November 18, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gunfire-near-paris-may-be-attack-related/

Violent raid near Paris targets alleged ISIS planner
CBS/AP
November 18, 2015

Photograph -- saintdenisraidsuspectap633430591542.jpg, Police detain a man in Saint-Denis, near Paris, Nov. 18, 2015, during raids that left two suspects dead and a total of 7 in custody. AP
Play VIDEO -- Search for Paris attack suspect widens to second suspect
Photograph -- marie-lausch-and-mathias-dymarski-color.jpg, VICTIMS OF THE PARIS ATTACKS
Play VIDEO -- Intense manhunt for Paris terror suspects continues


SAINT-DENIS, France -- A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up as heavily armed police tried to storm a suburban Paris apartment where the suspected mastermind of last week's attacks was believed to be holed up, police said Wednesday.

Officials said a total of seven people were arrested in the standoff, which began in the early hours of the morning and went on for about seven hours. Three suspects were taken into custody inside the building and four others outside.

A senior police official said he believed Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant believed to have planned the gruesome attack last week, was inside the apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with five other heavily armed people. Abaaoud, a well-known ISIS operative suspected of planning several attacks inside Europe, was previously believed to have been in Syria.

The identities of those killed and arrested were not immediately available. Speaking after the raid, French officials at the scene confirmed a second suspect, a man, was found dead inside the apartment with gun and grenade wounds.

Scores of police stormed the building and were met with unexpectedly violent resistance.

Media reports suggested as many as five police officers sustained injuries in the raid, and an officer in full tactical gear was seen leaving the apartment building with the help of colleagues, but he did not appear to be seriously hurt. A police SWAT team dog named Diesel was killed during the raid.

Police led a handcuffed man, nude from the waist down, out of the building in handcuffs hours after the raid began.

No hostages were being held, and with officials declaring the operation over at about 11:30 a.m. local time, it appeared no further suspects were still holed-up in the building.

Residents said a first explosion shook the neighborhood at about 4 a.m. local time (10 p.m. Eastern).

"Then there was second big explosion. Then two more explosions. There was an hour of gunfire," said Baptiste Marie, a 26-year-old independent journalist who lives in the neighborhood.

Another witness, Amine Guizani, said he heard the sound of grenades and automatic gunfire.

"They were shooting for an hour. Nonstop. There were grenades. It was going, stopping. Kalashnikovs. Starting again," Guizani said.

Sporadic bangs and explosions continued, and at 6:30 a.m. at least seven explosions shook the center of Saint-Denis. Associated Press reporters at the scene could hear what sounded like grenade blasts from the direction of the standoff.

Investigators have identified 27-year-old Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, as the chief architect of Friday's attacks in Paris.

A U.S. official briefed on intelligence matters said Abaaoud was a key figure in an ISIS external operations cell that U.S. intelligence agencies have been tracking for many months.

Police vans and fire trucks rushed to the scene north of Paris. The site is just over a mile from the Stade de France stadium, which was targeted by three suicide bombers during Friday's attacks.

Police cordoned off the area nearby, including a pedestrian zone lined with shops and 19th-century apartment buildings. Riot police cleared people from the streets, pointing guns at curious residents to move them off the roads.

Saint-Denis Mayor Didier Paillard said public transport was suspended and that schools in the center of town would not open Wednesday.

Seven attackers died in Friday's gun-and-bomb rampage through Paris that killed at least 129 people and left over 350 wounded. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the carnage and French President Francois Hollande called it an "act of war" committed by the group.

Police say they are hunting for two fugitives suspected of taking part as well as any accomplices. That would bring the number of attackers to at least nine.

French authorities had previously said that at least eight people were directly involved in the bloodshed: seven who died in the attacks and one who got away and slipped across the border to Belgium.

However, there have been gaps in officials' public statements, which have never fully disclosed how many attackers took part in the deadly rampage.

On Tuesday, officials told The Associated Press they now believe at least one other attacker was involved and they were working to identify and track down that suspect. Three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide details about the ongoing investigation.

Surveillance video obtained by the AP also indicated that a team of three attackers carried out the shootings at one of the cafes. The video was among evidence authorities used in concluding that at least one other attacker was at large, the French officials indicated.

The brief clip shows two black-clad gunmen with automatic weapons calmly firing on the bar then returning toward a waiting car, whose driver was maneuvering behind them. Authorities believe the car is the same black SEAT-make vehicle that was found Saturday with three Kalashnikovs inside.

Police have identified one subject of their manhunt as Salah Abdeslam, whom French police accidentally permitted to cross into Belgium on Saturday. One of his brothers, Brahim, blew himself up in Paris.




“Officials said a total of seven people were arrested in the standoff, which began in the early hours of the morning and went on for about seven hours. Three suspects were taken into custody inside the building and four others outside. Police led a handcuffed man, nude from the waist down, out of the building in handcuffs hours after the raid began. No hostages were being held, and with officials declaring the operation over at about 11:30 a.m. local time, it appeared no further suspects were still holed-up in the building. …. Police cordoned off the area nearby, including a pedestrian zone lined with shops and 19th-century apartment buildings. Riot police cleared people from the streets, pointing guns at curious residents to move them off the roads. Saint-Denis Mayor Didier Paillard said public transport was suspended and that schools in the center of town would not open Wednesday.”


Abdelhamid Abaaoud was not apparently found in the apartment, but a real “nest” of armed radicals were. The police were probably correct in suspecting that he was there, though, for such a highly armed group to be living there together. Though he was a resident of Belgium, Abaaoud probably knew where to hide. It would be shocking indeed if a really large number in the Islamic community were actually to be involved in planning terroristic attacks. If the French military know of other houses of that type, perhaps they should raid all that have been identified as being involved in ISIS support, even monetary support. The presence of a woman in a suicide vest there can’t be an accident. I will collect articles on such sleeper cells as I see them.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-will-work-with-russia-putin-to-fight-isis-but-help-end-syrian-war-first/

Obama offers to work with Russia against ISIS under one condition
CBS NEWS
November 18, 2015

Photograph -- obamaoutin2015-11-16t142432z81722268lr2ebbg140mw9rtrmadp3g20-turkey.jpg, U.S. President Barack Obama (R) chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin prior to a working session at the Group of 20 (G20) leaders summit in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, Turkey, November 16, 2015. REUTERS/KAYHAN OZER/POOL


The Russian prime minister said that the best way to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is to unite with the West, and Russia is already coordinating airstrikes with France.

While President Obama seems to agree, he said there is a catch: Russia must first help end the Syrian war. Just days after Russia launched its first significant strikes against the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, President Obama extended an offer.

"If we get a better understanding with Russia about the process for bringing an end to the Syrian civil war, that obviously opens up more opportunities for coordination with respect to ISIL," Mr. Obama said, using another acronym for ISIS.

The strikes were a major shift. Russia spent weeks bombing Syrian rebels - some backed by the U.S. - fighting to unseat President Bashar al-Assad.

"It may be that now having seen ISIL take down one of their airliners in a horrific accident that reorientation continues," said the president.

Now, Mr. Obama is relying on Vladimir Putin to help broker a ceasefire in Syria, which would eliminate an ISIS safe haven.

Kremlin analysts say Putin may simply be seizing an opportunity to repair frayed relations with the West.

"I think that the Paris bombing has produced a short-term kumbaya with Mr. Putin. I don't think it's gonna last, I don't think Obama or Putin trust each other, but they need each other right now," said Eurasia Group Chairman Cliff Kupchan.

One of the coalition's most pressing needs is intelligence sharing to track foreign fighters and target ISIS leaders.

Consolidating resources is key, says Mr. Obama's former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

"Air attacks are great, but, at the same, if you don't have good targets on the ground, it doesn't do much in terms of destabilizing the enemy," said Panetta.

Coordination may increase after the French president travels to both Moscow and Washington next week. But it is clear that tensions remain. On Wednesday, Russia's top diplomat compared the U.S. reluctance to send ground troops to a cat who wants to eat a fish but refuses to get its feet wet.




“The Russian prime minister said that the best way to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is to unite with the West, and Russia is already coordinating airstrikes with France. While President Obama seems to agree, he said there is a catch: Russia must first help end the Syrian war. Just days after Russia launched its first significant strikes against the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, President Obama extended an offer. …. The strikes were a major shift. Russia spent weeks bombing Syrian rebels - some backed by the U.S. - fighting to unseat President Bashar al-Assad. "It may be that now having seen ISIL take down one of their airliners in a horrific accident that reorientation continues," said the president. Now, Mr. Obama is relying on Vladimir Putin to help broker a ceasefire in Syria, which would eliminate an ISIS safe haven. Kremlin analysts say Putin may simply be seizing an opportunity to repair frayed relations with the West. …. One of the coalition's most pressing needs is intelligence sharing to track foreign fighters and target ISIS leaders.”


More talks should come within the next few days, but Obama is apparently the one who is holding off, pending Putin’s intervention in the Syrian civil war that is fueling the growth of ISIS. Affairs in the Middle East are so intricately entwined that it’s hard to place blame on “the bad guy” without blaming everybody, including the US who have been aiding the anti-Assad forces. Every article seems to show a little progress, but only a little. It’s discouraging.





http://www.npr.org/2015/11/17/456372754/graham-u-s-should-shore-up-arab-allies-to-fight-neighbor-from-hell-isis

Graham: U.S. Should Shore Up Arab Allies To Fight 'Neighbor From Hell' ISIS
NPR STAFF
NOVEMBER 17, 2015

Photograph -- "In the eyes of the Arabs in Turkey, ISIL is a completely different threat than Saddam Hussain, than the Taliban. They're the neighbor from hell," said Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Jim Cole/AP


President Obama says he's intensifying his strategy against ISIS — a strategy that includes airstrikes, working with local fighters like the Kurdish Peshmerga and stepping up diplomatic efforts.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, who's running for the Republican presidential nomination, wants to the U.S. to do more. He wants to send in upwards of 10,000 ground forces as part of a coalition to fight ISIS, also known as ISIL.

Graham spoke to NPR's Audie Cornish about that coalition of Arab allies, and why he says Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. are "a symptom of a failed strategy."

Interview Highlights

On his strategy to fight Islamic State

In the eyes of the Arabs in Turkey, ISIL is a completely different threat than Saddam Hussein, than the Taliban. They're the neighbor from hell. My strategy is pretty simple: rally the region who is ready to be led because they're directly threatened by ISIL and we'll provide a thickening of the force, a capability they don't provide.

On Arab allies

They've been dropping bombs, but they're not going to go in without us. ... What I would do is go to Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and the region as a whole and say we share two goals. The destruction of ISIL, which is a threat to your societies and our way of life and our homeland. And we will also work together to make sure that Iran doesn't control Syria when this is all over and Assad's got to go. If you don't put the second component on the table, the Arabs are not just going to go in and destroy ISIL and give Syria to Iran.

On Syrian refugees coming to the U.S.

Number one, a lot of people who are seizing on the refugee issue are demagoguing to emotions behind it, and not addressing the problem. Refugees are symptom of a failed strategy. The reason they're leaving Syria is because they're getting raped and murdered. And could ISIL integrate into this refugee population? Absolutely. So I'm calling for a time out on our refugee program until we can ensure we have proper vetting.

I'm more worried about getting it right than anything else. I'm willing to give money to international organizations who are dealing with the refugees in Jordan and Turkey ... I'm willing to help the region deal with refugees but if you don't go to the source of the problems, the refugees continue to flow and eventually ISIL hits us here at home.

On his viability in the 2016 race given low poll numbers

I'm going to stay in this race as long as I possibly can, and here's what I think. My voice is going to resonate over time. I don't believe you can deport 11 million illegal immigrants. I think a lot of what Trump is saying about illegal immigration is hurting the party ... and I want to go on the offense against radical Islam. New Hampshire is the way forward for me. I hope to do well in Iowa, but John McCain endorsed me last week in New Hampshire, he won there twice. I've gone there a bunch –- I do weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs, friendly divorces. If you're in New Hampshire I'm coming your way soon. That's where I think Lindsey Graham can break through.




"In the eyes of the Arabs in Turkey, ISIL is a completely different threat than Saddam Hussain, than the Taliban. They're the neighbor from hell," said Sen. Lindsey Graham.” Yet in the following article there were cries of "Allahu Akbar" from Islamic Turks at a Paris soccer match. …. But Sen. Lindsey Graham, who's running for the Republican presidential nomination, wants to the U.S. to do more. He wants to send in upwards of 10,000 ground forces as part of a coalition to fight ISIS, also known as ISIL. …. They've been dropping bombs, but they're not going to go in without us. ... What I would do is go to Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and the region as a whole and say we share two goals. The destruction of ISIL, which is a threat to your societies and our way of life and our homeland. And we will also work together to make sure that Iran doesn't control Syria when this is all over and Assad's got to go. …. The reason they're leaving Syria is because they're getting raped and murdered. And could ISIL integrate into this refugee population? Absolutely. So I'm calling for a time out on our refugee program until we can ensure we have proper vetting. I'm more worried about getting it right than anything else. I'm willing to give money to international organizations who are dealing with the refugees in Jordan and Turkey ....”


Lindsey Graham sounds more like a moderate and sane man to me than Trump, for sure, and down through the last year or so the other Republicans have said things that sound radical rightist to me. Graham also is advocating something that I believe is needed – get Middle Eastern countries to send in troops. Their nations will be invaded as well, I feel sure, so it would be in their best interests to do so. Our air strikes alone are simply insufficient to set ISIS back very effectively, but we don’t want to get mired up to our knees in the region any more than we already are. It’s just that there may not be a valid choice in the matter if Western society as we know it is to be saved. I think what just occurred in France will be seen again sooner rather than later, and possibly across the Atlantic and we need to do something more effective than what we are doing now.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/turkish-soccer-fans-chant-allahu-akbar-paris-attacks-remembrance/

Turkish soccer fans chant "Allahu Akbar" during Paris attacks remembrance
CBS/AP
November 18, 2015

Photograph -- Turkish fans cheer for their team during the friendly soccer match between Turkey and Greece at Basaksehir stadium on November 17, 2015 in Istanbul. AFP PHOTO / OZAN KOSE OZAN KOSE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES


Turkey and Greece, neighbors that have been often vicious geopolitical rivals for centuries, have attempted in recent years to reconcile their differences, a move that's been given heightened importance during the growing migrant crisis.

Their soccer teams hadn't played each other in eight years, so Tuesday's friendly match in Istanbul presented an opportunity for a power symbolic display of peace and reconciliation.

Instead, Turkish soccer fans booed and hissed loudly during the moment of silence for victims of the Paris attacks last week, and could even be heard chanting "Allahu Akbar," during the brief pause before kickoff.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had traveled to Turkey to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu for talks centering on stemming the flow of migrants crossing from Turkey into Greece.

The talks Wednesday come as Greek authorities are struggling with the influx of refugees and economic migrants reaching Greek islands from Turkey. The discussions have gained added urgency over indications that one of the Paris attackers may have passed through Greece in October.

More than 600,000 people have reached Greece so far this year. Hundreds died when their overloaded boats sank or capsized. On Tuesday, Tsipras and Davutoglu were in the stadium when the fans started booing.




“Their soccer teams hadn't played each other in eight years, so Tuesday's friendly match in Istanbul presented an opportunity for a power symbolic display of peace and reconciliation. Instead, Turkish soccer fans booed and hissed loudly during the moment of silence for victims of the Paris attacks last week, and could even be heard chanting "Allahu Akbar," during the brief pause before kickoff. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had traveled to Turkey to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu for talks centering on stemming the flow of migrants crossing from Turkey into Greece. …. More than 600,000 people have reached Greece so far this year. Hundreds died when their overloaded boats sank or capsized. On Tuesday, Tsipras and Davutoglu were in the stadium when the fans started booing.”


Cultural hatred dies hard. This article doesn’t say how strongly represented the ISIS sympathizers are in this crowd, but it does indicate one reason Turkey hasn’t been too helpful against ISIS until July. See the following article from July on that issue.


http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/turkey-bombing-both-isis-kurds-linked-forces-fighting-militants-n399626

Turkey Is Bombing Both ISIS and Kurds Linked to Forces Fighting Militants
by Cassandra Vinograd
Jul 29 2015

Video -- FROM JULY 24: Turkey Acting Against ISIS in Self-Defense, PM Says


Turkey's abrupt decision to jump into the fight against ISIS with airstrikes should have been a win for the U.S. — but the package deal that came with the operations has put its allies in a pickle.

ISIS has not been the sole target of Ankara's freshly-launched firepower: Turkish warplanes have also started bombing Kurdish fighters linked to very forces battling ISIS. How is it, then, that Turkey is fighting both sides of the same war? It's complicated.

Turkey's initial lack of enthusiasm to the anti-ISIS coalition was not well received: The key U.S. ally boasts NATO's second-largest army and a crucial geographic position, sharing long borders with Syria and Iraq.

While Ankara had until last week been prioritizing unseating Syrian President Bashar Assad over direct engagement in the war against the Sunni militants, that policy shifted in wake of a deadly ISIS attack in the Turkish city of Suruc.

The timing of Ankara's about-face on ISIS engagement, however, has raised questions over whether defeating the extremists was merely a pretext to advance Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's political agenda.

That's because while Turkish warplanes were striking ISIS targets in Syria, they were also bombing camps in northern Iraq belonging to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Those moves effectively nullified a shaky 2013 cease-fire between Turkey and the group which has waged a 30-year insurgency.

Erdogan has offered a simple and resolute explanation for the simultaneous strikes: ISIS are terrorists and the PKK are terrorists. Strictly speaking, the U.S. and European Union also consider the PKK a terrorist organization.

“"It's easy to enter a war but very challenging to get out of one"”

But while Turkey has drawn no distinction between the threats — calling a rare emergency meeting at NATO headquarters on Tuesday to discuss both — it's not so simple for the U.S.

The PKK has ties to the U.S.-backed Kurdish militias fighting against ISIS in northern Syria and those fighters — known as the YPG — have been instrumental in reclaiming ISIS-held territory.

"It's a mess," said Fadi Hakura, a Turkey analyst at the London-based Chatham House think tank. "The YPG is an ally of the U.S. but a foe or enemy of Turkey."

That has left the two allies with opposing interests in the same war and puts the U.S. in a compromising position: ensure and cultivate Turkey's participation in the anti-ISIS coalition without alienating one of the few reliable allies it has in northern Syria.

"It's a very, very delicate and complex balancing act that the U.S. will need to undertake to keep Turkey on side in the fight against the Islamic State while continuing military cooperation and coordination with the YPG in northern Syria," Hakura said.

Further complicating matters is that every gain for the YPG — a positive for the U.S. — sounds alarm bells for Turkey.

Turkey is home to the largest Kurdish population in the region and Ankara has been wary of Kurdish aspirations for an autonomous state since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Ege Seckin, a Turkey analyst for IHS Country Risk, said that the Turkish government is "wired" to perceive recent Kurdish successes and territorial gains elsewhere as a threat in case momentum builds.

The prospect of Kurdish attempts for autonomy rank higher on the threat scale than ISIS to the Turkish government, Seckin added.



The fall of the Ottoman Empire is given in dear old Wikipedia as a period of years from 1908 to 1923 as parts were gradually detached and taken over before and during WWI. That's a long time ago, and the Kurds are not now threatening any nation that I know about. Lighten up, Turkey!





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/11/17/456404304/massachusetts-opts-out-of-federal-common-core-test-aiming-at-its-own

Massachusetts Drops Federal Common Core Test, Aiming At Its Own
Bill Chappell
November 17, 2015


Massachusetts' Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to develop its own standardized test by the spring of 2017, instead of adopting a federally funded Common Core Standards Initiative test. But critics say the state board didn't go far enough.

Reporting on today's 8-3 vote in favor of creating its own test, member station WBUR quotes Secretary of Education James A. Peyser saying, "today's vote gives our students, families and educators a better measure of student achievement while maintaining state control over our assessment system."

From Boston, NPR's Arun Rath reports:

"The state has been piloting a test derived from Common Core standards for two years; it's called the Partnership for Assessing College Career Readiness, or the PARCC test. It would have replaced the state's own test, which has been in use for the last 18 years.
"Instead, the state will begin developing its own assessment, which will incorporate elements of both PARCC and the old Massachusetts test.

"Of the 26 states that adopted the PARCC test, Massachusetts is now the 20th state to drop it."

The state board voted to adapt its current exam, called the MCAS, on the day before the submission deadline for a petition by a group called End Common Core Massachusetts.

State Education Secretary Peyser said the new test would a "next-generation hybrid test," as the Burlington Union reports. But the leader of the state's largest teachers union sees it differently.

Noting that Massachusetts board commissioner Mitchell Chester also chairs the governing board of the PARCC multi-state consortium, Barbara Madeloni, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, accused the state board of "just hiding PARCC inside MCAS," according to the Union.

In addition to the states that opted out of the Common Core testing program, residents in several large states, such as Ohio, New York, have launched movements that urge their education officials to drop out.

Those movements gained steam in recent weeks, after a survey of large school districts in the U.S. found that students were being required to take too many tests.

The findings prompted President Obama to issue a video address in which he said, "I hear from parents who rightly worry about too much testing, and from teachers who feel so much pressure to teach to a test that it takes the joy out of teaching and learning both for them and for the students. I want to fix that."




“Reporting on today's 8-3 vote in favor of creating its own test, member station WBUR quotes Secretary of Education James A. Peyser saying, "today's vote gives our students, families and educators a better measure of student achievement while maintaining state control over our assessment system." …. "Instead, the state will begin developing its own assessment, which will incorporate elements of both PARCC and the old Massachusetts test. "Of the 26 states that adopted the PARCC test, Massachusetts is now the 20th state to drop it." The state board voted to adapt its current exam, called the MCAS, on the day before the submission deadline for a petition by a group called End Common Core Massachusetts. …. Barbara Madeloni, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, accused the state board of "just hiding PARCC inside MCAS," according to the Union. In addition to the states that opted out of the Common Core testing program, residents in several large states, such as Ohio, New York, have launched movements that urge their education officials to drop out. Those movements gained steam in recent weeks, after a survey of large school districts in the U.S. found that students were being required to take too many tests.”


For my part I do think that too much testing is mentally and emotionally exhausting to students, especially if how they fare on the test leads to their having to repeat the grade. Likewise, if teachers are fired because their students didn’t do as well as they should have, that is demoralizing to the teachers who remain, and has led to those unfortunate episodes of teachers being caught coaching a student to change his answer on the test. Tests should be a guide to how to tweak curriculum or emphasize specific subject matter which apparently wasn’t covered closely enough, but not to intimidate. I do feel that if the test shows the child is behind grade level on math or reading, he should go to summer school or have a tutor. If too many students in a given class fail the test, then look at the teacher more closely.

The Common Core math tests were questioned, in an article during the last year or so, as being “above grade level,” or simply reflecting a different way of teaching the subject. The school books and teachers should be on the same path as the rest of the nation – rather than, say, teaching a subtle form of white supremacy over equal rights -- and the TEST should reflect that path. Testing kids in a different way from the one that they have learned in class is ridiculous, of course. I personally think that Common Core tests and curricula should not be mandated in an exact fashion, any more than that the state of Texas should be allowed to buy and teach from “science” books that present theological versions AS being science, and Darwinian evolution as incorrect or heretical. That’s the real source of some of the complaints against Common Core that have emerged in various states. Those states are usually below the Mason Dixon line, however, not in Massachusetts.





http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/11/18/455924258/in-tennessee-giving-birth-to-a-drug-addicted-baby-can-be-a-crime

In Tennessee, Giving Birth To A Drug-Dependent Baby Can Be A Crime
Ari Shapiro
November 18, 2015

Photograph -- Brittany Crowe just completed an addiction treatment program that helped her regain custody of her children. Here she holds Allan, who was born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, as her son James stands behind them.
Ari Shapiro/NPR
Photograph -- One mother details her journey with addiction in a group therapy session at Mothers and Infants Sober Together.
Mallory Yu/NPR

In the United States, a baby is born dependent on opiates every 30 minutes. In Tennessee, the rate is three times the national average.

The drug withdrawal in newborns is called neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, which can occur when women take opiates during their pregnancies.

In the spring of 2014, Tennessee passed a controversial law that would allow the mothers of NAS babies to be charged with a crime the state calls "fetal assault." Alabama and Wisconsin have prosecuted new mothers under similar laws, and now other states are also considering legislation.

Supporters of the laws say they can provide wake-up calls to women dependent on drugs and encourage them to get help. The Tennessee law says that getting treatment for drug use is a valid defense against fetal assault charges. But critics say criminalizing the effects of a woman's drug dependence on her newborn child makes it less likely for her to seek help when it could do the most good.

The problem of NAS is growing nationwide. Nearly 6 in 1,000 babies born in in the U.S. in 2012 were diagnosed with NAS, according to study published in the Journal of Perinatology in August. That's nearly double the level seen in 2009.

In Tennessee, billboards on the side of highways declare, "Your baby's life shouldn't begin with detox," with an image of a newborn baby's foot attached to a medical monitor. The signs are strategically placed in areas with the biggest substance abuse problems, like Oak Ridge—a town surrounded by poor, rural communities in northeastern Tennessee.

On a drizzly Monday afternoon in Oak Ridge, a group of women sit in a circle in a low brick building. Some of these women have their babies – bouncing on their knees or rocking gently in car carriers. These women are all in recovery, and some are recently out of prison for fetal assault. The group is called Mothers and Infants Sober Together, or MIST, and provides outpatient treatment for mothers addicted to drugs.

Each woman takes her turn checking in with Michelle Jones, who runs the MIST program. The women talk about their challenges and triumphs, their cravings. One pregnant woman admits to feeling guilty for being on a medicine prescribed by her doctor to ease her cravings for opiates.

"Can I say something? Don't feel guilty," another woman pipes up, "because it's going to help you right now."

Jones sits in the circle with them, week after week, asking questions and prompting them to open up. It's not an easy task. Many of them were afraid to talk at first.

Fear Leads Some Pregnant Women To Avoid Prenatal Care

Brittany Crowe used to be one of those women. Now, she shares her story.

"I could have gone into a baby doctor at first, but I was scared because of the new law," Crowe tells the group. When she was pregnant with her youngest son, she was addicted to prescription drugs and knew that if she went to a doctor, a drug test would come back positive. So she stayed away. She had no prenatal care through her entire pregnancy. She was so afraid of going to jail and losing custody of her children that she considered giving birth at home.

"I worry about that a lot now," she told us later, "I wonder how many babies are not known about because the mothers are afraid to get help, and then they're born at home and nobody ever knows about these babies. If they're going through withdrawal so bad, they're going to pass away."

Crowe finally went to the hospital 10 minutes before she gave birth. Her son was born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. The Department of Children's Services took him and her older children away and put them in foster care. Crowe enrolled in the MIST program to get clean.

Crowe's experience points to one reason medical professionals and social workers oppose the fetal assault law. They worry that the law will keep women from getting medical care. Dr. Jessica Young, an OB-GYN at Vanderbilt University who specializes in addiction during pregnancy, says the law has made her patients afraid.

"So now they're making decisions on medical care out of fear rather than out of science or what is best for them and their baby's health," she says. "Fear makes people make rash unsafe decisions without the consultation or guidance of a physician."

State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, a Republican who co-sponsored the bill, argues that critics misunderstand its intent.

"We want to get these women help," she says. They "weren't getting help — not going to prenatal care anyway. Their mindset is not on prenatal care. The mindset is on the next drug." She hopes the law can act as a wake-up call to addicted women that will motivate them to seek help.

Some of the mothers at MIST told us the law did scare them into getting help. When Jessica Roberts got pregnant, the law drove her to enroll in rehab twice, but it didn't make her quit. She relapsed both times, injecting herself with opiates.

"What finally broke me was, I was 31 weeks. I had tied off to hit myself. And I put my arm on my stomach. And [the baby] kicked my arm off. And that broke me," she says. "To me, it was like my baby saying 'Mom, you can't do this anymore. I need you.' And it hurt."

Treatment Slots Are Hard To Find

When Roberts wanted help quitting cold turkey, she had a hard time finding it. Not many rehab clinics will detox a pregnant woman, and the few that do have long waitlists. Doctors disagree on whether detoxing a pregnant woman is really best for mothers and their babies. Instead, most physicians recommend a gradual tapering of less-harmful medications like methadone, paired with a comprehensive addiction treatment program. Those programs are scarce, however, and often have long waiting lists of their own.

Dr. Young's clinic at Vanderbilt, for instance, has a waiting list of up to eight weeks, and the majority of her patients have to drive over an hour to see her.

At the state Department of Children's Services, Connie Gardner says it feels like Tennessee is "drowning in the drug problem," and nobody has thrown the state a life preserver. She understands why mothers view her office with distrust and fear. The department makes the decision about when babies should be taken from a mother and put into foster care.

"None of these mothers wakes up and says, 'I'm going to abuse my child today,' " Gardner says. "None of them wakes up and says, 'I'm going to be a bad mother.' What I have to remember is that they do. They can get better. What's frustrating, what's disappointing is that we don't have the tools to help them get better."

Even the law's advocates acknowledge that there isn't enough help for the women who want it. Barry Staubus, the district attorney for Sullivan County in the northeast corner of Tennessee, has prosecuted more than 20 drug-using mothers this year.

"Of course I'm for funding programs and making those programs available," he says. "There's always the call for more funding, but we can't let that get in the way of a good idea ... or an effective program."

Staubus believes that there needs to be real consequences to women who chronically abuse powerful prescription drugs while pregnant. He says the threat of jail time would scare even the most defiant women, who had been previously unwilling to get into a program.

The Tennessee law is set to expire next year, unless state legislators renew it. So its effectiveness is under close scrutiny.

Births Of Addicted Babies Up In Nashville

At Vanderbilt Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Nashville, the persistent squealing cry of newborns going through drug withdrawal provides an audible reminder that this problem is far from solved. In the year and a half since this law took effect, the numbers of NAS babies have not gone down, says Dr. Stephen Patrick, who researches neonatal abstinence syndrome at the hospital. He saw 100 cases last year, and the hospital is on track to see at least that many this year. He doesn't think punishment is the right way to solve this problem.

NAS is a treatable condition in newborns, he says, and there isn't enough research to know what its long-term effects on a child might be."There was a lot of concern about the cocaine epidemic and Time magazine calling it a 'lost generation.' I think we should be really cautious in how we frame this moving forward," he says. "The evidence really doesn't support that for neonatal abstinence syndrome. And, in fact, we know that other substances, legal substances such as alcohol, are far more harmful long-term to infants."

On a warm fall afternoon, Brittany Crowe and her children are at the park. Her older kids play in a stream as she holds her youngest on her hip. He's 9 months old, with big blue eyes and a tuft of blond hair.

One of her boys runs up to her, a mischievous smile on his face.

"Don't you splash me," she warns, but there's amusement in her voice.

He giggles and Mom gets a faceful of muddy water. She laughs as she wipes it from her eyes. He splashes her again.

Is she having second thoughts about having her children back?

"I think it's a little too late," she says, laughing. "I can honestly say a year ago I wouldn't have been here." She's grateful to be here now. Free of drugs, and finally reunited with her children.




“In the United States, a baby is born dependent on opiates every 30 minutes. In Tennessee, the rate is three times the national average. The drug withdrawal in newborns is called neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, which can occur when women take opiates during their pregnancies. In the spring of 2014, Tennessee passed a controversial law that would allow the mothers of NAS babies to be charged with a crime the state calls "fetal assault." Alabama and Wisconsin have prosecuted new mothers under similar laws, and now other states are also considering legislation. …. Crowe's experience points to one reason medical professionals and social workers oppose the fetal assault law. They worry that the law will keep women from getting medical care. …. "Of course I'm for funding programs and making those programs available," he says. "There's always the call for more funding, but we can't let that get in the way of a good idea ... or an effective program." Staubus believes that there needs to be real consequences to women who chronically abuse powerful prescription drugs while pregnant. He says the threat of jail time would scare even the most defiant women, who had been previously unwilling to get into a program. …. In the year and a half since this law took effect, the numbers of NAS babies have not gone down, says Dr. Stephen Patrick, who researches neonatal abstinence syndrome at the hospital. He saw 100 cases last year, and the hospital is on track to see at least that many this year. He doesn't think punishment is the right way to solve this problem. NAS is a treatable condition in newborns, he says, and there isn't enough research to know what its long-term effects on a child might be."


According to this article, the criminalizing of drug use while pregnant is in some cases at least causing mothers to avoid seeing a physician for fear they will be incarcerated. That really is a shame, since according to one doctor, NAS is “treatable.” It seems to me that rather than being put in prison they should be put into mandatory treatment programs. The central problem with addiction however is that it’s really very hard to break those habits, and many just can’t necessarily do it. There is also denial that they are harming the baby. "None of them wakes up and says, 'I'm going to be a bad mother.'” As with all mental health issues, the number of available treatment centers who will accept inpatients on a long term basis is too low, and with outpatient programs the patient cannot be monitored 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. It’s true, of course, that in prison that can be done, but imprisoning women for the duration of their pregnancy sounds cruel to me. There are few 100% foolproof solutions to the problem, and in the end there will simply be some babies born as addicts. This is another of those deeply sad situations, I’m afraid, which is a source of societal pain.




Weather Issues


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/powerful-northwest-storm-called-historic/

Powerful Northwest storm called "historic"
CBS/AP
November 18, 2015

Video news report – Go to website


SEATTLE -- At least three people have died and hundreds of thousands were without power on Tuesday as a severe storm unleashed high winds moved across the Northwest.

Police said a woman in her 50s was killed when a tree toppled taking down power lines as it fell in Spokane on Tuesday afternoon. Fire crews were unable to resuscitate her.

Another woman died after a tree fell on her car on a highway about 15 miles southwest of Spokane, according to the Washington State Patrol.

A man in his mid-20s was killed when a tree crushed his car as he was driving near Sultan in Snohomish County. The tree landed on the car's roof directly over the driver's seat, killing him instantly, said Fire Chief Merlin Halverson.

Their identities were not immediately released.

Puget Sound Energy reported nearly 178,000 customers without power in its Western Washington region Tuesday night as trees toppled onto roadways and power lines. An electrical power failure at a Tacoma sewer treatment plant resulted in waste water sewage discharging for a short time into the lower Puyallup River.

Two mudslides blocked Highway 2 between Skykomish and Deception Falls, the state Department of Transportation said. Ferry trips were delayed or canceled in several areas and Sound Transit trains were delayed due to trees and water on the tracks throughout the system.

Area rivers were also flooding from the Snohomish River near Monroe to the Snoqualmie River in King County. About 40 miles northeast of Seattle, Skykomish River was flooding downtown Sultan, prompting residents and business owners to place sand bags and leave for the night.

The Washington State Patrol temporarily closed Interstate 90 between the towns of George and Vantage in central Washington after winds whipped up a dust storm.

The National Weather Service issued a windstorm warning that began noon Tuesday and ran until midnight for most of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, saying the system would have sustained winds of 45 mph and with gusts up to 70 mph in certain areas, including Spokane. Rattlesnake Mountain, a 3,500-foot ridge that overlooks the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southwestern Washington, saw wind gusts as high as 113 mph, the Tri-City Herald reported.

Energy company Avista Corp. said more than 136,000 customers had lost power as of Tuesday night around Spokane and in Northern Idaho. Flights into and out of Spokane International Airport were canceled or delayed Tuesday evening.

Avista described the storm as "historic" in saying it left more people in the dark than an infamous ice storm in 1996, reports CBS Spokane affiliate KREM-TV. That one knocked out power to 100,000 customers.

"At the height of Ice Storm, more than 100,000 people had no power; more than half of the residents of Spokane," KREM notes. "The majority of those who lost power initially were still in the dark three days later. The numbers did not decrease to 20,000 until six days after the storm. Some people shivered in 16 degree weather in the dark for two weeks before their lights and heat finally turned back on."

The Cheney and Spokane campuses of Eastern Washington University closed Tuesday afternoon because of high winds.

The National Weather Service said the storm also brought heavy snow to the Methow Valley in north-central Washington.

In Oregon, thousands were without power in the greater Portland area and a flood watch was issued for the northern Oregon coast through Wednesday. State officials said heavy rain caused Portland's sewer system to overflow into the Willamette River and residents were urged to avoid contact with the river through Thursday evening.

More than 20 fallen trees closed eastbound Interstate 84 Tuesday night between exit 17 at Troutdale and exit 64 at Hood River for debris removal. Oregon Department of Transportation officials said they expected the closure to last until about noon Wednesday.

Elsewhere Tuesday, a powerful storm dumped heavy snow on parts of Colorado while bringing the threat of tornadoes to millions in central and southern states. Much of Interstate 70, Colorado's main east-west highway, was closed because of blizzard conditions on the state's Eastern Plains as well as in northwest Kansas, where up to 15 inches of snow and heavy winds were in the forecast.

Early Tuesday, two weak tornadoes touched down in the northern suburbs of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to the National Weather Service. No one was injured.

The storm that originated in the Gulf of Alaska could be a harbinger of El Nino, the ocean-warming phenomenon that's predicted to bring heavy rain to the West in the coming months, said Kathy Hoxsie of the National Weather Service.




“The National Weather Service issued a windstorm warning that began noon Tuesday and ran until midnight for most of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, saying the system would have sustained winds of 45 mph and with gusts up to 70 mph in certain areas, including Spokane. Rattlesnake Mountain, a 3,500-foot ridge that overlooks the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southwestern Washington, saw wind gusts as high as 113 mph, the Tri-City Herald reported. …. Avista described the storm as "historic" in saying it left more people in the dark than an infamous ice storm in 1996, reports CBS Spokane affiliate KREM-TV. That one knocked out power to 100,000 customers. …. More than 20 fallen trees closed eastbound Interstate 84 Tuesday night between exit 17 at Troutdale and exit 64 at Hood River for debris removal. Oregon Department of Transportation officials said they expected the closure to last until about noon Wednesday. Elsewhere Tuesday, a powerful storm dumped heavy snow on parts of Colorado while bringing the threat of tornadoes to millions in central and southern states. Much of Interstate 70, Colorado's main east-west highway, was closed because of blizzard conditions on the state's Eastern Plains as well as in northwest Kansas, where up to 15 inches of snow and heavy winds were in the forecast. …. The storm that originated in the Gulf of Alaska could be a harbinger of El Nino, the ocean-warming phenomenon that's predicted to bring heavy rain to the West in the coming months, said Kathy Hoxsie of the National Weather Service.”


Let me guess, climate change! It’s not clear what the pattern will be once it is fully developed, but lots of temperature and moisture contrasts are probably going to be part of it, and all kinds of bigger and stronger storms. The winds from this one were up to 133 mph, there has been flooding, and there was even a dust storm and two weak tornadoes. They’re naming the villain as being the result of El Nino, and the heavy rain is expected to continue. Interestingly no one has yet explained to everyone’s satisfaction the origin of increasing El Nino events, but the following article claims it is the greenhouse effect, i.e. global warming. Read the article below for more information.

http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v4/n2/full/nclimate2100.html

“El Niño events are a prominent feature of climate variability with global climatic impacts. The 1997/98 episode, often referred to as ‘the climate event of the twentieth century’1, 2, and the 1982/83 extreme El Niño3, featured a pronounced eastward extension of the west Pacific warm pool and development of atmospheric convection, and hence a huge rainfall increase, in the usually cold and dry equatorial eastern Pacific. Such a massive reorganization of atmospheric convection, which we define as an extreme El Niño, severely disrupted global weather patterns, affecting ecosystems4, 5, agriculture6, tropical cyclones, drought, bushfires, floods and other extreme weather events worldwide3, 7, 8, 9. Potential future changes in such extreme El Niño occurrences could have profound socio-economic consequences. Here we present climate modelling evidence for a doubling in the occurrences in the future in response to greenhouse warming. We estimate the change by aggregating results from climate models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phases 3 (CMIP3; ref. 10) and 5 (CMIP5; ref. 11) multi-model databases, and a perturbed physics ensemble12. The increased frequency arises from a projected surface warming over the eastern equatorial Pacific that occurs faster than in the surrounding ocean waters13, 14, facilitating more occurrences of atmospheric convection in the eastern equatorial region.”





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/el-nino-expected-to-strengthen-bring-more-wild-weather/

El Nino likely to strengthen, bring more wild weather
By STEPHANIE PAPPAS LIVESCIENCE.COM
November 17, 2015

Photograph -- These false-color images provided by NASA satellites compare warm Pacific Ocean water temperatures from the strong El Nino that brought North America large amounts of rainfall in 1997, left, and the current El Nino as of Aug. 5, 2015, right. Warmer ocean water that normally stays in the western Pacific, shown as lighter orange, red and white areas, moves east along the equator toward the Americas. NASA VIA AP


El Niño is likely to strengthen by the end of the year, potentially bringing more precipitation than usual to much of the United States.

This year's El Niño is among the strongest since 1950, according to meteorologists. Already, the atmospheric pattern is among the top three since that time, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The organization's latest update warns that peak three-month average surface water temperatures in the east-central tropical Pacific are more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal. El Niño is a climate pattern that brings warm water to the western shores of South America. This warm water is prone to evaporation, fueling a moister atmosphere that boosts Pacific hurricanes such as Patricia, the October storm that grew to be the most powerful tropical cyclone ever measured in the Western Hemisphere. [How El Niño Causes Wild Weather All Over the Globe (Infographic)]

However, the effects of El Niño are complex. While the southern half of the United States usually gets soggier with El Niño, some regions -- including Hawaii, Australia, India and Brazil, among other places -- become more prone to drought, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

The current El Niño ranks among those in 1972-1973, 1982-1983 and 1997-1998 as one of the strongest on record, according to the WMO. Already, the effects are apparent.

"Severe droughts and devastating flooding being experienced throughout the tropics and subtropical zones bear the hallmarks of this El Niño, which is the strongest for more than 15 years," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement. El Niño typically reaches peak strength between October and January.

Predicting weather patterns in particular regions in this strengthening El Niño is difficult, however, because the pattern is only one of several that affect global weather. The tropical Atlantic sea surface temperature and the oscillations in temperature of the Indian Ocean play roles in determining temperature and precipitation as well, according to the WMO. The situation is further complicated by the backdrop of global climate change, which has melted Arctic summer ice and snow, and heated up the ocean surface.

"[T]his naturally occurring El Niño event and human-induced climate change may interact and modify each other in ways which we have never before experienced," Jarraud said. "Even before the onset of El Niño, global average surface temperatures had reached new records. El Niño is turning up the heat even further."

One 2010 study found that climate change may shift warm waters from the eastern equatorial Pacific to the central Pacific, which, in turn, could completely alter the atmospheric patterns El Niño brings. La Niña, a separate weather pattern that typically involves cooler-than-usual waters in the equatorial Pacific, may become more extreme with global warming, according to research released this year in the journal Nature Climate Change. Extreme La Niña events often occur after extreme El Niño events because El Niño releases heat from the ocean into the atmosphere, Wenju Cai, the author of that study and a climate scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia, told Live Science at the time. The result is atmospheric circulation that cools the equatorial Pacific.

La Niña can cause drought in the southern United States and flooding in the areas that El Niño typically dries out, meaning that if this pattern of extreme El Niño to extreme La Niña sets up, the globe could be in for a wild ride over the next several years.




“El Niño is likely to strengthen by the end of the year, potentially bringing more precipitation than usual to much of the United States. This year's El Niño is among the strongest since 1950, according to meteorologists. Already, the atmospheric pattern is among the top three since that time, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The organization's latest update warns that peak three-month average surface water temperatures in the east-central tropical Pacific are more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal. …. This warm water is prone to evaporation, fueling a moister atmosphere that boosts Pacific hurricanes such as Patricia, the October storm that grew to be the most powerful tropical cyclone ever measured in the Western Hemisphere. …. While the southern half of the United States usually gets soggier with El Niño, some regions -- including Hawaii, Australia, India and Brazil, among other places -- become more prone to drought …. Predicting weather patterns in particular regions in this strengthening El Niño is difficult, however, because the pattern is only one of several that affect global weather. The tropical Atlantic sea surface temperature and the oscillations in temperature of the Indian Ocean play roles in determining temperature and precipitation as well, according to the WMO. The situation is further complicated by the backdrop of global climate change, which has melted Arctic summer ice and snow, and heated up the ocean surface. "[T]his naturally occurring El Niño event and human-induced climate change may interact and modify each other in ways which we have never before experienced," Jarraud said. "Even before the onset of El Niño, global average surface temperatures had reached new records. El Niño is turning up the heat even further." …. La Niña, a separate weather pattern that typically involves cooler-than-usual waters in the equatorial Pacific, may become more extreme with global warming, according to research released this year in the journal Nature Climate Change. Extreme La Niña events often occur after extreme El Niño events.”


As long as no part of the world becomes very, very dry or overwhelmingly wet, these storms may not cause great duress. They’ll hit and then move on, leaving downed trees, contaminated drinking water as in the article above this. If the change becomes permanent, however, it will be another story. Plants can no longer be grown there and the water supply for human and animal consumption will be severely altered. (See the great old SciFi movie Waterworld.) That will cause severe economic and social issues including almost certainly destabilization of current national boundaries. If farmers have to go out of business and city dwellers have to pay extremely high rates to take a bath it will cause a great deal of upheaval. We need to stop using coal for our power plants and cutting down our forests (many people don’t understand that growing plant life uses up some of the CO2 that is in the atmosphere). But I’ve said that before.