February 6, 2016


News For The Day


http://www.salon.com/2016/02/04/bernies_making_wall_street_shiver_goldman_sachs_ceo_lloyd_blankfein_lashes_out_against_sanders_warning_a_dangerous_moment_could_be_ahead/

Bernie’s making Wall Street shiver: Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein lashes out against Sanders, warning a “dangerous moment” could be ahead
SEAN ILLING
THURSDAY, FEB 4, 2016

Sanders has a rare credibility in politics when it comes to Wall Street — and finance industry bigwigs are nervous

Photograph -- Bernie Sanders, Lloyd Blankfein (Credit: Reuters/Joshua Roberts/AP/Mark Lennihan/Photo montage by Salon)


Contempt for the vultures on Wall Street is one of the few things most Americans share. In the last few decades, neither party has done anything to curb the corruption and greed of the financial industry. Indeed, it was a Democrat, Bill Clinton, who did as much as anyone to deregulate the very banks that later wrecked the economy and plundered the public coffers. Although his mythology remains firmly in tact, [sic] Ronald Reagan is equally responsible for what happened in 2008.

Part of the reason Bernie Sanders has touched a nerve is that he’s the only candidate running for president who’s credible on this issue. Wall Street prefers a Republican, but they can live with a Democrat. In almost every election, bankers give millions to both sides, hedging their bets if you like. Hence they win no matter what happens.

But Sanders hasn’t taken a dime from Wall Street, unlike President Obama and Hillary Clinton and every other major party candidate. And it’s impossible to overstate the significance of that. It doesn’t mean a Sanders presidency would put an end to financial corruption – that’s naive. But it does give Sanders a rare credibility; against the backdrop of a recession and massive wealth inequalities, that’s a big deal.

Wall Street knows Sanders is a problem, too.

In an interview with CNBC yesterday, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, was asked about Sanders and the current presidential campaign. His response was revealing:

“It has the potential to be a dangerous moment. Not just for Wall Street, not just for the people who are particularly targeted but for anybody who is a little bit out of line. We have a moment in time where people are – it’s a liability to say I’m willing to compromise, I’m going to get one millimeter off the extreme position I have and if you do you have to back track and swear to people that you’ll never compromise. It’s just incredible. It’s a moment in history. Eventually people, the electorate, will notice nothing is getting done and somebody will come up with a new idea of saying hey send me to Washington and I’ll compromise and I’ll get things done and that will be the new thing and everybody will rally to that point.”

It’s probably not worth decoding this drivel, but it’s remarkable that Blankfein (who, incidentally, supported Hillary Clinton in 2008) considers Bernie’s ascendance a “dangerous moment.” What, exactly, is dangerous about it? That Sanders doesn’t want to “compromise?” Compromising – that’s putting it charitably – is what both parties have done with Wall Street since the 1980s, when Reagan gave us neoliberalism and trickle-down economics. Washington has been capitulating ever since, and the results speak for themselves.

Blankfein was responding in part to an interview Sanders gave to Bloomberg last month, in which the Vermont Senator mentioned Blankfein by name. In that interview, Sanders delivered his characteristic critique of Wall Street:

“Wall Street has not yet changed its business model; instead of investing and making affordable loans available to small and medium-sized businesses, they continue to come up with complicated financial instruments which I think have the potential to do serious harm in the future. No one will tell you we have a tough regulatory system looking out for Wall Street crimes – we don’t. And yet since 2009, in a weak regulatory environment, these guys have had to pay over 200 billion dollars in fines for illegal action or reaching settlements – that’s rather extraordinary for a weak regulatory environment. God only knows what would happen if you had a strong regulatory environment.”

There’s nothing especially unique about this argument; it’s the kind of thing you could hear from any number of politicians, including Hillary Clinton. The difference, though, is that no one on Wall Street blinks when someone other than Sanders says it. This isn’t an attack on Clinton, who I think would make a better president than many Sanders supporters think. But the fact remains: Clinton is compromised on this issue in a way Sanders isn’t, and the nervousness of people like Blankfein prove it.

Sean Illing
Sean Illing is a USAF veteran who previously taught philosophy and politics at Loyola and LSU. He is currently a staff writer for Salon. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Read his blog here.



“We have a moment in time where people are – it’s a liability to say I’m willing to compromise, I’m going to get one millimeter off the extreme position I have and if you do you have to back track and swear to people that you’ll never compromise. It’s just incredible. It’s a moment in history. …. What, exactly, is dangerous about it? That Sanders doesn’t want to “compromise?” Compromising – that’s putting it charitably – is what both parties have done with Wall Street since the 1980s, when Reagan gave us neoliberalism and trickle-down economics. Washington has been capitulating ever since, and the results speak for themselves.” …. . But the fact remains: Clinton is compromised on this issue in a way Sanders isn’t, and the nervousness of people like Blankfein prove it.”


Two things have made Blankfein say this. Yes, he’s concerned that Sanders isn’t compromising and that he has an “extreme” position of stopping the steamroller of Reaganomics, since not only the poor, but the Middle Class as well, slide downward into poverty. Sanders is also, however, threatening ther friend Hillary’s position as the clear leader among Democrats, and if Democrats are united and “fired up” they can win in a landslide, as happened with the dark horse President Obama (literally dark to the consternation of the conservatives of all stripes). What is happening now among Democrats is that a large number of us are at the point of throwing open our windows, leaning out, and yelling “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not taking it anymore!!” What Wall Street needs to do is start to change its’ ways. Go, Bernie!



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/campaign-2016-hillary-clinton-speaks-out-on-wall-street-speeches/

As lead fades, Hillary Clinton defends her Wall Street speeches
CBS NEWS
February 5, 2016

Play VIDEO -- Bernie Sanders' campaign manager on Hillary Clinton's Wall Street ties
Play VIDEO -- Clinton and Sanders clash in fiery New Hampshire debate


NASHUA, N.H. -- Hillary Clinton's once commanding lead over Bernie Sanders in national polls is gone. A new one out today shows they are now in a statistical tie.

And in New Hampshire, four days before the first primary, Sanders leads Clinton by 20 points. After the candidates' feisty debate Thursday night, Clinton talked with CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

NANCY CORDES: Madame Secretary, when I talk to voters here who don't support you, one of the reasons they often give is because of your speaking fees, because of donations from Wall Street. How do you change that perception?

HILLARY CLINTON: The Sanders campaign has been running this campaign of insinuation and innuendo. Say it to my face! Show me one view, show me one vote that has ever been influenced. I take my responsibility to people that I serve really seriously, and I have always had that as my north star. But I'm tired of this, you know, smear campaign that they've been trying to get people to buy in to, and enough is enough.

CORDES: But why do you think it's been so successful?

CLINTON: Oh, look -- I think that there is a, a susceptibility for people to be worried, and I get that, and that's why I'm answering questions, and that's why I'm putting out my policies. And that's why Wall Street billionaires are running ads against me. They're not running them against Senator Sanders.

CORDES: So if you knew you were probably going to run for president, why leave yourself open to that attack by taking these large speaking fees for -- on Wall Street?

CLINTON: Look ... I didn't know ... Number One --

CORDES: Everybody knew!

CLINTON: Well, I'm glad you did! (laughs) Look, I spoke to campers, I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke, you know, to auto dealers, I spoke to a wide range of people who actually want to hear from former secretaries of state. But that's not what this is about. What this is about is the implication that somehow I'm going to be in the tank for the campers of America or I'm going to really go overboard for heart doctors. Now really, this is so unfair and wrong.

At the debate, Clinton was asked if she'd release transcripts of her Wall Street speeches and she said she'd look into it.

Cordes asked her what there was to look into. Clinton said she didn't know, but it would have to wait until after Tuesday's primary.

Clinton and Sanders will be John Dickerson's guests Sunday on "Face The Nation."


“But that's not what this is about. What this is about is the implication that somehow I'm going to be in the tank for the campers of America or I'm going to really go overboard for heart doctors. Now really, this is so unfair and wrong. …. At the debate, Clinton was asked if she'd release transcripts of her Wall Street speeches and she said she'd look into it. Cordes asked her what there was to look into. Clinton said she didn't know, but it would have to wait until after Tuesday's primary.”


Clinton said that Wall Street is not putting out critical ads against Sanders, but in the first article today CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein called the lack of compromise in today’s politics “dangerous.” That’s in response to the question of what he thinks about Sanders and the presidential campaign.

Does he actually fear a soft revolution of some kind? That’s not what Sanders is about. He just wants aid to the poor and Middle Class to be expanded to a sufficient degree to actually make a difference for them; lessening the great divide and providing free education at state run colleges. He also backs BLM and human rights in general, tax changes that would mandate higher taxation on those whose income comes from investments rather than labor, a decent minimum wage, equal pay for equal work and laws that favor labor unions rather than killing them -- as any good Democrat should. He’s asking for all the right things. In my view, the Wall Street guys and all the major players will still make enough money to be richer than 75% of the rest of us folks, and that should satisfy them if they are moral people.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/11-year-old-boy-convicted-of-killing-8-year-old-girl/

11-year-old boy convicted of killing 8-year-old girl
CBS/AP
February 5, 2016

Photograph -- An undated photo shows eight-year-old McKayla Dyer, who was shot and killed by an 11-year-old neighbor in October 2015. WVLT
Play Video -- White Pine Boy Found Guilty Of Killing 8-Year Old


WHITE PINE, Tenn. -- An 11-year-old boy in Tennessee has been found guilty of murdering an eight-year-old girl after she and her sister refused to let him see their puppies, a judge said.

Benny Tiller's grandmother told CBS affiliate WVLT he was found guilty of first degree murder in the October 4, 2015 death of his neighbor, McKayla Dyer.

Jefferson County Juvenile Court judge Dennis "Will" Roach II sentenced the boy to state custody until he turns 19.

In his order, Roach said the state should use all reasonable resources to determine why Benny shot the girl, and he should be treated and rehabilitated so this never happens again.

"A child who commits first-degree murder cannot be willy-nilly turned loose into society," Roach wrote.

The boy is currently in detention and being evaluated as to where he should be placed, said Rob Johnson, a spokesman for the Department of Children's Services.

"Like any other child who comes into custody, he would need a thorough assessment and evaluation to determine the best placement," Johnson said. "At this time, it would likely be at an intensive treatment program at one of our private providers."

The boy has five siblings -- three brothers and two sisters -- who have been placed with relatives and the state, Johnson said.

Benny and eight-year-old McKayla lived in the same mobile home park in White Pine, Tennessee, about 40 miles outside of Knoxville.

The judge said McKayla, her 11-year-old sister and another girl, also 11, were playing outside and talking to the boy while he was sitting at his bedroom window. He asked the sisters to go get their puppies, the judge's order said, and when they refused he went and got a 12-gauge shotgun and a BB gun and told the girls he had guns.

According to the judge's description of the events, McKayla laughed at him and responded that the guns weren't real.

The boy "then made certain the gun was loaded, cocked the hammer on the gun and shot the victim just above the heart at a downward trajectory," the judge wrote.

The girl fell backward, "quickly lost consciousness, and was later confirmed dead," the judge wrote, adding that three witnesses saw McKayla within one minute after she was shot.

"The mother of the child knelt on the ground and picked her up, placing her child in her arms as she passed away."

Benny had been trained in firearm safety and had hunted with his father and grandfather, the judge noted.

Tiller's grandmother declined an interview, but told WVLT she is working with the public defender to determine their next course of action.



It has long been a tradition to teach rural boys and also girls to shoot around the age of 11 or 12, and even to hunt. They should be taught when to shoot and what to shoot at, however, and the seriousness of injuring any other person or animal should be strongly impressed upon them. Too often kids will kill the neighbor’s dog or cat simply because they feel the urge to do it. A lack of self-control and empathy is a part of the mentality of such kids. Killing animals like deer should be for the purpose of providing meat for the table. If the hunter wants to stuff the deer’s head for a wall ornament and skin it to make an area rug in the living room, I can deal with that, too. My father, uncles and brother-in-law hunted, but we ate the meat. It’s the country way. We should always remember, though, that killing is killing. Killing a little girl because she didn’t want the big, aggressive boy to get his hands on her puppies is totally unacceptable.

It’s part of that hungint tradition, however, to see that the animal dies quickly rather than have a long period of suffering, never to hunt during the mating season, and limit the number of deer you kill. Deer are more populous than most other wild animals, of course, but still people shouldn’t get bloodthirsty.

In this case several things that I really despise are present. First, NO CHILD, even if he or she has been “trained in gun safety” as this article says, can be trusted fully or given easy access to guns. This boy clearly wasn’t trained well enough.

Second, the truly normal eleven year-old won’t kill a human being even if he is angry, or a dog or cat either. That is on a list of characteristics of young sociopaths that I have seen several times down through the years, so the boy needed psychiatric care already. To kill over a simple quarrel because he was not allowed to see some puppies shows the mind of a six year-old, not an eleven year-old.

Third, clearly no parent was supervising this boy. An eleven year-old may be considered to be trustworthy to avoid obvious dangers while alone, but they are too often experiencing the hormonal and mental instability of puberty without the judgement of an older kid, making them emotionally unpredictable and sometimes violent. A parent needed to be around to see him coming through the house with a shotgun and stop him immediately, which he apparently wasn’t.

I was glad to see that all of his siblings have been removed from the home by the authorities and placed in alternative care. Those parents aren’t doing a good job. The article didn’t say what the income sources and level were of this family, but if they live in a trailer park, they are poor; and six kids in that size dwelling is sure to mean overcrowding and possibly undesirable sleeping arrangements, not to mention probable poor nutrition and lack of parental attention.

As a society we need to do something meaningful about the poverty among all races and ethnicities that pervades this culture today. It always has been our worst problem, of course, but that’s no reason not to try to eradicate it now. It’s not, after all, a tradition that we should preserve. We have gotten used to some very bad things, from school bullying and race baiting to a simple lack of studying in the schools. Parents and teachers do have to enforce these things. And finally, we need to bring more liberal thinking into our government, as the far right have flooded the House offices in recent years and are blocking the most important bills that would be helpful. Vote for Bernie Sanders!



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mix-up-leads-to-surgical-procedure-on-wrong-baby/

Mix-up leads to surgical procedure on wrong baby
CBS NEWS
February 5, 2016

Photograph -- 0206healthwrongbabysurgery1489107640x360.jpg
Baby Nate in his mother's arms WTVF


LEBANON, Tenn. - The happiness of their son's birth was marred for a couple in Tennessee after they learned doctors mixed up their baby with another and mistakenly performed a surgical procedure on their healthy newborn.

"The baby was perfect, healthy and beautiful," new mom Jennifer Melton told CBS Nashville affiliate WTVF. Little Nate was delivered at University Medical Center in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Not long after the birth, her newborn went for what Melton thought would be a routine physical. A couple of hours later, he was brought back.

"At that point the nurse started to mention the procedure they had done that they had clipped his tongue," said Melton.

Somehow, a doctor without the parents' signed consent performed a surgical procedure on Nate that apparently was meant for another child.

"Essentially they took our child who was healthy from the room and cut his mouth," said Melton. "At that point I began to cry hysterically."

"There is no excuse on operating on the wrong baby, none," said Melton's attorney, Clint Kelly.

Kelly said the doctor performed a frenulectomy, which involves cutting a flap of skin from under the child's tongue. The procedure is a treatment for infants born with a condition that restricts the tongue's range of motion. But little Nate's tongue was normal.

"It's recklessness. There's no excuse for cutting on a healthy child. There's no excuse for mixing up babies at a hospital," said Kelly.

The doctor didn't try to make any excuses. In a progress report from the hospital he wrote: "... I had asked for the wrong infant. I had likely performed the procedure on an infant different than the one I intended to ... and I admitted my mistake and apologized."

"They were sorry they made a mistake," said Melton. But she is still concerned about the long-term impact it could have on her child.

"We don't know if the child will have speech problems or eating problems. The concern here is this was a healthy baby that was supposed to leave the hospital, but instead was harmed by the hospital," said Kelly.

University Medical Center declined to comment specifically on what happened for this story, citing federal privacy regulations.


On Frenulectomy see http://texasent.com/patient-education/throat-neck/pediatric-frenulectomy-ankyloglossia. An excerpt is below:

“Tongue-tie is an abnormality present from birth in which the membrane linking the tongue to the floor of the mouth (lingual frenulum) is too short. This prevents the tongue from protruding past the lower gums. Tongue-tie can occur to varying degrees, from minor shortening to complete fusion of the tongue to the floor of mouth. Sometimes patients with tongue-tie may have other abnormalities of the mouth such as a high arched palate or recessed chin. Tongue-tie is usually an isolated finding in otherwise normal infants. Up to 5% of all babies have some form of tongue-tie.

Two schools of thought exist regarding treating infants and children with tongue-tie. The first is a “wait and see” approach. It is possible that compensatory behaviors may allow children to develop normal speech and swallowing over time without treatment, thus avoiding surgery.

Another approach is to perform surgery (frenulectomy) at the time of diagnosis. Surgery may avoid speech problems that may develop and become more difficult to correct as the child grows older. Surgery may also avoid the other social and cosmetic effects of tongue-tie may persist, even with normal speech. [sic] Frenulectomy is usually a simple procedure, lasting no more than a few minutes. In the newborn, this can be done in the office without sedation using local anesthetic. Older children will usually require a general anesthetic. Recovery is usually rapid, with resumption of breast-feeding or liquid diet immediately after surgery.”



“Not long after the birth, her newborn went for what Melton thought would be a routine physical. A couple of hours later, he was brought back. "At that point the nurse started to mention the procedure they had done that they had clipped his tongue," said Melton.”


According to the Net – see this website, along with a number of others -- website http://www.stonerperiospecialists.com/types-of-therapy/frenulectomy/ -- the operation has “little or no recovery time,” and that the tongue should move normally immediately after surgery. It is performed on babies with a condition commonly called “tongue tie” and they will probably have difficulty swallowing and speaking if it isn’t performed.

Unfortunately, this baby wasn’t tongue-tied. I understand his mother being very upset, of course, when the nurse brought back her baby after a routine examination to find that frenulectomy had been performed on him. It reminds me of a news article from somewhere back in the last twenty or thirty years of a man with gangrene who went into surgery with the marker string tied around the wrong big toe. Instead of NOTICING that the toe showed no sign of gangrene and the other one did, they removed it anyway. Duh!! Then, of course, he had to go back into surgery to get the diseased toe removed. A lack of medical training is bad, but a complete lack of attention and thought is worse. That’s why we pay them several hundred thousand dollars a year, I suppose.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/under-siege-syrians-try-to-reach-safety-in-turkey/

Under siege, Syrians try to reach safety in Turkey
By HOLLY WILLIAMS CBS NEWS
February 5, 2016, 6:50 PM

Photograph -- syria-2.jpg, Children walk outside tents tents housing internally displaced people in Atma camp, near the Syrian-Turkish border in Idlib Governorate, February 5, 2016. REUTERS
Play VIDEO -- Video shows destruction in war-torn Homs, Syria


ISTANBUL, Turkey -- With the help of continuous Russian airstrikes, the Assad dictatorship in Syria is advancing on the city of Aleppo, the main rebel stronghold. It was once Syria's largest city and Assad's forces may have it surrounded in a matter of days.

Syrian refugees are streaming out of Aleppo in a march toward Turkey, fleeing the intense fighting.

Up to 20,000 people are already massed at the Turkish border, according to the U.N. -- but so far, they haven't been allowed to cross.

Rebel groups tell CBS News they haven't just lost territory, but also control of the main supply route linking Aleppo with Turkey.

That's sparked fears that the regime could surround the entire city, laying siege to areas held by the rebels and trapping civilians.

Russia began launching airstrikes in Syria in September, helping government forces to recapture several strategically key towns.

But taking full control of Aleppo -- a city of two million people before the war started -- would be a much bigger prize for the Syrian regime and its Russian backers.



“Syrian refugees are streaming out of Aleppo in a march toward Turkey, fleeing the intense fighting. Up to 20,000 people are already massed at the Turkish border, according to the U.N. -- but so far, they haven't been allowed to cross. Rebel groups tell CBS News they haven't just lost territory, but also control of the main supply route linking Aleppo with Turkey.’


Russian backing of a leader considered to be a dictator, and another 20,000 refugees on the border is not a new story, yet it’s important and it’s happening again, so I’m presenting it now. If Assad et al do not work to quell the rampages of ISIS, they are really worthless. Supposedly Russia was going to help fight ISIS. It begins to seem to the world that it is just another land grab by Russia. Of course the people in Russia have no control over Putin, and he is the worst of the Russian leaders in decades. Luckily he is half a world away from us. I’ll try to keep track of this as it develops.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-rolls-out-the-expletives-at-portsmouth-rally/

Donald Trump rolls out the expletives at Portsmouth rally
By JACQUELINE ALEMANY CBS NEWS
February 5, 2016

Play VIDEO -- With Rand Paul out, 10 left in GOP field
Related: Trump: I'd be a "much different person" as president
Related: China ramps up island-building in South China Sea


PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE "And you can tell them to go f**k themselves," Donald Trump told a crowd at a Portsmouth Rally on Thursday night, uttering the expletive at the climax of the riff on his tax proposal. He was referring to companies that have relocated overseas for more favorable tax rates.

Trump often relies on expletives and crude language to spice up his stump speech, though Thursday evening's event was a little more profane than usual. While he refrained from using the vulgar Yiddish word that he directed at Secretary Clinton in December, Trump ran through more than his usual share of profanity at the Portsmouth rally.

"They're ripping the sh*t out of the sea," Trump said when explaining China's island building in the South China Sea, eliciting a gasp of approval and laughter from the rapt audience.

And he capped off a stream-of-consciousness rant on foreign policy this way. "These guys in Washington - they can't beat ISIS they can't beat anyone, Afghanistan is going to hell," he told the crowd.

Trump also sprinkled an obscenity into one of his current favorite one liners, criticizing what he called the hypocrisy of Obama's trips to Hawaii on an old Boeing 747 (a.k.a. Air Force One) while also advocating for a lighter carbon footprint. Trump said of Obama's golfing excursions, "I'd want to stay in the White House and work my ass off."

At the end of his event, Trump told the audience that he had done five campaign events in a single day for the voters of New Hampshire because, "you like that right?" This was a departure from his campaign schedule on most days, which consists of a single 7 p.m. rally.

Another less literal screw-you of sorts: Trump took the stage to strains of Adele's," Rolling in the Deep." Earlier this week, the award-winning British pop star banned Trump from playing her music at his campaign events.



"They're ripping the sh*t out of the sea," Trump said when explaining China's island building in the South China Sea, eliciting a gasp of approval and laughter from the rapt audience. …. Trump also sprinkled an obscenity into one of his current favorite one liners, criticizing what he called the hypocrisy of Obama's trips to Hawaii on an old Boeing 747 (a.k.a. Air Force One) while also advocating for a lighter carbon footprint. Trump said of Obama's golfing excursions, "I'd want to stay in the White House and work my ass off." …. Another less literal screw-you of sorts: Trump took the stage to strains of Adele's," Rolling in the Deep." Earlier this week, the award-winning British pop star banned Trump from playing her music at his campaign events.”


He promises he’ll be a different man as President, but I can’t see that. I don’t think he has any control over what he says when he gets wound up, and will inevitably turn out to be a disgrace to the country. I’m glad to say that I still don’t think he will win over enough voters to win the presidency.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctor-hsiu-ying-lisa-tseng-sentenced-for-painkiller-prescriptions-that-left-three-dead/

Calif. doctor sentenced for prescriptions that left three dead
CBS/AP
February 5, 2016


LOS ANGELES --A doctor convicted of murder for prescribing exorbitant amounts of painkillers that left three patients dead has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

Dr. Hsiu-Ying "Lisa" Tseng was sentenced Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Her second-degree murder conviction in October is rare for a doctor.

Tseng was accused of causing multiple patients' deaths and was charged with only three killings because other factors were involved in some of those deaths, such as drugs prescribed by other doctors and one possible suicide.

Tseng's lawyer said the doctor had been naive to prescribe so many medications and didn't think her patients would abuse them.

Prosecutors say she prescribed medication to people who didn't need it and ignored signs they were overdosing.

"The defendant was repeatedly notified by law enforcement that her patients were dying on her," L.A. County Deputy District Attorney John Niederman said during the trial.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Tseng wrote more than 27,000 prescriptions over a three-year period -- an average of 25 per day. She and her husband operated out of a storefront medical clinic. The prosecution said the busy practice was highly lucrative, with the doctor handing out prescriptions after appointments that sometimes lasted just three minutes.

Tseng pleaded not guilty. The defense said the patients who overdosed lied to get prescriptions.

"All of three of them took large amounts of drugs that were far in excess of what was prescribed," Tseng's defense lawyer Tracy Green said.

One of the victims, Joey Rovero, was 21 when he died. His mother hoped the case would set a precedent.

"We're basically talking about my son having been given a loaded weapon as he left that doctors office," April Rovero said. "Without those medications in hand, he, I don't believe, would be dead."

While Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for administering a lethal overdose of the prescription drug Propofol to singer Michael Jackson, charging doctors with murder in connection with prescriptions is rare.



“A doctor convicted of murder for prescribing exorbitant amounts of painkillers that left three patients dead has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.” This does sound like a “pill mill,” rather than a case of naivety to me, but if doctors should be charged with murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison it should happen to ALL of them who do it. Pill mills are all too common, and I’m pretty sure deaths are also.

In Florida within the last few years a whole slew of such practices were put out of business and the doctors were convicted of crimes, but not given 30 years to life that I recall. Rapists and similar criminals get less. Could it be that Dr. Hsiu-Ying "Lisa" Tseng was guilty at least partly of practicing medicine while Chinese? There’s no real excuse for those careless prescriptions, but murder to me is a specific kind of crime. The injecting of a lethal chemical in a case of euthanasia will always be considered murder unless some new laws are made to protect that practice. That’s why Dr. Kevorkian is in prison.

The courts in many cases see manslaughter and second degree murder as more appropriate for medical practitioners who have not PURPOSELY given deadly treatments. Dr. Conrad Murray, was a member of the rich and famous coterie surrounding Michael Jackson, and also he was actually operating at the request of Jackson who was unable to fall asleep in a normal way. Murray was convicted because he stepped out of the room for some fifteen minutes to do something like make a phone call, and the Propofol, which can kill unexpectedly and has to be monitored constantly, caused him to stop breathing.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/virus-killing-honeybees-around-the-world/

There's a new clue about what's killing honeybees around the world
By BRIAN MASTROIANNI CBS NEWS
February 5, 2016

Photograph -- Bees are at risk from a deadly virus spread by the Varroa mite. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
21 PHOTOS -- Mysterious mass animal deaths
Play VIDEO -- Why are America's bee colonies dying?


One question that has had scientists buzzing in recent years is, "What is killing the bees?" Many reports have documented the mysterious decline in honeybee populations around the world, with research focusing on possible causes including parasites, a type of pesticide called neonicotinoids, and other factors. Now, research out of the University of Exeter in the UK and the University of California, Berkeley, reveals another explanation: the spread of a viral disease, inadvertently helped along by humans.

The study, published in the journal Science, found that European honeybees are the main source of Deformed Wing Virus, which has spread through bee hives around the world. The researchers determined that the spread of this insect pandemic is largely fueled by human trade and transportation of bees.

How does it spread? The Varroa mite carries the disease, feeding on bee larvae, then the virus itself kills off the bees.

The study's lead author, Dr. Lena Wilfert, of the University of Exeter's Centre for Ecology and Conservation, said they found evidence that human involvement has played a key role in the epidemic.

"If the spread was naturally occurring, we would expect to see transmission between countries that are close to each other, but we found that, for example, the New Zealand virus population originated in Europe. This significantly strengthens the theory that human transportation of bees is responsible for the spread of this devastating disease," she said in a press statement.

The research team examined sequence data of the virus samples collected from around the world from bees and the mites that carry the virus. They used this data to construct a path of how the virus spread, determining that it traveled from Europe to North America, Australia, and New Zealand. There was no movement between Asia and Australia, but there was some back-and-forth between Europe and Asia. While they examined other species of bees, they determined that the European honeybee was the main culprit for the virus's spread.

"We must now maintain strict limits on the movement of bees, whether they are known to carry Varroa or not. It's also really important that beekeepers at all levels take steps to control Varroa in their hives, as this viral disease can also affect wild pollinators," Wilfert said.

Scientists are concerned about the impact these mass bee deaths could have, not just on biodiversity, but on human health and global agriculture.

"Domesticated honeybee colonies are hugely important for our agriculture systems, but this study shows the risks of moving animals and plants around the world," co-author Roger Butlin, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Sheffield, said. "The consequences can be devastating, both for domestic animals and for wildlife. The risk of introducing viruses or other pathogens is just one of many potential dangers."



“The study, published in the journal Science, found that European honeybees are the main source of Deformed Wing Virus, which has spread through bee hives around the world. The researchers determined that the spread of this insect pandemic is largely fueled by human trade and transportation of bees. How does it spread? The Varroa mite carries the disease, feeding on bee larvae, then the virus itself kills off the bees. …. "If the spread was naturally occurring, we would expect to see transmission between countries that are close to each other, but we found that, for example, the New Zealand virus population originated in Europe. …. The risk of introducing viruses or other pathogens is just one of many potential dangers."


Business people, at least in the US, tend to be blind to anything having to do with science and are particularly averse to any form of restraint on their profit based decisions. That’s just “un-American.” As a result, we are faced now with weather phenomena which are extreme and damaging; the removal of forests which exude life giving Oxygen and “breathe” in all that dangerous CO2; the allowing of massive amounts of our land to be grazed to death by cattle and sheep and other things. Overgrazing tends to create a “dustbowl” situation as was prevalent in most of the West in the 1920s. Grazing in the federal lands is what the Bundy’s in Oregon want to do, and without even paying a fee for it.

This matter of the bees probably seems like a minor issue to the Wall Street influence in Congress, one of those “treehugger, commie pinko” concerns, but if tomato plants and apple trees aren’t pollenated by bees they won’t make little green tomatoes or apples. The human race will suffer mightily. Would you like to subsist on nothing but grain?

So we need to avoid exposing new bees to an old virus by no longer moving them around. One thing that beekeepers tend to do is take a hive to the farmer’s land for a while, for a fee, until his plants are pollenated. Is this part of the problem? Does it spread the Varroa mite? Though hives do tend to police their boundaries, some sort of contact must be required to spread a mite around, and moving a strange hive into an area might do it. It’s being done because the bee population has been too low to pollenate sufficiently, and has been considered harmless up until now. We need to find another way of pollenating, perhaps.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/official-all-victims-in-chicago-murders-were-family-members/

Official: 6 victims in Chicago murders were family members
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS NEWS
February 5, 2016

Photograph -- Six people were found dead inside a Gage Park home on Chicago's South Side on Thursday, February 4, 2016. CBS CHICAGO


CHICAGO -- Six people found dead Thursday in a Chicago home were all members of the same family, police said Friday, reports CBS Chicago.

The victims included four adults and two children.

Police Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy said the victims were two boys - ages 10 and 13 - two men, and two women. However, authorities are not ready to release the victims' names, as their relatives have not been notified of their deaths, according to the station.

"We pretty much have an idea who the family is," Roy said.

Officials told reporters Thursday that police had been called to the home for a well-being check. A coworker had become concerned after someone who lived there had missed two days of work, which was reportedly very unusual and suspicious.

When police arrived, the house was locked, but after looking through windows, they saw a body and forced their way inside. Once inside, they found five more victims. Officials would not comment on where in the house the victims were found.

Roy told reporters that the victims were not found bound or that the house was not ransacked, despite reports to the contrary. Still, he declined to comment on any evidence that might have been recovered at the scene.

However, he did say that there were no signs of gunfire in the house, according to CBS Chicago. He also said that all of the victims suffered blunt trauma.

He mentioned that the medical examiner will be doing autopsies on the bodies Friday morning.

Investigators have declined to say if the killer might have been among the dead, or if a suspect was still at large, but Roy said police believe there is no threat to the public, according to the station.

"Given the nature of the scene, the fact that the doors were locked, the house was not disheveled, and other factors, it's pretty much confined to the home, which leads us in that direction," he said.

Police have talked to several family members, including a relative who was coming in from Texas on Friday to talk to investigators, according to CBS Chicago.



“Police Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy said the victims were two boys - ages 10 and 13 - two men, and two women. However, authorities are not ready to release the victims' names, as their relatives have not been notified of their deaths, according to the station. "We pretty much have an idea who the family is," Roy said. Officials told reporters Thursday that police had been called to the home for a well-being check. A coworker had become concerned after someone who lived there had missed two days of work, which was reportedly very unusual and suspicious. …. However, he did say that there were no signs of gunfire in the house, according to CBS Chicago. He also said that all of the victims suffered blunt trauma. He mentioned that the medical examiner will be doing autopsies on the bodies Friday morning. Investigators have declined to say if the killer might have been among the dead, or if a suspect was still at large, but Roy said police believe there is no threat to the public, according to the station.”


Situations like this pop up in the news every now and then. Most murder is in connection with a robbery or rape, but a case of this kind looks more like deep hatred or severe mental illness. Often the criminal is the father, who is killing the whole family because he has lost his job and can’t “protect and provide for them” anymore. His conceit leads him to think that they won’t be able to survive without him, so he “puts them out of their misery.” It’s sick and sad – masculine instinct gone awry.

Thank goodness, a mass murder like this doesn’t happen frequently. There are only a few ways this could be the work of an outsider, namely if he had been given a key or escaped through a window, managing to close it behind him, or at least that’s what my detective stories tell me. Of course there’s the Sherlock Holmes (or was it Edgar Allen Poe) solution of a house key being placed on a piece of note paper and slipped carefully under the door, to be retrieved when the villain goes outside after the people are dead, then to pick it up and lock the door behind him, thus leaving no clues.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/sex-abuse-survivor-takes-leave-absence-vatican-panel-123703164.html?nf=1

Pope's sex abuse panel tells survivor to take a time-out
Nicole Winfield, Associated Press
February 6, 2016


VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis' sex abuse advisory committee voted Saturday to sideline one of its members, a high-profile abuse survivor who had clashed with the commission over its mission.

Peter Saunders, a British advocate for victims, had been highly critical of the Vatican's slow pace of progress in taking measures to protect children and punish bishops who covered up for pedophile priests. He had also wanted the commission to intervene immediately in individual cases, rather than just craft long-term policies to fight abuse.

During a commission meeting Saturday, "it was decided that Mr. Peter Saunders would take a leave of absence from his membership to consider how he might best support the commission's work," the Vatican said.

The decision is a blow to Francis' efforts to show that he is tough on abuse, since the presence of Saunders and another abuse survivor, Marie Collins, had given the commission credibility.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Saunders said commission members, with one abstention, asked had him to step aside after concluding they could no longer trust him to work within the scope of the commission's mandate.

"I do not want to prevent the work of the commission, the good work that the commission is doing from going ahead, so I had no choice but to step aside," he said.

He said the Vatican's inaction in the face of continuing cases of children being raped and molested "made me lose faith in the process and lose faith in Pope Francis."

His departure leaves Collins as the lone abuse survivor on the commission, which was formed in 2013 to advise the Vatican on protecting children, educating church personnel and parishioners about abuse, and keeping pedophiles out of the priesthood.

Collins told the AP it was a "sad day" for the commission. She acknowledged Saunders' complaints about the pace of work but said the overall mission was still important.

"It is slow. It's not going to make changes overnight. And there are frustrations in that," she said. "But if we can change policy and get policies put in place that will stick around the world that will make children safer in the future, then it's worth making time to get it right."

The commission was formed after victims' groups questioned whether the Argentine pope, who had never dealt with an abuse case, really understood the scope of the scandal. But the commission took a big step last year when it successfully proposed that the Vatican create an in-house tribunal to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect their flocks.

The commission had been highly critical of Francis' decision to appoint a Chilean bishop despite allegations from abuse survivors that he had covered up for the country's most notorious pedophile, the Rev. Fernando Karadima.

One of Karadima's victims, Juan Carlos Cruz, joined Saunders on Saturday in Rome in hopes of speaking to the commission but was refused. Cruz had been proposed as a possible commission member but emails published in the Chilean media showed how the Chilean church hierarchy worked to keep him off the panel.



“Peter Saunders, a British advocate for victims, had been highly critical of the Vatican's slow pace of progress in taking measures to protect children and punish bishops who covered up for pedophile priests. He had also wanted the commission to intervene immediately in individual cases, rather than just craft long-term policies to fight abuse. …. "I do not want to prevent the work of the commission, the good work that the commission is doing from going ahead, so I had no choice but to step aside," he said. He said the Vatican's inaction in the face of continuing cases of children being raped and molested "made me lose faith in the process and lose faith in Pope Francis." …. The commission was formed after victims' groups questioned whether the Argentine pope, who had never dealt with an abuse case, really understood the scope of the scandal. But the commission took a big step last year when it successfully proposed that the Vatican create an in-house tribunal to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect their flocks.”


Liberal, but not liberal enough, apparently – damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I personally think that Pope Francis has done many good things. The Catholic Church is a very self-protective institution, however, and is especially protective of its’ priests and nuns.

The matter of a requirement of celibacy is a practical problem, and in my view, no guarantee of saintliness. Many men and women who are not actually attracted to the opposite sex are drawn to such a life. It just makes sense. Some of them, hideously, are attracted to children instead, rather than being merely gay. That predilection was common among the Greeks and Romans, which was the original location of the Christian Church. Of course my theory is that all groups of people everywhere and all down through time have spawned sexual deviants. It certainly should not be carried forward as a sort of time honored tradition, however, even when it's due to inattention by those in authority. I think the Power of the priests has been taken to an unhealthy extreme, and obedience is not the greatest of virtues.