October 11, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/for-third-time-in-40-years-no-social-security-increase-coming/

For third time in 40 years, no Social Security increase coming
AP October 11, 2015

WASHINGTON - For just the third time in 40 years, millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees can expect no increase in benefits next year, unwelcome news for more than one-fifth of the nation's population.

They can blame low gas prices.

By law, the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is based on a government measure of inflation, which is being dragged down by lower prices at the pump.

The government is scheduled to announce the COLA - or lack of one - on Thursday, when it releases the Consumer Price Index for September. Inflation has been so low this year that economists say there is little chance the September numbers will produce a benefit increase for next year.

Prices actually have dropped from a year ago, according to the inflation measure used for the COLA.

"It's a very high probability that it will be zero," said economist Polina Vlasenko, a research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. "Other prices - other than energy - would have to jump. It would have to be a very sizable increase that would be visible, and I don't think that's happened."

Congress enacted automatic increases for Social Security beneficiaries in 1975, when inflation was high and there was a lot of pressure to regularly raise benefits. Since then, increases have averaged 4 percent a year.

Only twice before, in 2010 and 2011, have there been no increases.

In all, the COLA affects payments to more than 70 million Americans.

Almost 60 million retirees, disabled workers, spouses and children get Social Security benefits. The average monthly payment is $1,224.

The COLA also affects benefits for about 4 million disabled veterans, 2.5 million federal retirees and their survivors, and more than 8 million people who get Supplemental Security Income, the disability program for the poor. Many people who get SSI also receive Social Security.

Carol Mead of Montrose, Pennsylvania, said she and her husband were counting on Social Security COLA to help them with their finances.

"My husband is working just so we can pay our bills," said Mead, a retired land-use administrator. "He's 70 years old, and he's still working in a stone quarry. He's told me a number of times that he thinks he's going to have to work until the day he dies."

More bad news: The lack of a COLA means that older people could face higher health care costs.

Most have their Medicare Part B premiums for outpatient care deducted directly from their Social Security payments, and the annual cost-of-living increase is usually enough to cover any rise in premiums. When that doesn't happen, a long-standing federal "hold harmless" law protects the majority of beneficiaries from having their Social Security payments reduced.

But that leaves about 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries on the hook for a premium increase that otherwise would be spread among all. Those who would pay the higher premiums include 2.8 million new beneficiaries, 1.6 million whose premiums aren't deducted from their Social Security payments and 3.1 million people with higher incomes.

Their premiums could jump by about $54 a month; more for those with higher incomes.

States also would feel a budget impact because they pay part of the Medicare premium for about 10 million low-income beneficiaries.

All beneficiaries would see their Part B annual deductible for outpatient care jump by $76, to an estimated $223. The deductible is the annual amount patients pay before Medicare kicks in.

"This would affect all beneficiaries," said Tricia Neuman of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "This kind of an increase is unprecedented."

Senate Democrats have introduced legislation that would freeze Medicare's Part B premium and deductible for 2016, but its prospects are uncertain.

White House spokeswoman Katie Hill said, "We share the goal of keeping Medicare's premiums affordable, are exploring all options."

By law, the cost-of-living adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W, a broad measure of consumer prices generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It measures price changes for food, housing, clothing, transportation, energy, medical care, recreation and education.

The COLA is calculated by comparing consumer prices in July, August and September each year with prices in the same three months from the previous year. If prices go up, benefits go up. If prices drop or stay flat, benefits stay the same.

The numbers for July and August show that, overall, consumer prices have fallen since last year. Fuel prices are down by 23 percent from a year ago, according to the August inflation report. But prices for some other goods and services, such as health care and housing, are up.

Advocates argue that the government's measure of inflation doesn't accurately reflect price increases in the goods and services that older Americans use.

"The COLA is determined by the buying power of younger working adults," said Mary Johnson of The Senior Citizens League.

Many advocates for seniors want Congress to adopt an experimental price index that seeks to capture the inflation experienced by Americans 62 and older. The Social Security Administration estimates it would increase the annual COLA by an average of 0.2 percentage points - which still might not be enough to generate a COLA for next year.

Lee Marshall of Greenville, California, said the current inflation index isn't good enough.

"They have a formula that they use that doesn't reflect the actual cost of living," said Marshall, 68, a retired laborer and casino dealer. "Just because the price of gas is going down, that doesn't mean anything."




“The government is scheduled to announce the COLA - or lack of one - on Thursday, when it releases the Consumer Price Index for September. Inflation has been so low this year that economists say there is little chance the September numbers will produce a benefit increase for next year. Prices actually have dropped from a year ago, according to the inflation measure used for the COLA. …. . "Other prices - other than energy - would have to jump. It would have to be a very sizable increase that would be visible, and I don't think that's happened." Congress enacted automatic increases for Social Security beneficiaries in 1975, when inflation was high and there was a lot of pressure to regularly raise benefits. Since then, increases have averaged 4 percent a year. …. But that leaves about 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries on the hook for a premium increase that otherwise would be spread among all. Those who would pay the higher premiums include 2.8 million new beneficiaries, 1.6 million whose premiums aren't deducted from their Social Security payments and 3.1 million people with higher incomes. Their premiums could jump by about $54 a month; more for those with higher incomes. …. All beneficiaries would see their Part B annual deductible for outpatient care jump by $76, to an estimated $223. The deductible is the annual amount patients pay before Medicare kicks in. "This would affect all beneficiaries," said Tricia Neuman of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "This kind of an increase is unprecedented." …. Lee Marshall of Greenville, California, said the current inflation index isn't good enough. "They have a formula that they use that doesn't reflect the actual cost of living," said Marshall, 68, a retired laborer and casino dealer. "Just because the price of gas is going down, that doesn't mean anything."

I don’t drive my car every day anymore so the lower price of gas isn’t significant. It amounts to an average of $10.00 every time I fill up, which is twice a month. My main costs are rent, co-pay and co-insurance, food in the grocery store, non-prescription drugs (vitamins, etc.), once or twice a month a restaurant meal, a movie every three months or so, very occasionally a new item of clothing from Belk Department Store, car repair and upkeep. Occasionally I buy something in the $15.00 range or give a few dollars to a charity. I would like to see food costs, car expenses and non-prescription drugs go down. I agree with those who mentioned that the costs for elderly people tend to be missed in the COLA, and if the premiums go up or the raise doesn’t happen, it will be felt. Let’s face it, though, a small increase measured in percentages doesn’t translate into very many dollars on the street where I live, and having to replace my car muffler may use the whole monthly raise up entirely.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/11/447783979/iran-test-fires-a-new-precision-guided-ballistic-missile

Iran Test-Fires A New, Precision-Guided Ballistic Missile
Eyder Peralta
OCTOBER 11, 2015

Photograph -- This picture, released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Sunday, claims to show the launching of an Emad long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile in an undisclosed location.
AP


"The Emad missile is able to strike targets with a high level of precision and completely destroy them ... This greatly increases Iran's strategic deterrence capability," Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said at a televised news conference, according to Reuters.

Dehqan said that this is the first long-range missile that can be precision guided all the way to its target.

The question now is whether the apparently successful test violates the terms of Iran's nuclear agreement with the United States and five other world powers.

As The New York Times reports, a resolution passed by the United Nations shortly after a deal was struck in Vienna specifies that Iran is not allowed to develop missiles "designed to carry nuclear warheads."

The Times reports:

"In recent decades, with Iran's air force plagued by economic sanctions and other restrictions, the country has invested heavily in its nuclear program and has produced missiles that can reach as far as Europe.

"'We don't seek permission from anyone to strengthen our defense and missile capabilities,' Mr. Dehghan said."

Reuters adds:

"Michael Elleman, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), said it would probably take Iran 'many years... and dozens of flight tests' to master the new guidance technology.

"In August, Iran unveiled a new short-range missile named Fateh-313, which it said also offered improved precision over its predecessor, as part of an apparent drive to upgrade the accuracy of its missile arsenal.

"'What has become increasingly clear is Iran's desire to enhance missile accuracy and lethality, a priority that very likely supersedes the need for seeking longer-range missiles,' Elleman said."




"The Emad missile is able to strike targets with a high level of precision and completely destroy them ... This greatly increases Iran's strategic deterrence capability," Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said at a televised news conference, according to Reuters. Dehqan said that this is the first long-range missile that can be precision guided all the way to its target. The question now is whether the apparently successful test violates the terms of Iran's nuclear agreement with the United States and five other world powers. …. "'What has become increasingly clear is Iran's desire to enhance missile accuracy and lethality, a priority that very likely supersedes the need for seeking longer-range missiles,' Elleman said."

This article doesn’t say whether this new missile is designed to carry a nuclear payload. Since the new UN resolution prohibits that, it probably isn’t. The Iranian government spokesman stated that it is for deterrent purposes. That’s what we say about our nuclear weapons, of course, and we’ve long had long range missiles.



http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/10/11/444526183/biking-behind-bars-female-inmates-battle-weight-gain

Biking Behind Bars: Female Inmates Battle Weight Gain
TAUNYA ENGLISH
OCTOBER 11, 2015

Photograph -- Women incarcerated at the Riverside Correctional Facility in Philadelphia take part in a spinning class run by Gearing Up. Amanda Cortes (second from left) lost 90 pounds in a year.
Bastiaan Slabbers for NPR
Photograph -- Leahya Ellis and other spinning class participants use exercise as a way to shake away stress, anger and depression.
Bastiaan Slabbers for NPR


The gym at Riverside Correctional Facility in Philadelphia is through the metal detector, two heavy doors and down the hall.

There's a basketball court like one you'd see at any high school, except there's a corrections officer on guard near the 3-point line.

Sixteen stationary bikes are set up in a half-circle in the corner. On bike No. 2, Lakiesha Montgomery, 32, from Philadelphia, is pedaling fast and singing along to the Nicki Minaj song "Fly."

"I didn't think I'd be able to keep up; I'm not the skinniest thing in the bunch," she says.

But she is keeping up.

In 2011, biking advocates from the nonprofit group Gearing Up persuaded prison administrators to let them bring in bikes to teach indoor cycling. Founder Kristin Gavin says before that she had mentored ex-offenders out in the community.

"Over and over I had conversations with women who were saying, 'While I was incarcerated, I put on 60 pounds, I put on 70 pounds,' " she says. Then she would ask them how long they were in prison and she says they'd typically respond, "six months."

At Riverside, Montgomery spends time in the prison yard most days but doesn't get much exercise there.

"The outside is not a real outside, it's like a minigarage. They have a basketball court there, but I don't play basketball. It's a lot of people that come out so you don't have room to really jog or walk. It's like you sit out to just get some air," she says.

She has arm tattoos and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. Her hair is braided back into cornrows. She also has high cholesterol.

Montgomery was charged with assault this year, among other charges, and has been in county jail for about six months.

"First time, last time," she says. In the meantime, spin class is something to do.

"Keep away frustration being locked up, it helps you get through," Montgomery says.

The Department of Justice surveyed the health of state and federal inmates in 2012 and found that women are more likely than men to be obese.

A study of prison health in Kentucky found greater weight gain for women compared with men. Women on average gained nearly 11 pounds, men only gained 2.5 pounds.

Gearing Up is working with researchers at Temple University to track the weight and body image of the women who spin at Riverside Correctional. The study was just eight weeks long and small, but they've already found small improvements in resting and recovery heart rate — two preliminary measures of heart health.

Gavin says often the women come to class initially to stop gaining weight then later find other reasons to keep coming back.

"I can speak to myself — if I weren't given the opportunity to be physically active, I'd probably go a little crazy. I probably wouldn't be able to manage my emotions, my temper, my anger. I think anger management is a huge issue for a lot of women who are in prison; they are victims of trauma and abuse," Gavin says.

And, of course some of the women have hurt other people.

Exercise can be a way to release all sorts of emotions.

Erica Tibbetts from Gearing Up often leads the spin class.

Tibbetts is in bike shorts. Everyone else has on prison blues: long navy pants and a white T-shirt.

"The worst seems to be women don't have good sports bras in here," she says.

No one has a water bottle and exercise shorts aren't allowed. Tibbetts says the women come to class anyway and work with what they have.

Climb on a bike and there's a sense of freedom, even if you're not going anywhere.

At the beginning of class, one by one, the women call out their intention for the ride. The ritual is called "clearing."

Christina wants to leave behind shakedowns. Jean wants to forget "cough and squat."

Sheik is leaving behind "wrongful mistakes."

Others want to shake off the past, stress and depression.

In a 2010 survey, women at Riverside gained about 36 pounds in a year, on average. But after some changes at the facility, that weight gain dropped to 26 pounds when the medical team checked again in 2015.

Bruce Herdman, the prison's chief of medical operations, says weight gain is a problem, but it's not the most urgent health problem his team is managing.

"The chlamydia rate — 6.6 percent on admission. We'll treat a thousand people for HIV. The hepatitis C rate here, largely because of intravenous drug use, is 13 percent. Then you have hypertension, diabetes, all the regular things," he says.

The prison pays Gearing Up to hold spin class three times a week. There's also an occasional yoga class, but the big change affecting women's weight was the food. The meals are certified heart healthy by a nutritionist. There's a lot of it, but portion sizes are smaller now. Last year, the prison cut calories from nearly 2,900 a day to 2,500 for men and women.

That helped, but the facility-provided meals aren't the only food around. Inmates also make do-it-yourself meals with food from the prison commissary. A favorite is called "chi-chis."

"It's where you mix ramen noodles with cheese puffs," explains Amanda Cortes. "You put it in hot water, you put the meat inside, you can do honey mustard sauce or ranch on top, and you just put in a potato chip bag and you mix it up. It's actually pretty good."

Cortes has been in jail for five years and eating that way for most of that time. She's facing several charges including involuntary manslaughter and is waiting for a court date. She says lots of women use food to cope with boredom and depression.

"Some people get two or three trays, so they get fat like that. They take whole loaves of bread to their room," Cortes says.

So Cortes cycles to keep the weight off, and on visiting day, her 10-year-old son noticed.

"When he first seen me he was like, 'Mommy you got skinny!' So I was excited," she says, smiling.

During a year, going to three spin classes a week, Cortes dropped 90 pounds.

At the end of the Gearing Up class, just before the goodbyes and sweaty hugs, there's one last ritual.

The women share what they've brought back from the ride.

One women says she's "bringing sexy back." She and everyone around the circle has a wish: "I'm Jean, and I'm bringing back my bikini. I'm Ruth, and I'm bringing back faith and confidence."

This story is part of a reporting partnership with NPR, WHYY and Kaiser Health News.




“There's a basketball court like one you'd see at any high school, except there's a corrections officer on guard near the 3-point line. Sixteen stationary bikes are set up in a half-circle in the corner. On bike No. 2, Lakiesha Montgomery, 32, from Philadelphia, is pedaling fast and singing along to the Nicki Minaj song "Fly." …. In 2011, biking advocates from the nonprofit group Gearing Up persuaded prison administrators to let them bring in bikes to teach indoor cycling. Founder Kristin Gavin says before that she had mentored ex-offenders out in the community. "Over and over I had conversations with women who were saying, 'While I was incarcerated, I put on 60 pounds, I put on 70 pounds,' " she says. Then she would ask them how long they were in prison and she says they'd typically respond, "six months." …. Montgomery was charged with assault this year, among other charges, and has been in county jail for about six months. "First time, last time," she says. In the meantime, spin class is something to do. "Keep away frustration being locked up, it helps you get through," Montgomery says. The Department of Justice surveyed the health of state and federal inmates in 2012 and found that women are more likely than men to be obese. …. The study was just eight weeks long and small, but they've already found small improvements in resting and recovery heart rate — two preliminary measures of heart health. …. "I can speak to myself — if I weren't given the opportunity to be physically active, I'd probably go a little crazy. I probably wouldn't be able to manage my emotions, my temper, my anger. I think anger management is a huge issue for a lot of women who are in prison; they are victims of trauma and abuse," Gavin says. …. The prison pays Gearing Up to hold spin class three times a week. There's also an occasional yoga class, but the big change affecting women's weight was the food. The meals are certified heart healthy by a nutritionist. There's a lot of it, but portion sizes are smaller now. Last year, the prison cut calories from nearly 2,900 a day to 2,500 for men and women. …. One women says she's "bringing sexy back." She and everyone around the circle has a wish: "I'm Jean, and I'm bringing back my bikini. I'm Ruth, and I'm bringing back faith and confidence."

“Cortes has been in jail for five years and eating that way for most of that time. She's facing several charges including involuntary manslaughter and is waiting for a court date. She says lots of women use food to cope with boredom and depression.” She’s in jail five years while waiting for a court date??? Isn’t that unconstitutional? That’s not a “speedy” trial. Also, five years sounds like a lot for “involuntary manslaughter.” Still, I’m glad to see that some jails anyway are humanizing their environment. The one biker Ruth said the thing she has gained is “faith and confidence.” That’s a more important kind of improvement than weight, to me, though of course being obese does emotionally weigh anyone down. The worst thing about prison is the boredom, inactivity and loneliness and these “spinning classes” bring not only much better health but companionship of a positive type as well. Congratulations to Riverside Correctional for doing something good without being forced to.







http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/11/447694198/tamir-rices-family-prosecutor-is-on-a-quest-to-avoid-accountability

Tamir Rice's Family: Prosecutor Is On A Quest To Avoid Accountability
Eyder Peralta
OCTOBER 11, 2015

Photograph -- Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir, a 12-year-old boy fatally shot by a Cleveland police officer, speaks during a news conference in December 2014, in Cleveland.
Tony Dejak/AP


The family of a 12-year-old boy who was killed by a Cleveland police officer say that the prosecutor on the case "has been on an 11-month quest to avoid providing that accountability."

The family of Tamir Rice issued a statement after Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty released two independent reports that found that Officer Timothy Loehmann was justified in opening fire.

The AP reports:

"The report prepared by retired FBI agent Kimberly A. Crawford concluded that Loehmann's use of force did not violate Tamir's constitutional rights, saying the only facts relevant to such a determination are those the patrolman had at the time he fired his weapon.

"Loehmann, she wrote, "had no information to suggest the weapon was anything but a real handgun, and the speed with which the confrontation progressed would not give the officer time to focus on the weapon."

"'It is my conclusion that Officer Loehmann's use of deadly force falls within the realm of reasonableness under the dictates of the Fourth Amendment,' Crawford wrote, though she noted she was not issuing an opinion as to whether Loehmann violated Ohio law or department policy."

If you remember, Rice was killed almost a year ago. Surveillance video shows the boy playing with a pellet gun at a park. Police were called by a man who said someone was pointing a gun — maybe a toy gun — at people in the park.

The video shows a police cruiser pull up to the park, officer Loehmann steps off and within two seconds opens fire.

In their statement, the family says in order for Loehmann to be held accountable, a prosecutor has to advocate for Rice. The statement goes on:

"Any presentation to a grand jury—without the prosecutor advocating for Tamir—is a charade. To get so-called experts to assist in the whitewash—when the world has the video of what happened—is all-the-more alarming.

"These hired guns—all pro-police—dodge the simple fact that the officers rushed Tamir and shot him immediately without assessing the situation in the least. Reasonable jurors could find that conduct unreasonable. But they will never get the chance because the prosecutor is working diligently to ensure that there is no indictment and no accountability."

Back in June, a judge issued a largely symbolic opinion in which he said there was enough evidence to bring reckless homicide or dereliction of duty charges against Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback.

"The video in question in this case is notorious and hard to watch," Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine. "After viewing it several times, this court is still thunderstruck by how quickly this event turned deadly."

McGinty said that these two reports released last night represent only a part of the evidence that a grand jury will weigh.

"The gathering of evidence continues, and the grand jury will evaluate it all," McGinty said.




“The AP reports: "The report prepared by retired FBI agent Kimberly A. Crawford concluded that Loehmann's use of force did not violate Tamir's constitutional rights, saying the only facts relevant to such a determination are those the patrolman had at the time he fired his weapon. "Loehmann, she wrote, "had no information to suggest the weapon was anything but a real handgun, and the speed with which the confrontation progressed would not give the officer time to focus on the weapon."

"'It is my conclusion that Officer Loehmann's use of deadly force falls within the realm of reasonableness under the dictates of the Fourth Amendment,' Crawford wrote, though she noted she was not issuing an opinion as to whether Loehmann violated Ohio law or department policy." It’s a mental stretch for me to see the relevance to either search and seizure or probable cause here, though maybe probable cause would fit. Interestingly she did not exactly exonerate the police officer, in that she stated that Ohio law and police department policy weren’t including in her defense of him. We do, of course, need more stringent and more clear-cut laws that cover these instantaneous decisions that lead to a fatality, when no effort to assess the facts of the situation (the orange tipped gun) before shooting. He might well also have noted that a 12 year old boy does not look like an 18 year old who might be more likely to be dangerous. The police report stated “pointing a gun — maybe a toy gun.“ So the idea that it wasn’t a real weapon was provided to the officers in the beginning as a possiblility. I believe they should have held their fire and run the fairly small risk that it could be real weapon. The officer could pull his weapon and have it in his hand when he went up to the boy to examine the weapon, for instance, and if I remember correctly he had a partner on the call that day, too. Shooting without investigation is often the cause of these things – cell phones being interpreted as guns, for instance.


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

Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. It was adopted in response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, a type of general search warrant issued by the British government and a major source of tension in pre-Revolutionary America. The Fourth Amendment was introduced in Congress in 1789 by James Madison, along with the other amendments in the Bill of Rights, in response to Anti-Federalist objections to the new Constitution.. It was adopted in response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, a type of general search warrant issued by the British government and a major source of tension in pre-Revolutionary America. The Fourth Amendment was introduced in Congress in 1789 by James Madison, along with the other amendments in the Bill of Rights, in response to Anti-Federalist objections to the new Constitution.