December 20, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-shoot-dead-suspect-inside-los-angeles-emergency-room/

Police shoot dead suspect inside L.A. emergency room
CBS NEWS
December 20, 2015

Photograph -- Police officers on the scene of a fatal shooting inside the Harbor-UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles on Dec. 19, 2015. CBS LOS ANGELES


TORRANCE, Calif. - A man was shot dead by a police officer inside the Harbor-UCLA Hospital emergency room Saturday afternoon, according to officials.

The shooting happened after the suspect allegedly attacked officers around 2:30 p.m., police officials told CBS Los Angeles.

Earlier in the day, the suspect was placed under arrest for allegedly assaulting a neighbor, police said.

Around 8:30 a.m, officials said the deceased was throwing bottles at neighbors.

While being subdued by officers in that arrest, the suspect allegedly assaulted two officers. The subject was taken to the hospital and handcuffed.

Hours later when they believed he was calm, officers removed the handcuffs. They said the suspect again became combative, including throwing objects (including a metal stool) at officers.

"A witness stated that the suspect reached for one of the officer's guns and at that point, an officer-involved shooting occurred. One round was fired, striking the suspect," said LAPD Commander Phillip Tingirides.

The deceased was 26 years old. His name is withheld until his next of kin is notified.

No one else was injured during the incident, officials said.



“While being subdued by officers in that arrest, the suspect allegedly assaulted two officers. The subject was taken to the hospital and handcuffed. Hours later when they believed he was calm, officers removed the handcuffs. They said the suspect again became combative, including throwing objects (including a metal stool) at officers. "A witness stated that the suspect reached for one of the officer's guns and at that point, an officer-involved shooting occurred. One round was fired, striking the suspect," said LAPD Commander Phillip Tingirides.”


This suspect was decidedly dangerous, though perhaps if the officers had put him a psychiatric facility they could have spotted his true mental state once he became apparently quiet, and given him antipsychotics. Someone that violent should, it seems to me, be isolated and watched for days to weeks.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/muslims-talk-donald-trump-america-after-san-bernardino-shooting/

Muslims talk Trump, America after San Bernardino shooting
FACE THE NATION
December 20, 2015

CBS News contributor and Republican strategist Frank Luntz talked to a group of Muslims about their thoughts about what's going on in America following the San Bernardino terror attack and Donald Trump's call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S. Below is a transcript of their conversation.


FEMALE VOICE: I mean, every time that there's some kind of attack in this country, every time that there's any kind of a crime, I'm literally praying -- and I'm sure that everyone else here is literally praying -- that it's not a Muslim. Before any facts start rolling through, we're literally praying that it's not a Muslim. And when it is, I know exactly what's going to happen. I mean we've seen this for decades, this isn't anything new as many of my peers have said.

MALE VOICE: No it's exactly that.

FEMALE VOICE: ...I actually did a call out to Muslim parents across the country to not watch the Republican debate in front of their children, because I know that that -- subjecting our children to hear the hateful stereotyping and the lumping of Muslims with terrorism in front of our children is actually something that psychologically impacts them. So that's how deep this is for us.

FRANK LUNTZ: But don't you want the kids to know the challenges that they face?

FEMALE VOICE: I don't want my children to be subjected to racism and the vilification of their faith. I will explain to my kids in my own way, in the way that I can speak to them. And I will not allow Donald Trump to tell my kids how they should feel about being Muslim.

FRANK LUNTZ: ... I want a word or phrase to describe Donald Trump.

FEMALE VOICE: Exploitative.

MALE VOICE: Worse than Voldemort.

FEMALE VOICE: Psychopath.

MALE VOICE: ...Bigoted.

MALE VOICE: ...A blessing in disguise for us.

FRANK LUNTZ: ...I wanna go with your response - why?

MALE VOICE: That's why we're here, Frank. I would not be sitting here right now if this wasn't happening. A lot of our voices would not be out -- out here because of him...We are now in the public spotlight. Let's use this to talk about who we really are, all right, let's use this to be like, "Hey, America, we're Americans. Don't fear us, okay. Fear your crazy politicians who are trying to buy your votes. And I think this gives us a great chance, you know.

FRANK LUNTZ: What percent of the Muslim community do you think could potentially be a physical threat to the country?

MALE VOICE: In America, maybe less than 1 percent.

FRANK LUNTZ: So you all agree.

(CROSS TALK)

MALE VOICE: But if Trump keeps doing what he's doing and if he's elected president, that number, whatever it may be, will skyrocket.

FRANK LUNTZ: So you're saying that Trump could actually --

(CROSS TALK)

FEMALE VOICE: No.

MALE VOICE: Yes.

FEMALE VOICE: No, that's not fair.

MALE VOICE: Guys, let me explain. Let me explain. Let me explain. He's being irresponsible. The American people need to understand that. The national security agencies have said that his comments might be used as a poster for ISIS. He's driving and fueling anger amongst Americans and abroad.



“What percent of the Muslim community do you think could potentially be a physical threat to the country? MALE VOICE: In America, maybe less than 1 percent. FRANK LUNTZ: So you all agree. (CROSS TALK) MALE VOICE: But if Trump keeps doing what he's doing and if he's elected president, that number, whatever it may be, will skyrocket. …. Guys, let me explain. Let me explain. Let me explain. He's being irresponsible. The American people need to understand that. The national security agencies have said that his comments might be used as a poster for ISIS.”


I don’t believe Trump can win the presidency, with the registered Democrats, the Independents and probably many moderate Republicans as well voting against him. I do understand, however, why these Islamic people are worried. The statement that Trump’s rhetoric, especially if he is elected, will drive a larger number toward groups like ISIS is undoubtedly true. Before we as a people elect such a bigot to lead our country, we had better consider what our lives here will become.



http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/12/18/460291216/kaiser-permanentes-new-medical-school-to-focus-on-teamwork

Kaiser Permanente's New Medical School Will Focus On Teamwork
JULIE ROVNER FROM Kaiser Health News
Updated December 18, 2015

Photograph -- Nurse practitioner Rachelle Quimpo begins an ear exam on Shreya Sasaki at a Kaiser Permanente health clinic inside a Target retail department store in San Diego, Calif., as Dr. Heidi Meyer watches via video. Kaiser says it will train medical students to provide good care beyond traditional medical settings. Mike Blake/Reuters/Landov


Thursday's announcement by Kaiser Permanente that it plans to open its own medical school in Southern California in 2019 has attracted a lot of attention in the health care community.

The nonprofit, national provider of managed health care says it plans to train students in its own style of integrated diagnosis and treatment — focusing on research, the use of new technologies, and teaching doctors to work as part of a collaborative caregiving team.

Kaiser is actually at the trailing edge of a medical school expansion that has been unmatched since the 1960s and 1970s, say specialists in medical education. (Kaiser Health News is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.) In the past decade alone, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 20 new medical schools have opened or been approved.

That's no coincidence. In 2006 the AAMC called for a 30 percent increase in medical school graduates by 2015 — by admitting more students and building new schools — to meet a growing demand.

"We're on track to meet that 30 percent increase in the next three or four years," says Atul Grover, AAMC's chief public policy officer. "Enrollment is already up 25 percent since 2002."

Many of the new schools focus on producing more primary care doctors — those specializing in pediatrics, family medicine, or general internal medicine. In fact, Kaiser Permanente already has a partnership with the University of California, Davis, in a fast-track training program for primary care.

But Kaiser leaders say their new school will be about more than just primary care.

"We need to prepare physicians for the way health care is delivered in the future," says Dr. Edward Ellison, executive medical director for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. Students need to learn not just medicine, he says, but about integrated systems of care and how to work in a much different medical environment.

"Our advantage is we can start from scratch," he says.

Another advantage is the HMO's deep pockets.

"They've got huge resources," says Dr. George Thibault, president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, which focuses on medical education. "This is a grand experiment, but if anybody can do it, Kaiser can."

Kaiser Permanente is far from the first health care provider to launch its own medical school — the Mayo Clinic has had one since 1972, and is about to expand that school from the organization's home base in Minnesota to its satellite campuses in Arizona and Florida.

Thibault says Kaiser and other health-provider systems are already heavily involved in the new medical schools, often as partners with degree-granting universities, "which itself is a new trend." For example, on Long Island, the North Shore-LIJ Health System co-launched a medical school with Hofstra University in 2011.

One big question is whether all these new schools will eventually produce more students than there are medical residency positions — apprenticeship years that are necessary to complete medical training. The federal government, which funds the majority of those residencies through the Medicare program, capped the number of residencies it would pay for in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.

Nationally, there are about 27,000 residency slots available each year, which are filled by students who have earned M.D. or D.O. degrees (doctors of osteopathy) in the U.S., as well as by foreign medical school graduates and U.S. citizens who have graduated from medical schools overseas.

Between the new M.D.-granting schools and a rapid expansion of osteopathic medical schools, the demand for residency slots will soon outstrip supply, says Grover. The pool of residency positions at hospitals nationally is "growing at about 1 percent per year," he says (mostly funded by health systems themselves, since Medicare will not pay for them), "while undergraduate medical education is growing about 3 percent per year."

But Edward Salsberg of George Washington University, who has spent a career documenting health workforce trends, says any potential conflict is still a long way off.

"When you start with an excess of 7,000 slots" of residencies above the number of graduating U.S. medical students, "it takes a very long time" to consume that excess, he says. By the year 2024, he and others write in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, there will still be 4,500 more residency slots than graduates.

"So yes, U.S. medical students will have a slightly more limited range of specialties to choose from," Salsberg says, "but still plenty of room."

Some people question whether the doctor shortage that all these new schools aim to alleviate is actually real.

Grover, whose organization has led the call for more doctors, says the anticipated shortage of primary care physicians might not be as acute as originally thought. That's because the U.S. is producing dramatically more nurse practitioners and physician assistants, who also provide primary care.

That's probably a good thing, at least in supply terms, Thibault says. Because it turns out that many students graduating from the new medical schools that focus on primary care are opting to become specialists instead.

"The career choices in the new schools look remarkably similar to career choices of more traditional schools," Thibault says. All the graduating students, he explains, "are responding to the same set of signals and stimuli" about prestige, income and lifestyle.

This story was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Neither KFF nor KHN is affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.



“Thursday's announcement by Kaiser Permanente that it plans to open its own medical school in Southern California in 2019 has attracted a lot of attention in the health care community. The nonprofit, national provider of managed health care says it plans to train students in its own style of integrated diagnosis and treatment — focusing on research, the use of new technologies, and teaching doctors to work as part of a collaborative caregiving team. …. In the past decade alone, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 20 new medical schools have opened or been approved. That's no coincidence. In 2006 the AAMC called for a 30 percent increase in medical school graduates by 2015 — by admitting more students and building new schools — to meet a growing demand. …. Some people question whether the doctor shortage that all these new schools aim to alleviate is actually real. Grover, whose organization has led the call for more doctors, says the anticipated shortage of primary care physicians might not be as acute as originally thought. That's because the U.S. is producing dramatically more nurse practitioners and physician assistants, who also provide primary care. …. All the graduating students, he explains, "are responding to the same set of signals and stimuli" about prestige, income and lifestyle.”


The image some 40 years ago of the “old country doctor” who accepted payment in vegetables has been gone a long time, and so it the idealistic practitioner whose only goal is to save people. Life is expensive now, especially in cities, and medical students graduate deep in debt in many cases, so they want the better salaries of specializations. The new Kaiser Permanente model will have the physician be a team worker rather than the undisputed boss, with NPs and PAs performing similar roles. I think that will make medical care more comprehensive, personable and effective. I wonder if the governmentally financed healthcare programs that we have today are producing a greater demand for family physicians. I wonder if they will also tend to produce a better fee schedule. I hope so.



http://www.npr.org/2015/12/18/460261739/little-florida-bank-goes-where-behemoths-fear-to-tread-cuba

Little Florida Bank Goes Where Behemoths Fear To Tread: Cuba
Greg Allen
Updated December 18, 2015

Photograph -- Stonegate Bank's Pompano Beach, Fla., location, shown here, announced it is setting up a correspondent banking relationship with a Cuban financial institution. Greg Allen/NPR
Related -- 1 Year After Improved Ties With Cuba, A Review Of Where Things Stand
Related -- With A New Trade Zone, Cuba Reaches Out To Investors


Since President Obama opened a door to Cuba, there's been progress in the past year. Americans can travel there. The two countries reopened their embassies and have agreed to re-establish commercial air travel.

But on the financial front, progress has been slow. After a year, there's just one U.S. financial institution doing business with Cuba — and it's a small bank in Pompano Beach, Fla.

Until this year, few people had heard of Stonegate Bank, outside of the 21 communities in Florida where branches are located. Stonegate was founded just 10 years ago as a commercial bank focusing on businesses.

Stonegate CEO Dave Seleski says in March, one of his customers was having lunch with the head of the State Department's Cuba desk, Mark Wells. The discussion turned to the difficulty the State Department was having finding a bank willing to handle accounts for Cuban diplomats in Washington. Larger, more established banks, Seleski says, weren't interested.

"My friend-slash-customer said why not Stonegate Bank? And so they literally handed the phone to Mark Wells. And he said, 'Would you be interested?' And I said, 'We'll take a look at it.' And then, we didn't feel there was a lot of risk with it. And we felt like this was going to move this process forward. I mean, I've always been against the embargo. We took that first step,' Seleski says.

A few months later, Stonegate took another step. It became the first — and still the only — U.S. bank to set up a correspondent relationship with Cuba's central bank. That means, theoretically, that Stonegate customers will be able to transfer funds directly between the U.S. and Cuba.

Despite the Obama administration's new policies, the U.S. trade embargo ordered by Congress remains in place. And Seleski says that means Stonegate has to go through an institution in a third country to transfer funds.

"You still have to use an intermediary bank. So the correspondent relationship is not really truly operating, functioning as an actual correspondent relationship. And that's probably one of the biggest challenges to U.S. businesses doing business in Cuba — is just getting the money back and forth," Seleski says.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker buys coffee in Old Havana as part of a trade visit this week.

With claims and sanctions still outstanding, companies that do business with Cuba have to proceed very carefully. Funds and goods that belong to Cuba can and have been seized while on U.S. soil.

Jodi Bond of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says this is one reason the large banks have been reluctant. It's risky.

"You can lose a lot of money quickly," Bond says.

In October, the Justice Department fined a French bank more than $700 million for financial transactions that violated U.S. sanctions — including unauthorized business with Cuba. This month, the two countries began negotiations to resolve 50-year-old claims by U.S. citizens and companies that had property seized by Cuba.

Bond says those claims will have to be settled to resolve the uncertainty that keeps the big banks away.

Stonegate Bank recently became the first U.S. institution to issue debit cards that can be used in Cuba. Credit cards should soon follow.

But a major challenge Stonegate and other banks face in Cuba is the currencies. There are two official currencies: the Cuban peso, used by the people who live there, and the convertible peso, the one visitors use.

Fernando Capablanca, head of the Florida International Bankers Association, says there's also an underground economy with its own dollar exchange rate.

"I like to say there are three currencies in Cuba. What kind of exchange rate are they using when someone uses a debit card or credit card in Cuba? Not to mention the fact that there are so very few merchants in Cuba who accept any kind of credit card," he said.

Cuba says it plans to eventually unify its currencies. Stonegate CEO Seleski says that will do a lot to open the island's economy. And he says there are some big players now eager to do business.

"You've got Amway, you've got Caterpillar, you've got American Airlines, you've got Morgan Stanley. You've got big companies that are really getting behind, look, it's time to normalize relations and drop the embargo."

That would require an act of Congress, which, big business or not, proceeds on its own timetable.



“But on the financial front, progress has been slow. After a year, there's just one U.S. financial institution doing business with Cuba — and it's a small bank in Pompano Beach, Fla. …. And I said, 'We'll take a look at it.' And then, we didn't feel there was a lot of risk with it. And we felt like this was going to move this process forward. I mean, I've always been against the embargo. We took that first step,' Seleski says. …. "You still have to use an intermediary bank. So the correspondent relationship is not really truly operating, functioning as an actual correspondent relationship. And that's probably one of the biggest challenges to U.S. businesses doing business in Cuba — is just getting the money back and forth," Seleski says. …. Funds and goods that belong to Cuba can and have been seized while on U.S. soil. Jodi Bond of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says this is one reason the large banks have been reluctant. It's risky. "You can lose a lot of money quickly," Bond says. …. This month, the two countries began negotiations to resolve 50-year-old claims by U.S. citizens and companies that had property seized by Cuba. Bond says those claims will have to be settled to resolve the uncertainty that keeps the big banks away. …. There are two official currencies: the Cuban peso, used by the people who live there, and the convertible peso, the one visitors use. Fernando Capablanca, head of the Florida International Bankers Association, says there's also an underground economy with its own dollar exchange rate. …. You've got big companies that are really getting behind, look, it's time to normalize relations and drop the embargo."


As far as I know Cuba is no longer flirting with Russia or other dangerous parties to put nukes on their soil. They are not attacking us or our ships. Though Fidel Castro is still alive, he is not capable of being in power there. The conflicts we had with Cuba go back to the 1960s, and in my view, it is time to make a genuine effort to lay them to rest if there is no further provocation from them now. The following article indicates that the matter of ties with Russia is not yet a closed book though. See below.


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/16/russia-reopening-spy-base-cuba-us-relations-sour

Russia to reopen spy base in Cuba as relations with US continue to sour
Alec Luhn in Moscow
Wednesday 16 July 2014

Photograph -- The Russian radar station in Lourdes, south of Havana, was the Soviet Union's largest foreign base, and will now be reopened. Photograph: Cristobal Herrera/AP


Decision to reopen signals intelligence facility south of Havana follows Russia forgiving 90% of Cuba's unpaid Soviet-era debts

Russia has quietly reached an agreement with Cuba to reopen a Soviet-era spy base on America's doorstep, amid souring relations between Moscow and Washington.

The deal to reopen the signals intelligence facility in Lourdes, south of Havana, was agreed in principle during president Vladimir Putin's visit to the island as part of a Latin American tour last week, according to the newspaper Kommersant.

Opened in 1967, the Lourdes facility was the Soviet Union's largest foreign base, a mere 155 miles from the US coast. It employed up to 3,000 military and intelligence personnel to intercept a wide array of American telephone and radio communications, but Putin announced its closure in 2001 because it was too expensive – Russia had been paying $200m (£117m) a year in rent – and in response to US demands.

After Putin visited Cuba on Friday, the Kremlin press service said the president had forgiven 90% of Cuba's unpaid Soviet-era debts, which totalled $32bn (£18.6bn) – a concession that now appears to be tied to the agreement to reopen the base.

"Lourdes gave the Soviet Union eyes in the whole of the western hemisphere … For Russia, which is fighting for its lawful rights and place in the international community, it would be no less valuable than for the USSR," Vyacheslav Trubnikov, former head of Russia's foreign intelligence service told Kommersant.

The move appears to be part of Moscow's campaign to reassert itself as a geopolitical rival to the United States and comes as the west is set to expand sanctions against Russia over its role in the Ukraine conflict. European Union leaders are expected to implement further asset freezes and stop lending to Russia at a summit on Wednesday, while the United States is reportedly considering its own unilateral sanctions against the Russian financial and defence industries. . . . .

Reopening the Lourdes base marks another low in US-Russian relations, although some experts argue the significance of the move is largely symbolic. Moscow-based defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer called the reported re-establishment of the Lourdes base a "PR move" to show Washington the "middle finger" and said it was prompted in part by the expansion of western influence in Ukraine. Russian officials have worried that Ukraine, which recently signed an association agreement with the EU, will become the latest former Soviet republic to join Nato. . . . .

"Any country that is supporting us, whether it's Cuba, Nicaragua, or Venezuala, is welcome, and we are not as poor as in the 1990s, we are ready to pay for this," Pukhov said. "Since we have very big problems with spy satellites, which are full of Western components, and our spy ships are not in good shape and can't get close to US shores, this base is extremely important for us."

Similarly, the placement of Glonass stations in new countries is important for the commercial future of the project, which has become a "kind of fetish for Russian political establishment," Pukhov said. Notably, the United States has refused to host a Glonass station, although Russia has continued to offer. On Wednesday, Russian space systems head Gennady Raikunov suggested placing a Glonass station on the Alaskan coast in comments at the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire, Russian news agency Interfax reported.



So the US pushes Russia in Ukraine and Russia renews relations with Cuba for purposes of spying on us. This is another worrisome thought for the present day, a time when we are loath to have any military skirmishes on our borders. I don’t believe Russia will actually try to launch an attack against us, though. They don’t want that any more than we do.



http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/18/460120603/manhunt-underway-for-affluenza-teen

Manhunt Underway For 'Affluenza' Teen
LAURA WAGNER
Updated December 19, 2015

Photograph -- The U.S. Marshals Service has joined the search for Couch, who was on probation for killing four people in a 2013 drunken-driving wreck. His defense was that he suffered from "affluenza." AP

Texas teen Ethan Couch was sentenced to probation in 2013 for killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck, after his lawyers argued he had been coddled by his wealthy parents into a sense of irresponsibility. Now Couch is 18 and he's being pursued by the U.S. Marshals Service for violating the terms of his probation.

Couch missed a meeting with his probation officer on Dec. 10, a few weeks after a video was posted online showing people, apparently including Couch, playing drinking games at a party. Consuming alcohol would violate Couch's probation, and if found guilty, he could face 10 years in prison, the Associated Press reports.

Couch's mother is thought to be on the run with her son, but officials have not said whether she is facing charges as well.

"He and his mother have the means to be able to travel to wherever they may want to travel," Sam Jordan, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County district attorney's office said according to the AP.

The U.S. Marshals Service announced a reward of $5,000 for information leading to Couch's capture.

As we reported in 2013, the judge's light sentence was a point of controversy and derision.

"The sentence handed down in a Fort Worth juvenile court led Dallas Morning News editorial writer Mike Hashimoto to say that the only lesson the teen learned is that 'it's far better to come from that wealthy place where actions seldom have those nasty old consequences. That's for other folks.'"

When Couch was 16, he was drunk and speeding on a dark road in Fort Worth, Texas, when his pickup truck crashed into a disabled vehicle on the side of the road.

The Washington Post reports that "crash killed four people working on the disabled car. Two of Couch's friends were critically injured. One was paralyzed."



http://gawker.com/psychologist-behind-affluenza-defense-regrets-using-t-1482584915

Psychologist Behind 'Affluenza' Defense Regrets Using That Word
Neetzan Zimmerman
December 13, 2013

The psychologist who convinced a Texas judge that 16-year-old Ethan Couch was too rich to know right from wrong says he shouldn't have used the word "affluenza," but insists his defense of the teen was otherwise sound.

On June 15, Couch and his friends stole some beer from a Fort Worth-area Walmart and proceed to get extremely drunk. Couch then got behind the wheel of his Ford F-350, and drove down Burleson Retta Road at nearly twice the speed limit with over three times the legal limit for alcohol in his bloodstream as well as Valium. It was then that Couch slammed his pickup into four people standing next to a parked car by the side of the road — three of whom had stopped to help the fourth with a flat tire.

All four were killed, and two teens riding in the bed of Couch's vehicle were severely injured.

Psychologist G. Dick Miller defended Couch's actions, telling District Judge Jean Boyd that the teen was a victim of his parents affluence.

He called Couch's condition "affluenza."

"I wish I hadn't used that term. Everyone seems to have hooked onto it," Miller said on last night's Anderson Cooper 360. "We used to call these people spoiled brats."

Though he regrets the language he used, Miller doesn't regret the actual defense.

When Miller pointed out to Cooper that a violation of Couch's probation would mean up to 10 years in prison, Cooper pointed out to Miller that the same judge previously ordered a black teen to be locked up for 10 years for the accidental killing of one person.

"Why is that OK, for a 14-year-old poor kid, but for a 16-year-old well-off kid, they get to go off they get to go have equine therapy," Cooper wondered, referencing Couch's upcoming $500k rehab-cation, paid in full by his father.

"There actually are Black people who have money, Anderson," Miller replied. "I don’t know why you continue to make this a racial thing...if you have a lot of money, you get people with more skills...that's just the way the world works. And there’s some good things about that, some not-so-good things."

On Wednesday night, Anderson Cooper spoke with the man whose wife and daughter were two of Couch's victims.

"There are absolutely no consequences for what occurred that day," Eric Boyles told Cooper. "The primary message has to absolutely be that money and privilege can’t buy justice in this country, that it’s not okay to drink and drive and kill four people, and severely injure another, and not have any consequences. That’s not the American dream that we grew up to participate in."


NPR -- “Consuming alcohol would violate Couch's probation, and if found guilty, he could face 10 years in prison, the Associated Press reports. Couch's mother is thought to be on the run with her son, but officials have not said whether she is facing charges as well. "He and his mother have the means to be able to travel to wherever they may want to travel," Sam Jordan, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County district attorney's office said according to the AP. …. the only lesson the teen learned is that 'it's far better to come from that wealthy place where actions seldom have those nasty old consequences. That's for other folks.'"


GAWKER -- “When Miller pointed out to Cooper that a violation of Couch's probation would mean up to 10 years in prison, Cooper pointed out to Miller that the same judge previously ordered a black teen to be locked up for 10 years for the accidental killing of one person. "Why is that OK, for a 14-year-old poor kid, but for a 16-year-old well-off kid, they get to go off they get to go have equine therapy," Cooper wondered, referencing Couch's upcoming $500k rehab-cation, paid in full by his father.” …. "The primary message has to absolutely be that money and privilege can’t buy justice in this country, that it’s not okay to drink and drive and kill four people, and severely injure another, and not have any consequences. That’s not the American dream that we grew up to participate in."


Ladendorf.com -- As expected, this sentencing has sent a shock wave through the news media, the blogosphere, and the legal community. Major criticisms are being levied against the validity of “affluenza” as a defense in our system of justice. Over at USA Today, the debate is heating up over the future of “affluenza”-type defenses. Is the “affluenza” defense merely an extension of the law’s insistence that criminal culpability requires an appreciation of the consequences of one’s actions? Or is this a product of pop psychology without empirical support that would have the odious effect of condoning differential treatment between those litigants who have hoards of money and those who do not? …. I ultimately don’t see the “affluenza” defense gaining much traction in our courts of law. For one, “affluenza” as a psychological construct has not received blessing within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association. Second, prosecutors and plaintiffs’ attorneys will likely respond to the Couch decision by challenging the admissibility of any purported expert testimony on “affluenza” generally and as applied to a particular case. Finally, our courts of law and the judges who lead them are going to take heed of the public outrage over the “Blame the Parents” implications of this decision. …. The courts will therefore reject the classism that is inherent in the “affluenza” defense to preserve their own accountability to “We the People,” and this most recent case, though intriguing, will become an outlier.”


I wonder if the families of the victims could protest this verdict and take it to a higher court. It is possible that specific laws need to be written to prohibit the use of wealth as a defense, though what has been happening for years before this “affluenza” definition was imagined into existence, is that a wealthy man appears before the court and apologizes for his son, promising to take him more firmly in hand in the future, so the boy “walks” with a similar level of punishment. In other words, no punishment. If that was par for the course in small, conservative areas around the country and probably the world. That doesn’t mean it should be condoned. See the following Ladendorf article on the likely future of this really shocking defense strategy and its’ admissibility in court. He says, "The courts will therefore reject the classism that is inherent in the “affluenza” defense to preserve their own accountability to “We the People,” and this most recent case, though intriguing, will become an outlier." I hope that will be true, but if the Supreme Court doesn't get involved, this may be just one more injustice that is now a part of the law as a precedent, based on it's unchallenged point of view. If the crash victims families will sue, perhaps this will be rectified.

I can’t think of a law that deals with wealth as a DEFENSE, but equal justice before the law is basic to our society’s philosophy and structure. Ladendorf deals with the viability of this defense as a form of insanity. When genuinely psychotic individuals are executed without regard to their condition and black people are not usually given an easy probation by judges, this is so far simply a travesty.


http://www.ladendorf.com/affluenza-legal-defense/

“Affluenza”: Legitimate Legal Defense or Junk Science?
Lichtman & Trapani
December 2013

This week’s national headlines featured a criminal case for the ages at the intersection of law and social science. It also reintroduced America to what has been described as the “All-Consuming Epidemic” for children of extremely wealthy families: “Affluenza.”

The facts of the juvenile criminal proceeding that shocked the nation are simple, though incredibly tragic. From the Los Angeles Times recap:

“According to officials, the teenager and some friends were seen on surveillance video stealing two cases of beer from a store. He had seven passengers in his Ford F-350, was speeding and had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, according to testimony during the trial. The pickup fatally struck four pedestrians: Brian Jennings, 43; Breanna Mitchell, 24; Shelby Boyles, 21; and her mother Hollie Boyles, 52.”

Texas prosecutors had sought the maximum 20 years in state custody for the boy for the death of the four pedestrians, but his defense attorneys were able to successfully argue to District Judge Jean Boyd that the ideal sentence for the offender is rehabilitation, as opposed to prison. Couch will serve 10 years of probation and is anticipated to submit to rehabilitation at a California facility at a cost in excess of $450,000.

So how was it that Couch got off with such a glaringly light sentence under the circumstances? A piece of exculpatory evidence? A remorseful plea of mercy at the sentencing hearing? Other mitigating factors? Well, sort of.

This time, what carried the day was the defense’s argument that Couch himself was a victim. The defense presented psychologist G. Dick Miller to testify that Couch was suffering from “affluenza” —that he lived such an extravagant, materialistic, consequence-free life that he was unable to understand or control his behavior. According to Christopher J. Ferguson at Time.com, this is perhaps the first time in American jurisprudence that having too easy a life has been considered a mitigating circumstance.

As expected, this sentencing has sent a shock wave through the news media, the blogosphere, and the legal community. Major criticisms are being levied against the validity of “affluenza” as a defense in our system of justice. Over at USA Today, the debate is heating up over the future of “affluenza”-type defenses. Is the “affluenza” defense merely an extension of the law’s insistence that criminal culpability requires an appreciation of the consequences of one’s actions? Or is this a product of pop psychology without empirical support that would have the odious effect of condoning differential treatment between those litigants who have hoards of money and those who do not?

Although Couch’s sentence would seem to create the sort of double standard based on wealth that the law abhors, I hesitate to be Chicken Little here. While defense attorneys in both the criminal setting and the civil arena (where the burden of proof is much lower) may try to replicate the success of Mr. Couch’s lawyers, I ultimately don’t see the “affluenza” defense gaining much traction in our courts of law. For one, “affluenza” as a psychological construct has not received blessing within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association. Second, prosecutors and plaintiffs’ attorneys will likely respond to the Couch decision by challenging the admissibility of any purported expert testimony on “affluenza” generally and as applied to a particular case. Finally, our courts of law and the judges who lead them are going to take heed of the public outrage over the “Blame the Parents” implications of this decision. Judges, particularly in those jurisdictions which select their judges through popular elections, are keenly aware of the political and professional consequences of appearing “soft on crime.” Although this criticism usually manifests itself with career offenders, there is good reason to believe that citizens will be equally outraged by a judge who over-sympathizes with a wealthy young defendant who seeks to avoid responsibility by claiming that he is the victim of his family’s wealth and the lack of boundaries that attend to that affluence. The courts will therefore reject the classism that is inherent in the “affluenza” defense to preserve their own accountability to “We the People,” and this most recent case, though intriguing, will become an outlier.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/shuffle-along-re-imagining-broadway-history/

"Shuffle Along": Re-imagining Broadway history
CBS NEWS
December 20, 2015

Folks were wild about "I'm Just Wild About Harry" back when the Paul Whiteman Orchestra recorded it in 1922. Now, a revival of the musical that launched the song is Broadway bound, and "Sunday Morning" will be following its progress every step of the way. Maurice DuBois will be our guide:

The curtain is going up on something new ... that's something old: A Broadway show celebrating what it means to make it to the top.

For months now, the cast of "Shuffle Along" has been hard at work perfecting a show that was the talk of the town nearly 100 years ago.

This new version, opening next year, is a re-imagining of one of the earliest hit musical comedies starring, written and directed by African-Americans.

"And then history stepped in and said, 'Thank you -- and maybe we'll remember you, and maybe we won't," said Tony Award-winning director George C. Wolfe.

In fact, history did NOT remember "Shuffle Along." But the legendary Josephine Baker launched her career with the 1921 show, which also featured a young baritone named Paul Robeson, and a score by the team of Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, including hits like "I'm Just Wild About Harry."

Six-time Tony-winner Audra McDonald said it was important for her to do this show. "This is a part of my history, and I didn't know it," she said. . . . .

"Musicals are hateful," he told DuBois. "Musicals are horrible, horrible things to work on because they're just hard."

Particularly hard because Wolfe is actually telling TWO stories. There's the original plot -- about a less-than-honest mayoral election in a place called Jimtown, USA -- and Wolfe is also telling the behind-the-scenes story of the real-life actors and writers whose lives changed because of the musical's success. . . . . In 1921, "Shuffle Along" proved white audiences would line up for a black show. Nearly a century later, Billy Porter says the people who created the musical have given him both a role, and then some.

"It is such an honor and such a gift to be able to actually exist inside of your dreams," he told DuBois. "This is actually the dream. I am living the dream. It's extraordinary, it really is."



Black history coming alive in art is the subject of this article. “Shuffle Along” contained stereotyping of blacks, but was produced totally by black people, and was a great hit among whites as well as blacks at the time in 1921. See the following.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shuffle Along

Music
Eubie Blake
Lyrics
Noble Sissle
Book
F. E. Miller
Aubrey Lyles

Productions
1921 Broadway
1933 Broadway revival
1952 Broadway revival

Shuffle Along is an African-American musical revue with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and a connecting plot about a mayoral race, written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. The piece premiered on Broadway in 1921, running for 504 performances – an unusually long run during that decade. It launched the careers of Josephine Baker, Adelaide Hall and Paul Robeson, and became such a hit that it caused "curtain time traffic jams" on 63rd Street.[1]