Friday, July 31, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/watch-officers-rescue-toddler-from-hot-car-in-new-jersey-parking-lot/

Watch: Officers rescue sobbing toddler from hot car in N.J.
CBS/AP
July 31, 2015

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- A video taken by a good Samaritan in the parking lot of a Hackensack, New Jersey Costco shows a dramatic rescue of a toddler from a hot car.

As CBS New York reports, inside of the Toyota minivan surrounded by police officers was a sweating 2-year-old girl, who sheriffs said was left behind by her mother.

An officer smashed the window to free the crying child.

The video was shot by Arislyeda Pena, while her fiance, Rafael Rodriguez tried to reach in through a slightly opened back window.

"I was trying to put my hand through, but only from my wrist to elbow. I wasn't able to get it open," Rodriguez said.

That's when he noticed officers racing over to the minivan.

"He approached the vehicle and quickly reacted, broke the window open on the other side," Rodriguez said, "She was totally sweaty, very drenched. She was very red and crying."

The mother then arrived with another child and a shopping cart full of groceries.

"She just said, 'I'm sorry,' it looks like she didn't speak English," Rodriguez said, "The police officer told her: 'How can you say you're sorry? Your child could've been dead.'"

An officer told Rodriguez's fiancee to stop taking video. The mother was taken into custody and charged with child endangerment. Both of her children were released to the custody of their father.

Workers collecting carts in the parking lot said they have seen some strange things, but never a child unattended in the car. Until this case.

Shoppers were shocked when they saw the video.

"It's beyond me. I never forget my kids," Michael Vinar said. "They always come with me, and there was my primary concern."

Rodriguez said he hopes the video travels far and wide as a warning to everyone.




I am sympathetic with this mother, she had another kid and needed groceries for her home, but adults need to be ever mindful of where their children are and who is taking care of them. Maybe she needs a baby sitter?? I think punishing parents in an appropriate fashion should be done, because these events are happening frequently as evidenced by news reports, and a child can be killed every time. The recent case when a father was supposed to take his kid to the daycare and just forgot to do that, going instead to his office and working half a day or longer. His child was dead when he was found. THINK!!




http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/nazi-built-venue-1936-berlin-olympics-host-all-jewish-games-n397036

Nazi-Built Venues for 1936 Berlin Olympics Host All-Jewish Games
By ANDY ECKARDT
NEWS JUL 26 2015

Photograph -- From right to left: the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, King Boris III of Bulgaria, Marshal August Von
Image: Jesse Owens in 1936 -- American athlete Jesse Owens at the finish line of the 1936 Olympics. He broke the 100-meter world record during the Games. Gamma Keystone via Getty Images


MAINZ, Germany — Nearly eight decades after Adolf Hitler hosted the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the all-Jewish European Maccabi Games will take place in the same city — including events at venues built by the Nazis.

More than 2,100 Jewish athletes from 39 countries will compete in Europe's biggest Jewish sports event at the so-called Olympic Park, a site constructed for the XI Olympiad at which Hitler aimed to camouflage his racist, anti-Semitic ideology to present Germany as a tolerant nation.

But the Nazis continued to exclude German Jews from all major sporting events.

Two weeks before the Games, German officials told Gretel Bergmann, a Jewish athlete who was a favorite in the high jump, that she had been denied a place on the German team. In the end, only part-Jewish fencer Helene Mayer was allowed to represent Germany in 1936.

"I would have been a loser, either way," said former high jumper Margaret Lambert, known by her maiden name Gretel Bergmann, who had been denied a spot on Germany's 1936 team because of her Jewish heritage.

"Had I won, there would have been such an insult against the German psyche — how can a Jew be good enough to win the Olympics? — then I would have had to be afraid of my life, I am sure," Lambert said in a 2008 documentary. "And had I lost, I would have been ... a joke."

The colorful Jewish event, which begins Monday, is scheduled to include a Guinness Book world record attempt for the largest Friday evening Shabat ceremony.

"Holding the Maccabi Games in Berlin is a very important sign," said 61-year old German Jew Leo Friedman, who hopes to win a medal with the country's golf team. "We will be able to highlight that Jewish life is part of German society and that Jews have not been chased away."

Friedman's parents survived the Holocaust and were liberated from a Nazi concentration camp after the end of World War II, but chose to stay in Germany.

"My parents taught me to look forward, to be tolerant, but also to be proud of my Jewish heritage," said Friedman, who participated for the first time in Maccabi Games aged 18.

The Games aims to "spread a sense of equality and fairness and showcase the newfound Jewish confidence to the German and European public," according to an announcement for the event, which will also be supported by many non-Jewish volunteers.

While advocates of this year's location believe that the historic and sociopolitical importance of the European Maccabi Games is enormous for Germany, organizers admit that not all Jewish officials were in favor of hosting it at the historic location.

"There were some critical voices in the Jewish community in Europe, who did not support Berlin as an event site," Oren Osterer, the director of the organization committee told NBC News. "But I would say that the younger generation was able to convince the older generation that it is right, and the time is right to hold the European Maccabi Games in Berlin, without forgetting the past," Osterer said.

The official opening ceremony on Tuesday will be held at the so-called Waldbuehne, which was the event site for the gymnastics competition in 1936. And, the fencing championship will take place at the Kuppelsaal, where Jewish athlete Endre Kabos from Hungary won the gold medal in individual and team saber at the Berlin Olympics.

"During the last two Maccabi Games, we saw a huge increase in popularity of our outfits that read Deutschland, or Germany. People always asked us to swap clothes after the Games," said 28-year old Ben Lesegeld, who will be competing in the soccer tournament.

"At first I was a bit ambivalent about the location because we should not forget the past, but it also shows the development process in German society and our positive future," the Berlin resident said.

On the sidelines of the sporting event, organizers have also set up an education program for young visitors between age 14 and 18, which will include a visit to the former Nazi concentration camp of Sachsenhausen.

Amid a 25 percent increase in anti-Semitic crimes compared to last year and a rise in neo-Nazi violence, Berlin will face increased security measures during the event, which runs until August 5.

"As long as we have increased police presence and special security measures, we cannot speak of normality," Friedman said. "But all the athletes I have talked to are looking forward to the Games."




“More than 2,100 Jewish athletes from 39 countries will compete in Europe's biggest Jewish sports event at the so-called Olympic Park, a site constructed for the XI Olympiad at which Hitler aimed to camouflage his racist, anti-Semitic ideology to present Germany as a tolerant nation. …. "Holding the Maccabi Games in Berlin is a very important sign," said 61-year old German Jew Leo Friedman, who hopes to win a medal with the country's golf team. "We will be able to highlight that Jewish life is part of German society and that Jews have not been chased away." Friedman's parents survived the Holocaust and were liberated from a Nazi concentration camp after the end of World War II, but chose to stay in Germany. "My parents taught me to look forward, to be tolerant, but also to be proud of my Jewish heritage," said Friedman, who participated for the first time in Maccabi Games aged 18. The Games aims to "spread a sense of equality and fairness and showcase the newfound Jewish confidence to the German and European public," according to an announcement for the event, which will also be supported by many non-Jewish volunteers. …. "There were some critical voices in the Jewish community in Europe, who did not support Berlin as an event site," Oren Osterer, the director of the organization committee told NBC News. "But I would say that the younger generation was able to convince the older generation that it is right, and the time is right to hold the European Maccabi Games in Berlin, without forgetting the past," Osterer said.”

“Amid a 25 percent increase in anti-Semitic crimes compared to last year and a rise in neo-Nazi violence, Berlin will face increased security measures during the event, which runs until August 5. "As long as we have increased police presence and special security measures, we cannot speak of normality," Friedman said. "But all the athletes I have talked to are looking forward to the Games." The promise of any group may be their young people. They are more flexible and hopeful in most cases. In this time period there has been a rise of rightwing anti-other thinking from the US to Europe, but these games are an exercise in tolerance, which has to be good. I wonder what differences there would be between Jewish games and the Olympics in general to the viewer. The writer of this article refers to the games as “colorful.” Anyone who has ever watched the Scottish Games – usually a local affair – with the clever and athletic border collies and the very husky men “tossing the caber,” it is very different from anything modern and ordinary. I hope this event turns out to be popular with the citizens of Germany and free from hate crimes of any kind.





http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/afghanistan-legacy-taliban-ready-reenter-political-mainstream-n387866

U.S. Legacy in Afghanistan: Taliban Seeks Return to Mainstream
by FAZUL RAHIM , F. BRINLEY BRUTON and MUSHTAQ YUSUFZAI
JUL 26 2015

Photograph -- An Afghan man walks past a tank cemetery from the former Soviet Union era in Jabal Seraj district, in Afghanistan's Parwan province. Hundreds of destroyed tanks and unused artillery have been piled outside Jabal Seraj town. Zabihullah Tamanna / for NBC News
Photograph -- Image: Mohammed Rustam
Mohammed Rustam Zabihullah Tamanna / for NBC News

Related: ISIS-Linked Fighters Tighten Grip in Afghanistan
Image: Afghan farmers harvest potatoes


KADULA, Afghanistan — Fourteen years after being toppled by U.S.-backed forces, senior members of the extremist group that sheltered Osama bin Laden before and after he plotted the 9/11 attacks are negotiating to end the insurgency.

The Taliban's attempt to return to the political mainstream fills Afghans like farmer Mohammed Rustam with despair.

"My life has been wasted in wars and destruction, displacement and misery," the father of five said. "I am worried for my children and grandchildren. We Afghans do want peace, we do want to advance and live in a better place, but it is simply not possible to impose peace on those who do not want it, who are against education and against prosperity."

Like many other Afghans, Rustam worries that instead of bringing peace, giving the Taliban a place at the political table will only breed more violence.

Rustam's fear is borne from experience. His village of Kadula — a settlement of some 100 homes about 45 minutes by car from Kabul — was twice razed by the Taliban. Before that and like so much else in the Shomali Plain, once famous as the fruit basket of Afghanistan, Kadula was badly bombed during the Soviet occupation of the 1980s.

"HOW MUCH LONGER CAN THIS CYCLE OF REVENGE GO ON?"

Kadula's troubles only worsened when the Soviets withdrew from the country in 1989. The government in Kabul eventually fell and the country descended into a vicious civil war as fighters who had battled the Russians turned on each other. In the 1990s, a group of black-turbaned "Talibs," or students, swept through the country promising order and a pure form of Islam.

Instead of peace, the Taliban brought more violence and death as they imposed their extreme version of Islam coupled with strict ethnic Pashtun tribal codes. In the Shomali Plain, fighters uprooted the famous and ancient vineyards, and burned down orchards that for decades supplied the country with apples, apricots, peaches, peas and all kinds of berries. Houses were destroyed, sheep and goats stolen or killed and families driven from their homes.

Afghans harvest potatoes at Kadola,Afghanistan. The onetime vineyards are now used as farmlands. Zabihullah Tamanna / for NBC News

Kadula began coming back to life after the Taliban was driven from power in 2001, although the contrasts between destruction and construction linger. A newly built concrete family compound sits next to a bombed-out mud house. A fledgling orchard springs up alongside a parched and barren yellow patch of earth.

Not everybody in Kadula holds Rustam's hard line on the Taliban's comeback. Neighbor Mohammad Aman believes peace with the group is not only possible but essential.

"My home was also burned, but with all due respect to Rustam, I think we need to stop at some point — how much longer can this cycle of revenge go on?" said the villager who believes he is around 72 years old.

"I will forgive those who killed my nephews and burned our family home if they really feel remorse," he added. "I would be willing to host them at my home and serve them with grapes that I planted in the past 15 years, even though they burned all we had."

Aman reflects a broadly-held belief that the government must accommodate the Taliban to bring some sort of peace and stability to the country, according to Emily Winterbotham, a fellow with London's Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) defense think tank.

"The Afghan people do not want a never-ending war," said Winterbotham, who spent years as an analyst in Afghanistan. "We need to be realistic over the fact that the Taliban will come back in some degree in certain areas and we have to look at what that means in terms of government power sharing and political deals."

President Ashraf Ghani appears to have come to the same conclusion.

"Although it is very difficult to ensure peace in the country after a long war and lack of trust, as a nation, we have the consensus to bring peace to our country and will not allow history to be repeated," he said on February 19.

The U.S., along with China, officially observed the talks, which would have been unthinkable a few short years ago. In spite of a willingness to negotiate, militants have pressed on with their deadly attacks throughout the country, killing about 478 civilians and injuring 843 in the first quarter of 2015, according to the United Nations.

And after years of declaring they would not negotiate with the government until all foreign troops left the country — the almost 10,000 remaining American troops are due out by the end of 2016 — a letter allegedly from the Afghan Taliban's elusive leader Mullah Omar strongly hinted that the movement's top brass endorsed the talks.

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FROM DEC. 28, 2014: Afghan War Officially Ends 2:29

"It is our legitimate right to utilize all legal pathways" to achieve a peace, according to the letter released on July 14. It charged the movement's political office in Qatar with "conducting all political activities."

That practically everything is up for discussion with the group that not only razed Kadula but oppressed and slaughtered religious and ethnic minorities throughout the country while also stripping women and girls of their rights, is deeply upsetting to Fawzia Kofi, a female member of parliament.

Kofi says she does not trust the Taliban to negotiate in good faith and refused to attend informal talks with the group in Oslo, Norway, earlier this year.

"I was invited and went there but refrained from attending," she said. "I did not think they are honest in what they are talking about," she said, referring to statements by senior members of the group hinting that they would respect the rights of women and girls. "I have seen no real change in them."

Related: As U.S. Draws Back, Afghan Women's Future in Doubt

Mullah Omar's most recent message to the faithful also said the movement sought to protect the private sector, an indication that some of the Taliban's leadership may have changed or modernized.

"The Islamic Emirate realizes the value and importance of modern sciences," it added.

But even if certain parts of the Taliban have curbed their most extreme views, the movement is riven by internal rivalries and a peace deal may not spell an end to the insurgency. Many members oppose talks with the government and several hundred at least have defected to ISIS, commanders have told NBC News.

"We are currently having many internal issues. I am afraid this meeting in Pakistan between our people and Kabul would aggravate differences between different commanders," a senior member of the Taliban told NBC News on condition of anonymity.

According to Taliban sources, the delegations that have held talks with the Kabul government only represented one part of the movement. There are also huge questions as to whether the Taliban's leader, Mullah Omar, is even alive.

Despite doubts about who is running the talks and whether those who are attending negotiations represent the majority of fighters on the ground, more meetings are expected later this month.

Rustam greets this news with despair.

"Every time I look at my home and our vineyard that has been turned into a desert I feel angry," he said. "I never want to forgive those who did this to us."




“Fourteen years after being toppled by U.S.-backed forces, senior members of the extremist group that sheltered Osama bin Laden before and after he plotted the 9/11 attacks are negotiating to end the insurgency. …. "My life has been wasted in wars and destruction, displacement and misery," the father of five said. "I am worried for my children and grandchildren. We Afghans do want peace, we do want to advance and live in a better place, but it is simply not possible to impose peace on those who do not want it, who are against education and against prosperity." …. Kadula's troubles only worsened when the Soviets withdrew from the country in 1989. The government in Kabul eventually fell and the country descended into a vicious civil war as fighters who had battled the Russians turned on each other. In the 1990s, a group of black-turbaned "Talibs," or students, swept through the country promising order and a pure form of Islam. Instead of peace, the Taliban brought more violence and death as they imposed their extreme version of Islam coupled with strict ethnic Pashtun tribal codes. …. Not everybody in Kadula holds Rustam's hard line on the Taliban's comeback. Neighbor Mohammad Aman believes peace with the group is not only possible but essential. "My home was also burned, but with all due respect to Rustam, I think we need to stop at some point — how much longer can this cycle of revenge go on?" said the villager who believes he is around 72 years old. "I will forgive those who killed my nephews and burned our family home if they really feel remorse," he added. "I would be willing to host them at my home and serve them with grapes that I planted in the past 15 years, even though they burned all we had." …. "We need to be realistic over the fact that the Taliban will come back in some degree in certain areas and we have to look at what that means in terms of government power sharing and political deals." President Ashraf Ghani appears to have come to the same conclusion. …. "I was invited and went there but refrained from attending," she said. "I did not think they are honest in what they are talking about," she said, referring to statements by senior members of the group hinting that they would respect the rights of women and girls. "I have seen no real change in them."

So the internal conflict goes on in Afghanistan, as it did before the Russians came and went. The locally approved opinions on religion and women’s issues dominates over the desire for peace, at least so far. Ghani and some individuals in the country believe strongly that the quest for peace is necessary, as do I. I would hate to see the country fall apart over these issues after we spent years and lives there. I also hope to see farmers be able to till their crops in safety, and women become free of abuse from their men and the cultural taboos of society.

In the US we have internal conflicts still over the same issues, but our government and laws do not enforce such abuse on the great scale. There are some cases that put the lie to that statement – see this article: http://news.yahoo.com/trial-florida-woman-jailed-firing-warning-shot-husband-203017167.html. The good news in this case is that she has been given a new trial, and there was a public uproar when she was convicted in a situation of clearcut self-defense, while men have failed to be convicted similarly. This was a matter of both racism and sexism, in my opinion. We have only advanced so far, but I am glad to say that the Boomers and the Millennials are in general more “liberal” than those of the 1940s and 50s. I have hopes for better in this country, and in Afghanistan too, in that President Ashraf Ghani is speaking above in terms of power sharing and political compromise, and those are clearly necessary. One farmer is quoted as being willing to forgive the Taliban. I am like the woman, however, who said that she sees no evidence that they have changed. I think there will be the need for watchfulness during this peace process. I hope these Afghani men will stand up for universal women’s human rights. Heaven help them all.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/zimbabwe-seeks-extradition-of-american-dentist-walter-palmer-hunted-cecil-the-lion/

Zimbabwe trying to get U.S. trophy hunter extradited
CBS NEWS
July 31, 2015

Play VIDEO -- American dentist faces outrage over death of Cecil the lion

Zimbabwe announced Friday that it would seek the extradition of American dentist Walter Palmer to hold him "accountable" for killing a famous lion, Cecil.

"Unfortunately it was too late to apprehend the foreign poacher as he had already absconded to his country of origin," a Zimbabwean government minister said Friday, adding that authorities there were "appealing to the responsible authorities for his extradition to Zimbabwe so that he be made accountable."

Zimbabwean environment minister Oppah Muchinguri said Palmer was accused of financing an illegal hunt to kill Cecil.

"Police should take the first step to approach the prosecutor general who will approach the Americans. The processes have already started," Muchinguri said at a news conference Friday.

Backlash from the hunting trip has shut down Palmer's practice in Minnesota and U.S. law enforcement is trying to reach him. But some believe the outrage toward him has gone too far.

CBS News correspondent Vinita Nair reports Palmer has been hounded online and off -- with some people calling for his death. His actions have unleashed anger that seems to cut across all demographic groups. Even fellow hunters are keeping their distance.

His personal information has been released on social media, his dental practice shuttered, ravaged in on-line reviews and its website shut down, and now over 150,000 people have petitioned the White House calling for his extradition.

Nick Pinizzotto, CEO of pro-hunting group Sportsmen's Alliance, is troubled by the reaction.

"You see many people putting the lives of human beings behind the lives of animals, and that's a scary proposition for anybody," Pinizzotto said.

He said Palmer's explanation -- that local guides told him the hunt was legal -- seemed plausible.

"You do have to put your trust in these people that are there to get you to the right locations and you have to trust them certainly to guide you towards the animals safely," Pinizzotto said.

Palmer is now in seclusion. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is investigating the case, said it can't reach him.

"We ask that Dr. Palmer or his representative contact us immediately," the agency said.

Reputation Management Consultants CEO Eric Schiffer said his firm was contacted this week about helping Palmer, but declined.

"He did the unthinkable. He killed an icon that so many around the world looked to... for no good reason, for no reason at all," Schiffer said.

Even while warning against rushing to judgment, many hunters were disturbed by the allegations against Palmer.

"You hear that animals are lured out of protected areas, if that is the case, obviously we wouldn't stand behind something like that. We believe in what would be an ethical hunt," Pinizzotto said.

Big game hunting group Safari Club International has suspended Palmer's membership. Police in his home town in Minnesota said they were keeping a very close eye on his neighborhood to ensure the safety of all residents there.




"Unfortunately it was too late to apprehend the foreign poacher as he had already absconded to his country of origin," a Zimbabwean government minister said Friday, adding that authorities there were "appealing to the responsible authorities for his extradition to Zimbabwe so that he be made accountable." Zimbabwean environment minister Oppah Muchinguri said Palmer was accused of financing an illegal hunt to kill Cecil. …. "You see many people putting the lives of human beings behind the lives of animals, and that's a scary proposition for anybody," Pinizzotto said. He said Palmer's explanation -- that local guides told him the hunt was legal -- seemed plausible. …. Palmer is now in seclusion. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is investigating the case, said it can't reach him. "We ask that Dr. Palmer or his representative contact us immediately," the agency said. Reputation Management Consultants CEO Eric Schiffer said his firm was contacted this week about helping Palmer, but declined. "He did the unthinkable. He killed an icon that so many around the world looked to... for no good reason, for no reason at all," Schiffer said. …. Big game hunting group Safari Club International has suspended Palmer's membership. Police in his home town in Minnesota said they were keeping a very close eye on his neighborhood to ensure the safety of all residents there. Even while warning against rushing to judgment, many hunters were disturbed by the allegations against Palmer.”

It would be interesting if all trophy hunting were illegal. Killing to eat the meat (because you’re hungry and not because it’s a delicacy or a proof of your wealth) is sensible as long as it is done humanely and not in large numbers. The horrid buffalo hunters in the US killed thousands of them and didn’t even use all the carcasses. That was the food source for the American Indians who lived in the Great Plains at that time, and the hides were used for their tents.

It is true that the ethic of educated people in this country and abroad has come to be much more humane than when I was young. I think that’s a good thing, and not “scary,” and I don’t believe that is “people putting the lives of human beings behind the lives of animals.” Human beings have an unfortunate tendency to take more than they need and without the slightest care for the overall environment. We are a greedy and violent creature. That to me is evil, especially now when the rainforests -- which automatically remove the CO2 from the atmosphere – are being cut down for the exotic woods that grow there and simply to make more open land for farmers. Ideas like more efficient land use by farmers have not been explored. The Chinese invented a system of terracing the hillsides into small agricultural plots in order to use that space. It was a stroke of genius. The human creature in general has proven to be much more destructive than any other, partly because they think the Bible is saying that’s okay. The Bible, after all, said that mankind was responsible for “dressing” the Garden of Eden. To me that means take care of it, and to me that also means caring for the animals that live in the Garden. What kind of person wants to kill a beautiful animal in order to make a “beautiful” rug for his floor? My sister is fond of saying “Humans are not very high on the evolutionary scale.” Maybe another way of saying it would be that we are “sick with sin,” to quote Jesus. Whatever the case, I am delighted to see that many, many people have voiced their opinion against this wealthy, self-centered and heartless dentist. Maybe it’s right that he should lose his practice.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-ebola-vaccine-trial-in-guinea-a-game-changer/

World "on the verge of an effective Ebola vaccine"
CBS/AP
July 31, 2015

Photograph -- A microscopic image of the Ebola virus.
Statistics Graphic -- The above statistics are provided by the CDC. Counts include confirmed, probable, and suspected cases.

An experimental vaccine tested on thousands of people in Guinea exposed to Ebola seems to work and might help shut down the ongoing epidemic in West Africa, according to interim results from a study published Friday.

The vaccine showed "100 percent protection against Ebola after roughly one week," in the trial, researcher Sven Trelle from the University of Bern said, according to French news agency AFP.

Hailing the results of the trial, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the international community is "on the verge of an effective Ebola vaccine," AFP reported.

The WHO sponsored trial of the vaccine, called VSV-ZEBOV, was the first such study carried out in an area deemed high-risk for Ebola.

There is currently no licensed treatment or vaccine for Ebola, which has so far killed more than 11,000 people since the world's biggest outbreak began last year.

If proven effective, the vaccine could be "a game-changer," said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, which sponsored the trial.

In some 4,000 people who received the vaccine within 10 days of being identified as an Ebola contact, there were no cases of the disease. That compared with 16 cases in more than 3,500 people who only got the shot after 10 days.

"Before the trial started, in most clusters there had been a series of Ebola cases over the weeks prior to randomisation," Dr. Marie Paule Kieny, one of the co-authors of the WHO study into the vaccine, told medical journal The Lancet. "Since the trial started, we have seen no new cases in vaccinated volunteers within 10 days of vaccination, regardless of whether vaccination was immediate or delayed."




“An experimental vaccine tested on thousands of people in Guinea exposed to Ebola seems to work and might help shut down the ongoing epidemic in West Africa, according to interim results from a study published Friday. The vaccine showed "100 percent protection against Ebola after roughly one week," in the trial, researcher Sven Trelle from the University of Bern said, according to French news agency AFP. Hailing the results of the trial, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the international community is "on the verge of an effective Ebola vaccine," AFP reported. …. "Before the trial started, in most clusters there had been a series of Ebola cases over the weeks prior to randomisation," Dr. Marie Paule Kieny, one of the co-authors of the WHO study into the vaccine, told medical journal The Lancet. "Since the trial started, we have seen no new cases in vaccinated volunteers within 10 days of vaccination, regardless of whether vaccination was immediate or delayed."

I hope this is the breakthrough that is being touted in the scientific evaluation, and won’t prove to be problematic. Ebola, pneumonic plague, rabies and a few others are diseases which have symptoms that only fit in a horror story, are spread so fast that it’s impossible to contain them, and have a nearly total death rate. I thought we were going to have a real panic in this country when the Ebola cases were being treated here in several city hospitals. There was a great deal of new information about successful treatments found during that time period, with lots of interesting news article on the subject. Now this one is the best of all. I’m so glad to see it.





http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/31/427741914/measuring-the-power-of-a-prison-education

Measuring The Power Of A Prison Education
Eric Westervelt
July 31, 2015

Photograph -- White House staff walk into the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Okla.
Evan Vucci/AP

The Obama administration Friday is taking a small step toward expanding adult prisoners' access to federal Pell grants. The money would help pay for college-level classes behind bars.

Federal and state prisoners have been ineligible for the grants since Congress banned the practice two decades ago. But the Education and Justice Departments today will announce a limited pilot program that gets around the ban — at least on a temporary, experimental basis.

The goal is to test the effectiveness of higher education programs for a U.S. prison population that has grown dramatically — by nearly 50 percent since the initial ban. Today, America's state and federal prisons hold some 1.6 million people.

There's strong evidence that a range of prison education programs help reduce recidivism and improve a prisoner's chances of thriving once released. To help unpack the research, I reached out to Lois Davis. She studies the issue as a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation.

Is there any data on what impact the federal ban on Pell grant funding has had on recidivism and other outcomes after prisoners are released?

After that 1994 inmate exclusion, we saw a dramatic drop in the number of inmates participating in college programming. Today, we see — looking across the 50 states — about 32 states offer some type of college or post-secondary courses to adult inmates. Unfortunately, these programs are substantially underused because many inmates lack a means to pay for them. That's why the potential for Pell grants to improve access to college is great. It removes a key barrier: a lack of funding. Some states provide state funds for college programs or maybe by individual donations or foundations. But currently, for the most part, it's up to the inmate and their families to pay for these programs.

The Obama administration is set to restore Pell grant access on a limited, pilot basis. Is this move overdue in your view?

I do feel that it's overdue. This population is one with low education attainment. About 40 percent of [prisoners] lack a high school education. Sixteen percent of state prisoners have a high school diploma. Education can have a huge effect in really helping them to gain the skills they need and prepare them to be employed. So as we look at the larger picture of how we reduce mass incarceration and investments in correctional budgets, part of that discussion needs to be what programs have the potential to really help us reduce those high costs we are currently paying as a society.

Mandatory minimums and harsh sentences for drug offenses have helped fill U.S. prisons, including with many nonviolent drug offenders. Prison education programs — is this money well-spent?

When I go around and talk to different audiences about the work we're doing in this area I will invariably have someone from the audience come up to me after and say, "The reason why I'm here is because my son, or cousin or brother is incarcerated." And invariably it's for drug-related crimes. So it's not the typical picture people may have of these hardened, career criminals.

Mass incarceration has touched so many segments of society now and our drug policies have been an important factor in that. Just being able to ensure that they have the basic skills and education that will give them a shot at staying out of trouble when they get released is a big benefit to society.

Education as the centerpiece of an effective re-entry strategy?

That's exactly right. When we think about the school to prison pipeline story — about the failure of the educational attainment for many of these individuals — when they get to prison it is a chance to address those deficits.

You did a thorough literature review — a meta-analysis — of prison education programs in America. What did you find in terms of employment and the chance a released prisoner might return to prison?

We looked at 30 years of research, to look at what we know about the effectiveness of prison education for inmates. What we found was that, if an individual participates in any type of correctional education program — whether it be adult basic ed, GED preparation, college education or vocational training — they had a 13 percentage point reduction in their risk of being re-incarcerated. That's an enormous reduction in the risk. And for those that participated in post-secondary education programs — college programs — their reduction in risk of reincarceration was 16 percentage points. A substantial reduction.

Some taxpayers say, "Don't spend my tax money on educating criminals. It's better used helping law-abiding citizens." What did you find about the overall cost-effectiveness of these programs?

Education is a relatively low-cost program you can provide to inmates. But, when you look simply at direct costs, we find that for every dollar invested in a prison education program it will ultimately save taxpayers between $4 and $5 in reincarceration costs. That's an enormous savings.

Just to break even, you'd only have to reduce the risk of reincarceration by one to two percentage points. But, the fact that there is a 13-point reduction in risk means you really are achieving substantial cost savings. And this is a conservative estimate of savings because we are not taking into account the indirect costs both to crime victims and the criminal justice system.

But is anyone tracking the effectiveness of these programs nationally and across state lines?

There is a need to get a much stronger evidence base for these programs. We know they are cost-effective. But we don't know how much dosage matters.

If an inmate spends, say, five hours a week on education, is that sufficient? Is 10 hours? Are adult basic education programs more effective than vocational programs or college programming? To what degree can you rely on self-taught or computer programs to provide educational programs to inmates? Those are the types of questions that we'd like to understand — so that governors as well as correction education directors, prison administrators and others can make good decisions on how to allocate scarce resources.

There is a three-state demonstration project going on right now that holds a lot of promise of getting at those questions with respect to college programming. It's called Pathways From Prison To Postsecondary Education. We are evaluating that. It's a five-year study being conducted in New Jersey, North Carolina and Michigan. This national study has real promise to start answering the kind of questions policymakers need to know to make those trade-offs and how much to invest.




“The Obama administration Friday is taking a small step toward expanding adult prisoners' access to federal Pell grants. The money would help pay for college-level classes behind bars. Federal and state prisoners have been ineligible for the grants since Congress banned the practice two decades ago. But the Education and Justice Departments today will announce a limited pilot program that gets around the ban — at least on a temporary, experimental basis.” Fascinating doing something that is a positive GOOD has been banned. That slipped past me. Looking it up, however, it was during the George W. Bush administration – the self-styled “compassionate conservative.” Is it possible that the term is simply an oxymoron?

Below are excerpts on the subject of why this law was enacted in 1994, and Obama's modification of it is being opposed by Republicans now. The result is predictable if you’re cynical enough – shocking if not. It took me several minutes to track down any material from 1994 on the subject, but I found it, and in enlightening detail. The way some police treat citizens for whatever reason is linked to the 1994 legislation. Some people are simply expendable. Read on.



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PELL_GRANTS_PRISONERS?SITE=INKEN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Obama to start pilot program that gives Pell grants for college to some prisoners
By JENNIFER C. KERR
Associated
Jul 31, 2015

. . . .

“Pell grants are for low-income people and do not have to be repaid.

Republicans were quick to criticize the program, saying it rewards people who break the law at the expense of hard-working Americans and that the administration doesn't have authority to act without an OK from Congress.

GOP Rep. Chris Collins of New York introduced legislation to block Pell money from being used in the experimental program, saying it will "put the cost of a free college education for criminals on the backs of the taxpayers."

A Republican committee chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said the idea may be worthwhile for some prisoners, "but the administration absolutely does not have the authority to do this without approval from Congress, because the Higher Education Act prohibits prisoners from receiving Pell Grants." Alexander, chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and an education secretary under President George H.W. Bush, said the administration should focus on existing job training and re-entry programs.

Congress passed legislation in 1994 banning government student aid to prisoners in federal or state institutions. But the Education Department said it can set up the temporary pilot program because of the experimental sites section of the Higher Education Act of 1965. It gives federal officials flexibility to test the effectiveness of temporary changes to the way federal student aid is distributed.

Undersecretary of Education Ted Mitchell said the ban is over 20 years old, and "we think that a lot has changed" since then. He said the pilot program will help provide data to see if the ban should still stay in place. Mitchell said the program will "not compromise or displace any Pell grant eligibility for any other populations."

. . . .

Supporters of the administration's Pell pilot program point to a 2013 Rand study that found incarcerated people who took part in prison education programs were 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than prisoners who didn't participate in any correctional education. For every dollar invested in correctional education programs, Rand estimates that four to five dollars are saved on three year re-incarceration costs.”




http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ495025

Ban on Pell Grants to Inmates Crushes Prison-Education Efforts.
Zook, Jim
Chronicle of Higher Education, v41 n11 pA32-33 Nov 9 1994

Educators in many state prisons feel the Congressional ban on awarding of federal Pell grants to prisoners has denied prisoner access to college education and to significant rehabilitation opportunities. Most prisoners cannot afford tuition without this primary source of financial aid. (MSE)




http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1994-05-22/news/1994142052_1_pell-grants-prisoners-receive-grants

Federal aid to inmates for college tuition imperiled in Congress
May 22, 1994|By Thomas W. Waldron | Thomas W. Waldron,Sun Staff Writer


Edwin Downs is a hard-working college freshman. He's also a convicted murderer serving a sentence of life plus 20 years in a maximum-security Jessup prison.

It's a combination that doesn't sit well with Congress, which appears poised to stop paying for college tuition for Downs and other inmates.

One provision of the anti-crime bill under final consideration in Washington would prohibit inmates from receiving federally funded scholarships known as Pell grants.

Prisoners should not be getting college scholarships when many middle-class taxpayers can't afford tuition, proponents of the ban say.

Others say a ban would be a short-sighted abandonment of the concept of rehabilitation.

Downs said policy-makers should recognize that most convicts get out someday.

"Do they want to deal with an uneducated convict on their hands or a person who's educated and had the opportunity to change?" said Downs, who is enrolled in Coppin State College courses at the Maryland House of Correction Annex. "In my mind, this ought to be forced on us."

Downs is one of about 900 prisoners in Maryland taking college courses. Nearly all of them receive Pell grants, said David Jenkins, the Division of Correction's liaison with the colleges offering the courses.

Nationally, an estimated 25,000 inmates had received about $35 million in Pell grants this year as of last month, according to the U.S. Department of Education. That was about two-thirds of 1 percent of the total $5.3 billion in grants awarded this year, according to a federal tally.

Rep. Bart Gordon, a Tennessee Democrat who led the fight to ban federal grants to prisoners, calls it a common-sense budget issue.

"Do we need to be giving a college education to prisoners?" he said. "We don't have unlimited dollars, and we have to set priorities."

Every dollar spent on prisoners is one that can't be spent on law-abiding citizens, he said.

Rep. Albert R. Wynn, a Democrat from Maryland's 4th District, said that "at first blush it sounds bad" to pay for inmates to take college courses.

"The fact is, they are going to come out," said Mr. Wynn, who has led the effort in the House to maintain Pell grants for prisoners.

"They either come out with some skills and in a position to move into society and be productive, or they come out with no skills and they have no choice but to return to a life in crime," he said.

Pell grants go to low- and moderate-income students. The maximum grant for a student this year is $2,300. Inmates who receive grants do not take them away from other students, who are eligible for the scholarships if they or their families meet the income requirements. But making grants to inmates does cut the total available, which slightly reduces the size of each award.

Two years ago, Congress banned Pell grants for inmates on death row or those serving life sentences with no chance for parole. Now both the House and Senate have voted to ban grants for all prisoners.

Mr. Wynn said supporters of the inmate grants will try to salvage something in the House-Senate conference committee that is expected to produce a final bill in the coming weeks.

He is proposing phasing out the program unless states could prove that the college courses reduce recidivism, for example.

One study in Maryland compared inmates of similar age, race and criminal background after they got out of prison. More than half of the group who had taken no college courses returned to crime, compared with more than one-third of those who had studied while in prison.

"Based on this study, it appears that participation in a college program tends to reduce recidivism," said Fredrick S. Blackburn, a professor at Louisiana State University in Eunice. He tracked the inmates for his doctoral dissertation in 1979 while a professor at Hagerstown Junior College.

One supporter of the Pell grants is Baltimore actor Charles Dutton, who has starred in the television series "Roc." He received Pell money to earn his associate's degree while incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Hagerstown.

After his release at age 26, Mr. Dutton earned a bachelor's degree from Towson State University and a master's degree from Yale University.

"If you sit an inmate in the penitentiary and don't allow them the chance to change themselves, how else are they going to change their souls and existence if it's not through books and education?" he said. "They're not going to get it running through the damn courtyard.

"I'm a living example of that. In prison, I picked up a book and it changed my life forever."

Coppin has Maryland's largest prisoner education program. Others that offer college degrees for prisoners include Essex Community College, Hagerstown Junior College and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Hagerstown, which was the first to offer a college program for inmates, celebrated the 25th anniversary of its program last week.

Thursday, July 30, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/confederate-flags-placed-at-renowned-church-near-mlk-center/

Confederate flags placed at renowned church near MLK Center
CBS/AP
July 30, 2015

Photograph -- Confederate flags sit in the back of a police car outside Ebenezer Baptist Church Thursday, July 30, 2015, in Atlanta. AP PHOTO/DAVID GOLDMAN

ATLANTA -- Four Confederate battle flags were found on the grounds of the Ebenezer Baptist Church near the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta on Thursday, and police and federal authorities were investigating.

Officer Gary Wade said a maintenance worker discovered the flags at 6 a.m. Thursday and notified the National Park Service, which operates The King Center.

Police said two men were caught on surveillance video arranging the flags around the property, CBS affiliate WGCL in Atlanta reported.

Groundskeepers were disturbed to see the flags in the morning, the Rev. Shannon Jones of Ebenezer Baptist said.

"Our grounds men were so upset, they took pictures and then they moved them," Jones said. But Park Service police later told workers the flags should be treated as evidence and not handled, he said.

No one saw who placed the flags, which weren't stuck in the ground but instead set neatly on top of it, Wade said.

A security guard saw a suspicious vehicle across the street from the church Wednesday night, but it wasn't clear whether that was related, Wade said.

A conference on the role on black churches in social justice issues has been going on in Ebenezer's facilities, Jones said.

King once preached at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, which is near the new church where the congregation now meets and where the flags were placed.

The King Center complex is near the eastern edge of downtown Atlanta. It is centered on Auburn Avenue, once a bustling center of commerce for Atlanta's African-American businesses and residents.

The center and church are a short walk from the home of Martin Luther King Jr.'s maternal grandparents, where the late civil rights leader lived for the first 12 years of his life.

The shooting deaths of nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June spurred a national debate about the flying of the Confederate flag. Earlier this month, South Carolina removed the flag from a flagpole near its Statehouse.




“Four Confederate battle flags were found on the grounds of the Ebenezer Baptist Church near the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta on Thursday, and police and federal authorities were investigating. …. Police said two men were caught on surveillance video arranging the flags around the property, CBS affiliate WGCL in Atlanta reported. …. No one saw who placed the flags, which weren't stuck in the ground but instead set neatly on top of it, Wade said. A security guard saw a suspicious vehicle across the street from the church Wednesday night, but it wasn't clear whether that was related, Wade said.”

So hate lives on. Hopefully the video footage will be clear enough to identify the two men and arrest them. The only good news in this story is that nobody was attacked and the church wasn’t burned or otherwise damaged. They can plant their flags all they want, but blacks and those whites who agree with them will still march together when issues come up. All that hate speech isn’t scaring them as it did in the early days after the Civil War.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jamestown-discovery-unearths-new-secrets-about-americas-past/

Jamestown discovery unearths new secrets about America's past
By/ Chip Reid/ CBS News/
July 29, 2015

Photograph -- jamestown-2.jpg, One of the skeletons recently uncovered by archaeologists at the site of the Jamestown colony./ CBS News
Play Video -- Cannibalism found in Jamestown

JAMESTOWN, Va. -- Archaeologists announced this week they have uncovered remains of four people, buried at the first permanent English settlement in America, in Jamestown, Virginia.

"In this grave was Captain William West," lead archaeologist Bill Kelso showed CBS News. "Over here, Captain Gabriel Archer; a knight, Sir Ferdinando Weyman; and the first cleric, Robert Hunt."

They were four of the original English settlers who had come to forge a new life in a harsh New World.

Kelso and his team spent two weeks excavating these bones, opening up a 400-year-old window on America's beginnings.

"We found the evidence of lost leaders of the beginning of the colony," Kelso said. "I think it certainly puts a new emphasis on parts of that story that have never been known before."

They were part of Great Britain's upper class, as revealed by their burial inside what had been the 1607 church, and by signs of prestige -- including part of a silver sash and a captain's staff.

But the "Eureka moment" was the discovery of a silver box buried with Captain Gabriel Archer.

"It contained fragments of bone, probably human and two pieces of lead," Kelso explained. "This is what's called a reliquary and probably Catholic, at least in origin. And here you are sitting at Protestant Jamestown.

"It says something about ... There was kind of a secret Catholic cell that was here, in Protestant Jamestown, maybe wanting to take over ultimately."

If status and intrigue are revealed in what they were buried with, who they are can be found in their bones.

Lead forensic archaeologist Doug Owsley determined the men ranged in age from 24 to 39, and had painfully bad teeth -- which may have contributed to their demise.

"That's the beauty of archaeology, that's the beauty of the human skeleton," Owsley said. "By finding those bones, you can just basically talk to them and let them tell you their story."

It's an unfolding mystery with more discoveries yet to be unearthed.




“Kelso and his team spent two weeks excavating these bones, opening up a 400-year-old window on America's beginnings. "We found the evidence of lost leaders of the beginning of the colony," Kelso said. "I think it certainly puts a new emphasis on parts of that story that have never been known before." They were part of Great Britain's upper class, as revealed by their burial inside what had been the 1607 church, and by signs of prestige -- including part of a silver sash and a captain's staff. But the "Eureka moment" was the discovery of a silver box buried with Captain Gabriel Archer. …. "It says something about ... There was kind of a secret Catholic cell that was here, in Protestant Jamestown, maybe wanting to take over ultimately." If status and intrigue are revealed in what they were buried with, who they are can be found in their bones.”

About cannibalism at Jamestown, there had been reports in the past, but a 2013 archaeological discovery uncovered a teenaged girl whose body had been apparently carved up for food. Very sick and sad. The whole story of the first Thanksgiving was part of their first seasons of starvation there, partly due to drought. Earlier information when I was in school stated that the wealthy people in the colony refused to work.
See this website: http://historicjamestowne.org/history/pocahontas/john-smith/. The famous John Smith quotation “He that will not work shall not eat” is evidence of their starvation problems. See the article below on the overall subject of cannibalism in human history. In prehistoric times it’s not uncommon and not confined to “deepest darkest Africa,” where the “primitive people” live, as some may suspect. It was often practiced on prisoners of war or human sacrifices, and not just in times of starvation. It hasn’t always been taboo, as it is now.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/columnists/cannibalism-and-america-the-right-to-eat-arms/article11716453/

Cannibalism and America: The right to eat arms
Tabatha Southey
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, May 03, 2013; Last updated Sunday, May 05, 2013

Bone fragments excavated from a dump last year at an early site of Virginia’s Jamestown colony prove that during the winter of 1610, known as “the starving time,” the first permanent British settlers in North America practised cannibalism.

According to Doug Owsley of the Smithsonian National Museum, markings on the skull of a 14-year-old girl from the period support reports that numerous cases of cannibalism – and one of prosecuted murder and then (the man salted his own wife, for heaven’s sake) cannibalism – took place.


Police in Slovakia say a would-be cannibal has been arrested after being seriously wounded in a gunbattle with officers in an undercover operation. A policeman was also wounded.

Crime

Video: Slovak cannibal suspect arrested after gunbattle

Horrific as it is, I’ve always had a certain begrudging respect for those who resort to cannibalism under desperate conditions: I forgot to buy an avocado for the lentil salad I made this week and considered calling it quits.

Mostly I am glad these grisly findings are recent, so this story has not, like the various tales around Thanksgiving, become part of the American origin myth. I’m sure eating one’s fellow colonists made sense at the time. It’s just a good thing it never made it into the Constitution. If it had, Americans would now be arguing for their constitutional right to eat people – and of course actually be eating people, just as their founding, salting fathers intended. This would be particularly bad for us, because we’re Canada: We’d be America’s freezer.

Eventually, I imagine, opposition would arise. With the “starving time” being well over, the argument would go, and there being so many alternatives to dining on Americans available to Americans, maybe some modest restrictions could be put upon the practice of devouring humans – cadaver background checks, for example.

A school barbecue gone horribly awry might spark outrage for a while and some people would say, “We need to stop eating people! This is insane! No other country in the world eats people the way we do! Why, just this week a five-year-old boy ate his two-year-old sister! When do we just say no?”

To which the National Cannibalism Association would say, “Stop politicizing this!” while lobbying hard against a bill outlawing six-foot-long locking barbecues with manacles in the lids. “Cannibals don’t kill people,” their slogan would run. “They just eat people – do some research. And accidents happen.”

Mostly, NCA spokespeople would blame video games: If the nation’s teenagers spent less time playing video games, they would be less plump and delicious-looking. The novelty song Purple People Eater would be banned, as well as Maneater by Hall and Oates – along with the rest of the Hall and Oates catalogue (no one would be able to explain why, but the bill would sail through Congress).

The airwaves would be filled with ads warning that if cannibalism were more regulated, life would just become more difficult for people who like to eat people for sport. “Why punish the leisure cannibals?” some almost decadently paternal-looking actor would ask, looking sagely into the camera, holding some sage. “My grandaddy taught me how to eat people,” these ads would usually begin, and the nation’s (uneaten) hearts would melt.

Some politicians might tentatively suggest that the framers of the Constitution had included only the right to eat other people’s arms, and what have you, in the event that another “starving time” should occur. Their intention was well-regulated cannibalism, not the great smorgasbord of citizenry that America had become. These politicians would face primary challenges, and braising. Their opponents would only have to cite Leviticus 26:29 (“You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters”) to lock up the race.

An alliance would be formed between People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the NCA because, PETA would claim, the chief beneficiary of cannibalism is animals. Turkeys would get off easy at Thanksgiving, where custom would dictate that the oldest or most wayward or most annoying member of the family would be ceremonially consumed.

If you think American Thanksgiving is fraught with familial strife now, imagine those NCA-sponsored “Ask yourself, is that turkey any louder and more obnoxious than your brother-in-law Dougy?” mailouts arriving in September.

And where would the NCA get its funding for these projects in this scenario, you ask?

Well, from gun manufacturers, of course.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/valerie-harper-rushed-to-hospital/

Valerie Harper rushed to hospital
By/ Antoinette Bueno/ ET Online/
July 30, 2015

Photograph -- Actress Valerie Harper speaks onstage during The Survivor Mitzvah Project: A benefit for Holocaust survivors at Webster Hall on May 9, 2015, in New York.
/ Noam Galai/Getty Images
Play Video -- Valerie Harper, Kellie Pickler join forces for lung cancer campaign


Valerie Harper suffered a health emergency Wednesday night, when she was taken away by ambulance during a performance of her musical "Nice Work If You Can Get It" at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine.

The fire department confirms to ET that it received a call at 8:56 p.m. about an unconscious 75-year-old female backstage, and that she was taken to York Hospital. According to Ron Corning, anchor and correspondent at ET's affiliate in Dallas WFAA, around 9:40 p.m., the artistic director of the musical announced to the audience that the ambulance seen on the side of the lawn was for the 75-year-old actress, and that she had fallen ill and wouldn't be performing.

The director then said, "She wants all of you to know after some fluids and rest she hopes to be right back here on stage later this week."

However, a source close to the situation tells ET, "Just know it's very bad."

Corning also spoke to the art tech on site, who said that Harper has not been well all week.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show " star only appears in the second act of the play, and is set to perform through Aug. 15.

Harper was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2013, after previously beating lung cancer in 2009. In April, she told ET that her cancer has not spread to other parts of her body, though pointed out that contrary to reports, she has not been "cured."

"In a way, it's a positive thing to know that a year's gone by and it's nowhere else in my body," she said. "So, I am cancer free from the neck down, so far."




Clearly Valerie Harper hasn’t lost her sense of humor, as she makes this wry description of her current health. If she does die I will be sorry, because her comic partnership with Mary Tyler Moore as her friend and then later in her own TV show “Rhoda,” set in Minneapolis was exquisite. She then moves back to NYC (leaving MTM in Minneapolis) and meets her handsome hubby Joe. Wikipedia says that show ran in 1974 to 78. My, time does fly! I wonder why there are no reruns of these on MeTV now?





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/uc-irvine-california-college-ask-students-pick-from-6-genders-in-application/

California college will now ask students to pick from 6 genders
CBS News/
July 30, 2015

Photograph -- Students walking on UC Irvine campus in California.
/ CBS Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES -- Students at a California college weighed in on a change in the application process, and a decision has been made.

Beginning this fall, students at UC Irvine will have the option to self-identify about their sexual orientation on all university admissions forms, reports CBS Los Angeles.

The new form will ask students to pick one gender from six different choices. Prospective students will be asked to choose between male, female, trans male, trans female, gender queer/gender non-conforming and different identity.

CBS Los Angeles spoke to students at UC Irvine about the change.

"I feel like this is just a way of including everyone," said Augustine Pimentel.

"I don't mind; everybody do what they want. I don't want to judge people," says Nizar Hakim.

"I feel like people should have their freedom to be called what they want to be called," said Donna Taqawi.

Beyond the political or social reasons, some saw the financial reasons too.

"A lot of those questions when you're applying to graduate school or any sort of school are important for financial aid opportunities you can have," said Joanna Laird to CBS Los Angeles.

In a statement, Janet Napolitano, the president of the UC system said: "UC is working hard to ensure our campuses model inclusiveness and understanding. I'm proud of the work we've done so far, but it doesn't stop there. We must continue to look at where we can improve so everyone at UC feels respected and supported."

It wasn't the question itself that concerned one UC Irvine mom, but the reason why it was being asked.

"I don't know why they're asking it. I'd like to know their reason for asking it," said Elane Streets.

School officials told CBS Los Angeles the answers will be voluntary and not impact on the decision-making process for admissions.




I became a member of the UU Church within the last few years, and we have quite a few LGBT members. I am so out of touch on the matter that I had never heard that grouping of types before, and was kind of surprised at the need to organize around the matter. Of course, being gay or LGBT has always been a source of real problems for such people. Like black men, gay men have occasionally been beaten up by gangs of straights, or even killed. It arouses a lot of hatred in some people. I suspect they feel threatened by such people, and of course some cases of males actually raping a straight man have occurred.

I have always been INDEPENDENT as all get out, but not gay, and never did I feel that I “was” anything other than a female. The trans-genders have been the most confusing to me, though I must say that if an athlete can transform himself into a strikingly beautiful woman as Bruce Jenner recently did, who am I to argue against it? I definitely don’t believe it is sinful or even mentally ill. There have been efforts to get all the LGBT issues defined as mental illness, especially by the Christian Churches, but that has stopped among reputable psychological professionals now. There is no more psychiatric “treatment” for gayness except for some churches.

The student comments at the UC Irvine campus are pretty tolerant. Of course the issue isn’t new anymore and folks have developed tolerance where there was none before the Women’s Liberation Movement. There was a huge amount of new discussion among women about their sexuality in general in the 1970’s and it began to emerge into the mainstream society. Most gays were not tortured or beaten when I was young, but some definitely were and they were harassed cruelly, as they still are today, especially in schools. I’m like Rodney King. “Can’t we all just get along?”





http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-says-will-review-cecil-the-lion-petition/ar-AAdJtmH?ocid=iehp

White House says will review 'Cecil the Lion' petition
Reuters
July 30, 2015

Video available.

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday that it will review the public petition to extradite the American dentist who allegedly killed "Cecil," a Zimbabwean lion.

The petition has exceeded the required 100,000 signatures, and the White House has said it will respond to all petitions that meet that level.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it is up to the Justice Department to respond to an extradition order.

The incident is currently being investigated by Zimbabwean authorities and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In this frame grab taken from a November 2012 video made available by Paula French, a well-known, protected lion known as Cecil strolls around in Hwange National Park, in Hwange, Zimbabwe.© Paula French via AP




Is a man who really wants to go about and kill beautiful animals as often as this dentist has done it of fully normal psychology? Hunting for food or, in prehistoric times, for hides to sleep on and use as clothing, makes sense, but this kind of thing just shows how callous and cruel these people are. They need to demonstrate their wealth, perhaps, as traveling around the world is costly, but more likely they feel insecure in their manhood and killing fills that gap. The article uses the term extradite, so presumably he is hiding out in some other country until this scandal blows over. I do hope they find him. His wealthy and self-satisfied life should be disrupted and inconvenienced, if not ruined totally.




https://www.yahoo.com/politics/donald-trump-amuses-us-to-death-donald-trump-with-125374247406.html

Donald Trump amuses us to death
Matt Bai
National Political Columnist
July 30, 2015

Photograph -- Donald Trump with Jesse Ventura, then governor of Minnesota, in 2000. (Photo: Reuters)

All right then, let’s do this. If we have to talk about Donald Trump, because apparently the subject will not just go away on its own, then let’s talk about him, even if it means going back on a vow I made 16 years ago.

This was back in 1999, just like the Prince song, when I was a junior political correspondent at Newsweek, and Trump was pretending to run for president for the very first time. His venue then was a complete train wreck called the Reform Party, which for a brief moment, believe it or not, was a pretty big deal in American politics, but by that point was ripping itself in half.

Founded by Ross Perot in 1995, Reform was then led, nominally, by the wrestler-turned-Minnesota-governor Jesse Ventura, a populist libertarian with whom I spent an inordinate amount of time in those days. But Pat Buchanan, the disenchanted social conservative, had decided to stage a hostile takeover so he could use the party’s ballot line to run for president again — an eventuality Ventura was so determined to stop that he would have gladly thrown his support behind any half-wit degenerate who came through the door with some cash and a plausible resume.

And in walked Donald Trump.

He said he was serious about running, anyway, and he invited me to Manhattan, where I got the private tour of his penthouse in Trump Tower, with the marble walls and the faux Greek statues and the massive scale model of his looming residential towers, overlooking unobstructed views of his looming residential towers. You know, pretty much the kind of decor you or I would choose, if we had a limitless budget and no discernible taste and a yawing hole in the part of our psyche that parental love might normally fill.

We rode in Trump’s stretch limo with his then girlfriend, the supermodel Melania Knauss. (She was lovely.) We attended a dinner where I sat with Alec Baldwin and a former Miss Universe. (She was lovely.) About two hundred times, Trump pointed out all the ordinary New Yorkers who called his name as they passed and pointed out how much they adored him. He beamed for every camera in the zip code.

It was, in short, a garish spectacle, and none of it seemed to have very much to do with running for anything other than more attention, and I wrote what any normal person would have considered a biting, dismissive account of the whole charade. (This included the odd fact that Trump steadfastly refused to engage in handshakes, though perhaps he’s gotten over that.)

After the story came out, I got a call on my foot-long cell phone as I was walking down the street.

It was Trump. I braced myself.

“You’re an unbelievable writer!” Trump shouted. “That was a great piece!”

That call kicked me in the stomach, because I realized Trump had gotten from me exactly what he came for. I promised I would never again let myself be used for brand promotion masquerading as politics, which I considered then — and consider now — to be a very serious business.

But you know, when your entire industry is happily allowing itself to be used, I guess you have to acknowledge the orange-haired elephant in the room.

Donald Trump amuses us to death
Oh yes, I know, Trump is a legitimate obsession because he is the “Republican front-runner.” Look at the polls. Only an arrogant elitist would avoid covering everything the front-runner says and does just because you think him insufficiently qualified.

Except that Trump isn’t a front-runner for anything. That’s like saying the utility infielder who hits .460 in the first two weeks of April is a likely MVP candidate. It’s like saying Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain were front-runners in 2011. (Oh wait: We did that, too.)

It’s July. Trump’s plurality in these polls basically comes down to a tiny subset of professed Republicans who will actually talk to a telemarketer, who can’t keep any of these other droning candidates straight, and who find politics in general to be a soul-sucking enterprise.

Trump draws crowds because he is a genuine celebrity and a world-class entertainer. Politics is tedium and sameness, like network dramas in the age before cable. Trump is reality TV, live and unscripted.

And let’s drop all the pretense: That’s why we in the media hyperventilate over his every utterance, too. I’m not saying, as the Huffington Post does, that Trump’s candidacy shouldn’t be covered as a an actual candidacy. Only that, if there were any real proportion here, Trump would merit about half the coverage he gets, and we wouldn’t constantly be baiting him to hurl some new, headline-making epithet.

We can say we do this because we have some somber responsibility to vet the leading candidate, but the truth is we are operating in a precarious and insecure moment where nothing matters more than the almighty click, and anything with Trump’s name on it gets a ton of them.

Guess what? He knows that, too.

This is Trump’s peculiar genius: leveraging one kind of celebrity into another, so that he never really goes away. He didn’t get to be an iconic real estate developer by building nicer buildings than everyone else; he did it by leveraging his money into cachet as a man-about-town and then renting out his name to foreign investors. He took his act to TV because he understood that he was perfectly situated to leverage his fame as a billionaire into even more fame as a TV boss.

And now it’s on to the next thing: leveraging his TV audience into a booming political brand, which is probably an idea he got from watching his friend and future secretary of state, Sarah Palin.

Trump’s juggernaut isn’t an actual campaign, with an agenda or a strategy. It’s great programming. And this is exactly — I mean, exactly —what the social critic Neil Postman warned of when he wrote a phenomenal little book called Amusing Ourselves to Death in 1985.

Postman’s essential point (as I’ve written before, both in this column and in All the Truth is Out, my own book on the subject of trivial political coverage) was that our news and politics were veering ever closer to the dark vision of Aldus Huxley in Brave New World. He warned that the line between TV entertainment and real events would become so porous that the nation would soon be unable to distinguish between them, and as a result our public discourse would become a series of meaningless story arcs rather than an informed debate over the consequential business of government.

Do I worry that Trump is the realization of Postman’s worst fear? No. And yes.

Trump himself doesn’t worry me. That’s because I don’t think for a moment that he wants the job. What Trump wants — craves, actually — is relevance. The man has a clinical phobia of obsolescence. He puts his name on every building he owns just to make sure people will have to speak it out loud.

He has no plan for actual governance and no ambition to actually govern. It’s possible that his daily barrage of insults and diatribes, each more outrageous than the last, is really a kind of self-sabotage, as if he’s trying to figure out how awful he can be before the show starts to lose viewers. Even if Trump managed to get the nomination (which he won’t), the broader electorate would recoil at the things he says, and he’s probably counting on it.

image
What does worry me is that Trump really is a proven visionary. He’s brilliant at seeing the next ego-leveraging opportunity. He’s the first interloping network star to jolt a presidential race, but no way is he the last.

Trump is pointing us the way of certain European countries, as my former New York Times colleague Frank Bruni brilliantly noted last week, when he very aptly compared Trump to Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi. What Trump is doing, and it’s a twisted kind of public service, is showing all of us how easy it is now to successfully manipulate a media in economic distress and a presidential process that caters, more and more, to an ever-dwindling bloc of extremists on either side.

Somewhere out there right now is some business magnate or TV celebrity, someone whose resources and audacity may vastly exceed his intellect or compassion, whose ambition may be more of the Napoleonic variety than the P.T. Barnum kind, who’s better skilled than Trump at making demagoguery look like a half-palatable governing vision.

And that person is probably sitting by a pool ringed with limestone goddesses, watching all this unfold and asking the question any of us might reasonably ask in that situation.

“Hey, why not me?”




“All right then, let’s do this. If we have to talk about Donald Trump, because apparently the subject will not just go away on its own....” This is a writer after my own heart. This is the crux of how I feel about repetitive Donald Trump comments and comments about him. There is one thing I feel sure of -- none of the intelligent people in the US will vote for Trump. He’s a silly egotist who has been running for president since 1995 when he ran against another nutter, Ross Perot. His ego level demands that he be President of the United States. The kind of people that I would vote for are running because they want to help the USA with some of our problems, and they have some kind of education or work background that tells me they can actually win – and then solve those problems! Donald Trump is just like his buddy Sarah Palin, in my opinion – both are very shallow people with no expertise for being President. I think after this I won’t clip another Donald Trump article until he says or does something that makes him more believable.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/freddie-gray-death-documents-reveal-citys-lapses-in-response-to-baltimore-violence/

Documents reveal city's lapses in response to Baltimore violence
CBS NEWS
July 28, 2015

Photograph -- A protester holds a sign as clouds of smoke and crowd control agents rise, shortly after the deadline for a city-wide curfew passed in Baltimore, Maryland April 28, 2015, as crowds protest the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died in police custody. REUTERS/Eric Thayer TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY REUTERS
Play VIDEO -- Freddie Gray autopsy results leaked


BALTIMORE -- It's been three months since unrest took over the streets of Baltimore. Now we're getting an inside look at confusion at the top levels of Baltimore leadership.

Thousands of emails sent by city officials were obtained by CBS Baltimore's partners at The Baltimore Sun.

Those emails show a breakdown in communication between city leaders as violence erupted in the streets. Rioting and looting broke out after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a fatal spinal cord injury in police custody.

As police struggled to control crowds and businesses burned, emails from inside City Hall obtained by The Baltimore Sun detail communication breakdowns between leaders.

In a tense exchange, the transportation director, William Johnson, writes: "This issue needs to be corrected unless I am the only person who finds this unacceptable."

"In hindsight, yes, you could have done something better. We know that. You're not human if you can't look at the before you and say I could have done this better, I could have done that better," said Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott.

Police officers were under-equipped. An order for riot gear was placed as they were being attacked.

Baltimore City Police CFO Thomas Moore writes: "Working on having 200 shields delivered from manufacturer for tomorrow delivery. Wednesday latest."

"We have to make sure that every 'i' is dotted and every 't' is crossed, and I think those lessons were learned," said Sen. Catherine Pugh, (D) Baltimore.

Emails also indicate concern about the mayor's lack of visibility on the day of the uprising.

Maryland businessman David Cordish writes: "...a visible presence of leadership walking the streets, the mayor arm and arm with business, clergy and political leadership would go a long way."

Pastor Jamal Bryant says everyone struggled to keep up.

"While we were at Penn and North, over in East Baltimore, a senior center is on fire. All of it was up in the air for everybody," said Bryant.

The city is now reviewing its procedures during the riots.

The emails also reveal the mayor wanted to lift the citywide curfew on Saturday, May 2, but the governor's office said no and the curfew was maintained through Sunday.

The emails also indicate police were monitoring social media to look for possible threats or chatter about more demonstrations.




“Now we're getting an inside look at confusion at the top levels of Baltimore leadership. Thousands of emails sent by city officials were obtained by CBS Baltimore's partners at The Baltimore Sun. Those emails show a breakdown in communication between city leaders as violence erupted in the streets. Rioting and looting broke out after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a fatal spinal cord injury in police custody. As police struggled to control crowds and businesses burned, emails from inside City Hall obtained by The Baltimore Sun detail communication breakdowns between leaders. In a tense exchange, the transportation director, William Johnson, writes: "This issue needs to be corrected unless I am the only person who finds this unacceptable." "In hindsight, yes, you could have done something better. We know that. You're not human if you can't look at the before you and say I could have done this better, I could have done that better," said Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott. …. The city is now reviewing its procedures during the riots. The emails also reveal the mayor wanted to lift the citywide curfew on Saturday, May 2, but the governor's office said no and the curfew was maintained through Sunday. The emails also indicate police were monitoring social media to look for possible threats or chatter about more demonstrations.”

The trouble with the kind of furious rioting that happened in Baltimore is that whether or not it is justifiable, it needs to be controlled. Sometimes police have to wait until the rioters get tired of burning buildings and looting. The racial divide had been escalating in this case due to multiple death reports on the news from city after city with the same deadly results from city after city over the last 9 or so months, at the hands of police. In addition, that particular case in Baltimore was sheer cruelty on the part of police. It stank! Pointless and egregious abuse is more evil than murder, though it frequently precedes it. A woman before she is raped one night in her home is often cut with a knife, burned with a cigarette, etc., and then finally when the inhuman being who has done that is tired of her fear and agony, he then kills her.

What those cops did to the man after he was dragged into the police van was to “take him for a rough ride.” Though one observer on my G+ contact list said that he thought the police officer who put his knee in Gray’s back, supposedly an attempt to control his fighting back, was probably the one who actually broke his neck. That’s very likely, but he had been roughly thrown into the floor of the vehicle with his hands in cuffs so that he couldn’t grasp the handholds there, and then driven over bumpy terrain. It was assumed that the ride was what broke his neck. However it wasn’t part of “controlling” him, but a means of “punishing” him. One officer said that “rough rides” like that were frequently done out of anger to suspects who had displeased the cops. ("Yackety yak," "Don't talk back!")

Things like that arouse such rage and hatred in the members of an unpopular minority – usually blacks or Hispanics – that the violence of their response when they do start to react is frightening, I know. It is also justifiable – not the ideal response, of course, but very understandable. After Martin Luther King was shot, first Chicago began to riot, then numerous other cities on both coasts followed suit. I was in a bus going from Chapel Hill, NC to my home in Thomasville. I had a radio and was keeping up with it. The girls on the bus in front of me and I talked about it. We were both white, but we certainly didn’t want King dead. He was the peaceful leader, after all. This country has never been the same after that.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015


News Clips For The Day



SAME CRIME, TWO REPORTS


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/samuel-dubose-death-cincinnati-officer-traffic-stop-murder-charges-body-cam-video/

Murder charges for officer who fatally shot driver in traffic stop
CBS/AP
July 29, 2015

policevid.jpg -- Body-camera video of the July 19 shooting of motorist Samuel DuBose by Officer Ray Tensing was released on July 29, 2015. CBS

CINCINNATI -- A University of Cincinnati officer who shot a motorist during a traffic stop over a missing front license plate has been indicted on murder charges, a prosecutor said Wednesday, adding that the officer "purposely killed him" and "should never have been a police officer."

cincinnatishootinglive-450x253-206911.jpg
Samuel DuBose, left, and Officer Ray Tensing WKRC

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced the grand jury indictment at a news conference to discuss developments in the investigation into the July 19 shooting of 43-year-old motorist Samuel DuBose by Officer Ray Tensing.

Authorities have said Tensing spotted a car driven by DuBose and missing the front license plate, which is required by Ohio law. They say Tensing stopped the car and a struggle ensued after DuBose refused to provide a driver's license and get out of the car.

Tensing has said he was dragged by the car and forced to shoot at DuBose. He fired one shot, striking DuBose in the head.

But Deters dismissed Tensing's claim that he was dragged by the car and suggested that he shouldn't have pulled DuBose over to begin with.

"He fell backward after he shot (DuBose) in the head," Deters said, adding that it was a "chicken crap" traffic stop.

A warrant was issued for Tensing's arrest. CBS affiliate WKRC reported that the officer had surrendered:


Tensing's attorney, Stewart Mathews, didn't immediately return phone messages seeking comment after Deters' announcement.

Mathews said earlier Wednesday that he thought an indictment was likely "given the political climate" and comments made by city officials. But Mathews said given the evidence he's seen, he doesn't believe there should be an indictment.

DuBose's death comes amid months of national scrutiny of police dealings with African-Americans, especially those killed by officers. DuBose was black. Tensing is white. Authorities haven't indicated whether race was a part of the investigation.

Body-camera video of the shooting was also released Wednesday.


DuBose's family had been pressing for its release, and news organizations including The Associated Press had sued Deters to get it released under Ohio open records law, but Deters released it before any ruling had been made.

Audrey DuBose said that the body-cam video proved her son's innocence.

"Seeing that video let me know that my son did absolutely nothing... nothing to provoke this man," she said.

family3.jpg
Family members of Samuel DuBose gather at a news conference on July 29, 2015. CBS
Deters called the shooting "senseless" and "asinine."

"He purposely killed him," Deters said. "He should never have been a police officer."

Deters said when he saw the video of the shooting, he was shocked.

"I feel so sorry for this family and what they lost," Deters said. "And I feel sorry for the community, too."

The prosecutor also had sharp words for the University of Cincinnati Police Department as a whole.

"I don't think a university should be in the policing business," Deters said.

A message for comment was left Wednesday with the UC police department. The university said earlier this week it plans an independent review of its police department's policies.

The UC officer made the traffic stop near the university's main campus, and UC police have said the intersection was within the campus police's jurisdiction.

The University of Cincinnati on Wednesday closed its main campus in anticipation of grand jury action in the case.

Mark O'Mara, attorney for DuBose's family, called for a "peaceful and nonaggressive" response from the community after the officer's indictment. O'Mara said the family wanted a peaceful reaction because "Sam was a peaceful person."

Tensing has more than five years of experience in law enforcement and has worked as a University of Cincinnati police officer since April 2014, said Jason Goodrich, UC police chief. His annual performance review this April noted that he was extremely strong in the traffic area and maintains control of his weapons and of "situations he is involved in."

Tensing formerly worked as an officer in the small Cincinnati suburban village of Greenhills

If convicted, Tensing could face up to life in prison.



http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/29/427441157/university-of-cincinnati-police-officer-indicted-on-murder-of-unarmed-black-man

University Of Cincinnati Police Officer Charged In Killing Of Unarmed Black Man
Eyder Peralta
July 29, 2015

Photograph -- Mourners Shanicca Soloman cries in the embrace of friend Terrell Whitney outside funeral services for Samuel DuBose at the Church of the Living God in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati on Tuesday.
John Minchillo/AP

Announcing the indictment of a white University of Cincinnati police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man during a traffic stop, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters called the officer's actions "asinine" and "totally unwarranted."

"This doesn't happen in the United States," he said. "It might happen in Afghanistan or somewhere else, but people here don't get shot during a traffic stop."

A grand jury handed down an indictment on murder charges against Officer Ray Tensing, who, as NPR member station WVXU reports, had previously said he shot Sam DuBose because he was being dragged by his car and he had no other choice but to shoot. Tensing had stopped DuBose because he was missing a front license plate.

Deters said the body cam video completely contradicts that version of events.

"It was so unnecessary for this to have occurred," Deters said. "This situation should never have escalated like this."

DuBose's killing has sparked protests in Cincinnati and garnered national attention because it's yet another incident of perceived police brutality over what should have been an unremarkable civil violation.

Before the video was released, the University of Cincinnati closed its campus and asked students to leave as they prepared for potentially violent protests.

Mark O'Mara, the attorney for DuBose's family, called on Cincinnati to honor who "Sam always was and that was peaceful." Any reaction by the community today, O'Mara said, should be peaceful.

DuBose's mother, Audrey, was emotional.

"I'm so thankful that everything was uncovered, because I've been a servant of the lord for as long as I've been living on Earth," she said.

During a press conference, Deters played video from a camera on Tensing's uniform. (We're not posting it, here, because it is graphic. But WCPO-TV has posted it.) It shows Tensing pull DuBose over outside the university campus.

Tensing asks DuBose multiple times for his driver's license. DuBose looks in his pockets and tells him to look up his name.

"Be straight up with me are you suspended?" Tensing asks DuBose, who answers patiently and with no aggression that he has a license and he should look it up.

What happens next moves very fast. It appears to show DuBose's car slowly rolling off and within seconds — perhaps a second — Tensing has fired a single shot.

It hit DuBose's head who was pronounced dead at the scene.

"It's so senseless," Deters said. "I feel sorry for his family and I feel sorry for the community. This should not happen." The charge of murder, Deters said, is defined as the "purposeful killing of another."

Deters said he was also still looking into the way the other officers handled this incident. In the incident report, a second university officer appears to say that he saw DuBose's car drag officer Tensing. The video appears to contradict that incident report.




CBS -- Authorities have said Tensing spotted a car driven by DuBose and missing the front license plate, which is required by Ohio law. They say Tensing stopped the car and a struggle ensued after DuBose refused to provide a driver's license and get out of the car. …. But Deters dismissed Tensing's claim that he was dragged by the car and suggested that he shouldn't have pulled DuBose over to begin with. "He fell backward after he shot (DuBose) in the head," Deters said, adding that it was a "chicken crap" traffic stop. …. Tensing's attorney, Stewart Mathews, didn't immediately return phone messages seeking comment after Deters' announcement. Mathews said earlier Wednesday that he thought an indictment was likely "given the political climate" and comments made by city officials. But Mathews said given the evidence he's seen, he doesn't believe there should be an indictment. …. The prosecutor also had sharp words for the University of Cincinnati Police Department as a whole. "I don't think a university should be in the policing business," Deters said. A message for comment was left Wednesday with the UC police department. The university said earlier this week it plans an independent review of its police department's policies.” …. The University of Cincinnati on Wednesday closed its main campus in anticipation of grand jury action in the case.”

NPR -- Announcing the indictment of a white University of Cincinnati police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man during a traffic stop, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters called the officer's actions "asinine" and "totally unwarranted." "This doesn't happen in the United States," he said. "It might happen in Afghanistan or somewhere else, but people here don't get shot during a traffic stop." …. Deters said the body cam video completely contradicts that version of events. "It was so unnecessary for this to have occurred," Deters said. "This situation should never have escalated like this." DuBose's killing has sparked protests in Cincinnati and garnered national attention because it's yet another incident of perceived police brutality over what should have been an unremarkable civil violation. …. Tensing asks DuBose multiple times for his driver's license. DuBose looks in his pockets and tells him to look up his name. "Be straight up with me are you suspended?" Tensing asks DuBose, who answers patiently and with no aggression that he has a license and he should look it up. What happens next moves very fast. It appears to show DuBose's car slowly rolling off and within seconds — perhaps a second — Tensing has fired a single shot. …. Deters said he was also still looking into the way the other officers handled this incident. In the incident report, a second university officer appears to say that he saw DuBose's car drag officer Tensing. The video appears to contradict that incident report.”

From my eyes as I viewed the video twice, there was back and forth over the drivers license during which the officer did not go to his car and call about the missing driver license. He did spot a gin bottle in the car and asked to see it, and it was shown on the camera. It appeared to me to be with the lid intact rather than open. The next thing that happened was that the policeman asked the driver to unbuckle his seat belt and get out of the car, at which point the driver suddenly floored the gas pedal rather than obeying that directive. I must say the officer’s tone of voice was not loud or aggressive. I didn’t see any evidence that the car was “dragging” the officer, but the shot was fired within seconds of the car lurching forward. It did look to me as if the driver, when commanded to get out of the car didn’t want to do that, so he -- possibly out of fear of a beating at the officer’s hands -- decided to try to escape. Supposedly there was a second officer who confirmed the story that the officer was dragged. I definitely didn’t see that, but the officer did fall down as he shot the gun.

The prosecutor mentions something that is a part of many of these cases in the last months since Ferguson -- the “crime” that was being committed was either very, very small as compared to the act of shooting a man to death, or not a crime at all. A broken taillight is not what I call a crime. It’s an excuse to issue a ticket, as this missing front license plate was. There is no sense of balance in these instances.

In England police officers, most of them, anyway, don’t carry guns under normal circumstances. It is no coincidence that there are much fewer cases of deaths at the hands of “bobbies” than we have here in the states, according to a great article on the matter that I clipped about three months ago. We need to study British methods. Of course we should also see if more British officers are themselves killed in conflicts like these. If they are not, we should not be administering the death penalty at the hands of police as we have been. Our laws should make it illegal. I believe this prosecutor is on the right track.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/doj-announces-political-corruption-charges-against-rep-chaka-fattah-sr/

DOJ announces political corruption charges against Rep. Chaka Fattah, Sr.
CBS/AP
July 29, 2015

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that long-serving Rep. Chaka Fattah, Sr., D-Philadelphia, and four associates were indicted on racketeering charges, for using several schemes to misappropriate hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds, federal funds and charitable donations after his failed 2007 mayoral run.

The five engaged in five schemes through which they "sought to enrich themselves financially and politically," U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said Tuesday at a press conference in Philadelphia.

Congressman questions fairness of case against son

Fattah, 58, and four associates were charged with bribery; conspiracy to commit wire, honest services, bank and mail fraud; money laundering and other charges.

Prosecutors said the charges covered several schemes, including the use of federal grants and charitable contributions to Fattah's educational foundation to pay back part of a $1 million loan from a wealthy campaign supporter and arranging a federal grant in lieu of a $130,000 payment to a political consultant.

"The public does not expect their elected officials to misuse campaign funds, misappropriate government funds, accept bribes or commit bank fraud," Memeger said. "These type of criminal acts betray the public trust and undermine faith in government."

Fattah said Tuesday that he had spoken to his attorney but had not yet received the indictment. He said of the charges "This is not 'Deflate-gate,'" referring to the controversy surrounding the under-inflation of footballs in the AFC championship game. "This is a normal issue of which there are allegations after a very long-running eight-year investigation...I'll stand by my previous statement that I've never been involved in any wrongdoing, any unlawful activity, any misappropriation of federal funds, and I think that there's a lot for us to digest once we see the indictment."

He said he would continue to work but would also step down from his leadership position on the Appropriations Committee. Fattah was the ranking member on Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee.



http://fattah.house.gov/biography/

About Congressman Chaka Fattah

Congressman Chaka Fattah is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, the committee responsible for setting spending priorities for over $1 trillion in annual discretionary funds. Congressman Fattah is Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies (CJS). The Subcommittee on CJS oversees close to $51 billion in discretionary spending including the Commerce and Justice Departments, NASA, NOAA, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Fattah is also Chair of the Congressional Urban Caucus, a bipartisan group of Members representing America's metropolitan centers. These Members work collaboratively with other stakeholders to address the unique challenges facing America's urban communities.

Chaka Fattah is serving in his 11th term in the U. S. House of Representatives. Before his election to United States Congress in 1994, Fattah served six years as a Representative in the State House followed by six years as a State Senator.

In May of 1986, Congressman Fattah earned a Master’s degree in Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania, Fels Institute of Government.

Fattah is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including 10 honorary doctorates and the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. Time Magazine named Fattah one of the 50 most promising leaders in the country.

In 1984 Fattah attended Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government where he received a certificate in the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.

The Congressman is married to Renee’ Chenault-Fattah and has four children. Mrs. Fattah is a lawyer and TV News Anchor. Congressman Fattah and his family are long-time members of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA. An avid golfer, Congressman Fattah is also a bike enthusiast.




Rep. Chaka Fattah has a long list of honorable distinctions, but apparently was under investigation and now indictment. He is a Democrat, so I’m sorry to hear about this, though he spoke with confidence of proving their innocence. There is a brief reference to his son in the CBS article, which it doesn’t explain, but in looking it up again under both names I found it. His son is involved in some separate issues with a lawsuit against “the IRS, FBI, U.S. Justice Department and the United States” for supposedly tipping off the news media of the raid on Fattah Jr’s residence, causing him embarrassment. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/07/29/the-feds-just-indicted-rep-chaka-fattah-d-pa-its-been-a-long-time-coming/ for background on that. I’m sure there will be more in the next few days or weeks on this story.





CALIFORNIA WISES UP – MOVING AWAY FROM SOME AGRICULTURE


http://www.npr.org/2015/07/29/425969640/californias-drought-spurs-unexpected-effect-eco-friendly-development

California's Drought Spurs Unexpected Effect: Eco-Friendly Development
EZRA DAVID ROMERO
JULY 29, 2015

City Plan Artwork -- A town in California's Central Valley plans to transform farmland into an eco-friendly residential community. An artist's rendering shows plans for Kings River Village in Reedley, Calif.
Courtesy of the City of Reedley

The drought in California has gone on so long, and is so severe, that it's beginning to change the way people are designing residential communities — in unexpected ways, and unexpected places.

Planning is under way, for instance, for one of the first eco-friendly communities in California's predominantly agricultural Central Valley.

The site is in the town of Reedley, 30 miles southeast of Fresno.

There were a number of factors that distinguished Reedley, says Curt Johansen, the San Francisco developer who's spearheading the project.

It's home to a community college and a thriving downtown, and it recently said no to Wal-Mart building in the town.

"Reedley had just updated their general plan," Johansen says. "So I thought, OK, if ever I'm going to try this, let me try this."

Curt Johansen, the San Francisco developer behind the project, wants to bring eco-conscious design to otherwise traditional farm communities.
Ezra David Romero/Valley Public Radio

On a recent day, we're touring the proposed site of what Johansen calls Kings River Village. It sits near the edge of town and has a view of the Sierra Nevada. Modern-looking low-income housing sits on one side, and a sports park on the other.

But the site itself sits on 40 acres of what used to be peach and plum trees.

"When you first arrive, you're looking at very walkable retail with office-above components. So something you might see more in an urban, bigger city," Johansen says.

He's talking about smaller homes built close to each other with a common green space. That's unusual for cities in the Central Valley, which are dominated by older homes and basic tract houses. Kings River Village, in this city of 26,000, is different from Johansen's past multi-million-dollar projects in Southern California and the Bay Area.

Related NPR Stories

Los Angeles started offering a $3.75 rebate on every square foot of grass replaced with a drought-friendly landscape. The drought is a boost in business for local conservation entrepreneurs.
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California's Drought Makes It Rain Big Bucks For Local Businesses
Rudy Mussi's family has farmed in the Sacramento Delta region for nearly a century. Mussi worries that more water transfers will deplete the fragile Delta ecosystem and wipe out family farms like his.
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California's War Over Water Has Farmer Fighting Farmer
The city of Modesto's wastewater treatment plant could supply millions of gallons of water to local farmers in California.
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Salt Is Slowly Crippling California's Almond Industry
"Embedding principles into everything I did became far more important to me than the fanciest Italian marble in the bathroom," Johansen says.

Nicole Zieba is the Reedley city manager behind the project. "I can feel good about knowing that ... the developer was really concentrating on providing an environmentally responsible place for people to live," she says.

This development is a big deal for a farm town in California. It will run on solar power and will feature small, drought-resistant yards in line with new state regulations.

There will also be a system for treating and sending wastewater back into the aquifer underneath the city. Zieba says the amount of water returned to the aquifer could be surprising.

"What we found as we did a little delving into some of the studies was that the orchards would use more water than what's envisioned to be used in this particular 40-acre development," she says.

Not everyone is convinced it will use less water. Phil Desatoff is with a local water district that is suing Reedley over the development's environmental review. He's questioning whether the community will actually help restore the aquifer underneath the city.

"This project may use less water than most other projects you typically see, but we haven't seen anything that proves that they actually are going to use less water than the land that was there," Desatoff says.

He's not the only one questioning the project. Alex McDonald, of the University of California, Irvine, is project manager for Team Orange County, a group studying drought-friendly housing models.

"The industry ... is trending toward this notion of net-zero," he says, referring to communities that produce as much energy as residents use.

A community could benefit the environment even more by generating even more energy than it uses. There's a lot more the Reedley project could do in this area, McDonald says.

And he says the city could push the envelope even more by using locally sourced, eco-friendly building materials.

Despite the backlash, Johansen, the developer of Kings River Village, believes that the environmentally conscious community is a win for the region, because change isn't always adopted so quickly in places like Reedley.

"It will actually have more of an impact, I think, in the Valley," Johansen says. "A Reedley could serve as an inspiration for a lot of the other cities to actually say we can demand better here."

The Reedley City Council has approved the plan, and the project is under environmental review. Johansen hopes to break ground in 2016.




“Planning is under way, for instance, for one of the first eco-friendly communities in California's predominantly agricultural Central Valley. …. There were a number of factors that distinguished Reedley, says Curt Johansen, the San Francisco developer who's spearheading the project. It's home to a community college and a thriving downtown, and it recently said no to Wal-Mart building in the town. …. He's talking about smaller homes built close to each other with a common green space. That's unusual for cities in the Central Valley, which are dominated by older homes and basic tract houses. …. This development is a big deal for a farm town in California. It will run on solar power and will feature small, drought-resistant yards in line with new state regulations. There will also be a system for treating and sending wastewater back into the aquifer underneath the city. Zieba says the amount of water returned to the aquifer could be surprising. …. "This project may use less water than most other projects you typically see, but we haven't seen anything that proves that they actually are going to use less water than the land that was there," Desatoff says. He's not the only one questioning the project. Alex McDonald, of the University of California, Irvine, is project manager for Team Orange County, a group studying drought-friendly housing models.”

"It will actually have more of an impact, I think, in the Valley," Johansen says. "A Reedley could serve as an inspiration for a lot of the other cities to actually say we can demand better here." The Reedley City Council has approved the plan, and the project is under environmental review. Johansen hopes to break ground in 2016.”

This plan has aroused questions and what looks to be competition, but that’s good, too. The more creative ideas and push for this new kind of development, the more water will be saved or recycled. This is the kind of thing we are going to have to do with global warming in order to survive at all perhaps, or have an acceptable life at the very least.






http://www.npr.org/2015/07/29/427263478/some-youths-find-probation-more-challenging-than-juvenile-detention

Meant To Keep Youths Out Of Detention, Probation Often Leads Them There
SORAYA SHOCKLEY
JULY 29, 2015

Photograph -- Brian Hopson, assistant superintendent at Alameda County Juvenile Hall, stands in one of its many empty units. The 360-bed facility was full when it opened eight years ago, but is now at half capacity.
Brett Myers/Youth Radio

Juvenile justice reformers have tried for years to figure out what works to help rehabilitate youth in trouble, and a recent shift away from locking kids up has been at the forefront of reform efforts. One of the most common alternatives to incarceration is to order kids directly into probation, instead of juvenile hall.

But the goals of these alternative approaches don't always match the reality — and disproportionately impact youth of color.


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The juvenile hall in San Leandro, Calif., has 360 beds — most of which were full when the detention center opened eight years ago. Today, the facility is half-empty.

Nationwide in the past 16 years, juvenile incarceration dropped by half. Part of the reason? Judges across the country, including in Alameda County, are ordering young offenders into the probation system as an alternative to locking kids up.

That's what happened to one 18-year-old, whom Youth Radio is not naming in order to protect his privacy and his juvenile records, which are protected by the law. He stole two pairs of sneakers, worth $85 total, when he was 15. This was his second arrest for what the court found to be a minor offense.

"And from there everything changed, because that was my first time on probation," he says.

Instead of sending him to juvenile hall, a judge put him on probation, which can last until age 21. His court orders included nearly two-dozen conditions he had to follow, says Kate Weisburd, his attorney.

"Attend classes on time and regularly," she read. "Be of good behavior and perform well ... be of good citizenship and good conduct."

Weisburd, who co-directs a youth justice program at the East Bay Community Law Center in Berkeley, says that while adults on probation mostly have to avoid committing a new crime, kids on probation have to abide by these sometimes subjective requirements — or be locked up.

The 15th order, "obey parents and guardians," was one that tripped up the teen who took the shoes, moving him into juvenile hall. And the electronic monitor on his ankle sent him to the hall multiple times.

"I just wanted to go outside and take a walk or something, but then I'd get in trouble," he says.

His mom says the GPS tracking was confining and hard on him and the family.

"My son, he doesn't want to eat all day. He wants to only sleep," she says. "It was really hard. He doesn't have a lot of ... hope? Esperanza? I feel sad when I see my son like that."

Nearly every state allows some form of electronic monitoring for juvenile offenders.

Last year probation violations were reported as the most common reason kids were incarcerated in Yolo County, Calif. Brent Cardall, the chief probation officer there, says some of that is beyond his control.


"We're not the judge and we don't tell the youth where they go and what they do," he says. "We enforce the orders of the court ... and we have a mandate to report those violations to the court."

Cardall's county is working on reforms to get better outcomes for youth in the system, implementing new programs that support the whole family, but he says his primary focus is on changing behavior.

David Muhammad works with numerous probation departments across the country on reform, and he says the alternatives to jail often aren't achieving their original goals.

"Many of the young people, when they first engage in the system, would be considered low-risk — and involvement in the system increases their risk," he says. "There is a mountain of research that says, when the juvenile justice system touches a young person, that their likelihood of dropping out of school skyrockets, their likelihood of later being involved in the adult criminal justice system skyrockets."

And Weisburd says putting kids in the probation system can lead to further entanglement in the justice system, rather than providing an alternative to it.

"It is ironic that electronic monitoring is seen as an alternative to detention, yet is often what leads our clients to be detained," she says.

In some parts of the country, almost half of incarcerated youth — the majority of them kids of color — are behind bars because of technical violations committed while on probation.

This story was produced by Youth Radio, part of their juvenile justice series, Unlocked.




“Juvenile justice reformers have tried for years to figure out what works to help rehabilitate youth in trouble, and a recent shift away from locking kids up has been at the forefront of reform efforts. One of the most common alternatives to incarceration is to order kids directly into probation, instead of juvenile hall. But the goals of these alternative approaches don't always match the reality — and disproportionately impact youth of color. …. The juvenile hall in San Leandro, Calif., has 360 beds — most of which were full when the detention center opened eight years ago. Today, the facility is half-empty. …. Instead of sending him to juvenile hall, a judge put him on probation, which can last until age 21. His court orders included nearly two-dozen conditions he had to follow, says Kate Weisburd, his attorney. "Attend classes on time and regularly," she read. "Be of good behavior and perform well ... be of good citizenship and good conduct." …. Last year probation violations were reported as the most common reason kids were incarcerated in Yolo County, Calif. Brent Cardall, the chief probation officer there, says some of that is beyond his control. "We're not the judge and we don't tell the youth where they go and what they do," he says. "We enforce the orders of the court ... and we have a mandate to report those violations to the court." …. "Many of the young people, when they first engage in the system, would be considered low-risk — and involvement in the system increases their risk," he says. …. "It is ironic that electronic monitoring is seen as an alternative to detention, yet is often what leads our clients to be detained," she says.”

“… nearly two-dozen conditions he had to follow, says Kate Weisburd, his attorney. "Attend classes on time and regularly," she read. "Be of good behavior and perform well ... be of good citizenship and good conduct." The conditions mentioned here sound like common sense rules, but I think that by the time two dozen such rules are listed, each of which must be obeyed, there will be a practical difficulty for the average young person. It’s impossible to really be perfect. If stiff punishments are required for every infraction the kid may become so discouraged and resentful that the whole system will fail. I knew parents when I was young who overdid the punishments, and the kids turned out to be more and more thick-skinned toward authority rather than more gentle and empathetic to others. I personally think parental abuse, which is what that actually seems to me to be, is responsible for more hard cases of dangerous delinquents than if the parents had “talked to their kids” rather than hitting them or worse.

Plus this list looks to me as though, if it were accompanied by a group focus and a “tough love” adult leadership supplemented by mandatory psychiatric counseling in some cases, might lead to real improvements in mental health, especially if regular and frequent peer group therapy sessions were involved – which also “must” be attended. I’m thinking of an AA type model, for which attendance is not mandatory, but perhaps missing too many meetings or refusing to talk and participate could be grounds for going into the juvenile hall for a period of time. After that they should be able to come back out into the probation system again to have another chance. I’m thinking of ways to avoid treating them as “hardened criminals,” to give them a bonding experience with both their peers and the supervisory adults, and keep them working on their mental health program. There is no doubt in my mind that they all need mental health counseling and group therapy. I don’t think characteristics like theft, assault, lying, cheating, etc. are present without some mental illness.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/28/427189235/researchers-warn-against-autonomous-weapons-arms-race

Researchers Warn Against 'Autonomous Weapons' Arms Race
Bill Chappell, Reporter, Producer
JULY 28, 2015

"Starting a military AI arms race is a bad idea," says a group of researchers and concerned citizens who are urging a ban on offensive military weapons that don't rely on human control. The group signed an open letter that's being delivered at a conference on artificial intelligence this week.

Organized by the Future of Life Institute, the open letter has an impressive list of signatories, from entrepreneur Elon Musk and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking to AI researchers at Google, Facebook and numerous colleges.

The letter was the idea of Stuart Russell, the director of the Center for Intelligent Systems at the University of California, Berkeley. He tells NPR's All Things Considered that some of the technology mentioned in the letter is already on its way to becoming part of our world.

"There are sentry robots in Korea, in the Demilitarized Zone," Russell says. "And those sentry robots can spot and track a human being for a distance of 2 miles — and can very accurately kill that person with a high-powered rifle."

Right now those mechanized sentries have two modes, Russell says. One mode requires a human's approval before it kills, he says, "but if you flip the switch, it's in automatic mode, and will do it by itself."

The idea of robots tracking humans and killing them is "repulsive," Russell says, and it could lead to a backlash against AI research and robots more generally. Instead, he says, artificial intelligence resources should be used to make people's lives better, from driverless cars to helpful personal assistants.

"There are many things we could do other than making better ways to kill people," he says.

Russell and the more than 1,000 other scientists and researchers who signed the FLI letter are urging an international treaty to ban autonomous weapons; he says that one is currently in the works at the United Nations.

The open letter uses forceful tones to set forth concerns that were aired in a similar letter in January, also with the support of Musk and Hawking. The earlier letter spoke of "the great potential of AI," stating that "the eradication of disease and poverty are not unfathomable."

The new letter was officially announced at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, currently being held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It states that the use of autonomous weapons sparks a new argument over warfare: "that replacing human soldiers by machines is good by reducing casualties for the owner but bad by thereby lowering the threshold for going to battle."

The letter also warns that autonomous weapons aren't like nuclear weapons, since they "require no costly or hard-to-obtain raw materials ... they will become ubiquitous and cheap for all significant military powers to mass-produce."

Russell acknowledges that in today's post-Terminator culture, the ideas of robots and warfare have often been intertwined.

"I think people understand the difference between science fiction and reality," he says. "What we want to avoid is that the reality catches up with the science fiction."




"Starting a military AI arms race is a bad idea," says a group of researchers and concerned citizens who are urging a ban on offensive military weapons that don't rely on human control. The group signed an open letter that's being delivered at a conference on artificial intelligence this week. Organized by the Future of Life Institute, the open letter has an impressive list of signatories, from entrepreneur Elon Musk and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking to AI researchers at Google, Facebook and numerous colleges. …. The letter was the idea of Stuart Russell, the director of the Center for Intelligent Systems at the University of California, Berkeley. He tells NPR's All Things Considered that some of the technology mentioned in the letter is already on its way to becoming part of our world. "There are sentry robots in Korea, in the Demilitarized Zone," Russell says. "And those sentry robots can spot and track a human being for a distance of 2 miles — and can very accurately kill that person with a high-powered rifle." Right now those mechanized sentries have two modes, Russell says. One mode requires a human's approval before it kills, he says, "but if you flip the switch, it's in automatic mode, and will do it by itself." …. Instead, he says, artificial intelligence resources should be used to make people's lives better, from driverless cars to helpful personal assistants. "There are many things we could do other than making better ways to kill people," he says. …. The letter also warns that autonomous weapons aren't like nuclear weapons, since they "require no costly or hard-to-obtain raw materials ... they will become ubiquitous and cheap for all significant military powers to mass-produce." …. "I think people understand the difference between science fiction and reality," he says. "What we want to avoid is that the reality catches up with the science fiction."

I saw something of interest and importance in every article I have clipped, but this is a case of sheer horror. It is more upsetting to me than the recent photographs of California land dried up to the point of cracking. Neither of these two items is science fiction any more. Robots have been around for years and more recently developments in AI research. To jump from that to a soulless intelligence roaming around shooting people, in preference to soldiers as being easier or cheaper or more popular politically among some misguided citizens, that is nightmare stuff.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/firefighter-tells-desperate-911-caller-deal-with-it-yourself/

Firefighter tells desperate 911 caller: "Deal with it yourself"
CBS/AP
July 28, 2015

Photograph -- Jaydon Chavez-Silver KRQE-TV

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - An Albuquerque, New Mexico, firefighter has been removed from the city's dispatch center after telling a 911 caller who was trying to keep alive a gunshot victim to "deal with it yourself."

CBS affiliate KRQE in Albuquerque reports 17-year-old Jaydon Chavez-Silver was fatally shot during a party on June 26.

The Albuquerque Fire Department told KRQE the firefighter on the line is Driver Matthew Sanchez, who was working in the dispatch center that night. He repeatedly asks if the victim is breathing, but when the caller gets annoyed with the questions and snaps at Sanchez, the firefighter tells her she's on her own.

He then adds, "I'm not gonna deal with this, OK?" before hanging up.

Albuquerque Fire Chief David Downey said in a statement that the department has launched an internal investigation into the call.

Meanwhile, Chavez-Silver's family told KRQE they were heartbroken when learning about the 911 call, but are focused on finding the shooter or shooters.




Too immature or too badly trained, not intelligent enough or mentally healthy enough – Firefighters and policemen are going to face dire circumstances and they need to be very competent rather than the cheapest workers, or worse those who have a gung-ho super-patriotic attitude. Those individuals may be sociopaths. Check their references carefully, require an education above high school level, and above all, TEST them before hiring them. Observe them. If they are telling sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, or anti-anything else jokes or posting cartoons of President Obama drawn like an ape, you know in your heart that they are A#1 jerks and will only bring trouble to your team. During this last year there was a news article about a fire department where a new black recruit came in to find a noose on his bunk. It isn’t just the police departments. Unfortunately it has something to do with too much testosterone in those professions, and I have no doubt that sports teams probably have the same problem. I think the US military has done a fair job of controlling those incidents. Our first responders need to be treated the same way. I think after a time of rebellion to that kind of discipline the really bad apples will be weeded out and the normal guys will conform. Then I believe the number of shootings, etc., will decrease.


http://www.testmasterinc.com/tests/bfi/

The Big Five Inventory (BFI)
44-Question Personality Test

“This 44-item test, developed by Oliver P. John, Ph.D. and V. Benet-Martinez in 1998, is in the public domain and has been normed on tens of thousands of adults. It provides a score for each of the Big Five personality traits (Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, Extroversion and Intellect or Openness). Scores on these traits can often explain important issues for adults and thus simplify counseling efforts. For example, an extrovert working as a night janitor was depressed. Finding a day job, where he could relate to other people, went a long way toward relieving his depression.”