Sunday, May 3, 2015


News Clips For The Day


Recommended viewing – Nineteen fascinating to downright weird photos at CBS website and their explanations: http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/what-am-i-seeing-strange-odd-pictures-may-1-2015/12/

Recommended reading – my blog entitled “Republican Fiscal Policy,” which concerns the economic problem that the state of Kansas finds itself in today due to the policies of Governor Brownback. A history of the Republican Party is also included, which makes their seemingly idiotic views fit within a context. He is facing serious rebellion by some 100 Kansas GOP members. This is found at https://plus.google.com/.../posts/aRZQwsuJXtK




http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2015/05/02/403865824/texas-governor-deploys-national-guard-to-stave-off-obama-takeover

Texas Governor Deploys State Guard To Stave Off Obama Takeover
Wade Goodwyn
May 2, 2015

Photograph – Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to monitor a joint U.S. Special Forces training taking place in Texas, prompting outrage from some in his own party.
Eric Gay/AP

Since General Sam Houston executed his famous retreat to glory to defeat the superior forces of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Texas has been ground zero for military training. We have so many military bases in the Lone Star State we could practically attack Russia.

So when rookie Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he was ordering the Texas National Guard to monitor a Navy SEAL/Green Beret joint training exercise, which was taking place in Texas and several other states, everybody here looked up from their iPhones. What?

It seems there is concern among some folks that this so-called training maneuver is just a cover story. What's really going on? President Obama is about to use Special Forces to put Texas under martial law.

Let's walk over by the fence where nobody can hear us, and I'll tell you the story.

You see, there are these Wal-Marts in West Texas that supposedly closed for six months for "renovation." That's what they want you to believe. The truth is these Wal-Marts are going to be military guerrilla-warfare staging areas and FEMA processing camps for political prisoners. The prisoners are going to be transported by train cars that have already been equipped with shackles.

Don't take my word for it. That comes directly from a Texas Ranger, who seems pretty plugged in, if you ask me. You and I both know President Obama has been waiting a long time for this, and now it's happening. It's a classic false flag operation. Don't pay any attention the mainstream media; all they're going to do is lie and attack everyone who's trying to tell you the truth.

Did I mention the ISIS terrorists? They've come across the border and are going to hit soft targets all across the Southwest. They've set up camp a few miles outside of El Paso.

That includes a Mexican army officer and Mexican federal police inspector. Not sure what they're doing there, but probably nothing good. That's why the Special Forces guys are here, get it? To wipe out ISIS and impose martial law. So now you know, whaddya say we get back to the party and grab another beer?

It's true that the paranoid world-view of right-wing militia types has remarkable stamina. But that's not news.

What is news is that there seem to be enough of them in Texas to influence the governor of the state to react — some might use the word pander — to them.

That started Monday when a public briefing by the Army in Bastrop County, which is just east of Austin, got raucous. The poor U.S. Army colonel probably just thought he was going to give a regular briefing, but instead 200 patriots shouted him down, told him he was a liar and grilled him about the imminent federal takeover of Texas and subsequent imposition of martial law.

"We just want to make sure our guys are trained. We want to hone our skills," Lt. Col. Mark Listoria tried to explain in vain.

One wonders what Listoria was thinking to himself as he walked to his car after two hours of his life he'll never get back. God bless Texas? Maybe not.

The next day Gov. Abbott decided he had to take action. He announced that he was going to ask the Texas State Guard to monitor Operation Jade Helm from start to finish.

"It is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed upon," Abbott said.

The idea that the Yankee military can't be trusted down here has a long and rich history in Texas. But that was a while back. Abbott's proclamation that he was going to keep his eye on these Navy SEAL and Green Beret boys did rub some of our leaders the wrong way.

Former Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst tried to put it in perspective for outsiderswhen he explained, "Unfortunately, some Texans have projected their legitimate concerns about the competence and trustworthiness of President Barack Obama on these noble warriors. This must stop."

Another former Republican politician was a bit more pointed.

"Your letter pandering to idiots ... has left me livid," former State Rep. Todd Smith wrote Gov. Abbott. "I am horrified that I have to choose between the possibility that my Governor actually believes this stuff and the possibility that my Governor doesn't have the backbone to stand up to those who do."

There's no argument that after the 2014 election, Texas politics took a further step to the right. The 84th session of the state legislature has given ample proof of that. But the events of this last week have been an eye-opener for Texans of all political stripes.

You will find the names of Texans etched into marble at war memorials from Goliad to Gettysburg, from Verdun to the Ardennes and Washington, D.C. The governor's proposition that these soldiers and sailors constitute a potential threat and need watching as they go about their duties, certainly stakes out some new political ground for the leader of the Texas GOP to stand on.

CorrectionMay 3, 2015
An earlier headline on this story stated that Gov. Abbott had deployed the National Guard in Texas, when in fact it was the Texas State Guard.


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

Greg Abbott
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gregory Wayne "Greg" Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American lawyer andpolitician, who is the 48th and current Governor of Texas. He was the 50th Attorney General of Texas. He is a Republican.

Abbott was only the second Republican to serve as Attorney General of Texas sinceReconstruction. Prior to assuming the office of attorney general, Abbott was a justice on theTexas Supreme Court, a position to which he was initially appointed in 1995 by then-GovernorGeorge W. Bush. He is noted outside the state of Texas for successfully advocating the right of the state of Texas to display the Ten Commandments in front of the Texas State Capitol in Austin in a 2005 United States Supreme Court case known as Van Orden v. Perry.

Early life, education, and early law career

Abbott was born on November 13, 1957 inWichita Falls, Texas. His mother, the former Doris Lechristia Jacks, was a homemaker, and his father, Calvin Roger Abbott, was a stockbroker and insurance agent.[2][3

In 1981, he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and the Young Republicans’ Club. He met his wife, Cecilia Phelan, while attending UT.[2] In 1984, he earned his J.D. degree from the Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville,Tennessee.[2]

He went into private practice, working for Butler and Binion, LLC between 1984 and 1992. Abbott’s political career began in Houston, where he served as a state trial judge in the 129th District Court for three years.[6]

Abbott became a paraplegic when an oak tree fell on him while he was running following a storm in 1984.[6][7] He had two steel rods implanted in his spine, underwent extensive rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston, and has used a wheelchair ever since.[8][9] He sued the homeowner and negotiated an insurance settlement worth more than US$10 million, resulting in payouts of US$14,000 a month.[10] Abbott later championed laws capping punitive damages to two times the amount of economic damages awarded plus US$750,000.[11] While the current law caps punitive damages, which are meant to punish gross negligence or bad faith, the law still allows payments for medical costs, potential lost wages, economic damages and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Matt Hirsch, a spokesman for the Abbott campaign, said the attorney general did not seek punitive damages in his lawsuit.[12]

Then-Texas Governor George W. Bush appointed Abbott to the Texas Supreme Court, and he was then twice elected to the state's highest civil court—in 1996 (two-year term) and 1998 (six-year term). In 1996, Abbott had no Democraticopponent but was challenged by Libertarian John B. Hawley of Dallas. Abbott defeated Hawley 84%-16%.[13] In 1998, Abbott defeated Democrat David Van Os 60%-40%.[14]

In 2001, he went back to private practice and worked for Bracewell & Giuliani LLC.[15] He was also an adjunct professor at University of Texas School of Law.[16]

Attorney General of Texas

Tenure[edit]

Abbott expanded the Attorney General's office’s law enforcement division from about thirty people to more than one hundred.[2] He also created a new division called the Fugitive Unit to track down convicted sex offenders in violation of their paroles or probations.[2]

Abbott has spoken out against concerns such as voter fraud, the right to bear arms, and President Barack Obama’s health care reform. Abbott said that when asked what his job entails, he explains 'it’s gotten simplified'. "I go into the office in the morning, I sue Barack Obama, and then I go home."[18] Abbott has filed suit against various U.S. agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (including challenges toObamacare), and the Department of Education, among many others.[2]

Abbott has said that the state must not release Tier II Chemical Inventory Reports for security reasons, but that Texan citizens "can ask every facility whether or not they have chemicals or not".[19] Koch Industries has denied that their contributions to Abbott's campaign had anything to do with his ruling against releasing the safety information.[20]

In 2014, Abbott argued against a lawsuit brought by the NRA to allow more people access to concealed carry of firearms, as Abbott felt this would disrupt public safety.[21]

In February 2014, while speaking on the dangers of corruption in law enforcement, Abbott compared the South Texasarea to a Third World country[37] that "erodes the social fabric of our communities and destroys Texans' trust and confidence in government."[38] Abbott further said that he does not consider corruption "limited to one region of Texas […] My plan is to add more resources to eliminate corruption so people can have confidence in their government."[38]

Abbott criticized Ted Nugent's infamous "subhuman mongrel" comment directed at President Barack Obama by saying "This is not the kind of language I would use or endorse in any way. It's time to move beyond this, and I will continue to focus on the issues that matter to Texans."[39]

Abbott won the Republican primary on March 4, 2014, with 1,219,903, or 91.5 percent of the ballots cast. The remaining approximately 103,000 votes were divided among three minor candidates. He faced state Senator Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who polled 432,065 votes (79.1 percent) in her Democratic primary contest against a lone opponent.[40]

Abbott promised to "tie outcomes to funding" for pre-K programs if elected governor,[41] but he said he would not require government standardized testing for 4-year olds, as Davis has accused him of advancing.[42] When defending his education plan, Abbott cited Charles Murray: "Family background has the most decisive effect on student achievement, contributing to a large performance gap between children from economically disadvantaged families and those from middle class homes."[43] A spokesman for Abbott's campaign pointed out that the biggest difference in spending is that Davis has proposed universal pre-K education while Abbott wants to limit state funding to only programs that meet certain standards.[43] Davis' plan could reach US$750 million in costs and Abbott has said that Davis' plan is a "budget buster" whereas Abbott's education plan would cost no more than US$118 million.[43]

Overall, Abbott said the reforms that he envisions would "level the playing field for all students [and] target schools which don't have access to the best resources." He has called for increased accessibility to technology in the classroom and mathematics instruction for kindergarten pupils.[38]

Abbott received US$1.4 million in campaign contributions from recipients of the Texas Enterprise Fund, some of whose members submitted the proper paperwork for grants.[44]

Abbott received the endorsement of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,[45] Dallas Morning News,[46] the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal[47] and the Tyler Morning Telegraph.[48]

Jade Helm 15

Over the summer of 2015, the U.S. military will launch a training exercise called "Jade Helm 15," which is a series of training drills throughout the Southwest, from Texas to California, for about 1,200 special operations personnel, including Green Berets and Navy SEALs.[55] Abbott on April 28, 2015 asked the State Guard to monitor the training exercise amid Internet-fueled suspicions that the war simulation is really a hostile military takeover. [56] Conspiracy theorists allege that the training maneuver is just a cover story for a supposed attempt by President Obama to use Special Forces to put Texas under martial law. [57][58] A Republican former member of the Texas legislature, Todd Smith, wrote to Abbott that he is appalled that the governor has given credence to a fringe group that fears the U.S. military would stage a take-over of Texas. [59] In his letter to the governor, Todd Smith wrote that the thought that the U.S. military would be a threat to Texas is "embarrassing" and it is important "to rational governance that thinking Republicans call you out on it... Is there ANYBODY who is going to stand up to this radical nonsense that is a cancer on our State and our Party?” [60]

Personal life

Abbott is married to Mexican-American Cecilia Phalen Abbott, the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants.[70][71] Abbott's election as governor of Texas makes Cecilia Abbott the first Latina to be the First Lady of Texas since Texas joined the union.[71][72] Abbott and his wife have one adopted daughter, Audrey.[15][70][71] The Abbotts were married in San Antonio in 1981.[2] She is a former school teacher and principal.[6] He is the first elected governor of a U.S. state to use a wheelchair since George Wallace of Alabama, 1983–87.[73]

Abbott is bilingual and is fluent in both English and Spanish.[74]




“Another former Republican politician was a bit more pointed. "Your letter pandering to idiots ... has left me livid," former State Rep. Todd Smith wrote Gov. Abbott. "I am horrified that I have to choose between the possibility that my Governor actually believes this stuff and the possibility that my Governor doesn't have the backbone to stand up to those who do." There's no argument that after the 2014 election, Texas politics took a further step to the right. The 84th session of the state legislature has given ample proof of that. But the events of this last week have been an eye-opener for Texans of all political stripes. …. The governor's proposition that these soldiers and sailors constitute a potential threat and need watching as they go about their duties, certainly stakes out some new political ground for the leader of the Texas GOP to stand on.”

The Wikipedia bio on Abbott doesn't show him to be either unintelligent or uneducated. This is the first time he has taken such a ridiculous position, unless you count the plaque with the Ten Commandments as similar idiocy. It may indicate that he is a radical Dominionist fundamentalist Christian, or it may be like this incident, in which he seems to me to be “going with the flow” to please some very ignorant and politically active citizens. He is simply being politically expedient. There's a lot of pure cynicism in the modern Republican camp, as they willingly stand alongside the truly wild eyed radicals. Texas has plenty of both!




POLICE – FOUR ARTICLES


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/05/03/403969575/baltimore-mayor-lifts-curfew

Baltimore Mayor Lifts Curfew
Scott Neuman
May 3, 2015

Photograph – Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake speaks during a media availability at City Hall, on Friday. The mayor announced Sunday that she was lifting a week-long 10 p.m. curfew that followed civil unrest over the death of Freddie Gray from injuries he sustained in police custody.
Alex Brandon/AP

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced today that she was lifting a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew in the city imposed nearly a week ago amid civil unrest over the death of Freddie Gray from injuries sustained in police custody.

"I want to thank the people for their patience," she said.

The emergency curfew was put in place after riots that took place in West Baltimore on Monday.

The decision to end the restriction comes after Friday's announcement of criminal charges against six officers involved in Gray's arrest by Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

The Baltimore Sun says that a spokesman from Gov. Larry Hogan's office said the Maryland National Guard, which was deployed to the city in the wake of the violence, would be gradually drawn down in the coming days.




I'm glad to see this decision, because I don't think peaceful protests should result in a curfew or a massive police presence and the National Guard either. What I've seen of the protesters on the news didn't look like cities all over the country after the murder of Martin Luther King. Now that was rioting!





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/we-got-the-right-result-says-baltimore-prosecutor-marilyn-mosby/

We got the "right result," says Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby
CBS NEWS
May 1, 2015

Photograph – Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby
 CBS NEWS

Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby had the nation's attention Friday when she announced charges against six officers in the death of Freddie Gray. Mosby told CBS News she announced the charges on Friday because she thinks there needed to be transparency in the process.

"We went public because it was a matter of the public concern. At the end of the day this was a thorough investigation to get to the right result and I believe that we did."

Mosby rejected criticism that she rushed the charges, pointing to the wealth of information she reviewed. Mosby said her office sent its own investigators to talk to witnesses and reviewed information from the Baltimore Police Department and the Medical Examiner's report, before announcing the charges.

Mosby told CBS News she expects charges to be filed against those who rioted in Baltimore earlier this week.

"So many people feel voiceless but at the same time this lawlessness is unacceptable and so we will hold people accountable for destroying businesses and burning homes and cars," said Mosby. "That's not the right way in which we should approach this."

Mosby's youth and upbringing has drawn national interest. The 35-year-old mother of two is the youngest top prosecutor of a major city. She comes from a five generations of police officers, including her father, mother, aunts and uncles.

"Law enforcement is instilled so I recognize the commitment, the sacrifice that police officers make day in and day out, time away from their families, their daily sacrifice of their lives for the betterment of our communities," said Mosby. "I also recognize that there are individuals who usurp their authority and they avoid the public trust, it's unacceptable. Those individuals who usurp their authority, those individuals do a disservice to the really hard working police officers who risk their lives day in and day out."

Mosby was born in Baltimore, and raised in Boston by her single mother. She got interested in law after a 17-year-old cousin was gunned down by another teen who mistook him for a drug dealer.

Mosby studied law at Tuskegee University where she met her future husband, Baltimore City Councilman Nick Gray. He represents West Baltimore where the riots first broke out this week.

Mosby was an insurance company lawyer, and an assistant state attorney general before running for her current office.

"I take this oath seriously, and I want the public to know that my administration is committed to creating a fair and equitable justice system for all," Mosby said during a press conference on Friday.




"We went public because it was a matter of the public concern. At the end of the day this was a thorough investigation to get to the right result and I believe that we did." Mosby rejected criticism that she rushed the charges, pointing to the wealth of information she reviewed. Mosby said her office sent its own investigators to talk to witnesses and reviewed information from the Baltimore Police Department and the Medical Examiner's report, before announcing the charges. Mosby told CBS News she expects charges to be filed against those who rioted in Baltimore earlier this week. "So many people feel voiceless but at the same time this lawlessness is unacceptable and so we will hold people accountable for destroying businesses and burning homes and cars," said Mosby. "That's not the right way in which we should approach this." …. "Law enforcement is instilled so I recognize the commitment, the sacrifice that police officers make day in and day out, time away from their families, their daily sacrifice of their lives for the betterment of our communities," said Mosby. "I also recognize that there are individuals who usurp their authority and they avoid the public trust, it's unacceptable. Those individuals who usurp their authority, those individuals do a disservice to the really hard working police officers who risk their lives day in and day out."

"I take this oath seriously, and I want the public to know that my administration is committed to creating a fair and equitable justice system for all," Mosby said during a press conference on Friday.” This is all I can ask of her. She responded with controlling measures, but they were balanced and limited. The scene didn't become “a police riot” like the Kent State events in 1970. I think I really like State's Attorney Mosby. Even though she does look really young for the job she can handle it. Maybe she'll run for Congress or even President one day.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nypd-cop-shot-in-the-head-in-stable-condition-officials-say/

NYPD cop shot in the head in stable condition, officials say
CBS/AP
May 3, 2015

Photograph – Demetrius Blackwell, 35, is apprehended in connection with a shooting that left an officer wounded in Queens, New York, on May 2, 2015.  NYPD VIA CBS NEW YORK

NEW YORK - A police officer shot in the head while attempting to stop a man suspected of carrying a handgun was hospitalized in critical but stable condition Sunday as detectives gathered evidence in the case, the fifth shooting of a New York City officer in as many months, officials said.

Officer Brian Moore, 25, underwent surgery after being rushed in a patrol car to a Queens hospital Saturday evening after he and his partner pulled up in an unmarked police car to a man who was adjusting his waistband suspiciously, police Commissioner William Bratton said.

The officers exchanged words with the man before he turned suddenly and fired at least twice, striking Moore, Bratton said. His partner, Officer Erik Jansen, 30, radioed for help.
"They did not have an opportunity to get out and return fire," the commissioner said at a Saturday night news conference at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center with Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials.

Law enforcement flooded the Queens Village neighborhood following the shooting - police helicopters flew overhead, officers searched house by house and some could be seen walking on roofs. About 90 minutes later, police arrested Demetrius Blackwell, 35, near the crime scene in a house on the block where he lives, officials said.

No weapon was found and, as of early Sunday, Blackwell had not been charged. It wasn't clear if he has a lawyer.

After the shooting, witnesses described Blackwell to responding officers and pointed them in the direction he ran, Bratton said.

De Blasio said the shooting was a painful reminder of the risks officers take every day.

"Our hearts are with his family, his loved ones," the mayor said. "Our hearts are with his extended family, the men and women of the NYPD."

Moore, whose father and uncle are both retired New York City police officers, has been on the job since July 2010, reports CBS New York.

The shooting instantly evoked fears of the December slayings of two uniformed officers as they sat in their patrol cars in Brooklyn by a man who posted online that he was seeking retribution against officers for the death of Eric Garner in an apparent chokehold by police.

The shootings of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos strained an already tense relationship between city police unions and de Blasio. Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch turned his back on the mayor at a hospital the day of the killings and said de Blasio had "blood on his hands."

On Jan. 5, two plainclothes officers - Andrew Dossi, 30, and Alrio Pellerano, 38 -- who were part of an anti-crime unit in the Fordham section of the Bronx were shot and wounded. Each officer survived two gunshot wounds.

But Saturday night, Lynch was among the officials who attended the news conference and could be seen shaking the mayor's hand and speaking briefly with him afterward.

Bratton said Blackwell has a criminal record that includes a weapons possession charge, but the suspect made no such anti-police postings and was being pursued by the anti-crime officers because of his behavior.

Neighbors near the scene of the shooting were surprised by the violence and described the residential area with many two- and three-family homes as quiet and safe.

"You walk down the street, no trouble," said Sandreaus Adam, 52. "This is not a neighborhood where you're just going to hear shots."




“Officer Brian Moore, 25, underwent surgery after being rushed in a patrol car to a Queens hospital Saturday evening after he and his partner pulled up in an unmarked police car to a man who was adjusting his waistband suspiciously, police Commissioner William Bratton said. The officers exchanged words with the man before he turned suddenly and fired at least twice, striking Moore, Bratton said. His partner, Officer Erik Jansen, 30, radioed for help. “They did not have an opportunity to get out and return fire," the commissioner said at a Saturday night news conference at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center with Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials. …. About 90 minutes later, police arrested Demetrius Blackwell, 35, near the crime scene in a house on the block where he lives, officials said. No weapon was found and, as of early Sunday, Blackwell had not been charged. It wasn't clear if he has a lawyer. After the shooting, witnesses described Blackwell to responding officers and pointed them in the direction he ran, Bratton said. …. Bratton said Blackwell has a criminal record that includes a weapons possession charge, but the suspect made no such anti-police postings and was being pursued by the anti-crime officers because of his behavior.”

This case looks a bit weak, in that the weapon was not found and he was merely described by witnesses. Maybe one of them knew him personally and gave his name. I'm glad to see that when the neighborhood was “flooded” with police officers no one was shot, and Blackwell was arrested peacefully. I wonder if he is the right person? It is too bad that unprovoked shootings of officers have occurred. It's a sign of community rage, probably, and the city officials should put a plan into operation to improve the human relations between the people and the police. I still haven't seen much in the news about cities that are taking that on as a project.





MAY DAY PROTESTS


http://www.iww.org/history/library/misc/origins_of_mayday

Industrial Workers Of The World
The Brief Origins of May Day
By Eric Chase - 1993.

Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers' Day of May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don't realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as "American" as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.

In the late nineteenth century, the working class was in constant struggle to gain the 8-hour work day. Working conditions were severe and it was quite common to work 10 to 16 hour days in unsafe conditions. Death and injury were commonplace at many work places and inspired such books as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Jack London's The Iron Heel. As early as the 1860's, working people agitated to shorten the workday without a cut in pay, but it wasn't until the late 1880's that organized labor was able to garner enough strength to declare the 8-hour workday. This proclamation was without consent of employers, yet demanded by many of the working class.

At this time, socialism was a new and attractive idea to working people, many of whom were drawn to its ideology of working class control over the production and distribution of all goods and services. Workers had seen first-hand that Capitalism benefited only their bosses, trading workers' lives for profit. Thousands of men, women and children were dying needlessly every year in the workplace, with life expectancy as low as their early twenties in some industries, and little hope but death of rising out of their destitution. Socialism offered another option.

A variety of socialist organizations sprung up throughout the later half of the 19th century, ranging from political parties to choir groups. In fact, many socialists were elected into governmental office by their constituency. But again, many of these socialists were ham-strung by the political process which was so evidently controlled by big business and the bi-partisan political machine. Tens of thousands of socialists broke ranks from their parties, rebuffed the entire political process, which was seen as nothing more than protection for the wealthy, and created anarchist groups throughout the country. Literally thousands of working people embraced the ideals of anarchism, which sought to put an end to all hierarchical structures (including government), emphasized worker controlled industry, and valued direct action over the bureaucratic political process. It is inaccurate to say that labor unions were "taken over" by anarchists and socialists, but rather anarchists and socialist made up the labor unions.

At its national convention in Chicago, held in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which later became the American Federation of Labor), proclaimed that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's labor from and after May 1, 1886." The following year, the FOTLU, backed by many Knights of Labor locals, reiterated their proclamation stating that it would be supported by strikes and demonstrations. At first, most radicals and anarchists regarded this demand as too reformist, failing to strike "at the root of the evil." A year before the Haymarket Massacre, Samuel Fielden pointed out in the anarchist newspaper, The Alarm, that "whether a man works eight hours a day or ten hours a day, he is still a slave."

Despite the misgivings of many of the anarchists, an estimated quarter million workers in the Chicago area became directly involved in the crusade to implement the eight hour work day, including the Trades and Labor Assembly, the Socialistic Labor Party and local Knights of Labor. As more and more of the workforce mobilized against the employers, these radicals conceded to fight for the 8-hour day, realizing that "the tide of opinion and determination of most wage-workers was set in this direction." With the involvement of the anarchists, there seemed to be an infusion of greater issues than the 8-hour day. There grew a sense of a greater social revolution beyond the more immediate gains of shortened hours, but a drastic change in the economic structure of capitalism.

In a proclamation printed just before May 1, 1886, one publisher appealed to working people with this plea:

Workingmen to Arms!
War to the Palace, Peace to the Cottage, and Death to LUXURIOUS IDLENESS.
The wage system is the only cause of the World's misery. It is supported by the rich classes, and to destroy it, they must be either made to work or DIE.
One pound of DYNAMITE is better than a bushel of BALLOTS!
MAKE YOUR DEMAND FOR EIGHT HOURS with weapons in your hands to meet the capitalistic bloodhounds, police, and militia in proper manner.

Not surprisingly the entire city was prepared for mass bloodshed, reminiscent of the railroad strike a decade earlier when police and soldiers gunned down hundreds of striking workers. On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike with the anarchists in the forefront of the public's eye. With their fiery speeches and revolutionary ideology of direct action, anarchists and anarchism became respected and embraced by the working people and despised by the capitalists.

The names of many - Albert Parsons, Johann Most, August Spies and Louis Lingg - became household words in Chicago and throughout the country. Parades, bands and tens of thousands of demonstrators in the streets exemplified the workers' strength and unity, yet didn't become violent as the newspapers and authorities predicted.

More and more workers continued to walk off their jobs until the numbers swelled to nearly 100,000, yet peace prevailed. It was not until two days later, May 3, 1886, that violence broke out at the McCormick Reaper Works between police and strikers.

For six months, armed Pinkerton agents and the police harassed and beat locked-out steelworkers as they picketed. Most of these workers belonged to the "anarchist-dominated" Metal Workers' Union. During a speech near the McCormick plant, some two hundred demonstrators joined the steelworkers on the picket line. Beatings with police clubs escalated into rock throwing by the strikers which the police responded to with gunfire. At least two strikers were killed and an unknown number were wounded.

Full of rage, a public meeting was called by some of the anarchists for the following day in Haymarket Square to discuss the police brutality. Due to bad weather and short notice, only about 3000 of the tens of thousands of people showed up from the day before. This affair included families with children and the mayor of Chicago himself. Later, the mayor would testify that the crowd remained calm and orderly and that speaker August Spies made "no suggestion... for immediate use of force or violence toward any person..."

As the speech wound down, two detectives rushed to the main body of police, reporting that a speaker was using inflammatory language, inciting the police to march on the speakers' wagon. As the police began to disperse the already thinning crowd, a bomb was thrown into the police ranks. No one knows who threw the bomb, but speculations varied from blaming any one of the anarchists, to an agent provocateur working for the police.

Enraged, the police fired into the crowd. The exact number of civilians killed or wounded was never determined, but an estimated seven or eight civilians died, and up to forty were wounded. One officer died immediately and another seven died in the following weeks. Later evidence indicated that only one of the police deaths could be attributed to the bomb and that all the other police fatalities had or could have had been due to their own indiscriminate gun fire. Aside from the bomb thrower, who was never identified, it was the police, not the anarchists, who perpetrated the violence.

Eight anarchists - Albert Parsons, August Spies, Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwab, George Engel, Adolph Fischer and Louis Lingg - were arrested and convicted of murder, though only three were even present at Haymarket and those three were in full view of all when the bombing occurred. The jury in their trial was comprised of business leaders in a gross mockery of justice similar to the Sacco-Vanzetti case thirty years later, or the trials of AIM and Black Panther members in the seventies. The entire world watched as these eight organizers were convicted, not for their actions, of which all of were innocent, but for their political and social beliefs. On November 11, 1887, after many failed appeals, Parsons, Spies, Engel and Fisher were hung to death. Louis Lingg, in his final protest of the state's claim of authority and punishment, took his own life the night before with an explosive device in his mouth.

The remaining organizers, Fielden, Neebe and Schwab, were pardoned six years later by Governor Altgeld, who publicly lambasted the judge on a travesty of justice. Immediately after the Haymarket Massacre, big business and government conducted what some say was the very first "Red Scare" in this country. Spun by mainstream media, anarchism became synonymous with bomb throwing and socialism became un-American. The common image of an anarchist became a bearded, eastern European immigrant with a bomb in one hand and a dagger in the other.

Over one hundred years have passed since that first May Day. In the earlier part of the 20th century, the US government tried to curb the celebration and further wipe it from the public's memory by establishing "Law and Order Day" on May 1. We can draw many parallels between the events of 1886 and today. We still have locked out steelworkers struggling for justice. We still have voices of freedom behind bars as in the cases of Mumia Abu Jamal and Leonard Peltier. We still had the ability to mobilize tens of thousands of people in the streets of a major city to proclaim "THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!" at the WTO and FTAA demonstrations.



Left wing anarchism hasn't been in the news much in years, but it seems to be showing up here in two US cities, alongside peaceful protests. I don't want to see any kind of anarchism, and I don't consider it to be a sign of progress. It's just a sign of our society fraying at the edges, largely because of increasing poverty. I'm all in favor of union activities of the peaceful kind, however. The far right in the personage of the Koch brothers and the many miscellaneous racist, ultra-religious, and simply the deluded “patriots” are too active politically for our safety as a democratic country. I've been saying for the last three months or so that it's time for liberals to “get out our walking shoes.” I'm relieved to see young people standing up for what is right.

I hope these demonstrators are an accompaniment to peaceful but very persistent strikes at places like the fast food restaurants and any other businesses that hire very poor and essentially defenseless people and then pay them poorly or make them work long hours in an inhumane working environment. My mother worked in a hosiery mill once in the 1950s, and those workers couldn't stop working to go to the bathroom until their 15 minute afternoon break came. She didn't stay there long. My father had a manual, but basically good job and she just decided to stay home. Many women did that in those days. We just ended up pinching the pennies harder.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/businesses-experience-vandalism-in-oakland-protests/

Businesses experience vandalism in Oakland protests
AP May 2, 2015

Photograph – A worker examines vandalized cars following a violent May Day protest the previous night in Oakland, California May 2, 2015. Demonstrators smashed hundreds of windows and spray-painted graffiti during a several mile march through the city.  REUTERS / NOAH BERGER

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland's mayor and some business owners called for tougher action Saturday after what police said was some of the heaviest damage yet in peaceful public marches in the San Francisco Bay city that have turned violent.

At a downtown Oakland car lot, security-company owner Steve Tittle walked Saturday through what had been a plate-glass door of a business storing new Hyundais and Hondas for car dealers. "Step into my office," Tittle joked, while avoiding the broken window glass that now surrounded the smashed and empty door frame.

Vandals overnight Friday and Saturday shattered the windows at the car lot's offices, smashed the windshields of dozens of new autos lined up outside, and set afire one Hyundai Elantra.

"This is not civil disobedience," Tittle said, of the 300 to 400 attackers who Oakland police said had broken away from what had been a day of peaceful May Day marches Friday by both supporters of labor unions and protesters against police violence nationally. "This is an anarchy, chance-to-destroy mob, nothing else."

Asked what he thought would stop the vandalism to businesses, Tittle said, "Punishment."

The destruction at the auto lot marked the heaviest damage in scattered attacks by protesters overnight Saturday that shattered the windows of banks and other businesses over more than a dozen blocks of downtown Oakland, a center of political activism in the Bay Area as well as home to some of its poorest neighborhoods.

Police Chief Sean Vincent, speaking Saturday to reporters at City Hall, said the overnight damage "was amongst the worst we had seen" in more than 1½ years of sometimes-violent protests here over instances of police killings of African-American men around the country.

Police said they arrested a dozen people on charges that included burglary, failing to disperse and vandalism.

The only injury reported was a cut leg suffered by one officer. Police used force only twice - once when officers fired a tear-gas canister, and once when an officer tackled a violent protester, Vincent said. Police had difficulty controlling a nighttime crowd that turned "larger than we expected and angrier than we expected," he said.

Mayor Libby Schaaf, who stayed on the streets overnight monitoring the crowds and talking to owners of damaged businesses, said city officials "did not do as good a job as we should have protecting property."

Not every Oakland resident wanted to see a crackdown, however.

Community organizer Ruby Reid, who lives within earshot of the sound of breaking windows and police loudspeakers overnight, said the violence of the protests was overstated and the messages against heavy-handed policing important.

"Actual violence is being getting hurt, people getting shot" in police custody, she said.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/05/02/403770619/may-day-protesters-police-clash-in-seattle

May Day Protesters, Police Clash In Seattle
Scott Neuman
May 2, 2015

Photograph – Police officers arrest a man during a May Day march, on Friday, in Seattle.
Ted S. Warren/AP

May Day protests in Seattle turned violent, with police firing pepper spray and flash bang grenades to disperse demonstrators — including some wearing all black — who hurled rocks and other objects at authorities.

The Seattle Times reports:

"A day of peaceful May Day rallies for immigrant rights in Seattle turned chaoticFriday night as a separate anti-capitalist march descended into clashes between police and protesters on Capitol Hill.

"Three officers were injured and admitted to Harborview Medical Center. Several protesters reported injuries from pepper spray and projectiles fired by police. Sixteen people were arrested."

Member station KUOW reports: "The day began with a small Black Lives Matter gathering at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park. Those people then joined the annual May Day March for Workers and Immigrant Rights. It began at Judkins Park in the Central District then headed downtown for a rally at the Federal Courthouse."

Seattle Police Dept. 
@SeattlePD
"This is no longer demonstration management, this has turned into a riot" -Captain Chris Fowler. #MayDaySea
11:12 PM - 1 May 2015

According to The Associated Press: "Earlier demonstrations in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, to decry racism and income inequality were largely peaceful, but protesters who gathered later in the day confronted police, who attempted to keep them from damaging property and disrupting traffic."

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole, speaking during a joint news conference with Mayor Ed Murray, said the protests had become "violent and destructive" and that the police had to act.

"I think (officers) were very professional about how they handled the situation," she said.

According to KING-TV:

"The march [that turned violent] was just one of several May Day demonstrations done to support workers' rights and other causes in Seattle on Friday. Others were peaceful, including a Black Lives Matter March and an immigrant and workers' rights event, organized by the group El Comite.

"[O'Toole] said the department will do a comprehensive review to make sure the use of force was appropriate."

Meanwhile, AP says that a protest in Oakland, California that drew more than 1,000 was largely peaceful, "though by Friday night a small group of people broke windows, vandalized several businesses, smashed vehicles and set at least one car on fire at several dealerships on the city's Auto Row."





http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/may-day-marches-to-spotlight-police-brutality-organizers-say-1.10361146

May Day marches to spotlight police brutality, organizers say
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated May 1, 2015

Photograph – Activists protest in front of City Hall after marching from the Sandtown neighborhood to demand better police accountability and racial equality following the death of Freddie Gray on April 30, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo Credit: Getty Images / Andrew Burton

Activists who are marching for labor and immigrant rights in U.S. cities on Friday will broaden their message to direct attention toward police brutality as tensions simmer in communities across the nation.

The marches on May 1 have their roots in labor movements, which hold annual demonstrations in myriad countries calling for workers' rights. In recent years, marches in the United States got a boost from immigrants seeking authorization to live and work in the country legally.

Now, some of the activists in cities from Boston to Oakland, California, say they are also rallying in support of "Black Lives Matter" — the slogan of the growing movement in the wake of a series of high-profile deaths of black men as the result of a police encounter.

"It is important to support movements and struggles that stand up for people being singled out by the system. Right now, immigrants share that distinction with African-American youth, that we are being targeted by the system," said Miguel Paredes, membership coordinator of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

The move comes after unrest in Baltimore and protests in other cities over the death of Freddie Gray, who suffered severe spinal injuries at some point after he tried to run from police April 12.

For more than a century, International Workers' Day has been celebrated on May 1 to mark the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago, when a bomb turned a worker rally into a deadly event.

In the United States, the annual event has shrunk since 2006, when stringent immigration legislation drove hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to rally in the streets. Broadening the message could help bring new supporters to the push for immigration changes, but doing so isn't just a political strategy, leaders said, noting that immigrants share a distrust of police authority and concerns about racial inequality.

"This is one of these times where the savvy political move is also coherent political ideology," said David S. Meyer, a professor of sociology and political science at University of California, Irvine.

Some rallies are still mostly focused on labor and immigration issues, such as an event in Portland, Oregon, where advocates will support hiking the minimum wage and President Barack Obama's program to protect millions of immigrants in the country illegally from deportation.

Those issues will also be at the forefront of demonstrations in New York and Los Angeles, but activists are also expected to call for an end to what they see as police brutality against racial minorities. In New York, demonstrators will carry a banner reading "No police from Baltimore to Ayotzinapa," drawing a connection to the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico last year, said Teresa Gutierrez, co-coordinator of the May 1 Coalition.

What remains to be seen is whether expanding the message will have an impact. Meyer, who researches social movements, said demonstrations like these put an issue on the political agenda, but it is hard to know if, or when, they could effect change.

"They force politicians to take positions," he said. "When people are out and exposed, for you and against you, then it is sort of like the pieces on a chessboard are moving around, and the actual effect could be seen 20 moves down the road."




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http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/05/03/401980467/china-promises-46-billion-to-pave-the-way-for-a-brand-new-silk-road

China Promises $46 Billion To Pave The Way For A Brand New Silk Road
Anthony Kuhn
May 3, 2015

See Also: – China-Pakistan Deal Highlights Waning U.S. Influence In Region April 21, 2015

Go to Xi'an city in northwest China, and you can still hear amateur musical ensembles playing court music from the Tang Dynasty. One of the tunes is about flowers — tulips imported over the Silk Road from Europe some 1,300 years ago.

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes that allowed the exchange of goods and ideas between Asia and Europe, including between the Roman Empire and China's Han Dynasty, towards the end of the first century B.C.

Now China wants to build a new network of roads, railways pipelines and shipping lanes connecting China to South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Africa and Europe. With this in mind, China's President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan last month, promising $46 billion in infrastructure investment.

"It's looking for national rejuvenation," says Tom Miller, a Beijing-based analyst with the financial research firm Gavekal. He says China's plan to revive the Silk Road is meant to evoke grand images of the nation at its most powerful, prosperous and cosmopolitan.

Planned Silk Road Routes

"In terms of foreign policy," he adds, "it means China is once again becoming the dominant power in Asia."

Plus, China has a surplus of cement, steel and capital to build all this, Miller notes. And many of its neighbors are in serious need of infrastructure investment.

"If China really does use its money to improve connectivity, to foster trade networks — if it plays by the rules and is seen as a positive force for economic development, then fantastic," he says. "At the same time, there is a lot of doubt as to whether China will really do this."

Some of its neighbors worry that China seeks to control and exploit them.

There's also this one other problem: The historic road as many Chinese imagine it never really existed. In fact, China didn't even have a name for it. German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen coined the term Silk Road in the 1870s, says Fudan University historian Ge Jianxiong in Shanghai.

Throughout its history, "China had no need to export silk," Ge says. "Nor did the Chinese have any concept of profiting from silk or foreign trade."

Ge says that for most of history, the Silk Road lay impassable and unused. It was just too vast to maintain and keep open.

And China was too inward-focused to care.

"For a long time, China believed it sat at the center of the world," Ge says. "It was the celestial empire that had everything, and didn't need to rely on outsiders."

Now that China is producing more goods than it consumes, the country does need to export some of its overcapacity.

But Ge predicts that unless other countries feel they stand to profit, the new Silk Road will lead nowhere.




“Now China wants to build a new network of roads, railways pipelines and shipping lanes connecting China to South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Africa and Europe. With this in mind, China's President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan last month, promising $46 billion in infrastructure investment. "It's looking for national rejuvenation," says Tom Miller, a Beijing-based analyst with the financial research firm Gavekal. He says China's plan to revive the Silk Road is meant to evoke grand images of the nation at its most powerful, prosperous and cosmopolitan. …. "If China really does use its money to improve connectivity, to foster trade networks — if it plays by the rules and is seen as a positive force for economic development, then fantastic," he says. "At the same time, there is a lot of doubt as to whether China will really do this."

“There's also this one other problem: The historic road as many Chinese imagine it never really existed. In fact, China didn't even have a name for it. German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen coined the term Silk Road in the 1870s, says Fudan University historian Ge Jianxiong in Shanghai. Throughout its history, "China had no need to export silk," Ge says. "Nor did the Chinese have any concept of profiting from silk or foreign trade." Well if the Silk Road didn't exist, what about that Marco Polo story??


http://www.travelchinaguide.com/silk-road/history/traveler-marco-polo.htm

Travel China Guide
Marco Polo

A well-known traveler and explorer, Marco Polo headed for China along the Silk Road in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368). The Travels of Marco Polo, dictated by him, described Chinese politics, economy, and culture in detail, which greatly aroused the desire of westerner to go to China and had a great effect on the European navigation.

Marco Polo was born in a merchant family in Venice in 1254. His father and uncle often traded into the west coast of Mediterranean Sea. On one fortuitous occasion, they went to China and met with Kublai Khan, an emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. In 1269, they returned to Venice with a letter Kublai Khan had written to Pope Clement IV. In fact, Clement IV had died the year before, and a new pope had not yet been appointed.

Young Marco Polo was very interested in listening to the stories of their travels and made up his mind to go to China.

The Long and Difficult Journey to China

In 1271, when he was 17 years old his dream came true. With a letter in reply from the new Pope Gregory X, and with valuable gifts, the Polos set out eastwards from Venice on their second trip to China. They crossed over the Mediterranean and Black Sea, passed through the land of Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, and reached the age-old city of Middle East – Baghdad. They headed south and eastwards to the prosperous seaport of Ormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. From there they journeyed towards north and then east, successively crossing the desolate Iran Plateau and the snow-covered Pamirs. Overcoming the trials of illness, hunger and thirst, escaping bandits and wild animals, they finally reached Xinjiang. Marco Polo was attracted by beautiful Kashgar and Hetian famed for its jade. Then they traversed Taklimakan Desert, arrived in Dunhuang and visited the Mogao Grottoes, noted for Buddhist sculptures and frescos. They continued on their journey along the Hexi Corridor and reached Shang-du in Inner Mongolia (the summer palace of Kublai Khan) in 1275 AD. Kublai Khan gave them a hospitable reception there and took them to Dadu (now Beijing).

17-years Service in Kublai Khan's Court

Clever Marco Polo quickly learned Mongolian, Chinese and became familiar with the Chinese customs. Soon he became a confidant of Kublai Khan. He was appointed to high posts in the court and was sent on many special diplomatic missions to many places in China, India and some kingdoms of Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam, Burma and Sumatra. Astonished at the wealth of China, luxurious imperial palace and prosperous cities, he assiduously investigated the customs, geography, people and culture of all places he visited. Then he reported to Kublai Khan in detail.

17 years passed quickly and Marco Polo missed his hometown more and more.

Come Home and the Travels of Marco Polo

In 1292, Kublai Khan agreed to let Marco Polo, his father and uncle return home, after they convoyed a Mongolian princess Kokachin to marry a Persian king. In 1295, they finally reached Venice by sea via the Black Sea and Constantinople. The information about China and some Asian states they brought back, aroused great interest among the Venetians. In 1298 AD, Marco Polo joined in the war between Venice and Genoa. Unfortunately he was captured and put into a Genoese prison, where he met a writer, Rustichello da Pisa. The writer recorded the story of his travels, well-known as The Travels of Marco Polo. The book has detailed descriptions of the wealth of China, a Japan filled with gold, and the exotic custom of Central Asia, West Asia and Southeast Asia soon made it a bestseller.

Afterwards, the book became very popular in Europe and paved the way for the arrivals of countless westerners in the following centuries.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/05/03/403381445/why-your-future-vaccination-might-not-be-a-shot

Why Your Future Vaccination Might Not Be A Shot
PONCIE RUTSCH
MAY 03, 2015

Photograph – A patch that's the size of a nickel could one day administer the measles vaccine.
Gary W. Meek

Vaccines don't always make it into the people who need them the most. Many require a syringe and a needle to enter the bloodstream and create immunity. And that means a doctor or nurse has to do the job.

But what if a vaccine could be delivered by simply applying a patch? That's Mark Prausnitz's goal: creating a nickel-sized bandage-like device covered with 100 microscopic needles that would puncture the skin, then dissolve to get the vaccine into the body.

Maybe that sounds scary — 100 needles instead of one. But Prausnitz says you can't really feel the needles. "It wouldn't be like sandpaper or scratching," he says. "You would have a hard time feeling a difference between the needles being there or not being there."

Prausnitz started working on the patch more than 20 years ago. He's a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering and the director of the Center for Drug Design, Development, and Deliveryat Georgia Tech, and he's collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and a group at Emory University.

The patch looks like a small teardrop. The large, round part is covered with needles and the narrow end acts as a tab to hold onto.

"The microneedles are small, so it just looks like something shiny on the surface of the patch," says Prausnitz. He and his colleagues make the patches using a mold they built themselves, forming the microneedles from a solution that includes the vaccine, sugars and polymers. They let the solution dry overnight and pull out a sheet of microneedles in the morning.


First up for a patch trial? The measles vaccine.

Currently, many people in the developing world must travel to a clinic to receive the measles vaccine — in part because that's where the doctor or nurse is and in part because that's where the refrigerators are, needed to keep the vaccine working.

Putting the vaccine in a patch eliminates the need for a medical professional and a refrigerator. "It would enable us to get the vaccine to a lot more people," says Prausnitz.

The patch has another advantage. No needles to dispose of — so no risk of health workers getting stuck with a discarded needle. Once the patch is pulled from a person, the needles are gone and the patch can be tossed.

The measles patch has successfully completed testing in animals, and the CDC estimates that testing in humans will start in 2017.

Measles isn't the only targeted disease. This summer, Prausnitz will run a small trial with about 100 volunteers using a patch flu vaccine.

"We would like people to ultimately self-administer their flu vaccines," he says. But to keep the testing consistent and keep his volunteers safe, only professionals will apply the patches for this trial.

The next hurdle Prausnitz anticipates is making the patch cheap enough to compete with needles and syringes. "We're going to need to offer this at either the same price or ideally a [lower] price point than needles."

The vaccine itself will cost the same whether it is piped into syringes or embedded in patches. But it's hard to compare the cost of manufacturing microneedles with the fluctuating cost of full-size needles. "At the end of the day we don't know how much it's going to cost to make millions [of patches]," says Prausnitz.

Then again, how do you put a price on an ouchless vaccine?




“Prausnitz started working on the patch more than 20 years ago. He's a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering and the director of the Center for Drug Design, Development, and Deliveryat Georgia Tech, and he's collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and a group at Emory University. The patch looks like a small teardrop. The large, round part is covered with needles and the narrow end acts as a tab to hold onto. "The microneedles are small, so it just looks like something shiny on the surface of the patch," says Prausnitz. He and his colleagues make the patches using a mold they built themselves, forming the microneedles from a solution that includes the vaccine, sugars and polymers. They let the solution dry overnight and pull out a sheet of microneedles in the morning. …. The measles patch has successfully completed testing in animals, and the CDC estimates that testing in humans will start in 2017. Measles isn't the only targeted disease. This summer, Prausnitz will run a small trial with about 100 volunteers using a patch flu vaccine. "We would like people to ultimately self-administer their flu vaccines," he says. But to keep the testing consistent and keep his volunteers safe, only professionals will apply the patches for this trial.”

As a person who strongly prefers “ouchless” medications, this sounds wonderful. The last time I got a vaccination it was for shingles, and the pharmacist who gave it to me spent at least 30 seconds pumping the medicine into my tissues, while I relaxed as much as I could to curb the pain. Thank goodness I don't have diabetes.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/05/02/403776298/novelist-ruth-rendell-author-of-wexford-books-dies-at-85

Novelist Ruth Rendell, Author Of 'Wexford' Books, Dies At 85
Scott Neuman
May 2, 2015

Photograph – A September 1995 photo shows Ruth Rendell, in London. The prolific crime writer died Saturday at the age of 85.
Max Nash/AP

British mystery and crime writer Ruth Rendell — one of the most prolific authors in the genre, with more than 60 novels — has died at age 85 following a stroke in January, her publisher said in a statement.

"It is with great sadness that the family of author Ruth Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, announce that she passed away in London at 8am on Saturday 2 May, aged 85. The family have requested privacy at this time," Hutchison said in the statement.

Rendell was best known for creating Inspector Reginald Wexford, a character that was later translated for television, becoming a popular series on British TV.

NPR's Petra Mayer says: "Rendell — along with her friend PD James — pioneered the psychological thriller. Not for her the cozy mystery, Colonel Mustard in the Conservatory with the lead pipe. Her characters were dark and damaged; unraveling her stories required a psychiatrist's couch, not a detective's magnifying glass. Rendell told NPR in 2005 that crime itself wasn't all that interesting."

"I'm fascinated with people and their characters and their obsessions, and these things lead to crime, but I'm much more fascinated in their minds," she told NPR.

The BBC says:

"Her first Wexford book, From Doon with Death, was published in 1964, beginning a series of more than 20 starring [Wexford], played in the TV series by George Baker.

"Many of her works were translated into more than 20 languages and adapted for cinema and TV, attracting worldwide sales of 60 million."

And The Guardian writes: "Her novels, from A Judgement in Stone, which opens with the line 'Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read and write,' to last year's The Girl Next Door, which sees the bones of two severed hands discovered in a box, cover topics from racism to domestic violence. They have, her friend Jeanette Winterson has said, been 'a major force in lifting crime writing out of airport genre fiction and into both cutting-edge and mainstream literature.'"





It's been ages since I read a book by Ruth Rendell, but she was definitely one of my favorite writers. I think I will go to my library's website and put a couple of her books on hold to be brought over to my local branch. Modern writers are good in their way, but they lack the finesse of Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, etc. I think novels these days vary in their quality too much for my tastes. The only kinds of modern novel I will read are mysteries and spy thrillers. No, they aren't usually very artistic, but they follow a pattern that I like to read because it does keep me enthralled until the end. Modern “romances,” to me are simply not romances at all, but soft porn. Daphne DuMaurier's “Rebecca” was a romance. So was “Pride and Prejudice.” There should be no raw sex in a romance.





http://www.npr.org/2015/05/02/402775910/lincolns-tomb-site-at-risk-with-state-budget-cuts

Lincoln's Tomb Site At Risk With State Budget Cuts
Rachel Otwell
May 2, 2015

Photograph – The Lincoln Monument at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Ill., houses the tomb of the late president and was erected to preserve his legacy.
Rachel Otwell/WUIS

Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather in Springfield, Ill., this weekend to watch a recreated hearse commemorate Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession, which took place 150 years ago.

Adam Goodheart, who's written extensively about the Civil War, has visited Springfield a number of times.

"I find it a very powerful place," he says. "I'm very moved by many of the monuments to Lincoln there, including Lincoln's own house."

National Geographic sent Goodheart on the same journey that was Lincoln's last — the train route that took his body from Washington to Springfield. Along the way, those many decades ago, hundreds of thousands of people viewed his body.

Goodheart says he was especially moved by an exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

"They actually have bits of fabric that are stained with his blood, some of the dried flowers that were placed on his coffin during the funeral, and seeing those relics really just seemed to compress those 150 years since his death and make it very immediate," he says.

But that wasn't the case at Lincoln's tomb, located in the middle of the large Oak Ridge Cemetery on the outskirts of town. He calls the tomb a "disappointment," saying it lacks charm.

"There's one pretty startling omission," Goodheart says, "which is that it doesn't mention the Emancipation Proclamation or Lincoln's role in liberating African-Americans from slavery."i

Chris Wills works for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which oversees management of the tomb. Over the past 15 years, his agency's budget has been slashed in half, due to Illinois' large budget gap.

"That's created a huge squeeze that the state is now having to deal with," Wills says. "One of that ways that's been dealt with over the years is to cut back on funds at the Historic Preservation Agency."

Those cuts have led to staff layoffs and less access to historic sites.

Pam VanAlstine heads the Lincoln Monument Association, a private foundation helping fill some of those budget gaps. But her group has only about 20 volunteers.

One volunteer, Ruth McCarty, has just finished her last tour of the day. She's standing in the tomb's marble-covered entrance. A bronze statue of Lincoln is in the middle, below a tarnished metal ceiling.

"We've already had people from Thailand here today, and Mexico, and Ireland," McCarty says. "It's just amazing how far people will travel."

The state's new governor, Bruce Rauner, wants to dissolve the state's Historic Preservation Agency to save money. At the state Capitol, Pam VanAlstine is about to lobby legislators against a move that she says would make keeping the tomb open to the public even more problematic.

"I am so worried about the preservation part," she says. "Will we be able to keep these sites open? Will we be able to preserve their history? That's my concern."

So, while Springfield prepares for the somber commemoration of Lincoln's sad, final journey, questions linger over whether his final resting place will be well cared for and open to the public, for generations to come.




“The state's new governor, Bruce Rauner, wants to dissolve the state's Historic Preservation Agency to save money. At the state Capitol, Pam VanAlstine is about to lobby legislators against a move that she says would make keeping the tomb open to the public even more problematic.” Here we are with another story like those about Kansas earlier in today's blog. Simply put, it is impossible to maintain a civilized society without money, and I do want to live in a civilized society. No taxes, no money. It's time for citizens to stand up together and shout “Not on my watch!”