Monday, August 17, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-admin-warns-china-about-agents-operating-in-u-s/

Obama admin warns China about agents operating in U.S.
CBS NEWS
Last Updated Aug 17, 2015

Play VIDEO -- China cracks down on dissent, detains "Beijing Five"

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has warned Beijing that its law enforcement personnel do not have permission to operate in the United States without notifying the proper authorities, according to a spokesperson.

Officials did not cite a particular case but U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner released a statement Sunday saying there are specific rules that foreign law enforcement agents must follow in order to work within the U.S., CBS News reported.

"While we do not comment on specific cases, generally speaking, foreign law enforcement agents are not permitted to operate within the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General," said Toner in the statement. "In regards to China, the United States and China regularly engage on law enforcement matters of mutual concern, including fugitives and anti-corruption, through the U.S.-China Joint Liaison Group on Law Enforcement Cooperation (JLG).

"We continue to emphasize to [People's Republic of China] officials that it is incumbent on them to provide U.S. officials with significant, clear, and convincing evidence to allow our law enforcement agencies to proceed with investigations, removals, and prosecutions of fugitives," said Toner.

The statement comes as The New York Times published a report Sunday evening that said Chinese law enforcement agents have come to the United States in a covert fashion to hunt down and bring back fugitives and conduct other law enforcement operations. The warning, the Times reported, was delivered to Chinese officials recently and demanded a stop to the activities such as using tough tactics to get fugitives to return to Chinese soil.

On Monday, China's state news agency, Xinhua, published a reaction to the New York Times story.

"In April 2015, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson met Chinese Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun in Beijing, and they agreed to strengthen cooperation in law enforcement," the agency wrote. "They agreed not to provide shelter for the other side's fugitives and would try to repatriate them in accordance with law. Specifically, Johnson also promised to actively support China's 'Sky Net' and 'Fox Hunt' operations, which aim to bring back corrupt officials. So the U.S. government's decision to force China's law enforcement stuff to leave the country obviously reveals that Washington lacks sincerity and has failed to translate its words into action."

It added that the U.S. "should... by no means become a safe haven for Chinese criminal suspects."




"… it is incumbent on them to provide U.S. officials with significant, clear, and convincing evidence to allow our law enforcement agencies to proceed with investigations, removals, and prosecutions of fugitives…. "We continue to emphasize to [People's Republic of China] officials that it is incumbent on them to provide U.S. officials with significant, clear, and convincing evidence to allow our law enforcement agencies to proceed with investigations, removals, and prosecutions of fugitives," said Toner. The statement comes as The New York Times published a report Sunday evening that said Chinese law enforcement agents have come to the United States in a covert fashion to hunt down and bring back fugitives and conduct other law enforcement operations. The warning, the Times reported, was delivered to Chinese officials recently and demanded a stop to the activities such as using tough tactics to get fugitives to return to Chinese soil. …. So the U.S. government's decision to force China's law enforcement stuff [sic] to leave the country obviously reveals that Washington lacks sincerity and has failed to translate its words into action." It added that the U.S. "should... by no means become a safe haven for Chinese criminal suspects."

“… in a covert fashion to hunt down and bring back fugitives … using tough tactics….” It looks as though something violent or otherwise illegal, such as the sometimes reported blackmail tactics of threatening the fugitive’s relatives in China were used. All the US government asked for was proof of the offense, and perhaps participation in the capture, prosecution and removal of the person. This really sounds like some Hawaii Five-O episodes I’ve seen, or James Bond.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-us-prisons-house-guantanamo-detainees/

Can U.S. prisons house Guantanamo detainees?
AP August 17, 2015

Photograph -- A welcome board at the entrance to the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, April 7, 2014. MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Play VIDEO -- Carter: "I'm not confident" Guantanamo will close during Obama administration
Play VIDEO -- What are the chances Guantanamo Bay detainment camp closes?

WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department is taking another look at the military prison in Kansas and the Navy Brig in South Carolina as it evaluates potential U.S. facilities to house detainees from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, part of the Obama administration's controversial push to close the detention center.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said a team was surveying the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth on Friday and will do a similar assessment at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston later this month. Davis said the team will assess the costs associated with construction and other changes that would be needed in order to use the facility to house the detainees as well as conduct military commission trials for those accused of war crimes.

The closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center has been a top priority for President Obama, who pledged on his first day in office to shut it down. But that effort has faced persistent hurdles, including staunch opposition from Republicans and some Democrats in Congress and ongoing difficulties transferring out the dozens of detainees who have been cleared to leave.

Officials have to identify countries to take the detainees and must get assurances that they will be appropriately monitored and will not pose a security threat.

About 52 of the 116 current detainees have been cleared for release, but Defense Secretary Ash Carter and his predecessors have made it clear they will not release any detainees until they have all the needed security assurances. The remaining 64 have been deemed too dangerous to be released.

The latest surveys come a week after a draft Pentagon plan to provide potential locations for the detainees was stymied when the administration said the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois was off the table, according to officials. The draft plan had focused largely on Thomson and Charleston, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The officials said that early versions of the Pentagon report had made it clear that Thomson and Charleston were the most viable choices based on costs and the timeline needed to renovate the facilities to the maximum security levels required. Officials have acknowledged, however, that there were divisions within the Pentagon and across the administration over which military and federal facilities to highlight and how many options to assess and include in the report.

At the Aspen Institute's recent national security conference in Colorado, Lisa Monaco, Mr. Obama's homeland security adviser, said the administration wants to move out the 52 detainees. But, she added, "That doesn't mean just unlocking the door and having someone go willy-nilly to another country. ... It means a painstaking establishment of security protocols that would govern the transfer of that individual."

Davis said that there are other sites, in addition to those in Kansas and South Carolina, that the team will visit. Although previous surveys and reviews have been done of many of the prison facilities, Davis said the latest visits are aimed at getting consistent evaluations and establishing a baseline of information.

He said the assessments will cover a range of factors, including the costs associated with holding the additional detainees, holding the military trials, engineering and construction, force protection, housing for troops and security. Transportation and other operating issues also are factors.

The assessments, he said, will help determine which facilities can be considered potential candidates to house the detainees.

While the team is looking first at some military detention centers, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is also identifying potential civilian facilities.

Congressional opposition has been fierce.

Both the House and Senate versions of the 2016 defense policy bill maintain prohibitions on transferring detainees to U.S. facilities. The Senate legislation, however, states that the restrictions could be lifted if the White House submits a plan to close the facility and the plan is approved by Congress. House and Senate negotiators are working to reconcile the two bills.

Lawmakers from Kansas on Friday quickly denounced the survey.

In a letter to Carter, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said he has consistently objected "to the idea of moving these terrorists to the mainland, and more especially to Kansas. I will continue to be a vocal and staunch advocate against closing our current detainment facilities due to the high security risks and economic waste doing so would cost the American public."

He said Leavenworth is not the right location because it sits on the Missouri River, "providing terrorists with the possibility of covert travel underwater and attempting access to the detention facility."

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said, "Terrorists should not be living down the road from Fort Leavenworth - home to thousands of Army soldiers and their families, as well as military personnel from across the globe who study at the Intellectual Center of the Army."




“The Defense Department is taking another look at the military prison in Kansas and the Navy Brig in South Carolina as it evaluates potential U.S. facilities to house detainees from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, part of the Obama administration's controversial push to close the detention center. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said a team was surveying the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth on Friday and will do a similar assessment at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston later this month. Davis said the team will assess the costs associated with construction and other changes that would be needed in order to use the facility to house the detainees as well as conduct military commission trials for those accused of war crimes. …. About 52 of the 116 current detainees have been cleared for release, but Defense Secretary Ash Carter and his predecessors have made it clear they will not release any detainees until they have all the needed security assurances. The remaining 64 have been deemed too dangerous to be released. …. Davis said that there are other sites, in addition to those in Kansas and South Carolina, that the team will visit. Although previous surveys and reviews have been done of many of the prison facilities, Davis said the latest visits are aimed at getting consistent evaluations and establishing a baseline of information. …. The Senate legislation, however, states that the restrictions could be lifted if the White House submits a plan to close the facility and the plan is approved by Congress. House and Senate negotiators are working to reconcile the two bills. …. He said Leavenworth is not the right location because it sits on the Missouri River, "providing terrorists with the possibility of covert travel underwater and attempting access to the detention facility." Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said, "Terrorists should not be living down the road from Fort Leavenworth - home to thousands of Army soldiers and their families, as well as military personnel from across the globe who study at the Intellectual Center of the Army."

The dialogue here is so politically framed. Both Republicans call the detainees “terrorists,” when it was my understanding that they are suspected soldiers. A terrorist straps some bombs around his middle and goes to the nearest marketplace to kill women and children. It’s all to promote the show and raise patriotic fervor. The fact is that whether he is a “terrorist” or not, the average criminal can be securely held in Leavenworth, which is one of the maximum security prisons in the US. In movies, of course, the criminal used a piece of a metal spoon with a sharp end on it to dig through stone walls. More plausible, is the skinny guy who climbs through the air vents to get to the outside walls. A good prison would have iron bars on every outside duct vent in the prison to prevent that. There is also the possibility of a group of “terrorists” getting together to capture guards and hold them as hostages while the prison opens its doors to turn them loose on the governor’s orders. Of course, in reality, they wouldn’t be turned loose, but shot down the minute they exited the outer door by National Guardsmen. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Republican complaint if the extra cost of holding them outside Guantanamo were not brought up. Surely a facility like Guantanamo is very expensive as well? The fact is, morally, they should be in a place where they will be treated with a moderately humane set of restrictions and not abused. No guard should “flush a Koran down the toilet,” or pretend to pour “menstrual blood” over the captive.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-border-wall-immigration-plan-mexico-pay/

Trump proposes ways to make Mexico pay for immigrants
By SOPAN DEB CBS NEWS
August 16, 2015

Photograph -- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a news conference near the U.S.-Mexico border outside of Laredo, Texas July 23, 2015. REUTERS/RICK WILKING
Play VIDEO -- Mexico says it will not build or pay for border wall


After months of bombastic broadsides railing against illegal immigration, now comes a new phase of the Donald Trump candidacy for president: specifics.

On Sunday, the Trump campaign released its first official position paper, a three-pronged plan to combat illegal immigration and reform the legal immigration system should he make it to the White House.

Trump reiterates his intention to build a wall across the southern border and to have Mexico pay for that wall - a consistent refrain in interviews and stump speeches.

"For many years, Mexico's leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country (as well is in other Latin American countries)," the paper reads. "In short, the Mexican government has taken the United States to the cleaners. They are responsible for this problem, and they must help pay to clean it up."

If Mexico doesn't agree to pay for the wall, Trump suggests increasing a number of fees, including those on temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats, border crossing cards and NAFTA worker visas from Mexico. He also proposes increases fees at ports of entry at the Mexican - United States border.

Last week, a spokesman for Mexican president Pena Nieto, laughed off suggestions that Mexico would pay in an interview with Bloomberg.

"Of course it's false," the spokesman said. "It reflects an enormous ignorance for what Mexico represents, and also the irresponsibility of the candidate who's saying it."

While he has been more forceful about tariffs in his speeches - suggesting that Ford should pay a 35 percent tax on parts and vehicles imported from Mexico if it continues investing there - Trump is more muted in the paper, only saying, "tariffs and foreign aid cuts are also options."

In addition to the border wall, Trump proposes tripling the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, ending birthright citizenship, implementing a nationwide e-verify system and defunding of so-called "sanctuary cities" where local officials do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. He also says visa overstays should be criminally penalized - suggesting that they are a "threat to national security."

Illegal immigration became a pillar of his campaign right after the announcement of his candidacy in June.

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," Trump said. "They're sending people that have lots of problems...they're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

The comments drew outrage from many corners, causing a number of companies to cut ties with him, including Macy's and NBC.

Trump's plans to reform the legal immigration system are aimed at boosting American workers in the face of foreign competition. He proposes, for example, lowering the amount of legal immigrants let in to the country every year.

"The influx of foreign workers holds down salaries, keeps unemployment high, and makes it difficult for poor and working class Americans - including immigrants themselves and their children - to earn a middle class wage," the paper says.

He also promises to increase the prevailing wage for H-1B visas, the non-immigrant visas for specialized workers in specialized fields like math and science.

"Raising the prevailing wage paid to H-1Bs will force companies to give these coveted entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed native and immigrant, instead of flying in cheaper workers from overseas," the paper says.

The prevailing wage is the average wage paid to workers in a similar field and federal law requires that the hiring of a foreign worker will not negatively affect the wages of American workers in the same occupation.

Trump goes on to ding Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, one of his GOP rivals for the presidential nomination.

"Mark Zuckerberg's personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities," the paper says. He also identifies the comprehensive immigration bill that passed the Senate in 2013 as the "Schumer-Rubio" bill though Rubio and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, were just two of the bill's eight authors.

Trump rounds out his immigration proposal promising that he would require companies to hire American workers first. He also says he wants to raise the standards for asylum seekers and halt green cards from being issued to foreign workers until employers hire more domestic workers. Immigrants would also not be eligible for government assistance in housing and healthcare.




“If Mexico doesn't agree to pay for the wall, Trump suggests increasing a number of fees, including those on temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats, border crossing cards and NAFTA worker visas from Mexico. He also proposes increases fees at ports of entry at the Mexican - United States border. Last week, a spokesman for Mexican president Pena Nieto, laughed off suggestions that Mexico would pay in an interview with Bloomberg. "Of course it's false," the spokesman said. "It reflects an enormous ignorance for what Mexico represents, and also the irresponsibility of the candidate who's saying it." …. In addition to the border wall, Trump proposes tripling the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, ending birthright citizenship, implementing a nationwide e-verify system and defunding of so-called "sanctuary cities" where local officials do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. He also says visa overstays should be criminally penalized - suggesting that they are a "threat to national security." …. And some, I assume, are good people." The comments drew outrage from many corners, causing a number of companies to cut ties with him, including Macy's and NBC. Trump's plans to reform the legal immigration system are aimed at boosting American workers in the face of foreign competition. He proposes, for example, lowering the amount of legal immigrants let in to the country every year. "The influx of foreign workers holds down salaries, keeps unemployment high, and makes it difficult for poor and working class Americans - including immigrants themselves and their children - to earn a middle class wage," the paper says. …. "Raising the prevailing wage paid to H-1Bs will force companies to give these coveted entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed native and immigrant, instead of flying in cheaper workers from overseas," the paper says. The prevailing wage is the average wage paid to workers in a similar field and federal law requires that the hiring of a foreign worker will not negatively affect the wages of American workers in the same occupation. …. "Mark Zuckerberg's personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities," the paper says. …. Trump rounds out his immigration proposal promising that he would require companies to hire American workers first. He also says he wants to raise the standards for asylum seekers and halt green cards from being issued to foreign workers until employers hire more domestic workers. Immigrants would also not be eligible for government assistance in housing and healthcare.”

He does hit at some problems that have occurred to me about the undocumented aliens, which is simply that American businesses, though there is a government computer system that is in place to ID false SSNs, have been investigated in the past for failing to run the prospective worker’s ID through the system and hiring him with the false number that they gave the employer. The employer then hires the worker at a level much below American workers. It’s worth it to the Mexicans, because wages where they come from are even lower, so they still make money on the deal. That, of course, is the payoff for businesses and all those guys are Republicans, so if Trump tries to enforce penalizing businesses who do things like that, he will become even more unpopular with the others in his party than he already is.

As for a full border wall across the entire length of the river that sounds very expensive, and it would have to be patrolled all the time. A news film of would-be immigrants climbing over a walled area was shown several years ago. It’s really hard to prevent people from getting over something that is probably no more than twenty or thirty feet high. I couldn’t climb that, but some people can. Navy Seals are trained to do feats like that.

Mandating a higher wage on any position is not usually something that Republicans like to do, so I don’t know if they would pass such a law – or executive order, perhaps. More effective would be another unpopular mandate, the hiring of American workers first before any outsiders can be brought in, but that would be really effective if we have sufficiently well-trained workers here to fill those jobs. I don’t know how large the labor pool for IT workers, for instance, is here in the US. Businessmen usually make the statement that they “can’t find qualified Americans” for those jobs. Of course, in the news recently there was an article on the restrictiveness in the computer/IT field on the hiring of women and minorities, and even of maltreatment of them in such white male dominated offices. Trump would have to require that they be hired also before foreigners could be brought in, to make businesses comply enough to put pressure on Mexico. The other important thing that Trump isn’t talking about here is that so, so many of our manufacturing businesses have simply moved their factories offshore rather than importing workers. That’s why every time I call an IT number for a technical problem I’m having, the person who answers has an Indian accent and I have to ask him to “speak slowly, please.”

Finally, I do not believe it is fact rather than fiction that the government of a nation such as Mexico is purposely “sending its criminals over here to get rid of them.” I don’t think they have been “sent” except perhaps by their families. That turned out to be the case when a news crew made its way down to Guatemala (or one of thosde three countries whose kids were coming to the US alone) and found the parents of some child “immigrants,” discovering that the parent did indeed pay a coyote to bring the kids up at least part of the way. I believe they had to make their way across the southern border of Mexico and then catch a train up to the Rio Grande. Some news footage showed a group of those kids riding atop a train car. Our government arranged with Mexico to stop those children on the southern border and send them back home. To that degree, Mexico was culpable, but I don’t believe they are trying to get rid of their undesirables. They just like to collect the payment from all the travelers trying to get into Mexico. At least that’s what I’ve always seen in movies about such countries – bribery is the way everything is done.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/large-explosion-rocks-central-bangkok-thailand/

Large explosion rocks central Bangkok
CBS/AP
August 17, 2015

Photograph -- Motorcycles are strewn about after an explosion in Bangkok, Monday, Aug. 17, 2015. AP

BANGKOK -- A large explosion rocked a central Bangkok intersection during the evening rush hour, killing at least three people and injuring 25 others, police said.

The cause of Monday's explosion, which sounded like a loud thunderclap to people living nearby, was not immediately known. The Reuters news agency reported that it was caused by a bomb attached to a motorcycle. Police said the injured included some foreigners.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene said he saw one body and body parts, and two people taken into ambulances. A reporter for the television station Thai PBS said he counted 12 bodies at the scene.

"All I can say now is there has been an explosion in central Bangkok involving a motorcycle bomb," Deputy National Police Chief Aek Angsananond told Reuters.

"We are now looking for another 2 to 3 bombs as we have found one suspicious object," National Police Chief Prawut Thawornsiri said to Reuters. "There could be another explosion, so we have blocked off the crime scene and are asking bystanders to move back," he said.

"All we can see is a horrible mess on the road," Bangkok resident Lucinda-Jane Chastain told CBS partner network Sky News. "This is the very heart of the city," she said.

CCTV footage showed people fleeing down the street away from the site of the explosion, as well as a huge fireball, Sky News reports.

The explosion took place at the Rajprasong intersection, which was the center of many contentious political demonstrations in recent years. It appeared to have occurred in front of the Erawan Shrine, a tourist landmark also popular with Thais.

Thailand's capital has been relatively peaceful since a military coup ousted a civilian government in May last year after several months of sometime violent political protests against the previous government. However, there has been some tension in recent months as the ruling junta has made clear it may not hold elections until 2017 and wants a constitution that will allow some type of emergency rule to take the place of an elected government.

Car bombs are almost unknown in Bangkok, but have been used in southern Thailand, where a Muslim separatist insurgency has been flaring for several years.




“A large explosion rocked a central Bangkok intersection during the evening rush hour, killing at least three people and injuring 25 others, police said. The cause of Monday's explosion, which sounded like a loud thunderclap to people living nearby, was not immediately known. The Reuters news agency reported that it was caused by a bomb attached to a motorcycle. …. "We are now looking for another 2 to 3 bombs as we have found one suspicious object," National Police Chief Prawut Thawornsiri said to Reuters. "There could be another explosion, so we have blocked off the crime scene and are asking bystanders to move back," he said. "All we can see is a horrible mess on the road," Bangkok resident Lucinda-Jane Chastain told CBS partner network Sky News. "This is the very heart of the city," she said. …. Thailand's capital has been relatively peaceful since a military coup ousted a civilian government in May last year after several months of sometime violent political protests against the previous government. However, there has been some tension in recent months as the ruling junta has made clear it may not hold elections until 2017 and wants a constitution that will allow some type of emergency rule to take the place of an elected government.”

There is a Muslim element in Thailand which has been known to set off car bombs, but this is not identified so far. The currently ruling military junta may be the intended target, as they have recently declared that they are postponing elections until 2017 and want an unconstitutional emergency government to be put in place. That might make the residents fight back.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/group-files-complaint-against-texas-judge-who-ordered-man-to-marry-girlfriend/

Group files complaint against judge who ordered man to marry girlfriend
CBS/AP
August 17, 2015

Photograph -- Josten Bundy, right, and Elizabeth James
KEYE-TV

AUSTIN, Texas -- A group that advocates the separation of church and state has filed a complaint about a Texas judge who ordered a man to marry his girlfriend as a condition of probation.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation said Friday it filed the complaint against Smith County Court-at-Law Judge Randall Rogers a day earlier with the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct in Austin.

On July 2, Rogers gave 21-year-old Josten Bundy 30 days to marry 19-year-old Elizabeth James or face 15 days in jail for pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault. Bundy admitted punching Jaynes' ex-boyfriend twice in the jaw for "saying disrespectful things" about her. Rogers also ordered Bundy to scrawl a Bible verse 25 times daily.

Rogers didn't return a message seeking comment. Bundy and James have since married.

According to CBS affiliate KEYE-TV, a person in Pennsylvania has started a petition to the White House calling for Rogers' disbarment for violating the man's first amendment rights.

The petition has more than 1,300 signatures.




“A group that advocates the separation of church and state has filed a complaint about a Texas judge who ordered a man to marry his girlfriend as a condition of probation. The Freedom From Religion Foundation said Friday it filed the complaint against Smith County Court-at-Law Judge Randall Rogers a day earlier with the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct in Austin. On July 2, Rogers gave 21-year-old Josten Bundy 30 days to marry 19-year-old Elizabeth James or face 15 days in jail for pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault. Bundy admitted punching Jaynes' ex-boyfriend twice in the jaw for "saying disrespectful things" about her. Rogers also ordered Bundy to scrawl a Bible verse 25 times daily. …. According to CBS affiliate KEYE-TV, a person in Pennsylvania has started a petition to the White House calling for Rogers' disbarment for violating the man's first amendment rights.”

No judge should mandate any religious duty of any kind, I agree. This is not the first bizarre and possibly illegal thing that judges have been in the news for doing, however, including possibly unconstitutional punishments for a conviction. Some recent examples are below:
1) http://abcnews.go.com/US/jail-pepper-spray-judge-dishes-unusual-sentence/story?id=31402380: “It's red eye for red eye. A judge from an Ohio town named "Painesville" ordered a woman to be "pepper sprayed" in court Thursday by a man she attacked with the tear-inducing substance in order to give the victim a "feeling of vengeance." Judge Michael Cicconetti meted out the unusual punishment, captured on video, after giving Diamond Gaston a choice between that and jail time. But unbeknownst to her, the liquid sprayed at her was just saline -- the judge's attempt to scare her straight without harming her. "It was a family-feud type situation at a Burger King and the victim ended up losing five hours of work that day he got pepper-sprayed,” Cicconetti told ABC News today. “I like to give the victims a feeling of vengeance.”
2) http://www.wave3.com/story/20534247/popular-judge-hands-out-another-bizarre-sentence: “PAINESVILLE, OH (WOIO) -
Painesville Municipal Court Judge Michael Cicconetti, well-known for his unusual sentencings, is at it again. First-time DUI offender Jonathan Tarase, 27 was in court Tuesday morning with the judge, when he was sentenced to 65 days in jail. Cicconetti suspended 60 of the days and Tarase doesn't have to serve his 5 days in jail until April. But the other part of his sentence between now and then, is that Tarase is also required to be on-call with the Lake County Coroner's Office and hospitals. Cicconetti is requiring he view the bodies of at least two fatal accident victims before he goes to jail.”

This is the same judge I read about over a year ago. Apparently he does these things all the time to make a point without actually doing the person harm. I think a biography of his life would be fun to read. One of my guilty television pleasures is that I often watch Judge Judy on CBS. She is actually very reasonable in her judgments, but she is so outrageous in her manner of speaking to the people who come on her show that I can’t help laughing. Too often they have, indeed, come without the documents they need and are unable to stop talking while someone else has the floor, for which she lambastes them. I’ve never seen her be really unkind to someone who will answer exactly the question that she asked and only when she is finished asking it, and who waits his turn to talk. The woman, like some TV personalities – Bill O’Reilly for instance – is really “full of herself” and doesn’t try to be gentle and polite in the way she expresses herself. That’s like asking Don Rickles to be polite. She is funny to me because, in spite of that, she can be kind to some of the people who are really sad or who are polite when they speak in the court; and I often feel that those plaintiffs who do get hit with one of her verbal pie in the face attacks, did actually deserve it. Coming into any courtroom without receipts for the money that they are trying to get their former roommate, or whoever, to repay, for instance. And, of course, no really serious problems are put in front of her – no serious medical damages, etc., or even large amounts of money. It’s like a Small Claims Court. There is now an imitator on another network called “Hot Bench” which I haven’t tried to watch, but I was turned off by a kind of “sexy” aspect to the trailers I have seen. Dr. Oz is in that kind of category – he has a tendency to put his hands of women who come up from the audience. Hot Bench also appears to me to be NOT real people at all, but actors with scripts. I believe Judge Judy only uses real plaintiffs and real cases.

Watching Judge Judy gives me the same kind of kick that watching the amazing movie called “Borat” did. What is funny is the human reactions involved. The maker and lead actor of “Borat”, Sacha Baron Cohen, sets up unsuspecting and naïve people for being mercilessly punked on camera. The people’s reactions to him were hysterically funny, but several of them did sue him over their portrayals. It’s like the old TV show called “Candid Camera” with Allen Funt. No real harm was done in any of the skits, but if they are sensitive people they could be embarrassed and furious.


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

Judith Sheindlin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Judith Susan Sheindlin (née Blum; born October 21, 1942), better known as Judge Judy, is an American lawyer, judge, television personality, and author. Since 1996, Sheindlin has presided over her own successful Daytime Emmy Award winning reality courtroom series named after her, Judge Judy.[1]

Sheindlin passed the New York bar examination in 1965 and became a prosecutor in the family court system. In 1982 Mayor Ed Koch appointed her as a judge, first in criminal court, then later as Manhattan's supervising family court judge in 1986.

It was reported in mid-2012 that Sheindlin was the highest paid television personality, making $123,000 per episode of Judge Judy,[2] or $45 million annually for the 52 days per year that she tapes her show.[3][4] In October 2013 it was reported that Sheindlin was still the highest paid TV star, earning $47 million per year for Judge Judy, which translates into just over $900,000 per workday.[5]

Sheindlin will celebrate 20 seasons of being on the air beginning in early September 2015.

Legal career[edit]

Sheindlin passed the New York bar exam in 1965, the same year as her graduation, and was hired as a corporate lawyer for a cosmetics firm.[1] Within two years she became dissatisfied with her job and left to raise her two children. She was soon made aware of a position in the New York court system as a prosecutor in the family courts.[1] In her role as a lawyer, Sheindlin prosecuted child abuse cases, domestic violence and juvenile crime.[1]

By 1982, Sheindlin's no-nonsense[1] attitude inspired New York Mayor Ed Koch to appoint her as a criminal court judge.[1] Four years later, she was promoted to supervising judge in the family court's Manhattan division.[1] She earned a reputation as a "tough" judge (though she has disagreed with the labels "tough" and "harsh"),[8] known for her fast decision-making and acerbic wit.[6]

In February 1993, Sheindlin's outspoken reputation made her the subject of a Los Angeles Times article,[9] profiling her as a woman determined to make the court system work for the common good.[1] She subsequently was featured in a segment on CBS's 60 Minutes, bringing her national recognition.[1] This led to her first book, Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining, published in 1996. She retired as a family court judge that same year after hearing over 20,000 cases.[1] After her retirement, Sheindlin continued to receive increasing amounts of public attention.[1]

After the 60 Minutes special on her family court in 1993 career and authoring her first book shortly thereafter (Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining), Sheindlin was approached about starring in a new reality courtroom series, featuring "real cases with real rulings."[7] She accepted the offer.

Sheindlin's ongoing syndicated court show, Judge Judy, debuted on September 16, 1996, and will celebrate 20 seasons of being on the air beginning in early September 2015. Sheindlin has stated that her show's primary goal is to motivate the public to do the right thing, and to show that each individual must take responsibility for his or her actions.[8]





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/17/432262063/in-private-letter-red-cross-tries-to-end-government-inquiry

In Private Letter, Red Cross Tried To End Government Inquiry
Laura Sullivan
August 17, 2015

Photograph -- American Red Cross chief Gail McGovern (right) and Rep. Susan Brooks of Indiana tour the American Red Cross Digital Operations Center last year in Washington, D.C.
Paul Morigi/AP Images for American Red Cross

The American Red Cross, which has often boasted of its transparency, attempted last year to halt a congressional inquiry into its disaster relief work, according to a private letter Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern wrote to Rep. Bennie Thompson.

In the letter, McGovern asked Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and the ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, to "end the inquiry" he requested into the charity and how it coordinates with the federal government. The Government Accountability Office was already four months into its investigation when McGovern went to see Thompson and followed up with the letter, which was obtained by NPR and ProPublica.

"As I mentioned at the end of our discussion, I would like to respectfully request that you consider meeting face to face rather than requesting information via letter and end the GAO inquiry that is currently underway," McGovern wrote on June 30, 2014, a week after they met.

That was the first of two occasions in which she noted that she did not want to correspond with the congressman in writing. "I feel it was productive for us to speak in person about the issues you've been raising and hope that we can continue future conversations in the same manner," she wrote. She then gave Rep. Thompson her personal cellphone number.

Despite McGovern's request, the GAO inquiry continued as planned.

Thompson called the Red Cross' letter "unfortunate."

"Over time, the public has come to accept the American Red Cross as a key player in the nation's system for disaster relief," Thompson said in an email. "It is unfortunate that in light of numerous allegations of mismanagement, the American Red Cross would shun accountability, transparency, and simple oversight."

The Red Cross did not respond to detailed questions that NPR and ProPublica sent by email. In a statement, the charity said it was working cooperatively with the GAO and "would continue to answer all of their questions."

"We asked if we could answer the questions face to face rather than through a GAO study, which takes precious staff time and resources and months to complete," the statement says. "Even though that did not happen, we continue our work with the GAO."

In her letter to Thompson, McGovern similarly said that the reason she would prefer to discuss any issues in person was because of limited resources.

"Responding to the questions and participating in interviews (particularly because of the broadness of the questions)," she wrote, "is using a great deal of staff resources while we are preparing for hurricane season and simultaneously responding to tornadoes, storms, wildfires and floods across multiple states."

It's unclear what kind of resources the Red Cross needed to answer the GAO's questions, but the charity employs at least six full-time government and congressional relations staffers at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and also retains an outside lobbying firm.

Craig Holman, an advocate with the government watchdog group Public Citizen says he has never seen an instance in which the subject of a GAO inquiry asked for the inquiry to be called off.

"This is both a unique and particularly brazen lobby campaign by Gail McGovern to bring an end to an independent GAO investigation," he says.

McGovern has often sought to portray the Red Cross as a model of transparency.

In January 2011, a year after the Haiti earthquake, McGovern told a packed luncheon at the National Press Club that "with this outpouring of support, comes a responsibility for accountability and for transparency."

"We made a commitment that we want to lead the effort in transparency," she said, "and for the most part, we share anything we have."

A spokesman for the GAO says researchers were unaware of the Red Cross' request to end the investigation and that the completed report is expected to be released next month.



http://www.gao.gov/about/index.html

About GAO

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. The head of GAO, the Comptroller General of the United States, is appointed to a 15-year term by the President from a slate of candidates Congress proposes. Gene L. Dodaro became the eighth Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on December 22, 2010, when he was confirmed by the United States Senate. He was nominated by President Obama in September of 2010 from a list of candidates selected by a bipartisan, bicameral congressional commission. He had been serving as Acting Comptroller General since March of 2008.
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Our Mission is to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. We provide Congress with timely information that is objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, nonideological, fair, and balanced.

Our Core Values of accountability, integrity, and reliability are reflected in all of the work we do. We operate under strict professional standards of review and referencing; all facts and analyses in our work are thoroughly checked for accuracy. In addition, our audit policies are consistent with the Fundamental Auditing Principles (Level 3) of the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions.

Our Work is done at the request of congressional committees or subcommittees or is mandated by public laws or committee reports. We also undertake research under the authority of the Comptroller General. We support congressional oversight by

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performing policy analyses and outlining options for congressional consideration; and
issuing legal decisions and opinions, such as bid protest rulings and reports on agency rules.

We advise Congress and the heads of executive agencies about ways to make government more efficient, effective, ethical, equitable and responsive.

Our work leads to laws and acts that improve government operations, saving the government and taxpayers billions of dollars.




“The American Red Cross, which has often boasted of its transparency, attempted last year to halt a congressional inquiry into its disaster relief work, according to a private letter Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern wrote to Rep. Bennie Thompson. In the letter, McGovern asked Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and the ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, to "end the inquiry" he requested into the charity and how it coordinates with the federal government. The Government Accountability Office was already four months into its investigation when McGovern went to see Thompson and followed up with the letter, which was obtained by NPR and ProPublica. …. Despite McGovern's request, the GAO inquiry continued as planned. Thompson called the Red Cross' letter "unfortunate." "Over time, the public has come to accept the American Red Cross as a key player in the nation's system for disaster relief," Thompson said in an email. "It is unfortunate that in light of numerous allegations of mismanagement, the American Red Cross would shun accountability, transparency, and simple oversight." …. It's unclear what kind of resources the Red Cross needed to answer the GAO's questions, but the charity employs at least six full-time government and congressional relations staffers at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and also retains an outside lobbying firm. Craig Holman, an advocate with the government watchdog group Public Citizen says he has never seen an instance in which the subject of a GAO inquiry asked for the inquiry to be called off. .… A spokesman for the GAO says researchers were unaware of the Red Cross' request to end the investigation and that the completed report is expected to be released next month.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson initiated the inquiry into how the Red Cross managed funds in Haiti relief and according to the article, “how it coordinates with the federal government.” Why is the DHS involved in this? Does the Red Cross get money from the US government to aid Haiti and other disaster relief sites? Is there the suspicion of too cozy a relationship with the charity? That’s what the above article seemed to be saying.

The June article below indicates that the U.S. Agency for International Development was partnering with Red Cross, so that is probably the reason for Congress and the GAO’s interest in the matter. Or does Congress take such an interest any time a charity with this level of public trust is involved in financial matters which may not be “transparent?” It’s interesting that the article continues, saying, “A spokesman for the GAO says researchers were unaware of the Red Cross' request to end the investigation….” This is one of those articles that just raises more questions. Hopefully more information will come out later. Well, guess what – seek and ye shall find! See the article below:


http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/04/americas/american-red-cross-haiti-controversy-propublica-npr/index.html

Red Cross responds to report about building only six homes in Haiti after 2010 quake
By Michael Martinez, CNN
Updated 4:33 PM ET, Fri June 5, 2015

Video -- Red Cross says Haiti report lacked accuracy, context 06:47


(CNN)—The American Red Cross is disputing a news account that alleged serious shortcomings in the relief agency's aid to Haiti after the catastrophic 2010 earthquake, including how the group received $488 million in donations but built only six permanent homes.

The Red Cross called the report by ProPublica and National Public Radio as lacking in "balance, context and accuracy ... which follows the pattern of all their previous Red Cross stories."

"It is particularly disappointing to see our work misrepresented, considering we answered more than 100 questions in writing and provided an interview with the head of our international programs," a Red Cross statement said.

'Constant upheaval' of staff and other problems

The investigative account asserted that the Red Cross faced "constant upheaval" of staff in Haiti, a "pattern" of "botched delivery of aid" and "an overreliance on foreigners who could not speak French or Creole."

The Red Cross also lacked expertise to carry out its own projects in Haiti and instead gave donors' money to other groups to do the work, escalating costs of overhead and management, which in one case added up to a third of a project's budget, the news outlets said in their account published Wednesday.

The outlets also cited a 2013 U.S. Government Accountability Office report that found a Red Cross-USAID partnership to build homes didn't develop "because of the delays in securing land title and because of turnover in Red Cross leadership that resulted in shifting approaches to housing in Haiti," the GAO study said. The U.S. Agency for International Development fights global poverty and promotes democracy.

The Red Cross, however, said its overall programs provided clean water and sanitation in Haiti and moved "more than 100,000 people out of makeshift tents into safe and improved housing."

"Despite the most challenging conditions, including changes in government, lack of land for housing, and civil unrest, our hardworking staff -- 90 percent of whom are Haitians -- continue to meet the long-term needs of the Haitian people. While the pace of progress is never as fast as we would like, Haiti is better off today than it was five years ago," the Red Cross said.

Red Cross official quit

The relief agency described several of the news account's assertions as "myths."

About purportedly building only six new homes, the agency said it "has provided more than 132,000 people with safe and durable housing."

"When we could not secure land to provide new housing, we focused on safe housing with a wide spectrum of choices, not a one-size-fits all plan (rental subsidies, repairs and retrofitting of existing homes, as well as teaching people how to repair their homes)," the Red Cross said in a statement.

The news story relied on Red Cross internal documents, field reporting in Haiti and interviews with Haitian and former Red Cross officials, including the agency's former chief of the Haitian shelter program, Lee Malany.

Malany quit after agency officials "did not seem to have any idea how to spend millions of dollars set aside for housing," according to the outlets' report.

Controversy over transparency

The Red Cross also declined repeatedly to disclose details on how exactly money was spent in Haiti and instead provided only broad categories of expenditures, despite a pledge by CEO Gail McGovern that her agency would "lead the effort in transparency," the news report said.

A CNN review of the Red Cross' tax filings from July 2010 to June 2014 shows no detailed expenditures for its numerous relief programs, including in Haiti.

Those documents, called Form 990, do show details on salaries, including McGovern's $597,961 total compensation in the most recent filing.

The Red Cross said it annually reports online how donor dollars are spent according to sector and seven priorities: emergency relief, shelter, health, water and sanitation, livelihoods, disaster preparedness, and cholera prevention.

Accusations that "details of Red Cross spending are so broad as to be useless" is a myth, the agency said.

Red Cross: 91 cents of every dollar goes to services

The Red Cross also disputed accusations about internal problems and delayed services and asserted that staff turnover rate was "relatively low" and "consistent" with other humanitarian organizations in Haiti.

The agency said 91 cents of every donated dollar goes to programs and services, and partnering organizations also have low expenses.

"It is more cost effective to rely on the expertise of partners than if we tried to build and staff these programs from scratch," the Red Cross said.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed between 230,000 and 316,000 people in Haiti in 2010 and left 1.5 million people displaced in the immediate aftermath. A subsequent cholera outbreak killed more than 8,500 people.

In all, more than $13 billion in aid has been allocated to Haiti by multilateral and bilateral agencies from 2010 to 2020, according to the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti.




“… group received $488 million in donations but built only six permanent homes. The Red Cross called the report by ProPublica and National Public Radio as lacking in "balance, context and accuracy ... which follows the pattern of all their previous Red Cross stories." …. The investigative account asserted that the Red Cross faced "constant upheaval" of staff in Haiti, a "pattern" of "botched delivery of aid" and "an overreliance on foreigners who could not speak French or Creole." The Red Cross also lacked expertise to carry out its own projects in Haiti and instead gave donors' money to other groups to do the work, escalating costs of overhead and management, which in one case added up to a third of a project's budget, the news outlets said in their account published Wednesday. …. The outlets also cited a 2013 U.S. Government Accountability Office report that found a Red Cross-USAID partnership to build homes didn't develop "because of the delays in securing land title and because of turnover in Red Cross leadership that resulted in shifting approaches to housing in Haiti," the GAO study said. …. About purportedly building only six new homes, the agency said it "has provided more than 132,000 people with safe and durable housing." "When we could not secure land to provide new housing, we focused on safe housing with a wide spectrum of choices, not a one-size-fits all plan (rental subsidies, repairs and retrofitting of existing homes, as well as teaching people how to repair their homes)," the Red Cross said in a statement. …. Malany quit after agency officials "did not seem to have any idea how to spend millions of dollars set aside for housing," according to the outlets' report. Controversy over transparency The Red Cross also declined repeatedly to disclose details on how exactly money was spent in Haiti and instead provided only broad categories of expenditures, despite a pledge by CEO Gail McGovern that her agency would "lead the effort in transparency," the news report said. A CNN review of the Red Cross' tax filings from July 2010 to June 2014 shows no detailed expenditures for its numerous relief programs, including in Haiti. …. The agency said 91 cents of every donated dollar goes to programs and services, and partnering organizations also have low expenses. "It is more cost effective to rely on the expertise of partners than if we tried to build and staff these programs from scratch," the Red Cross said.”

“Those documents, called Form 990, do show details on salaries, including McGovern's $597,961 total compensation in the most recent filing. The Red Cross said it annually reports online how donor dollars are spent according to sector and seven priorities: emergency relief, shelter, health, water and sanitation, livelihoods, disaster preparedness, and cholera prevention.”

All IRS forms that I have ever read ask many detailed questions which must be answered specifically as asked, so I don’t see how the Red Cross could “fudge” its tax reporting too much, which seemed to be indicated in this article. On the other hand both NPR and ProPublica have a very good reputation for their news reporting. They did win the Pulitzer for National Reporting. As for how efficient and cost saving Red Cross should be, I don’t know. I’ve heard that more than half of money that charities get goes to their expenses rather than to the worthy cause that they support. $488 million is a lot, but so is $597,961 as a personal salary for the CEO. They should show details on spending and the accomplishments they made in a report which is filed with some overseeing body. Who oversees charities in the details of their operation, besides the IRS? In other words, I wonder who the Red Cross contracted with in the government. Is that the DHS? Does DHS pay the Red Cross to carry out charity work in cases like this in the name of delivering US aid to Haiti? I think Red Cross’s explanation that the housing gains were made through a variety of situations and didn’t consist completely of newly built housing makes perfect sense. In the kind of chaos that was in Haiti after that earthquake, they probably worked to help in whatever ways they could. Besides, there are only so many organizations that do work of the type Red Cross does. If there’s a tsunami, a hurricane, a volcano, or any disaster at all, the Red Cross sends aid. Unless they really have been profligate in their activities, they should get some credit for what they do.

https://www.propublica.org/: “April 18, 2011: ProPublica staff celebrate winning the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Credit: Dan Nguyen/ProPublica. …. ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories, stories with “moral force.” We do this by producing journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them. Investigative journalism is at risk. Many news organizations have increasingly come to see it as a luxury. Today’s investigative reporters lack resources: Time and budget constraints are curbing the ability of journalists not specifically designated “investigative” to do this kind of reporting in addition to their regular beats. New models are, therefore, necessary to carry forward some of the great work of journalism in the public interest that is such an integral part of self-government, and thus an important bulwark of our democracy.”





http://www.npr.org/2015/08/17/432265475/to-measure-droughts-reach-researchers-scale-the-mighty-sequoia

To Measure Drought's Reach, Researchers Scale The Mighty Sequoia
Ezra David Romero
August 17, 2015

Photograph -- UC Berkeley tree biologist Wendy Baxter is about to begin her ascent of a giant sequoia.
Ezra David Romero/Valley Public Radio

The giant sequoias in the Sierra Nevada are one of America's treasures, but for the first time in Sequoia National Park's history, the trees are showing visible signs of exhaustion due to the drought.

On a hike last summer, a scientist noticed that the leaves of the giant sequoias were browning and more sparse than usual. This finding got ecologists thinking: Did the drought cause this?

"We're just trying to get a better understanding of how giant sequoia trees respond to severe drought. We have very little understanding of ... how severe of a drought it takes to kill a giant sequoia tree," says Anthony Ambrose, a tree biologist at University of California, Berkeley.

This notion that the giant sequoias could die because of drought has brought together multiple agencies, including the National Park Service, Stanford University, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Carnegie Airborne Observatory, for the first health-related study on the giant sequoia. Ambrose is part of a team working on — and climbing up — trees in Sequoia National Park.

Some of the sequoias in the park are over 3,000 years old and have faced many droughts in their lifespans. But perhaps this drought is too much for them.

"The good news is that there were lots of trees that still seem healthy, but there was this smaller amount that seemed to be stressed — and stressed in ways that we haven't seen documented before in the parks," says the study's lead scientist, Koren Nydick, with Sequoia National Park.

The giant sequoia is a snow tree, says scientist Steve Sillett, adapted for long winters in the Sierra Nevada. But it's a fire tree, too. Thick bark protects it from burning in lightning-caused fires, which open cones and clear the understory, allowing saplings to find light and prosper.

More than 40 trees are in the process of being analyzed for stress from four years of drought and warming temperatures. "That's the kind of stress that eventually could kill a tree," Nydick says.

Researchers want to compare data from healthy sequoias with those showing signs of decay.

Wendy Baxter is another team member in the park who is trying to understand how these sequoias respond to drought conditions.

"We're going to assess the water status of those samples that we collect. So that's sort of an instantaneous measurement of the water status of the tree at that point in time," Baxter says.

This is how it works: After a researcher loops a rope over a branch hundreds of feet high, tree biologists like Baxter attach themselves to the line and literally hoist themselves into the branches. Scientists set up rainfall sensors in the branches themselves, and at the end of August, they'll return and take clippings from different heights for testing in a pressurized chamber to measure water content in the leaves.

Researchers will also study the sprigs of foliage in the laboratory. The goal of this study is twofold. Scientists like Ambrose want to figure out how the drought is harming these historic trees, and he says they want to be able to fly over the forest, look at the color of the leaves and understand how stressed these areas are.

"Being able to relate the measurements that we get on the ground to the airborne data, assuming we get a nice relationship, then they'll just be able to fly periodically over the whole forest and get, like, a spatial map of tree water status or tree stress levels," he says.

But for now the researchers are rushing to collect data in case a strong El Niño brings a large amount of rain and snow this fall.




“The good news is that there were lots of trees that still seem healthy, but there was this smaller amount that seemed to be stressed — and stressed in ways that we haven't seen documented before in the parks," says the study's lead scientist, Koren Nydick, with Sequoia National Park. The giant sequoia is a snow tree, says scientist Steve Sillett, adapted for long winters in the Sierra Nevada. But it's a fire tree, too. Thick bark protects it from burning in lightning-caused fires, which open cones and clear the understory, allowing saplings to find light and prosper. More than 40 trees are in the process of being analyzed for stress from four years of drought and warming temperatures. "That's the kind of stress that eventually could kill a tree," Nydick says. …. Scientists set up rainfall sensors in the branches themselves, and at the end of August, they'll return and take clippings from different heights for testing in a pressurized chamber to measure water content in the leaves. Researchers will also study the sprigs of foliage in the laboratory. The goal of this study is twofold. Scientists like Ambrose want to figure out how the drought is harming these historic trees, and he says they want to be able to fly over the forest, look at the color of the leaves and understand how stressed these areas are. …. "Being able to relate the measurements that we get on the ground to the airborne data, assuming we get a nice relationship, then they'll just be able to fly periodically over the whole forest and get, like, a spatial map of tree water status or tree stress levels," he says. But for now the researchers are rushing to collect data in case a strong El Niño brings a large amount of rain and snow this fall.”

People who have no interest in life forms other than to cut them down and make expensive furniture from them, thus making more money for their bank accounts, can’t understand this kind of project, and consider it to be unimportant. Sure, trees are beautiful, but “important?” With reasoning like that, many congressional representatives don’t want to spend much money at all on it. Much of what scientists do is gathering data, and then eventually coming to a conclusion about how things work. The data and the conclusions are then used by yet more scientists with new projects, but often there is no invention – no gadget that can be sold for a profit – that will emerge from it. That makes pure science suspect to the untrained minds of most Congressmen. Too often the data gets applied in something like a “global warming” study, which implies that we should go off of coal or oil usage and on to something like solar. That makes the Koch Brothers angry. In this case it’s about “climate change,” and it’s related to what we humans do or don’t do. I’m glad to see that this study was funded, apparently, because it is going forward already. I don’t expect there will be happy results of no new damage to these majestic giants. I’m sure that news will be reported later, too.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/17/432566132/cute-and-cuddly-think-again-koala-terrifies-aussie-farmer

Cute And Cuddly? Think Again. Koala Terrifies Aussie Farmer
Eyder Peralta
August 17, 2015

See Video -- Posted by Ebony Churchill

You thought koalas were cute and cuddly, right?

Well, you should ask Ebony Churchill, an Australian dairy farmer, about that.

Churchill uploaded a video on Facebook over the weekend that shows a big koala chasing after her.

"They've got hard, sharp claws and I didn't want to have him grabbing at my leg as I was on the bike," she told her local paper, The Advertiser.

At one point, after she can't go any farther on the four-wheeler, she ditches the vehicle and sees the Koala hugging one of the tires.

"He sat on the tire for a while and I didn't want to upset him," she told the paper. "I started herding the cows on foot and when I looked back, he had got off the bike and was walking away."

Of course, this is not normal koala behavior. They would normally run from people.

Mashable spoke to Deakin University wildlife and conservation biologist Desley Whisson. They report:

"[She] believed the koala might have been confusing the sound of the bike with that of a koala mate. 'Male koalas frequently bellow in response to airplanes, tractors, chain saws, etc.,' Whisson said. 'It may be that they confuse these noises as bellows by other koalas. We're at the beginning of the breeding season so perhaps heightened testosterone levels may be responsible.'"
This reminds us of two previous stories recounted on this blog.



http://www.bing.com/search?q=Koala+chasing+Steve+Irwin&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IETR02&conversationid=

Videos of koala chasing steve irwin

Videos available are “Koala jumping,” “Hungry koala,” “Fast koala,” and Irwin’s two kids.


“'It may be that they confuse these noises as bellows by other koalas. We're at the beginning of the breeding season so perhaps heightened testosterone levels may be responsible.'"

There are very few wild animals that I would touch unless someone who knows more about them than I do can tell me it’s okay. A teenage girl I know tried to pet a captured gull as her father was driving it to Beaks, a wild bird refuge here. She said it bit her, and very hard, too. Look but don’t touch is a pretty good rule most of the time. Just watch the videos above of koalas chasing the daredevil Steve Irwin. He was one of a kind, and I really do miss him.