclear Weapons Program
An exclusive look inside newly declassified documents shows how Israel blocked U.S. efforts to uncover its secret nuclear reactor.
By AVNER COHEN and WILLIAM BURR
April 15, 2015

For decades, the world has known that the massive Israeli facility near Dimona, in the Negev Desert, was the key to its secret nuclear project. Yet, for decades, the world—and Israel—knew that Israel had once misleadingly referred to it as a “textile factory.” Until now, though, we’ve never known how that myth began—and how quickly the United States saw through it. The answers, as it turns out, are part of a fascinating tale that played out in the closing weeks of the Eisenhower administration—a story that begins with the father of Secretary of State John Kerry and a familiar charge that the U.S. intelligence community failed to “connect the dots.

In its final months, even as the Kennedy-Nixon presidential race captivated the country, the Eisenhower administration faced a series of crises involving Cuba and Laos. Yet, as the fall of 1960 progressed, President Dwight D. Eisenhower encountered a significant and unexpected problem of a new kind—U.S. diplomats learned and U.S. intelligence soon confirmed that Israel was building, with French aid, a secret nuclear reactor in the Negev Desert. Soon concluding that the Israelis were likely seeking an eventual nuclear weapons capability, the administration saw a threat to strategic stability in the Middle East and a nuclear proliferation threat. Adding fuel to the fire was the perception that Israel was deceitful, or had not “come clean,” as CIA director Allen Dulles put it. Once the Americans started asking questions about Dimona, the site of Israel’s nuclear complex, the Israelis gave evasive and implausible cover stories. 

A little anecdote about an occurrence sometime in September 1960 sheds light on the development of U.S. perceptions that Israel was being less than honest about Dimona. That month, Addy Cohen, then the young director of the Foreign Aid Office at the Israeli Finance Ministry, hosted U.S. ambassador to Israel Ogden Reid and some of his senior staff for a tour of the Dead Sea Works—a large Israeli potash plant in Sdom, on the Dead Sea coast of Israel. The Israeli Air Force provided a Sikorsky S-58 helicopter to fly the American group from Tel Aviv to Sdom. As they were returning on the helicopter, near the new town of Dimona, Reid pointed to a huge industrial site under heavy construction and asked what it was.   

Ambassador Reid’s question may not have been that innocent. A few months earlier, the U.S. embassy at Tel Aviv had already heard rumors—which it reported back to Washington—about a secret nuclear complex under construction in the Negev. This was a good opportunity to ask questions to an Israeli official who might know. As it happened, Cohen, a close aide to Finance Minister Levi Eshkol, was indeed the right person. He knew about the secret project because Dimona “was discussed in one of the Treasury Ministry executive meetings under Eshkol.” Cohen also knew that he could not share what he knew with his American friends.   

“I was not prepared to [answer] Ambassador Reid's question" about the Dimona site, recalls Cohen, who is now 87 and lives in Israel, so “I ad-libbed by referring to Trostler, the Jerusalemite architect [a relative of his wife], who actually designed a textile plant there" at Dimona.

“Why, that’s a textile plant,” Cohen responded to the question. Cohen’s answer was not completely false, but it was surely evasive. Looking back, Cohen told us this month, “It may have transpired that I was the first one who referred to the project as a ‘textile plant,’ but I can assure you that it was not planned.”  

Over the years, the “textile factory” story has been cited often as Israel's official early cover story and it acquired legendary status, but exactly when the story came about has been a mystery. Cohen’s new statement, paired with recently unearthed U.S. government documents, clarifies for the first time this historical puzzle and sheds new light on how Washington missed warning signs about Dimona, how it belatedly discovered the reactor and, later, how it reacted to the finding. It’s a particularly fascinating story set against the backdrop of the modern-day international negotiations over Iran’s budding nuclear ambition and the secrets its program holds.

The Eisenhower administration’s “discovery” of Dimona was belated indeed, more than five years after Israel had made a secret national commitment to create a nuclear program aimed at providing an option to produce nuclear weapons; more than three years after Israel had signed a secret comprehensive nuclear bargain with France; and two years or more after Israel had begun the vast excavation and construction work at the Dimona site. It was clearly a major blunder of American intelligence. In comparative terms, it was probably as severe as the failures to anticipate the Indian nuclear tests of 1974 and 1998. 

What was a breakdown of U.S. intelligence was a tremendous counterintelligence success for Israel, providing precious time for the highly vulnerable Dimona project. Had the United States discovered Dimona two years earlier—even a year earlier—the young and fragile undertaking might not have survived the weight of U.S. and world pressure generally. 

This article, recounting the Dimona discovery and its implications, is based on a special collection of declassified documents published on Wednesday by the National Security Archive, the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project, and the Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California.

The Israeli Decision and Lapses in U.S. Intelligence 

The Americans were truly surprised by the audacity of the Israeli nuclear project. Soon after Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion came to power in 1955, he launched a secret initiative to determine whether, and how, Israel could build a nuclear infrastructure to support a national program aimed at producing nuclear explosives. A senior defense official named Shimon Peres took charge of the project. Within three years, he did the almost impossible—transforming the idea of a national nuclear program from a vague vision into a real technological achievement. Unlike the chairman of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, professor David Ernst Bergmann, who preached self-reliance, Peres believed that Israel must not and could not reinvent the wheel—it had to focus on finding a foreign supplier who could provide the most comprehensive nuclear package possible suited for a weapons-oriented program.

Avner Cohen is a professor of nonproliferation studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and the author of Israel and the Bomb.

William Burr is a senior analyst at the National Security Archive, George Washington University, where he directs the Archive's Nuclear Documentation Project and edits its special Web page, The Nuclear Vault.




“For decades, the world has known that the massive Israeli facility near Dimona, in the Negev Desert, was the key to its secret nuclear project. Yet, for decades, the world—and Israel—knew that Israel had once misleadingly referred to it as a “textile factory.” …. Once the Americans started asking questions about Dimona, the site of Israel’s nuclear complex, the Israelis gave evasive and implausible cover stories. …. As they were returning on the helicopter, near the new town of Dimona, Reid pointed to a huge industrial site under heavy construction and asked what it was. …. Cohen also knew that he could not share what he knew with his American friends. “I was not prepared to [answer] Ambassador Reid's question" about the Dimona site, recalls Cohen, who is now 87 and lives in Israel, so “I ad-libbed by referring to Trostler, the Jerusalemite architect [a relative of his wife], who actually designed a textile plant there" at Dimona. …. It’s a particularly fascinating story set against the backdrop of the modern-day international negotiations over Iran’s budding nuclear ambition and the secrets its program holds.  …. It was clearly a major blunder of American intelligence. In comparative terms, it was probably as severe as the failures to anticipate the Indian nuclear tests of 1974 and 1998. What was a breakdown of U.S. intelligence was a tremendous counterintelligence success for Israel, providing precious time for the highly vulnerable Dimona project. …. This article, recounting the Dimona discovery and its implications, is based on a special collection of declassified documents published on Wednesday by the National Security Archive, the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project, and the Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. …. A senior defense official named Shimon Peres took charge of the project. Within three years, he did the almost impossible—transforming the idea of a national nuclear program from a vague vision into a real technological achievement. Unlike the chairman of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, professor David Ernst Bergmann, who preached self-reliance, Peres believed that Israel must not and could not reinvent the wheel—it had to focus on finding a foreign supplier who could provide the most comprehensive nuclear package possible suited for a weapons-oriented program.”

Well, not only has Israel been caught spying on the US at least twice, but they have been false to us at other times, too. What I see about them is that, though we have bent over backwards to protect them and haven't pushed them hard enough in my opinion, really, to work out a peace plan with their Arab neighbors and stick to it – which is jeopardizing world peace on an ongoing basis – they have been deceitful throughout. Could we say ungrateful?

I particularly am referring to “Bibi,” because some earlier leaders really did try to create a pact with Palestine. The reason that most of the Islamic nations over there give as their most basic reason for hating the US is our very loyal support and help toward Israel alongside their equally constant hostilities toward Palestine. How can a more peaceful way of dealing with each other develop when both sides are so recalcitrant. I've heard several times that Netanyahu and Obama really, really don't “get along.” Could it be that Obama has confronted him repeatedly about the failure to even try to deal with Palestine? I really don't like Netanyahu. He's in a class with Putin. They're both unethical and ruthless. Unfortunately they're also both popular in their own country with a large number of the citizens. The climate of the world at this time is so hostile in general that such leaders appear to their people to be heroes.





http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/sources-supervisors-told-to-falsify-reserve-deputy-s-training-records/article_a6330f10-a9fb-51e3-ab5e-4d97b03c6c04.html

Sources: Supervisors told to falsify reserve deputy's training records; department announces internal review
Supervisors ordered to credit reserve deputy with proper papers.
By DYLAN GOFORTH World Staff Writer & ZIVA BRANSTETTER World Enterprise Editor 

Update: The Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff's Office on Thursday questioned a training claim made by Reserve Deputy Robert Bates in the aftermath of a fatal shooting.

In a statement that the 73-year-old reserve deputy gave the sheriff's office following the fatal shooting of Eric Harris during an undercover operation on April 2, Bates noted he had taken "active shooter training" from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Lisa Allen, chief media relations office for the sheriff's office there, said they had no record of Bates attending their training.

In fact, Allen said, that training is only available to members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, meaning Bates would not have been eligible. The class, Allen said, has only been offered three times.

"We don't allow out-of-state people to take the class," she said. "I'm only surmising, and I can't confirm this because this would not have been our class, but our active shooter instructor did travel to Dallas once to teach a class.

"Maybe he took that class and is saying he took it through us, but again, that would not have been our class, so we have no way to verify if he attended it or not."

In Bates’ seven-page statement to Tulsa County sheriff’s investigators, obtained by the World on Wednesday, the reserve deputy states he previously attended a five-day homicide investigation school in Dallas and received “active shooter response training” by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

Update: The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office announced early Thursday it will conduct an internal review of the deputy reserve program.

The announcement comes just two weeks after 73-year-old Reserve Deputy Robert Bates fatally shot Eric Harris during an undercover operation on April 2. 

"As with any critical incident, we are doing an internal review of our program and policy to determine if any changes need to take place," Tulsa County sheriff's Maj. Shannon Clark said.

Clark addressed the Tulsa World's story in which sources said sheriff's office supervisors were reassigned for not falsifying Bates' training documents, telling NBC News: "The media outlet that is putting that information out is using unconfirmed sources and also relying on anonymity. We don't respond to rumor."

Below is the Tulsa World story that appeared in the Thursday morning print edition and online

Supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to falsify a reserve deputy’s training records, giving him credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received, sources told the Tulsa World.

At least three of reserve deputy Robert Bates’ supervisors were transferred after refusing to sign off on his state-required training, multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the World.

Bates, 73, is accused of second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Eric Harris during an undercover operation on April 2.

The sources’ claims are corroborated by records, including a statement by Bates after the shooting, that he was certified as an advanced reserve deputy in 2007.

An attorney for Harris’ family also raised questions about the authenticity of Bates’ training records.

Additionally, Sheriff Stanley Glanz told a Tulsa radio station this week that Bates had been certified to use three weapons, including a revolver he fired at Harris. However, Glanz said the Sheriff’s Office has not been able to find the paperwork on those certifications.

The sheriff’s deputy that certified Bates has moved on to work for the Secret Service, Glanz said during the radio interview.

“We can’t find the records that she supposedly turned in,” Glanz said. “So we are going to talk to her to find out if for sure he’s been qualified with those (weapons).”

Undersheriff Tim Albin was unavailable for comment Wednesday but in an earlier interview, Albin said he was unaware of any concerns expressed by supervisors about Bates’ training.

The Sheriff’s Office has released a summary listing training courses Bates had been given credit for but have not released documents showing which supervisors signed off on that training.

He rejected claims that Bates’ training records were falsified and that supervisors who refused to do so were transferred to less desirable assignments.

“The training record speaks for itself. I have absolutely no knowledge of what you are talking about,” Albin said. “There aren’t any secrets in law enforcement. Zero. Those types of issues would have come up.”

During a press conference Friday, Capt. Bill McKelvey and Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim Clark, a consultant hired by the county, also said they were unaware of concerns about Bates’ training.

The World has requested records showing which supervisors signed off on Bates’ training. An attorney for the Sheriff’s Office declined to provide them, saying the matter is under investigation.

Bates, a wealthy Tulsa insurance executive, turned himself in Tuesday after being charged on Monday in Harris’ death. He is free on $25,000 bond.

Harris was shot and killed during an undercover operation the Sheriff’s Violent Crimes Task Force was conducting. Harris, according to the sheriff’s office, had previously sold methamphetamine to undercover deputies and was in the act of selling them a stolen gun.

As deputies moved in to make the arrest, Harris bolted from the truck and ran, pursued by deputies until they brought him to the ground. Bates shot Harris while he was on the ground and immediately said, “Oh, I shot him! I’m sorry.”

The Sheriff’s Office has said Bates is typically in a support role assisting the task force. He told investigators he meant to stun Harris with a Taser but accidentally shot him with a handgun instead.

Bates was classified by the Sheriff’s Office as an “advanced reserve.” That means Bates would have had to complete 480 hours of the “Field Training Officer,” or FTO, program to maintain that classification.

Dan Smolen, who represents Harris’ family, said Wednesday that he believes Bates’ field training records were falsified and that they no longer exist.

The Sheriff’s Office previously said Bates had joined the reserve deputy force in 2008. However, Bates, in a statement he gave the Sheriff’s Office following Harris’ shooting, said he became an advanced reserve deputy in 2007.
The cause of that discrepancy is unclear.

In Bates’ seven-page statement to Tulsa County sheriff’s investigators, obtained by the World on Wednesday, the reserve deputy states he previously attended a five-day homicide investigation school in Dallas and received “active shooter response training” by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona.

Bates said in the statement that he had been involved in “at least 100 other” assignments, such as the undercover operation planned on April 2.

In that statement, Bates said he contacted a task force member on April 1 to ask if there was a “pending operation” he could assist with.

The task force member informed Bates of the plan to have an undercover officer buy a gun from Harris the following day.

Officials said Harris could have faced up to life in prison for selling the firearm because he had prior felony convictions.

During a briefing hours before the shooting, Bates said he was informed that Harris was “a bad son of a b----” who had gang affiliations.

Deputies in attendance were told Harris was known to carry a gun and to consider him armed and dangerous.

During a press conference last week, a consultant hired by the Sheriff’s Office pointed to several scenes from the recorded video of Harris’ shooting.

The consultant said the still images from the video showed why pursuing deputies would be concerned that Harris had a gun in his pants as he fled.

Bates mentioned this in his statement as well, noting he believed that Harris was running “in an unusual way,” touching his right hand to his waistband.

It was later determined that Harris did not have a gun on his body when he was tackled and shot. The video shows his arms flailing as he runs.

Undersheriff Tim Albin has said the video cuts off after Harris was shot because the camera battery died. The video was filmed on a “sunglasses cam” purchased by Bates for the task force.

Bates was Glanz’s 2012 re-election campaign manager and also was named reserve deputy of the year in 2011.

He has purchased five automobiles for the task force. Bates and other task force members drive the vehicles, which the Sheriff’s Office equipped with lights and other police equipment.

In his statement, Bates said he was unsure if the pursuing deputy would catch the fleeing Harris. So Bates said he grabbed his pepper-ball launcher, a “less lethal” device meant to incapacitate much in the same way as pepper spray.

Bates said as he approached the scuffle, he thought he noticed Harris again reaching for his waistband. At this point, while two additional deputies were subduing Harris, Bates said he saw a “very brief opening” in which he could hit Harris with a Taser.

Bates noted “thinking I have to deploy it rapidly, as I still thought there was a strong possibility Harris had a gun on him.”

At that point, as is evident in the video, Bates stated “Taser! Taser!” then fired one shot, striking Harris below the right arm.

Bates stated in his account that the time from which Harris was tackled by one deputy to the time Bates fired the fatal shot was “only about 5 to 10 seconds.”




“In a statement that the 73-year-old reserve deputy gave the sheriff's office following the fatal shooting of Eric Harris during an undercover operation on April 2, Bates noted he had taken "active shooter training" from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. Lisa Allen, chief media relations office for the sheriff's office there, said they had no record of Bates attending their training. In fact, Allen said, that training is only available to members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, meaning Bates would not have been eligible. The class, Allen said, has only been offered three times. …. "Maybe he took that class and is saying he took it through us, but again, that would not have been our class, so we have no way to verify if he attended it or not." …. Update: The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office announced early Thursday it will conduct an internal review of the deputy reserve program. …. Supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to falsify a reserve deputy’s training records, giving him credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received, sources told the Tulsa World. …. At least three of reserve deputy Robert Bates’ supervisors were transferred after refusing to sign off on his state-required training, multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the World.

"As with any critical incident, we are doing an internal review of our program and policy to determine if any changes need to take place," Tulsa County sheriff's Maj. Shannon Clark said.”One thing that I think should be changed is that nobody, no matter how experienced, should be in the field and carrying a gun who is 73 years old. Most people I know in my own age range, not just several years older than I am, have forgetfulness and possible confusion. What he exhibited was confusion. He said he reached for his taser but came out with his pistol. Let him do some community relations work or office work if he wants to help and stay active, misses the camaraderie or needs the money.

Now the department has been caught trying to avoid embarrassment by falsifying the records, which just makes this all the more embarrassing. It's shocking that three apparently competent supervisors were “transferred” for refusing to sign off on Bates papers and the Sheriff himself went before the press and vouched for Bates' story. “Bates, a wealthy Tulsa insurance executive, turned himself in Tuesday after being charged on Monday in Harris’ death. He is free on $25,000 bond .... Bates was Glanz’s 2012 re-election campaign manager and also was named reserve deputy of the year in 2011. ” Could it be possible that his status in the town as a wealthy insurance man, or even more interesting, perhaps Bates knows some shameful secret about the Sheriff – was responsible for this complex pattern of subterfuge? Bates and Glanz were apparently very close at any rate.

“The sheriff’s deputy that certified Bates has moved on to work for the Secret Service, Glanz said during the radio interview.” This makes me nervous , too, given the problems that the Secret Service has been having with their employees for the last year. Could this be where they get their officers, perhaps? My, oh my, this is really an intriguing story! I wonder if the White House will be asked by an inquisitive reporter about this.





http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rene-garcia-afp-misleading-mailers

Fla. GOP Sen. Calls Out Koch Group's Lobbyist For 'Misleading' Mailers
ByCAITLIN MACNEAL
PublishedAPRIL 16, 2015

A Republican Florida state senator on Tuesday grilled a lobbyist for Americans for Prosperity about the group's mailers criticizing senators' support for a Medicaid expansion bill, calling the mailers "misleading."

During a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services hearing on Tuesday, state Sen. Rene Garcia said that Americans for Prosperity, a group funded by the Koch brothers, had sent mailers to the residents in his district claiming that Garcia has not addressed the issue of telemedicine.

"Why would your organization send out a mailer in different senate districts saying that we are not having this conversation about telemedicine, when in fact we are?" Garcia asked a lobbyist for the group during the hearing.

AFP lobbyist Melissa Fause responded that AFP had only sent out mailers concerning Medicaid expansion.

AFP sent out mailers at the end of March criticizing numerous Republican state senators for supporting a plan to expand Medicaid in the state. The senate's plan would not follow the expansion model laid out by the Affordable Care Act, but would instead set up a state-run marketplace.

Garcia said that in the Medicaid mailers, AFP had made it seem as though he had not addressed telemedicine and other healthcare issues in the state senate, when he and other senators have discussed those issues in committee meetings.

"Why did you deceive the voters of my district, saying that I had not had those conversations or I was against those issues?" he asked Fause.

"Unfortunately, it seems like maybe our intent didn’t come through in the mailers," Fause responded. "Our message has been the Senate is already engaging in a lot of amazing policies that are going to help deal with some of these issues, and we would rather that the Senate focus on those rather than pursuing this path to Medicaid expansion."

Republican state Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto jumped in to add that she also received one of the mailers in her district.

"Since you’ve put on the record that the Senate is engaged in pursuing some very amazing policies, to quote you, would you mind sending a mailer to all of our constituents that you sent the original mailer to, suggesting we’re engaged in some 'really amazing' policy development and follow up on your comments here at this committee?" Benacquisto asked Fause.

Watch the exchange at The Florida Channel. Garcia begins questioning Fause at the 16:30 mark.




“A Republican Florida state senator on Tuesday grilled a lobbyist for Americans for Prosperity about the group's mailers criticizing senators' support for a Medicaid expansion bill, calling the mailers "misleading." During a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services hearing on Tuesday, state Sen. Rene Garcia said that Americans for Prosperity, a group funded by the Koch brothers, had sent mailers to the residents in his district claiming that Garcia has not addressed the issue of telemedicine. "Why would your organization send out a mailer in different senate districts saying that we are not having this conversation about telemedicine, when in fact we are?" Garcia asked a lobbyist for the group during the hearing. …. AFP sent out mailers at the end of March criticizing numerous Republican state senators for supporting a plan to expand Medicaid in the state. The senate's plan would not follow the expansion model laid out by the Affordable Care Act, but would instead set up a state-run marketplace. …. "Unfortunately, it seems like maybe our intent didn’t come through in the mailers," Fause responded. "Our message has been the Senate is already engaging in a lot of amazing policies that are going to help deal with some of these issues, and we would rather that the Senate focus on those rather than pursuing this path to Medicaid expansion." Republican state Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto jumped in to add that she also received one of the mailers in her district.”

This is really insidious. The famous Koch brothers are messing directly in the writing of laws on an issue that does not even vaguely affect the Coal industry, unless there have been problems with Black Lung that the Koch brothers do not want to pay for? This is like the Catholic organization in the last three or four months – a college I think – which banned the worker's insurance coverage of birth control because of their corporate identity as a religious “person.” I understand, though I disagree, with the Catholic position on abortion, but birth control is not abortion. It's prevention of pregnancy and it helps to keep families out of poverty. This country is really messed up in a number of ways which do actually cause harm to the real “people.” “Of the people, by the people and for the people” should not include the Catholic Church or the Koch brothers.