October 31, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://news.yahoo.com/popemobile-gets-top-prize-obamas-white-house-halloween-224744308.html#

Popemobile Gets Top Prize at Obama’s White House Halloween – 28 Photographs
October 30, 2015

"Decoration of the Obama family dogs, Sunny and Bo, are displayed as part of Halloween festivities on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 30, 2015. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will welcome local children and children of military families to 'trick-or-treat' at the White House for Halloween. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)"


See the website above for the remaining 27 photographs. They're entertaining and informational.

The personal lives of powerful people have always fascinated me. I’m interested in how they think when not on the job. This series of photographic shots and their explanations are not earth-shaking, but they are heart-warming, and do add some information. The greatest experience I’ve had with a celebrity is the letter I have in my collection of important papers from none other than QEII. I wrote her at her website last year about my longtime interest in England and my visit there in 1987, and her secretary wrote me back, saying that she found my letter very interesting. She’s one of those celebrities who have a noticeably “human” side rather than merely worldwide fame and a huge personal fortune.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/teen-surprises-mom-and-toddler-with-good-deed-at-target/

Teen surprises mom and toddler with good deed at Target
By JENNIFER EARL CBS NEWS
October 27, 2015

Photograph -- screen-shot-2015-10-27-at-1-06-21-pm.png -- The doll that was given to 2-year-old Kinley. MEGAN SHUFFLEBARGER/FACEBOOK


A mother of three, Megan Shufflebarger isn't new to the "oohing" and "ahhing" heard by her children as they walk down a toy aisle.

When her youngest daughter Kinley scanned the Target shelves ahead of her birthday, she listened to her stocked birthday list -- and apparently, she wasn't the only one.

The 2-year-old stood in front of a row of dolls, she stopped and stared at the last blonde one on the shelf. Before the question "can I?" could leave her mouth, a young man walked over and knelt down next to her.

He asked which one was her favorite. She pointed, "I really lub dis one." The teen chuckled and walked off with the doll.

Disappointed that her doll of choice was now out of sight, she turned to ask her mom where the "dolly" was. Her mother assured her there would be more.

A few minutes later, the young stranger returned to the aisle with the doll.

He took it out of a bag, handed Kinley's mom a receipt and told the little girl to "have a very happy birthday."

"I was speechless," Shufflebarger told CBS News.

She thanked him for his kindness. He nodded, smiled and walked off.

Shufflebarger repeated the story for her hundreds of friends on Facebook, sharing a photo of the young man posing with Kinley, who had a "sweet little shocked smile" on her face.

She hoped someone in the Lafayette, Indiana-area would recognize him so she could give him a proper "thank you."

newer.jpg, Tario Fuller II poses with Kinley and her new doll in an Indiana Target. FACEBOOK/MEGAN SHUFFLEBARGER. After more than 55,000 shares, someone tagged the little girl's hero in the post: Tario Fuller II, a freshman football player for Purdue University.

"We couldn't be more proud of the type of young men and women in our athletics department," Purdue Athletics shared the post on its Facebook page.

The mom told Fuller she was grateful to him for showing her -- and the world -- that "hope is in fact not lost in society as a whole."

"This one act of kindness has likely generated thousands of smiles, softened many hearts and inspired others," she said. "That in and of itself makes my heart full and happy."

Kinley's happy, too.

The soon-to-be 3-year-old, who is never seen without a doll in her arms, may even replace her recent favorite, an Ikea doll named "baby boy," with Fuller's gift.

"Maybe this will inspire and humble others to pay it forward more often," Shufflebarger hopes.




“After more than 55,000 shares, someone tagged the little girl's hero in the post: Tario Fuller II, a freshman football player for Purdue University. "We couldn't be more proud of the type of young men and women in our athletics department," Purdue Athletics shared the post on its Facebook page. The mom told Fuller she was grateful to him for showing her -- and the world -- that "hope is in fact not lost in society as a whole." "This one act of kindness has likely generated thousands of smiles, softened many hearts and inspired others," she said. "That in and of itself makes my heart full and happy."

I am impressed when someone does a very generous thing for no reason but to sow a little goodness in the world. Enough people like this, and those who are more or less vicious or greedy will pale into the background. If you have gone to the website to check out his picture you will see that he is a black youth. The common myth about black young people is that they are dangerous, rather than helpful, but this young man is certainly not in that negative group. I don’t know whether he came from a Middle Class family or from a poor one, but he is choosing to act as an individual and follow the right path. I hope he gets some kind of award for this.







AMERICAN RAILROADS -- TWO ARTICLES

http://www.npr.org/2015/10/23/450833762/few-railroads-on-track-to-meet-end-of-year-safety-deadline

Few Railroads On Track To Meet End-Of-Year Safety Deadline
Jeff Brady
October 23, 2015


Photograph -- The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority tests its Positive Train Control system at the agency's rail yard near Malvern, Pa. The system will cost SEPTA about $328 million. The regional passenger railroad is one of the few in the country that are on track to meet an end-of-the-year deadline for installing PTC. Jeff Brady/NPR


Railroads warn they may have to shut down unless Congress extends an end-of-the-year deadline to install new safety equipment called Positive Train Control.

PTC is a complex system that monitors a train's location and speed, then automatically slows down or stops a locomotive if the engineer doesn't respond to a danger warning.

Congress required passenger and freight railroads to install PTC in 2008, after a Metrolink passenger train collided with a freight train in Los Angeles, killing 25 people. It also would have slowed down the fast-moving Amtrak train that derailed earlier this year in Philadelphia, killing eight.

The 2008 Rail Safety Improvement Act set a deadline of Dec. 31, 2015, for railroads to implement PTC systems — or face big fines. Metrolink is among the few railroads expected to meet the deadline, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Other passenger railroads on track to finish by the end of the year include Caltrain, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, known as SEPTA, and TriMet in Oregon.

SEPTA locomotive engineer Steve Finnegan remains in control of a train using PTC. But if SEPTA reduces speed on a certain set of track or sends an order for the train to stop and he fails to comply, PTC will do it automatically.i

SEPTA locomotive engineer Steve Finnegan remains in control of a train using PTC. But if SEPTA reduces speed on a certain set of track or sends an order for the train to stop and he fails to comply, PTC will do it automatically.
Jeff Brady/NPR

Amtrak expects to have PTC installed by the deadline along the Northeast Corridor — between Washington, D.C., and Boston — and on its line between New York and Harrisburg, Pa.

The mandate is most expensive for freight railroads, which have tens of thousands of miles of track to include in their PTC systems.

"We are committed to getting this job completed," says Edward Hamberger, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads. By the end of 2015, Hamberger says, freight lines will have spent $6 billion on PTC systems and will spend $4 billion more to complete installation.

"It's like having a home halfway built: You want to finish it; you want to move in," he says. But railroads need more time to finish the job, he adds.

As the deadline approaches, railroads plan to shut down instead of paying those fines. "There will be a transportation crisis in this country with severe economic consequences," warns Michael Melaniphy, president and CEO of the American Public Transportation Association.

During a recent conference call with reporters, Melaniphy and Hamberger painted a dramatic picture of commuters and trucks clogging the nation's roads because trains won't run. They want lawmakers to extend the deadline for up to five years.

Melaniphy says if there's going to be an extension, it needs to be made before the end of October because railroads need about eight weeks for "an orderly shutdown, including public notification to customers and labor unions."

The Senate already has passed a bill extending the deadline and there are indications House leaders are prepared to do the same.

Despite Congress mandating all railroads be equipped with a Positive Train Control system by the end of the year, Chicago's Metra system isn't expected to reach that goal until 2019. Most commuter trains won't meet the deadline.
U.S.

The situation raises a question: Why are some railroads able to meet the deadline when others aren't? The answer is that while the 2008 law requires the same thing of railroads, each line has different circumstances.

"You cannot purchase PTC systems off the shelf at Best Buy," Melaniphy says.

Some railroads had trouble even securing the radio frequency that allows all the parts of the PTC system to communicate. And then there are inevitable bugs to work out.

SEPTA General Manager Jeffrey Knueppel says several things came together to help his agency meet the deadline. He says SEPTA is spending $328 million on its system.

Until recently, that would have been the bulk of the agency's capital budget. But two years ago, Pennsylvania raised gas taxes to boost funding for transportation infrastructure. That helped alleviate the cost problem for SEPTA.

"We had a good set of circumstances, a good plan, a good contractor and we retained our people," says Knueppel, referring to the fact that as railroads are working now to meet the PTC deadline, a generation of experienced workers across the industry is reaching retirement age.

Knueppel says he's not surprised that an extension is needed. Even with good planning, funding and some luck, he says meeting the end-of-the-year deadline will be a photo finish for SEPTA.



http://www.progressiverailroading.com/federal_legislation_regulation/news/House-passes-PTC-deadline-extension-shortterm-transportation-funding-bill--46270

Rail News: Federal Legislation & Regulation: House passes PTC deadline extension, short-term transportation funding bill
10/28/2015


The House of Representatives yesterday approved a three-week extension of surface transportation funding and a three-year extension of the deadline for railroads to implement positive train control (PTC) technology.

The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015 (H.R. 3819) would extend the authorization for federal highway and transit programs through Nov. 20, and would prevent a shutdown of the U.S. rail system by extending the PTC deadline though 2018. The current PTC deadline is Dec. 31. Existing legislation that authorizes transportation funding expires Thursday.

The measure was introduced and passed last week by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The bill will ensure that states can continue to pay for transportation projects while Congress continues to debate on a longer term bill, said T&I Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) in a press release.

"H.R. 3819 also recognizes that failing to extend the positive train control deadline now will have devastating economic impacts," he added. "Not only will railroads stop shipping important chemicals critical to manufacturing, agriculture, clean drinking water, and other industrial activities, but passenger and commuter rail transportation will virtually screech to a halt."

Most railroads have said they will not be able to meet current PTC deadline. As a result, many have also said they will have to cease operations after Jan. 1 in locations where they do not yet have PTC systems installed. The Federal Railroad Administration has said it will enforce the Dec. 31 deadline, which was set by Congress in 2008.

"A PTC-related rail shutdown would pull $30 billion out of the economy in the first quarter and lead to 700,000 jobs lost in just one month," Shuster said. "It's our responsibility to extend this deadline now, and avoid shutting down much of our rail system."




npr.org -- “Railroads warn they may have to shut down unless Congress extends an end-of-the-year deadline to install new safety equipment called Positive Train Control. PTC is a complex system that monitors a train's location and speed, then automatically slows down or stops a locomotive if the engineer doesn't respond to a danger warning. …. The 2008 Rail Safety Improvement Act set a deadline of Dec. 31, 2015, for railroads to implement PTC systems — or face big fines. Metrolink is among the few railroads expected to meet the deadline, according to a Government Accountability Office report. …. Amtrak expects to have PTC installed by the deadline along the Northeast Corridor — between Washington, D.C., and Boston — and on its line between New York and Harrisburg, Pa. The mandate is most expensive for freight railroads, which have tens of thousands of miles of track to include in their PTC systems. …. "There will be a transportation crisis in this country with severe economic consequences," warns Michael Melaniphy, president and CEO of the American Public Transportation Association. …. They want lawmakers to extend the deadline for up to five years. Melaniphy says if there's going to be an extension, it needs to be made before the end of October because railroads need about eight weeks for "an orderly shutdown, including public notification to customers and labor unions." …. The answer is that while the 2008 law requires the same thing of railroads, each line has different circumstances. "You cannot purchase PTC systems off the shelf at Best Buy," Melaniphy says. Some railroads had trouble even securing the radio frequency that allows all the parts of the PTC system to communicate. And then there are inevitable bugs to work out. …. But two years ago, Pennsylvania raised gas taxes to boost funding for transportation infrastructure. That helped alleviate the cost problem for SEPTA. "We had a good set of circumstances, a good plan, a good contractor and we retained our people," says Knueppel, referring to the fact that as railroads are working now to meet the PTC deadline, a generation of experienced workers across the industry is reaching retirement age.


Progressiverailroading --
The House of Representatives yesterday approved a three-week extension of surface transportation funding and a three-year extension of the deadline for railroads to implement positive train control (PTC) technology. The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015 (H.R. 3819) would extend the authorization for federal highway and transit programs through Nov. 20, and would prevent a shutdown of the U.S. rail system by extending the PTC deadline through 2018. …. . "Not only will railroads stop shipping important chemicals critical to manufacturing, agriculture, clean drinking water, and other industrial activities, but passenger and commuter rail transportation will virtually screech to a halt." …. "A PTC-related rail shutdown would pull $30 billion out of the economy in the first quarter and lead to 700,000 jobs lost in just one month," Shuster said. "It's our responsibility to extend this deadline now, and avoid shutting down much of our rail system."


SEPTA managed to pay for its PTA costs by raising gas taxes two years ago. I wonder if those who are very far behind have been controlled by Republicans and unwilling to raise taxes for any reason. Sometimes we have to raise taxes. As a society if we don’t do some expensive but highly advantageous or necessary things, we will fall behind economically and our daily lives will be unpleasant at the very least. I wouldn't like to go back to riding buses, for instance.

The article states that if there were a complete stoppage of train service that would cause a $30,000 drop in our economy in the first quarter alone and necessitate the loss of 700,000 jobs, i.e. Black Friday 1929. That’s the result of not making some much needed infrastructure changes. The Dems have been agitating for road and bridge repair for years now, but the "conservatives" put up barriers, except for their own local "pork barrel" projects, of course.

All nations depend on communication and transportation to keep up their internal trade and commercial activities. One of the articles above stated that massive traffic jams would occur, as everyone would revert to automobiles and transfer trucks to solve their problems. Some businesses would very likely go bankrupt, and people who use a commuter train to go back and forth from work would have to give up their jobs or move. There would, at the least, be much social disruption unless everyone can afford plane fare.

The October 28th article above states that the House has already passed a deadline extension to the law, but the Senate is still deliberating. For goodness sake, this is not a time to play politics. The extension must be passed through both houses by the end of the day. I wonder if they will argue all day and all night, and then rush it through at midnight as they usually do.





http://www.cbsnews.com/media/audacious-solutions-for-protecting-against-the-next-hurricane-sandy/

Audacious solutions for protecting against the next Hurricane Sandy
BRIAN MASTROIANNI CBS NEWS
October 30, 2015

104 PHOTOS -- Sandy: Before and after -- GOTO the website for photographs, as some of these suggestions are a little odd or hard to understand. Likewise, go to Google for more articles on the several methods given in this article. It gives me hope that Homeland Security and others have been working on the problems of Global Warming, even if they don't "believe" in it. Though they are highly political and given to a practical-minded lie or two, they are apparently sane.



A roller coaster is seen in the ocean in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in Seaside Heights, New Jersey November 11, 2012. REUTERS/ERIC THAYER.

Three years ago, Superstorm Sandy ravaged seaside communities along the East Coast.

New York City's metropolitan area was severely impacted due to flooding damage done to its tunnels and subway system. Along the coast, storm surges were 14 feet above the average low tide. Sandy led to 48 deaths in New York alone, according to statistics from the National Hurricane Center.

The threat posed by increased flooding from future Sandys is very real due to the effects of climate change. New York could experience 6 more feet in sea level rise by 2100, which could potentially submerge more than 90 square miles of the city under water, according to a 2015 report published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Major storms that once might have occurred every 500 years could soon happen every 25 years or so on the Atlantic coast.

In the face of rising sea levels and increased frequency of major storms, architects, scientists, and politicians are turning to creative protection solutions. Big waves call for big ideas.

"You can't just build on the risks we know about today, but also consider the risks that you can face over a lifetime and risks that extend farther out into the future," Joel Smith, an expert on climate change and a principal with Abt Associates, a consulting firm that aims to address social and environmental issues, told CBS News.

"It's about weighing the risk that you face, which you know about the likelihoods and outcomes, against the cost and feasibility of what you are trying to achieve."

Click through to see some of the most ambitious, promising projects for keeping future Sandys at bay.

The Big “U”

Photograph -- The Big "U" is a proposed 8-mile-long wall that would wrap around southern Manhattan, New York. REBUILD BY DESIGN/BIGU

Following Hurricane Sandy, Henk Ovink, the former director general of water planning in the Netherlands, joined the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, which was part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Through the task force, Ovink started "Rebuild by Design," a 2013 competition that sought out the most innovative solutions for rebuilding and fortifying the New York and New Jersey coasts.

Six winning proposals were chosen out of 148 submissions and one of the most striking was The Big "U," an 8-mile-long flood wall at the edges of the East and Hudson rivers that would wrap around the southern tip of Manhattan.

The low, wide wall would consist of three contiguous sections that extend out from the coastline and up onto the land. Each segment contains a separate flood protection zone, while along the top of the wall, landscaped parks and promenades would complement the feel of each neighborhood it runs through.

For instance, an area of Lower Manhattan south of the Manhattan Bridge, where the highway that runs along the island's East River rises as an overpass above some of the city's lowest lying neighborhoods, deployable flood walls would be affixed to the underside of the roadway, flipping down at the onset of a storm.


Maeslantkering

Photograph -- The Maeslantkering in the river Nieuwe Waterweg near Hoek van Holland, Netherlands, closes for the first time since it was built, 08 November 2007 due to high water levels in the North Sea and an expected storm. ED OUDENAARDE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Photograph -- 7822430.jpg, The Maeslantkering, a storm surge barrier between the towns of Hoek van Holland and Maassluis on the river Nieuwe Waterweg, is closed 09 November 2007 for the first time since it was built (1991), due to high water levels in the North Sea and an expected storm. ED OUDENAARDE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

A storm surge barrier in the Netherlands, the Maeslantkering is one of the largest moving structures on Earth.

It comprises hydraulic sea gates that each weigh twice as much as the Eiffel Tower. Construction of the barrier, which extends across about a 394-yard stretch of water from the Rhine to Rotterdam, began in 1991, and didn't open until 1997.

The barrier is operated by a computer system that analyzes sea level and weather data. When a storm surge above about 9.8 feet above sea level is expected, the barrier closes on its own.

The gates are like giant floating pontoon boats that fill up with water. When the weather calms down, water is pumped out.


Giant tunnel plug

Photograph -- This giant tunnel plug inflates to being about 32-feet-long by 16-feed-wide. It can hold up to 35,000 gallons of water. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE
Photograph -- tunnel-plug.png, The plug could be used in various cities with underground public transportation systems that run under or along large bodies of water. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE

One of the most lasting effects of the superstorm was the damage done to underground tunnels for cars and subways. A subway tunnel connecting downtown Manhattan to Brooklyn was ravaged by about 27 million gallons of salt water that rushed through it. It took 13 months of repairs, costing $250 million, before it opened again to riders.

Back in January 2012, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate tested out a plug. Unlike the one you would use to stop water in your bathtub, this one is a hollow sack that can be deployed in a tunnel to trap water as it enters. Made of a thick webbing of Vectran, a liquid-crystal polymer fiber, it stores flat and can fill up in minutes to seal off a section of tunnel. The plug can inflate to about 32 feet long by 16 feet wide and can store up to 35,0000 gallons of water.

"No one's ever done this before," Science and Technology Directorate Project Manager John Fortune said in a press release. "It's completely novel technology."

The technology could be useful in cities with underground public transportation systems that run under large bodies of water. If there's a major flood, the plug could issue from a wall compartment stopping the water from rushing through the tunnel. The device is still being tested.


Multipurpose marina

Photograph -- The Marina Barrage dam, foreground, stands in the Marina South area in this aerial photograph taken above Singapore, on Thursday, July 2, 2015. DARREN SOH, BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

Singapore's Marina Barrage opened in 2008 with much fanfare -- it was a costly project -- about $161 million in U.S. currency, adjusted for inflation -- that aimed to build a dam at the convergence of five separate rivers that would also become a major cultural attraction.

From above, its swirling design looks something like a green, grassy nautilus shell, curving inward. While its top surface is a city park, the barrage multi-tasks -- its main function is to keep the water at bay, protecting against flooding and the ever-encroaching threat of rising sea levels.

Another cool feature? When there's heavy rain during low tide, the reservoir's gates are lowered, releasing excess water back into the sea and, during high-tide, the gates stay open and drainage pumps churn excess water to the ocean.




“Three years ago, Superstorm Sandy ravaged seaside communities along the East Coast. New York City's metropolitan area was severely impacted due to flooding damage done to its tunnels and subway system. Along the coast, storm surges were 14 feet above the average low tide. Sandy led to 48 deaths in New York alone, according to statistics from the National Hurricane Center. …. New York could experience 6 more feet in sea level rise by 2100, which could potentially submerge more than 90 square miles of the city under water, according to a 2015 report published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Major storms that once might have occurred every 500 years could soon happen every 25 years or so on the Atlantic coast. …. "You can't just build on the risks we know about today, but also consider the risks that you can face over a lifetime and risks that extend farther out into the future," Joel Smith, an expert on climate change and a principal with Abt Associates, a consulting firm that aims to address social and environmental issues, told CBS News. …. The Big "U" is a proposed 8-mile-long wall that would wrap around southern Manhattan, New York. REBUILD BY DESIGN/BIGU -- Henk Ovink, the former director general of water planning in the Netherlands, joined the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, which was part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. …. The Big U -- The low, wide wall would consist of three contiguous sections that extend out from the coastline and up onto the land. Each segment contains a separate flood protection zone, while along the top of the wall, landscaped parks and promenades would complement the feel of each neighborhood it runs through. .… where the highway that runs along the island's East River rises as an overpass above some of the city's lowest lying neighborhoods, deployable flood walls would be affixed to the underside of the roadway, flipping down at the onset of a storm. …. A storm surge barrier in the Netherlands, the Maeslantkering is one of the largest moving structures on Earth. It comprises hydraulic sea gates that each weigh twice as much as the Eiffel Tower. Construction of the barrier, which extends across about a 394-yard stretch of water from the Rhine to Rotterdam, began in 1991, and didn't open until 1997. The barrier is operated by a computer system that analyzes sea level and weather data. When a storm surge above about 9.8 feet above sea level is expected, the barrier closes on its own. …. This giant tunnel plug inflates to being about 32-feet-long by 16-feed-wide. It can hold up to 35,000 gallons of water. …. Made of a thick webbing of Vectran, a liquid-crystal polymer fiber, it stores flat and can fill up in minutes to seal off a section of tunnel. …. The Marina Barrage dam, foreground, stands in the Marina South area in this aerial photograph taken above Singapore, on Thursday, July 2, 2015. …. it was a costly project -- about $161 million in U.S. currency, adjusted for inflation -- that aimed to build a dam at the convergence of five separate rivers that would also become a major cultural attraction.”

The Department of Homeland Security is the centerpiece of these innovative methods for stopping flood water at the shore, and both Singapore and the Netherlands are being studied for methodology. Hurricane Sandy was apparently the call to arms, and while the Republicans are still uninterested in reducing the CO2 emissions across the country, some very interesting methods are being explored. I suggest readers look each up on the Net for more information about how they work and how far work has progressed. It’s not a satisfactory solution, but it’s better than nothing. It is also a clear sign that whether or not man caused the climate changes, they are an acknowledged fact.





http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/before-osama-bin-laden-raid-obama-administration%e2%80%99s-secret-legal-deliberations/ar-BBmxmHu?li=AA54ur&ocid=iehp

Before Osama Bin Laden Raid, Obama Administration’s Secret Legal Deliberations
The New York Times
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
October 28, 2015


WASHINGTON — Weeks before President Obama ordered the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in May 2011, four administration lawyers hammered out rationales intended to overcome any legal obstacles — and made it all but inevitable that Navy SEALs would kill the fugitive Qaeda leader, not capture him.


Bin Laden is seen watching himself on television in this video grab released by the Pentagon in May 2011. Five videos were found in his compound.© Department of Defense, via Reuters Bin Laden is seen watching himself on television in this video grab released by the Pentagon in May 2011. Five videos were found in his compound.

Stretching sparse precedents, the lawyers worked in intense secrecy. Fearing leaks, the White House would not let them consult aides or even the administration’s top lawyer, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. They did their own research, wrote memos on highly secure laptops and traded drafts hand-delivered by trusted couriers.

Just days before the raid, the lawyers drafted five secret memos so that if pressed later, they could prove they were not inventing after-the-fact reasons for having blessed it. “We should memorialize our rationales because we may be called upon to explain our legal conclusions, particularly if the operation goes terribly badly,” said Stephen W. Preston, the C.I.A.’s general counsel, according to officials familiar with the internal deliberations.

While the Bin Laden operation has been much scrutinized, the story of how a tiny team of government lawyers helped shape and justify Mr. Obama’s high-stakes decision has not been previously told. The group worked as military and intelligence officials conducted a parallel effort to explore options and prepare members of SEAL Team 6 for the possible mission.

The legal analysis offered the administration wide flexibility to send ground forces onto Pakistani soil without the country’s consent, to explicitly authorize a lethal mission, to delay telling Congress until afterward, and to bury a wartime enemy at sea. By the end, one official said, the lawyers concluded that there was “clear and ample authority for the use of lethal force under U.S. and international law.”

Some legal scholars later raised objections, but criticism was muted after the successful operation. The administration lawyers, however, did not know at the time how events would play out, and they faced the “unenviable task” of “resolving a cluster of sensitive legal issues without any consultation with colleagues,” said Robert M. Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who worked on a Justice Department detainee policy task force in 2009.

“The proposed raid required answers to many hard legal questions, some of which were entirely novel despite a decade’s worth of conflict with Al Qaeda,” Mr. Chesney said.

This account of the role of the four lawyers — Mr. Preston; Mary B. DeRosa, the National Security Council’s legal adviser; Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel; and then-Rear Adm. James W. Crawford III, the Joint Chiefs of Staff legal adviser — is based on interviews with more than a half-dozen current and former administration officials who had direct knowledge of the planning for the raid. While outlines of some of the government’s rationales have been mentioned previously, the officials provided new insights and details about the analysis and decision-making process.

The officials described the secret legal deliberations and memos for a forthcoming book on national security legal policy under Mr. Obama. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential.

‘The Biggest Secret’

“I am about to read you into the biggest secret in Washington,” Michael G. Vickers, the under secretary of defense for intelligence, told Mr. Johnson.

It was March 24, 2011, about five weeks before the raid. Not long before, officials said, Mr. Preston and Ms. DeRosa had visited the Pentagon to meet with Mr. Johnson and Admiral Crawford, the nation’s two top military lawyers. The visitors posed what they said was a hypothetical question: “Suppose we found a very high-value target. What issues would be raised?”

One was where to take him if captured. Mr. Johnson said he would suggest the Guantánamo Bay prison, making an exception to Mr. Obama’s policy of not bringing new detainees there.

But the conversation was necessarily vague. The Pentagon lawyers needed to know the secret if they were going to help, Mr. Preston told Ms. DeRosa afterward.

By then, the two of them had known for over six months that the C.I.A. thought it might have found Bin Laden’s hiding place: a compound in Abbottabad, a military town in northeastern Pakistan. Policy makers initially focused on trying to get more intelligence about who was inside. By the spring of 2011, they turned to possible courses of action, raising legal issues; Thomas W. Donilon, national security adviser to Mr. Obama, then allowed the two military lawyers to be briefed.

One proposal Mr. Obama considered, as previously reported, was to destroy the compound with bombs capable of taking out any tunnels beneath. That would kill dozens of civilians in the neighborhood. But, the officials disclosed, the lawyers were prepared to deem significant collateral damage as lawful, given the circumstances. Still, the Obama team’s examination of the legal factors were intertwined with policy concerns about the wisdom of that option, Mr. Donilon said.

“Not only would there be noncombatants at the compound killed, there could be completely innocent people. That was a key factor in the decision” not to bomb it, he said, adding that the likely impossibility of verifying afterward that Bin Laden had been killed would have heightened controversy over bystander casualties. “All it would have bought us was a propaganda fight.”

Mr. Preston delivered a cabinet-level briefing on April 12, and as the National Security Council deliberated over that and two other options — a more surgical drone strike, which might miss, or a raid by American forces, which carried its own risks — a few other lawyers were eventually told the secret. But the White House kept senior lawyers at the Justice and State Departments in the dark.

On April 28, 2011, a week before the raid, Michael E. Leiter, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, proposed at least telling Mr. Holder. “I think the A.G. should be here, just to make sure,” Mr. Leiter told Ms. DeRosa.

But Mr. Donilon decided that there was no need for the attorney general to know. Mr. Holder was briefed the day before the raid, long after the legal questions had been resolved.

As they worked out their reasoning, the four lawyers conferred in secure conference calls and stopped by Ms. DeRosa’s office after unrelated meetings. They gave no hint to colleagues that anything was afoot. Then, as the possible date for a raid neared, Mr. Preston grew tense and proposed writing the memos.

Mr. Johnson wrote one on violating Pakistani sovereignty. When two countries are not at war, international law generally forbids one from using force on the other’s soil without consent. That appeared to require that the United States ask the Pakistani government to arrest Bin Laden itself or to authorize an American raid. But the administration feared that the Pakistani intelligence service might have sanctioned Bin Laden’s presence; if so, the reasoning went, asking for Pakistan’s help might enable his escape.

The lawyers decided that a unilateral military incursion would be lawful because of a disputed exception to sovereignty for situations in which a government is “unwilling or unable” to suppress a threat to others emanating from its soil.

Invoking this exception was a legal stretch, for two reasons. Many countries have not accepted its legitimacy. And there was no precedent for applying it to a situation in which the United States did not first ask Pakistan, which had helped with or granted consent for other counterterrorism operations. But given fears of a tip-off, the lawyers signed off on invoking the exception.

There was also a trump card. While the lawyers believed that Mr. Obama was bound to obey domestic law, they also believed he could decide to violate international law when authorizing a “covert” action, officials said.

If the SEALs got Bin Laden, the Obama administration would lift the secrecy and trumpet the accomplishment. But if it turned out that the founder and head of Al Qaeda was not there, some officials thought the SEALs might be able to slip back out, allowing the United States to pretend the raid never happened.

Mr. Preston wrote a memo addressing when the administration had to alert congressional leaders under a statute governing covert actions. Given the circumstances, the lawyers decided that the administration would be legally justified in delaying notification until after the raid. But then they learned that the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, had already briefed several top lawmakers about Abbottabad without White House permission.

The lawyers also grappled with whether it was lawful for the SEAL team to go in intending to kill Bin Laden as its default option. They agreed that it would be legal, in a memo written by Ms. DeRosa, and Mr. Obama later explicitly ordered a kill mission, officials said. The SEAL team expected to face resistance and would go in shooting, relying on the congressional authorization to use military force against perpetrators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The law of war required acceptance of any surrender offer that was feasible to accept, the lawyers cautioned. But they also knew that military rules of engagement in such a situation narrowly define what would count. They discussed possible situations in which it might still be lawful to shoot Bin Laden even if he appeared to be surrendering — for instance, if militants next to him were firing weapons, or if he could be concealing a suicide vest under his clothing, officials said.

Matt Bissonnette, one of the SEALs who participated in the raid, recalled in his 2012 memoir, “No Easy Day,” that during their preparations, a Washington lawyer told them, “If he is naked with his hands up, you’re not going to engage him.” Mr. Bissonnette and Robert O’Neill, who also joined in the raid, disagree about who fired the fatal shot at Bin Laden. But on a key point they concur: In Bin Laden’s final moments, he neither resisted nor surrendered.

Ms. DeRosa wrote a memo on plans for detaining Bin Laden in the event of his capture. But in a sign of how little expectation there was for his survival, the administration made no hard decisions. The plan was to take him to the brig of a naval ship for interrogation and then figure out how to proceed. The lawyers also considered writing a memo describing their earlier analysis about what to do with any other living prisoners taken out of the compound, but did not write it because the final plan did not call for the SEALs to leave with anyone else.

No Shrines

The final legal question had been whether the United States, to avoid creating a potential Islamist shrine, could bury Bin Laden at sea.

The Geneva Conventions call for burying enemies slain in battle, “if possible,” in accordance with their religion — which for Muslims means swift interment in soil, facing Mecca — and in marked graves. Still, some Islamic writings permit burial at sea during voyages. The burial memo, handled by Admiral Crawford, focused on that exception; ultimately, burial at sea is religiously acceptable if necessary, and is not a desecration, it said.

The lawyers decided that Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden’s home, must be asked whether it wanted his remains. If not, burial at sea would be permissible. As expected, the Saudis declined, officials said.

On Sunday, May 1, the day of the raid, Mr. Johnson rose early, planted impatiens in his yard, put on a sport coat and told his wife he had to go to the office. First, he took communion at his Episcopal church. Admiral Crawford attended Mass at his Catholic parish. He and Mr. Johnson converged at a Pentagon operations center.

Mr. Preston packed a toothbrush and a change of clothes so he could stay overnight at C.I.A. headquarters if the operation went awry. He joined Mr. Panetta in the director’s conference room, then doubling as a command center. Ms. DeRosa came to the White House.

As the SEALs arrived at the compound in Pakistan, Mr. Obama went into a small anteroom off the Situation Room to watch a live video feed. Most of his senior team followed him, as depicted in a famous photo. The four lawyers who had helped clear the way for the operation were not in the frame.

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“Weeks before President Obama ordered the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in May 2011, four administration lawyers hammered out rationales intended to overcome any legal obstacles — and made it all but inevitable that Navy SEALs would kill the fugitive Qaeda leader, not capture him. .… Stretching sparse precedents, the lawyers worked in intense secrecy. Fearing leaks, the White House would not let them consult aides or even the administration’s top lawyer, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. They did their own research, wrote memos on highly secure laptops and traded drafts hand-delivered by trusted couriers. …. The legal analysis offered the administration wide flexibility to send ground forces onto Pakistani soil without the country’s consent, to explicitly authorize a lethal mission, to delay telling Congress until afterward, and to bury a wartime enemy at sea. By the end, one official said, the lawyers concluded that there was “clear and ample authority for the use of lethal force under U.S. and international law.” …. But the administration feared that the Pakistani intelligence service might have sanctioned Bin Laden’s presence; if so, the reasoning went, asking for Pakistan’s help might enable his escape. The lawyers decided that a unilateral military incursion would be lawful because of a disputed exception to sovereignty for situations in which a government is “unwilling or unable” to suppress a threat to others emanating from its soil. .… There was also a trump card. While the lawyers believed that Mr. Obama was bound to obey domestic law, they also believed he could decide to violate international law when authorizing a “covert” action, officials said. …. Mr. Preston wrote a memo addressing when the administration had to alert congressional leaders under a statute governing covert actions. Given the circumstances, the lawyers decided that the administration would be legally justified in delaying notification until after the raid. But then they learned that the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, had already briefed several top lawmakers about Abbottabad without White House permission. …. The SEAL team expected to face resistance and would go in shooting, relying on the congressional authorization to use military force against perpetrators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. …. But on a key point they concur: In Bin Laden’s final moments, he neither resisted nor surrendered. …. Still, some Islamic writings permit burial at sea during voyages. The burial memo, handled by Admiral Crawford, focused on that exception; ultimately, burial at sea is religiously acceptable if necessary, and is not a desecration, it said.”

I was glad to see that the Obama Administration thoroughly researched the legal implications, because at the time I heard about it on the news I was worried about international implications to him or to the country. I think his decision to tell so few people, especially the Pakistanis, absolutely nothing about the upcoming raid until it was accomplished, because I have always thought they were helping Osama, or at least sanctioning his presence, in Pakistan. As for questions of sovereignty, with so many international terrorist groups operating in the Middle East who don’t follow a normal pattern in their warfare, as a simple practical matter we shouldn’t either. After all, the old story says that the Greeks loaded their soldiers into a huge hollow wooden horse that they gave to their enemies as a peace gesture and crept out under cover of darkness to slaughter their enemies. That wasn’t nice, but it was effective and intelligent. I think it’s better than stoning “criminals” to death for differing on matters of religion, like so many Islamic groups do. I will simply say that, while I was concerned about the way Osama was killed, I was very glad that he was dead. He wasn’t a legitimate head of state, but a mass murderer.

October 30, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-states-sends-special-forces-to-syria/

United States sending special forces to Syria
By STEPHANIE CONDON CBS NEWS
October 30, 2015

Play VIDEO -- John Kerry attempts to broker Syria ceasefire in Vienna talks
Play VIDEO -- Sec. of Defense: No timeline for defeating ISIS


The United States is sending a small number of special forces into Syria, expanding the United States' involvement in the fight against ISIS there from the air to the ground.

Less than 50 special operators will be based in Northern Syria, CBS News' Margaret Brennan confirmed Friday morning, to work with groups like Kurdish Peshmerga forces. While this puts boots on the ground, the U.S. does not consider this a combat deployment, the administration says.

"The mission hasn't changed," White House spokesman Josh Earnest insisted to reporters Friday afternoon. "The mission the president announced on September 10,2014 was the mission that the Department of Defense implemented... and that is the mission that remains in place today."

Rather, the addition of a few dozen ground troops in Syria will "further intensify" the elements of the United States' strategy that are working, Earnest said -- namely, assisting local fighters.

Aircraft continue to destroy ISIS targets every day in Iraq and Syria, but as CBS News' David Martin and Elizabeth Palmer reported on Thursday, the Obama administration is frustrated by the glacial rate of progress.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter earlier in the week told Congress about a revamped strategy to fight ISIS, which boils down to "the 'three R's' -- Raqqa, Ramadi and Raids." Specifically, the U.S. military will support Syrian opposition forces as they engage in more aggressive fighting in Raqqa, where ISIS has declared its capital in Syria. And the U.S.-led coalition is also supporting Iraq's security forces in Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province in western Iraq.

The revamped strategy also includes more robust air raids, at a time when Russia is also conducting airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. Carter also suggested stepped up "raids" could include supporting more on-the-ground missions.

"We won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL or conducting such missions directly," Carter told the Armed Services Committee. "Whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground."

Last week, Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler became the first American killed in action when he was mortally wounded in a raid on an ISIS prison. The United States' stepped-up strategy could increase the risk of American combat casualties.

A White House official stressed to CBS news that the administration has no intention of changing its broader counter ISIS mission to train, advise and assist local partners in the fight. Furthermore, the official said there is no intention of engaging in long-term, large-scale combat operations.

When President Obama announced his counter-ISIS strategy in September 2014, he assured the nation it would not include combat troops on the ground in the region.

"I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," Mr. Obama said. "It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground."

Mr. Obama did not announce the addition of ground troops in Syria himself on Friday because, Earnest said, "The fact is, our strategy in Syria hasn't changed."

"This is an intensification of a strategy the president announced more than a year ago," he reiterated. "These forces do not have a combat mission... This is not in any way an attempt to diminish the risk they will face or the bravery they will need to summon to carry out this mission... They are at risk, and there's no denying that. At the same time, the responsibilities they have there are different."

Earnest said for security reasons he could not elaborate on what the special forces will be doing in Syria.

In addition to sending a few dozen ground forces into Syria, President Obama has authorized a number of additional steps to fight ISIS, a senior administration official says. Those include deploying A-10s and F-15s to the Incirlik airbase in Turkey, consulting with the Iraqi government on the establishment of a Special Operations Force (SOF) task force to target ISIS leaders, and enhancing the United States' counter-ISIS military assistance to Jordan and Lebanon.

The senior administration official said that the White House has "always been clear that this would be a multi-year campaign, and that continues to be the case."

Furthermore, the official stressed that the United States' is not just responding militarily. The U.S. continues to lead a 65-partner coalition that is working to halt the flow of foreign fighters, constrict ISIS's finances, stabilize liberated communities, and counter ISIS's messaging.

This new step was coordinated with Secretary of State John Kerry's trip to Vienna, where he made a diplomatic push for peace in Syria, Margaret Brennan reports. With leaders from nearly 20 nations gathered in Vienna, the Qataris, Saudis and others were informed of the United States' ground presence. However, the Russians have already objected to American troops on Syrian soil without authorization from the Syrian government.

Russia and Iran are two of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's biggest supporters, and the Obama administration reluctantly agreed to bring the Iranians into the discussions for the first time. Both Iran and Russia agreed to go to Vienna to at least talk about a political transition to replace Assad, but there are serious disagreements about when would leave power and whether it would work to the advantage of ISIS if he left too quickly.




“Less than 50 special operators will be based in Northern Syria, CBS News' Margaret Brennan confirmed Friday morning, to work with groups like Kurdish Peshmerga forces. While this puts boots on the ground, the U.S. does not consider this a combat deployment, the administration says. "The mission hasn't changed," White House spokesman Josh Earnest insisted to reporters Friday afternoon. "The mission the president announced on September 10,2014 was the mission that the Department of Defense implemented... and that is the mission that remains in place today." …. Aircraft continue to destroy ISIS targets every day in Iraq and Syria, but as CBS News' David Martin and Elizabeth Palmer reported on Thursday, the Obama administration is frustrated by the glacial rate of progress. Defense Secretary Ash Carter earlier in the week told Congress about a revamped strategy to fight ISIS, which boils down to "the 'three R's' -- Raqqa, Ramadi and Raids." Specifically, the U.S. military will support Syrian opposition forces as they engage in more aggressive fighting in Raqqa, where ISIS has declared its capital in Syria. And the U.S.-led coalition is also supporting Iraq's security forces in Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province in western Iraq. …. "We won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL or conducting such missions directly," Carter told the Armed Services Committee. "Whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground." …. They are at risk, and there's no denying that. At the same time, the responsibilities they have there are different." Earnest said for security reasons he could not elaborate on what the special forces will be doing in Syria. In addition to sending a few dozen ground forces into Syria, President Obama has authorized a number of additional steps to fight ISIS, a senior administration official says. Those include deploying A-10s and F-15s to the Incirlik airbase in Turkey, consulting with the Iraqi government on the establishment of a Special Operations Force (SOF) task force to target ISIS leaders, and enhancing the United States' counter-ISIS military assistance to Jordan and Lebanon.”


“Mr. Obama did not announce the addition of ground troops in Syria himself on Friday because, Earnest said, "The fact is, our strategy in Syria hasn't changed." Yeah, Right! No, it clearly has changed, and it’s high time. Fighting ISIS is much more like fighting Hitler than like displacing Saddam Hussein just because G W Bush said that he had “tried to kill my Daddy.” Iraq imploded as a result, and ISIS exploded! That was bad strategy. Failing to get rid of ISIS will be worse strategy, however. That group will become a true danger to all Western areas, or at any rate it has stated that as their goal. Putin said he wants to kill them before they get to Russia, and we are all in the same situation. Failing to acknowledge it will merely make it worse. So this move to send in some specialized troops to assist the Kurds, and of course the anti-Assad forces as well, is much needed in my view; this is a matter of tit for tat in regard to the Russians, but they do seem to have settled in with an aim of establishing a permanent and more overt presence in the Middle East and Europe. We need to do some pushing back against Putin, because he just gets more aggressive if we don’t. In the ‘50s, and following, I got very tired of the Cold War, but there is a basic competition between “them and us,” which will not entirely go away just because we want it to. Same with China, also. It would be nice if we would set up an active network of positive relations between the various groups to counteract the building fear and hostility. We were cooperating very nicely for 20 or 30 years there, and I think we should make serious efforts toward that again. Who will we partner in the space programs, if not for Russia? We must remember that the Third World War may very possibly be a nuclear war, and mankind can literally be driven down to a lower cultural level or even exterminated. Are you ready for the New Dark Ages?





http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/10/30/453166981/rnc-suspends-nbc-debate-partnership-citing-cnbcs-gotcha-questions

RNC Suspends Debate With NBC, Citing CNBC 'Gotcha' Questions
Amita Kelly
OCTOBER 30, 2015

Photograph -- CNBC debate moderators (left-right) Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood were widely panned for their questions. The RNC is the latest critic, calling them "inaccurate or downright offensive."
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

The Republican National Committee says it will suspend a debate partnership with NBC News, citing "inaccurate or downright offensive" questions during Wednesday night's debate on CNBC.

"We simply cannot continue with NBC without full consultation with our campaigns," RNC Chair Reince Priebus wrote in a letter to NBC Chairman Andrew Lack.

An NBC News debate was scheduled to take place on February 26, 2016 at the University of Houston, and was to be cosponsored by National Review and Telemundo. It's is the only GOP debate scheduled with a Spanish-language media cosponsor, which could invite backlash as the party has struggled to improve its relationship with Latinos. The RNC said it still plans to hold a debate on that day and will include National Review; it did not specifically address Telemundo, which is also owned by NBC Universal.

Priebus' letter continued:

"While debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates' visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC's moderators engaged in a series of "gotcha" questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates. What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates' policies and ideas."

CNBC is owned by NBC Universal, as is NBC News, but the networks have separate editorial operations and are headquartered in separate locations. The RNC acknowledged that NBC News does not control CNBC, but said "the network is an arm of your organization, and we need to ensure there is not a repeat performance."

NBC News said it would work "in good faith" to resolve the situation:

"This is a disappointing development. However, along with our debate broadcast partners at Telemundo we will work in good faith to resolve this matter with the Republican Party."

Priebus wrote the RNC will suspend the partnership "pending further discussion between the [RNC] and our presidential campaigns."

Several of those campaigns are scheduled to meet on Saturday, reportedly without the RNC, to discuss the debate process and how they could have more control over it. Politico reported that the meeting was organized by advisers to the Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal and Lindsey Graham campaigns.




‘It's is the only GOP debate scheduled with a Spanish-language media cosponsor, which could invite backlash as the party has struggled to improve its relationship with Latinos. The RNC said it still plans to hold a debate on that day and will include National Review; it did not specifically address Telemundo, which is also owned by NBC Universal. …. "While debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates' visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC's moderators engaged in a series of "gotcha" questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates. …. NBC News said it would work "in good faith" to resolve the situation: "This is a disappointing development. However, along with our debate broadcast partners at Telemundo we will work in good faith to resolve this matter with the Republican Party."


"We simply cannot continue with NBC without full consultation with our campaigns," RNC Chair Reince Priebus wrote in a letter to NBC Chairman Andrew Lack.” That sounds as if they don’t get to approve the questions ahead of time, they won’t play. I don’t know which questions they considered “offensive,” but some highly combative questions and statements are made every time politicians go head to head. That’s the nature of the game, and it is a game. They’ve pulled more “dirty tricks” in the game down through the years than the Democrats, just as a matter of course, so I can’t believe they are “whining” like this. I usually end up feeling that the Dems haven’t hit them hard enough rather than being “too rough.” Just listen to Donald Trump and some of the FOX crowd. See the article below on Carson’s view of “gotcha questions.”



http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/10/29/ben-carson-wants-format-changes-after-gotcha-debate/

Ben Carson Wants Debate Changes, Citing ‘Gotcha’ Questions
WASHINGTON WIRE
By Janet Hook
Oct 29, 2015

Video: GOP Debate Theme: Candidates Attack Media


LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Ben Carson, angered by the tone of Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate in Boulder, said Thursday he is reaching out to other candidates to seek a change of format in future debates.

Mr. Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who has risen to the top of many GOP polls in recent weeks, objected to what he called “gotcha” questions from moderators, echoing complaints made in the course of the debate by Sen. Ted Cruz and other candidates.

“Debates are supposed to be established to help the people know the candidates… what their philosophy is,” Mr. Carson told reporters before a morning appearance at Colorado Christian University. “What it’s turned into is a ‘gotcha’ opportunity to cast candidates in a negative light.

“That’s silly. That’s not really helpful.”

The debate at the University of Colorado, sponsored by CNBC, at times lapsed into a shouting match among candidates and between the candidates and the moderators. Responding to questions pressing candidates to respond to criticisms of them or inviting them to comment on their competitors, the candidates frequently bridled and sidestepped questions to deliver their stump speeches.

The GOP audience often reacted in support of candidates’ complaints, booing questions they considered unfairly laden with negative presuppositions. Mr. Cruz lashed out against the tone by saying, “The questions asked so far in this debate illustrate why Americans don’t trust the media… this is not a cage match.”

Responding to complaints about the debate, a CNBC spokesman responded Wednesday night, “People who want to be president of the United States should be able to answer tough questions.”

Candidates had already begun bridling at debate format after the second event last month. In advance of the CNBC debate Mr. Carson, Donald Trump and other candidates demanded that they be allowed to make opening statements and that the debate not run three hours, as the second debate in Simi Valley, Calif., had.

Mr. Carson said, in a press conference before addressing an audience of more than 1,500 on campus here, said he had asked his staff to contact all other candidates, saying he would rather have a format that gave candidates more of an “opportunity to be able to lay our your plan for something, then be questioned about it.”

He said he hoped the debate would turn into “a very important moment in American politics. It so clearly demonstrates the need for a change in format.”

He stopped short of threatening to boycott future debates if they are not changed to his liking.

“We will always have the conversation first,” he said. “I don’t see any reason whatever right now to be posturing.

The next GOP candidate debate is scheduled to be held Nov. 10 in Milwaukee, sponsored by The Wall Street Journal and Fox Business News.

More From the Debate

Noisy GOP Debate Leaves Republican Race Unsettled

Candidates Fight to Stand Out

Bush-Rubio Fight Breaks Into Open



http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/10/rnc-disinvites-nbc-from-future-debate.html

GOP Suspends NBC Debate Because Questions Might Be Too Hard
By Jaime Fuller
October 30, 2015


A few days after the CNBC presidential debate — which the GOP campaigns called "horrendous," "stupid," and "ridiculous" — the Republican National Committee has decided to suspend its plans to let NBC News host a debate on February 26.

"The CNBC network is one of your media properties, and its handling of the debate was conducted in bad faith," RNC chair Reince Priebus wrote in a letter to NBC and Telemundo. "We understand that NBC does not exercise full editorial control over CNBC’s journalistic approach. However, the network is an arm of your organization, and we need to ensure there is not a repeat performance." National Review was scheduled to co-host the debate; the RNC plans on continuing to work with the conservative magazine. NBC released a statement saying it would "work in good faith to resolve this matter with the Republican Party."

What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates’ policies and ideas."

He did not add that the American people would have also gained a fuller portrait of the candidates' ideas if they had not evaded, ignored, or lied in response to many of the actual policy questions they were asked, and he didn't note that the idea that a "gotcha" question includes the entire universe of queries that could point out the weaknesses of a campaign is a disputed one. He also did not explain whether the fact that his party's candidates were not able to correctly answer the first question of the debate — What is your biggest weakness? — disqualified them from being able to complain about debate etiquette.

This isn't the first time a party has broken up with a network before a debate; in 2007, the Nevada Democratic Party canceled a Fox News presidential debate after Roger Ailes made a joke about Obama and Osama bin Laden.

This is also not the first time that candidates have complained about moderators asking questions they'd rather not have to answer. When candidates feel like they did lousy, it's much easier to blame the media than yourself — and given the general public's feelings on the press, it's usually the easiest, "Hey, look over there!" con to get away with.

Ben Carson and Donald Trump, neither of whom have much policy experience, have bugged networks about having more time to give opening statements — or, rather, a chance to regurgitate the same positive promises to make everything great and beautiful without explaining the places where reality might limit their ambition. Helping voters learn where campaign promises don't make sense or how a candidate could fail is one of the responsibilities for a moderator — and since candidates have no interest in revealing these things, it leaves both at an impasse, complaining about each other until the end of time.

Even when candidates start to drop out at a quicker pace — getting rid of the complaints about speaking time and holding a separate forum for those low in the polls — candidates still aren't going to like answering hard questions or ones that don't make them look good, despite desperately wanting a job where they will have to answer a ridiculous number of difficult questions on a daily basis, and breaking up with certain news organizations isn't going to make them go away.




“The debate at the University of Colorado, sponsored by CNBC, at times lapsed into a shouting match among candidates and between the candidates and the moderators. Responding to questions pressing candidates to respond to criticisms of them or inviting them to comment on their competitors, the candidates frequently bridled and sidestepped questions to deliver their stump speeches. …. In advance of the CNBC debate Mr. Carson, Donald Trump and other candidates demanded that they be allowed to make opening statements and that the debate not run three hours, as the second debate in Simi Valley, Calif., had. …. saying he would rather have a format that gave candidates more of an “opportunity to be able to lay out your plan for something, then be questioned about it.” He said he hoped the debate would turn into “a very important moment in American politics. It so clearly demonstrates the need for a change in format.” He stopped short of threatening to boycott future debates if they are not changed to his liking.”

I had hoped that one of these articles would name some of the “offensive” questions. Personally, I have always considered “What is your greatest weakness,” to be highly offensive when I’ve had it on job interviews. I read an article on such matters, and the writer stated that his answer to that question is always, “I’m too honest.” It is true, of course that some honesty has to be sacrificed in getting along peacefully with others, especially bosses.

Several of the candidates wanted more time to make a straightforward statement; and after all, a lawyer always get an opening and closing statement. I think that is a reasonable desire, though they shouldn’t spend more than maybe 5 minutes on such statements. It gets boring fast, and takes up time that is assigned to other candidates. It’s not, after all, supposed to be a political speech. It’s a study in contrasts at its best, in my opinion.

I noted that some of the candidates are described as being “noisy” and entering into combative behavior – “more heat than light,” as some folks like to say. If that were really a fair criticism rather than a part of the human norm when comparing political viewpoints, there would be no debates at all for fear of being seen as overly aggressive, and I would miss them. Speeches are good, position papers are good, but a certain amount of disputation in important issues is necessary. That’s what I like about Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. What the Republicans tend to criticize Obama for is being too gentle as he makes his comments. When he raises his voice slightly the press calls him “angry.” They just want to criticize him no matter what he does. I’ll bet he’s sitting back watching this upset among barnyard hens right now, enjoying the fact that he doesn’t have to run again.




CRIMINAL JUSTICE -- THREE ARTICLES


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/6000-prisoners-released-early-under-new-federal-rules/

6,000 prisoners being released early under new federal rules
CBS NEWS
October 30, 2015


More than 6,000 prisoners will be released into their communities over the next several days as part of the federal government's retroactive sentencing reductions for nonviolent drug offenders, CBS News correspondent Paula Reid reports.

Under the program, about 50,000 prisoners serving time for low-level offenses are eligible for a sentence reduction and early release. The federal sentencing reductions officially went into effect Friday.

Of the 6,122 inmates currently being released, 1,764 are non-citizens who will be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible deportation.

The average prison sentence of inmates getting a reduction is 10.5 years, Reid reports. The average sentence reduction is 2 years and 77 percent of the inmates being released into communities are already in half-way houses or home confinement.

Up to 40,000 more prisoners may be eligible for early release under this program.

Announcing the new rules last year, then-Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department supported a "balanced approach" to reduce sentences for certain inmates.

"This is a milestone in the effort to make more efficient use of our law enforcement resources and to ease the burden on our overcrowded prison system," Holder said at the time.

In July, the White House announce that President Obama had commuted the prison sentences of 46 nonviolent drug offenders.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/clinton-proposing-criminal-justice-system-reforms/

Clinton proposing criminal justice system reforms
By HANNAH FRASER-CHANPONG CBS NEWS
October 30, 2015

Photograph -- Hillary Clinton listening to question from audience at campaign town hall meeting in Keene, New Hampshire on October 16, 2015 REUTERS


BOSTON -- Hillary Clinton will roll out two proposals to reform the criminal justice system Friday in Atlanta, where she is set to launch "African Americans for Hillary" with two campaign events.

According to a campaign aide, Clinton will first propose setting equal sentencing rules for crack and powder cocaine offenses.

Under the Fair Sentencing Act, passed in 2010, the amounts of crack cocaine and powder cocaine that trigger the same mandatory minimum sentences are very different. According to the Justice Department, an offender trafficking 18 times as much powder cocaine as one trafficking crack cocaine would receive the same five- and 10-year mandatory minimum prison terms.

Clinton will say Friday the disparity is based on faulty assumptions about cocaine, and disproportionately affects the African American community.

Second, Clinton will say that, as president, she would support legislation to ban racial profiling by law enforcement officials at the federal, state and local levels.

Clinton laid out her broad agenda for criminal justice reform in one of the first major speeches of her campaign, in April at Columbia University in New York, where she promised to "end the era of mass incarceration." In her remarks, Clinton also called for nationwide use of body cameras by police departments.

She is often asked about her proposals on the campaign trail.

On Thursday, while campaigning in New Hampshire, Clinton said she wants to "revisit" sentencing rules for low-level offenders and offenders who face addiction.

"We need to figure out how to have more diversionary programs for those who deserve it," Clinton said, "and we have to have more supportive services."

Clinton will make additional criminal justice system reform proposals in coming days, according to the aide.



6000 – “More than 6,000 prisoners will be released into their communities over the next several days as part of the federal government's retroactive sentencing reductions for nonviolent drug offenders, CBS News correspondent Paula Reid reports. Under the program, about 50,000 prisoners serving time for low-level offenses are eligible for a sentence reduction and early release. The federal sentencing reductions officially went into effect Friday. …. The average prison sentence of inmates getting a reduction is 10.5 years, Reid reports. The average sentence reduction is 2 years and 77 percent of the inmates being released into communities are already in half-way houses or home confinement. Up to 40,000 more prisoners may be eligible for early release under this program. …. "This is a milestone in the effort to make more efficient use of our law enforcement resources and to ease the burden on our overcrowded prison system," Holder said at the time.”

Holder praises it for its’ “efficiency,” but to me it’s a sign that a true and ongoing situation of unfairness has been occurring for a long time in this country, and I feel fairly sure that many of those overcharged prisoners were black or Hispanic. It was during Bill Clinton’s presidency that the “three strikes” rule went through, and I wish that Clinton had refused to sign it. Some of the people caught in that one simply hadn’t committed a really severe crime, and yet even now rapists are getting out in a few years’ time as though they were all “just good old boys having fun.” Whatever the reason, I am glad that more people will get out and try to make a life for themselves again. I hope that they will all get some mental health support, job training, etc. It’s hard to start over when the community at large tends to judge them harshly, adding to their burdens. Thank goodness for halfway houses.

HILLARY – “According to a campaign aide, Clinton will first propose setting equal sentencing rules for crack and powder cocaine offenses. Under the Fair Sentencing Act, passed in 2010, the amounts of crack cocaine and powder cocaine that trigger the same mandatory minimum sentences are very different. …. Second, Clinton will say that, as president, she would support legislation to ban racial profiling by law enforcement officials at the federal, state and local levels. Clinton laid out her broad agenda for criminal justice reform in one of the first major speeches of her campaign, in April at Columbia University in New York, where she promised to "end the era of mass incarceration." In her remarks, Clinton also called for nationwide use of body cameras by police departments. …. "We need to figure out how to have more diversionary programs for those who deserve it," Clinton said, "and we have to have more supportive services." Clinton will make additional criminal justice system reform proposals in coming days, according to the aide.”

I’m glad to see Hillary coming out strongly on Justice issues, because we have gradually decreased the fairness of our treatment of criminals, with less and less emphasis on REHABILITATION rather than merely punishment. That was made policy under Richard Nixon’s Law and Order campaign, and has remained the hue and cry of the Rightist factors in our country. They have become worse and worse as time goes by. They know nothing but anger, or so it seems, and I hope Hillary can do some concrete things to improve the situation. It is especially a problem that the racial profiling has too often ended in policemen rounding up “the usual suspects” with the result that they are often black. As many white men are violent and dangerous as are blacks.

I understand that police are under pressure from the public to arrest somebody for heinous crimes, but they still shouldn’t take the intellectual shortcut of grabbing a convenient black man who looks like a tough guy without any real proof of his guilt. It’s laziness, as often as not. The same goes for browbeating them physically or mentally to force a “confession” that is nothing more than a lie made because the pressure from cops was too extreme. There is a certain kind of person who will simply cave in under pressure and will say anything to get the harassment over and done. The more people like that who can be kept out of the prison system, the better.





http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/10/30/452910812/what-if-every-high-school-had-a-justice-program-instead-of-a-cop

What If Every High School Had A 'Justice Program' Instead Of A Cop?
Eric Westervelt, Education Correspondent
OCTOBER 30, 2015

This week's viral videos of a Columbia, S.C., deputy's push-the-chair-over-and-drag-the-student arrest of a 16-year-old high school girl in her classroom has refocused attention on the expanding role of police in schools, "zero tolerance" discipline policies and the disproportionate punishment of minorities. The student in the case was African-American and the deputy, Ben Fields, is white.

The Richland County sheriff, Leon Lott, fired Fields on Wednesday. Witnesses say the student was disruptive and refused to leave the classroom. "What she did doesn't justify what our deputy did," Lott said. "He should not have thrown the student."

An attorney for Fields has said the deputy's actions were "justified and lawful."

NPR Ed has done lots of reporting on the racial gap in school discipline, including stories here, here and here. We've also written extensively about alternative discipline policies in schools. NPR's Code Switch team has also covered the topic.

We've also reported on the growing number of alternatives that seek to move school discipline away from approaches centered on punishment and law enforcement. As my earlier visit to an Oakland, Calif., middle school shows, district programs that bring students, teachers and parents together to talk through discipline problems offer one such alternative. These "restorative justice" programs — when done right — can often work wonders.



“This week's viral videos of a Columbia, S.C., deputy's push-the-chair-over-and-drag-the-student arrest of a 16-year-old high school girl in her classroom has refocused attention on the expanding role of police in schools, "zero tolerance" discipline policies and the disproportionate punishment of minorities. …. The Richland County sheriff, Leon Lott, fired Fields on Wednesday. Witnesses say the student was disruptive and refused to leave the classroom. "What she did doesn't justify what our deputy did," Lott said. "He should not have thrown the student." …. We've also reported on the growing number of alternatives that seek to move school discipline away from approaches centered on punishment and law enforcement. As my earlier visit to an Oakland, Calif., middle school shows, district programs that bring students, teachers and parents together to talk through discipline problems offer one such alternative. These "restorative justice" programs — when done right — can often work wonders.

In my opinion, there shouldn’t be police officers in schools at all, and above all they shouldn’t be administering “discipline.” That’s the job of the teacher and principal and perhaps some mental health counsellors. Why not employ them in the school system rather than police? Let’s face it, police very rarely have any of the qualifications needed for them to be effective in dealing with students. Throwing that girl around like he did was senseless and vicious. Maybe he is non compos mentis in addition.

The following article on the concept of “restorative justice” makes much more sense than an armed, bored and dangerous cop. It looks to me like another form of group therapy, and such things can produce real emotional and mental changes in students who have begun to “go astray.” Beating them up is a lot less effective than convincing them to try to do better. Group therapy is a very good tool. One of the problems those kids have is that they don’t stop and think about what their impulses are telling them to do, and they get involved in a negative way with school authorities. The 2014 article below by the same article is very impressive. I would like to see this employed in all schools, and why not in prisons and jails also, while we’re at it?



Westervelt’s 2014 Story On Restorative Justice:

An Alternative To Suspension And Expulsion: 'Circle Up!'

Photograph -- A restorative justice circle at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland, Calif., Sam Pasarow/Edna Brewer Middle School
Photograph -- The circle sessions are designed to resolve conflicts and build school community, Sam Pasarow, Edna Brewer Middle School

One by one, in a room just off the gym floor at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland, Calif., seventh-graders go on the interview hot seat.

Some 80 students have applied to be "peer leaders" in the school's new, alternative discipline program called "restorative justice."

Kyle McClerkins, the program's director, grills them on aspects of adolescent life: "What is the biggest challenge for middle school girls? What has changed about you from sixth grade to now?"

'Restorative Justice' A New Approach To Discipline At School

This school and the Oakland Unified School District are at the forefront of a new approach to school misconduct and discipline. Instead of suspending or expelling students who get into fights or act out, restorative justice seeks to resolve conflicts and build school community through talking and group dialogue.

Its proponents say it could be an answer to the cycle of disruption and suspension, especially in minority communities where expulsion rates are higher than in predominantly white schools.

Oakland Unified, one of California's largest districts, has been a national leader in expanding restorative justice. The district is one-third African-American and more than 70 percent low-income. The program was expanded after a federal civil rights agreement in 2012 to reduce school discipline inequity for African-American students.

At Edna Brewer Middle School, the fact that students are taking the lead — that so many want to be part of this effort — shows that it's starting to take root.

"Instead of throwing a punch, they're asking for a circle, they're backing off and asking to mediate it peacefully with words," says Ta-Biti Gibson, the school's restorative justice co-director. "And that's a great thing."

Last school year — the program's first year — Gibson says, kids weren't ready to talk things out. "Last year there was a lot of different conflicts, a lot of fights."

This year, he says, they're more willing to "circle up."

The school tried this alternative discipline approach a few years ago. But problems with teacher buy-in, training and turnover killed it before it got off the ground.

And it's still a big work in progress, says Principal Sam Pasarow. "I believe our staff is struggling with restorative justice because they might feel at times a consequence didn't come down on a student when it should have."

A jury of 9th-graders is sworn in at a "teen court" session in Michigan.
NPR ED
New Approaches To Discipline Strive To Keep Kids Out Of Jail

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, right, and Attorney General Eric Holder, appeared at a Washington, D.C., elementary school and said schools need to reduce "unnecessary and unfair school discipline practices and other barriers to equity and opportunity at all levels of education."
CODE SWITCH

Black Preschoolers Far More Likely To Be Suspended
Districtwide, Oakland says the approach is working. The district says new, as-yet unpublished research shows the percentage of students suspended at schools that have fully adopted the program has dropped by half, from 34 percent in 2011-12 to just 14 percent in the following two years.

They say the data show chronic absence is down dramatically and graduation rates are up at restorative-justice schools, and that at two sites last year the disproportionate discipline of African-American students was eliminated.

Several other urban districts are trying some version of the approach, among them: Chicago; Minneapolis; Palm Beach County, Fla.; and Denver.

But there is no real agreement, yet, on how best to implement these kinds of programs, says Trevor Fronius, who's researching the trend with WestEd, a national nonprofit education research and development agency.

Objects that represent concepts and ideas are placed on a mat in the middle of the circle.

Sam Pasarow, Edna Brewer Middle School:
"Most programs involve dialogue and some form of talking circle," he says. "But there are a wide variety of types, and there's no consensus yet on best practices."

Fronius adds that it's not clear that anyone is tracking just how many U.S. school districts are doing restorative justice "in a serious way."

Teacher Concerns

At Edna Brewer, Principal Pasarow says he's trying to work with the handful of remaining teachers who have yet to embrace the approach: those who think it's not their job to lead talking circles when kids misbehave.

Some teachers, he says, have told him, "I don't know how to teach circle, and I don't know how to have deep conversations about my feelings and emotions with students." Pasarow says he understands the concern and thinks it's a valid one, but he points out that the program "is not group therapy; it's community-building."

But some critics say it is pretty close to group therapy, and they worry that some kids might think they can rig the system and get away with behaving badly if they talk about their feelings.

Teachers "have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable" to make it work, McClerkins says.

Students here say the "harm circle" talks do come with consequences — that's the restorative part — including school community service, apologies, public acknowledgement of their bad behavior and more.

At lunchtime, I asked some students if they'd seen any difference this year in terms of school culture, discipline and community.

"They're not as judgmental," 13-year-old Kweko Power says of her classmates.

Her friend Eva Jones, 12, agrees. She says there have been fewer hurtful rumors and fights, and there has been less gossip. "It seems easier now to, like, make friends with people, because people are less angry and defensive. It's just way easier," she says.

Last year, "there was, like, a lot of fights — like, every other week there was a fight. And now there's, like, a fight once per year. "

Well ... not quite.

About a half-hour later, I hear some yelling. In the gym, pushing and verbal sparring has descended into a full-blown fistfight between a seventh-grade boy and an eighth-grade girl.

The program's director, McClerkins, has pinned the boy to the gym floor.

Students congregate outside at Edna Brewer Middle School. The hope of restorative justice is that dialogue builds trust and community and reduces the need for suspensions and expulsions.i
Students congregate outside at Edna Brewer Middle School. The hope of restorative justice is that dialogue builds trust and community and reduces the need for suspensions and expulsions.
Courtesy of Terri Phelan
After the students are pulled apart and people calm down, the restorative justice process kicks in.

Encouraging Dialogue

After a weekend "cooling off" time, the school schedules what they call a "harm circle." Both of the students — the eighth-grader, Briona, and the seventh-grader, Rodney — must attend. The school has asked us not to use their full names.

At first blush, the circle session looks a little California flaky: teachers, parents and the students sit in a circle of desks. On a small stand in the middle sit a rock, feather, candle and water jar — representing earth, air, fire and water.

Rodney's mom, Tozma, sets the tone early on.

"I be worried about Rodney," she tells the group. "He's tall for his age, and a lot of stuff happens to black boys. And I try to get that across to him."

Tozma is raising her son on her own, and tells the circle that she's deeply worried about where he's headed. He has an anger problem, she says, and she's tried to get him counseling.

"Talk to Rodney like he your own son," she says. "I'm not the kind of parent who's gonna argue with you about chastising my son, because I want him to be here. I don't want him to be in jail."

Then Briona's mom, Marshae, looks at Rodney and, with a mix of gentle reprimand and warning, talks about her own son.

"He used to go to counseling and they'd say, 'Oh, he's angry.' But he knew you don't hit a female." Her son was an athlete in track and football, but now, "he's in jail," she says. "He just turned 18 in jail. You don't want to go there," Marshae says.

This kind of communication is central to alternative discipline. Here are two mothers sharing fear and worry about raising kids through hard times in a tough neighborhood.

It's not a he said/she said breakdown of a fight. The hope is that dialogue builds trust and community and reduces the need for suspensions and expulsions.

McClerkins tells the students, who are both African-American, "you already have a lot against you and it has nothing to do with what you've done good or bad. There is wisdom in this circle that can help you navigate this. Stay close to it as you get older, and listen. Really listen."

Eventually, the circle does get around to the fight on Friday and who did what.

Rodney shows some remorse with a whispered apology. But his mom is not satisfied and wants to know what's going to change.

"What do you plan on doing to make sure these kinds of incidents don't happen again?" she asks.

Rodney pauses. He thinks for a moment and answers in a quiet voice. "Like, I don't play with people and stuff, I won't horseplay and stuff like that."

Then Briona admits she helped instigate by yanking his backpack and teasing.

The school's restorative justice co-director, Ta-Biti Gibson, reminds Briona, who runs track, how much she has improved this year in sports and in class. "I think about your future," he says, "I talk with you about college."

Her mother tells her to "really learn from this" and "pick your battles."

It's agreed as a group that the two students will have to write and post anti-bullying posters and do after-school service. And they'll have to do joint morning announcements offering tips on how students can get along better.

Rodney's mom ends the meeting by thanking the group. "He really don't have a man voice at home," she says, "so I appreciate everybody. And just keep working with my child."

Rodney responds, too. "I appreciate my mom for not giving up on me."

As the circle breaks up, Briona's father, Al, tells Rodney: "I can tell your mom will never give up on you."




“At lunchtime, I asked some students if they'd seen any difference this year in terms of school culture, discipline and community. "They're not as judgmental," 13-year-old Kweko Power says of her classmates. Her friend Eva Jones, 12, agrees. She says there have been fewer hurtful rumors and fights, and there has been less gossip. "It seems easier now to, like, make friends with people, because people are less angry and defensive. It's just way easier," she says.” It’s amazing how many of the school behavior problems are being “cured” by this rational and gentle approach, and the general hostility that too often occurs is being eased.

This is praise enough, to me, though it comes from a 13 year old and not from a college professor. I am impressed by this technique. It gives me hope for the schools. I hope it will be adopted as a technique across the country. Of course there were those hold outs mentioned by the principal who didn’t think it was “their job” to learn how to lead groups if they don’t already know how. I do believe it is very much “their job” to deal with these students as WELL as possible. If they need to learn some counselling skills, I think it’s time they be required to develop some interpersonal relations, which is what this technique actually is.

October 29, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jared-fogle-former-subway-spokesman-secret-recordings-child-porn-to-be-revealed-on-dr-phil/

Jared Fogle reveals how he lured kids in secret recordings
CBS NEWS
October 29, 2015


New evidence that led investigators to the arrest of former Subway Spokesman Jared Fogle is surfacing, and they're in his own words.

Fogle was indicted on child porn and child sex charges in August. He has accepted a plea deal and is awaiting sentencing.

Fogle was secretly recorded by a woman who had befriended him and then became an FBI informant, reports Vladimir Duthiers of CBS News's digital network, CBSN.

The Daytime talk show "Dr.Phil" obtained the recordings and will air them Thursday. CBS News independently verified the recordings with the FBI.

In the audio recordings, being heard publicly for the first time, Jared Fogle discusses his sexual interest in children.

"I like all ages. That's the thing I mean," Fogle tells a woman in the recording. "It depends...who is ready for what. You know, who's going to give you the glance."

The woman with Fogle is Rochelle Herman-Walrond, a former radio host who interviewed him and became suspicious when she overhead him say he found middle school girls attractive.

Herman-Walrond told Dr. Phil McGraw she began providing secretly recorded conversations to the FBI, calling them "disgusting."

"I felt like I was so dirty," she told Dr. Phil. "My soul was dirty."

Fogle even details the process of how he approaches the young victims.

"We just start sharing stories, and then, you know, we get a little closer, and a little closer, and a little closer, and before you know it...it just starts to happen," Fogle told Herman-Walrond, saying it was not hard "at all."

"He talks about how to groom a family, he talks about how to groom the victim, he talks about all the things he does, the tricks of his trade," Dr. Phil said. "He just basically gives you the playbook of an evil monster."

Fogle became a household name as a pitchman for Subway, and used his fame to establish a foundation promoting healthy lifestyles among children.

In August, Fogle pleaded guilty to one count of distributing and receiving child pornography and one count of crossing state lines to engage in illicit sex with minors. He will be sentenced in November.

Subway cut ties with its spokesman following his arrest. In September, the chain said Hermand-Walrond made a serious complaint about Fogle in 2011, but that it had been mishandled.

After amassing five years-worth of recordings, Herman-Walrond finally reached her breaking point when Fogle mentioned her two young children.

"What if we, what if we put a camera in your kids' room, would they be okay with that?," he asks her in the recording. "Would you rather have it in your son or your daughter's room? Which one do you think would be better?"

Dr. Phil said Herman-Walrond had to distance herself from her kids and family for hours afterwards.

"And it took a lot of time from her family and changed who she was. That was a very painful thing for her," said Dr. Phil.

"Dr. Phil" -- which is distributed by CBS television -- is devoting two episodes to the audio recordings - one airing Thursday and another airing Friday.

Fogle is facing five to 12 and a half years in prison and up to a $500,000 fine. His attorney declined to comment.

Subway told "CBS This Morning" they have not heard the tapes. The company says it feels duped and betrayed by Fogle, and that its sympathies go out to his victims and their families.




“Fogle was secretly recorded by a woman who had befriended him and then became an FBI informant, reports Vladimir Duthiers of CBS News's digital network, CBSN. The Daytime talk show "Dr.Phil" obtained the recordings and will air them Thursday. CBS News independently verified the recordings with the FBI. …. "I like all ages. That's the thing I mean," Fogle tells a woman in the recording. "It depends...who is ready for what. You know, who's going to give you the glance." The woman with Fogle is Rochelle Herman-Walrond, a former radio host who interviewed him and became suspicious when she overhead him say he found middle school girls attractive. …. "He talks about how to groom a family, he talks about how to groom the victim, he talks about all the things he does, the tricks of his trade," Dr. Phil said. "He just basically gives you the playbook of an evil monster." Fogle became a household name as a pitchman for Subway, and used his fame to establish a foundation promoting healthy lifestyles among children. …. After amassing five years-worth of recordings, Herman-Walrond finally reached her breaking point when Fogle mentioned her two young children. "What if we, what if we put a camera in your kids' room, would they be okay with that?," he asks her in the recording. "Would you rather have it in your son or your daughter's room? Which one do you think would be better?"

This is one of those sick and evil situations. Interestingly the woman in question was recording these conversations for an incredible five years before reporting the situation to the FBI, at the point when Fogle expressed interest in her own children. Is that weird, or what? I’m so glad she reported him, and I can see that five years’ worth of recordings would surely constitute probable cause, but she didn’t need to prove the case. The FBI did. They, I would think, would take a look at his Internet activity and record all his calls, not just those made to her. Maybe they could get recordings of him talking to a young person and “grooming them.” The FBI could also try to prove he was perhaps publishing some of his personal video recordings. Also, if he crossed the state line to meet one or more children for sexual activity that is at least statutory rape.

According to this article he has “pled guilty” to two related counts, but I’ll bet he has done much more than that in his career. Allowing a perp to plead to a lesser offense is a common way that police departments get a quick and easy admission rather than really digging up more evidence of other crimes and charging him accordingly. It allows them to close the case and move on to the next one. I think they probably did let him off much too easily for that type of crime. Of course, we’ll see what sentence he gets for it. If it’s two years probation I’ll be angry.

Unfortunately it happens that way a lot in rape cases of all kinds, as though those who write laws don’t consider sexual assault to be as serious as other violent crimes. I think there’s a hidden place in the minds of many or perhaps even all men that rebels against treating a suspect of that kind too roughly. It’s almost as though they consider it part of their privileges as a man. I hope that’s not true.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-state-praying-football-coach-joe-kennedy/

School district takes action against praying football coach
AP October 29, 2015

Photograph -- Bremerton assistant football coach Joe Kennedy, in blue, is surrounded by Centralia players after they took a knee with him and prayed after their game against Bremerton in Bremerton, Wash., Oct. 16, 2015. MEEGAN M. REID/KITSAP SUN VIA AP


SEATTLE -- The coach of a Washington state high school football team who prayed at games despite orders from the school district to stop has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Bremerton School District officials said in a statement late Wednesday that assistant football coach Joe Kennedy's leave was necessitated because of his refusal to comply with district directives that he refrain from engaging in overt, public religious displays on the football field while on duty as a coach.

Kennedy has vocally engaged in pregame and postgame prayers, sometimes joined by students, since 2008. But the practice recently came to the district's attention, and it asked him to stop.

He initially agreed to the ban, but then, with support from the Texas-based Liberty Institute, a religious-freedom organization, he resumed the postgame prayers, silently taking a knee for 15 to 20 seconds at midfield after shaking hands with the opposing coaches. His lawyers insist he is not leading students in prayer, just praying himself.

"While the district appreciates Kennedy's many positive contributions to the BHS football program, and therefore regrets the necessity of this action, Kennedy's conduct poses a genuine risk that the District will be liable for violating the federal and state constitutional rights of students or others. For this reason, Kennedy will not be allowed to further violate the District's directives," the statement said.

The district said Kennedy remains employed by the district and, unless his status changes, will be paid through the remainder of his contract term. He won't be allowed to participate in any activities related to the Bremerton football program although the district said he can attend games as a member of the public.

The controversy has focused attention on Bremerton, across the Puget Sound west of Seattle, and on the role of religion in public schools. On Tuesday, dozens of lawmakers in the Congressional Prayer Caucus sent a letter to the superintendent expressing support for the coach.

Also this week, The Satanic Temple, which has 42 members in its Seattle chapter, announced that its members were open to being invited to a game, and a few students and teachers extended such invitations. The organization doesn't believe in Satan except as "a potent symbol of rebellion against tyranny," it says on its website. It's an atheist group that rejects the notion of supernatural deities and espouses values such as scientific inquiry and compassion, it says.

The group suggested that by allowing the coach to continue praying, the district has created a forum for religious expression open to all groups. It requested permission to perform an invocation on the field after the game. The district had not responded as of Wednesday and did not respond to a request for comment regarding the group.

On Wednesday night, Kennedy's lawyer, Hiram Sasser, called the paid leave a hostile employment action.

"It's surprising and shocking," Sasser said.

He said they plan to file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which he said is a next step.




Well, the Liberty Institute is certainly proving to be a large burr under the national saddle. I personally think that if he ALONE kneels for a time period too short to say even a brief prayer it should be his personal right, though open to the charge of “showboating,” for effect. If he allows the players to follow his lead, however, it is a violation of federal law governing the public school system in that he is a representative of the school at the time. It should be his job to follow the rules even if he doesn’t like them.

Personally, I come from a religious tradition that considers such public display of religiosity not in good taste. The most I have done is hold hands with friends at a restaurant table while someone says a brief grace for the meal. That is also public, but I’m not representing an entity that is bound by federal rules to be non-sectarian. In the fourth or fifth grade I remember our teacher would have each student take turns every day giving a prayer from our own religious tradition. At that time it amounted to 20 or so Protestant Christians and a handful of Catholics and Jews. To me, that is the way school prayer, if it happens at all, should be handled. Everybody gets their chance. We had no Bible readings or discussions. It was school, not church.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/22-ancient-shipwrecks-discovered-near-greek-island/

22 ancient shipwrecks discovered near Greek island
By MEGAN GANNON LIVESCIENCE.COM
October 29, 2015

Photograph -- The remains of 22 shipwrecks, which comprised piles of cargo from the doomed vessels, have been discovered around the Greek archipelago of Fourni. V. MENTOGIANIS
Photograph -- shipwreck-8-3d-mapping-v-mentogianis.jpg
An archaeologist prepares a level on one of the wrecks. V. MENTOGIANIS
Play VIDEO -- $1M in treasure found in Florida shipwreck


Shipwrecks were the stuff of lore around the craggy coasts of Fourni, a Greek archipelago close to Turkey in the eastern Aegean Sea. Generations of local fishermen and sponge divers had seen piles of ancient pottery collecting algae on the seafloor. Last month, a group of marine archaeologists finally investigated the waters, and their wealth of findings far exceeded expectations.

During the very first dive of the expedition, the team found the remains of a late Roman-period wreck strewn with sea grass in shallow water. By day 5, the researchers had discovered evidence of nine more sunken ships. The next day, they found another six. By the time the 13-day survey was finished, the divers had located 22 shipwrecks-- some more than 2,500 years old -- that had never been scientifically documented before.

"I think we were all shocked," said Peter Campbell, co-director of the project from the U.S.-based RPM Nautical Foundation. "We were expecting three or four wrecks, and we would have been very happy." [See Photos of the Newly Discovered Greek Shipwrecks]

Just how many more wrecks are hidden around Fourni -- which lies between the islands of Samos and Icaria -- is anyone's guess, Campbell said. The expedition turned up doomed vessels from the Archaic period (700-480 B.C.) to the late medieval period (16th century A.D.), from depths of 180 feet (55 meters) to as shallow as 10 feet (3 m). And yet, this initial survey covered merely 17 square miles (44 square kilometers), just 5 percent of the archipelago's coast. Previously, about 180 ancient shipwrecks had been well-documented in all of Greece's territorial waters. These new discoveries add 12 percent to the total number of known wrecks, the leaders of the project said.

"In a survey, you don't really choose what you're going to find -- you just dive," George Koutsouflakis, the Greek director of the survey, from the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, told Live Science. "We knew already that Fourni was a hub in navigation in the Aegean, so we had some expectations, but the results surprised us. The importance of this place was underestimated."

Though Fourni didn't have major cities, it was notable in the ancient world for its location along Aegean crossing routes, both east-west and north-south. Early Imperial Roman sources say that Fourni was very prosperous, had a robust population and had marble mines in full operation, Koutsouflakis said. But mentions of the archipelago in late Roman texts are scant, which is why the divers were surprised that about half of the wrecks found in the survey date to this period. [In Photos: 'Most Beautiful Lakes' Discovered Beneath Aegean Sea]

"By the late Roman period, we don't really know anything about the island," Koutsouflakis said. "Fourni is hardly mentioned in the sources of that time. You see that the shipwrecks tell us a more nuanced story. The island must have maintained importance as a harbor site."

The main component of these shipwrecks, wood, isn't likely to survive centuries at the bottom of the sea, unless it is buried in mud without oxygen to fuel decomposition. So far, the wrecks that have been found around Fourni bear few traces of the vessels themselves (though future underwater excavations may change that). Instead, the divers documented messy piles of lost cargo, mostly transport vessels like amphoras, which sank with their ships close to the cliffs on Fourni's coast.

"A lot of times, you can see near the point of impact where the ships must have crashed, and then you have this scatter pile raining down the underwater slope of the cliff," Campbell said. "These aren't the nice ship-shaped piles of amphoras that you sometimes get in ships that wreck far out at sea. We probably do have some of those, but they're probably farther away from shore."

Campbell said that of the 22 newly discovered wrecks, three have unique cargos that have never been found before in Mediterranean shipwrecks: a trove of Archaic pots from nearby Samos that was probably destined for Cyprus, but didn't make it very far; a group of huge second-century A.D. amphoras from the Black Sea region; and a cache of "Sinopian carrots," or amphoras that come from Sinop on the Black Sea coast of Turkey and, as the name implies, are shaped vaguely like carrots.

Koutsouflakis and Campbell said they intend to go back to Fourni, equipped with underwater robots and other technologies, to search for more wrecks before they plan any underwater excavations. For now, they have taken artifact samples ashore for analysis at a laboratory in Athens, Greece, partly to try to find out what was on board -- wine, oil, fish sauce -- the ill-fated ships that met their demise at Fourni.




“By day 5, the researchers had discovered evidence of nine more sunken ships. The next day, they found another six. By the time the 13-day survey was finished, the divers had located 22 shipwrecks-- some more than 2,500 years old -- that had never been scientifically documented before. …. Just how many more wrecks are hidden around Fourni -- which lies between the islands of Samos and Icaria -- is anyone's guess, Campbell said. The expedition turned up doomed vessels from the Archaic period (700-480 B.C.) to the late medieval period (16th century A.D.), from depths of 180 feet (55 meters) to as shallow as 10 feet (3 m). …. "In a survey, you don't really choose what you're going to find -- you just dive," George Koutsouflakis, the Greek director of the survey, from the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, told Live Science. "We knew already that Fourni was a hub in navigation in the Aegean, so we had some expectations, but the results surprised us. The importance of this place was underestimated." …. Early Imperial Roman sources say that Fourni was very prosperous, had a robust population and had marble mines in full operation, Koutsouflakis said. But mentions of the archipelago in late Roman texts are scant, which is why the divers were surprised that about half of the wrecks found in the survey date to this period. …. The main component of these shipwrecks, wood, isn't likely to survive centuries at the bottom of the sea, unless it is buried in mud without oxygen to fuel decomposition. So far, the wrecks that have been found around Fourni bear few traces of the vessels themselves (though future underwater excavations may change that). …. The main component of these shipwrecks, wood, isn't likely to survive centuries at the bottom of the sea, unless it is buried in mud without oxygen to fuel decomposition. So far, the wrecks that have been found around Fourni bear few traces of the vessels themselves (though future underwater excavations may change that).”


Archaeologists really love finding things like this which flesh out their speculations and deductions. One article I read years ago stated that whole olives had been found in a bowl in Pompei preserved under the ash. They were desiccated, of course. From these wrecks they will have a good guess at the wealth in the seaport there, and it was apparently an important point in the Roman trade routes. It also may have been a difficult place to maneuver a ship since so many wrecks are there.

For a really interesting article on Greek history and archaeology called “A Time-line Of Ancient Greece,” see http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/greeks.html, It goes back to the Minoan Civilization at around 2800 BC and forward to around 500 AD. The “fish sauce” that has been found very likely refers to a staple in the Roman diet, according to an article I read long ago, which was used to flavor food, and which was produced by drying fish in the sun until it became more or less “putrid,” and then was made into a dipping sauce. Yum!

About “Fish sauce,” go to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, where it says “Fish sauce is an amber-coloured liquid extracted from the fermentation of fish with sea salt. It is used as a condiment in various cuisines. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Cambodian, Filipino, Thai, Laotian and Vietnamese cuisines. It also was a major ingredient in ancient European cuisine, but is no longer commonly used in those regions.”





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/honolulu-police-officer-accused-of-arresting-lesbians-kissing-in-store/

Cop accused of arresting lesbians kissing in store
CBS/AP
October 29, 2015

Photograph -- Courtney Wilson, left, and Taylor Guerrero pose for a photo in Honolulu on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. AP PHOTO/JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER


HONOLULU -- The Honolulu Police Department opened an internal investigation Wednesday into allegations that an officer wrongfully arrested a vacationing lesbian couple after seeing them kissing in a grocery store.

Courtney Wilson and Taylor Guerrero, who were visiting Hawaii from Los Angeles in March, said in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that they were harassed and arrested because the officer didn't like their public displays of affection in a Foodland store on Oahu's North Shore.

They were walking through the aisles holding hands and at one point hugged and kissed, the lawsuit said. Officer Bobby Harrison, who was shopping in uniform, "observed their consensual romantic contact and, in a loud voice, ordered plaintiffs to stop and 'take it somewhere else.' "

The women complied and continued shopping, the lawsuit said. When Harrison again saw them being affectionate with each other, he threatened to have them thrown out of the store.

"We're used to people making remarks here and there," Wilson said of their two-year relationship.

While the women were in the check-out line, Harrison grabbed Wilson by the wrist, and she started to call 911, she said.

"He was bumping his belly against Courtney," Guerrero said. "He said, 'you girls don't know how to act. You don't know the difference between a motel and a grocery store.'"

When Guerrero tried to get in between her girlfriend and the officer, he shoved her. She kicked him as she was falling, she said.

"The whole situation got physical," Wilson said. "I got punched in the face by him."

Because Harrison didn't have any handcuffs on him, store employees helped restrain the women, as customers watched. "You can't really blame them for not getting involved," Wilson said of the bystanders.

Police earlier told The Associated Press that they couldn't comment on pending litigation, then later said they had opened the internal probe. Police department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said she would pass a message seeking comment from Harrison, a 26-year veteran, to his commander. He remains on full active duty. Foodland, which is not part of the lawsuit, apologized to the women, said their Honolulu attorney Eric Seitz. A Foodland spokeswoman didn't respond to requests for comment.

The women were arrested and charged with felony assault on an officer. They spent three days in jail and each paid a bail bondsman $1,300 for bail that was set at $12,000 each, they said. They had to remain in Honolulu as a condition of their release.

The charges were eventually dismissed, Seitz said.

In the meantime, they had to stay with family friends or strangers they befriended. At one point thought they would have to go to a homeless shelter. They found jobs cleaning vacation rentals.

The incident happened on the second day of their vacation, which was their first trip to Hawaii.

"I just think that what he did was absolutely wrong without a doubt," Wilson told CBS affiliate KGMB. "I just really want an example to be made."




“The Honolulu Police Department opened an internal investigation Wednesday into allegations that an officer wrongfully arrested a vacationing lesbian couple after seeing them kissing in a grocery store. …. They were walking through the aisles holding hands and at one point hugged and kissed, the lawsuit said. Officer Bobby Harrison, who was shopping in uniform, "observed their consensual romantic contact and, in a loud voice, ordered plaintiffs to stop and 'take it somewhere else.' " …. While the women were in the check-out line, Harrison grabbed Wilson by the wrist, and she started to call 911, she said. "He was bumping his belly against Courtney," Guerrero said. "He said, 'you girls don't know how to act. You don't know the difference between a motel and a grocery store.'" When Guerrero tried to get in between her girlfriend and the officer, he shoved her. She kicked him as she was falling, she said. "The whole situation got physical," Wilson said. "I got punched in the face by him." …. Police department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said she would pass a message seeking comment from Harrison, a 26-year veteran, to his commander. He remains on full active duty. …. The charges were eventually dismissed, Seitz said. In the meantime, they had to stay with family friends or strangers they befriended. At one point thought they would have to go to a homeless shelter. They found jobs cleaning vacation rentals.”

Bumping them with his belly? That sounds like an overt sexual assault to me. But they were charged with assault on the officer because at least one of them fought back when he grabbed the other. Luckily those charges have been dropped. The police department has not taken him off active duty, however, so that’s not a good sign. Could it be that Hawaii is not an equal opportunity state? Parts of the South are downright dangerous for gays, especially if they’re kissing in public.

Personally I think that kissing of the type that in high school I would have called “making out,” is a private activity no matter who is doing it, and shouldn’t be done in public. It’s similar to the way I feel about teenaged boys and girls wearing their clothes in such a way that important parts of their underwear are showing. It’s rude as heck and violates my privacy by forcing something on my attention that I don’t want to see.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/medical-community-divided-over-new-american-cancer-society-mammogram-guidelines/

Leading doctors push back on new mammogram guidelines

CBS NEWS
October 29, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Controversial new mammogram guidelines set later testing age


The American Cancer Society says it came up with its recommendations that women start mammograms at an older age after reviewing the best medical evidence available, and weighing the benefits and harms of mammograms.

But this has boiled up controversy in the medical community, and three leading doctors are pushing back in a New York Times op-ed.

With more than 200,000 new cases of breast cancer expected this year, the doctors who wrote the editorial say early detection is key, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller.

"All of us believe that the bottom line is saving lives and mammography saves lives," said Dr. Susan Drossman.


As top specialists in the battle against breast cancer, Dr. Susan Drossman, Elisa Port and Emily Sonnenblick say they can't back the American Cancer Society's latest screening guidelines.

"The problem with these guidelines is that they're confusing to the very women that should benefit from mammography," said Dr. Port.

They publicly aired their concerns in the New York Times op-ed Wednesday, saying "We were happy to support the Cancer Society. Now, we no longer wish to be involved."

The new recommendations suggest women with an average risk start yearly mammograms at age 45 instead of 40. At 55, they can switch to every two years. But the American Cancer Society adds women start screening at age 40 "if they wish."

"Our goal is to empower people to make an informed decision," said Dr. Kevin Offenger, who chaired the independent panel that created the news guidelines. "As a woman ages, a breast issue tends to get less dense and makes reading easier."

But Dr. Sonnenblick called the guidelines a "setback."

"I've had the privilege of finding early cancers by screening these women in their forties," she said.

Critics worry the changes could lead insurance companies to limit coverage.

"The question is will we be covered to be screened? Will insurance companies jump on these guidelines and then say, sorry, no reimbursement," said Dr. Drossman.

Dr. Offenger asserts the American Cancer Society "continues to be one of the strongest voices for continuing insurance for women age 40 and older."

"At 45, there's no question by both how common breast cancer is, the ability for mammography to help save lives," he said. "Between 40 and 44, breast cancer is less common."

In the hundreds of responses the op-ed received online, there were strong reactions on both sides. One reader wrote, "What if the one "saved" woman is you? (Eight years ago it was me.) Or your sister? Or your daughter? Still willing to play the odds?"

Another said, "Personal experiences of the few should not drive medical policies for the majority."

Top oncologist and "CBS This Morning" medical contributor Dr. David Agus says the focus shouldn't be on when to get a mammogram, but how to better detect breast cancer with resources for better technologies.

"We want to be told what to do. But there isn't enough data now to tell every woman in the country what to do between the ages of 40 and 45 so that decision is between a woman, her family and her doctor to make the right decision for them," Dr. Agus said.

Adding to all the confusion, yet another new study is raising questions about the value of mammograms. A report in the New England Journal of Medicine found that despite women getting mammograms for decades, the testing hasn't cut the rate of detecting advanced breast cancer.



Read the op-ed entitled “Why the Annual Mammogram Matters” at this site:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/opinion/why-the-annual-mammogram-matters.html?_r=0, By SUSAN R. DROSSMAN, ELISA R. PORT and EMILY B. SONNENBLICK, OCT. 28, 2015




“With more than 200,000 new cases of breast cancer expected this year, the doctors who wrote the editorial say early detection is key, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller. "All of us believe that the bottom line is saving lives and mammography saves lives," said Dr. Susan Drossman. …. The new recommendations suggest women with an average risk start yearly mammograms at age 45 instead of 40. At 55, they can switch to every two years. But the American Cancer Society adds women start screening at age 40 "if they wish." ….

I can’t help wondering what “independent panel” this was. Are the health insurance companies behind the question? They are the ones who will profit if they are allowed, based on this study, to stop covering mammograms except at this reduced schedule; and I can’t be convinced that not finding a cancer which then unfortunately grows larger and larger is LESS HARMFUL than the (surely minor) emotional disturbance that a “false positive,” causes. One thing is emotional and transitory and the other is physical and very real.

I am so grateful to the three doctors who have published their highly informed opinion on the matter. They are behaving as honest citizens and medical practitioners. They are trying to avoid “doing harm.” I first heard about this change in recommended frequency about six months ago, and was appalled. I want to see the American Cancer Society retract their harmful words and review the matter from the standpoint of a woman whose cancer has metastasized and gone to her lungs or brain, as commonly happens. They should leave the standards as they have been and make the insurance companies pay up as needed. Big business is really dirty in the way it operates. That’s another reason why I’m a Democrat.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/china-communist-party-to-abolish-one-child-policy/

China's leaders to nix 1-child policy after 35 years
CBS/AP
October 29, 2015

37 PHOTOS -- Growing up alone in China
Play VIDEO -- China scales back one-child policy


BEIJING -- China's ruling Communist Party announced Thursday that it will abolish the country's decades-old one-child policy and allow all couples to have two children, removing remaining restrictions that limited many urban couples to only one, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Xinhua said on its microblog that the decision to allow all couples to have two children was "to improve the balanced development of population" and to deal with an aging population in China.

The decision does away with an unpopular policy that was long considered one of the party's most onerous intrusions into family life.

1-Child policy leaves couple distraught after alleged forced abortion

The decision was contained in a Communist Party communique that followed a meeting of the party's Central Committee on planning the country's economic and social development through 2020. In recent years, it has been unusual for such plenary sessions to result in major decisions. They generally focus on economic topics and there was no indication that this one would take action on the one-child policy.

China eased its one-child policy in 2013 to allow couples in which one partner has no siblings to have two children. Couples in which both partners have no siblings and rural families whose firstborn child is a girl already had been allowed to have a second child for many years.

Despite estimates that the exemptions introduced in 2013 would bring as many as 2 million extra births per year, only 700,000 newly qualified couples applied to have a second child during 2014, Chinese officials said.

The lower-than-expected number of applications last year had some critics arguing for the abolition of the strict family planning policies, which have limited most urban families to only one child. They argued that China's low birth rate would cause the country to age quickly and hurt its economic viability.

The population-control policy has been in effect in China since September 1978.




“Xinhua said on its microblog that the decision to allow all couples to have two children was "to improve the balanced development of population" and to deal with an aging population in China. The decision does away with an unpopular policy that was long considered one of the party's most onerous intrusions into family life. …. China eased its one-child policy in 2013 to allow couples in which one partner has no siblings to have two children. Couples in which both partners have no siblings and rural families whose firstborn child is a girl already had been allowed to have a second child for many years.”


I can see how the one child policy would produce a situation in which there are fewer citizens of working age than the non-productive older people, and that’s an economic matter. That has been discussed in the US also, because especially when the Baby Boomers hit retirement age a few years ago it put a stress on our Social Security system which is financed by the current workers, in other words, younger people. That’s why all the claims that the SS system may go bankrupt among conservatives. It wouldn’t go bankrupt as long as workers are still required to pay into the retirement plan, but the income from a reducing workforce can cause the benefits to be a more onerous burden on the government and thus cause us to have to borrow more and more.

There is another problem with the one child policy in China, namely that if a couple can have only one child they tend to want a boy. Boys are favored in all or nearly all Eastern societies over girl children. That was mentioned in an article several years ago as a cause of abortions in China when a couple found that they were going to have a girl and were only allowed one child. Girls don’t make as good farm workers and may not be educated as highly or attain lucrative positions for the family in other ways. The negative is that boys appear slightly less often than girls in a natural family, but if the girl children are aborted and the couple waits until they get a boy, the population will probably contain more boys than girls. Then the boys as they mature have fewer girls to choose as mates. In many societies men can have two wives, but women can’t have two husbands due to social norms. It does occur, called polyandry, but it is rare worldwide. For places where it occurs, see the Internet. There are a good many articles about it.

Many US couples now have no more than two children, and often only one, but it is voluntary. There is a matter of social dynamics in a family with only one child which I think is important. When an only child grows up he or she doesn’t have to share and they don’t learn how to fight openly and fairly, a disadvantage in such a highly social and competitive society as we have here. Kids need to be able to cope with their school relationships, work relationships and marriages, etc. A person who grows up with no peers tends to be unable to bond as well or empathize as much. They are more likely to be introverted and, all too often, more selfish. In a two child family, they will play together, learn together, and work together. Their personality will be stronger and more flexible, and will be better citizens all the way around. They learn not to steal or cheat because their sister or brother will bop them over the head when they do it.

They also will receive a more equitable share of the parental love which is available. That important commodity ensures more personal security and comfort all the way around for each child. A child who is not loved enough tends to be warped in one way or another. Though parents always will say that they love each child equally, all we have to do is look closely at the situation to see that this is simply not the case. It is my belief that when there are too many children in the family the parents are stretched too thin in the love department, and also of course in the physical resources as well – food, money, etc. We may love our daughter, but if there’s no money she still can’t have a new dress.

The other good reason to have only two children is that the societal population will grow more slowly, which is good as the worldwide need to provide food and jobs for all depends a good deal on a manageable population. Starvation can become a problem in such a society. It was at such a point that the Jews emigrated from Palestine to Egypt so long ago, much to their misfortune. If the Global Warming follows the trend that is feared today, there may not be enough food in the US either, not to mention water. Without water farmers can’t produce vegetation, at any rate. We could go back to an all meat diet, but even farm animals have to have grain or grass to eat, so it’s starvation either way. Of course, that’s another matter. I’ll look at the environment another day.