February 28, 2016


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-mayor-james-butts-people-killed-police-shooting-unconscious/

Mayor gives details on deadly police shooting in Calif.
CBS/AP
February 27, 2016, 3:08 PM

Photograph -- City of Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. attends an event on Oct. 14, 2014, in Inglewood, California. JOE SCARNICI/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIRECTV


A Southern California mayor said that a man and a woman killed in an officer-involved shooting last weekend were unconscious when police first encountered them.

Inglewood police Lt. Scott Collins said in a statement that around 3 a.m. Sunday officers approached a car that had stopped in the street. A woman in the car had a gun and officers took cover and ordered the man and woman out of the car, Collins said.

Officers then opened fire. Collins did not say whether the man or woman fired the weapon or what led officers to open fire.

CBS Los Angeles reports that the woman died at the scene and the man died after being rushed to a hospital.

On Tuesday, Inglewood Mayor James Butts didn't say what prompted the officers to shoot, but he told KNBC-TV the officers found the people in the car unconscious and tried "to rouse" them and "de-escalate the situation" for about 45 minutes.

"At some point obviously they were conscious because somebody felt threatened," Butts told the TV station.

A gun was recovered at the scene, Collins said.

The mayor didn't provide further comment to the station, stressing the importance of the police completing their investigation.

The station and other media outlets identified the deceased as Kisha Michael, 31, a single mother, and Marquintan Sandlin, 32, a single father.

No officers were injured in the incident.



Here is another deadly police shooting, with a muddled and suspiciously incomplete explanation. I hope the officers involved really had just cause, as it will be another log on the fire if they didn’t. Interestingly, this mayor in the photograph is black. I hope that will help in the achievement of justice here.



http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-klan-rally-in-anaheim-erupts-in-violence-one-man-stabbed-20160227-story.html

Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim erupts in violence; three stabbed, 13 arrested
Los Angeles Times
By James Queally, Contact Reporter
February 27, 2016

Photo Gallery -- Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim erupts in violence
Photograph -- Planned KKK rally today in Anaheim brings condemnation: 'It's really sad'

Three people were stabbed, including one who was critically wounded, and 13 were arrested when a Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim erupted in violence Saturday, police said.

A small group of people representing the Klan had announced that it would hold a rally at Pearson Park at 1:30 p.m., police said. By 11 a.m., several dozen protesters showed up at the park to confront the Klan.

About an hour later, several men in black garb with Confederate flag patches arrived and were escorted by police around the edge of the park.

Violence erupted and some of the protesters could be seen kicking a man whose shirt read "Grand Dragon." At some point, a protester collapsed on the ground bleeding, crying that he had been stabbed.

The Ku Klux Klan's ugly, violent history in Anaheim

A Klansman in handcuffs could be heard telling a police officer that he "stabbed him in self-defense." Several other people were also handcuffed.

Witnesses said the Klansmen used the point of a flagpole as a weapon while fighting with protesters.

Two other people were stabbed during the melee, said Sgt. Daron Wyatt of the Anaheim Police Department. One of those was a protester but the identity of the other victim was not clear.

Two Klansmen and three protesters were arrested following the fracas, Wyatt said.

Kobe Sato, 18, of Anaheim said a crowd swarmed the KKK members when they arrived at the park and began to display Confederate flags.

Brian Levin, director of CSU San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, said he was standing next to the man in the Grand Dragon shirt when a crowd of protesters carrying weapons swarmed the Klansmen.

A brawl broke out and one of the Klansmen was knocked to the ground and kicked. Levin said he later saw the man's arm bleeding.

Levin said he pushed the Klan leader away as the violence continued and a protester was stabbed.

Levin said he asked the man, "How do you feel that a Jewish guy just saved your life?"

"Thank you," the man replied, according to Levin.

A large crowd gathered at the park, with many demanding to know why Anaheim police did not have a larger presence at the scene before the violence broke out.

Levin was also critical of the lack of police presence prior to the melee.

"There were no police officers here when this started happening," Levin said.

The Klan has a long and troubling history with the city. Klansmen were once the dominant political force in Anaheim, holding four of five City Council seats before a recall effort led to their ouster in 1924.

At the height of the group's power in Orange County, nearly 300 Klansmen lived in Anaheim, patrolling city streets in robes and masks. A large KKK rally once attracted 20,000 people to the city.

KKK activity nationwide has decreased dramatically in recent decades, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which estimated the group has between 5,000 and 8,000 members across the country.

The group's activities have been sporadic in Southern California in recent years. Last summer, at least 100 residents of Whittier and Fullerton awoke to find packets containing KKK fliers, rife with racist rhetoric, and candy in their driveways. A Santa Ana neighborhood was also blanketed with KKK fliers on Martin Luther King Jr. Day last year, police said.

An eight-foot cross was burned outside the home of a black man in Anaheim Hills in 2003, and the FBI investigated the case as a hate crime, but police did not specifically link that case to the KKK.

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in Southern California.



I didn’t realize that the KKK had been active much beyond Missouri or Texas to the West. I have heard of a lynching in one of the Great Lakes states in the early 1900s, and in the last ten years there was a report of KKK flyers being placed in lawns in a Northern middle class neighborhood. The article didn’t say that there had been a rally, cross burning or any positive response to the flyers. Northern people are not all immune to the lure of hating a scapegoat, however. Just because they are very often better educated doesn’t mean that they have used that to improve their inner self. That’s a matter of conscience and empathy.



http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2016/02/25/Former-KKK-leader-Duke-says-voting-against-Trump-is-treason-to-your-heritage/6401456437829/

Former KKK leader Duke says voting against Trump is 'treason to your heritage'
By Ann Marie Awad
Feb. 25, 2016 at 5:26 PM

Photograph -- Former Klu Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke called on his supporters Thursday to vote for Donald Trump and volunteer for his presidential campaign. File photo by A.J. Sisco/UPI | License Photo


BATON ROUGE, La., Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Former Louisiana lawmaker and Klu Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke said Thursday that a vote for Sen. Ted Cruz or Sen. Marco Rubio over Donald Trump "is really treason to your heritage."

Duke, who has been a vocal supporter of Trump in the past, called on his radio listeners to back Trump's bid for the White House.

"Voting for these people, voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage," he said on the David Duke Radio Program Wednesday, referring to Cruz and Rubio. "I'm not saying I endorse everything about Trump, in fact I haven't formally endorsed him. But I do support his candidacy, and I support voting for him as a strategic action. I hope he does everything we hope he will do."

Duke called Trump's campaign an "insurgency that is waking up millions of Americans," and urged his listeners to volunteer for Trump's campaign.

"Get off your duff. Get off your rear end that's getting fatter and fatter for many of you every day on your chairs. When this show's over, go out, call the Republican Party, but call Donald Trump's headquarters, volunteer," he said.

Despite the encouragement, Duke has not endorsed Trump, and the real estate magnate has previously said he doesn't want Duke's endorsement. However, Duke is not the only white supremacist who has been rooting for Trump to win the presidency.

As Trump continues to rise in popularity, white supremacist websites have enjoyed a boom in traffic and white supremacist groups have been actively campaigning for Trump.

While Trump has said he repudiates attention from white supremacists like Duke, more than half of Trump's retweets are from purported white supremacist accounts.

Earlier this week, polling in South Carolina found that 20 percent of those who voted for Trump in that state's primary opposed freeing the slaves during the Civil War.



“But I do support his candidacy, and I support voting for him as a strategic action. I hope he does everything we hope he will do." …. While Trump has said he repudiates attention from white supremacists like Duke, more than half of Trump's retweets are from purported white supremacist accounts. Earlier this week, polling in South Carolina found that 20 percent of those who voted for Trump in that state's primary opposed freeing the slaves during the Civil War.”


“Treason to your heritage.” I had a troll on G+ who called me “a traitor to my race.” Like everyone I do have a “heritage” and a “race,” but I owe them no allegiance if they are following a path that I disagree with, especially if it is deeply evil. ‘Nuff said!! This is 2016, not 1865. Duke is a known fascist, so it’s hard for me to understand why he keeps popping up in the political realm. Can it be that the US population is simply steeped in that sort of vileness and unwilling to modify it, much less give it up?

“Opposed freeing the slaves!” Hmmm! That’s like Cliven Bundy famous statement just a couple of years ago that he thought that blacks may have “better off picking cotton.” What I really don’t understand is why the Republican party doesn’t drum people like that out of their ranks. It only makes them repugnant to moderate and decent voters of all parties. Eisenhower, Colin Powell, and Nelson Rockefeller were all Republicans, and the Republican Party was, as modern day Republicans are fond of saying, “the party of Lincoln.” Too bad they don’t follow the philosophy of Lincoln.

One article on the Republican Party’s change of course philosophically talked about a conspiracy of sorts, at least a conscious strategy, among Republicans to GAIN VOTING POWER by catering to the KKK and other rightist voters, in the South, especially, which was their tar pit until 1964, and you all know what happened in 1964. I remember when the state of NC voted Democrat every time, and when the Republicans took over in the South. They courted the radical right and ended up victors among those who were still living emotionally as though they were a part of the Old South. Separate public facilities of all kinds and “minstrel shows” were part of the whole pie. In those days the Democrats were the more rightist, at least about racial issues. See the article below for a very interesting discussion of this issue.

Duke called Trump's campaign an "insurgency that is waking up millions of Americans," and urged his listeners to volunteer for Trump's campaign. He isn’t the first to say things like that. The infamous NRA letter using the term “jack booted thugs” to describe federal agents, and suggesting that a “well-armed” populace can defend itself against their government is bad enough. Clearly it is largely propaganda, but I think that very wording, with its’ strong emphasis on emotion and not intellect, was at least partly responsible for the uprising of the last 20 or so years of “militias” around the country, especially in the south and west, and I don’t think it’s harmless, either.

People who are full of hate need only some encouragement to become violent, and “a crowd” of compatriots to bolster their courage. Duke’s statement is as bad or worse, because it implies that those gun worshippers will actually attack “the government.” I Googled the word “insurgency” to be sure of its’ meaning and it is defined as a call to take up arms against a government. From Oxford Dictionaries: “in·sur·gen·cy” means “an active revolt or uprising”: "Rebels are waging an armed insurgency to topple the monarchy."

I don’t know whether Duke was using this precise term carefully or loosely, but there have been statements by some on the far right – Bundy’s crowd just recently and another militia member in the South several years ago, for instance – of an upcoming “race war,” and in the case of Bundy, an armed fight against the Federal government. In both cases deeply damaging internal breakdown is being anticipated gleefully, rather dreaded as a sad thing. The average man carries in his genes the desire to fight physically, and sometimes only needs an excuse to do so. I think that’s a big part of what is going on within the ranks of too many police forces across the country. It’s emotional and irrational.

There’s so much antigovernment talk now that it’s hard for me to fathom its emergence from an essentially peace-loving South. How do they think a nation this size could possibly take care of society’s needs without a large and well-organized “government?” Before we had governments, we had tribal hunter-gatherer societies and chiefs. With the agricultural revolution of the Neolithic came changes that I do tend to call “progress,” though the absolute “freedom” of the individual was reduced.

Today’s conservatives, especially Southerners, tend to think we could go back to the days when Europe’s less wealthy individuals came over here in ships to take free land grants (killing the American Indians who lived there, of course); when the population was much, much smaller than it is now, and our American wealthy and middle class began to develop. As a result of that, our Constitution was born and we fought our forebears, the Brits. The whole proposition that we should do away with a mostly well-regulated government and society in lieu of disorder or perhaps a new Constitutional Convention in which our civil rights will almost certainly be diminished, really infuriates me. That is actually being proposed by several Tea Partiers in and outside of Congress right now. It’s not paranoia. The goals of these militias and other rightist people are not merely to make a war of words, or even massive and potentially threatening “demonstrations” as the blacks sometimes use, but something which sounds to me as though it goes beyond exercising their First Amendment rights, and into the range of treason.

Why is nothing being done about the far right? Even if we feel that an actual attempt at insurrection, as defined here, is necessary to prefer charges, those in Oregon did in fact shoot at Federal agents. That half dozen or so who are to be tried, are not charged with treason – just “conspiracy to impede the duties of federal officials through the use of ‘force, intimidation, or threats.’” They are likely to serve quite a few years in prison for that, but it still isn’t treason.

That term, which can carry the death penalty or at least life imprisonment, has been used within my memory in trials of actual spies caught operating against this country, but not against these home grown terrorists such as Timothy McVeigh and the Bundys. If the Oregon outlaws had been communists rather than fascists, they would have been judged more harshly, I think, and perhaps even shot down rather than arrested. Whatever the political view, though, I don’t want to see the rule of law disrupted in such ways with impunity. I also worry about the trend toward a highly compromised form of our democratically controlled government. We really mustn’t let that happen.

About the fairly recent Moderate or Liberal Republicans, see the following interesting Wikipedia article.


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

Rockefeller Republican
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Liberal Republican -- "Liberal Republican" redirects here. For the 1872 political party in the United States, see “Liberal Republican Party (United States).”


The Rockefeller Republicans, otherwise called Liberal Republicans, were members of the Republican Party (GOP) in the 1940s–1970s who held moderate to liberal views on domestic issues, similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York (1959–1973) and Vice President of the United States (1974–1977). Rockefeller Republicanism has been described as the last phase of the "Eastern Establishment" of the GOP, which had been led by New York governor Thomas E. Dewey. The group's powerful role in the GOP came under heavy attack in 1964 and it lost most of its influence. At a discouraging point in the 1964 primary campaign against Barry Goldwater in California, political operative Stuart Spencer called on Rockefeller to "summon that fabled nexus of money, influence, and condescension known as the Eastern Establishment. 'You are looking at it, buddy,' Rockefeller told Spencer. 'I am all that is left.'"[1]

Definition[edit]

The term largely fell out of use by the end of the twentieth century, and has been replaced by the terms "moderate Republican" and, pejoratively, "RINO" (Republican In Name Only).[2] Rockefeller Republicans were typically moderate to center-right, vehemently rejected conservatives like Barry Goldwater and his policies, and were often, but not necessarily, culturally liberal. They espoused government and private investments in environmentalism, healthcare, and higher education as necessities for a better society and economic growth, in the tradition of Rockefeller. In general, Rockefeller Republicans opposed socialism and government ownership. They supported some regulation of business and many New Deal–style social programs. A critical element was their support for labor unions. The building trades, especially, appreciated the heavy spending on infrastructure. In turn, the unions gave these politicians enough support to overcome the anti-union rural element in the Republican Party. As the unions weakened after the 1970s, so too did the need for Republicans to cooperate with them. This transformation played into the hands of the more conservative Republicans, who did not want to collaborate with labor unions in the first place, and now no longer needed to do so to carry statewide elections.[3]

In foreign policy, most wanted to use American power in cooperation with allies to fight against the spread of communism. They wanted to help American business expand abroad. Richard Nixon, a moderate establishment Republican within the Party's contemporary ideological framework, but who ran against Rockefeller from the right in 1968 and was widely identified with the cultural right of the time, nevertheless was influenced by this tradition within his party. Nixon set up the Environmental Protection Agency, supported expanded welfare programs, imposed wage and price controls, and in 1971 announced he was a Keynesian.[4] Rockefeller Republicans were most common in the Northeast and the West Coast, with their larger liberal constituencies; they were rare in the South and Midwest.[5]



https://www.facebook.com/groups/writersforbernie/

Ryne Tipton
February 21 at 11:52pm

“This came straight from the heart in a conversation I had yesterday with people in the Tri-Cities Bernie Group. A lot of times I meticulously edit the things I write, but this (except for two words) is what I typed about people who are afraid to vote with their heart and conscience:

"It's really disappointing to watch people who lose their idealism.

And on some level, I really don't understand it. I don't have a ton of life experience (obviously :P), but I have been raised to know right from wrong.

I know that it's wrong when people work 40 hours a week and still can't make a decent living. I know that it's wrong when people can't afford a college education, or can't receive basic medical care without bankrupting themselves.

So... why, if people really listened to their conscience, would they not organize for a better world? Sure, be realistic. Realize that failure may be very likely. But at least you tried. And then you get back up and try again and again. Eventually, people will decide that enough is enough and things will change. Maybe you'll never see it. But somewhere, someone will benefit from the hard work you did to make things not so bad, from the compassion you gave for people you might not ever meet or know.

What life is worth living if we have to settle for everything? If we can never demand that things change, and make a difference? Failing miserably and having some dignity about it is so much lighter on your conscience than selling your soul for some success.
I get that people are afraid of failure. But, God, we don't ever go anywhere without making mistakes, without taking risks. Some people are just so afraid of giving up what relative affluence they've built up throughout their life, and so afraid of having faith in something. And that's something else I don't have time for.

If you know what's right and what's wrong and believe, then you have the moral responsibility to act. When did we become so afraid of believing in something and so ashamed of really taking part in making the world a better place? That's what I want to know.

Because if these people who keep standing up for the status quo were really to look hard at themselves, they'd realize that they really don't believe in democracy and apple pie and all the things they've supposedly instilled in their kids. Instead, they're just cowards.

I'm glad I've met people so far who've shown me that as you get older, you don't have to resign yourself to cowardice. You can still have the courage to stand up for what's right. And that's really excited me about you all."



“Failing miserably and having some dignity about it is so much lighter on your conscience than selling your soul for some success.” Rightly or wrongly, I have always felt this way about life. It’s a chance to do something good, or bad, and we all do some things that are bad, but if we sit down and don’t do anything good, that is worse. It was Jesus who said in Matthew 5:13, English Standard Version, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”



http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/02/22/467386572/did-obama-inspire-a-big-debate-on-identity-you-weighed-in

Did Obama Inspire A Big Debate On Identity? You Weighed In
LEAH DONNELLA
Updated February 23, 201611:41 AM ET
Published February 22, 201612:21 PM ET

Photograph -- In what ways has Obama's presidency altered the landscape of the United States? Laurie Avocado/Flickr Creative Commons


Last week, Code Switch raised the curtain on "The Obama Effect," our quest to understand what the nation's first black president has to do with the big national conversations on identity and inclusion swirling in full force right now.

That quest began with you. On Friday, we took to Twitter with the hashtag #NPRObamaEffect and asked you to weigh in: If somebody else had come into office on Jan. 20, 2009, do you think we'd be having all these conversations about identity? Has the way you identify yourself as a person of color — or as a white person — changed over the last eight years? Have your personal politics around race shifted post-Obama?

Some people said yes, but weren't lining up to credit Obama.

Many others seemed to think that Obama's presidency has changed the country's landscape in some important ways, even if the changes didn't come from any specific action.

The Obama Effects that you all identified spanned a range of topics, but we noticed a few categories in particular that seemed to have gotten a lot of attention. Some of you noted that Obama's presidency opened up opportunities for people to talk about race, period.

A lot of people went further, saying that Obama hadn't just created space for these discussions, his personal identity allowed for a sense of nuance that previous conversations had been lacking.

This seemed particularly salient for multiracial folks. Some saw Obama's mixed racial identity as a chance to more fully embrace their own. Others experienced the opposite.

We talked about how the Obama family's tenure in the White House relates to feminism, respectability and visibility.

And we speculated about what all this means for the future.

It's clear that there's a lot to sort through, and this is just the beginning. We hope that you'll keep your eyes open for The Obama Effect and keep weighing in on Twitter with the hashtag #NPRObamaEffect.

EMBEDDED COMMENTS:

A.C. Valdez ‎@ACVTweets -- .@GeeDee215 Who doesn't change how they see themselves over 8 years, regardless of the president? #NPRObamaEffect
1:11 PM - 19 Feb 2016

Chenjerai Kumanyika ‎@catchatweetdown -- @GeeDee215 the reality of BO - rather than his political focus- gave us a common, unavoidable thing that u had to process #NPRObamaEffect
1:50 PM - 19 Feb 2016 · Clemson, SC, United States

Sol to Seed Farm ‎@soltoseedfarm -- #NPRObamaEffect reignited a conversation that many in America thought had ended, or at the very least had been silenced.
1:45 PM - 19 Feb 2016

salvador acevedo ‎@salacevedo -- #nprobamaeffect Obama's presidency brought to the surface lots of conversations about identity that needed to be exposed and told
1:20 PM - 19 Feb 2016

Chenjerai Kumanyika ‎@catchatweetdown -- Obama presidency created an opportunity for folk to bolster a variety of compelling and conflicting political narratives #NPRObamaEffect
1:25 PM - 19 Feb 2016 · Clemson, SC, United States

Chenjerai Kumanyika ‎@catchatweetdown -- We're also witnessing unprecedented economic incentives for media companies to focus on race punditry and election coverage #NPRObamaEffect
1:15 PM - 19 Feb 2016 · Clemson, SC, United States

Jonathan Blanks ‎@BlanksSlate -- @GeeDee215 Once more amorphous, #NPRObamaEffect has made it easier to identify & gauge the depth and severity of US racial blind spots
1:19 PM - 19 Feb 2016

Steven Thrasher ‎@thrasherxy -- Before he came in, no one young, black & gay was getting published in mainstream publications about race & sexuality #NPRObamaEffect
1:08 PM - 19 Feb 2016

Adrian Florido ‎@adrianflorido -- @GeeDee215 And Obama has forced people to change their views of what Americans look like/where they come from. #NPRObamaEffect
1:14 PM - 19 Feb 2016


ABOUT MICHELLE VS FEMINISM:

http://www.forharriet.com/2012/09/michelle-obama-feminism-for-black-women.html#axzz41NgNIDeq

"No one can take feminism from women of the African diaspora. It is a black woman's birthright because we could never seek solace in the protections of womanhood narrowly defined. It is ours, yet it seems at every turn, someone is trying to wrestle it from us. Since her appearance at this year's Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama has again been placed at the center of an old debate regarding her feminist credentials.

In front of an audience of millions, the First Lady poured out her love for her spouse of twenty years and affirmed her commitment to her children. She does this often, but this time the stakes were higher. Her husband would accept the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in a few days.

Mrs. Obama has, since she took residence in the White House, described herself as "Mom-in-Chief." The moniker is safe and comforting for a nation socialized to view Black women as the antithesis of the studied grace she embodies. Some women, usually those with race and/or class privilege, view her embrace of the term as a betrayal. One writer called it "degrading." Michelle's presence as the most visible black woman in America hasn't lived up to everyone's hopes. Even Black women lament that Michelle Obama cast off her work, pedigree, and aspirations. She could have been our Hillary. She's certainly smart and charismatic enough to be "Feminist-in-chief." And although some view her as a "feminist megastar," she's evaded that role. Since her husband's campaign, her impressive career history has been downplayed. She's assured us time and again she's a devoted wife not a political adviser."


About the issues of having a (gasp!!) black president, I can only say that it was high time and that our society will be improved by the experience. He has been a good Democratic president – so alright, he’s not a conservative – and a good man. Until I hear to the contrary from RELIABLE sources, I will maintain that view. One of the Internet chat sessions I saw said that he drinks heavily, is at least verbally abusive and is gay. Yadda, yadda, yadda!

About Michelle’s feminism or the lack thereof, I’ve always been by my nature a feminist, even before I had heard the term, but I believe in women making a place for children and a loving relationship with a man (whether or not he’s their husband) in their lives. Of course, if they DON’T want to be married or have children, that’s okay, too. In particular, I believe in women taking charge in their own life like a full-scale American citizen, rather than “taking orders” from anyone, including their husbands. The conservative branches of the Christian religion tend to preach against that view, but then I’m a UU, so that’s okay; and when I was a United Methodist in my young years I never heard any talk of that sort. Also, nobody even once asked me “Have you been saved,” as happened with one Baptist friend. I know such people mean well, but I just don’t like it.

I resent Michelle’s being called “degrading” to her feminism by calling herself “Mom-In-Chief”, because she is by no means one of those passive, timid women that we were all supposed to be in the 1950’s. (Read “The Feminine Mystique.”) Besides, there’s nothing degrading about paying close and loving attention to her children, or about taking a noticeably second place to the President in the making of national decisions. She has been active in social issues, as First Ladies usually are. Hillary Clinton’s being put into a central position in the development of health care plan when Bill was in office, was the thing that was out of the ordinary, though in my opinion a good thing. Why not?! Finally, there has been absolutely no sign of abuse or even marital stress between them, though racists and other rightwingers have published disgusting statements about Obama and Michelle both being gay/lesbian and even having a sham marriage. They have somehow managed to produce two very healthy, intelligent and beautiful daughters, so I feel sure neither of them is homosexual. A great deal of what I hear from some is pure bilgewater, and I ignore it.


The term “code switch” which is used in the above article mystified me, so I looked it up. This is what I found.

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/04/07/176352338/faq

What is Code Switch?

Code Switch is a team of seven NPR journalists who cover race, ethnicity and culture. Our work appears on-air and online, across NPR's shows and digital outlets. We produce this blog, a Tumblr, a Twitter stream, and a Facebook feed.

Who's on the team?

You can see full bios of all the team members here.

Where does the blog get its name?

In linguistics, "code-switching" means mixing languages or patterns of speech in conversation. But as our writer Gene Demby explains: "We're looking at code-switching a little more broadly. Many of us subtly, reflexively change the way we express ourselves all the time. We're hop-scotching between different cultural and linguistic spaces and different parts of our own identities — sometimes within a single interaction.

"We decided to call this team Code Switch because much of what we'll be exploring are the different spaces we each inhabit and the tensions of trying to navigate between them. In one sense, code-switching is about dialogue that spans cultures. It evokes the conversation we want to have here."

Why cover race, ethnicity and culture?

As you've probably heard, the U.S. is in the midst of a big demographic shift. Over the next few decades, people of color will come to compose a majority of the country's population, a transition that's already happened among the nation's youngest residents. Already, race, ethnicity and culture play a starring role in some of the biggest stories unfolding in the news, and that role will only increase as this demographic shift continues. We want to cover these matters with the depth, nuance, intelligence and comprehensiveness they deserve.

How can you contribute?

Check out our pitching guidelines here!


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/yancy-noll-murder-road-rage-turned-deadly-or-thrill-kill/

Yancy Noll murder: Road rage turned deadly, or "thrill kill?"
By PAUL LAROSA CBS NEWS
February 26, 2016, 12:31 PM

Photograph -- yancynollcarhero.jpg -- The Subaru Yancy Noll was driving when he was fatally shot at a Seattle intersection in 2012 "48 HOURS"
Play VIDEO -- Preview: A Student of Murder


SEATTLE --In 2014 in Seattle, a young engineer admitted during his first degree murder trial that he shot a man driving in the car next to him four times in the head.

Why would a murder defendant admit that? Because he believed the jury would understand his reasons--the engineer said it was the only way he could defend himself against uncontrollable road rage by the other driver.

Engineer Dinh Bowman, at one time considered a genius and child prodigy, says the incident began when he accidentally cut off a car driven by a man named Yancy Noll as both men were driving home from work in August 2012. Bowman says that Noll followed him off the highway and exploded in rage when the cars came to a stop side-by-side at a red light in a quiet residential neighborhood.


"I felt like it was just this crazy bad dream, and I was runnin' from a monster," said Bowman who was driving a BMW convertible sports car. "There was sort of-- a stream of swearin'

"I think the phrase that caught my attention was 'You better learn how to drive that fancy car, dick boy. Or you're gonna get yourself f***ed up.'"

After a bottle went flying in his direction, Bowman says he feared for his life. Bowman says he retaliated by pulling out his gun and firing. He asked the jury to understand his desperate measures: "If I didn't do something right then, I was goin' to die."

Prosecutors scoffed at Bowman's defense and claimed that there was another reason entirely that he killed Yancy Noll--a thirst to commit the perfect murder of a stranger, and that this was not road rage but a thrill kill. That story will be featured this week on "48 Hours."

Road rage is a well-known phenomenon. A detailed AAA study done in the 1990s found that road rage resulted in 218 murders over a seven-year period. Other published reports claim that as many 1,500 injuries and deaths can be traced to road rage in any one year.

Whatever the number, the parade of murders linked to road rage seems never to fade from the headlines.

But why do people explode in rage when behind the wheel and get so aggravated over a perceived or real slight that they drive recklessly or, in Bowman's case, pull out a gun and fire? What is it about driving that pushes some people's buttons?

Psychologists point to something called "deindividuation," defined as "loss of self- awareness and of individual accountability in a group."

California psychologist Robert Nemerovski has studied road rage extensively. He says that, although most of us don't think of driving as social, "it consists of countless subtle interpersonal interactions per mile," he told the Pacific Sun newspaper in an extensive interview.

At the same time, however, cars make us feel anonymous and foster the idea that no one knows who we are as we drive along alone, sometime with tinted windows. The car is, in essence, our domain.


That combination of factors, Nemerovski says "has been shown in several prominent studies to lead to a psychological state called 'deindividuation,' which is believed to reduce our inhibitions to perform antisocial behavior. Essentially, if we believe no one can identify us, we are more likely to engage in antisocial, even hostile behavior."

It is not an accident that the most serious road rage incidents occur when a person is driving alone. If others are present in the car, drivers are less likely to act out in the most extreme way.

If road rage on some level is something that many of us are familiar with, might Dinh Bowman's unique defense work with the jury? Prosecutors scoffed at his defense and said Bowman was "a student of murder" who'd been training himself to commit the perfect murder for years.

When he found the "right" victim under the "right" circumstances, they said, he blasted away.

Paul LaRosa is a "48 Hours" producer. Watch the full investigation into Yancy Noll's murder and the case against Dinh Bowman during "A Student of Murder," Saturday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.


“In 2014 in Seattle, a young engineer admitted during his first degree murder trial that he shot a man driving in the car next to him four times in the head. Why would a murder defendant admit that? Because he believed the jury would understand his reasons--the engineer said it was the only way he could defend himself against uncontrollable road rage by the other driver. …. Bowman says that Noll followed him off the highway and exploded in rage when the cars came to a stop side-by-side at a red light in a quiet residential neighborhood. "I felt like it was just this crazy bad dream, and I was runnin' from a monster," said Bowman who was driving a BMW convertible sports car. "There was sort of-- a stream of swearin.' "I think the phrase that caught my attention was 'You better learn how to drive that fancy car, dick boy. Or you're gonna get yourself f***ed up.'" …. "If I didn't do something right then, I was goin' to die." Prosecutors scoffed at Bowman's defense and claimed that there was another reason entirely that he killed Yancy Noll--a thirst to commit the perfect murder of a stranger, and that this was not road rage but a thrill kill. …. Prosecutors scoffed at his defense and said Bowman was "a student of murder" who'd been training himself to commit the perfect murder for years. When he found the "right" victim under the "right" circumstances, they said, he blasted away.”


“…cars make us feel anonymous and foster the idea that no one knows who we are as we drive along alone …. Psychologists point to something called "deindividuation," defined as "loss of self- awareness and of individual accountability in a group." …. Essentially, if we believe no one can identify us, we are more likely to engage in antisocial, even hostile behavior. …. It is not an accident that the most serious road rage incidents occur when a person is driving alone. If others are present in the car, drivers are less likely to act out in the most extreme way.”

I’ve heard this analysis of road rage before, though it lacks one other issue which was mentioned then. People in cars feel much more “protected” than they actually are, and in addition they are moving much faster than an individual can in the “natural” (caveman) state. Speed is exhilarating. That feeling included FREEDOM, joy and excitement. It is like a dose of methamphetamine. It alters the mental state of the driver, perhaps as much as being a part of an abusive crowd leads to bullying or even gang rapes. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “group think” is very dangerous. This story reminds me of the recent disgusting incident in NYC when a huge gang of motorcyclists surrounded and began to bedevil an Asian man (which may or may not have been the cause of it.) He, also, “feared for his life,” and he simply ran over the violent young idiot who had inserted his cycle in front of the man’s car, then slowing down rapidly to make the driver feel fear. As can happen, that backfired on him. In this case, the driver did indeed win his self-defense case in court, especially since one of the cyclists had taken video of the whole incident and published it. The cops got his video and arrested something in the range of a dozen of those bikers based on the video. These things make me fear for the future of civilized society, and doubt the basic intelligence of the human animal. When I was young I thought the phrase “Man is the measure of all things” was not only right, but good. Nowadays as I live more and more years, I’m not so sure.


The young engineer Bowman declared in court, "If I didn't do something right then, I was goin' to die." I dispute the logic of this claim. All he had to do was zoom off at top speed through the red light, turn at the next corner and another until he got back to the highway where he could proceed on his way. If he wanted to call the police and report the matter, that would also be good. This increasingly popular defense that “I feared for my life,” is so convenient and rote that it infuriates me. Generally, it’s police who do that, but anybody can try it. I’ll bet as it keeps popping up, it will become so obvioiuly specious – without proof, especially -- that courts will become less willing to acquit on the basis of it. Though some self-defense law is needed, we should to amend or abolish that “Stand Your Ground Law,” partly on the simple ground that it is redundant. It is popular among gun-lovin’ rightists so they can have an excuse to use those phallic symbols of theirs.

Everybody has some right to a self defense judgment in all or nearly all parts of the US already, but they do have to prove their case that their extreme degree of fear was “reasonable,” and that they have to ATTEMPT TO FLEE. The Stand Your Ground laws remove that requirement. Too often the one who kills under Stand Your Ground is white and the victim is one of several minorities. Cases in point: Zimmerman and Dunn, both, sadly in the state of Florida. It’s just a thinly disguised permit to kill.

See the following: http://www.husseinandwebber.com/case-work/criminal-defense-articles/floridas-stand-ground-law/

“STAND YOUR GROUND: HISTORY AND SCOPE
In a highly publicized move, the Florida Legislature enacted in 2005 what has been popularly known as the “Stand Your Ground” law. This law, as codified in Sections 776.012, and 776.013, Florida Statutes, provides that a person is justified in the use of deadly force and has no duty to retreat if either:the person reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself, or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony;or the person acts under and according to the circumstances set forth in Section 776.013 (pertaining to the use of force in the context of a home or vehicle invasion).

Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law does not create a new type of affirmative defense. The principle that a person may use deadly force in self-defense if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm has been the law in Florida for well over a century. See Lovett v. State, 30 Fla. 142, 163-164 (Fla. 1892). Rather than creating a new defense, “Stand Your Ground” broadens the scope of a self-defense claim by establishing a general “no duty to retreat” rule.”



http://news.yahoo.com/patricia-arquette-calls-on-congress-to-ratify-the-equal-rights-amendment-144806459.html

Patricia Arquette calls on Congress to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment
By Michael Walsh Yahoo News
February 27, 2016

Photograph -- Patricia Arquette accepts the award for best actress in a supporting role for “Boyhood
View gallery -- . Equal Rights Amendment supporters voice their disapproval of the 22-16 vote against E.R.A. in the Florida Senate …
View gallery -- Actress Jennifer Lawrence attends The Dinner For Equality co-hosted by Patricia Arquette and Marc Benioff on February 25, 2016 in Beverly Hills, Calif...
Actress Jennifer Lawrence attends The Dinner For Equality co-hosted by Patricia Arquette and Marc Benioff on February …


Hollywood may be embarrassed when its pay inequality and lack of diversity enter the spotlight, but in many ways these are symptoms of larger problems.

Patricia Arquette has launched a petition calling for lawmakers to vote in favor of ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to give women a clear constitutional basis for challenging discrimination.

It’s not a new issue for Arquette. The critically acclaimed actress’ impassioned plea for pay equity at last year’s Academy Awards sparked a national discussion about sex-based discrimination.

Now she’s doubling down on her calls for full equality for women under the law.

“We’re not saying women are better than men. All it says is all people are equal in the United States regardless of their sex. And who can argue with that?” Arquette said in an interview with Yahoo News.

On Thursday, just days before the 2016 Oscars, Arquette and Equal Rights Advocates, a women's rights nonprofit, launched a petition on Change.org to compell Congress to finally ratify the ERA, which reads “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

First introduced in 1923 by suffragist Alice Paul, the bill finally picked up steam in the 1970s (passing both the House and the Senate and getting endorsed by presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter) but was only ratified by 35 states — three states short of the minimum needed to become federal law.

The ERA would require the judicial system to treat discrimination claims by women the same way it treats those on the basis of race, religion or national origin. Without the amendment, Arquette says, women’s rights are left open to interpretation.

In 2011, much to the chagrin of feminists, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13, said, “Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t.”

To counteract this argument, the ERA would provide a clear constitutional basis on which women could challenge gender-based discrimination.

Arquette also applauded California Gov. Jerry Brown’s signing of the state’s Fair Pay Act last year, but said women need change at the federal level because they cannot be beholden to whoever happens to be in office at the time.

Last year, actress Jennifer Lawrence spoke out against the gender pay gap after the Sony e-mail hack revealed that she had been paid far less than her male co-stars. Arquette, who empathized with Lawrence, said the “Hunger Games” star unfairly caught a lot of heat and was perceived as a “spoiled wealthy actress” by people who missed the point.

“When I see Jennifer Lawrence stand up and speak, I see 33 million women and children behind her back, standing up and needing her to open her mouth,” Arquette said. “And I feel so grateful that she did and I really hope that we all can stand up with her and say this is not acceptable.”

Filmmaker Kamala Lopez recently worked with Arquette on the film “Equal Means Equal,” a documentary about the treatment of women in the U.S. today. She says that people often look at different issues facing women individually but need to deal with sexism holistically.

“One of the things a Supreme Court justice [Scalia] said very clearly was, ‘Look, the Constitution was written, and women were not included in it. It was deliberate. It was part of the culture of the time. But don’t try to shoehorn the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment or Title IX or Title VII to actually grant women basic human and civil rights.’ And he’s right,” she said to Yahoo News.

In 2009, Lopez was inspired to direct “Equal Means Equal” after doing research for her first film, “A Single Woman,” about Jeannette Rankin, the first American woman elected to Congress.

Her new film brings together real-life stories and legal cases to make a compelling argument for passing the ERA.

“It comes down to all of us Americans standing up for what we know is right and who we are as a country and the basic values that we share,” she said. “And I have great faith that we’ll be able to work together to make this happen.”

As of Saturday morning, the petition had garnered 48,323 signatures. Arquette and Equal Rights Advocates will decide when to deliver it to the recipients: the House, the Senate and governors across the nation.

The petition can be found at change.org.


“First introduced in 1923 by suffragist Alice Paul, the bill finally picked up steam in the 1970s (passing both the House and the Senate and getting endorsed by presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter) but was only ratified by 35 states — three states short of the minimum needed to become federal law. The ERA would require the judicial system to treat discrimination claims by women the same way it treats those on the basis of race, religion or national origin. Without the amendment, Arquette says, women’s rights are left open to interpretation. …. Scalia, who died on Feb. 13, said, “Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t.” To counteract this argument, the ERA would provide a clear constitutional basis on which women could challenge gender-based discrimination.”


“In 2009, Lopez was inspired to direct “Equal Means Equal” after doing research for her first film, “A Single Woman,” about Jeannette Rankin, the first American woman elected to Congress.” I heard of this film, but not knowing the subject, didn’t go see it. I’ll try to check it out from the library. The ERA was one of the big issues of my women’s rights involvement of the 1970s. It’s a shame that such a simple form of fair interchange is still being denied. Of course, blacks are still intimidated in many ways since the Civil Rights wins of the ‘60s and ‘70s. In a democracy, life shouldn’t be such a struggle as it still is today. The Great Society has yet to come forward and become a reality.




WHAT MAN HATH WROUGHT


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/un-science-report-warns-of-fewer-bees-other-pollinators/

Report warns many wild bees may be heading for extinction
AP February 26, 2016, 11:27 AM

Photograph -- 11 PHOTOS, Bringing the bees


WASHINGTON -- Many species of wild bees, butterflies and other critters that pollinate plants are shrinking toward extinction, and the world needs to do something about it before our food supply suffers, a new United Nations scientific mega-report warns.

The 20,000 or so species of pollinators are key to hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of crops each year - from fruits and vegetables to coffee and chocolate. Yet 2 out of 5 species of invertebrate pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, are on the path toward extinction, said the first-of-its-kind report. Pollinators with backbones, such as hummingbirds and bats, are only slightly better off, with 1 in 6 species facing extinction.

"We are in a period of decline and there are going to be increasing consequences," said report lead author Simon Potts, director of the Centre for Agri-Environmental Research at the University of Reading in England.

And it's not just honeybees. In some aspects they're doing better than many of their wild counterparts, like the bumblebee, despite dramatic long-term declines in the United States and a mysterious disorder that has waned.

The trouble is the report can't point to a single villain. Among the culprits: the way farming has changed so there's not enough diversity and wild flowers for pollinators to use as food; pesticide use, including a controversial one, neonicotinoid, that attacks the nervous system; habitat loss to cities; disease, parasites and pathogens; and global warming.

The report is the result of more than two years of work by scientists across the globe who got together under several different U.N. agencies to come up with an assessment of Earth's biodiversity, starting with the pollinators. It's an effort similar to what the United Nations has done with global warming, putting together an encyclopedic report to tell world leaders what's happening and give them options for what can be done.

The report, which draws from many scientific studies but no new research, was approved by a congress of 124 nations meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

"The variety and multiplicity of threats to pollinators and pollination generate risks to people and livelihoods," the report stated. "These risks are largely driven by changes in land cover and agricultural management systems, including pesticide use."

But these are problems that can be fixed, and unlike global warming, the solutions don't require countries to agree on global action - they can act locally, said Robert Watson, a top British ecological scientist and vice chairman of the scientific panel. The solutions offered mostly involve changing the way land and farming is managed.

"There are relatively simple, relatively inexpensive mechanisms for turning the trend around for native pollinators," said David Inouye of the University of Maryland, a co-author of a couple chapters in the report.

One of the biggest problems, especially in the United States, is that giant swaths of farmland are devoted to just one crop, and wildflowers are disappearing, Potts and others said. Wild pollinators especially do well on grasslands, which are usually more than just grass, and 97 percent of Europe's grasslands have disappeared since World War II, Potts said.

England now pays farmers to plant wildflowers for bees in hedge rows, Watson said.

There are both general and specific problems with some pesticide use, according to the report.

"Pesticides, particularly insecticides, have been demonstrated to have a broad range of lethal and sub-lethal effects on pollinators in controlled experimental conditions," the report said. But it noted more study is needed on the effects on pollinators in the wild. Herbicides kill off weeds, which are useful for wild pollinators, the report added.

The report highlighted recent research that said the widely used insecticide neonicotinoid reduces wild bees' chances for survival and reproduction, but the evidence of effects on honeybees is conflicting.

In a statement, Christian Maus, global pollinator safety manager for Bayer, which makes neonicotinoids, said: "The report confirms the overwhelming majority of the scientific opinion regarding pollinator health - that this is a complex issue affected by many factors. Protecting pollinators and providing a growing population with safe, abundant food will require collaboration."

Potts said global warming is "very clearly a real future risk" because pollinators and their plants may not be at the same place at the same time. England has seen one-quarter of its bumblebee species threatened, and those are the type of bees most sensitive to climate change, he said.

England has lost two species of wild bumblebees to extinction and the U.S. has lost one, Inouye said.

The story of honeybees is a bit mixed. Globally over the last 50 years, the number of managed honeybee hives - ones where humans keep them either as a hobbyists or as professional pollinators - has increased, but it has dropped in North America and Europe, where there is the most data, the report said.

Potts said the number of managed hives in the United States dropped from 5.5 million in 1961 and dropped to a low of 2.5 million in 2012, when colony collapse disorder was causing increased worries. The number of hives is now back up slightly, to 2.7 million.

Dennis van Engelsdorp, a University of Maryland bee expert who wasn't part of the report, praised it for looking at the big picture beyond honeybees.

Doing something is crucial, he said.

"Everything falls apart if you take pollinators out of the game," vanEngelsdorp said. "If we want to say we can feed the world in 2050, pollinators are going to be part of that."



“The 20,000 or so species of pollinators are key to hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of crops each year - from fruits and vegetables to coffee and chocolate. Yet 2 out of 5 species of invertebrate pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, are on the path toward extinction, said the first-of-its-kind report. Pollinators with backbones, such as hummingbirds and bats, are only slightly better off, with 1 in 6 species facing extinction. …. Wild pollinators especially do well on grasslands, which are usually more than just grass, and 97 percent of Europe's grasslands have disappeared since World War II, Potts said. England now pays farmers to plant wildflowers for bees in hedge rows, Watson said. …. In a statement, Christian Maus, global pollinator safety manager for Bayer, which makes neonicotinoids, said: "The report confirms the overwhelming majority of the scientific opinion regarding pollinator health - that this is a complex issue affected by many factors. Protecting pollinators and providing a growing population with safe, abundant food will require collaboration." …. Potts said the number of managed hives in the United States dropped from 5.5 million in 1961 and dropped to a low of 2.5 million in 2012, when colony collapse disorder was causing increased worries. The number of hives is now back up slightly, to 2.7 million.”


Pesticides, over cultivation, global warming, and an as yet undiagnosed condition called “hive collapse,” plus a lack in recent times of beekeepers are all parts of a crisis in the survival of bees. Bee keepers, of course, are no help to any of the other pollinators, most or all of which are also in danger. What jumps out to me here is the over-cultivation and city development that has removed not only our forests but our grasslands. We take that for granted, especially if we are “conservative” because we “need more housing,” but it doesn’t have to be separate houses for each family or situated on large tracts of land. I like high rise city housing, personally. I lived the last 35 or so yers in Washington DC and now in Jacksonville, and though I miss the quietude and privacy of a separate house, I like the neighbors and activities.

Land preservation is a movement in this country which has existed at least since the 1970s (not to mention Teddy Roosevelt and the first of the national parks). There was a great documentary on PBS about some people who are buying and preserving prairie land untouched. Others such as enlightened farmers, are following an old practice called letting fields “lie fallow” for a year or two before being used again for agriculture, including grazing. That’s good because it allows wildflowers and grass to grow awhile, and provides plants for honeybees. We should also be planting trees while we’re at it. More greenery of any kind means more O2 and less CO2, and that’s another big plus.

Why can’t we as a society do some common sense things that don’t even cost much extra money? The old argument that money unearned is the same as money lost is not necessarily true. A farmer who loses money on an unplanted field for a couple of years will gain more money from it later as the soil hasn’t been continually deprived of nutrients during that period and, especially if it is planted with clover or soybeans, will be all the more fertile when he does start to plant it again. In that farming method, the farmer simply plows the clover or soybeans under to enrich the soil. Both of those, and all legumes, are “nitrogen fixing” plants and contribute to improving the soil for later agriculture. Nitrogen is one of the basic ingredients in fertilizers.

Our modern “factory farming,” is a process of intensive cultivation in which vast tracts of land are stripped, overused, and then replaced with a heavy use of chemicals to continue a high production. It is not only highly destructive to the soil; it produces a similar situation to the problem during the 1920s “dust bowl,” a condition in which the soil had no root systems to hold it in place, due by the way to the same kind of poor management that we are doing again now. When a prolonged drought struck, the soil literally blew away. I’ve seen photos of the “dust storms,” in which huge amounts of red dust blew in leaving an absolute mess and even threatening life. It’s possible to get enough dirt in the lungs to die. Here we are, doing these things again, and in addition we seem to be having lots of droughts also, at least in California. It seems we really don’t learn anything from experience.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/los-angeles-math-teacher-anthony-yom-solves-ultimate-calculus-problem/

Los Angeles math teacher solves ultimate calculus equation
By MIREYA VILLARREAL CBS NEWS
February 25, 2016, 7:20 PM

Play VIDEO -- Meet 2 students who earned perfect score on AP calculus exam
Photograph -- villarrealcalculusteacher.png, Anthony Yom helps students in his AP Calculus class CBS NEWS
Photograph -- villarrealcalculusteacheren.png
Anthony Yom CBS NEWS


LOS ANGELES -- From the outside, Lincoln High School does not look like a place that inspires greatness. It's old, with gates on the windows, in a tough East L.A. neighborhood.

But look beyond all of that, and you'll find Anthony Yom. The son of Korean immigrants, Yom teaches what is considered the hardest class in school -- Advanced Placement Calculus.

"One of my strategies is really to make sure to provide an environment where kids are not ashamed of asking questions," Yom said.

His approach to teaching goes beyond calculating the slope of a curve. Yom makes his class meet after school, on weekends and even holidays. And the hard work has paid off.

"I am sure when after they get the score and I ask them was it worth it, every one of them says it was worth it."

For three years in a row every student that has walked into his class has passed the AP Calculus test. This year one student, Cedrick Argueta, got every question right.

"His style of teaching commands respect," Cedrick explained. "Mr. Yom is very likeable. He likes to get to know his students on a personal level."

"They know that I sincerely care about them, and it is prepared for them with love."

Argueta and Yom were both honored by the L.A. school board, and President Obama invited Cedrick to the White House Science Fair.

The 17-year-old wants to go to Cal-Tech and become a rocket scientist, while Yom's focus is on his next batch of calculus students.


“But look beyond all of that, and you'll find Anthony Yom. The son of Korean immigrants, Yom teaches what is considered the hardest class in school -- Advanced Placement Calculus. "One of my strategies is really to make sure to provide an environment where kids are not ashamed of asking questions," Yom said. His approach to teaching goes beyond calculating the slope of a curve. Yom makes his class meet after school, on weekends and even holidays. And the hard work has paid off. …. For three years in a row every student that has walked into his class has passed the AP Calculus test. This year one student, Cedrick Argueta, got every question right. "His style of teaching commands respect," Cedrick explained. "Mr. Yom is very likeable. He likes to get to know his students on a personal level." "They know that I sincerely care about them, and it is prepared for them with love."


“Prepared for them with love” is the best possible scenario for people to learn, young and old. That means that the teacher knows the student personally and has an active interest in their personal welfare. The need for that is due to the fact that as we walk through life we are simultaneously encountering good and bad events each day which require an adjustment. That is particularly true of teenagers, but young kids as well. A psych textbook I had stated that kids have been shown to learn much better in a one to one situation with a caring and encouraging teacher, rather than a harsh, restrictive, browbeating teacher.

In the early years, that should be the parents, but by kindergarten they are usually hungry for companionship and encouragement from outside sources. The best teachers are gentle, but thorough, and they understand that each student learns differently and has different gifts. This teacher, Yom, taught intensively and even on weekends and holidays. Some don’t think that is the best way for kids to learn, and that they need time off, but it does resemble those complete emersion courses for language teaching and music camps for kids who show a gift. Calculus, after all, is not first year math, and is generally taken by those who show a love and a gift for it, so the extra pressure probably helps them.

This is a very encouraging story about an often depressing situation in the massive, factory-like educational environments that we call our school systems. Too often what is being produced are social misfits, emotionally depressed kids and worse, a kind of mental robot who can recite certain impressive speeches, which is okay, but they can’t form a personal philosophy that includes empathy and good citizenship. Part of our basic humanity needs not only to be protected, but taught, and lots of physical punishment is not the way to instill those things.

I do believe in clubs and activities which give kids a chance to open their wings and fly, and nowadays, seminars on subjects like the bullying problem, the trap of drugs, abstinence from sex until they are mature, empathy for outsiders such as other races, political philosophies, gender issues and religions. Common Core recommends more course work of that kind, and the conservative citizens think that rigid and robotic “patriotism” should be stressed instead. They fear individuation. Not thinking, rather than thinking, is the rule of that segment of our society. To say that it is stultifying to the progress of what I consider to be “an education,” is an understatement. As you can tell, I think we have a long way to go.



http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/02/26/468166791/when-beef-is-off-limits-beaver-and-muskrat-make-it-to-lenten-menu

When Beef Is Off Limits, Beaver And Muskrat Make It To Lenten Menu
ALAN GREENBLATT
February 26, 20162:35 PM ET

Photograph -- Beaver barbecue at Bootleggin' BBQ in St. Louis, Mo. Though many Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, in some parts of the country, water-dwelling mammals have long been considered fair game.
Alan Greenblatt for NPR
Photograph -- Brenton Brown is the co-owner of Bootleggin' BBQ in St. Louis, Mo., which is now serving "humanely trapped" smoked beaver on Fridays during Lent.
Alan Greenblatt for NPR



It doesn't taste like chicken and it's definitely not a fish, but some people in St. Louis are eating beaver for Lent.

Many Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays in observance of Lent, the season of penance between Ash Wednesday and Easter. The church has made exceptions — at times, in some places — for aquatic mammals such as beavers, muskrats and capybara.

That's good enough for Brenton Brown. "A friend of ours said that the Catholic Church is fine with this for Lent," says Brown, co-owner of Bootleggin' BBQ in St. Louis, which is now serving "humanely trapped" smoked beaver on Fridays during Lent.

Beaver is a secret menu item, discussed on social media but not listed at the restaurant. "We started going down the rabbit hole, so to speak, of how we could market the beaver," Brown says.

Brown says beaver sales "almost doubled" last Friday compared to the previous week, the first time it was on offer. On Friday, Brown wore a t-shirt decorated with a mildly suggestive illustration of a beaver. It read, "God said it was OK. #Lent2016."

According to Dolly Jørgensen, an environmental historian in Sweden, the medieval theological debate about forbidden foods during Lent didn't distinguish between mammals and fish, but rather, creatures of the land and sea. So, while meat from chicken, cows and sheep was considered off limits, "other animals that spent their time in the water qualified as aquatic and could be eaten at Lent," she wrote.

That doesn't mean beaver is kosher for St. Louis Catholics during Lent. "I've checked with our chancellor for canonical affairs, and he is not aware of any current dispensations along these lines in the Archdiocese of St. Louis," says Gabe Jones, a church spokesman.

The archdiocese itself is running an #EatMoreFish promotion. It hardly seems necessary. In heavily Catholic St. Louis, the Friday night dinner scene is dominated this time of year by dozens of fish fries, including one at a suburban church that offers "God's cod" – which diners can pick up via drive-thru or enjoy while seated in the gym.

Adam's Smokehouse, another entrant in the city's bustling barbecue scene, doesn't even bother staying open for dinner on Fridays during Lent. "I saw my numbers from previous years and realized there's not that much business for the season," says co-owner Mike Ireland. "I respect everyone's wishes and what they want for those days."

In other parts of the country, it's been a longstanding habit to eat water-dwelling mammals during Lent. Muskrats are traditional in parts of the mid-Atlantic, for instance. The Southern Grille in Ellendale, Del., is serving muskrat during this Lenten season.

The dish is quite common in parts of Michigan. This time of year, lots of churches and social clubs host muskrat dinners — so many that the local stock has been partially depleted: Muskrats are being shipped in from Ohio.

Michigan's tradition dates back to the War of 1812, when area battles devastated harvests and farmers lost most of their livestock, according to Ralph Naveaux, the retired director of the Monroe County Historical Museum. Muskrats emerged as an important protein source.

Naveaux attends a half-dozen or so area muskrat dinners every year, including parish suppers.

"You'll hear legends about muskrats and also beaver being classified as fish, because of their lifestyle of being in the water all the time," Naveux says. "In more recent times, of course, we don't classify it as a fish, scientifically. But as an immemorial custom, this is still considered something that can be eaten for Lent."

Naveaux says a popular local preparation is to stew muskrat meat in a sauce of creamed corn. Newbies tend to prefer it fried in a little batter. The trick is to make sure to get rid of the musk glands, and then parboil the funky meat ahead of any other preparation.

"When you're cooking any sort of wild game, probably your best bet is to start off with a really small taste and go from there," says Doug Paine, chef at the Hotel Vermont in Burlington.

Paine served beaver at a wild game night last fall. "I made little hand pies out of it," he says. "People weren't eating a lot of it, but they did enjoy it."

Back at Bootleggin' BBQ in St. Louis, the beaver meat sits in good-sized chunks — six ounces of it confronting you on the plate. Served in gumbo, tacos or over a white-cheddar garlic mashed potato, Bootleggin's beaver has a mild, beefy flavor, with dark afternotes. It's chewy and pairs pretty well with a strong English ale.

"It's got the beef consistency, but it's got some woodiness to it," Brown says. "You can tell that's their diet."

Alan Greenblatt is a writer based in St. Louis, Mo.


“Many Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays in observance of Lent, the season of penance between Ash Wednesday and Easter. The church has made exceptions — at times, in some places — for aquatic mammals such as beavers, muskrats and capybara. That's good enough for Brenton Brown. "A friend of ours said that the Catholic Church is fine with this for Lent," says Brown, co-owner of Bootleggin' BBQ in St. Louis, which is now serving "humanely trapped" smoked beaver on Fridays during Lent. …. On Friday, Brown wore a t-shirt decorated with a mildly suggestive illustration of a beaver. It read, "God said it was OK. #Lent2016." …. "I've checked with our chancellor for canonical affairs, and he is not aware of any current dispensations along these lines in the Archdiocese of St. Louis," says Gabe Jones, a church spokesman. …. In other parts of the country, it's been a longstanding habit to eat water-dwelling mammals during Lent. Muskrats are traditional in parts of the mid-Atlantic, for instance. The Southern Grille in Ellendale, Del., is serving muskrat during this Lenten season. The dish is quite common in parts of Michigan. This time of year, lots of churches and social clubs host muskrat dinners — so many that the local stock has been partially depleted: Muskrats are being shipped in from Ohio.”


Most modern, middle class city dwellers respond with an immediate distaste to the idea of eating anything other than beef, sheep, pigs, or chickens. That is ridiculous. Just look across the water to Europe. Horses are eaten there, and in lots of Asian countries cats and dogs, also. As for muskrats, they are rodents, but not “rats,” per se. They are used over much of the US for food, and their relative the capybara is relished in Latin America. I have eaten quite a few squirrels and rabbits. I heard, and I don’t doubt it, that the cute little Chihuahua was bred by Southwestern American Indians for food. See the following article on evidence for this view. It’s not very long, and is well worth reading. http://lostworlds.org/ancient-chihuahuas-roamed-eaten-southeastern-u-s/, Ancient Chihuahuas Once Roamed, and Eaten, in Southeastern U.S.?



http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/02/27/marine-who-says-clinton-tried-to-cover-up-benghazi-removed-from-campaign-rally.html

Man claiming to be Marine says Clinton tried to 'cover' up Benghazi removed from campaign rally
Published February 27, 2016
FoxNews.com

A man was removed Friday by police officers from a Hillary Clinton campaign rally in South Carolina, after raising questions with husband and former President Bill Clinton about his wife’s role in the Benghazi terror attacks.

“Four (Americans) were killed and your wife is trying to cover it up,” said the protester, who said he’s a Marine sergeant and eight-year, active-duty veteran.

Hillary Clinton was secretary of state during the Sept. 11, 2012 terror attacks on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

Families of the victims say Clinton told them in the immediate aftermath of the attacks that the strikes were inspired by an online, anti-Islamic video. Clinton’s emails show she knew within hours of the strikes that they were terror related.

“I heard you,” Bill Clinton said at the rally in Bluffton, S.C., in an effort to respond to the protestor, over cheer and boos and before sheriff deputies removed him. “You listen to me now.”

Clinton is the Democratic frontrunner in the race, leading primary challenger Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by double digits in national polls and in South Carolina, which on Saturday is holding its Democratic primary.

However, polls show voters still have deep concerns about Clinton's trustworthiness over such issues as Benghazi and her uses as secretary of state of a private email server for official correspondence.

Emails from Steven in the months before that attacks show that the State Department, which Clinton ran from 2011 to 2013, didn’t response to his request for better security at the outpost.

Clinton needs “to take responsibility for dropping the ball,” the Marine told the Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette outside the venue, after being removed. “The fact that she is not in prison now is mind-blowing.”


Seriously guys, disrupters of that type are always removed, and usually sooner than in this case, when a candidate is speaking. What’s new here? It’s certainly not as shocking as the presence of a carrier of one of those malicious tales that the far right is always circulating inserting himself where he isn’t wanted. He should attend his own party’s pep rally instead.