Saturday, 5/23/15


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nsa-surveillance-programs-suffer-setback-in-senate/

NSA surveillance programs suffer setback in Senate
CBS/AP
May 23, 2015

Related article:
New Attorney General Loretta Lynch defends Patriot Act, NSA

WASHINGTON -- The Senate struggled unsuccessfully to prevent an interruption in critical government surveillance programs early Saturday, blocking a House-passed bill and several short-term extensions of the USA Patriot Act.

The main stumbling block was a House-passed provision, called the USA Freedom Act, to end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of domestic phone records. Instead, the records would remain with telephone companies subject to a case-by-case review.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., favored retaining the program, but fellow Kentuckian Rand Paul, a Republican presidential contender, blocked any extension, no matter how brief, past the midnight May 31 expiration.

The Republican presidential contender wrote about it on Twitter. “The Senate has refused to reauthorize bulk data collection. I am proud to have stood up for the Bill of Rights. But our fight is not over.” Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 23, 2015

Finally, McConnell announced early Saturday that the Senate would begin a weeklong Memorial Day break and return on Sunday, May 31, just hours before the programs lapse.

The White House has pressured the Senate to back the House bill, which drew an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote last week and had the backing of GOP leaders, Democrats and the libertarian-leaning members.

"For those who want reform and want to prevent the government from holding the data, the Freedom Act is the only way to do it," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. "The House has passed it. The president wants it. All of the intelligence personnel have agreed to it."

But the Senate blocked the bill on a vote of 57-42, short of the 60-vote threshold to move ahead.

That was immediately followed by rejection of a two-month extension to the existing programs. The vote was 54-45, again short of the 60-vote threshold.

McConnell repeatedly asked for an even shorter renewal of current law, ticking down days from June 8 to June 2. But opponents of the post-Sept. 11 law objected each time.

Whatever the Senate approves must be passed by the House, which has left Washington for the Memorial Day break.

Officials say they will lose valuable surveillance tools if the Senate fails to go along with the House. But key Republican senators, including McConnell, oppose the House approach.

In the near term, the Justice Department has said the NSA would begin winding down its collection of domestic calling records this week if the Senate fails to act because the collection takes time to halt.

What will happen to the surveillance programs if Congress doesn't pass a bill:

If The Law Expires

At issue is a section of the Patriot Act, Section 215, used by the government to justify secretly collecting the "to and from" information about nearly every American landline telephone call. For technical and bureaucratic reasons, the program was not collecting a large chunk of mobile calling records, which made it less effective as fewer people continued to use landlines.

When former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the program in 2013, many Americans were outraged that NSA had their calling records. President Obama ultimately announced a plan similar to the Freedom Act and asked Congress to pass it. He said the plan would preserve the NSA's ability to hunt for domestic connections to international plots without having an intelligence agency hold millions of Americans' private records.

Since it gave the government extraordinary powers, Section 215 of the Patriot Act was designed to expire at midnight on May 31 unless Congress renews it.

Under the USA Freedom Act, the government would transition over six months to a system under which it queries the phone companies with known terrorists' numbers to get back a list of numbers that had been in touch with a terrorist number.

But if Section 215 expires without replacement, the government would lack the blanket authority to conduct those searches. There would be legal methods to hunt for connections in U.S. phone records to terrorists, said current and former U.S. officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But those methods would not be applicable in every case.

What About The Other Parts Of The Law?

Far less attention has been paid to two other surveillance authorities that expire at midnight May 31. One makes it easier for the FBI to track "lone wolf" terrorism suspects who have no connection to a foreign power, and another allows the government to eavesdrop on suspects who continuously discard their cellphones in an effort to avoid surveillance.

They have been used frequently, and there is no meaningful opposition to them in Congress.

If those were to go away, FBI Director James Comey said, it would set back the bureau at a time when domestic threats are on the rise.

The so-called "roving wiretap" provision allows the FBI to get a warrant to target the communications of a person rather than a device, to account for a suspect who frequently discards "burner" phones. The lone wolf provision allows the government to use national security authorities to track a terror suspect even if he or she has no obvious connection to a foreign power.

Briefing reporters Friday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest urged the Senate to act. "The way to eliminate the risk of these critically important national security authorities from lapsing is to pass the USA Freedom Act," he said.

Senate Maneuvers
Sen. Richard Burr, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has floated a plan that would essentially dare the House to let the law expire.

As a compromise, Burr wants to extend current law between 5 days and a month to give the House time to pass the Senate bill. Then he would have the NSA transition to the system envisioned by the USA Freedom Act. But he would allow the transition to take more time - two years, not six months.




“Finally, McConnell announced early Saturday that the Senate would begin a week-long Memorial Day break and return on Sunday, May 31, just hours before the pro-grams lapse. The White House has pressured the Senate to back the House bill, which drew an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote last week and had the backing of GOP leaders, Democrats and the libertarian-leaning members. …. Under the USA Freedom Act, the government would transition over six months to a system under which it queries the phone companies with known terrorists' numbers to get back a list of numbers that had been in touch with a terrorist number. But if Section 215 expires without replacement, the government would lack the blanket authority to conduct those searches. …. Far less attention has been paid to two other surveillance authorities that expire at midnight May 31. One makes it easier for the FBI to track "lone wolf" terrorism suspects who have no connection to a foreign power, and an-other allows the government to eavesdrop on suspects who continuously discard their cellphones in an effort to avoid surveillance. The so-called "roving wiretap" provi-sion allows the FBI to get a warrant to target the communications of a person rather than a device, to account for a suspect who frequently discards "burner" phones. The lone wolf provision allows the government to use national security authorities to track a terror suspect even if he or she has no obvious connection to a foreign pow-er.”

As long as the government does have to get a warrant, either for a person or a de-vice, and as long as they can go to the telephone company which would hold the data with that warrant when they need to, I think our need to track dangerous people is met, and it seems to me that we will be protected from a huge “big brother file” of information about all Americans being held at close hand by our government to be used against political enemies. That’s what we all fear, of course, especially when some Tea Party candidates are trying openly to set up our government with an estab-lished Christian religion – for Heaven’s Sake -- and one of the rightwingers actually suggesting a law to require church attendance on Sundays. I am glad that Snowden broke the cover on our USA Patriot based practice, though he is now serving a seri-ous penalty. I hope he will be pardoned and allowed to come home without going to prison or worse.

See the article below on the reason for my increasing paranoia about the rightwing encroachments on our reasonable and just set of laws, which is yet to become more than a work in progress even without the political warfare which has developed. Follow my lead and encourage Bernie Sanders in his run for the presidency.


http://www.inquisitr.com/1961524/mandatory-church-attendance-suggestion-by-state-senator-meets-with-shock-and-disbelief/

Mandatory Church Attendance Suggestion By State Senator Meets With Shock And Disbelief
Posted: March 27, 2015

According to the Christian Science Monitor, Arizona State Republican Senator Sylvia Allen suggested if a law existed for mandatory church attendance, it could possibly help reverse “moral erosion” in America.

The senator was in a televised committee debate earlier this week about a concealed weapons bill when she made the statement about mandatory church attendance. Senator Allen explained why she thought mandatory church attendance might help minimize crimes. She said America needs a moral rebirth in order to keep people from feeling the need to carry a weapon. Allen believes that since there is a moral erosion of the soul, mandatory church is the answer for all Americans.

While the 67-year-old senator might have meant well when she made that suggestion, it is highly unlikely that such a law will be passed. Here’s why.

Mandatory church attendance is unconstitutional.

The New York Daily News reported that the senator went so far as to detail a solution that she believed would keep people feeling safe without the need to carry a gun. She indicated that even though it would violate the Constitution in reference to separation of church and state, she wanted a mandatory law that requires people to go to church. Allen contends that the soul is corrupt, and “we are slowly eroding religion at every opportunity that we have.”

Experts in constitutional law and religious leaders agree that mandatory church attendance will not be the answer, because the government cannot force people to attend church. Even if people attend church, who says they still won’t carry guns?

Democratic Senator Steve Farley of Tucson was at that same meeting. He expressed his opinion that Senator Allen’s suggestion goes against the United States Constitution. He posted Allen’s comments on social media, and readers were shocked, and some were outraged over the suggestion that there should be mandatory church attendance for all Americans.

Instead of people agreeing with Senator Allen, she is being mocked for her suggestion. Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini mocked the senator’s suggestion on Thursday by writing a sarcastic letter to God about idea of mandatory church attendance. He started off his letter with the beginning words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father who art in heaven.” He ridiculed Allen’s suggestion throughout the letter and concluded with the words, “God help us.”

What do you think about mandatory church attendance? Would you go to church if you were forced to do so, or would you rebel against the law?





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ireland-same-sex-marriage-approval/

Resounding result in Ireland's vote on same-sex marriage
AP May 23, 2015

DUBLIN -- Ireland has voted resoundingly to legalize same-sex marriage in the world's first national vote on the issue, leaders on both sides of the Irish referendum declared Saturday even as official ballot counting continued.

Senior figures from the "no" campaign, who sought to prevent Ireland's constitution from being amended to permit same-sex marriages, say the only question is how large the "yes" side's margin of victory will be from Friday's vote.

"We're the first country in the world to enshrine marriage equality in our constitution and do so by popular mandate. That makes us a beacon, a light to the rest of the world of liberty and equality. So it's a very proud day to be Irish," said Leo Varadkar, a Cabinet minister who came out as gay at the start of a government-led effort to amend Ireland's conservative Catholic constitution.

"There is going to be a very substantial majority for a yes vote. I'm not at all surprised by that to be honest with you," said Irish Sen. Ronan Mullen, one of only a handful of politicians who campaigned for rejection.

Political analyst Noel Whelan noted that "yes" majorities were being reported even in conservative rural districts and suggested the only question was how large the "yes" majority would be when all ballots in this predominantly Catholic nation of 4.6 million are counted.

Varadkar, who personally watched the votes being tabulated at the County Dublin ballot center, said the Irish capital looks to have voted around 70 percent in favor of same-sex marriage, while most districts outside the capital also were reporting strong "yes" leads. He said not a single district yet had reported a "no" majority. Official results come later Saturday.

The anti-same-sex marriage side credited "yes" campaigners with running a creative, compelling campaign that harnessed the power of social media to mobilize young voters, tens of thousands of whom voted for the first time Friday. They also said a "no" victory was always unlikely given that all political parties and most politicians backed the legalization of homosexual unions, just five years after parliament approved marriage-style civil partnerships for gay couples.

Fianna Fail party leader Michael Martin, whose party is traditionally closest to the Catholic Church but like all other parties campaigned to legalize same-sex marriage, said it "looks like an emphatic win for the yes side." Voters in his native Cork were being recorded by observers as more than 60 percent yes.

John Lyons, one of the four openly gay lawmakers in Ireland's 166-member parliament, said he was surprised by how many older voters he met on the campaign trail who were voting yes. But he paid special credit to the mobilization of younger voters, many of whom traveled home from work or studies abroad to vote.

"Most of the young people I canvassed with have never knocked on a door in their lives," said Lyons, who represents northwest Dublin in parliament. "This says something about modern Ireland. Let's never underestimate the electorate or what they think."




“Ireland has voted resoundingly to legalize same-sex marriage in the world's first national vote on the issue, leaders on both sides of the Irish referendum declared Saturday even as official ballot counting continued. …. Political analyst Noel Whelan noted that "yes" majorities were being reported even in conservative rural districts and suggested the only question was how large the "yes" majority would be when all ballots in this predominantly Catholic nation of 4.6 million are counted. …. The anti-same-sex marriage side credited "yes" campaigners with running a creative, compelling campaign that harnessed the power of social media to mobilize young voters, tens of thousands of whom voted for the first time Friday. …. John Lyons, one of the four openly gay lawmakers in Ireland's 166-member parliament, said he was surprised by how many older voters he met on the campaign trail who were voting yes. But he paid special credit to the mobilization of younger voters, many of whom traveled home from work or studies abroad to vote. …. "This says something about modern Ireland. Let's never underestimate the electorate or what they think."

Who Irelanders are and what they think is simply not discussed much in the news since the war with Britain in the 1970s, and I did assume that they were very conservative thinkers who cling to ancient traditions like some of the USA mountaineers do. Not so, apparently. They are well-educated with college degrees (see Wikipedia articles on Irish education below). They are second only to Cyprus in the percentage of degree holders among all the EU nations – not England or Sweden. I really got carried away below in researching Ireland, but between the ancient stone monuments and the magnificently green countryside and climate, the articles were fascinating to me. I do wish I could visit there in person.



Religion in the Republic of Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“In 2011, 84.2% of the population identified themselves as Roman Catholic, 2.6% less than 5 years earlier, although the number of Catholics increased by 179,889.[1] The second largest Christian denomination, the Church of Ireland (Anglican), declined in membership for most of the twentieth century, but has more recently experienced an increase, as have other small Christian denominations. Other significant Protestant denominations are the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, followed by the Methodist Church in Ireland. The country's Hindu and Muslim populations have experienced significant growth in recent years, due chiefly to immigration.[2]

In the 2011 census, 7.6% of the population had no religion or did not indicate a reli-gious belief.[1] Researchers debate the relative significance of secularisation as a gen-eral feature of Irish society,[3] the interpretation of census results [4] and the extent to which religious syncretism is becoming more widespread.[5] Syncretism (/ˈsɪŋkrətɪzəm/) is the combining of different, often seemingly contradictory beliefs, while melding practices of various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merger and analogizing of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclu-sive approach to other faiths. Syncretism also occurs commonly in expressions of arts and culture (known as eclecticism) as well as politics (syncretic politics).
Education[edit]
See also: Education in the Republic of Ireland

Despite a large number of schools in Ireland being run by religious organizations, a general trend of secularism is occurring within the Irish population, particularly in the younger generations.[6] Many efforts have been made by secular groups to eliminate the rigorous study in the second and sixth classes, to prepare for the sacraments of Holy Communion and confirmation in Catholic schools. Parents can ask for their children to be excluded from religious study if they wish. However, religious studies as a subject was introduced into the state administered Junior Certificate in 2001; it is not compulsory and deals with aspects of different religions, not focusing on one particular religion. Schools run by religious organisations, but receiving public money and recognition, cannot discriminate against pupils based upon religion or lack thereof. A sanctioned system of preference does exist, where students of a particular religion may be accepted before those who do not share the ethos of the school, in a case where a school's quota has already been reached.”



Education in the Republic of Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“The levels of education in Ireland are primary, secondary and higher (often known as "third-level") education. In recent years further education has grown immensely. Growth in the economy since the 1960s has driven much of the change in the education system. Education in Ireland is free at all levels, including college (university), but only for students applying from the European Union.[1] For universities there are student service fees (up to €3,000 in 2015),[2] which students are required to pay on registration, to cover examinations, insurance and registration costs.[3][4]

The Department of Education and Skills, under the control of the Minister for Education and Skills, is in overall control of policy, funding and direction, while other important organisations are the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, the Higher Education Authority, and on a local level the Education and Training Boards are the only comprehensive system of government organisation. There are many other statutory and non-statutory bodies that have a function in the education system.

All children must receive compulsory education between the ages of five and sixteen years, and all children up to the age of eighteen must complete the three years of post-primary.[5] The Constitution of Ireland allows this education to be provided in the home;[6] this has caused much legal wrangling for years as to the minimum standards required for home education since the constitution does not explicitly provide for the State to define these minimum standards.

In 1973 the requirement to pass the Irish language in order to receive a second-level certificate was dropped[7] although a student attending a school that receives public money must be taught the language. Certain students may get an exemption from learning Irish; these include students who have spent a significant period of time abroad or students with a learning difficulty.

In the English-speaking regions of Ireland (most of the state), English is the primary medium of instruction at all levels, except in Gaelscoileanna: schools in which Irish is the working language and which are increasingly popular. In the Irish-speaking regions of Ireland, Irish is likewise the primary medium of instruction at all levels. English is taught as a second language in these schools starting mostly in the second or third year. Universities also offer degree programmes in diverse disciplines, taught mostly through English, with a few in Irish. Some universities also offer some courses partly through other languages such as French, German or Spanish.
All but two of the seven universities in Ireland offer "open" (omnibus entry) Bache-lor of Arts degrees through the CAO where the student can choose their specialisa-tion after their first year of study. The two universities that do not offer "open" (omnibus entry) arts degrees, (Trinity College, Dublin and Dublin City University) do still offer Bachelor of Arts degrees in specific areas of study such as Drama Stud-ies, Journalism, Latin, History, Japanese and International Relations.

Entry into Higher education institutions is normally done through the CAO or Central Applications Office. In this way, students wishing to enter university apply to the CAO rather than the individual university. Places in courses are usually awarded based on results in the Leaving Certificate Examination or any international equivalent. Each university has a minimum entry requirement, usually requiring a pass grade in either English or Irish, as well as maths. Some also require a pass grade in a modern continental European language (French, German, Spanish or Italian). Each individual course has further entry requirements, for example, science courses usually require a certain grade in one or two sciences. The student must also achieve the number of points required for the course under the points system. However, universities also have systems in place for accepting mature students, and students who have successfully completed a Post Leaving Certificate or Further Education course.

Entry into third-level is generally very high in Ireland, and among young adults (those aged 25 to 34), 41.6% of them have attained third-level degrees—the second highest level in the EU after Cyprus, and substantially ahead of the average of 29.1%.[18] ….”



Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“ …. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remaining area and is located in the north-east of the island. The population of Ireland is about 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just over 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.[7]
The island's geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, compared with a European average of 35%.[8][9] There are 26 extant mammal species native to Ireland.[10]

Prehistoric Ireland saw the arrival of humans after 8000 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century and lasted until the early 17th century. The island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland. However, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest. This led to colonisation of Ireland by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, and was extended during the 18th century. With the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. A war of independence in the early 20th century was followed by the partition of the island, creating the Irish Free State, which became increasingly sovereign over the following decades, and Northern Ireland which remained a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s. This subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973, both parts of Ireland joined the European Economic Community.
Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature and, to a lesser degree, science and education. Alongside mainstream Western culture, a strong indigenous culture exists, as expressed for example through Gaelic games, Irish music, and the Irish language. The culture of the island has also many features shared with Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing, and golf.
During the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time. Sea levels were lower and Ireland, like Great Britain, formed part of continental Europe. By 12,000 BC, rising sea levels due to ice melting caused Ireland to become separated from Great Britain. Later, around 5600 BC, Great Britain itself became separated from continental Europe.[11] There is no evidence of any humans being in Ireland before Mesolithic people arrived by boat from Britain between 8000 BC and 7000 BC.[12]

From about 4500 BC Neolithic settlers arrived introducing cereal cultivars, a housing culture (similar to those of the same period in Scotland) and stone monuments. A more advanced agriculture was to develop. At the Céide Fields, preserved beneath a blanket of peat in present-day County Mayo, is an extensive field system, arguably the oldest in the world,[13] dating from not long after this period. Consisting of small divisions separated by dry-stone walls, the fields were farmed for several centuries between 3500 BC and 3000 BC. Wheat and barley were the principal crops imported from the Iberian Peninsula.

The Bronze Age – defined by the use of metal – began around 2500 BC, with technology changing people's everyday lives during this period through innovations such as the wheel, harnessing oxen, weaving textiles, brewing alcohol, and skilful metalworking, which produced new weapons and tools, along with fine gold decoration and jewellery, such as brooches and torcs. According to John T. Koch and others, Ireland in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age that also included Britain, western France and Iberia, and that this is where Celtic languages developed.[14][15][16][17] This contrasts with the traditional view that their origin lies in mainland Europe with the Hallstatt culture.
….
The long standing traditional view, once widely accepted, is that Celtic language, Ogham script and culture were brought to Ireland by waves of invading or migrating Celts from mainland Europe. This theory draws on the Lebor Gabála Érenn, a medieval Christian pseudo-history of Ireland along with the presence of Celtic culture, language and artefacts found in Ireland such as Celtic bronze spears, shields, torcs and other finely crafted Celtic associated possessions. The theory holds that there were four separate Celtic invasions of Ireland. The Priteni were said to be the first, followed by the Belgae from northern Gaul and Britain. Later, Laighin tribes from Armorica (present-day Brittany) were said to have invaded Ireland and Britain more or less simultaneously. Lastly, the Milesians (Gaels) were said to have reached Ireland from either northern Iberia or southern Gaul.[18] It was claimed that a second wave named the Euerni, belonging to the Belgae people of northern Gaul, began arriving about the sixth century BC. They were said to have given their name to the island.[19][20] Another more recent theory put forth that has gained archaeological historians' credence is that of cultural diffusion of the Celtic culture and language into Ireland. It is proposed that Celticisation of Ireland may have been the culmination of a long process of social and economic interaction between Ireland and Britain and adjacent parts of Continental Europe.
Genetic lineage investigation into the area of Celtic migration to Ireland has led to findings that showed no large significant differences in mitochondrial DNA between Ireland and large areas of continental Europe, in contrast to parts of the Y-chromosome pattern. When taking both into account a recent study drew the conclusion that modern Celtic speakers in Ireland could be thought of as European "Atlantic Celts" showing a shared ancestry throughout the Atlantic zone from northern Iberia to western Scandinavia rather than substantially central European.[23]”





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rohingya-people-living-in-concentration-camps-in-berma-says-aid-worker/

Who are the Rohingya people fleeing Burma by sea?
By BILL WHITAKER CBS NEWS
May 22, 2015

31 PHOTOS -- The Rohingya: Stateless and adrift

BURMA -- More than 200 migrants were rescued by Burma's navy Friday from the waters off southeast Asia. Thousands more are still stranded at sea, after fleeing poverty and religious persecution.

Many of the migrants are Rohingya - a Muslim minority from overwhelmingly Buddhist Burma. They have lived along the border with Muslim Bangladesh for generations.

Long simmering religious animosity exploded three years ago, when Buddhist mobs burned Muslim villages. More than 100,000 Rohingya fled to government refugee camps. We found Abdusalem at one.


"My family ran to survive," he said. "They're barely surviving now."
The camps are off limits, but we managed to slip in. The people are frightened, hungry and stateless. Rohingya are not considered citizens of Burma.

Matt Smith, a human rights worker documenting conditions in the camps, says they're essentially "concentration camps."

"People are confined in these camps," said Smith. "They can't leave these areas."

Smith told us most people's only option is to flee by sea.

"We're seeing people risking their lives actually to get on boats to flee to other countries," said Smith.

We went to the capital to ask President Thein Sein about the Rohingya.

"They are illegal immigrants and now some of their generations are being born here," said Sein. "We'll scrutinize these people to see if they are eligible for citizenship. If not, we'll consider other circumstances."

For thousands of Rohingya, circumstances in Burma are so dire they'd rather face the forbidding sea.




"They are illegal immigrants and now some of their generations are being born here," said Sein. "We'll scrutinize these people to see if they are eligible for citizenship. If not, we'll consider other circumstances." Like the Yzidis and the Kurds, these people have ancient ties to the lands where they live, but not the ruling majority that is so important to give legal status, and like those three they have nationalistic leanings causing them to be mistrusted. They are, therefore, adding to the number of migrants who are fleeing for their lives to other nations. World Wars I and II caused the Middle East and other areas to be carved up in ethnically insane ways -- just to get the oil lands -- by the winning powers, with the result that groups have been lumped together cheek and jowl by cultures with which they have deep conflicts. It is worrisome, but there is no easy solution to the problem. Meanwhile as a result, thousands more people are suffering miserable living conditions and abuse, causing one more sad news story. See the interesting article below about the Rohingya.



Rohingya people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rohingya people (Ruáingga /ɾuájŋɡa/, Burmese: ရိုဟင်ဂျာ rui hang gya /ɹòhɪ̀ɴd͡ʑà/, Bengali: রোহিঙ্গা Rohingga /ɹohiŋɡa/) are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group that live in northern Rakhine (Arakan), Burma and speak the Rohingya language.[13][14] According to Rohingyas and most scholars, they are indigenous to the state of Rakhine, while other historians claim that they migrated to Burma from Bengal primarily during the period of British rule,[15][16][17] and to a lesser extent, after the Burmese independence in 1948 and Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.[18][19][20][2][21]

Muslims have settled in Arakan since the 16th century AD, although the number of Muslim settlers before the British rule cannot be precisely estimated.[22] After the first Anglo-Burmese War in 1826, British annexed Arakan and encouraged migrations from Bengal to work as farm laborers. The Muslim population may have constituted 5% of Arakan's population by 1869, although estimates for earlier years give higher numbers. Successive British censuses of 1872 and 1911 recorded an increase in Muslim population from 58,255 to 178,647 in Akyab District. During World War II, inter-communal violence broke out between British-armed V-Force recruits of Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhines and the region became increasingly polarized.[23] In 1982, General Ne Win's government enacted the citizenship law which denied Rohingya citizenship. Since the 1990s, the term Rohingya increased in usage among Rohingya communities.[21][16]

As of 2013, about 735,000 Rohingyas live in Burma.[2] They reside mainly in the northern Rakhine townships where they form 80–98% of the population.[21] International media and human rights organizations have described Rohingyas as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.[24][25][26] Many Rohingyas have fled to ghettos and refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, and to areas along the Thai-Burmese border. More than 100,000 Rohingyas in Burma continue to live in camps for internally displaced persons, not allowed by authorities to leave.[27][28] Rohingyas have received international attention in the wake of 2012 Rakhine State riots.

Jacques P. Leider states that in precolonial sources, the term Rohingya, in the form of Rooinga appears only once in a text written by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton.[29] In his 1799 article “A Comparative Vocabulary of Some of the Languages Spoken in the Burma Empire,” Hamilton stated: "I shall now add three dialects, spoken in the Burma Empire, but evidently derived from the language of the Hindu nation. The first is that spoken by the Mohammedans, who have long settled in Arakan, and who call themselves Rooinga, or natives of Arakan."[30]

After riots in 2012, academic authors used the term Rohingya to refer to the Muslim community in northern Rakhine. Professor Andrew Selth of Griffith University for example, uses "Rohingya" but states "These are Bengali Muslims who live in Arakan State...most Rohingyas arrived with the British colonialists in the 19th and 20th centuries."[15][17] Among the overseas Rohingya community, the term has been gaining popularity since the 1990s, though a considerable portion of Muslims in northern Rakhine are unfamiliar with the term and prefer to use alternatives.[16][29]

Kingdom of Mrauk U[edit]

Early evidence of Bengali Muslim settlements in Arakan date back to the time of King Narameikhla (1430–1434) of the Kingdom of Mrauk U. After 24 years of exile in Bengal, he regained control of the Arakanese throne in 1430 with military assistance from the Sultanate of Bengal. The Bengalis who came with him formed their own settlements in the region.[33][34]
Narameikhla ceded some territory to the Sultan of Bengal and recognised his sovereignty over the areas. In recognition of his kingdom's vassal status, the kings of Arakan received Islamic titles and used the Bengali Islamic coinage within the kingdom. Narameikhla minted his own coins with Burmese characters on one side and Persian characters on the other.[34] Arakan's vassalage to Bengal was brief. After Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah's death in 1433, Narameikhla's successors repaid Bengal by occupying Ramu in 1437 and Chittagong in 1459. Arakan would hold Chittagong until 1666.[35][36]

Burmese conquest[edit]

Following the Burmese conquest of Arakan in 1785, as many as 35,000 Arakanese people fled to the neighbouring Chittagong region of British Bengal in 1799 to escape Burmese persecution and to seek protection from British India.[40] The Burmese rulers executed thousands of Arakanese men and deported a considerable portion of the Arakanese population to central Burma, leaving Arakan as a scarcely populated area by the time the British occupied it.[41]

According to an article on the "Burma Empire" published by the British Francis Buchanan-Hamilton in 1799, "the Mohammedans, who have long settled in Arakan," "call themselves Rooinga, or natives of Arakan."[30] However, according to Derek Tokin, Hamilton no longer used the term to refer to the Muslims in Arakan in his later publications.[16] Sir Henry Yule saw many Muslims serving as eunuchs in Konbaung Dynasty Burma while on a diplomatic mission there.[42][43]

Post-war insurgency
See also: Rohingya insurgency in Western Burma

A Mujahideen leader surrendered arm to Brigadier Aung Gyi as part of the government's peace process in Buthidaung, Arakan, on 4 July 1961

During the Pakistan Movement in the 1940s, Rohingya Muslims in western Burma organized a separatist movement to merge the region into East-Pakistan.[43] Before the independence of Burma in January 1948, Muslim leaders from Arakan addressed themselves to Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and asked his assistance in incorporating the Mayu region to Pakistan considering their religious affinity and geographical proximity with East Pakistan.[43]

'Rohingya' movement (1990-present)[edit]

The movement has garnered sharp criticisms from ethnic Rakhines and Kamans, the latter of whom are a recognized Muslim ethnic group in Rakhine. Kaman leaders support citizenship for Muslims in northern Rakhine but believe that the new movement is aimed at achieving a self-administered area or a separate Muslim state carved out of Rakhine and condemn the movement.[64]

Rakhines' views are more critical. Citing Bangladesh's overpopulation and density, Rakhines perceive the Rohingyas as "the vanguard of an unstoppable wave of people that will inevitably engulf Rakhine."[65] However, for moderate Rohingyas, the aim may have been no more than to gain citizenship status. Moderate Rohingya politicians agree to compromise on the term Rohingya if citizenship is provided under an alternative identity that is neither "Bengali" nor "Rohingya". Various alternatives including "Rakhine Muslims", "Myanmar Muslims" or simply "Myanmar" have been proposed
Burmese juntas (1990-2011)[edit]

The military junta which ruled Burma for half a century, relied heavily on mixing Burmese nationalism and Theravada Buddhism to bolster its rule, and, in the view of US government, heavily discriminated against minorities like the Rohingyas, Chinese people like the Kokang people, and Panthay (Chinese Muslims). Some pro-democracy dissidents from Burma's ethnic Burman majority do not consider the Rohingyas compatriots.[67][68][69][70]

Successive Burmese governments have been accused of provoking riots against ethnic minorities like the Rohingyas and Chinese although no evidence was produced.[71] In 2009, a senior Burmese envoy to Hong Kong branded the Rohingyas "ugly as ogres" and a people that are alien to Burma.[72]
Demographics[edit]

Those who identify as Rohingyas typically reside in the northernmost townships of Arakan bordering Bangladesh where they form 80–98% of the population. A typical Rohingya family has four or five surviving children but the numbers up to twenty eight have been recorded in rare cases.[2][94] According to David Price of Harvard University, Rohingyas have 37% more children between 0 and 9 years old than Burma's national average.[2] As of 2014, about 800,000 Rohingyas live in Burma and an estimated 1 million overseas. They form 21% of Rakhine State's population or 60% if overseas population is included.

Language[edit]
Main article: Rohingya language

The Rohingya language is part of the Indo-Aryan sub-branch of the greater Indo-European language family, and is related to the Chittagonian language spoken in the southernmost part of Bangladesh bordering Burma.[13] While both Rohingya and Chittagonian are related to Bengali, they are not mutually intelligible with the latter. Rohingyas do not speak Burmese, the lingua franca of Burma and face problems in integration. Rohingya scholars have successfully written the Rohingya language in various scripts including Arabic, Hanifi, Urdu, Roman, and Burmese, where Hanifi is a newly developed alphabet derived from Arabic with the addition of four characters from Latin and Burmese.

More recently, a Latin alphabet has been developed, using all 26 English letters A to Z and two additional Latin letters Ç (for retroflex R) and Ñ (for nasal sound). To accurately represent Rohingya phonology, it also uses five accented vowels (áéíóú). It has been recognised by ISO with ISO 639-3 "rhg" code.[95]

Human rights and refugee status[edit]
See also: Persecution of Muslims in Burma

The Rohingyas’ freedom of movement is severely restricted and the vast majority of them have effectively been denied Burmese citizenship. They are also subjected to various forms of extortion and arbitrary taxation; land confiscation; forced eviction and house destruction; and financial restrictions on marriage.

—Amnesty International in 2004[96]

The Rohingya people have been described as “among the world’s least wanted”[97] and “one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.”[98] They have been denied Burmese citizenship since a 1982 citizenship law was enacted.[99] They are not allowed to travel without official permission and were previously required to sign a commitment not to have more than two children, though the law was not strictly enforced.[100][99]

"Rohingyas have been in Rakhine from the creation of the world. Arakan was ours; it was an Indian land for 1,000 years."
—A Rohingya member of Parliament[61]

Since the 1990s, a new 'Rohingya' movement which is distinct from the 1950s armed rebellion has emerged. The new movement is characterized by lobbying internationally by overseas diaspora, establishing indigenous claims by Rohingya scholars, publicizing the term "Rohingya" and denying Bengali origins by Rohingya politicians.[21]

Photograph -- A coin from Arakan used in Great Bengal, minted 1554/5.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-american-seniors-at-risk-of-becoming-elder-orphans/

More American seniors at risk of becoming "elder orphans"
By JONATHAN LAPOOK CBS NEWS
May 19, 2015

Clarence Blackmon is an 81-year-old Army veteran battling prostate cancer. But cancer wasn't the reason he called 911. A widower since 2011, Blackmon came home from the hospital last week to an empty fridge and had no one to help him, prompting him to call 911 for help.

"What I need is someone to get to the grocery store and bring me some food because I need to eat something," said Blackmon in his 911 call. "Whatever you can do to help. I can't do anything. I can't go anywhere. I can't get out of my damn chair."

In a recent report, Dr. Maria Carney of North Shore-LIJ Health System says a quarter of Americans over 65 are at risk of becoming so-called "elder orphans."

"It's hard to age even when you have a good support system. So you can only imagine if you don't have anybody with you to help you," said Dr. Carney.

About a third of Americans aged 45 to 63 are single, a 50% increase since 1980, according to the 2012 U.S. Census. The report says elder orphans not only combat loneliness and depression, they lack assistance for their basic needs.

Marilyn Hinson was the 911 dispatcher who took Blackmon's call. She was so struck by his plea that she took a detailed list of his food requests and personally delivered them.

"I've been hungry. A lot of people can't say that, but I can, and I can't stand for anyone to be hungry," said Hinson."

Blackmon was then inundated with donations and offers to help. He says one lady sent him six cans of Spam.

"I thought, God, I'm in heaven now, I've got six cans of Spam," said Blackmon.

Dr. Carney had a great idea -- to develop an app where you put in a zip code and are told about the local resources available.




“In a recent report, Dr. Maria Carney of North Shore-LIJ Health System says a quarter of Americans over 65 are at risk of becoming so-called "elder orphans." "It's hard to age even when you have a good support system. So you can only imagine if you don't have anybody with you to help you," said Dr. Carney. About a third of Americans aged 45 to 63 are single, a 50% increase since 1980, according to the 2012 U.S. Census. The report says elder orphans not only combat loneliness and depression, they lack assistance for their basic needs. …. "I've been hungry. A lot of people can't say that, but I can, and I can't stand for anyone to be hungry," said Hinson." Blackmon was then inundated with donations and offers to help. He says one lady sent him six cans of Spam. "I thought, God, I'm in heaven now, I've got six cans of Spam," said Blackmon. Dr. Carney had a great idea -- to develop an app where you put in a zip code and are told about the local resources available.”

This man is really getting old, but his mind is sharp still. It was a stroke of brilliance for him to call 911, where he got someone on the line who took on his problem personally rather than merely calling in the police. There is no substitute for the human heart. It would be interesting if a computer with free access to the Internet were given to all people aged 62 or older, where they can interact at will with either other elders or community help networks to do things like buy some food and bring it, pay electrical bills, or simply talk to the elders. One of the main problems is probably loneliness. I luckily live in an apartment building with residents who are either disabled or elderly. I can get help in my apartment by simply pulling a cord that is in my bathroom. This is HUD housing, and it’s clean and in good repair, with guards downstairs, and if my income level goes down in the future my rent will be reduced. I’m really glad to live here.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/subways-got-talent-musicians-compete-for-official-spots/

Subway's got talent: Musicians compete for official busker spots
By JIM AXELROD CBS NEWS
May 19, 2015

NEW YORK -- For as much joy as New York City street musicians bring their listeners, they are not always welcome. Which is why on Tuesday the Sunnyside Social Club was among the 60-plus acts auditioning in front of a panel of judges to earn the official approval of the New York City subway system.

Only a third of the performers will get the thumbs-up, giving them access to the most lucrative spots in subway stations, as well as paperwork to show the cops to make clear they're good to go.

"You can imagine that people can come and hear you and immediately be relaxed and be transported out of the subway, so they think they're somewhere else before the train comes," said Henry Prince, a judge for the competition.

The Sunnyside Social Club performs for a chance to get a prime performing spot in New York City's subway system CBS NEWS

Prince, a subway musician himself, understands the power of subway performers to cut through the rush hour stress and lend a little joy to the daily commute.

"Someone once who was deaf wrote a letter to me, he said, 'you know I can't hear but the people around me were so happy when you were playing that I had to give you some money,'" said Prince.

Those selected Tuesday will join the 350 others New Yorkers sanctioned to provide the back-beat of the New York City subway.

Watch the video above to see highlights from Tuesday's competition.




There are a number of things I miss about living in DC, and street or subway musicians is one of them. I remember several in particular, though as far as I know there was no certification that they had to meet. There was one , for instance, who stood outside the station and played a flute – not very well. I kept tipping him, however and he kept showing up to perform, and about six months later I came by there and found him. He had improved so much in his playing that I was startled. Beautiful, fluid notes tripped off his tongue and he swayed in rhythm to the melody. I nearly cried from joy. Another interesting case was a young black man who came up to me and offered to make a “rap” for me. He asked for my name and then made up rhymes about it for a minute or so, then smiled at me with pure good will. That, too, was a blessing.

Humans have an absolute need to express themselves, and music is found around the world even in cultures that go back many thousands of years like the Australian Aborigines. That group also has at least one native musical instrument which is unique, the didgeridoo, and a traditional war dance that resembles one in the Polynesian cultures. I believe that Homo Sapiens has been making music and responding to it probably all the way back to our beginnings. Rock art of several kinds is also scattered around the world from Scotland to Native American sites to Australia to Africa that are very old, so self-expression is by no means a new thing. Red ocher is a crumbly stone colored by iron oxide and it is used in much of this art, as well as to make body paint among some modern-day African tribes which have retained their folkways.

The bones of a Neanderthal man were found buried in a cave in the Middle East with so much pollen in the soil that the archaeologist felt that it must have been flowers left with his dead body, and his bones, too, were stained with red ocher, so it was probably considered a holy substance to humans down through time. Early archaeologists tended to say that Neanderthal man was probably not as intelligent as Homo Sapiens and probably lacked the ability to be creative, but most now agree that that prejudice simply isn’t true.

The Australian rock art is especially interesting to me because shamans still to this day refresh the rock paintings there with a mixture of red ocher and saliva or blood. A really good PBS show was filmed among them and showed the man with a twig-like tool putting fresh paint on the rock drawings to preserve them over time.

Even more interesting, there is a curious looking flat, round-shaped stone that fits into the hand and has rounded depressions in a pattern on it which resemble very much the eyes, nose and mouth of a face. That was found with austropithecus remains in South Africa, and is called the “Makapansgat pebble” dating back some 3 million years. See the article below. (Anthropology and archaeology really are probably the most fascinating subjects I’ve ever come across. I am filled with a true religious feeling when I think of things like this. ) See Wikipedia article below.


Makapansgat pebble
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“The Makapansgat pebble, or the pebble of many faces, (ca. 3,000,000 BP) is a 260-gram reddish-brown jasperite cobble with natural chipping and wear patterns that make it look like a crude rendition of a human face. The pebble is interesting in that it was found some distance from any possible natural source, associated with the bones of Australopithecus africanus in a cave in Makapansgat, South Africa.[1] Though it is definitely not a manufactured object, it has been suggested that some australopithecine, might have recognized it as a symbolic face, in possibly the earliest example of symbolic thinking or aesthetic sense in the human heritage, and brought the pebble back to the cave. This would make it a candidate for the oldest known manuport.[2”





NEW RECOMMENDED RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FOR POLICE FORCES NATIONWIDE


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-pulls-back-on-some-military-style-gear-feds-give-local-cops/

Obama pulls back on some military-style gear feds give local cops
AP May 18, 2015

WASHINGTON -- In a surprise announcement coming nine months after police in riot gear dispelled racially charged protests, President Obama is banning the federal government from providing some military-style equipment to local police departments and putting stricter controls on other weapons and gear distributed to law enforcement.

The announcement comes after the White House suggested last year that Mr. Obama would maintain programs that provide the type of military-style equipment used to respond to demonstrators last summer in Ferguson, Missouri, because of their broader contribution to public safety. But an interagency group found "substantial risk of misusing or overusing" items like tracked armored vehicles, high-powered firearms and camouflage, which could undermine trust in police.

With scrutiny on U.S. police only increasing in the ensuing months after a series of highly publicized deaths of black suspects nationwide, Mr. Obama also is unveiling the final report of a task force he created to help build confidence between police and minority communities in particular. The announcements come as Mr. Obama is visiting Camden, New Jersey, one of the country's most violent and poorest cities.

Mr. Obama plans to visit Camden police headquarters before heading to a community center to meet with youth and law enforcement and give a speech. "I'll highlight steps all cities can take to maintain trust between the brave law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line, and the communities they're sworn to serve and protect," Mr. Obama said in his weekly address Saturday.

In previewing the president's trip, the White House said that effective immediately, the federal government will no longer fund or provide armored vehicles that run on a tracked system instead of wheels, weaponized aircraft or vehicles, firearms or ammunition of .50-caliber or higher, grenade launchers, bayonets or camouflage uniforms. The federal government is also exploring ways to recall prohibited equipment already distributed.

In addition, a longer list of equipment the federal government provides will come under tighter control, including wheeled armored vehicles like Humvees, manned aircraft, drones, specialized firearms, explosives, battering rams and riot batons, helmets and shields. Starting in October, police will have to get approval from their city council, mayor or some other local governing body to obtain it, provide a persuasive explanation of why it is needed and have more training and data collection on the use of the equipment.

The issue of police militarization rose to prominence last year after a white police officer in Ferguson fatally shot unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown, sparking protests. Critics questioned why police in full body armor with armored trucks responded to dispel demonstrators, and Mr. Obama seemed to sympathize when ordering a review of the programs that provide the equipment. "There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement and we don't want those lines blurred," Mr. Obama last in August.

But he did not announce a ban in December with the publication of the review, which showed five federal agencies spent $18 billion on programs that provided equipment including 92,442 small arms, 44,275 night-vision devices, 5,235 Humvees, 617 mine-resistant vehicles and 616 aircraft. At the time, the White House defended the programs as proving to be useful in many cases, such as the response to the Boston Marathon bombing. Instead of repealing the programs, Mr. Obama issued an executive order that required federal agencies that run the programs to consult with law enforcement and civil rights and civil liberties organizations to recommend changes that make sure they are accountable and transparent.

That working group said in a report out Monday that it developed the list of newly banned equipment because "the substantial risk of misusing or overusing these items, which are seen as militaristic in nature, could significantly undermine community trust and may encourage tactics and behaviors that are inconsistent with the premise of civilian law enforcement."

Ron Davis, director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services at the Department of Justice, told reporters he hoped the report could be a "key transformational document" in rebuilding trust that has been destroyed in recent years between police and minority communities.

"We are without a doubt sitting at a defining moment for American policing," said Davis, a 30-year police veteran and former chief of the East Palo Alto (California) Police Department.




“But an interagency group found "substantial risk of misusing or overusing" items like tracked armored vehicles, high-powered firearms and camouflage, which could undermine trust in police. … In previewing the president's trip, the White House said that effective immediately, the federal government will no longer fund or provide armored vehicles that run on a tracked system instead of wheels, weaponized aircraft or vehicles, firearms or ammunition of .50-caliber or higher, grenade launchers, bayonets or camouflage uniforms. The federal government is also exploring ways to recall prohibited equipment already distributed. …. But he did not announce a ban in December with the publication of the review, which showed five federal agencies spent $18 billion on programs that provided equipment including 92,442 small arms, 44,275 night-vision devices, 5,235 Humvees, 617 mine-resistant vehicles and 616 aircraft. At the time, the White House defended the programs as proving to be useful in many cases, such as the response to the Boston Marathon bombing. …. Starting in October, police will have to get approval from their city council, mayor or some other local governing body to obtain it, provide a persuasive explanation of why it is needed and have more training and data collection on the use of the equipment. …. That working group said in a report out Monday that it developed the list of newly banned equipment because "the substantial risk of misusing or overusing these items, which are seen as militaristic in nature, could significantly undermine community trust and may encourage tactics and behaviors that are inconsistent with the premise of civilian law enforcement." Ron Davis, director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) at the Department of Justice, told reporters he hoped the report could be a "key transformational document" in rebuilding trust that has been destroyed in recent years between police and minority communities.” "We are without a doubt sitting at a defining moment for American policing," said Davis, a 30-year police veteran and former chief of the East Palo Alto (California) Police Department.

“With scrutiny on U.S. police only increasing in the ensuing months after a series of highly publicized deaths of black suspects nationwide, Mr. Obama also is unveiling the final report of a task force he created to help build confidence between police and minority communities in particular.” “…significantly undermine community trust and may encourage tactics and behaviors that are inconsistent with the premise of civilian law enforcement” is a key phrase defining the whole problem that has developed in police departments especially since 9/11, though I first heard the term “police brutality” some twenty years ago especially in Chicago and NYC; along with general corruption as evidenced by falsifying reports and stealing dope collected as evidence to sell later on the street for their own personal gain or worse, to plant on a dead suspect, plus the simple willful abuse against community members due to their poverty and minority status by individual policemen who are mentally, educationally and emotionally unsuited to their positions of trust. Police departments tend to call them “bad apples,” but they aren’t being punished very much at all in most cases. They should be fired and then sentenced to prison terms like the poor and minority people they have arrested. A new kind of police recruits need to be hired. Two things that are lacking, according to one article, is that so many recruits are taken straight out of high school. They have no further education and they are immature. The article pointed out the men and women who have completed at least two years of college are in the range of 21 years old, rather than 18, and I must add, they may have a higher IQ than some of the others.

SEE THIS WEBSITE BELOW FOR THE TEXT OF THE REPORT DATED MAY 2015 and the answer to the report by Communities United For Police Reform found in this article below. Information on the NY Right To Know Act is also found on that website -- http://changethenypd.org/right-know-act. Those articles are aimed at NY State changes, and each state would have to make new rules/laws individually to effect change. Groups like the ACLU also make a great difference by bringing lawsuits that point up laws that are already on the books.

. -- http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/PolicingTaskForce,

“ …. ADVANCING REFORM •The COPS Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical Assistance (CRI-TA) is designed to improve trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve by providing a means for organizational transformation through an analysis of policies, practices, training, tactics and accountability methods around specific issues, all of which are strongly linked to the foundational pillars of and recommendations within the Task Force Report. CRI-TA will be expanded to require procedural justice and implicit bias training for all selected sites, and in FY 2015 at least ten sites will be selected to participate in the Collaborative Reform process based on selection criteria consistent with the principles within the Task Force report. The experiences that those agencies go through in transforming their policies, procedures, training, accountability mechanisms and community trust building will serve as a model for the rest of the profession, and will be disseminated through a series of reports that will offer a roadmap for change for agencies interested in replicating those organizational change efforts. BUILDING CAPACITY •The COPS Hiring Program provides funding for the hiring and rehiring of entry-level career law enforcement officers in an effort to create and preserve jobs and increase community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. In FY 2015, the COPS Office will give additional consideration to applicant agencies selecting the category of “Building Trust,” and those agencies are encouraged to refer to the Task Force report for suggested actions to incorporate into their proposed community policing strategies. CHP is the COPS Office's largest grant program, and provides funding directly to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to hire and rehire career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. …. PARTNERING WITH THE FIELD •With support from the COPS Office, law enforcement focused organizations including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Major Cities Chiefs, the Police Executive Research Forum, the National Sheriffs' Association, Major County Sheriffs, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Police Foundation, will develop national-level, industry-wide projects for several of the pillars outlined in the Task Force report. Supported activities will include the creation of positive and meaningful engagement opportunities between law enforcement and youth, identification of best practices for engaging the community in the mutual responsibility of public safety, exploration of the circumstances and causality behind documented line-of-duty injuries, and promotion of officer safety and well-being.



The following article in answer to Obama’s report is, of course, about NYC, but it is clearcut and points out some of the things which really need to change. Many of the same problems are occurring nationwide, even down to the repetition of the ridiculous phrase “I feared for my life.” For heaven’s sake, nobody really talks that way. I looked that up and it is a legal magic formula for getting off in court after a killing, without getting any real punishment. It makes me sick. I am so grateful to President Obama for putting his finger on the true nature of the problems with policing these days, and his effort to do something about it.


http://changethenypd.org/releases/communities-united-police-reform-responds-president-obama%E2%80%99s-policing-task-force%E2%80%99s-final

Communities United for Police Reform Responds to President Obama’s Policing Task Force’s Final Report
For immediate release: May 18, 2015
Contact: Mandela Jones

New York, NY —

In response to President Obama announcing the release of the final report by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Communities United for Police Reform released the following statement from spokesperson Joo-Hyun Kang.

“We applaud President Obama and the Task Force on 21st Century Policing for their leadership in bringing some important recommendations to the forefront of the national dialogue on how to improve police accountability and transparency. It’s now critical for local elected officials to make good on many of these recommendations so the report doesn’t simply remain as a piece of paper. New York has an opportunity to be a national leader, since several proposals that are consistent with Task Force recommendations are already under consideration and discussion. In New York City, the City Council should pass and the mayor should sign the Right to Know Act, whose policy objectives the Task Force report endorsed. It is also critical for the state to act upon report recommendations: Governor Cuomo should sign an executive order for a special prosecutor in cases of police killings and the state legislature should require police departments to collect and publicly report data on policing activity that includes deaths during police encounters and in custody.”

BACKGROUND
•The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policy made the following recommendation in the Policy and Oversight section of its final report, which matches The Right to Know Act’s Introduction 541:

“2.10 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement officers should be required to seek consent before a search and explain that a person has the right to refuse consent when there is no warrant or probable cause. Furthermore, officers should ideally obtain written acknowledgement that they have sought consent to a search in these circumstances.”

• The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policy made the following recommendation in the Policy and Oversight section of its final report, which matches The Right to Know Act’s Introduction 182:

“2.11 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should adopt policies requiring officers to identify themselves by their full name, rank, and command (as applicable) and provide that information in writing to individuals they have stopped. In addition, policies should require officers to state the reason for the stop and the reason for the search if one is conducted.”

•The Task Force made the following recommendation in the Policy and Oversight section of its final report, which is in accordance with demands by the surviving family members of New York victims of police killings and other advocates for Governor Cuomo to assign a special prosecutor in cases of police killings and brutality:

“2.2.3 ACTION ITEM: The task force encourages policies that mandate the use of external and independent prosecutors in cases of police use of force resulting in death, officer-involved shootings resulting in injury or death, or in-custody deaths.”

•The Task Force made the following recommendations in the Policy and Oversight section of its final report on data reporting that are consistent with proposed legislation in the state legislature to require collection and public reporting of demographic data on policing activity:

“2.2.4 ACTION ITEM: Policies on use of force should also require agencies to collect, maintain, and report data to the Federal Government on all officer-involved shootings, whether fatal or nonfatal, as well as any in-custody death.”

“2.6 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should be encouraged to collect, maintain, and analyze demographic data on all detentions (stops, frisks, searches, summons, and arrests). This data should be disaggregated by school and non-school contacts.”

The final report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing can be found here: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/TaskForce_FinalReport.pdf

###

About Communities United for Police Reform: “Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, and to build a lasting movement that promotes public safety and policing practices based on cooperation and respect– not discriminatory targeting and harassment. CPR brings together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. The partners in this campaign come from all 5 boroughs, from all walks of life and represent many of those unfairly targeted the most by the NYPD. CPR is fighting for reforms that will promote community safety while ensuring that the NYPD protects and serves all New Yorkers.”