Tuesday, August 12, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/protests-follow-arlington-texas-cops-firing-for-fatally-shooting-teen/

Protests follow cop's firing for fatally shooting teen
CBS/AP
August 12, 2015

ARLINGTON, Texas -- A police officer who killed an unarmed college football player during a suspected burglary at a Texas car dealership was fired Tuesday for making mistakes that the city's police chief said caused a deadly confrontation that put him and other officers in danger.

Arlington officer Brad Miller, 49, could also face criminal charges once police complete their investigation, Police Chief Will Johnson said.

Called to the scene of a suspected burglary early Friday morning, Miller pursued 19-year-old Christian Taylor through the broken glass doors of a car dealership showroom without telling his supervising officer, Johnson said.

Instead of helping to set up a perimeter around the showroom, Miller confronted Taylor and ordered him to get down on the ground, Johnson said. Taylor did not comply. Instead, he began "actively advancing toward Officer Miller," Johnson said.

Miller's field training officer, who had followed Miller into the showroom, drew his own Taser. The training officer heard a single pop of what he thought was Miller's Taser, but Miller actually had drawn his service weapon and fired it at Taylor, who is believed to have been 7 to 10 feet away from the officer, Johnson said. After Taylor continued to approach, Miller fired his gun three more times.

"This is an extraordinarily difficult case," Johnson said. "Decisions were made that created an environment of cascading consequences and an unrecoverable outcome."

The Arlington Municipal Patrolman's Association issued a statement Tuesday night decrying Johnson's decision. The group said it supports "Miller's right to be judged fairly and completely on facts instead of a snapshot developed in only days," and also expressed sympathy for Taylor's family.

"We again ask that citizens obey the commands of police officers in order to prevent these tragedies from occurring in the future," the association said.

An attorney for Miller did not have an immediate comment on Johnson's announcement. Taylor's family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a protest Tuesday night outside the Arlington police headquarters, about 60 demonstrators demanded that Miller be charged with a crime.

The firing was "not enough justice," said Matthew Higgins, 20, one of Taylor's former high school classmates. "If it was a white person, it probably would have been different."

Taylor's death came two days before the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed, black 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

Taylor, who was black, was a graduate of an Arlington high school and a football player at Angelo State University in West Texas. Miller is white.

"Although the investigation is not over, my hope is that the information shared today can assist in the healing process," Johnson said. "Some communities and our nation have been torn apart by similar challenges."

There is no video of the shooting itself, though security camera footage from Classic Buick GMC dealership's parking lots shows Taylor walking around and damaging some vehicles.

The Arlington Police Department had earlier released surveillance video of Taylor kicking in a car windshield and then driving his SUV through the glass wall of the Arlington dealership, reports CBS Dallas.

Police on Tuesday released audio of a 911 call made by the company manning the exterior cameras. In the audio, the caller tells a 911 operator that a "thin black man with a blond Mohawk" was seen jumping on the windshield of a gray Ford Mustang.

Before his final confrontation with Miller, Taylor allegedly held up a set of car keys and told another officer that he intended to steal a car, Johnson said. He had driven a vehicle through the glass front doors of the showroom and, after officers arrived, was slamming his body into the side of a different part of the building to try to escape, the chief said.

"It is clear from the facts obtained that Mr. Taylor was non-compliant with police demands," Johnson said.

But the chief said he ultimately decided Miller's mistakes required his firing. While he said he had "serious concerns" about Miller's use of deadly force, Johnson said it would be up to a grand jury to decide whether Miller's actions were criminal.

Miller joined the police department in September and graduated from the city police academy earlier this year. Police said Miller cannot appeal his firing because he was a probationary employee.

He was undergoing field training and assigned to a more senior officer, though he was a licensed police officer authorized to carry a weapon. Police have previously said that he had never fired his weapon in the line of duty before.

But Johnson stressed that officers in training "have the skills, the decision-making process, the authority" to act correctly in the field.




“Called to the scene of a suspected burglary early Friday morning, Miller pursued 19-year-old Christian Taylor through the broken glass doors of a car dealership showroom without telling his supervising officer, Johnson said. Instead of helping to set up a perimeter around the showroom, Miller confronted Taylor and ordered him to get down on the ground, Johnson said. Taylor did not comply. Instead, he began "actively advancing toward Officer Miller," Johnson said. Miller's field training officer, who had followed Miller into the showroom, drew his own Taser. The training officer heard a single pop of what he thought was Miller's Taser…. The Arlington Municipal Patrolman's Association issued a statement Tuesday night decrying Johnson's decision. …. An attorney for Miller did not have an immediate comment on Johnson's announcement. Taylor's family did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At a protest Tuesday night outside the Arlington police headquarters, about 60 demonstrators demanded that Miller be charged with a crime. The firing was "not enough justice," said Matthew Higgins, 20, one of Taylor's former high school classmates. "If it was a white person, it probably would have been different." …. There is no video of the shooting itself, though security camera footage from Classic Buick GMC dealership's parking lots shows Taylor walking around and damaging some vehicles. The Arlington Police Department had earlier released surveillance video of Taylor kicking in a car windshield and then driving his SUV through the glass wall of the Arlington dealership, reports CBS Dallas.

"Decisions were made that created an environment of cascading consequences and an unrecoverable outcome." This is one of the several things that I have seen in nearly all of these killings. An officer makes tactical errors and goes cowboy instead of even calling for backup or trying to talk to the suspect and calm him down, consult the training officer who was with him at the scene, use non-lethal force, or “set up the perimeter” as Johnson mentioned. Then the situation spins completely out of control.

There is also evidence that the young man was irrational if not insane: “… was slamming his body into the side of a different part of the building to try to escape….” after ramming the building with his own car, jingling a set of keys and saying to the officer that he intended to steal a car. Eh, what? He could have been using a drug that impaired his thinking, but something was wrong. He was not a street kid out gang-banging, but a college student with a football scholarship. Who were his friends and what kind of home did he come from? There are a lot of questions here. I agree with Johnson that the officer should be fired.





http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/08/12/431673577/obama-hopes-to-seize-momentum-for-criminal-justice-reform

Obama Hopes To Seize Momentum For Criminal Justice Reform
NPR Staff
AUGUST 12, 2015

Photograph -- NPR's Steve Inskeep interviews President Obama at the White House on Thursday.
Morgan Walker/NPR

President Obama's perhaps most notable statement on race came recently in Charleston, S.C. That's where he gave the eulogy for nine African-Americans killed by a white man in a church.

The president has also continued to address the killings of black men at the hands of the police, and he's pushing to reduce the number of prison inmates, who are disproportionately black.

Some of his supporters feel the president finally found his voice. But in an interview with NPR, Obama says many of the issues he's now getting attention for, like criminal justice reform, are ones he's been working on all along.

"I think that one of the things I've learned about being president is that we'll work on issues for long periods of time, sometimes in obscurity," he says.

And though he had strong words for Republicans in Washington for their opposition to the Iran deal, he says criminal justice reform is one area where he envisions bipartisan support. "I mean, there are some sincere efforts on the part of some Republicans in Congress to deal with the problems of mandatory minimums in sentencing and rehabilitation," he tells Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep. "I think that, wherever I see an opportunity these days, with only 18 months to go, I intend to seize it."

Interview Highlights

On whether he is talking more forcefully about race now

I think I've been pretty consistent, if you look at my statements throughout my presidency. Some of it, I think, is events. ...

What is true is that there has been an awakening around the country to some problems in race relations, in police-community relations, that aren't new — they date back for decades — because of smartphones and cameras and, you know, social media. I think people have become more aware of them, both black and white.

And that gives me an opportunity, I think, then, to try to help to constructively shape the debate.

On criminal justice reform

I think that one of the things I've learned about being president is that we'll work on issues for long periods of time, sometimes in obscurity.

For example, on the issue of criminal justice reform, I had a conversation with [former Attorney General] Eric Holder when I came into office ... about how could we address the issue of these ridiculous mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses that are filling up our jails, and we did a whole bunch of work without getting a lot of attention, with U.S. attorneys around the country changing incentives so that they didn't feel as if being a good prosecutor meant always slapping the longest sentence on people.

And, in part because of some of those changes in practices, we saw, last year, for the first time in 40 years, a drop in both the number of people incarcerated and the crime rate.

I think what we've seen is the possibility, now, of having a — a broader public conversation, and this is one area where I've been pleasantly surprised to see some bipartisan interest.

I mean, there are some sincere efforts on the part of some Republicans in Congress to deal with the problems of mandatory minimums in sentencing and rehabilitation and ... I think that, wherever I see an opportunity these days, with only 18 months to go, I intend to seize it.

On feeling an 'urgency' to keep moving in his final year and a half

I think it's fair to say that if, in my first term, Ferguson had flared up, as president of the United States, I would have been commenting on what was happening in Ferguson.

So here's one thing I will say, is that I feel a great urgency to get as much done as possible, and there's no doubt that, after over six and a half years on this job, I probably have an easier time juggling a lot of different issues, and it may be that my passions show a little bit more, just because I've been around this track now for a while. ...

And frankly, we've done a pretty good job on some big pieces of business, which then allows me also to focus on some issues that we might have been working on quietly, but weren't getting as much attention.

But ... the main thing that may have changed is instead of having a year and a half behind me and six and a half years in front of me, I now have six and a half years behind me and a year and a half in front of me, so I gotta — I gotta keep moving.

I — you know, it's like, what'd Satchel Paige say? "Don't look — don't look behind you; you don't know what might be catching up." Yeah, you know, you just wanna keep on — keep on running.




“President Obama's perhaps most notable statement on race came recently in Charleston, S.C. That's where he gave the eulogy for nine African-Americans killed by a white man in a church. The president has also continued to address the killings of black men at the hands of the police, and he's pushing to reduce the number of prison inmates, who are disproportionately black. …. "I think that one of the things I've learned about being president is that we'll work on issues for long periods of time, sometimes in obscurity," he says. And though he had strong words for Republicans in Washington for their opposition to the Iran deal, he says criminal justice reform is one area where he envisions bipartisan support. "I mean, there are some sincere efforts on the part of some Republicans in Congress to deal with the problems of mandatory minimums in sentencing and rehabilitation" …. What is true is that there has been an awakening around the country to some problems in race relations, in police-community relations, that aren't new — they date back for decades — because of smartphones and cameras and, you know, social media. I think people have become more aware of them, both black and white. And that gives me an opportunity, I think, then, to try to help to constructively shape the debate. …. and we did a whole bunch of work without getting a lot of attention, with U.S. attorneys around the country changing incentives so that they didn't feel as if being a good prosecutor meant always slapping the longest sentence on people. …. And, in part because of some of those changes in practices, we saw, last year, for the first time in 40 years, a drop in both the number of people incarcerated and the crime rate. I think what we've seen is the possibility, now, of having a — a broader public conversation, and this is one area where I've been pleasantly surprised to see some bipartisan interest. …. mandatory minimums in sentencing and rehabilitation ….”

“… a drop in both the number of people incarcerated and the crime rate….” This is one of those subtle things that tends to go unnoticed – the fact that how police and courts operate affects the crime rate as much as the actual number of muggings, etc. that have occurred does. Filling the prisons with warm bodies who have done little to get there is wasteful of human life and community resources. Republicans should appreciate that factor since they are all about money whatever the subject is. Another matter that has been concerning me is the issue of rehabilitation of prisoners rather than simply punishment. It has been proven in decades past that rehabilitation of prisoners is possible so that they don’t get out, stick up a bank, and then go back in again – recidivism. We shouldn’t be literally throwing people away as we tend to do now. It is necessary for money and government oversight to be a basic and constant part of our criminal justice system, and it’s not because we are a terrible crime-filled society. It’s because how we treat people and restore them to their communities is one of the ways I and most progressive thinkers judge us. Are we a true civilization, or merely a huge collection of people each out for his own interests at the expense of others?




SENATOR MCCASKILL -- TWO ARTICLES


https://www.yahoo.com/politics/claire-mccaskill-pitting-protesters-against-126450569701.html

Claire McCaskill: Pitting protesters against police "very unfair" to most police officers
Meredith Shiner
Political correspondent
August 11, 2015

Yahoo News Video -- McCaskill praises police
Yahoo News Video -- McCaskill on Sanders-mania

A “narrative” that pits protestors against police in cities like Ferguson has been “harmful” and “very unfair” to most police officers, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Tuesday.

In a wide-ranging interview, the Missouri Democrat told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric that it would be “naïve” to think that years of institutional bias against African Americans could be reversed in the 12 months since Michael Brown’s death in her home state. On Monday, St. Louis County authorities declared a state of emergency in Ferguson after gunfire broke out during the protests marking the one-year anniversary of Brown’s killing.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) addresses the most recent violence in Ferguson, and calls for more resources for police officers. “Most of them want to be of the community, not in an adversarial position with the community,” she tells Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric. “But the system has created this, and now we’ve got to figure out a way to unwind it."

McCaskill’s comments — in which she expressed frustration that “a few bad actors… have grabbed the headlines” — came on the one-year anniversary of the protests that engulfed the Missouri town of Ferguson and kicked off a national “Black Lives Matter” movement protesting Brown’s death and the disproportionate number of young black men killed in encounters with police.

“I say all this and it sounds like I am trying to minimize what’s going on there — I don’t mean to do that — but I’ve watched in frustration when the narrative has gotten out ahead of itself in terms of what’s really going on on the ground,” McCaskill said.

Signs of progress in Missouri since Brown’s death, McCaskill said, include: An increase in black members on Ferguson’s city council, the installation of an African American at the head of the town’s police department, municipal court reform in St. Louis County and expanded job training programs. But criminal justice system, she said, still needed to be reformed — and that is going to take time.

“This is something that’s taken years to become an institutional bias, we can’t be naive enough to think we’re going to fix it in twelve short months,” McCaskill said.

She also called for increased community policing and for more resources to be directed to departments so they can devote more time to engaging with communities, in addition to responding to 9-1-1 calls.

McCaskill said real fear exists in communities that are currently being underserviced: “These are hard-working, God-loving people who live in neighborhoods where sometimes they feel like their children need to sleep in bathtubs to be safe.”

Black Lives Matter protesters have attracted headlines at several recent events where they have disrupted Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, and while McCaskill did not discuss what sort of impact these issues might have on the 2016 election, she did talk about the emerging Republican field, which she dubbed a “circus.”

A “narrative” that pits protestors against police in cities like Ferguson has been “harmful” and “very unfair” to most police officers, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Tuesday.

In a wide-ranging interview, the Missouri Democrat told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric that it would be “naïve” to think that years of institutional bias against African Americans could be reversed in the 12 months since Michael Brown’s death in her home state. On Monday, St. Louis County authorities declared a state of emergency in Ferguson after gunfire broke out during the protests marking the one-year anniversary of Brown’s killing.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) addresses the most recent violence in Ferguson, and calls for more resources for police officers. “Most of them want to be of the community, not in an adversarial position with the community,” she tells Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric. “But the system has created this, and now we’ve got to figure out a way to unwind it."

“This whole narrative of protesters versus police has been harmful in so many ways, and in many ways very unfair to most of the police officers that I’ve had the honor to work with, because most of them want to be of the community, not in an adversarial position against the community,” McCaskill said. “But the system has created this and now we have got to figure out a way to unwind it.”

McCaskill’s comments — in which she expressed frustration that “a few bad actors… have grabbed the headlines” — came on the one-year anniversary of the protests that engulfed the Missouri town of Ferguson and kicked off a national “Black Lives Matter” movement protesting Brown’s death and the disproportionate number of young black men killed in encounters with police.

“I say all this and it sounds like I am trying to minimize what’s going on there — I don’t mean to do that — but I’ve watched in frustration when the narrative has gotten out ahead of itself in terms of what’s really going on on the ground,” McCaskill said.

Signs of progress in Missouri since Brown’s death, McCaskill said, include: An increase in black members on Ferguson’s city council, the installation of an African American at the head of the town’s police department, municipal court reform in St. Louis County and expanded job training programs. But criminal justice system, she said, still needed to be reformed — and that is going to take time.

“This is something that’s taken years to become an institutional bias, we can’t be naive enough to think we’re going to fix it in twelve short months,” McCaskill said.

She also called for increased community policing and for more resources to be directed to departments so they can devote more time to engaging with communities, in addition to responding to 9-1-1 calls.

McCaskill said real fear exists in communities that are currently being underserviced: “These are hard-working, God-loving people who live in neighborhoods where sometimes they feel like their children need to sleep in bathtubs to be safe.”

Black Lives Matter protesters have attracted headlines at several recent events where they have disrupted Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, and while McCaskill did not discuss what sort of impact these issues might have on the 2016 election, she did talk about the emerging Republican field, which she dubbed a “circus.”

Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric asks Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) about poll numbers that show Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) statistically tied with Fmr. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton. “I think in the long run it’s going to be helpful to Hillary Clinton’s candidacy not harmful,” says McCaskill.

And if that “circus” had a ringleader, it would seem to be billionaire real estate magnate Donald Trump.

“I worry about strength and stability as it relates to our position on the world stage with somebody like Donald Trump and I think when it’s all over, the vast majority of Americans will feel the same way,” she said.

McCaskill said Trump’s inflammatory remarks against women have served to detract [sic] attention from anti-woman policies embraced by other candidates vying for the GOP nomination, and like Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton did earlier this week, McCaskill zeroed in on Senate colleague Marco Rubio of Florida.

“Marco Rubio said that he no longer supported a rape or incest exception to abortion restrictions. That — in any other context, when you didn’t have this circus around Trump — would have gotten a lot more coverage and I think that would have been shocking to most women in this country, that a major candidate for president would say that there should be no exception for rape or incest.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) gives Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric her quick thoughts on 2016 candidates issues, agendas - and hair styles.

The Democratic senator went even further by saying there is a “real danger” that Roe v. Wade could be overturned, “depending on the health of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and other justices who are certainly not young at this point.” But, she added, she did not believe Republicans in Congress would be able to defund Planned Parenthood.

On the other hot congressional topic of the day, McCaskill said she is undecided on the Iran deal, though she has spoken to “friend” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., since he came out in opposition to the international agreement. She said she will take the 60-day review period to make her final decision and is weighing all concerns against the potential benefits of the deal.

She specifically addressed the idea that sanctions as an alternative to the multilateral agreement could fail because there would be no way to bind other nations to those sanctions after walking away from the agreement the United States negotiated with them.

“I’m trying to figure out if they’re going to get the money anyway. Since we don’t hold the money, that if we walk away from this deal, that the world agreed to, that those countries are going to release that money to Iran anyway and then they would be racing to a nuclear weapon with $60 billion.”



http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/claire-mccaskill-bernie-sanders-criticizes-liberal-2016-morning-joe-119419.html

Claire McCaskill, a major Clinton ally, unloads on Bernie Sanders
By Daniel Strauss
| 6/25/15

Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) unloaded on her Senate colleague Bernie Sanders on Thursday, saying the Vermont independent is far too liberal to make it to the White House.

“I think that the media is giving Bernie a pass right now,” McCaskill said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I very rarely read in any coverage of Bernie that he’s a socialist. I think everybody wants a fight and I think they are not really giving the same scrutiny to Bernie Sanders that they’re giving to, certainly, Hillary Clinton and the other candidates.”

McCaskill endorsed Clinton’s 2016 bid almost exactly two years ago, in June 2013, making her one of the former secretary of state’s earliest major Democratic backers. In the 2008 cycle, she endorsed then-Sen. Barack Obama over Clinton.

But this time, she’s all in for Hillary.

US President Barack Obama arrives to speak about healthcare reforms and the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, during the Catholic Hospital Association Conference in Washington, DC, June 9, 2015. AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

“So she’s going to win this, and as soon as I think they begin treating [Sanders] like a serious candidate instead of, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so great we’ve got a fight in the Democratic Party’, I think it’ll be very clear,” McCaskill said.

“Any other candidate that had the numbers that Hillary Clinton had right now would be talked about as absolutely untouchable,” she said. “I think Bernie is too liberal to gather enough votes in this country to become president, and I think Hillary Clinton is going to become a fantastic president.”

McCaskill’s comments came the same day that a pair of new polls showed Sanders gaining momentum in Iowa and New Hampshire. Both those polls, from Bloomberg Politics, found Clinton with a substantial lead.

Meanwhile, the super PAC aligned with former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, another candidate running in the Democratic primary, released an ad Thursday, attacking Sanders on gun control.

“Bernie Sanders is no progressive when it comes to guns,” the voice-over said.

Sanders said McCaskill’s comments were a first for him.

“This is the first time I’ve had a colleague attack me,” Sanders said in an interview with Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect later on Thursday. “You’ll have to ask Senator McCaskill why.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that Sanders spoke to New Hampshire’s WADR radio station; he spoke with Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/claire-mccaskill-bernie-sanders-criticizes-liberal-2016-morning-joe-119419.html#ixzz3icZacq7n




Yahoo -- “Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) addresses the most recent violence in Ferguson, and calls for more resources for police officers. “Most of them want to be of the community, not in an adversarial position with the community,” she tells Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric. “But the system has created this, and now we’ve got to figure out a way to unwind it." …. . “Most of them want to be of the community, not in an adversarial position with the community,” she tells Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric. “But the system has created this, and now we’ve got to figure out a way to unwind it." …. McCaskill’s comments — in which she expressed frustration that “a few bad actors… have grabbed the headlines” — came on the one-year anniversary of the protests that engulfed the Missouri town of Ferguson and kicked off a national “Black Lives Matter” movement protesting Brown’s death and the disproportionate number of young black men killed in encounters with police. …. “I say all this and it sounds like I am trying to minimize what’s going on there — I don’t mean to do that — but I’ve watched in frustration when the narrative has gotten out ahead of itself in terms of what’s really going on on the ground,” McCaskill said. Signs of progress in Missouri since Brown’s death, McCaskill said, include: An increase in black members on Ferguson’s city council, the installation of an African American at the head of the town’s police department, municipal court reform in St. Louis County and expanded job training programs. But criminal justice system, she said, still needed to be reformed — and that is going to take time. …. “This is something that’s taken years to become an institutional bias, we can’t be naive enough to think we’re going to fix it in twelve short months,” McCaskill said. She also called for increased community policing and for more resources to be directed to departments so they can devote more time to engaging with communities, in addition to responding to 9-1-1 calls. McCaskill said real fear exists in communities that are currently being underserviced: “These are hard-working, God-loving people who live in neighborhoods where sometimes they feel like their children need to sleep in bathtubs to be safe.” …. “The Democratic senator went even further by saying there is a “real danger” that Roe v. Wade could be overturned, “depending on the health of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and other justices who are certainly not young at this point.”

Politico -- Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) unloaded on her Senate colleague Bernie Sanders on Thursday, saying the Vermont independent is far too liberal to make it to the White House. …. I think everybody wants a fight and I think they are not really giving the same scrutiny to Bernie Sanders that they’re giving to, certainly, Hillary Clinton and the other candidates.” …. McCaskill’s comments came the same day that a pair of new polls showed Sanders gaining momentum in Iowa and New Hampshire. Both those polls, from Bloomberg Politics, found Clinton with a substantial lead. Meanwhile, the super PAC aligned with former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, another candidate running in the Democratic primary, released an ad Thursday, attacking Sanders on gun control.”

The political race among Democrats has definitely heated up since Sanders came on the scene. He knows how to put things in such a way as to draw attention to his views and unite those of us who are getting very worried about the way the Tea Party is trying to destroy our country. (That’s just my opinion, of course.) Sanders has made a tactical error in not saying much if anything about the racial issues since Ferguson; the presence on his podium by young black activists is definitely threatening. I hope he will have more to say about justice reform in the federal legislature. It is as large an issue to me as the scary wealth gap that we have in the US. BOTH issues are important and must be a part of every Democratic candidate’s platform, and let’s add in women’s issues and public education. Nothing should be forgotten or downplayed.

As for Sanders’ being a socialist, that doesn’t scare me because there is a difference between socialists and communists. I wouldn’t vote for a communist. A rigid totalitarian government would be horrible to live in. Socialism is an economic system and not a governmental type. A MODIFIED form of socialism is what we now have, and to me we need more of it and not less, to provide basic needs and comfort to all citizens – food stamps, housing, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment, free public education through college are all needed and reasonable. Letting people starve and live on the streets is not.

McCaskill is definitely all for Clinton and none for the other Democrats running, though by the way she talks she sounds like she herself is in the race. I understand that Ferguson is in her state, but I did get the impression that she is indeed trying to “minimize” the black/white/violence issues in today’s policing. When I was young in the 50s and 60s Southern people used to talk about “creeping socialism,” but we are now faced with “creeping fascism.” I agree with her that not all police are bad cops, but I don’t agree that the problem is “just a matter of a few bad apples.” We have racism and religionism ingrained in our society, and they are threatening to push out the reason, compassion for the needy and disabled, foresight for climatic and other environmental issues, and a much more equitable access to the money trees that are growing in some backyards. Hoover’s “chicken in every pot and a car in every garage” hasn’t panned out in this country, though we were doing much better in that way twenty years ago. I would also like to say that I haven’t seen anything that Hillary has said about economic issues especially and all Democratic matters in general, and with her particular political baggage I’m not so sure she could beat Sanders in the 2016 election. So far, I would rather vote for Sanders if he continues to run than anyone else, unless it becomes all too clear that the American public just won’t vote for an avowed socialist. Above all, however, I want relief from the right wing grip that the Tea Party and their coattails have made on our social services, voting issues and public education system. What I hope will happen is that progressives will pop up in the local and state elections across the country and bring back the healthier balance that we had in the 1960s and 70s. I still have hopes for that.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sen-schumer-if-u-s-quits-deal-sanctions-will-still-hurt-iran/

Sen. Schumer: If U.S. quits deal, sanctions will still hurt Iran
AP August 12, 2015

Photograph -- U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, D-New York, speaks at a press conference with comedian Amy Schumer calling for tighter gun laws in an effort to stop mass shootings and gun violence on August 3, 2015 in New York City. ANDREW BURTON, GETTY IMAGES
Play VIDEO -- Sen. Chuck Schumer objects to Iran nuke deal
Play VIDEO -- 2 house Democrats join Sen. Schumer in opposition of Iran nuclear deal


WASHINGTON -- The lone Democratic senator to publicly oppose President Barack Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran said Tuesday that even if the U.S. backs away and other countries lift their sanctions, Iran still will feel meaningful pressure from the U.S. penalties.

The deal that the U.S. and other world powers negotiated with Iran would curb Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from crippling sanctions.

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer's view sharply contrasts with European leaders who have told U.S. lawmakers that if Congress were to reject the deal, the international sanctions would unravel, undermining global pressure on Iran.

Schumer also said that sanctions aimed at companies that do business with Iran could force U.S. allies and trade partners back to the negotiating table.

"Let's not forget, those secondary sanctions are very powerful," Schumer told reporters in New York as he detailed a decision he first announced last week.

He said these sanctions alert corporations, such as the French oil company Total, that if it deals with Iran, it cannot deal with the United States.

"We have that powerful tool, and if used, I think that's a better, better chance in a very difficult world than an agreement that is so totally flawed," Schumer said.

Schumer's opposition was seen as a blow to the Obama administration, but since Schumer's announcement, a handful of Senate Democrats and several House Democrats have announced their support.

Schumer is a leading congressional ally of Israel, a major fundraiser and savvy strategist for his party, and represents a state that is home to more than a million-and-a-half Jews. He is in line to lead Senate Democrats after the 2016 elections.

He was asked by reporters whether he intended to lobby colleagues to vote with him.

"Certainly, I'm going to try to persuade my colleagues that my viewpoint is right, but anyone who thinks you can force somebody to vote with you in the Senate doesn't understand the Senate," he said. "This is a vote of conscience. It was a vote of conscience for me. It will be a vote of conscience for my colleagues."




“New York Sen. Chuck Schumer's view sharply contrasts with European leaders who have told U.S. lawmakers that if Congress were to reject the deal, the international sanctions would unravel, undermining global pressure on Iran. Schumer also said that sanctions aimed at companies that do business with Iran could force U.S. allies and trade partners back to the negotiating table. …. Schumer is a leading congressional ally of Israel, a major fundraiser and savvy strategist for his party, and represents a state that is home to more than a million-and-a-half Jews. He is in line to lead Senate Democrats after the 2016 elections. …. "Certainly, I'm going to try to persuade my colleagues that my viewpoint is right, but anyone who thinks you can force somebody to vote with you in the Senate doesn't understand the Senate," he said.”

I am personally not impressed with the efforts that Netanyahu and other Israeli hardliners have made in the efforts for peace in the Middle East in general. I understand their fear of Islamic pressure from any source. At some time, however, I am afraid that if we don’t make peace with Islam we will have a war with them, and I don't mean this piecemeal war that we're in right now. Islam, to me, is not equivalent to ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda, and other radicals whose goal is to conquer anybody who espouses Western thought. I think it’s impossible to make peace in the region without relations that are good enough to talk and be civil, and the level of unrest that exists there now is very dangerous. It needs to stop. Israel and Palestine's continuing an endless barrage of missiles and bombs against each other is not acceptable or even civilized. Likewise, I am not convinced that Iran is so opposed to dealing with the US that they are an implacable enemy and will be forever.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clintons-lawyer-turns-her-emails-over-to-the-fbi/

Hillary Clinton to hand her email server over to the FBI
CBS/AP
August 11, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Will new round of Clinton emails and docs affect campaign?
Play VIDEO -- FBI eyes thumb drive in connection to Hillary Clinton emails


WASHINGTON -- Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has directed her staff to turn over her private email server to the Department of Justice, the spokesman for Clinton's presidential campaign, Nick Merrill, told CBS News Tuesday.

"This past spring, Hillary Clinton asked the Department of State to publish the 55,000 pages of the work emails she provided to the Department last fall. As she has said, it is her hope that State and the other agencies involved in the review process will sort out as quickly as possible which emails are appropriate to release to the public, and that the release will be as timely and transparent as possible," Merrill explained. "In the meantime, her team has worked with the State Department to ensure her emails are stored in a safe and secure manner. She directed her team to give her email server that was used during her tenure as Secretary to the Department of Justice, as well as a thumb drive containing copies of her emails already provided to the State Department."

Clinton's lawyer, David Kendall, turned over the emails after the FBI determined that he could not remain in possession of the classified information, a U.S. official briefed on the matter told the Associated Press. The State Department previously had said it was comfortable with Kendall keeping the emails at his Washington law office.

The news came as Sen. Charles Grassley said two of the emails, which traversed Clinton's insecure home email server, were deemed "Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information," which is among the government's highest classifications.

Grassley said the inspector general of the intelligence community had reported the new details about the higher classification to Congress on Tuesday.

Those two emails were among four that had previously been determined by the inspector general of the intelligence community to have been classified at the time they were sent. The State Department disputes that the emails were classified at the time.

"The Intelligence Community has recommended that portions of two of the four emails identified by the Intelligence Community's Inspector General should be upgraded to the Top Secret level. Department employees circulated these emails on unclassified systems in 2009 and 2011 and ultimately some were forwarded to Secretary Clinton. They were not marked as classified," State Department spokesperson James Kirby said Tuesday. "These emails have not been released to the public. While we work with the Director of National Intelligence to resolve whether, in fact, this material is actually classified, we are taking steps to ensure the information is protected and stored appropriately."

The U.S. official said the FBI recovered at least two thumb drives containing the emails from Kendall. The drives contain around 30,000 emails that Clinton deemed work-related and turned over to the State Department. She destroyed thousands of others that she said were not work-related.

The inspector general for the Intelligence Committee told Congress that potentially hundreds of classified emails are among the cache that Clinton provided.

Former Secretary of State Clinton, a Democrat running for president, has faced criticism over her use of a private email address and home server for official business.

Her campaign and Kendall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FBI is looking into the security of the Clinton email arrangement. There is no evidence she used encryption to shield the emails from foreign intelligence services or other prying eyes.




“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has directed her staff to turn over her private email server to the Department of Justice, the spokesman for Clinton's presidential campaign, Nick Merrill, told CBS News Tuesday. …. The news came as Sen. Charles Grassley said two of the emails, which traversed Clinton's insecure home email server, were deemed "Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information," which is among the government's highest classifications. Grassley said the inspector general of the intelligence community had reported the new details about the higher classification to Congress on Tuesday. Those two emails were among four that had previously been determined by the inspector general of the intelligence community to have been classified at the time they were sent. The State Department disputes that the emails were classified at the time. …. . Department employees circulated these emails on unclassified systems in 2009 and 2011 and ultimately some were forwarded to Secretary Clinton. They were not marked as classified," State Department spokesperson James Kirby said Tuesday. …. The U.S. official said the FBI recovered at least two thumb drives containing the emails from Kendall. The drives contain around 30,000 emails that Clinton deemed work-related and turned over to the State Department. She destroyed thousands of others that she said were not work-related. …. The FBI is looking into the security of the Clinton email arrangement. There is no evidence she used encryption to shield the emails from foreign intelligence services or other prying eyes.”

And on it goes. The Republicans should be happy now if they have her server. Good IT people can recover deleted materials, I understand, if they have the server. I am very sorry that she did include State Department materials of any security level at all on her personal computer. I imagine she wanted to keep her personal emails safe from prying eyes, but she should have simply never written a personal email on government computers. I remember one day some twenty-five years ago when the management where I was working walked en masse into my co-worker’s office and removed his computer, which they soon examined for personal information. It used to be a real No No to mix files like that. He was fired when they found his personal resume and letters to prospective employers on his work computer. Just because I am fond of her, and I don’t believe that she has been a spy for Russia or anything like that, I hope that she is not heavily punished for co-mixing her data. Whether she will be elected as President after this or not is another matter.





http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/08/12/431675085/little-house-on-the-prairie-actress-runs-for-congress-can-she-win

'Little House On The Prairie' Actress Runs For Congress. Can She Win?
Sam Sanders
AUGUST 12, 2015

Photograph -- Actress Melissa Gilbert arrives at the Award of Excellence Star presentation for the Screen Actors Guild in 2007. Gilbert is trying to win a congressional seat from Michigan, where her husband is from.
Noel Vasquez/Getty Images
Photograph -- Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, poses in October 1976.
AP


The list of celebrities-turned-politicians grows longer.

Former child actor Melissa Gilbert is running as a Democrat in Michigan's 8th congressional district against first-term Republican Mike Bishop.

The district covers Lansing and some northern Detroit suburbs, and it's a competitive one. President Obama won it in 2008, but Republican Mitt Romney carried it in 2012.

Gilbert is most well-known for the character she played on the popular series Little House on the Prairie: Laura Ingalls. Little Laura grew up on America's TV screens in the 1970s and 1980s, enjoying life as a pioneer girl.

Should she win, Gilbert would join a fairly large club of celebrities turned winning politicians. There's Ben Jones, who played Cooter on The Dukes of Hazzard. He served two terms in Congress, from Georgia's 4th district. And there's Sonny Bono, of course, of Sonny and Cher fame. Bono was mayor of Palm Springs, Calif., and was a longtime member of the House of Representatives.

If you look outside of the House, the list is even longer: Al Franken, former Saturday Night Live actor, is currently a U.S. Senator from Minnesota; action film star Arnold Schwarzenegger became the governor of California; Fred Thompson went from TV to Congress and back; and, of course, there's the Gipper, Ronald Reagan, former B-list actor turned president.

Further down the political food chain, Breaking Bad star Steven Michael Quezada (DEA agent Steve Gomez on the show) is running for county commissioner in Albuquerque, N.M.

But Nathan Gonzales, editor of the Rothenberg and Gonzales Political Report, said Gilbert might have a tough time in her congressional bid.

"If we were to look at any candidate in the country and say, OK, this person just moved there two years ago, they have over $300,000 in tax problems, we would normally dismiss that type of candidate," Gonzales told NPR.

Gilbert isn't actually from Michigan, but her husband, fellow actor Timothy Busfield, is. And The Detroit News reports that the Internal Revenue Service has accused Gilbert of failing to pay more than $360,000 in federal income taxes. The paper reported that she blamed the tax debt "on a stalled acting career, the economy and divorce," but that Gilbert has set up a payment plan with the IRS.

Gonzales also says that Gilbert's star power — which could help her with the name recognition needed to mount a serious run — is waning.

"Little House on the Prairie — it's been decades since the show has been on," he said. "I wouldn't describe her as an immediately recognized figure. Maybe people recognize her from Dancing with the Stars a few years ago, but she's not someone like an Arnold Schwarzenegger, who you hear the name, and you immediately know who that is."

(For what's it's worth, Gilbert did not win her season of DWTS.)

But Lara Bergthold, with the advocacy firm RALLY, says Gilbert's got a shot, in part because of a skill many actors possess.

"History has proven that some of the best politicians have been actors, and you shouldn't be so easy to dismiss a celebrity who's interested in running for office," she said. "Good politicians are good communicators, and maybe a leg up that actors have is the ability to communicate to the voters."

But Bergthold admits it's a different type of communication.

"She needs to make sure that she's honing those skills," she said. "It's a different thing to communicate your policy proposal than it is to read a script."

Melissa Gilbert declined to be interviewed by NPR, but Matt Thornton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said that anyone who would dismiss Gilbert because of her child actor past should look at Reagan.

Before he was president, one of Reagan's first forays into leadership was his stint as president of the Screen Actors Guild, a job Gilbert has held as well.




“Former child actor Melissa Gilbert is running as a Democrat in Michigan's 8th congressional district against first-term Republican Mike Bishop. The district covers Lansing and some northern Detroit suburbs, and it's a competitive one. President Obama won it in 2008, but Republican Mitt Romney carried it in 2012. …. But Nathan Gonzales, editor of the Rothenberg and Gonzales Political Report, said Gilbert might have a tough time in her congressional bid. "If we were to look at any candidate in the country and say, OK, this person just moved there two years ago, they have over $300,000 in tax problems, we would normally dismiss that type of candidate," Gonzales told NPR. …. And The Detroit News reports that the Internal Revenue Service has accused Gilbert of failing to pay more than $360,000 in federal income taxes. The paper reported that she blamed the tax debt "on a stalled acting career, the economy and divorce," but that Gilbert has set up a payment plan with the IRS. …. "Good politicians are good communicators, and maybe a leg up that actors have is the ability to communicate to the voters." But Bergthold admits it's a different type of communication. "She needs to make sure that she's honing those skills," she said. "It's a different thing to communicate your policy proposal than it is to read a script."

I think Gilbert is a lovely woman and a very good actress, but I don’t know how well versed she is in political/social issues. She is, however, planning to run as a Democrat, so that bodes well for her general knowledge, or so my personal prejudice on that subject runs. I wouldn’t like for her to start to give a speech and make multiple errors on basic information like Sarah Palin did. Even though I dislike Palin intensely for her hard and callous Republican views, I felt sorry for her when she flubbed so badly in front of the camera. She’s still willing to be in the spotlight, though, so maybe it didn’t hurt her personally too much. I don’t feel a bit sorry for Donald Trump when he does it, because he makes his outrageous and ridiculous comments on purpose. He thinks he’s ever so cool no matter what he says or does, and no matter who criticizes him. Rejection by the RNC doesn’t shut him up.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tianjin-port-china-massive-explosion-hundreds-injured/

Tianjin port city in China shaken by massive explosion
AP August 12, 2015

Photograph -- A massive explosion is seen in Tianjin, China, Aug. 13, 2015, in this still image from a video taken by Zheng Yuan. ZHENG YUAN
Photograph -- People react near a street after a blast at Binhai new district, in Tianjin municipality, China, August 12, 2015. REUTERS/STRINGER


BEIJING - Chinese state media say a huge explosion at a container port in the northeastern city of Tianjin has injured at least 300 people.

The state-run Beijing News said on its website that between 300 and 400 people had been admitted to hospitals in the city, east of Beijing. It says the explosion shattered windows and knocked off doors of buildings in the area.

The official China Daily says the explosion occurred in a warehouse for dangerous materials, and that the logistics company running the warehouse had proper approval for the business.




I can’t help wondering what kind of materials would cause such a huge explosion – 300 plus admitted to hospital. I send them my condolences.