Tuesday, April 14, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/treasury-secretary-henry-paulson-china-environmental-conservation/

What's more "more dire" than the financial crisis?
CBS NEWS
April 14, 2015

If you ran into Hank Paulson and his wife Wendy on one of their nature walks, you'd never know the power this man once held.

As Treasury Secretary, Paulson helped avert the second Great Depression in 2008 by doling out $700 billion in bail-out money to banks, and guided the nation out of financial crisis. His influence was so great he was called "King Henry."

Today, Paulson is a lifelong conservationist who goes birdwatching with his wife. CBS News correspondent Jan Crawford says he's sounding the alarm on two issues he says are even more critical than the financial crisis: our relationship with China, and the environment.

"As bad as it was with the financial crisis, the United States government was able to come in pretty much at the last minute when there was a crisis and take steps that avoided the worst outcomes. When you look at the climate change crisis, it is cumulative," Paulson said.

He said the situation is "more dire" than the financial crisis because it threatens to "change the way of life as we know it on our planet."

Key to solving the problem is China, where Paulson has more than 25 years of experience, going back to his days as CEO of Goldman Sachs.

Through his work at the Paulson Institute, which he calls a "think and do tank," and in his new book "Dealing with China," he urges the U.S. to engage and cooperate with the communist superpower.

"Stop and think a minute; almost any major global problem, whether we're talking about the environment and climate change, whether we are talking about minimalizing terrorism or nuclear proliferation, all of these things will be easier to solve if we are working with China and more difficult if we are working across purposes with China," Paulson said.

He points out that China will soon have the world's leading economy, knocking the U.S. off the top spot for the first time in a century. With 1.4 billion people and more than half of the new buildings in the world going up in its cities, China also edges out the U.S. in the production of greenhouse gases.

"If they're not successful in dealing with their environmental problems and dealing with climate change, it's going to hurt us all," Paulson said.

The world will feel the impact, he said.

"And I'll tell you, if they can't grow their economy, and if their economy would fail, every single one of our economic problems in my judgment would be more difficult to meet," Paulson said. "So... for all of those who are rooting against China... be careful what you wish for."

He is a man fully engaged. But in his book, Paulson reveals after returning to private life in the aftermath of the financial crisis, he lost his sense of joy and purpose.

"I knew when I asked for and got extraordinary powers and used them in very knowledgeable ways, there was almost certain to be criticism. It's one thing to understand that intellectually. It's another thing to emotionally live it," he said.

Paulson said he eventually came to terms with the criticism. What brought him back was his grandchildren.

"A little granddaughter crawling up on your lap and saying, 'Papa! Your hair! You don't have any hair.'" He told her it had "melted."

But now, at 69 years old, he said he's found his purpose.

"I want my children and my grandchildren to grow up in a safe world, I want them to grow up in a world that is prosperous, that's got a clean environment, and I think that is going to be much more difficult to do if we are at odds with China or if we are at conflict with China," Paulson said. "I am an optimist that we can make it work."

He and Wendy are putting their money behind that mission. Reportedly worth an estimated $800 million, they told me they plan to give away most of their estate to charity to support conservation. Their two kids are fully on board.




“His influence was so great he was called "King Henry." Today, Paulson is a lifelong conservationist who goes birdwatching with his wife. CBS News correspondent Jan Crawford says he's sounding the alarm on two issues he says are even more critical than the financial crisis: our relationship with China, and the environment. …. When you look at the climate change crisis, it is cumulative," Paulson said. He said the situation is "more dire" than the financial crisis because it threatens to "change the way of life as we know it on our planet." …. Through his work at the Paulson Institute, which he calls a "think and do tank," and in his new book "Dealing with China," he urges the U.S. to engage and cooperate with the communist superpower. "Stop and think a minute; almost any major global problem, whether we're talking about the environment and climate change, whether we are talking about minimalizing terrorism or nuclear proliferation, all of these things will be easier to solve if we are working with China and more difficult if we are working across purposes with China," Paulson said. …. He and Wendy are putting their money behind that mission. Reportedly worth an estimated $800 million, they told me they plan to give away most of their estate to charity to support conservation. Their two kids are fully on board.”

"So... for all of those who are rooting against China... be careful what you wish for." China is most disliked in this country by the religious majority, especially for blocking religious freedom there. They are also the largest nation that is communistic rather than capitalistic, and keep a tight reign on individual freedoms among it's citizens. Now that Hong Kong has been turned over to China their elections of a year or so ago were less than democratic, with only a hand-picked group of candidates being approved by the government. The heavy handed crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square was on every news channel in the US and unforgettable, as a very brave young man faced down a government tank before being captured. It looked like a scene from a blockbuster movie.

Since then they have backed the US financially by covering our debts several times in the last ten or so years. We are closely linked with China financially, and they are carrying out the role of a friend rather than an enemy it seems to me. They haven't tried to attack the US, though there was a naval interaction with our ships near South Korea as we held war games, and China has tried to establish some leverage with some other Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea. Just today the leader of the Philippine government warned against China as a threat to the world at large.

The trouble with being one of the three largest nations and economies in the world is that the others will be direct competitors with us. That isn't quite the same things as being enemies. I think North Korea is an enemy, ISIS is an enemy and to a great degree since Russia invaded Ukraine they are also potential enemies. Certainly during the Cold War period they were enemies. If we were ever to face off against Russia I would like to have the Chinese government as friends.

On November 12, 2014 Obama and Beijing signed the Sunnylands Agreement on combating global warming. Go to the website https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/11/us-china-joint-announcement-climate-change for the text. In the opening it states:
“1.     The United States of America and the People’s Republic of China have a critical role to play in combating global climate change, one of the greatest threats facing humanity. The seriousness of the challenge calls upon the two sides to work constructively together for the common good.
2.     To this end, President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation on climate change and will work together, and with other countries, to adopt a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties at the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris in 2015. They are committed to reaching an ambitious 2015 agreement that reflects the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in light of different national circumstances.”

One of the problems with so many of the Republicans in Congress is that they tend to favor US domination over cooperation in world affairs, and they categorically deny that Global Warming is real. They base this information on the Bible and the Koch brothers, whose coal and oil production, and therefore their corporate profits, would be reduced by efforts to cut down on our “carbon footprint.” Their loyal and economically dependent Tea Party congressional representatives have fought all forms of alternative energy sources and the technological changes that would be involved in “scrubbing” the CO2 releases at power plants across the country and the world. The Religious Right is behind them, too, since they believe that in another few years the Apocalypse is coming and all good Christians will be taken up into the air to heaven. The only people left on earth will be the non-Christians, who don't deserve a good world to live in, after all.

The Chinese government will be an even more important friend during the coming efforts to cut CO2 releases because they are a strictly rational and secular society, and do not believe in the Apocalypse. Neither do they allow business owners, however wealthy, to control their government, so the Koch brothers won't rule there. The Paulson Institute is cleverly called a “think and do tank.” It's goal isn't just influencing opinion, but action on environmental issues and the nuclear competitions around the world. Hopefully it will bring real progress rather than just the usual talk. Many people, including me, believe that global disaster is in the works if these problems aren't brought under control. We are already seeing the results of Global Warming, and I'm pleased to see that Obama has joined with China in this agreement. Maybe there's a chance for the future.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/iraqs-al-abadi-appeals-to-obama-for-more-help-against-isis/

Iraq's al-Abadi appeals to Obama for more help against ISIS
AP  April 14, 2015

Photograph – Iraqi Prime Minster Haidar al-Abadi speaks to the press at the airport in Baghdad before leaving to the United States on April 13, 2015.  ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is making an in-person appeal to President Obama on Tuesday for more help defeating the Islamic State militants, hoping recent gains in the fight will encourage more investment from a war-weary United States.

Seven months after al-Abadi's election raised hope in Washington for Iraq's future, he's making his first visit to the Oval Office. Al-Abadi told reporters Monday that the increase in U.S. airstrikes, weapons deliveries and training has helped roll back Islamic State forces, but he needs greater support from the international coalition to "finish" them. "We want to see more," he said.

The White House signaled that more aid could be coming. Last week, Vice President Joe Biden touted momentum in the fight against the Islamic State, and White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday, "If there are specific ideas that Prime Minister Abadi has for stepped-up assistance, then we'll obviously consider them seriously."

"This is a partnership that the United States is obviously invested in," Earnest told reporters Monday. "And our success in working with an inclusive Iraqi government has been important to some of the security gains that Iraq has realized against ISIL in the last few months."

Earlier this month, Iraqi forces and allied Shiite militias, backed by U.S. airstrikes, were able to recapture the city of Tikrit from the Sunni militants in what was the government's first major victory in Iraq's Sunni heartland.

"More efforts to organize, arm and integrate the Sunnis willing to fight ISIL are going to be needed in the months ahead to liberate Anbar and Mosul," the Islamic State's stronghold, Biden said in a speech Thursday at National Defense University previewing al-Abadi's visit. Biden joked that he's spent more time on the phone with the prime minister talking over the issues than he spends talking to his wife.

Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Biden was trying to make the case that it's worth investing more at a time when many Americans feel their country has done enough.

"There's a military campaign that the U.S. is helping wage, but it has more internal problems than I think people on either side are willing to admit," Alterman said. "The reality is what we are trying to do is very difficult, very complicated and many people question how unified we are with the Iraqi government on what we are trying to do."

The U.S. and its coalition allies have carried out nearly 2,000 strikes in Iraq since the campaign against the Islamic State began in August - as well as nearly 1,400 in neighboring Syria. American officials say that while the campaign has made gains, it is likely to stretch on for years.

After years of war, the United States withdrew its forces from Iraq in 2011 but left behind troops to guard the U.S. Embassy. In November, Obama authorized the deployment of up to 1,500 more American troops to bolster Iraqi forces, which could more than double the total number of U.S. forces to 3,100. The Pentagon has made a spending request to Congress of $1.6 billion, focusing on training and arming Iraqi and Kurdish forces. According to a Pentagon document prepared in November, the U.S. is looking to provide an estimated $89.3 million worth of weapons and other equipment to each of the nine Iraqi army brigades.

The U.S. blamed the lack of inclusiveness by al-Abadi's predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, for giving the Islamic State a recruiting tool and had made the formation of a new government a condition for deeper military action to stop the militant group. Obama met al-Abadi at the United Nations shortly after his election and praised him as "the right person to help work with a broad-based coalition of Iraqis," and he said the U.S. supports the new prime minister's "political vision."




“The White House signaled that more aid could be coming. Last week, Vice President Joe Biden touted momentum in the fight against the Islamic State, and White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday, "If there are specific ideas that Prime Minister Abadi has for stepped-up assistance, then we'll obviously consider them seriously." "This is a partnership that the United States is obviously invested in," Earnest told reporters Monday. "And our success in working with an inclusive Iraqi government has been important to some of the security gains that Iraq has realized against ISIL in the last few months." …. "There's a military campaign that the U.S. is helping wage, but it has more internal problems than I think people on either side are willing to admit," Alterman said. "The reality is what we are trying to do is very difficult, very complicated and many people question how unified we are with the Iraqi government on what we are trying to do." …. American officials say that while the campaign has made gains, it is likely to stretch on for years. After years of war, the United States withdrew its forces from Iraq in 2011 but left behind troops to guard the U.S. Embassy. In November, Obama authorized the deployment of up to 1,500 more American troops to bolster Iraqi forces, which could more than double the total number of U.S. forces to 3,100. The Pentagon has made a spending request to Congress of $1.6 billion, focusing on training and arming Iraqi and Kurdish forces. …. The U.S. blamed the lack of inclusiveness by al-Abadi's predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, for giving the Islamic State a recruiting tool and had made the formation of a new government a condition for deeper military action to stop the militant group.”

It's good to see that al-Abadi is not fighting the US' arming of the Kurds, because they have been steadfast soldiers so far and have gained the greatest control over ISIS. All countries in the region need to work together to fight them, including Iran, though Saudi Arabia and others don't trust Iran either. Iran is not as weak and disorganized as many of those nations, so they could be a dangerous enemy. In the efforts against ISIS, however, they are clearly friends with the US, and it is equally clear to me that ISIS is the truly dangerous enemy of all peaceful people. I think we can't afford to hang back and wait to see what happens next. They have made their intentions totally clear, against all other branches of Islam and the Western civilizations as well. It is a relief that a more sensible leader is available in al-Abadi, and hopefully the congressional Republicans won't put up roadblocks against arming them further and even soldiers on the ground if that is what they want.







http://www.cbsnews.com/news/officer-allegedly-manipulated-corpse-of-man-shot-by-cops/

Officer allegedly manipulated corpse of man shot by cops
CBS/AP
April 14, 2015

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A police Medal of Valor winner is under investigation after allegations that he improperly handled the corpse of a man shot by officers - and even joked about tickling his feet.

Senior Officer Aaron Stringer was placed on paid administrative last November, two days after 22-year-old Ramiro Villegas was killed after a car chase, according to a police statement issued Monday. Stringer was under internal investigation over an allegation that he manipulated the body, the statement said, but did not provide details.

Police declined to release additional information Monday.

Villegas' family is described by CBS Bakersfield affiliate KBAK-TV as outraged over the allegations.

Villegas was in his mother's car on Nov. 13 when he fled police, got off a highway and crashed into a signal light pole. Ordered out of the car, he was shot after officers said he approached them and reached toward his waistband. No gun was found.

A claim filed against the city by his mother said Villegas was shot by four officers even though he was nonviolent and had his hands up. The Police Department ruled the shooting was justified.

Stringer wasn't involved in the shooting, but he and a probationary officer he was training went to the scene and then to a hospital to view the body, according to police reports cited by the Bakersfield Californian.

The trainee, Lindy DeGeare, said Villegas's body was covered with a sheet and lying on a gurney. Another officer who was assigned to watch the body described it as having gunshots to the head, eye, arm and genital area, DeGeare told investigators, according to the reports.

Stringer put on gloves, pulled down the sheet to expose Villegas's head and upper body and looked at the wounds. He touched the bottom of Villegas's uncovered feet and said "tickle, tickle," then pulled on the toes of the right foot and said rigor mortis hadn't set in, DeGeare stated.

He also moved Villegas' head and, finding it difficult, said he believed rigor mortis had set in, then told DeGeare he "loves playing with dead bodies" and laughed, according to the reports.

The other officer in the room said he witnessed Stringer touch Villegas' foot and grasp his jaw, according to the reports.

Police Chief Greg Williamson told the Californian on Friday that Stringer's alleged comments were disturbing and that while it is part of an officer's field training to view bodies, touching them is not allowed.

In February, police submitted a criminal report on Stringer's actions to the Kern County district attorney's office but the case was rejected, District Attorney Lisa Green said Monday.

"That isn't a crime, while it may be disgusting," Green said, referring to his alleged manipulation of the body.

"Certainly I think anybody would recognize that's an inappropriate thing to do," Bakersfield Police Sgt. Joe Grubbs told KBAK-TV Monday.

"It is disturbing," Villegas' sister, Sarina Gobzalez, told the station. "And the citizens should be concerned about this, because these are our public offices who are here and sworn to protect us."

Joe Arambulo, who says he's Villegas' brother, told KBAK he wants Bakersfield police to take action.

"If there's not going to be criminal charges, if the D.A. doesn't want to step up and prosecute these officers, then at least take his job," Arambulo said. "Get him off our streets. Don't let him serve the public no more. It's more of a hazard than anything."

Sgt. Grubbs says if the internal investigation finds wrongdoing by Stringer, that process could recommend anything from written reprimand to dismissal from the department.

Villegas' sister asks the police chief to take action.

"It's not OK (Chief) Greg Williamson," she said. "Your community is crying out for justice."

There are laws against desecrating corpses physically and against moving corpses from the place of death without coroner's permission but "he did neither of those," D.A. Green said.

However, Mark Geragos, an attorney for Villegas's mother, said that if Stringer did touch the body before it had been autopsied, that could have consequences for the investigation of the shooting. "Besides it being ghoulish behavior...it's tampering with evidence, obviously," Geragos said.

Geragos said he intends to sue over the killing and will include the allegations of body manipulation.

The Associated Press was unable to find a working telephone number for Stringer. A message seeking comment from him or his attorney was left with the Bakersfield Police Officers Association but not immediately returned.

A message also was left with H. A. Sala, an attorney who represented Stringer after he was arrested on suspicion of hit-and-run and driving under the influence of a prescription sleeping pill in 2010. He pleaded no contest to a "wet and reckless" charge and was fined and ordered to attend a Department of Motor Vehicles class.

Last year, Stringer shot and killed a man who charged at him with a metal bicycle lock. Stringer also holds a 2009 Medal of Valor for saving his partner during a shootout in which both were wounded.

Both shootings were ruled justified by the department.



http://dui-california-arrest.com/dui-california/wet-reckless-california

Wet Reckless California

A Wet Reckless is the nickname for the California Vehicle Code (VC) Section 23103 per VC 23013.5 charge of reckless driving involving alcohol. If the prosecutor feels the DUI case against you has some weaknesses; for example when your breath test or blood test result is close to .08, and if your driving and Field Sobriety Tests are not bad, the prosecutor might offer a plea bargain that is called a Wet Reckless.

A Wet Reckless is really a kinder, gentler DUI, a watered down DUI if you will. It is a 'prior' on your record, which means if you get another DUI in the next 10 years it will be considered your second DUI because the Wet Reckless counts against you just like a first time DUI.

The similarities between a DUI and a Wet Reckless are they both involve probation, fines, an alcohol class, and 2 points on your license record. A Wet Reckless usually means a little less in fines, probation, alcohol program, and no court suspension on your license. It sounds and looks better on your record than a DUI.

The problems with a Wet Reckless are:

It is essentially a DUI on your record
Insurance companies usually treat it as a DUI (leading to much higher insurance rates).

Number of points on your driver's license for a wet reckless, California
Wet Reckless offenses put 2 points on your driver's license.




“A police Medal of Valor winner is under investigation after allegations that he improperly handled the corpse of a man shot by officers - and even joked about tickling his feet. Senior Officer Aaron Stringer was placed on paid administrative last November, two days after 22-year-old Ramiro Villegas was killed after a car chase, according to a police statement issued Monday. Stringer was under internal investigation over an allegation that he manipulated the body, the statement said, but did not provide details. Police declined to release additional information Monday. …. Villegas was in his mother's car on Nov. 13 when he fled police, got off a highway and crashed into a signal light pole. Ordered out of the car, he was shot after officers said he approached them and reached toward his waistband. No gun was found. …. Stringer put on gloves, pulled down the sheet to expose Villegas's head and upper body and looked at the wounds. He touched the bottom of Villegas's uncovered feet and said "tickle, tickle," then pulled on the toes of the right foot and said rigor mortis hadn't set in, DeGeare stated. He also moved Villegas' head and, finding it difficult, said he believed rigor mortis had set in, then told DeGeare he "loves playing with dead bodies" and laughed, according to the reports. The other officer in the room said he witnessed Stringer touch Villegas' foot and grasp his jaw, according to the reports. …. "That isn't a crime, while it may be disgusting," Green said, referring to his alleged manipulation of the body. "Certainly I think anybody would recognize that's an inappropriate thing to do," Bakersfield Police Sgt. Joe Grubbs told KBAK-TV Monday. "It is disturbing," Villegas' sister, Sarina Gobzalez, told the station. "And the citizens should be concerned about this, because these are our public offices who are here and sworn to protect us."

"If there's not going to be criminal charges, if the D.A. doesn't want to step up and prosecute these officers, then at least take his job," Arambulo said. "Get him off our streets. Don't let him serve the public no more. It's more of a hazard than anything." This is exactly my concern, other than anger and disgust, over events like this one. We depend on the police to protect the public, and that means all of the public. Hispanic people are not exempted. If the officers on the scene are mentally deficient or immoral, then they are a danger to the society. The fact that the Police Chief filed a claim against Stringer, but the DA refused to prosecute him, on the grounds that though the action is wrong it is not illegal. He should be fired as a poor representative of the police force. People like that maintaining their jobs on the force make all policemen looks suspicious if not positively corrupt. It proves to me that the police aren't making a real effort to hire top quality officers rather than the ones who like to be abusive. The fact that this suspect was dead already doesn't make it any more acceptable in my eyes. It was a sick action, and Stringer should be fired. People who get a kick out of touching dead bodies aren't normal.

"Besides it being ghoulish behavior...it's tampering with evidence, obviously," Geragos said. Geragos said he intends to sue over the killing and will include the allegations of body manipulation.” There will be more in the news about this case, so perhaps I will see it.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/s-c-officer-charged-in-shooting-puzzled-why-victim-ran/

S.C. officer charged in shooting puzzled why victim ran
CBS/AP
April 13, 2015

Video – Overwhelming turnout for Walter Scott’s funeral

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The white South Carolina police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of a black man can be heard telling his supervisor twice that he didn't understand why the man ran away, according to dashcam video.

That officer, Michael Slager, is in jail and has been fired in the wake of the April 4 shooting death of Walter Scott, 50, who was buried over the weekend. The shooting happened after Slager pulled Scott over for what the officer said was a broken taillight on his Mercedes.

Scott was behind some $18,000 in his child support payments, and family members have said he may have run because he was worried about going back to jail. A warrant had been issued for his arrest.

The shooting was captured on a cellphone camera by a man passing by and became the latest example nationally of an unarmed black man shot by a white police officer, further stirring outrage.

The shooting was not captured by Slager's dashboard camera, which shows what appears to be a routine traffic stop until Scott takes off running. But the cellphone video shows Slager firing eight times at Scott.

SLED has released almost 13 hours of dashcam video from the cruisers of the five officers who responded to the scene.

State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry said Monday that the actions of all North Charleston officers at the scene are being reviewed. Any findings will be forwarded to a local prosecutor.

On one video, Slager can be heard answering a call on his cellphone.

"Everything's OK, OK?" he tells the caller. "I just shot somebody."

He also tells the caller: "He grabbed my Taser, yeah. He was running from me." The officer initially said after the shooting that Scott had tried to take his Taser, and the man who recorded the shooting on his cellphone said he started recording after noticing a scuffle.

Slager can later be heard on the video talking to an officer Berry identified as his supervisor.

"I'm sure SLED will be on the way," the supervisor says. "Once they get here, it will be real quick. They're going to tell you you'll be off a couple of days, we'll come back and interview you. They're not going to ask you any questions right now. They'll take your weapon and we'll go from there."

The supervisor suggests to Slager, "When you get home it would probably be a good idea to kind of jot down your thoughts on what happened - the adrenalin is just pumping."

"It's pumping," Slager responds, and they both laugh.

Then there is a pause for a few seconds, and Slager speaks again, softly:
"I don't understand why he took off like that."

Another short pause.

"I don't understand why he'd run."

On Monday a small group of protesters blocked a main avenue in North Charleston and the entrance to City Hall.

Attorney Malik Shabazz, the president of Black Lawyers for Justice, also appeared in front of City Hall, calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the incident. He said his group will do its own investigation and hold a national town hall meeting next weekend on race and police practices.

Black Lawyers for Justice has brought a $40 million lawsuit alleging Ferguson, Missouri, and St. Louis County used excessive force and falsely arrested innocent bystanders to quell widespread unrest after the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old man by a white police officer last year.

Shabazz said whether a lawsuit is brought in South Carolina depends on what his investigation turns up.

At Scott's funeral, The Rev. George Hamilton, a minister at W.O.R.D. Ministries, told the overflow crowd the shooting "was an act motivated by overt racism," and that Slager was a disgrace to the North Charleston Police Department.




“Slager can later be heard on the video talking to an officer Berry identified as his supervisor. I'm sure SLED will be on the way," the supervisor says. "Once they get here, it will be real quick. They're going to tell you you'll be off a couple of days, we'll come back and interview you. They're not going to ask you any questions right now. They'll take your weapon and we'll go from there." he supervisor suggests to Slager, "When you get home it would probably be a good idea to kind of jot down your thoughts on what happened - the adrenalin is just pumping." It's pumping," Slager responds, and they both laugh. Then there is a pause for a few seconds, and Slager speaks again, softly: "I don't understand why he took off like that." Another short pause. "I don't understand why he'd run."

In discussing this killing, which looked absolutely cold-blooded to me, Slager and his supervisor laughed at the pumping adrenalin. Could that mean that killing Scott was exciting and even enjoyable to Slager? I think it does. In the video, rather than chasing after Scott as his police chief said he should have, he took a marksman's stance and calmly pumped half a dozen bullets into him, then picked up what looked like his taser and dropped it by the body. Clearly Slager did not expect to be fired for the action, or feel any remorse. Keeping cold blooded killers on the police forces of the nation endangers our whole society. Policemen need to be mature, respectful, courageous, ethical and intelligent. When they act like this I doubt that they are any of those things.

There was a statement on Facebook yesterday that was thought provoking. “Not all police are bad, not all blacks are criminals.... Don't label.” That's a true statement, but until those police who do behave with cruelty and abusiveness are punished for their actions I will continue to clip these stories. Each one is different, but they all have several things in common. Usually the officer was alone rather than with a partner, shot first and asked questions later, and claimed that he “feared for his life.” Unfortunately that is the excuse du jour that works with the average DA to keep the officer from being punished.





http://www.newnownext.com/nancy-reagan-i-want-hillary-clinton-to-be-president/04/2015/

Nancy Reagan: I Want Hillary Clinton To Be President
April 10, 2015 ● by Dan Avery

Nancy Reagan (yes, she’s still alive) probably surprised some staunch conservatives with her early endorsement for the next president of the United States.

Appearing in the History Channel’s fall series First Ladies in Their Own Words, the actress-turned-FLOTUS poo-pooed the GOP contenders and staked her claim on Hillary Clinton.

“The time for a woman to serve as our President has come – really, now is the time – and I think the idea of having a former First Lady as the leader of the free world is really quite a marvelous notion,” she said in a clip from the series shared at a recent promo event.

“I want Hillary to win. Even though I admire two of the current potential Republican nominees, I have no interest in seeing either of them lead this country.”

Son Ron Reagan hosts the show, which explores the evolving role of the president’s wife in the culture, the country and the globe.  “Hopefully, this program can show that no matter how divisive the nation was during the Presidency, the First Ladies of this nation knew their job was to soften the rhetoric by loving all Americans equally – just like a mother would,” says Ron.

Of course his dad, Ronald Reagan, was not exactly known for loving all equally.

Ron also revealed that Hillary’s presumed bid for the White House was inspired by her Republican successors. “Hillary had no interest in running until both Laura and Barbara Bush cornered her at their get-together in May 2013 and talked her into at least thinking about it!” he revealed.

Well, at least we’d have one nice thing to come from the Bush family.

h/t: Drudge Report



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/patti-davis-nancy-reagan-gay-marriage_n_3100166.html

Patti Davis, Daughter Of Nancy Reagan, Says Her Mother Supports Gay Marriage
Michelangelo Signorile
 04/25/2013

Patti Davis, the daughter of former President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan, made headlines two weeks ago when she said her father would have backed same-sex marriage. Now, in a new interview, she says that her mother, who rarely speaks on public policy issues, supports marriage equality.

“She does,” Davis said when asked if the former first lady supports gay marriage, adding that her mother “is not comfortable going out in the public eye and getting in the firing line of anything,” and also noting with a chuckle that “if she had disagreed with what I said publicly about my father, she would have said something publicly.”(Scroll down to listen to the full interview) 

Davis also addressed comments by her adopted half-brother, radio talk talk show host Michael Reagan, who’d written an op-ed piece a day before her comments about President Reagan and gay marriage in which he attacked same-sex marriage and said it could lead to acceptance of bestiality, polygamy and even murder. Michael Reagan later also sharply disagreed with Davis’ contention that their father would have supported gay marriage.

“In his rant, in that op-ed, he didn’t talk about our father once, and I thought that was very telling, because he always talks about our father,” Davis said in an interview on my SiriusXM OutQ radio program, which she appeared on to discuss her new novel, which is centered around a lesbian romance, Till Human Voices Wake Us. “That op-ed, that written thing equating gay people with murderers and people who engage in bestiality or whatever, it’s all such ugly stuff and if Michael were the only person saying that, you can say, ‘OK, whatever.’ But there are other people who feel this way and who lump gay people in with people who have sex with donkeys and farm animals. This is just horrific. Our father would in no way tolerate that kind of ugly talk and that kind of hateful speech.”

Davis noted that Michael Reagan lived with her and her parents while gay friends and family members were present and were accepted by the former president and first lady, and thus she believes her brother knows that her father privately supported gay people.

“Michael came to live with us for a while when he was a young teenager and he knew the same people that I knew,” she explained. “And he knew the tolerance. And he knew the two aunts that babysat us. He knew they were around. They were around at holidays and it was completely accepted that they were a couple.”

Nonetheless, Ronald Reagan has been sharply criticized by LGBT and AIDS activists for bowing to religious conservatives in the Republican Party, holding back gay rights, and catastrophically failing in responding to the AIDS epidemic early on, not mentioning the word AIDS until the late 80s, well after thousands had been infected with HIV and died.

“Part of the reason I thought it was important to say that about my father,” Davis said regarding her belief that he would support gay marriage, “is that he was late in addressing the AIDS issue. I wished I’d asked him that before the Alzheimer’s, if he’d regretted that he was late in addressing the epidemic. I’m quite certain he would have said that yes he was. You know, my father’s flaw was not that he was intolerant. His flaw was that he trusted the people around him. And I’m not excusing him. I’m just saying this as a fact. He trusted people around him to tell him what was going on in the country that he needed to address. There were people around him that did not want him to deal with any issue that had to deal with gay people.”




www.newnownext.com – “The time for a woman to serve as our President has come – really, now is the time – and I think the idea of having a former First Lady as the leader of the free world is really quite a marvelous notion,” she said in a clip from the series shared at a recent promo event. “I want Hillary to win. Even though I admire two of the current potential Republican nominees, I have no interest in seeing either of them lead this country.” Son Ron Reagan hosts the show, which explores the evolving role of the president’s wife in the culture, the country and the globe.  “Hopefully, this program can show that no matter how divisive the nation was during the Presidency, the First Ladies of this nation knew their job was to soften the rhetoric by loving all Americans equally – just like a mother would,” says Ron.

This information that Barbara and Laura Bush talked Hillary into making a run in 2016 is important. It tells me that though the far right wing is most often heard making inflammatory and culturally biased comments these days, the more moderate members of the Republican Party are still around. One of the things that makes me feel better about this blatant and open grab for power in every way by the Tea Party group – that is snarling the lines of progress in the Congress and Senate, and poisoning state legislatures with unconstitutional laws against the citizenry of this country – is the fact that moderates still exist and in a number of cases have spoken out against the racist and highly undesirable positions of the far right. We do still have a tradition of fairness in government in this country, and many who consider themselves to be Republicans can care about religion and public order without going in for Dominionism, unchecked racism or a takeover by modern-day storm troopers from within. There are radicals who hold those views, but they probably don't dominate the entire society yet. It is clear to me, though, that Democrats and others who believe in what I consider to be “the American Way” will stand up and fight for human rights.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-low-wage-employers-cost-taxpayers-153-billion-a-year/

​How low-wage employers cost taxpayers $153B a year
By AIMEE PICCHI MONEYWATCH
April 13, 2015

Here's a stark number for understanding how low-wage employers are relying on the kindness of taxpayers: $153 billion.

That's the annual bill that state and federal governments are footing for working families making poverty-level wages at big corporations such as Walmart (WMT) and McDonald's (MCD), according to a new study from the University of California Berkeley Labor Center. Because these workers are paid so little, they are increasingly turning to government aid programs such as food stamps to keep them from dire poverty, the study found.

While McDonald's and Walmart have vowed to raise wages, that's come after intense political pressure from advocacy groups such as the Fight for $15, which is urging legislation and private-sector change to push the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. While the cost of living has continued to rise, the baseline hourly rate has remained at $7.25 since 2009. At the same time, the post-recession years have created more low-wage jobs than higher-paid ones, adding 1.85 million more Americans to the ranks of poorly paid workers.

"When companies pay too little for workers to provide for their families, workers rely on public assistance programs to meet their basic needs," Ken Jacobs, chair of the labor center and co-author of the new report, said in a statement. "This creates significant cost to the states."

McDonald's and Walmart didn't immediately return requests for comment about the research.

Real hourly wages of the median American worker were only 5 percent higher in 2013 than in 1975, the report found. For the lowest paid workers, those in the bottom decile of earners, their wages were actually 5 percent lower than in 1975. Altogether, many middle- and low-wage American workers are suffering from stagnating or falling income.

The trend toward employer cuts in benefits is adding to the crisis, the report found. The share of non-elderly Americans receiving insurance from an employer has declined to 58.4 percent in 2013, down from 67 percent a decade ago.

When those trends are added together, it boils down to a concentration of low-paid, struggling workers, who are increasingly relying on the government to put food on the table and pay for health coverage. Almost three-quarters of enrollees in the country's biggest public support programs are members of working families, the study found.

Taxpayers come into the gap by providing more than $152.8 billion a year in funding for working families receiving four key antipoverty programs: Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, food stamps, and the earned-income tax credit.

While workers in a number of occupations rely on government aid to get by, three occupations have particularly high percentages of workers who need taxpayer help. About 52 percent of fast-food workers rely on public assistance, followed by 48 percent of home-care workers and 46 percent of child-care workers.

The study didn't include changes in Medicaid enrollment since the Affordable Care Act, since that data wasn't available. The expansion under ACA extended coverage to low-income adults under 65 years of age in 28 states in Washington, D.C.

Low-wage workers even include highly educated Americans, such as adjunct professors who typically earn between $20,000 to $25,000 per year and don't receive benefits or job security, despite holding advanced degrees. Labor activists are planning rallies at college campuses, as well as at fast food restaurants, on April 15 to urge employers and policy makers to raise the baseline wage.




“That's the annual bill that state and federal governments are footing for working families making poverty-level wages at big corporations such as Walmart (WMT) and McDonald's (MCD), according to a new study from the University of California Berkeley Labor Center. Because these workers are paid so little, they are increasingly turning to government aid programs such as food stamps to keep them from dire poverty, the study found. …. While the cost of living has continued to rise, the baseline hourly rate has remained at $7.25 since 2009. At the same time, the post-recession years have created more low-wage jobs than higher-paid ones, adding 1.85 million more Americans to the ranks of poorly paid workers. …. Real hourly wages of the median American worker were only 5 percent higher in 2013 than in 1975, the report found. For the lowest paid workers, those in the bottom decile of earners, their wages were actually 5 percent lower than in 1975. Altogether, many middle- and low-wage American workers are suffering from stagnating or falling income. …. The share of non-elderly Americans receiving insurance from an employer has declined to 58.4 percent in 2013, down from 67 percent a decade ago. When those trends are added together, it boils down to a concentration of low-paid, struggling workers, who are increasingly relying on the government to put food on the table and pay for health coverage. Almost three-quarters of enrollees in the country's biggest public support programs are members of working families, the study found. .… About 52 percent of fast-food workers rely on public assistance, followed by 48 percent of home-care workers and 46 percent of child-care workers.”

“Low-wage workers even include highly educated Americans, such as adjunct professors who typically earn between $20,000 to $25,000 per year and don't receive benefits or job security, despite holding advanced degrees. Labor activists are planning rallies at college campuses, as well as at fast food restaurants, on April 15 to urge employers and policy makers to raise the baseline wage.” With all the bad news in this article, I'm glad to see another sign that Labor is waking up and meeting the challenges of the time. It is clever on their part to go to college campuses to recruit members. College students are always interested in causes for the poor and disenfranchised, and besides, in another four years they will be out on the pavement themselves looking for work. They should also go to public places where people gather in each city and organize there, not based on specific industries as in the past nor on places of employment, but on a broad-based thrust toward governmental bodies where laws are being made about income disparities. I won't say it's time for “the revolution,” but for the gathering of the poor and middle class into a mobile and active power group that will march for labor issues the way the civil rights movement has always marched for racial equality. I think there may be enough people in dire circumstances economically now to make that work. Maybe instead of the Democratic Party we now need a Labor Party as Britain has had for years. At any rate, I want to see progress and a lessening of the poverty that is gripping this country.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/13/399338834/new-survey-shows-the-worlds-most-and-least-religious-places

New Survey Shows The World's Most And Least Religious Places
Krishnadev Calamur
April 13 2015

Sixty-three percent of people who took part in a global survey of religious attitudes say they are religious,according to WIN/Gallup International, the organization that carried out the polling.

The poll also found that 22 percent said they were not religious while about 11 percent said they were "convinced atheists," according to the poll published today. It surveyed nearly 64,000 people in 65 countries.

Africa and MENA, a region comprised of Middle East and North Africa, were the most religious areas, with more than 80 percent of respondents saying they consider themselves religious. Here is a map of the five most religious countries and places.

In the U.S., 56 percent of people described themselves as religious.

Meanwhile, Western Europe and Oceania were the only regions where about half of those surveyed said they were either not religious or were convinced atheists. The five least religious places can be seen on this map.

The findings also showed that people under the age of 34 tend to be slightly more religious than those from other age groups. Those without an education are the most religious (80 percent), though the religious are a majority among all educational levels, WIN/Gallup said.

Here's a note on the methodology from the polling firm:

"A total of 63,898 persons were interviewed globally. In each country a representative sample of around 1000 men and women was interviewed either face to face (31 countries; n=33862), via telephone (12 countries; n=9784) or online (22 countries; n=20356). Details are attached. The field work was conducted during September 2014 - December 2014. The margin of error for the survey is between 2.14 and 4.45 +3-5% at 95% confidence level.

"The global average has been computed according to the share of the covered adult population of the surveyed countries."



http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

Summary of Key Findings

“An extensive new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life details statistics on religion in America and explores the shifts taking place in the U.S. religious landscape. Based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans age 18 and older, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey finds that religious affiliation in the U.S. is both very diverse and extremely fluid.

Key Findings and Statistics on Religion in America

More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.

The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.

The Landscape Survey confirms that the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country; the number of Americans who report that they are members of Protestant denominations now stands at barely 51%. Moreover, the Protestant population is characterized by significant internal diversity and fragmentation, encompassing hundreds of different denominations loosely grouped around three fairly distinct religious traditions - evangelical Protestant churches (26.3% of the overall adult population), mainline Protestant churches (18.1%) and historically black Protestant churches (6.9%).

While those Americans who are unaffiliated with any particular religion have seen the greatest growth in numbers as a result of changes in affiliation, Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes. While nearly one-in-three Americans (31%) were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%) describe themselves as Catholic. These losses would have been even more pronounced were it not for the offsetting impact of immigration. The Landscape Survey finds that among the foreign-born adult population, Catholics outnumber Protestants by nearly a two-to-one margin (46% Catholic vs. 24% Protestant); among native-born Americans, on the other hand, the statistics show that Protestants outnumber Catholics by an even larger margin (55% Protestant vs. 21% Catholic). Immigrants are also disproportionately represented among several world religions in the U.S., including Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Although there are about half as many Catholics in the U.S. as Protestants, the number of Catholics nearly rivals the number of members of evangelical Protestant churches and far exceeds the number of members of both mainline Protestant churches and historically black Protestant churches. The U.S. also includes a significant number of members of the third major branch of global Christianity - Orthodoxy - whose adherents now account for 0.6% of the U.S. adult population. American Christianity also includes sizeable numbers of Mormons (1.7% of the adult population), Jehovah's Witnesses (0.7%) and other Christian groups (0.3%).

Like the other major groups, people who are unaffiliated with any particular religion (16.1%) also exhibit remarkable internal diversity. Although one-quarter of this group consists of those who describe themselves as either atheist or agnostic (1.6% and 2.4% of the adult population overall, respectively), the majority of the unaffiliated population (12.1% of the adult population overall) is made up of people who simply describe their religion as "nothing in particular." This group, in turn, is fairly evenly divided between the "secular unaffiliated," that is, those who say that religion is not important in their lives (6.3% of the adult population), and the "religious unaffiliated," that is, those who say that religion is either somewhat important or very important in their lives (5.8% of the overall adult population).

Even smaller religions in the U.S. reflect considerable internal diversity. For instance, most Jews (1.7% of the overall adult population) identify with one of three major groups: Reform, Conservative or Orthodox Judaism. Similarly, more than half of Buddhists (0.7% of the overall adult population) belong to one of three major groups within Buddhism: Zen, Theravada or Tibetan Buddhism. Muslims (0.6% of the overall adult population) divide primarily into two major groups: Sunni and Shia.”


FOR FURTHER READING GO TO THE WEBSITE ABOVE.

GALLUP – “Sixty-three percent of people who took part in a global survey of religious attitudes say they are religious,according to WIN/Gallup International, the organization that carried out the polling. The poll also found that 22 percent said they were not religious while about 11 percent said they were "convinced atheists," according to the poll published today. It surveyed nearly 64,000 people in 65 countries. …. Africa and MENA, a region comprised of Middle East and North Africa, were the most religious areas, with more than 80 percent of respondents saying they consider themselves religious. …. In the U.S., 56 percent of people described themselves as religious. Meanwhile, Western Europe and Oceania were the only regions where about half of those surveyed said they were either not religious or were convinced atheists.”

PEW – The Landscape Survey confirms that the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country; the number of Americans who report that they are members of Protestant denominations now stands at barely 51%. Moreover, the Protestant population is characterized by significant internal diversity and fragmentation, encompassing hundreds of different denominations loosely grouped around three fairly distinct religious traditions - evangelical Protestant churches (26.3% of the overall adult population), mainline Protestant churches (18.1%) and historically black Protestant churches (6.9%).”

Only 56% of Americans consider themselves to be religious, but they are making a loud noise in the Congress and state houses as they try to change the US government from a democracy to a Christian dominion whose laws are not based on enlightened political philosophers and the leaders who founded our country,but on the Bible. That won't suit everybody. If 56% percent of us are religious, there will be a sizable minority who are Atheist. Of those who are religious, most will be Jewish, Islamic, and scattered Asians who are Buddhist or other different religions.

The Pew article above shows that Catholics and entirely different religions are approaching dominance over Evangelical Christians, who are the main ones behind the current right wing political swing of the Tea Party. Many liberals are agnostic, ethical humanists, etc., much more interested in philosophy than a deity. Of course there almost certainly are atheists who are also right wing racists.

I doubt that all racists and militants would claim to be religious, but some do. There is one “church” called the Christian Identity Church, and they are neo-Nazis with a great hatred for Jews and blacks. There was a very good and chilling documentary about a news group who went to that church and filmed the “sermon.” It was a hideous rant against Jews. People like that tend to be on the right fringe politically. These two articles make me feel somewhat better about the push to install Christianity as the national religion. That would take a true revolution, of course. I don't think there are enough Evangelical Christians to vote that very divisive viewpoint into law. If they were clever enough to put their members into positions of power in the military or to declare martial law, as some have already suggested, it could perhaps be done without a public alarm being raised. As long as Huffington Post, Daily Kos, SPLC, and other activist groups are able to operate on the Internet I don't think that will happen.