Wednesday, July 22, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sandra-bland-dashcam-video-may-have-been-edited/

Texas DPS denies dashcam video was edited
CBS NEWS
July 22, 2015

Photograph -- Sandra Bland SANDRA BLAND/FACEBOOK
Play VIDEO -- Dash cam video shows Sandra Bland's traffic stop
Play VIDEO -- New video in jail cell death released as D.A. launches investigation

The Texas Department of Public Safety tells CBS News the newly released dashcam video connected with a female inmate's death was not edited.

The spokesperson blamed a technical problem, stating: "The entire video was uploaded to include the audio and video of the conversation the trooper had by telephone with his sergeant, which occurred after the arrest. Some of the video during this conversation was affected in the upload and is being addressed. We are working to repost the dash cam video."

The 52-minute video released by the Texas DPS Tuesday shows a state trooper, Brian Encinia, pulling over, then arresting Sandra Bland.

The 28-year-old woman was found dead in her jail cell three days later.


Multiple breaks and jumps appear in the dashcam video, though the audio flows uninterrupted.

In one instance, a car repeatedly comes into the frame and then disappears.

The multiple breaks and jumps make it appear as if it is possible that the video was edited, reports Sherry Williams of CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV.

Twenty-five minutes into the showing Bland's traffic stop, a man exits a tow truck.

Encinia can be heard in the background, referring to Bland, saying, "She just started going, 'This is an m-f and you give me a m-f ticket for a lane change."'

The tow truck driver walks off camera.

Seconds later, the same man is shown exiting the vehicle again. Then a third time.


The start shows Encinia pulling Bland over for failing to signal while changing lanes.

He prepares to write her a ticket or give her a warning.

"You seem very irritated," Encinia says.

"I am. I really am," Bland replies. " ... I was getting out of your way. You were speeding up, tailing me. So I move over and you stopped me. So, yea, I am a little irritated."

Encinia asks Bland to put out her cigarette. She refuses. He asks her again and again to step out of the car.

"No, no, you don't have the right!" Bland protests at one point.

"Step out of the car!" Encinia demands. " ... Get out of the car now or I am going to remove you! I am going to yank you out of here!"

"Don't touch me!" Bland insists. "I'm not under arrest."

"You are under arrest!" Encinia says.

"I'm under arrest for what?" Bland asks.

Encinia then takes his Taser out of its holster and aims it at Bland.

"Get out of the car! I will light you up!" he says, apparently referring to Tasering her. " ... Get out! Now!"

"Wow!" Bland exclaims

"Get out of the car!" Encinia repeats.

"For a failure to signal, you doing all of this for a failure to signal!" Bland remarks.

"Get over there!" Encinia says.

"Right, yea," Bland responds.

Encinia places Bland in handcuffs off-camera, but their voices are still recorded.

"You're about to break my wrist! Can you stop? You're about to f****** break my wrist. Stop!" Bland cries out.

Sounds of struggling are heard.

"Stop now!" Encinia orders.

In an affadavit released Tuesday, Encinia claims Bland "began swinging her elbows at me and then kicked my right leg in the shin."

Bland spent three days in jail after her arrest trying to raise $500 from her family to post bond.

On July 13, she was found dead in her jail cell with a plastic bag around her neck.

State Senator Royce West, a Dallas Democrat, told KHOU, "Once you see what occurred, you will probably agree with me that she did not to be deserved to have been taken into custody."

At a memorial for Bland Tuesday night, her mother says she believes her daughter was murdered.

"There is not anywhere that I can see that my baby took her own life," said Geneva Reed-Veal.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sandra-bland-dashcam-video-may-have-been-edited/

New video in jail cell death released as D.A. launches investigation
July 21, 2015

New video sheds light on the controversial death of Sandra Bland, a woman who was found hanged inside her Texas jail cell. A security camera shows officers rushing to help Bland. The district attorney says it is too early to know how she died. Sherry Williams of CBS Houston affiliate KHOU reports on how Bland's family does not believe it was suicide.



“The Texas Department of Public Safety tells CBS News the newly released dashcam video connected with a female inmate's death was not edited. …. Multiple breaks and jumps appear in the dashcam video, though the audio flows uninterrupted. In one instance, a car repeatedly comes into the frame and then disappears. The multiple breaks and jumps make it appear as if it is possible that the video was edited, reports Sherry Williams of CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV. …. "I'm under arrest for what?" Bland asks. Encinia then takes his Taser out of its holster and aims it at Bland. "Get out of the car! I will light you up!" he says, apparently referring to Tasering her. " ... Get out! Now!" "Wow!" Bland exclaims. "Get out of the car!" Encinia repeats. "For a failure to signal, you doing all of this for a failure to signal!" Bland remarks. …. In an affadavit released Tuesday, Encinia claims Bland "began swinging her elbows at me and then kicked my right leg in the shin." Bland spent three days in jail after her arrest trying to raise $500 from her family to post bond. On July 13, she was found dead in her jail cell with a plastic bag around her neck. …. Encinia has been placed on administrative leave for violating department procedures regarding traffic stops. The local district attorney says Bland's death is being investigated as a homicide. The FBI and Justice Department have been asked to assist in the investigation.”

From the way this dashcam video is described it does appear to be edited and in an inexpert way, possibly to cover up an assault or very rough handling at the point of arrest. The suspect was heard saying the officer is breaking her wrist. “…a car repeated comes into the frame and then disappears” among “multiple breaks and jumps” in the video. Whatever happened while she was in her jail cell is missing from this original report. See the secondary video above for more information. She was found dead “with a plastic bag over her head.” The secondary video on the jail cell occurrences does not actually show her cell, but the hallway outside as prison personnel “rush to help her.” That particular video says that she was found hanged in her cell, and in a later sentence with plastic bag over her head. How did she manage to smuggle a plastic bag into her cell, if it is suicide? I read a number of years ago that death by asphyxiation is not peaceful as it is usually portrayed in TV and movies. The autonomic nervous system takes over and the victim will fight fiercely to remove the pillow or hand or whatever is blocking his or her breathing. Because of that I don’t believe anyone would actually be able to overcome that instinctive response and voluntarily leave a plastic bag in place over her head as this report claims. If she was in fact found hanging, then that would be possible. The article didn’t say what was used for the hanging. I also wonder why there was no actual jail cell footage. A jail would want a record of anything that goes on, I would expect, just in case of claims of malfeasance such as this. I am glad to see that Encinia has been charged with violating arrest procedures and that the FBI and DOJ has been invited to help with the investigation. I will try to track further articles on this case over the next months.





http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/donald-trump-insult-generator

If You Don’t Click on This Classy Post, You Are a Loser and a Moron
Introducing the Donald Trump insult generator.
By Tim Murphy | Tue Jul. 21, 2015

Four days after mocking Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for being captured in Vietnam, Donald Trump is at the top of the Republican presidential polls. Despite his history of political flip flops, Trump has gained traction with red-meat-loving conservatives by skewering and belittling establishment figures such as McCain and Karl Rove, questioning President Barack Obama's legitimacy, and attacking undocumented immigrants. But he's also been quick to fling insults at anyone who ever says anything bad about him—other celebrities, journalists, legislators, and this one poor guy from Bermuda. Donald Trump insults people.

And now you, too, can be insulted by the tirade-prone tycoon—with the Mother Jones Donald Trump Insult Generator™. Just enter your name (or your friend's name, or the name of your favorite stupid clown political pundit with bad ratings) and give it a spin. Just don't expect an apology.




This article is all about fun, of course. The insults I received were not profane or obscene, so even the Mother Jones staff are careful about what they say.





http://www.forbes.com/sites/uciliawang/2015/07/14/tesla-cto-batteries-solar-will-lead-to-cheap-electricity-within-10-years/

Tesla CTO: Batteries + Solar Will Lead to Cheap Electricity Within 10 Years
Ucilia Wang Contributor
GREEN TECH
7/14/2015

Photograph -- Tesla Motors' home battery pack.

Energy storage technology is key to popularizing solar energy generation, and that point was underscored by the feature speaker at a large solar energy conference in San Francisco Monday: Tesla Motors' TSLA -0.93% chief technology officer, JB Straubel.

Straubel took the stage at Intersolar’s opening ceremony to extol the energy density and other virtues of lithium-ion battery for running electric cars and banking renewable energy to make solar and wind available on-demand after sundown or when the wind dies down.

Energy storage projects don’t always need to couple with renewable energy, however. Utilities or grid operators in California and eastern United States are either buying energy storage services or getting ready to do in order to follow regulatory mandates or to otherwise help them run their electric grids smoothly.

Straubel said battery costs will fall faster than expected, and the same for the demand for energy storage equipment that will be paired with solar panels. The combination will create a steady flow of electricity that is cheaper than energy from fossil fuel-based power plants, and “we are within grasping distance of that goal,” he said.

“I’m quite certain that it will happen in the next 10 years,” Straubel added.

His bullish outlook for the rise of energy storage market isn’t surprising. He’s making that prediction based partly on Tesla’s plan to build a large lithium-ion battery factory in Nevada that is scheduled to start churning out battery packs next year. The factory is designed to increase its production capacity to 50 gigawatt-hours annually by 2020, enough to run 500,000 Tesla cars. The battery packs will use cells by Panasonic.

Tesla unveiled two battery packs in May, one for home and one for larger installations for business and utility customers. The home version, Powerwall, in particular is designed to look sleek and something you can show off rather than hide in a corner of the garage. The company spent a few years fine-tuning the battery pack’s engineering, selling packs of earlier designs to SolarCity, a solar panel installer who counts Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, as its chairman.

Tesla has done a good job of creating a buzz around its new battery packs and received quite a good number of pre-orders since the big unveil two months ago.

Tesla’s stated wholesale prices for Powerwall, which will come in 7 or 10 kilowatt-hours, are $3,000 to $3,500. These prices don’t include the inverter, which is crucial for regulating voltage levels and converting direct current to alternating current from the battery to alternating current for use around the house. The installation cost will depend on whom you hire to do the job. The wholesale prices fall in the lower end of the spectrum for average prices of comparable system sizes.

For larger projects that serve business and utility customers, Tesla plans to charge a wholesale price of $250 per kilowatt-hour for the batteries alone and $500 per kilowatt-hour for a system that includes the power electronics, thermal control devices and software, said a Tesla spokeswoman. That price for the whole system should fall to less than $300 per kilowatt-hour when the new factory reaches full production in 2020.

The company plans to start shipping home battery packs, made initially at its Fremont, Calif., factory, this summer. Tesla is selling those battery packs on its website as well.

Tesla is far from being the only battery developer and maker eyeing the emerging grid energy storage market. Here is my list of 11 energy storage companies to watch that include technology and project developers. Many of them are at Intersolar this week, which is running more panel discussions on energy storage than ever before. I’ll be moderating a panel on energy storage and one on solar startups this Wednesday afternoon.

A GTM Research report issued in March showed that 61.9 megawatts of energy new storage projects that generated $128 million in sales were installed in the United States in 2014, a 40% increase from 2013. The market could quadruple in 2015 by adding another 220.3 megawatts. Most of the energy storage projects installed in 2014 used lithium-ion batteries, and the average price for installing each energy storage system was $2,064 per kilowatt.

Whether Tesla will play a key role in slashing the cost of energy storage will remain to be seen. The company certainly believes it will be an important player in influencing not only the grid energy storage market but also the electric car market. Electric car batteries can double as grid energy storage equipment when the cars are parked at home or work and connected to the grid through charging equipment.

“Even with a relatively small fleet of cars today, around 60,00 [sic] cars in the world, (Tesla’s cars make up) about 5 gigawatt-hours of energy storage connected to the grid,” Straubel said. “It’s not going to be many years before Tesla will have a million cars, or 70 gigawatt-hours of storage.”

Straubel ended his talk with a slide that featured a quote from Sheikh Yamani, a former Saudi oil minister: “The stone age came to an end not for lack of stones. And the oil age will come to an end not for lack of oil.”





“Energy storage technology is key to popularizing solar energy generation, and that point was underscored by the feature speaker at a large solar energy conference in San Francisco Monday: Tesla Motors' TSLA -0.93% chief technology officer, JB Straubel. Straubel took the stage at Intersolar’s opening ceremony to extol the energy density and other virtues of lithium-ion battery for running electric cars and banking renewable energy to make solar and wind available on-demand after sundown or when the wind dies down. …. Utilities or grid operators in California and eastern United States are either buying energy storage services or getting ready to do in order to follow regulatory mandates or to otherwise help them run their electric grids smoothly. Straubel said battery costs will fall faster than expected, and the same for the demand for energy storage equipment that will be paired with solar panels. The combination will create a steady flow of electricity that is cheaper than energy from fossil fuel-based power plants, and “we are within grasping distance of that goal,” he said. …. Tesla unveiled two battery packs in May, one for home and one for larger installations for business and utility customers. The home version, Powerwall, in particular is designed to look sleek and something you can show off rather than hide in a corner of the garage. The company spent a few years fine-tuning the battery pack’s engineering, selling packs of earlier designs to SolarCity, a solar panel installer who counts Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, as its chairman. “I’m quite certain that it will happen in the next 10 years,” Straubel added. …. . These prices don’t include the inverter, which is crucial for regulating voltage levels and converting direct current to alternating current from the battery to alternating current for use around the house. The installation cost will depend on whom you hire to do the job. The wholesale prices fall in the lower end of the spectrum for average prices of comparable system sizes. …. The company plans to start shipping home battery packs, made initially at its Fremont, Calif., factory, this summer. Tesla is selling those battery packs on its website as well. Tesla is far from being the only battery developer and maker eyeing the emerging grid energy storage market. Here is my list of 11 energy storage companies to watch that include technology and project developers. …. Whether Tesla will play a key role in slashing the cost of energy storage will remain to be seen. The company certainly believes it will be an important player in influencing not only the grid energy storage market but also the electric car market. Electric car batteries can double as grid energy storage equipment when the cars are parked at home or work and connected to the grid through charging equipment. …. Straubel ended his talk with a slide that featured a quote from Sheikh Yamani, a former Saudi oil minister: “The stone age came to an end not for lack of stones. And the oil age will come to an end not for lack of oil.”

If this battery leads to cheap electricity in the next ten years, maybe it will also lead to a much lower CO2 emissions rate as well as coal and oil are phased out. I certainly hope so!! I remember an argument with a friend of mine 15 or so years ago over the feasibility of effective storage devices for solar energy. His view was that solar power would never be as effective as fossil fuels, which is what all conservative thinkers of the time believed. They preach that a lower carbon footprint is not possible. To quote another popular old proverb, “Never say never!” That is especially true in the world of science and technology.





http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/us-voters-ready-for-a-female-president-poll-suggests/ar-AAd1MmT?ocid=iehp

U.S. Voters Ready For a Female President, Poll Suggests
Newsweek
Connor Gaffey
July 16, 2015

Photograph -- © Dave Kaup/Reuters U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the National Council of La Raza annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri July 13…

Americans are finally ready to accept a female president, particularly if she happens to be a Catholic, according to the results of a recent survey.

The Gallup poll found that women were the second-most widely supported non-traditional demographic among U.S. adults, with 92 percent saying they would be happy to vote for a female candidate in the 2016 presidential election.

Hillary Clinton is currently the leading Democratic candidate ahead of next year's party conventions, when parties select their presidential candidates, and holds a 34 percentage point lead over her nearest rival, Bernie Sanders.

At present, the only other female presidential candidate is Carly Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett Packard, who is currently 12th in the long list of Republican candidates with around 2 percent of support.

Catholics were found to be the most-widely supported demographic, with 93 percent support among US adults. John F Kennedy remains the only US president to have been a Roman Catholic.

The poll was commissioned to assess how much support different non-traditional demographics - such as women, gay or lesbian candidates, and atheists - would garner from voters of varying religious affiliations.

In terms of support for a female candidate, there was little divergence among voters from different religious affiliations. 95% of non-religious voters said they would vote for a female candidate, followed by 94% of Catholics and 91% of Protestants.

Gallup have carried out similar polls at periodic intervals since 1937, when only one-third of those polled said they would back a female candidate.

This means that, in the past 78 years, the likelihood of supporting a female candidate has increased by 59 percentage points.

The poll also found that 60 percent of US adults would happily vote for a Muslim candidate, though that figure dropped to 44% among Protestants. Affiliates of various forms of Protestant Christianity, including Evangelical churches, make up 46.5% of the US population, the largest single religious demographic in the country.

Opponents of Barack Obama have regularly said the he is a Muslim, despite Obama swearing his presidential oath on the Bible and describing himself as a "Christian by choice". Current Republican candidate Donald Trump has suggested Obama may be a Muslim and called on the president to release his birth certificate.

A 2010 Pew survey found that almost one in five US citizens believed Obama to be a Muslim and that that belief was linked to disapproval of Obama's political performance.




“Americans are finally ready to accept a female president, particularly if she happens to be a Catholic, according to the results of a recent survey. The Gallup poll found that women were the second-most widely supported non-traditional demographic among U.S. adults, with 92 percent saying they would be happy to vote for a female candidate in the 2016 presidential election. …. The poll was commissioned to assess how much support different non-traditional demographics - such as women, gay or lesbian candidates, and atheists - would garner from voters of varying religious affiliations. …. . 95% of non-religious voters said they would vote for a female candidate, followed by 94% of Catholics and 91% of Protestants. Gallup have carried out similar polls at periodic intervals since 1937, when only one-third of those polled said they would back a female candidate. This means that, in the past 78 years, the likelihood of supporting a female candidate has increased by 59 percentage points. …. The poll also found that 60 percent of US adults would happily vote for a Muslim candidate, though that figure dropped to 44% among Protestants. Affiliates of various forms of Protestant Christianity, including Evangelical churches, make up 46.5% of the US population, the largest single religious demographic in the country.”

“A 2010 Pew survey found that almost one in five US citizens believed Obama to be a Muslim and that that belief was linked to disapproval of Obama's political performance.” This statement follows my view that whenever an individual or a group follows a “belief,” a concensus, or the rule of fear of persecution rather than proof, knowledge or impartial observation, they will accept anything at all to be true, including some ridiculous things, such as the oft disproved fallacy that Obama is (1) not an American citizen and (2) a Muslim because his father was a Muslim and he attended a Muslim religious school. He never attended Mosque worship services as an adherent or accepted their doctrines, and did attend a very liberal black Christian church for years as his personal faith.

Those blind “believers” need to take the basic logic course which I took in my first year of college. High schools need to teach that in high schools as a required course because it is not above the intellectual level of a high school kid, and they would do better in some of their math, science and philosophy courses if they knew that subject matter. They would also be harder to fool on all kinds of matters as a population if they should fail to take any college coursework at all, which is after all highly likely in hard economic times like these. It’s a course about basic syllogisms, etc. – in other words how we prove to ourselves what is, in reality, “the truth.” Convoluted dogma enforced by fear would have less hold over us as a culture if that were the case. That’s why I never give up on education as the savior of mankind.

That whole issue set aside, women are apparently making great strides compared to my time period in the 1950s and ‘60s, along with gays and people of diverging religious persuasions. Being willing to vote for a Muslim is a real change, for instance. Interestingly the members of the Catholic Church whose position on religious views is often very conservative, were more liberal in this poll on the role of women in office than were the Protestants. I think that is because modern day Evangelical Protestants don’t want women to get out of their “proper place” in relation to men and to the world of power and influence. If you don’t believe that, take a closer look at US history. Only within the last 150 or so years have women gained the right to own property in their own names, not to mention voting in elections! To be fair to modern men, the same harsh restrictions on women were a part of the Jewish culture of 2000 BC and earlier, which like the Arabs, believed women to be deeply inferior. Remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, in which a “righteous” Jewish man sent his own daughter out to a ravening crowd of apparently bisexual men to be despoiled and killed in order to save the man who was his guest. Where does a story like that come from? What reasoning can I derive from it? It’s one of the reasons I fight so hard for my rights to this day. I was taught a strict and rigid code of behavior especially around sex and what rights I should expect. As I have removed myself further from that viewpoint my life has improved.

Though Martin Luther himself was following a liberal to radical religious path by breaking from the parent church on the basis of a modern and logical interpretation of doctrines, many of his followers have tended to be Evangelistic and essentially irrational, blindly following a holy book written 2,000 years ago and often in the language of Elizabethan times. If I were going to read the Bible for irrefutable truths I would read the modern language version, because I have never found the King James Version easy to understand. Every other word has to be looked up in a glossary. Otherwise you end up with statements like “the voice of the turtle was heard in the land.” One scholar proposed that this was a reference to the attacks by Romans who were famous for a fighting technique called the “testudo” -- meaning “tortoise” -- formation in which all the front facing soldiers advanced in a tight grouping with their shields held to the sides, front, rear and on top of their heads. This allowed them better shelter from the hundreds of arrows or worse catapult stones that they expected to encounter.

I also can’t get past the fact that every second sentence in the Bible is on a new subject, so there is no clear and understandable development of ideas to follow. That is especially true of the Old Testament, which was a collection of old stories some of which can be traced to religious texts from other civilizations of the -- even earlier -- time period of the arrival of the Jews into the Holy Land. I think ancient literature like that actually contains nuggets of factual information, but I would never take it as the literal and especially “factual” truth. I think it began in the mouths of shamans in tribal cultures as they formulated their particular mythical vision of how the earth and human life began, what the commandments of their God or gods were, what the nature of that God was and his or her origins. After all rote memorization was the means of compiling history until around 3400 to 2600 BC when the Sumerians and Egyptians began using writing as we know it today. (See Wikipedia, “History of Writing” and the astounding UK Daily Mail article I just found. See below.) My favorite early stories of the beginnings of everything is the Greek, in which the Goddess Athena “sprang forth” from the brow of Zeus dressed in full battle array. About more factual information on the ancient Jewish cultures, or even earlier peoples, see good old Wikipedia below on the subject.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254783/Researchers-discover-ostrich-egg-engravings-thought-earliest-form-writing.html

Discovery of 60,000-year-old etchings on ostrich eggs could be earliest form of writing
By Daily Mail Reporter
UPDATED: 19:49 EST, 2 March 2010

Numerous photographs are included. There is no way that they could be accidental scratchings.

Geometric designs engraved on ostrich eggs could represent the earliest form of written communication, researchers have claimed.
The patterns made by hunter-gatherers were discovered by scientists working in South Africa and are thought to be 60,000 years old, an era before humans left the continent to populate the rest of the world.
The researchers believe the engravings identified the eggshells as belonging to certain groups. Among these fragments, the team identified four specific patterns which were repeated frequently.

Some of the ostrich egg fragments discovered by researchers working in South Africa. More than 270 eggshell fragments were found by Pierre-Jean Texier, from the University of Bordeaux, and his team during the past several years of research at the Diepkloof Rock Shelter in the Western Cape.

These patterns included cross hatching and parallel lines which were etched into the side of the eggs - many of which were thought to have been used as water containers by the hunter-gatherers.

The paralled lines are believed to have been engraved first and then were regularly spaced lines were cut across.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254783/Researchers-discover-ostrich-egg-engravings-thought-earliest-form-writing.html#ixzz3gea1EJVG
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_history

Jewish history
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jewish history (or the history of the Jewish people) is the history of the Jews, and their religion and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Although Judaism as a religion first appears in Greek records during the Hellenistic period and the earliest mention of Israel is inscribed on the Merneptah Stele dated 1213–1203 BCE, religious literature tells the story of Israelites going back at least as far as c. 1500 BCE. The Jewish diaspora began with the Assyrian conquest and continued on a much larger scale with the Babylonian conquest. Jews were also widespread throughout the Roman Empire, and this carried on to a lesser extent in the period of Byzantine rule in the central and eastern Mediterranean. In 638 CE the Byzantine Empire lost control of the Levant. The Arab Islamic Empire under Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem and the lands of Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain coincided with the Middle Ages in Europe, a period of Muslim rule throughout much of the Iberian Peninsula. During that time, Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life blossomed.

During the Classical Ottoman period (1300–1600), the Jews, together with most other communities of the empire, enjoyed a certain level of prosperity. In the 17th century, there were many significant Jewish populations in Western Europe. During the period of the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, significant changes occurred within the Jewish community. Jews began in the 18th century to campaign for emancipation from restrictive laws and integration into the wider European society. During the 1870s and 1880s the Jewish population in Europe began to more actively discuss immigration back to Israel and the re-establishment of the Jewish Nation in its national homeland. The Zionist movement was founded officially in 1884. Meanwhile, the Jews of Europe and the United States gained success in the fields of the science, culture and the economy. Among those generally considered the most famous were scientist Albert Einstein and philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. A disproportionate number of Nobel Prize winners at this time were Jewish, as is still the case.[1]





http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/15/1402517/-The-despicable-video-of-California-police-executing-unarmed-law-abiding-Diaz-Zeferino?detail=facebook

The despicable video of California police executing unarmed, law-abiding Diaz Zeferino
shaunking
WED JUL 15, 2015

Photograph -- Diaz Zeferino moments before being executed by Gardena Police. Despicable.

“Sigh. Profanity….” These are the words that come to my mind as I see the video that Gardena, California police fought for two years to hide from all of us. They murdered Diaz Zeferino.

They executed a good man in cold blood, paid his family $4.7 million, cleared all of the officers involved, and then hoped we never see the horror of what they did.

Thank you to the LA Times for fighting tirelessly to get this video released.

Beyond shooting and killing a man in cold blood. It turns out that Diaz Zeferino wasn't even who they were looking for. He was helping a friend search for a stolen bicycle. Being the brown man he is, police assumed he stole it.

He didn't. Now he's dead and word is that these officers are already back on the street.


COMMENTS:


* [new] I can't even watch (6+ / 0-)
the whole thing.

Summary execution for suspicion of stealing a bike?

Cold-blooded murder, no consequences?

by Clio2 on Wed Jul 15, 2015 at 10:35:43 AM PDT


* [new] No jail? Despicable. (5+ / 0-)
It's murder. It's not a mistake...not like the kid was grabbing in his pockets and not complying.

by GoGoGoEverton on Wed Jul 15, 2015 at 10:38:16 AM PDT


* [new] Thank you to the LA Times. (17+ / 0-)
That was murder, pure and simple. The kid never made a threatening move; and if the officers were "afraid for their safety" from a kid on a bicycle, They're in the wrong line of work. These officers should have been indicted, tried, and IMO convicted. It's unconscionable that any police department would shield their personnel against prosecution for such a heinous shooting.

You can't spell CRAZY without R-AZ.

by rb608 on Wed Jul 15, 2015 at 10:43:18 AM PDT


* [new] A young man on a bicycle scared a bunch of (4+ / 0-)
cops in Baltimore too. It's just crazy.

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

by Lily O Lady on Wed Jul 15, 2015 at 10:57:49 AM PDT

[ Parent ]


* [new] no indictment? WTF does it take. (3+ / 0-)
Get a badge and you too can murder a minority! Is that their recruiting message?

by dylanfan on Wed Jul 15, 2015 at 11:16:14 AM PDT

[ Parent ]




“Sigh. Profanity….” is not the actual language that DailyKos used at that spot. I did clean it up. The rest of their article is spot on as it so often is, though. It reads, "These are the words that come to my mind as I see the video that Gardena, California police fought for two years to hide from all of us. They murdered Diaz Zeferino. They executed a good man in cold blood, paid his family $4.7 million, cleared all of the officers involved, and then hoped we never see the horror of what they did. Thank you to the LA Times for fighting tirelessly to get this video released.” It seems to me that the DOJ should come and sit on them in Gardena as they did on Ferguson. They can apparently use a clean up job there, too.

I wonder how many similarly compromising videos are being withheld from public view across the nation. The number of cases I have seen these last six months or so since Ferguson are enough to make me less than hopeful about the matter. Cops have been doing some really bad things. I hasten to say, however, that I believe most police officers are decent humans and try to do their best. Police officers were “flying under the radar” for too long a time period – several decades at least since the Richard Nixon “Law and order” years. With all the freedom to do whatever they happen to want to do that they have had, they have become careless at the very least and are positioned between highly unethical and criminal in too many cases. Into that mix has crept the racial taint to a dangerously high degree. Police departments in a few cases have been caught circulating racist jokes and other hateful things. The cultural undercurrent has become really ugly. It’s no wonder if violence emerges out of that mix.

Our country is in jeopardy now, and the neo-Nazi and “militia” groups are involved, too, all under the guise of “conservative” political opinion. We are approaching an edge over which we could fall into the state of degradation of our very democracy and outright violence among various groups. Just last week a “hate group” called the New Black Panther Party was faced off against the KKK in SC over the confederate flag issue. According to the SPLC, whom I trust, they are not identified at all with the Black Panthers of the 1970s and 80s and are not a positively oriented organization like the NAACP. Two hate groups getting together for what gangs used to call “a rumble” is not a step forward, but backward.

Comment: “That was murder, pure and simple. The kid never made a threatening move; and if the officers were "afraid for their safety" from a kid on a bicycle, They're in the wrong line of work.” I absolutely agree with that statement, and to carry it further, this summarizes my viewpoint – if these numerous police officers who say they “feared for their lives” every time they kill someone are telling the truth I will be very surprised. I think many of those killings are simple executions. I believe they actually give that “feared for my life” statement in court to excuse their extreme actions, and that they are actually parroting a common phrase that does unfortunately tend to clear them of all charges. I believe they have been specifically advised to say that by their lawyers, the Police Union or their department supervisors. It has popped up in a dozen or more cases all across the country since I’ve been collecting these articles. Police forces need to be trained to a man to make an arrest without killing anyone every time they possibly can, and to shoot to wound rather than aiming at the core of the body.

There was an interesting news interview on this subject five or so years ago in which the officer said that a peripheral shot is likely to miss entirely or fail to stop the suspect, and that they are specifically taught in Police Academy to shoot for the middle of the body as a result. If that is the case, they need to be taught instead of simply “shoot for the kill shot,” to seek safer alternatives. A very clearly stated preference to gunplay should be specified, either to fight with their hands and feet effectively (Judo, Mixed Martial Arts, etc.) or to use their alternate weapons – club, pepper spray, taser – and better still to go on patrol in pairs so they are much less likely to find themselves overwhelmed.

A great Internet article a few months ago was on the fact that the “Brits” have a much lower ratio of kills by their police force members, so to follow less lethal patterns is POSSIBLE and should be picked up by us here in America as the better way to go. They are obviously adept there in finding and using other methods which are less dangerous. Even in the US, some officers are proficient at “talking a suspect down,” which can eliminate the need for deadly force at all, and if the officer were to speak firmly but politely to the suspect in the very beginning, many would be convinced to cooperate without a struggle. Today’s first news article includes language that is in and of itself inflammatory. The police officer is quoted as saying, “Encinia then takes his Taser out of its holster and aims it at Bland. "Get out of the car! I will light you up!" he says, apparently referring to Tasering her. " ... Get out! Now!" “Light you up” is graphically violent, very lowbrow and inappropriate. The particular skill of being firm but not abusive should be taught to all street officers, as well as the ability to detect the signs of a mental breakdown and to steer such people to whatever emergency mental health services are available in the area rather than severely beating or killing them. Most general hospitals have such a service.

Actually I don’t believe that most officers are committing these thinly disguised murders, it’s just that those who do are not being fired immediately, arrested for murder or negligent homicide at the least, and then put into a jail or penitentiary for at least several years. They are too often being “given the benefit of the doubt.” That viewpoint is common among the “law and order” Republicans. We need to backpeddle away from that view as a society. I think that way of thinking is responsible for most of these killings.





https://www.yahoo.com/katiecouric/executive-clemency-commutations-pardons-on-july-124350231873.html

Executive clemency explained
Kaye Foley, Executive Producer
July 17, 2015

On July 13, President Obama commuted — or shortened — the sentences of 46 nonviolent drug offenders in federal prisons.

“I believe at its heart, America is a nation of second chances. And I believe these folks deserve their second chance,” the president said in a video message.

So, how can he do that? Executive clemency. It’s one of the most unlimited powers granted to the president in the Constitution. The president is given the ability to pardon or commute sentences for “offenses against the United States,” which means at the federal level.

Commutation won’t wipe the slate clean for someone convicted of a federal felony. It simple reduces the length of the sentence that he or she is currently serving.

A pardon, on the other hand, is presidential forgiveness. It’s generally granted after someone has finished serving time. An offender can apply for a pardon five years after he or she has been released. When people are pardoned, they have their civil rights — such as the right to vote, serve on a jury or own a firearm — restored. This does not mean, however, that their records are erased or expunged.

Petitions for both are sent to the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice. They’re reviewed and then recommendations are sent to the president to make the final call.

Commutations are more rare than pardons. But last year, the Justice Department encouraged inmates to apply for commutations and provided criteria on who might qualify. Prisoners must have been incarcerated for over 10 years, must have been on their best behavior and must be serving a sentence that is longer than what someone would get now for the same crime.

The “tough on crime” policies of the 1980s and 1990s led to harsh, lengthy sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and disproportionally affected minorities. Although sentencing policies and guidelines have changed a bit since then, many people are still serving sentences based on the old policies.

In Obama’s first term, he was stingy with this power, granting only one commutation and 22 pardons. But in his second term, the president made a renewed effort of clemency, making sure that when people commit crimes, they serve appropriate amounts of time. He has now granted 64 pardons and 89 commutations.

This is all part of a broader effort to reform the criminal justice system. Clemency alone isn’t enough, of course. But the issue has become crucial to members on both sides of the aisle.

So the next time Obama deals a “get out of jail early” card, when it comes to executive clemency, at least you can say, “Now I get it.”




“I believe at its heart, America is a nation of second chances. And I believe these folks deserve their second chance,” the president said in a video message. So, how can he do that? Executive clemency. It’s one of the most unlimited powers granted to the president in the Constitution. The president is given the ability to pardon or commute sentences for “offenses against the United States,” which means at the federal level. Commutation won’t wipe the slate clean for someone convicted of a federal felony. It simple reduces the length of the sentence that he or she is currently serving. …. A pardon, on the other hand, is presidential forgiveness. It’s generally granted after someone has finished serving time. An offender can apply for a pardon five years after he or she has been released. When people are pardoned, they have their civil rights — such as the right to vote, serve on a jury or own a firearm — restored. This does not mean, however, that their records are erased or expunged. …. Prisoners must have been incarcerated for over 10 years, must have been on their best behavior and must be serving a sentence that is longer than what someone would get now for the same crime. The “tough on crime” policies of the 1980s and 1990s led to harsh, lengthy sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and disproportionally affected minorities. Although sentencing policies and guidelines have changed a bit since then, many people are still serving sentences based on the old policies. …. This is all part of a broader effort to reform the criminal justice system. Clemency alone isn’t enough, of course. But the issue has become crucial to members on both sides of the aisle.”

I never knew this distinction, nor have I ever heard the process laid out in its details. I didn’t know that individuals actually have to ask to be pardoned or given clemency. I had heard of the actions of the Innocence Project issuing absolution of the crime entirely based on DNA evidence. A man whose DNA didn’t turn up in the victim’s bodily cavities while another’s did is now considered conclusive proof. People have been turned loose immediately while others are arrested for the same crime. That is simply the result of our available evidence in nowadays as compared to the past. The only blood test that used to be mentioned was blood type, which could be used to prove paternity in custody cases. DNA evidence didn’t come into existence until the 1980’s.

See the interesting article below for a great deal more information on the growth of DNA evidence in courts. One of the most interesting factual books I have ever read was called The Blooding, by Joseph Wambaugh. I have tried his fiction once and it was too rough and raw for my tastes. That’s not the kind of cop I can identify with and consider to be a hero rather than a villain. However that recounting of a massive project in Britain to collect the blood of every male in the town where a horrible rape and murder occurred was not violent, but it was suspenseful and fascinating as the clever villain was finally caught. On DNA evidence in the courts, read the following. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/case/revolution/wars.html, The DNA “Wars” Are Over, National Institute Of Justice, 1996





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-mccain-responds-to-donald-trump-on-not-a-war-hero-comments/

John McCain responds to Donald Trump on "not a war hero" comments
By REBECCA KAPLAN, KATIANA KRAWCHENKO
CBS NEWS
July 20, 2015

Play VIDEO -- End of the road for Donald Trump?

Arizona Senator John McCain's response to Donald Trump's remarks over the weekend that McCain was "a war hero 'cause he was captured" came Monday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Will Trump's remarks about McCain have an impact on his candidacy?
Asked whether Trump owed him an apology, McCain said, "I don't think so. I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country."

McCain also said, "For me to look back in anger at anyone is nonproductive."

Trump's remarks about McCain at the Iowa Family Leadership Summit Saturday immediately drew the condemnation of several GOP candidates, many of whom had just finished criticizing him for calling Mexican immigrants "rapists" and criminals.

Trump and McCain have been trading insults over the last couple of weeks, with McCain saying the billionaire businessman had "fired up the crazies" when he held a rally in Phoenix earlier this month. Trump had told the crowd, "[I]n your own state you have John McCain. I just hate to see when people don't have common sense, don't have an understanding of what's going on. ... Some people don't get it and I don't think they'll be in office much longer."

"This performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very hurtful to me," McCain told The New Yorker.




“Arizona Senator John McCain's response to Donald Trump's remarks over the weekend that McCain was "a war hero 'cause he was captured" came Monday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." Will Trump's remarks about McCain have an impact on his candidacy?
Asked whether Trump owed him an apology, McCain said, "I don't think so. I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country." McCain also said, "For me to look back in anger at anyone is nonproductive." That is wise and commendable. I remember him fondly for a number of efforts in the Senate when most Republicans wouldn’t “cross the aisle,” and for one particularly good thing that he did during the presidential campaign against Obama. He was talking to a town meeting composed of Tea Partiers when two called Obama dangerous, one even saying he was “an Arab,” and McCain spoke strongly against those often spoken lies, calling Obama a “decent man” and certainly no Arab. McCain has too much personal integrity to repeat those stories. He prefers to run on his own merits instead of whipping up what amounts to public hatred.

About Trump and his highjinks, the quotation that comes to my mind is by George Bernard Shaw: “I learned a long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” Just because Trump’s poll results have gone up that doesn’t mean that the basically smart and decent people of the country will ever vote for him. McCain doesn’t need to worry about him.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-water-should-you-drink-each-day-to-stay-hydrated/

How much water should you drink every day to stay healthy and hydrated?
CBS NEWS
July 20, 2015

With a heat wave gripping much of the country, many people are guzzling more water than usual to try to stay cool and hydrated. The convention wisdom says we should be downing eight glasses of water a day. But that number isn't based on any scientific studies, and doctors say it's not necessarily the best advice.

A new article published in the Harvard Health Letter recommends drinking 30 to 50 ounces a day, an amount equal to about four to six glasses of water.

Drinking enough water is important to carry nutrients to your cells, flush bacteria from your system and prevent dehydration, especially during hot summer months when we lose more fluids through sweat. People who are getting a lot of exercise, or women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, may need more.

And while plain water is a healthy choice that won't add extra sugar and calories to your diet, other fluids can be part of the mix. "It's really about fluids in general. Doesn't necessarily have to be water," Dr. Sharmeela Saha, director of the dialysis center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, told CBS News.

What you eat can make a difference too. Certain foods, including summer favorites like watermelon and other fruits, can count towards your daily water intake.

"Lettuce, spinach, fruits in general, soups ... those are all things that going to have a lot of water in them as well," Saha said.

Experts say don't ignore your thirst -- it's a sign your body needs more water. According to WebMD, other signs of dehydration may include weakness, dizziness, heart palpitations, sluggishness, fainting, or heart palpitations. Urine color may also indicate dehydration; if urine is dark yellow or amber colored, you're probably not drinking enough fluids.

In addition to keeping you well hydrated, some research has shown drinking water right before a meal may benefit your diet, taking the edge off hunger to help help you lose weight.




“The convention wisdom says we should be downing eight glasses of water a day. But that number isn't based on any scientific studies, and doctors say it's not necessarily the best advice. A new article published in the Harvard Health Letter recommends drinking 30 to 50 ounces a day, an amount equal to about four to six glasses of water. …. And while plain water is a healthy choice that won't add extra sugar and calories to your diet, other fluids can be part of the mix. "It's really about fluids in general. Doesn't necessarily have to be water," Dr. Sharmeela Saha, director of the dialysis center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, told CBS News. …. Experts say don't ignore your thirst -- it's a sign your body needs more water. According to WebMD, other signs of dehydration may include weakness, dizziness, heart palpitations, sluggishness, fainting, or heart palpitations. Urine color may also indicate dehydration; if urine is dark yellow or amber colored, you're probably not drinking enough fluids. In addition to keeping you well hydrated, some research has shown drinking water right before a meal may benefit your diet, taking the edge off hunger to help you lose weight.”

This is a great practical article, especially since this is a summer in which we have had something in the range of 20 days over 90 so far this year with “feels like” temperatures in the 100’s. That’s in Jacksonville, FL, of course. Several times I have had to be outdoors doing errands and have come in literally feeling “weak” or “faint.” The first thing I do when I come in is to bring a large cup of water to my bedside, drink it and lie down for ten or fifteen minutes. If that doesn’t work I eat some salty food and then drink more water. Then I put up the groceries, etc., and move on to some other project. I am also eating ripe fruit of several different kinds, especially pears, peaches and black plums twice a day. That really tastes good and helps hydrate my body. The older I get the more I have to pay attention to things like becoming dehydrated.