December 14, 2015


News Clips For The Day


Poll: Hillary Clinton would beat Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, but not Rubio or Carson
CBS NEWS
December 14, 2015

Related Articles:
Donald Trump back on top, with Ted Cruz climbing into second
Hillary Clinton leads Democratic field

Play VIDEO -- 12/13: Kerry, Kasich, Luntz


At this point in the campaign, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton would beat Ted Cruz and Donald Trump in head-to-head matchups in the general election, but a new Wall Street Journal-NBC poll finds that she would not win against Marco Rubio or Ben Carson.

Clinton currently leads the Democratic primary field by about 20 points, and this poll indicates she is more attractive to independent voters than Trump is, but Cruz, Rubio and Carson would pick up more independent support than she would in the general election.

Her margin against Trump would be 50 percent to his 40 percent. Forty-three percent of independent voters would support Clinton, while 36 percent would give their support to Trump. Sixty-nine percent of Hispanics would choose Clinton, compared to 24 percent for Trump.

A race between Clinton and Cruz would be closer, with Clinton winning 48 percent to 45 percent. Marco Rubio, in this poll, would get 48 percent of the vote, compared to 45 percent for Clinton. Although Carson has been losing support rapidly to Cruz, he would win 47 percent of the vote, compared to Clinton's 46 percent, according to the poll, and it's independents who prefer Carson here, 48 percent, compared to 34 percent for Clinton.

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted December 6-9. It has a margin of error among registered voters of +/- 3.36 percentage points.



The recent Wall Street Journal-NBC poll predicts a head to head race between Clinton and almost any of the main Republicans, and it apparently did not ask about Bernie Sanders or O’Malley. Of course Sanders is still an Independent, so that may be the reason for not including him in this poll, but he is running as a Democrat. True, he’s running behind Clinton by some 20 percentage points, but he is still a contender.

O’Malley has a lower following, probably because he is almost unknown to the public. I only learned his name when he entered the race. If Clinton is going to be the Democratic candidate, I wish she were in a better position in the poll compared to the leading Republicans. The election, if it were held today, could go either way.

The following NPR article on Sanders shows his message and his consistency during his political career. Also, I suggest you go to the poll by BPI which compares Progressive and Conservatives on specific issues, and the graph shown seems to indicate a trend toward the left on a surprising number of points, though the big emotional issues are verging somewhat to the right – not very far to the right. That is, abortion, education policy, health care and tax reform. On the left are drug policy, environmental issues, gun control, immigration reform, LGBT rights, and Social Security.

It appears to me that the public at large, though there are strong opinions being voiced among the conservatives in the legislature and some of their more unsavory followers such as the White Power movement, is less conservative on most issues than I expected. That’s encouraging. It shows the public does have some common sense. I could be wrong, but I still don’t think Donald Trump has a chance of winning the presidency. We shall see, of course.

This poll, the Bing Political Index, is at the following website along with more information about Bernie Sanders -- “http://www.bing.com/search?q=bERNIe+Sanders+INDEPENDENT&form=PRUSEN&mkt=en-us&refig=c7bfbe8624574fb9b3d550956bf56792&pq=bernie+sanders+independent&sc=9-21&sp=-1&qs=n&sk=&ghc=2&cvid=c7bfbe8624574fb9b3d550956bf56792”





http://www.npr.org/2015/12/11/459231940/bernie-sanders-has-stuck-to-the-same-message-for-40-years

Bernie Sanders Has Stuck To The Same Message For 40 Years
Tamara Keith
December 12, 2015


There are many ways to describe Bernie Sanders: a democratic socialist, an independent senator, a Democratic presidential candidate. But the best adjective may just be: consistent. No matter how you label it, Sanders' worldview is locked in.

Over 40 years, Sanders has built his political career on a very focused message about what he calls a "rigged economy."

Now he's running for president, which typically means reacting to what's happening in the world, in real time. But even in the wake of terrorist attacks by ISIS, Sanders' primary focus is still where it's been since the 1970s.

The "1 percent"

On the advantages enjoyed by the richest Americans, over the years, the numbers Sanders cites have changed. But the intensity and message have not.

Income inequality

It's a theme that runs through every speech Sanders gives. And over the course of a decade, the way he describes the "unfair distribution of wealth" has changed very little. In a 2005 speech on the House floor and 10 years later at his campaign kickoff rally in Burlington, Vt., this past spring, he delivered essentially the same line.

Voter turnout

Listening to speeches and debate performances going back to 1976, another theme emerges: his concern with voter turnout.

Sanders attributes this to politicians not talking about the real issues facing the working people of America, kowtowing to corporate interests instead of helping the poor and middle class get ahead.

Their needs and struggles have been a near single-minded focus of Sanders since his earliest days in politics.

"His concerns have always been about families and their economic problems, and when people say that Bernie is consistent, that is what he's consistent about," said Huck Gutman, one of Sanders' oldest friends from Vermont.

Gutman spoke about his friend in a wide-ranging interview earlier this year, as Sanders prepared to kick off his campaign. And Gutman said the laser focus isn't just there when the cameras are rolling.

"When we talk, that's what he talks about all the time," said Gutman.

Asked if he ever tries to change the subject to something like sports, Gutman said it doesn't work.

"I bring up things sometimes. It doesn't stay there very long," said Gutman. "Bernie and I go for walks every weekend. We have long talks. And it's always about economics and politics."

The question now is whether this consistency, this focus, is an asset or a problem for Sanders' candidacy. His supporters say that's one of the things they love about him. They don't want him to get distracted by the latest news.

Sanders held an event this week in a Baltimore neighborhood where riots broke out in April. His press secretary asked reporters to keep the questions to the issues the senator was there to discuss — poverty, unemployment and the criminal justice system. "Don't ask about ISIS today," said Symone Sanders, the campaign's press secretary. So, as the press conference was wrapping up, a reporter asked Bernie Sanders if there was a reason he didn't want to talk about ISIS.

Sanders scoffed.

"What I have said is that obviously ISIS and terrorism are a huge national issue that we've got to address, but so is poverty, so is unemployment, so is education, so is health care," said Sanders. "So is the need to protect working families. And I will, I will continue to talk about those issues."

That's what he's always done. Whether that continues to work for his presidential campaign depends on whether voters' top concern remains the economy or if it is displaced by fear of terrorism and ISIS.




“No matter how you label it, Sanders' worldview is locked in. Over 40 years, Sanders has built his political career on a very focused message about what he calls a "rigged economy." Now he's running for president, which typically means reacting to what's happening in the world, in real time. But even in the wake of terrorist attacks by ISIS, Sanders' primary focus is still where it's been since the 1970s. …. Listening to speeches and debate performances going back to 1976, another theme emerges: his concern with voter turnout. Sanders attributes this to politicians not talking about the real issues facing the working people of America, kowtowing to corporate interests instead of helping the poor and middle class get ahead. …. "His concerns have always been about families and their economic problems, and when people say that Bernie is consistent, that is what he's consistent about," said Huck Gutman, one of Sanders' oldest friends from Vermont. …. The question now is whether this consistency, this focus, is an asset or a problem for Sanders' candidacy. His supporters say that's one of the things they love about him. They don't want him to get distracted by the latest news. …. So, as the press conference was wrapping up, a reporter asked Bernie Sanders if there was a reason he didn't want to talk about ISIS. Sanders scoffed. "What I have said is that obviously ISIS and terrorism are a huge national issue that we've got to address, but so is poverty, so is unemployment, so is education, so is health care," said Sanders. "So is the need to protect working families. And I will, I will continue to talk about those issues."


One of my father’s phrases was “Money talks!” He meant in politics, in justice, in world affairs and so on. I would like to say that if Sanders had ENOUGH followers across the country he could make it the focus of his campaign and win. Maybe in a few years’ time that will happen. Our economy may not be in a sufficiently difficult position for that now, unfortunately. When my father was just graduating from high school the famous stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday 1929) and the Great Depression. See the Wikipedia article on the resulting worldwide depression. US unemployment, according to that article was 25% and in some European countries at 33%. Economies failed and governments were sorely taxed. The economic situation brought in Fascism in Europe and Franklin D Roosevelt in the US.

The conservatives here distrusted him, called him a dictator, and drew horrible political cartoons showing his wife as a very unattractive woman. She was “plain,” physically, but she was also brilliant and a fine human being. Between her and her husband they initiated reforms that limited the power of the very wealthiest Americans and their handmaiden big business over workers, and put the American people on their feet financially again. His “make work” program was scorned by some, but it gave people jobs again and got business flowing. Increased union activity and regulatory laws on businesses as to their employee policies came about under the New Deal. Finally the US entered WWII – not in time to save the millions of Jews who were in concentration camps – and that further boosted the US economy. See also the interesting article in Wikipedia called “Labor history of the United States.”

In summary, we need another Roosevelt, and I believe Sanders could be that person, but conservatives are still too strong, I fear, for Sanders to win in 2016. One of the factors involved is that many wealthy people in the years following 1929 experienced great loss, and that is not happening now. It’s the Middle Class and the poor who are really in trouble. The economy now is more like that of the Roaring Twenties when the income gap was as bad as it is now, and the rightwing powers including an anti-Jewish and labor union trend, held sway. The following Wikipedia article called “Great Depression” shows the kind of economic catastrophe that is probably needed to put another highly liberal/socialistic president and congress in office again. Still I have hopes.




COPTHINK – “POINTING IS RELATIVE.”


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/33-shots-la-deputies-defend-slaying-crawling-man-nicholas-robertson/

33 shots: L.A. deputies defend slaying of crawling man
CBS/AP
December 14, 2015

Photograph -- A still taken from a cellphone video of a deadly shooting by L.A. sheriff's deputies in Lynwood, Calif., on Dec. 12, 2015. CBS LOS ANGELES
Photograph -- Nicholas Robertson CBS LOS ANGELES
Play VIDEO -- Caught on tape: L.A. officers fire dozens of times on armed suspect


LYNWOOD, Calif. -- Sheriff's deputies fired 33 bullets at a man who they say was armed with a .45 caliber handgun in the Lynwood area of Los Angeles County.

"One deputy fired 17 and another deputy fired 16," said Cpt. Steve Katz of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department about Saturday's deputy-involved shooting, according to CBS Los Angeles.

The incident was captured on video, which at one point shows the suspect crawling away as the deputies unloaded their guns into him.

The captain said it wasn't necessarily unusual for a deputy to fire that many rounds.

"In this case, there was some grave concern for the number of victims that were in that location. The suspect presented a threat to the deputies and the community and they took the action that they did," he said.

The man, identified Sunday as Nicholas Robertson, 28, of Lynwood, died Saturday following the deputy-involved shooting in the area of Long Beach Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue.

Prior to the confrontation, Katz said deputies had yelled out commands to the suspect as he crossed an intersection. When the suspect failed to comply, the shooting unfolded.

"He did not comply with their repeated requests to drop the weapon," Katz said.

The captain said Robertson's gun was not loaded when he encountered deputies, but he had ammunition with him. Asked if he ever pointed the gun at deputies, Katz said "pointing is relative."

"We do have evidence that the suspect did fire the weapon multiple times prior to the interaction with the deputies," said Katz in referring to 911 calls the department had received.

Some of the witness accounts said the suspect was armed while others indicated that the suspect had discharged his firearm six to seven times in a residential area.

"According to witnesses who called 911, six to seven gunshots were fired by the suspect in a residential area," the captain said.

One business reported that the suspect had entered and was behaving erratically and yelling expletives. Employees there reported that he was armed with a handgun.

During the news conference, authorities released an image of the suspect on the ground "clearly with a handgun in his hand," Katz said. Video from a nearby business seems to show the suspect purportedly carrying what appears to be a handgun.

Katz said the first 911 call was received at 10:53 a.m. and deputy-involved shooting happened six minutes later. The suspect, according to Katz, retained his weapon through the entire time. Katz said the gun, which was not registered to the suspect, was recovered from him after the shooting incident.

"It's very troubling anytime you have someone shot and killed by police officers, especially those who are shot in the back and shot again and they crawled to their death," Najee Ali, the political director of the National Action Network, said at a news conference held outside Sheriff's Headquarters.

But Ali urged the community to remain calm and not rush to judgment.

"Let's not rush to judgment. Let's stay calm, cool and collected and let's get to the truth of what happened with this situation because at the end of the day we don't want to see what happened in Chicago, what happened in Philadelphia, what happened in Ferguson happen to LA County," he said.

The deputies involved in the incident have been reassigned from field duty pending an assessment of the shooting, said Sheriff Jim McDonnell. Both have at least one year of experience in the field, according to Katz. Their identities have not been released.

Deputies stressed that the investigation was still in its preliminary stages.

Katz said detectives have been canvassing the area for digital video from cellphones and businesses in the area.

Without disclosing specifics, authorities said the suspect had prior contact with law enforcement.

Before the various surveillance videos were released Sunday, Robertson's family passionately denied that he had a gun.

"I can't say who was right or who was wrong. I get they have a protocol but when you look at the video it's obvious he didn't pose a threat," said Michael Green, Robertson's brother-in-law.

"After the first shot he hit the ground," said the brother-in-law, "he was immobilized. Nothing you could do to him but to stand here and keep shooting, reload and keep shooting. It was just uncalled for."

Investigators say after the incident was all over they found Robertson's gun was unloaded but that he had ammunition on his person.


Robertson's family held a vigil in his memory Sunday evening.



“The incident was captured on video, which at one point shows the suspect crawling away as the deputies unloaded their guns into him. The captain said it wasn't necessarily unusual for a deputy to fire that many rounds. "In this case, there was some grave concern for the number of victims that were in that location. The suspect presented a threat to the deputies and the community and they took the action that they did," he said. …. Prior to the confrontation, Katz said deputies had yelled out commands to the suspect as he crossed an intersection. When the suspect failed to comply, the shooting unfolded. "He did not comply with their repeated requests to drop the weapon," Katz said. The captain said Robertson's gun was not loaded when he encountered deputies, but he had ammunition with him. Asked if he ever pointed the gun at deputies, Katz said "pointing is relative." …. Some of the witness accounts said the suspect was armed while others indicated that the suspect had discharged his firearm six to seven times in a residential area. "According to witnesses who called 911, six to seven gunshots were fired by the suspect in a residential area," the captain said. One business reported that the suspect had entered and was behaving erratically and yelling expletives. Employees there reported that he was armed with a handgun. …. Video from a nearby business seems to show the suspect purportedly carrying what appears to be a handgun. Katz said the first 911 call was received at 10:53 a.m. and deputy-involved shooting happened six minutes later. The suspect, according to Katz, retained his weapon through the entire time. Katz said the gun, which was not registered to the suspect, was recovered from him after the shooting incident. …. Najee Ali, the political director of the National Action Network, said at a news conference held outside Sheriff's Headquarters. But Ali urged the community to remain calm and not rush to judgment. "Let's not rush to judgment. Let's stay calm, cool and collected and let's get to the truth of what happened with this situation because at the end of the day we don't want to see what happened in Chicago, what happened in Philadelphia, what happened in Ferguson happen to LA County," he said. …. "I can't say who was right or who was wrong. I get they have a protocol but when you look at the video it's obvious he didn't pose a threat," said Michael Green, Robertson's brother-in-law. "After the first shot he hit the ground," said the brother-in-law, "he was immobilized. Nothing you could do to him but to stand here and keep shooting, reload and keep shooting. It was just uncalled for."


“…it wasn't necessarily unusual for a deputy to fire that many rounds….” Well, maybe it should be unusual. Many of these cases do involve what is clearly “overkill” and in this case it occurred specifically because there was a 911 report that he had fired the gun some six minutes earlier, so they assumed he was “armed and dangerous.” When he didn’t obey commands they shot him. When his gun was examined it was empty. The phrase “pointing is relative” sounds highly self-satisfied, cynical and very cold rather than showing any feeling for human life. Many police officers consider themselves to be soldiers in a war rather than peace officers, and the results are these massive and instantaneous reactions to a situation. The fact that the first shot put him on the ground and he was crawling away shows that he almost certainly could have been apprehended and arrested rather than exterminated.

See the very interesting article below from the Denver Post. I have been arguing for mandatory psych examinations, a minimum of two years in post high school education, a completely clean police record including in prior law enforcement positions, freedom from drug and alcohol abuse, and such things as freedom from membership in rightwing and white supremacist organizations. We need to weed out malevolent humans from the candidate groups before they are hired, not after they commit a series of unnecessarily violent actions while in the force.



HIRING REQUIREMENTS FOR POLICE 2015


http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29246609/psych-evaluations-may-be-required-all-police-hires

Psychological evaluations may be required for all law enforcement hires in the state

By Christopher N. Osher
The Denver Post
Posted: 12/14/2015

Photograph -- A series of old police badges. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Related articles --
Dec 13:
•Felony guilty plea did not end Colorado cop's career; havoc followed
Oct 14:
•Colorado Rep. Angela Williams to push bill against 2nd-chance cops
Oct 11:
•How Colorado laws give fired police officers from other states a second chance here
Jul 12:
•Colorado laws allow rogue officers to stay in law enforcement
May 1:
•Colorado cop reform fades as 5 of 10 bills die in the legislature


The board in charge of certifying law enforcement officers in Colorado will decide Monday whether to start requiring all agencies in the state to conduct psychological and physical evaluations before hiring applicants.

State law requires such evaluations to be conducted before a hiring can occur. But that standard is not actually adhered to by current practice.

Currently, the Peace Officer Standards and Training board has required an individual to receive a psychological evaluation only before their first police job in the state, but none after that.

Officials now say the evaluations should be required each time an officer changes agencies in the state. The law does not limit evaluations only to the first hire.

"You've just absolutely got to do everything you can to adequately assess their integrity and mental stability," said Grand Junction Police Chief John Camper, vice chairman of the POST board. "There's no doubt about it."

Camper said because of the power law enforcement officers have, including the ability to make arrests and even take a life, it's crucial to ensure no weak candidates are getting hired.

A cost-benefit analysis conducted by POST on the rule change states that the statutory language enacted by the legislature doesn't support requiring an evaluation only before the first hire in Colorado.

The analysis said that the hiring agency usually bears costs of the psychological examinations, which can range as high as $375 per candidate. The physical evaluations usually are frequently covered by an applicant's health insurance, the analysis said.

The Denver Post has focused on officer certification and hiring in a series of investigative articles.

The newspaper's reporting has found that Colorado's police discipline system is more lenient than at least 39 other states. In Colorado, the certificate required to do law enforcement can be revoked only following a conviction on a felony or certain misdemeanors. Most states allow for such revocations to occur for far less, such as misconduct on the job, personnel transgressions or ongoing drug abuse.

As a result of Colorado's lenient standards, many officers with past findings of misconduct and personnel transgressions cycle from department to department, often landing at rural agencies that say they have trouble finding quality candidates.

Colorado also has less- stringent hiring standards for police than other states, such as Arizona. Arizona requires that comprehensive background checks, including a review of all personnel issues, be conducted on all law enforcement applicants by an agency before a hire. Colorado, for the most part, leaves the breadth of such background investigations up to the local agency doing the hiring. In addition, Arizona conducts audits of agencies to ensure they are adhering to the background check standards required by law.

The packet of rule changes the POST board will consider Monday also include an amendment to regulations on how deferred judgments and sentences are supposed to be handled, an issue The Denver Post reviewed in an article published on Sunday. POST regulations currently state that felony deferred judgments bar individuals from holding the certificate required to work in law enforcement in Colorado.

But the Colorado Attorney General's Office has said that regulation is not enforced because it doesn't comply with state law, which specifies that felony convictions are a disqualifying offense.

On the psychological evaluations issue, Camper said his department already conducts them for all officer hires.

"If I'm hiring someone even if they've been an officer at another jurisdiction, I'm going to require them to go through it," Camper said. "The psych tests I've seen, they are checking on what type of problems someone has experienced in the workplace. They are asking for what conflicts a person is having with friends, neighbors and co-workers."



“The board in charge of certifying law enforcement officers in Colorado will decide Monday whether to start requiring all agencies in the state to conduct psychological and physical evaluations before hiring applicants. State law requires such evaluations to be conducted before a hiring can occur. But that standard is not actually adhered to by current practice. …. As a result of Colorado's lenient standards, many officers with past findings of misconduct and personnel transgressions cycle from department to department, often landing at rural agencies that say they have trouble finding quality candidates. Colorado also has less- stringent hiring standards for police than other states, such as Arizona. Arizona requires that comprehensive background checks, including a review of all personnel issues, be conducted on all law enforcement applicants by an agency before a hire. Colorado, for the most part, leaves the breadth of such background investigations up to the local agency doing the hiring. In addition, Arizona conducts audits of agencies to ensure they are adhering to the background check standards required by law. …. Currently, the Peace Officer Standards and Training board (POST) has required an individual to receive a psychological evaluation only before their first police job in the state, but none after that. Officials now say the evaluations should be required each time an officer changes agencies in the state. The law does not limit evaluations only to the first hire. …. POST regulations currently state that felony deferred judgments bar individuals from holding the certificate required to work in law enforcement in Colorado. But the Colorado Attorney General's Office has said that regulation is not enforced because it doesn't comply with state law, which specifies that felony convictions are a disqualifying offense. …. Camper said. "The psych tests I've seen, they are checking on what type of problems someone has experienced in the workplace. They are asking for what conflicts a person is having with friends, neighbors and co-workers."


The definition of a psychological test given above by Camper is not a real psychological test from what I’ve seen and I have taken a couple of them. A psych test does not simply examine specific problems an officer candidate has had with co-workers, family and neighbors – though those are important – it detects psychiatric conditions that tend to cause faulty judgment, lack of empathy, excessive fear, “black and white thinking,” “groupthink,” emotional instability and worse such as a general tendency toward violence and abuse of power. In practice, police are too often bullies and subject to uncontrolled behavior. Right now that subject has been under much public discussion especially in the school systems, but it should be a part of examining police trainees and whenever egregious violence is found in an officer. It is a built-in part of some personalities and a cause of great harm to society.

Membership in rightwing organizations should also be examined, as some police officers have been shown to be NeoNazis and even KKK members according to some of the news articles since I’ve been doing this blog. A series of racially charged emails between officers was found in one of the cities where police violence was under examination. Some officers were fired, but I doubt if the “police culture” was really cleaned up as it needs to be.

So, if Colorado and other states will employ thorough psych tests and disallow legal situations like the one mentioned above about felony deferred judgments. In that case what appears to me from the wording of this article is that the “teeth” of the POST ruling is disallowed because the more stringent requirement under state law is “in conflict” with it. It should be the other way around. The rule of thumb with federal laws vs state in States Rights cases is that if the federal law is more stringent it will dominate over state laws which are less so, but if a state law is more stringent that one will be given precedence. It is my impression that the POST board is in control of officer qualifications, and should reflect the stricter interpretation. This situation as described above seems to be that a more stringent POST requirement that prevents a candidate from getting the certificate required to work in law enforcement anywhere in the state is rendered invalid by a state law that says the candidate, so how is that rule then enforced? Does it mean that the POST ruling is “moot,” or that when going outside that jurisdiction to a neighboring police department within the state the officer with a felony deferred judgment can then apply again for his certificate? Hopefully the former is the case!

Arizona laws are compared favorably on the surface to those of Colorado which has had the reputation of having the worst police requirements in the country. Yet the infamous Joe Arpaio is in Arizona and though he has been investigated and sued, he is still in office. Perhaps Arizona’s background check system is better than Colorado’s, but if Arpaio is a case in point, the reality of their application can’t be very good. Of course, Arizona is a very right leaning state, and Sheriffs are elected rather than appointed. Maybe the rest of the state does better about these things than Maricopa County, or their laws regulating police are more lax in other ways such as supervision and discipline. Read the article on Arpaio for more information about his apparent abuses of power.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio

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

“Deferred adjudication is a form of plea deal available in various jurisdictions, where a defendant pleads "guilty" or "No Contest" to criminal charges in exchange for meeting certain requirements laid out by the court within an allotted period of time also ordered by the court. Upon completion of the requirements, which may include probation, treatment, community service, some form of community supervision, or some other diversion program, the defendant may avoid a formal conviction on their record or have their case dismissed.[1] In some cases, an order of non-disclosure can be obtained, and sometimes a record can be expunged.”



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/faa-lays-out-drone-registration-marking-rules-sets-start-date/

FAA lays out drone registration, vehicle marking rules
AP December 14, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Tokyo police drones use nets to catch illegally flown devices
Play VIDEO -- Lawmakers push for more control on drones
Photograph -- A drone is flown for recreational purposes as an airplane passes nearby in the sky above Old Bethpage, New York, Sept. 5, 2015. BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES


Spurred by numerous reports of drones flying near jets and airports, the federal government will require that the aircraft be registered to make it easier to identify owners and educate amateur aviators.

The move, announced Monday by the Federal Aviation Administration, comes at a time when the agency is receiving more than 100 reports per month about drones flying near manned aircraft. The FAA prohibits drones and model airplanes from flying higher than 400 feet or within 5 miles of an airport.

Drones have become increasingly popular with hobbyists. The FAA estimates that 1.6 million small unmanned aircraft will be sold this year, with half during the last three months of the year.

The drones must be marked with the owner's unique registration number. The FAA said that would let authorities track down owners if they violate the rules. But registration also gives the agency a vehicle to educate owners just as thousands get drones as presents for Christmas and other holidays.

The requirement covers aircraft weighing from more than half pound up to 55 pounds, including any payload such as a camera. Drone owners who are 13 and older will have to register on an FAA website that becomes available starting Dec. 21. The FAA expects parents to register for younger children.

Registration will cost $5 and must be renewed every three years, but the fee will be waived for the first 30 days, until Jan. 20. Owners will have to mark aircraft with an identification number. Recreational fliers can register as many aircraft as they want on one registration number.

Most people who fly drones and model aircraft have little aviation experience, but they become pilots as soon as they start to fly, said Deputy FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker. "They have the responsibility to fly safely, and there are rules and regulations that apply to them," he said.

Those who got drones before Dec. 21 must register by Feb. 19. People who buy them later must register before their first outdoor flight.

Owners will have to provide their name, home address and email, and their identity will be verified and payments made by credit card, the agency said.

The FAA said it used some of the recommendations from a task force appointed by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, but the move disappointed a large group representing model airplane users.

The Muncie, Indiana-based Academy of Model Aeronautics said registration is an "unnecessary burden for our more than 185,000 members who have been operating safely for decades."

The group maintains that Congress in 2012 prohibited the FAA from new rules for recreational model aircraft users who are part of a community-based organization.

But Whitaker said while the law prohibits new rules, the FAA has the authority to register the aircraft.

The requirement won support from other task force members, including the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry and academic organization. The group said the addition of consumers to the registration requirements will promote responsibility and safety.

Government and industry officials have expressed concern that drones, like birds, could be sucked into an aircraft engine, smash a cockpit windshield or damage a critical aircraft surface area and cause a crash.

Drones are responsible for at least 28 recent instances in which pilots veered off course to avoid a collision, according to an analysis of FAA reports by Bard College's Center for the Study of the Drone in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Aircraft engine manufacturers currently test the ability of engines to withstand bird strikes by firing dead birds at the engines at high velocities. The FAA hasn't yet said when it will require engine makers to conduct tests with drones, but officials have unofficially acknowledged they are working on the issue, the report said.

Spurred by numerous reports of drones flying near jets and airports, the federal government will require that the aircraft be registered to make it easier to identify owners and educate amateur aviators.

The move, announced Monday by the Federal Aviation Administration, comes at a time when the agency is receiving more than 100 reports per month about drones flying near manned aircraft. The FAA prohibits drones and model airplanes from flying higher than 400 feet or within 5 miles of an airport.

Drones have become increasingly popular with hobbyists. The FAA estimates that 1.6 million small unmanned aircraft will be sold this year, with half during the last three months of the year.

The drones must be marked with the owner's unique registration number. The FAA said that would let authorities track down owners if they violate the rules. But registration also gives the agency a vehicle to educate owners just as thousands get drones as presents for Christmas and other holidays.

The requirement covers aircraft weighing from more than half pound up to 55 pounds, including any payload such as a camera. Drone owners who are 13 and older will have to register on an FAA website that becomes available starting Dec. 21. The FAA expects parents to register for younger children.

Registration will cost $5 and must be renewed every three years, but the fee will be waived for the first 30 days, until Jan. 20. Owners will have to mark aircraft with an identification number. Recreational fliers can register as many aircraft as they want on one registration number.

Most people who fly drones and model aircraft have little aviation experience, but they become pilots as soon as they start to fly, said Deputy FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker. "They have the responsibility to fly safely, and there are rules and regulations that apply to them," he said.

Those who got drones before Dec. 21 must register by Feb. 19. People who buy them later must register before their first outdoor flight.

Owners will have to provide their name, home address and email, and their identity will be verified and payments made by credit card, the agency said.

The FAA said it used some of the recommendations from a task force appointed by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, but the move disappointed a large group representing model airplane users.

The Muncie, Indiana-based Academy of Model Aeronautics said registration is an "unnecessary burden for our more than 185,000 members who have been operating safely for decades."

The group maintains that Congress in 2012 prohibited the FAA from new rules for recreational model aircraft users who are part of a community-based organization.

But Whitaker said while the law prohibits new rules, the FAA has the authority to register the aircraft.

The requirement won support from other task force members, including the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry and academic organization. The group said the addition of consumers to the registration requirements will promote responsibility and safety.

Government and industry officials have expressed concern that drones, like birds, could be sucked into an aircraft engine, smash a cockpit windshield or damage a critical aircraft surface area and cause a crash.

Drones are responsible for at least 28 recent instances in which pilots veered off course to avoid a collision, according to an analysis of FAA reports by Bard College's Center for the Study of the Drone in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Aircraft engine manufacturers currently test the ability of engines to withstand bird strikes by firing dead birds at the engines at high velocities. The FAA hasn't yet said when it will require engine makers to conduct tests with drones, but officials have unofficially acknowledged they are working on the issue, the report said.



Drones are entirely too inexpensive and too much fun to be allowed to be unregulated. It’s like the problem with marijuana. Both are affordable to young or otherwise irresponsible parties and are not, as people used to say about “Maryjane,” harmless. Drones have caused aviation accidents and are probably right now being used to spy on innocent Americans or can be. As for using them to deliver UPS packages, I still prefer the human touch. Of course there was that video that made the news which showed some package delivery guy throwing a box over a white picket fence rather than carrying it through the gate and safely depositing it on the porch. That was a very funny video, but it confirmed some of my suspicions about damaged goods that come to the unsuspecting buyer.



http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/12/14/459404745/fish-stocks-are-declining-worldwide-and-climate-change-is-on-the-hook

Fish Stocks Are Declining Worldwide, And Climate Change Is On The Hook
CLARE LESCHIN-HOAR
Updated December 14, 2015

Photograph -- A fisherman shovels grey sole, a type of flounder, out of the hold of a ship at the Portland Fish Pier in Maine, September 2015. New research finds the ability of fish populations to reproduce and replenish themselves is declining across the globe. The worst news comes from the North Atlantic, where most species are declining.
Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images


For anyone paying attention, it's no secret there's a lot of weird stuff going on in the oceans right now. We've got a monster El Nino looming in the Pacific. Ocean acidification is prompting hand wringing among oyster lovers. Migrating fish populations have caused tensions between countries over fishing rights. And fishermen say they're seeing unusual patterns in fish stocks they haven't seen before.

Researchers now have more grim news to add to the mix. An analysis published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that the ability of fish populations to reproduce and replenish themselves is declining across the globe.

"This, as far as we know, is the first global-scale study that documents the actual productivity of fish stocks is in decline," says lead author Gregory L. Britten, a doctoral student at the University of California, Irvine.

Britten and some fellow researchers looked at data from a global database of 262 commercial fish stocks in dozens of large marine ecosystems across the globe. They say they've identified a pattern of decline in juvenile fish (young fish that have not yet reached reproductive age) that is closely tied to a decline in the amount of phytoplankton, or microalgae, in the water.

"We think it is a lack of food availability for these small fish," says Britten. "When fish are young, their primary food is phytoplankton and microscopic animals. If they don't find food in a matter of days, they can die."

The worst news comes from the North Atlantic, where the vast majority of species, including Atlantic cod, European and American plaice, and sole are declining. In this case, Britten says historically heavy fishing may also play a role. Large fish, able to produce the biggest, most robust eggs, are harvested from the water. At the same time, documented declines of phytoplankton made it much more difficult for those fish stocks to bounce back when they did reproduce, despite aggressive fishery management efforts, says Britten.

When the researchers looked at plankton and fish reproduction declines in individual ecosystems, the results varied. In the North Pacific — for example, the Gulf of Alaska — there were no significant declines. But in other regions of the world, like Australia and South America, it was clear that the lack of phytoplankton was the strongest driver in diminishing fish populations.

"When you averaged globally, there was a decline," says Britten. "Decline in phytoplankton was a factor in all species. It was a consistent variable."

And it's directly linked to climate change: Change in ocean temperature affects the phytoplankton population, which is impacting fish stocks, he says.

Food sources for fish in their larval stage were also a focus of research published earlier this summer by Rebecca Asch, now a post-doctoral research associate at Princeton University. Asch studied data from 1951 to 2008 on 43 species of fish collected off the Southern California coast and found that many fish have changed the season when they spawn. When fish spawned too early or too late in the season, there can be less plankton available to them, shrinking their chance of survival. She calls it a "mismatch" between when the fish spawn and when seasonal plankton blooms.

Knowing just how vulnerable our fisheries are to potential climate change is on the radar of NOAA Fisheries. The agency has put together a Fish Stock Climate Vulnerability Assessment report expected to be released in early 2016. And like many things associated with climate change, there will be winners and losers.

Jon Hare is the oceanography branch chief for NOAA Fisheries' Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a lead researcher on the agency's assessment. He says they looked at 82 fish and invertebrate species in the Northeast. About half of the species, including Atlantic cod, were determined to be negatively impacted by climate change in the Northeast U.S. Approximately 20 percent of the species are likely to be positively impacted—like the Atlantic croaker. The remainder species were considered neutral.

Similar assessments are underway in the California Current and the Bering Sea, and eventually in all of the nation's large marine ecosystems.

"This is where the idea of ecosystem-based management comes in. It's not only fishing that is impacting these resources," says Hare. "We need to take a more holistic view of these resources and include that in our management."

Britten says the fact that productivity of a fishery can change should be an eye-opener for fisheries management.

"It's no longer just pull back on fishing and watch the stock rebound. It's also a question of monitoring and understanding the ability of stocks to rebound, and that's what we demonstrated in this study. The rebound potential is affected as well," says Britten.

Clare Leschin-Hoar is a journalist based in San Diego who covers food policy and sustainability issues.



“We've got a monster El Nino looming in the Pacific. Ocean acidification is prompting hand wringing among oyster lovers. Migrating fish populations have caused tensions between countries over fishing rights. And fishermen say they're seeing unusual patterns in fish stocks they haven't seen before. Researchers now have more grim news to add to the mix. An analysis published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that the ability of fish populations to reproduce and replenish themselves is declining across the globe. "This, as far as we know, is the first global-scale study that documents the actual productivity of fish stocks is in decline," says lead author Gregory L. Britten, a doctoral student at the University of California, Irvine. …. They say they've identified a pattern of decline in juvenile fish (young fish that have not yet reached reproductive age) that is closely tied to a decline in the amount of phytoplankton, or microalgae, in the water. "We think it is a lack of food availability for these small fish," says Britten. "When fish are young, their primary food is phytoplankton and microscopic animals. If they don't find food in a matter of days, they can die." …. Large fish, able to produce the biggest, most robust eggs, are harvested from the water. At the same time, documented declines of phytoplankton made it much more difficult for those fish stocks to bounce back when they did reproduce, despite aggressive fishery management efforts, says Britten. …. Change in ocean temperature affects the phytoplankton population, which is impacting fish stocks, he says. Food sources for fish in their larval stage were also a focus of research published earlier this summer by Rebecca Asch, now a post-doctoral research associate at Princeton University. Asch studied data from 1951 to 2008 on 43 species of fish collected off the Southern California coast and found that many fish have changed the season when they spawn. .... The agency has put together a Fish Stock Climate Vulnerability Assessment report expected to be released in early 2016.”


All of these studies show how complex the whole problem is, and that will almost certainly affect how effective our technological fixes for the situation will be. Just cutting back on fishing used to be the key, but now mature fish are being harvested for food rather than being allowed to breed and replenish their species. As with the case of frogs several decades ago when it was discovered that pollution in the water was producing genetic abnormalities that affected their viability, baby fish aren’t getting enough plankton to live and thrive so some species are declining in numbers. This is called the “rebound potential.” Global warming has to do with species migration and with increasing acidification of the water. There is no way to stop that process. Not mentioned in this article is also the death of many corals, whose reefs serve as “marketplaces” for many fish species. Whole communities of fish are linked to their coral reef for food and reproduction. When the oceans die the whole planet will be threatened. Humans and other animal groups either eat fish or eat other ocean products such as seaweed. The huge and beautiful blue whale is a plankton eater by means of a water filtering system in his mouth called a baleen. Small life forms are directly linked to the largest. In the middle of that scale lie humans, but due to our immense ability to propagate and over overflow our boundaries, overuse our resources and generally lay waste to what used to be a mostly well-balanced system, we may be among the next to go. This is a greater tragedy than MacBeth, Oedipus or Gone With The Wind. Who will write that story?