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.

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"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.


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