March 26, 2016


News Clips For The Day


http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/meet-jill-stein-green-party-candidate-president-n541536

Meet Jill Stein, the Green Party Candidate for President
by CORKY SIEMASZKO
POLITICS MAR 26 2016, 10:46 AM ET


Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president, has proposed a "Green New Deal" that would create 20 million living wage jobs, wants to drive big money out of politics, and wants the U.S. to immediately stop sending weapons to the Middle East.

She's also feeling the Bern — so much so that Stein has offered "to establish a collaboration" with Bernie Sanders as he fights Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination.

Image: Jill Stein
Jill Stein Lisa Abitbol / Courtesy of Gloria Mattera

"Many of my supporters are also his supporters," Stein told NBC News. "I'm asked all the time if there could be a Bernie Sanders collaboration and my answer to that has always been yes. The Green Party has long sought to establish a collaboration with Bernie Sanders."

But, Stein said, "that phone call has not been returned and I don't expect that this will happen."

"We're different," she added. "He is working inside the Democratic Party. I threw in the towel a long time ago."

RELATED: Why Bernie Sanders isn't dropping out

While they share common goals — like combating income inequality and putting people ahead of polluters — Stein said they are to the left of Sanders on foreign policy and on domestic issues like student loan debt, which she wants to cancel immediately.

There was no immediate response from the Sanders campaign about Stein's overture.

Stein, a 65-year-old physician and married mother of two grown sons, insists what she is proposing "is not pie in the sky."

"What we are calling for is an emergency transition to green energy, food and transportation, a wartime-level mobilization that will turn the tide of climate change and make the wars for oil obsolete," she said.

Asked if, like Sanders, she identifies as a democratic socialist, Stein said she generally avoids "isms."

"I am someone who supports things that work rather than ideology," she said. "That said, if the question is do I support people over profits, then my answer is yes. If the question is do I support economic democracy, the answer is of course."

RELATED: Bernie Sanders explains democratic socialism

This is not Stein's first run for the White House. She got 469,015 votes in the 2012 general election when she ran the first time against President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. And she is "not holding my breath" that she will beat whoever the Democrats and Republicans wind up nominating this year.

DC: Green Party Presidential Nominee Jill Stein Makes Announcement On 2016 Race
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein announces the formation of an exploratory committee. Olivier Douliery / Sipa USA via AP

"But I am not ruling it out," she added. "We have far more recognition than we did four years ago. And we are in the age of unpredictable events, this presidential election being one of them."

The rise of Donald Trump, she said, is proof that anything can happen this year. He has harnessed the anger of the "people who have been thrown under the bus," she said.

"It's not a mystery what is going on here," she said. "People have been savaged by a predatory economic and political system, and some are turning to Trump. Unfortunately, Trump is just more of the same."

Stein's worldview may be similar to Sanders', but the first part of her life story mirrors Clinton's in many ways.

Like Clinton, Stein is a Chicago-born child of the 60s with an Ivy League education. But Stein, who is 65, said that is where the similarities end.

"I think we're polar opposites," Stein said. "Hillary talks the talk, but in my view she is as big a corporatist, as big a war monger, as big an imperialist as any of the Republican presidential candidates. Her rhetoric is less offensive."

Stein grew up in Highland Park, a well-off and largely Jewish Chicago suburb that director John Hughes featured in movies like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Home Alone."

"It was a lily-white place," Stein said. "But no one at that time was oblivious to the (Vietnam) war and the civil rights and women's movements. I was part of a small group at my high school that held weekly vigils against the war outside the local library."

Like Clinton, Stein was an excellent student. And while Clinton went to Yale after graduating from high school in nearby Park Ridge, Illinois, Stein headed to Harvard, where she graduated from medical school in 1979.

Stein then decamped for leafy Lexington, Massachusetts, where she went into private practice. She married a fellow physician named Richard Rohrer and they raised two sons named Ben and Noah.

Dr Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for president, is photographed in Oxford, England, Feb. 24, 2016. Roger Askew / Rex Features/Shutterstock via AP

In 1998, Stein went from small-town doctor to environmental activist when she joined the fight to shut down the so-called "Filthy Five" coal plants in Massachusetts. She also tried to clean-up politics in the Bay State by pushing for campaign finance reform.

"What drove me into politics was when the Democratic Party killed campaign finance reform in my state," she said. "The Green Party approached me to run for governor in 2002 and foolishly I accepted."

Stein lost. "But what we realized is that people were hungry for discussion," she said.

In 2005, Stein was elected to the Lexington town board and reelected in 2008. But when she ran for Massachusetts state Representative in 2004, she got trounced. The same thing happened again in 2006 when she ran for Secretary of the Commonwealth, and again in 2010 when she ran for governor for a second time in 2010.

Stein was not deterred.

"The mythology is that political change happens only in election years," she said. "The truth is you build from election to election."

In 2012, Stein made her first run for the White House, blasting both Obama and Romney as Wall Street stooges. She was endorsed by, among others, famed left wing political activist Noam Chomsky.

This year, Stein said she is hoping to build an even bigger coalition of Americans who fear for the country's future.

"The biggest waste of your vote is to vote for either of the corporate political parties," she said.



“The corporate political parties …” a couple of years ago I began hearing people say that there’s no difference between Democrats and Republicans. I agree that both have been corrupted by the buying and selling of loyalty to large corporations, but there is still some difference. The more extreme wings of both parties are clearly very different, at least, but this year with Sanders in the running I am feeling that a split of both into four parties (or more) might make a better selection of choices in our elections. In the past I was afraid of that idea, feeling that I trusted Democrats and didn’t trust Republicans. I want more members like Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and this new Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein. Take a look at a USA Today list of the 31 most liberal senators below. Of course it was written in 2014, so it may not still be up to date.


http://onpolitics.usatoday.com/2014/02/06/elizabeth-warren-liberal-senate-national-journal/

Analysis: Elizabeth Warren isn't No. 1 liberal in Senate
By Catalina Camia
February 6, 2014 1:33 pm ET

Photograph -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. (Alex Wong, Getty Images)

“Elizabeth Warren, a darling of the political left, is not the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate.

Vote ratings by National Journal for 2013 show that the Massachusetts Democrat ranks 31st in the list of most liberal senators. That’s surprising for a woman who is often heralded as a progressive alternative to Hillary Rodham Clinton for president.

Warren’s liberal ranking was affected by her vote to repeal the medical device tax in the health care law — a major break with President Obama on the Affordable Care Act. She also joined with Republicans “to repeal or reduce the estate tax,” the magazine reported.

While Warren’s votes on these economic issues brought down her overall ranking, National Journal noted that the senator is among the most liberal on social issues — tying 26 other senators for the top spot.

Warren, known for her populist views and criticism of Wall Street, shot to political stardom during her 2012 race against Republican Scott Brown. She has knocked down talk of a 2016 presidential bid and said she plans to serve out her term.

So if not Warren, who were the most liberal senators? There was a three-way tie for first, based on National Journal‘s analysis of 291 Senate votes: Democratic Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Charles Schumer of New York and Chris Murphy of Connecticut.



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/3/31/1374629/-Hillary-Clinton-Was-the-11th-Most-Liberal-Member-of-the-Senate

Hillary Clinton Was the 11th Most Liberal Member of the Senate
By phenry
Tuesday Mar 31, 2015 · 2:43 PM EDT

DW-NOMINATE is a method for analyzing data on preferences, such as voting data, developed by political scientists Keith T. Poole and Howard Rosenthal. Unlike the scoring done by interest groups, DW-NOMINATE doesn't rely on subjective determinations of what constitutes a liberal vote or a conservative vote--it sorts members of a population according to how similar each member's choices are to those of other members of the population. Two senators who vote the same way 90 percent of the time will be much closer to each other than two senators who only vote the same way 10 percent of the time. Poole and Rosenthal have used this method to discover some interesting statistics and trends going back to the First Congress in 1787-89.


THIS STUDY SHOWS HILLARY AS # 11, THAT’S ACCEPTABLE, BUT SANDERS IS #1. DEFINITELY MY FAVORITE.




TERRORISM – FOUR ARTICLES


http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/25/world/tale-of-two-brussels/index.html

A tale of two Brussels
How terror shaped the capital of Europe before the attacks — and after
Story by Nick Thompson, CNN
Photographs by Jerome Sessini/Magnum Photos for CNN
Updated 6:55 AM ET, Sat March 26, 2016

Photographs -- 8 photos: Portraits of Brussels


THIS ARTICLE IS LONGER THAN I WANT, SO I HAVE ONLY INCLUDED THE MOST SALIENT STATEMENTS. GO TO CNN FOR FULL STORY. IT IS AN EXCELLENT PICTURE OF THE LIVES OF THE RESIDENTS IN BRUSSELS SINCE THE PARIS ATTACK.


Brussels, Belgium (CNN)Every time Haroun Zamouri leaves his house, there's a chance he will be searched. It's getting to him, and when he's finished with university, he's gone.

Inga Skaara moved to Brussels recently from the West Bank because she was fed up with the violence. But it feels like the bloodshed followed her here.
Alicia Gabam was expecting this to happen, she just didn't know when. Now she is wondering if it will happen again.
. . . .
"I have a 7-year-old daughter named Acelya," Dogan says. "She's so young, she can't really feel the impact of what's happening. It was far from her school. I try not to tell her all about this monstrous world."

Halima Abdelkader has known Salah Abdeslam since he was a little boy, she says. "I've known his family for decades. We started our families at the same time, and they're certainly not radical people."

"Brussels is good -- or it was good before all of this," Jose, 40, says. "It's still good, but there are religious tensions now. Some neighborhoods aren't so easy for the police."

Khadija Zamouri was born in Molenbeek. She says people forget that the Muslim community is also a victim of the bombings.
. . . .
Joelle Scott was in her office when the bomb went off. "I don't think it's finished. They're everywhere in every land," she says. "The politicians didn't do enough before -- and now it's too late."

Nohaila, 21, was born and raised in Molenbeek. Yesterday I was in the Place de la Bourse (where people gathered to mourn the victims) and a man spat on my foot. He said; Get out! Everything that has happened is because of you Muslims.

Moumen Hamdouch, a French expat who has lived in the suburb of Ixelles for a decade, says he thinks the government needs to do a better job of unifying troubled communities. . . . .
"I have a 7-year-old daughter named Acelya," Dogan says. "She's so young, she can't really feel the impact of what's happening. It was far from her school. I try not to tell her all about this monstrous world."

Halima Abdelkader has known Salah Abdeslam since he was a little boy, she says. "I've known his family for decades. We started our families at the same time, and they're certainly not radical people."

"Brussels is good -- or it was good before all of this," Jose, 40, says. "It's still good, but there are religious tensions now. Some neighborhoods aren't so easy for the police."

Khadija Zamouri was born in Molenbeek. She says people forget that the Muslim community is also a victim of the bombings.
. . . .
The deadliest terrorist attack in Belgian history has turned the spotlight on a city at odds with itself. Brussels is at war in peacetime, the beauty of its medieval cobblestone streets marred by the ugly presence of green military trucks on seemingly every corner.
The mood is one of defiance, mixed with the fear that another attack could happen at any minute.

And while everyone in this shell-shocked city is grieving and searching for answers, not everyone is asking the same question.
In the glimmering glass high-rises of the European Quarter, the country's leaders are asking themselves how security forces that blanketed the city for months still let the bombers slip through the cracks.

In the tranquil district of Anderlecht, parents are wondering how to explain the horrific events of the past few months to their young children -- and whether their children are safe at school.

And in the worn-out working class neighborhood of Molenbeek, mothers don't know if their children will come home at all -- and are asking how long they will have to continue to pay for the sins of a few.

. . . .
In the four months since the Paris attacks, this immigrant neighborhood -- just a 20-minute drive west of European Union headquarters -- has become synonymous with jihadism. But the community here tells a different story, one of hard-working people who feel angry and disconnected from a society that doesn't seem to want them.

. . . .
A man named Said is eating lunch at the next table over. Like many others in the neighborhood, he declined to give his last name. "The people here are as nice as anywhere," he says. "It's a community -- we know each other and help each other out."
He says men like Abdeslam are giving Molenbeek a bad name. "These explosions are not in our culture. Terrorism is not in our culture, and they're making our culture look very bad."
The weary expression in Said's voice betrays the general exhaustion of the people in Molenbeek. They are tired of the media, tired of having to apologize and tired of living in fear in their own community.

Molenbeek may be the most heavily patrolled neighborhood in Europe. Soldiers and military vehicles are parked on nearly every corner. Anti-terror raids at all times of the day here are a fact of life now . . . .

. . . .
But Abdelkader has seen a shift recently. Molenbeek is trying to maintain its unity, she says, but the space is growing between different communities in Brussels.
"In the '80s, Molenbeek was like Marrakech. Now it's like Kabul. It's like a war here," she says. "People in other parts of the city don't see the reality of the situation -- but here we're living in it.

. . . .

"The situation here has gotten bad over the past four months. All Belgian people see Molenbeek as a problem. We are Belgian, but many see us as strangers."
It's the same old narrative, says Khadija Zamouri, a member of Parliament who was born in Molenbeek. "It's putting everything together in one pot and saying, 'It's the fault of the Muslims,' and they expect us to apologize for that. And for me, I don't want to apologize for something I'm not part of."
Zamouri says people forget that the Muslim community also has been traumatized by the bombings. And although the country is united in grief, she says, the social integration of Belgium's minority communities has fallen short.
. . . .
Zamouri's sons also know what it is to feel like strangers in their own hometown.
"My two boys look very Arab, and Haroun, the younger of the two, always gets stopped by the police, even before the (Paris) attacks. Whenever he goes out, it's one or two times a week he is checked," she says.
"He even has a chain on his trousers so he can get his pass out to show to police. And that's getting to him. He's now studying at university and he says, 'When I'm finished with my studies, I'm gone.' And his older brother is already saving money so he can afford to leave the country.
"That's really disturbing," she says. "If even my children -- who have had everything, who are not in need -- are looking for a way to get out of here, what about children who have no chances, no parents behind them to guide them?"

. . . .
"She's still young, but she can feel the fear around us," he says. "Her teachers try to find the right words to explain what's happening without traumatizing her. But still, you can feel fear.
. . . . These people don't care about living, and you can't control everything.
"My partner and I were saying yesterday that we'd like to move to an island and grow tomatoes," he says, laughing. "But we have to live with it, with love. It can bring out the good side of people when this happens."
. . . .
Army trucks are now a frequent sight in most areas of central Brussels.
"We were locked in our building," she says. "All day we heard the sirens of the police, and the ambulances taking people away. We couldn't do anything besides watch out the window and see and hear these people who died on the streets.

Scott, 53, lives out by the airport, but even there she doesn't feel safe anymore. She starts to cry as she continues.
"In the past four months things have changed," she says. "I am afraid. I am afraid to leave my house. I am afraid to walk my dogs. When I go outside I'm looking everywhere -- maybe (terrorists) are over here, or over there.
"I think I want to say to my family and my friends every day that I love them, you know? Because maybe this is the last day you'll be able to say that to them.
"I don't think it's finished. They're everywhere in every land," she says. "The politicians didn't do enough before -- and now it's too late."
Aldona lives in Ixelles. She's worried about paying her bills after the school where she works was closed for the week.
. . . .
For Lisa Croonenberghs, a pensioner who has lived her entire life in Brussels, the biggest change has been the military on the streets. It may be the new norm in the so-called "croissant pauvre" -- the crescent of poor neighborhoods to the west, including Molenbeek -- but it's a jarring sight in a prosperous neighborhood like this.
. . . .
Aldona, a 26-year-old model who lives in the area, has grown accustomed to seeing soldiers patrolling the streets. But she says some of the security measures are excessive -- and she's worried about paying her bills after officials closed the school where she freelances for the week.
. . . .
"In the past four months, life has shrunk," he says. "Less movies, concerts, going to the park ... we don't do that as much. There's something heavy in the atmosphere that started in November when the (terrorism) alert level went up."
. . . .
"When I turned up in this country I always thought that, compared to France, Belgium had much better integrated its minorities," he says. "I still think it's true, but the security services and the police have made a mess of it and not done their jobs for years.
"Some of these authorities in communities like Molenbeek have turned a blind eye to what is happening. They have no clue who's living in their own city, so if you have no clue about who rents what, the basics aren't there in terms of intelligence gathering."
. . . .



Mutual fear and distrust as in this situation leads to hatred over time. The Belgian who spat on an Islamic woman’s foot and told her to “get out,” continuing “everything that has happened is because of you Muslims.” The complaints about police activities range from “not enough” and in another case “too much.” I think the gist really is that, just like typical US cops, they are using more brawn and less brain. They need to figure out who the terrorists are and arrest them, without frisking every body who walks down the street. Police don't seem to realize that while they may win the battle in such cases, they will lose the war. In the article, several stated that the different communities are not united enough. They also hate the massive number of guards and tanks on the street. It has clearly become an occupied area. I understand why people think they need the armed presence, but it doesn’t heal the wounds. It exacerbates them.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brussels-attacks-raids-uncover-alarming-evidence-europe-wide-jihadist-cell/

Raids uncover evidence of Europe-wide jihadist cell
CBS NEWS
March 26, 2016, 7:29 AM

Play VIDEO -- Advanced plans for other terror attacks stopped
Photograph -- A masked Belgian police officer takes part in police operations in the Schaerbeek area of Brussels, Belgium, March 25, 2016, three days after bomb attacks in the Belgian capital. REUTERS/VINCENT KESSLER
Photograph -- A young girl lights a candle at the Place de la Bourse following attacks in Brussels, Belgium, on March 22, 2016. CARL COURT/GETTY IMAGES
Photograph -- bakraoui-brothers-b-cr.jpg, Brothers Khalid and Ibrahim Bakraoui, suspects linked to the Brussels terrorist attacks, are pictured on a newspaper front page in Brussels, March 18, 2016. CBS
Play VIDEO -- Mormon missionary Mason Wells on Brussels attack


In the wake of the bombings in Belgium this week -- and increasing criticism of officials for their inability to thwart those attacks -- police in the last 24 hours have made at least four arrests in a series of raids in Belgium and four other countries across Europe.

New evidence shows disturbing evidence of just how big the terror network is across Europe.

CBS News' Allen Pizzey reports from Brussels that, as the effort to break the terrorist cell that carried out the bombings goes on, Belgian officials are coming under increased scrutiny and criticism for what is being seen as a series of intelligence failures.

In an operation that played out in full view, Belgian police shot a man who was spotted with a suspicious bag at a tram stop Friday.

Cell phone video taken by terrified eyewitnesses in an overlooking apartment shows police approaching and then a young girl stepping out of the tram stop shelter and being led to safety and then armed police move in.

The incident was one of three targeted raids in an area where earlier in the week police found a bomb-making factory they said was connected to the Brussels airport and subway attacks.

The raids have uncovered what is being described as "alarming" evidence of a Europe-wide jihadist cell connected to the attacks in Belgium as well as those in Paris in November.

Two brothers who died as suicide bombers in the attacks in Brussels last week were known to police as petty criminals and potential terrorists.

Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew himself up in the airport, had been arrested and deported from Turkey and labelled a "foreign terrorist fighter."

His brother Khalid, who died in the subway attack, was subject to an international arrest warrant after the Paris attacks.

Officials have told CBS News that the brothers were on the radar of U.S. law enforcement.

DNA found on a suicide vest and a piece of cloth at the Bataclan concert hall massacre in Paris and a bomb at the Stade de France stadium was that of Brussels airport bomber Najim Laachraoui.

In a stark contrast to other places where jihadi terrorists have struck, there has been no militaristic flag-waving in Brussels and no real backlash against Muslims.

As the Belgian prime minister put it in a speech to Parliament, "freedom ... the rule of law and tolerance are more than ever our reference points for moving forward together."

But moving forward is a slow process. With a manhunt on for at least two missing suspects, the authorities announced that Brussels' airport won't open before Tuesday at the earliest.



“Belgian officials are coming under increased scrutiny and criticism for what is being seen as a series of intelligence failures. In an operation that played out in full view, Belgian police shot a man who was spotted with a suspicious bag at a tram stop Friday. …. In a stark contrast to other places where jihadi terrorists have struck, there has been no militaristic flag-waving in Brussels and no real backlash against Muslims.


The article unfortunately doesn’t name the four other nations, though France is one. I do think the man who spat on a woman’s foot constitutes a distinct “backlash,” not unlike Krystalnacht in Germany some 70 years ago. It sounds like a long time, but the same hatred is surfacing again. I understand fearing the radicals who are causing such turmoil with their bombs, but there is a need to the government and police to try to be more moderate, while at the same time do a good job with their intelligence. Putting hundreds of tanks into the streets and searching people every day or so just because they are walking down the street doesn’t constitute “better intelligence.” It’s the dumb way of trying to maintain control. In addition, it tends to increase the number of dangerous radicals instead. If Trump or Cruz is elected here, we may be seeing exactly the same thing.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-muslims-describe-fear-of-brussels-backlash/

American Muslims describe fear of Brussels backlash
By ADRIANA DIAZ CBS NEWS
March 25, 2016, 6:57 PM

Related Articles:
Anti-Muslim tweets after Brussels attacks lead to charges
Ted Cruz defends call to police U.S. Muslim neighborhoods
Trump defends Muslim plan by comparing himself to FDR
Photograph -- Asma Jama's face after a woman threw a mug at her in an Applebee's ASMA JAMA
Photograph -- diazmuslims0325.png, CBS News' Adriana Diaz speak with, from right to left, Aman Obsiye, Asma Jama, and Abdirizak Bihi CBS NEWS


MINNEAPOLIS -- In a recent survey, 60 percent of American Muslims said they faced discrimination in the past year because of their religion.

High-profile terror attacks, and anti-Muslim rhetoric from some of the presidential candidates, are adding to the backlash.

In Minneapolis, home to America's largest Muslim Somali community, we sat down with Aman Obsiye, Asma Jama and Abdirizak Bihi in a coffee shop.

Bihi has been working to stem radicalization there since 2008, when young Somali Americans started joining terror groups abroad. He worries comments from candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz about Muslims could make things worse.

Bihi agreed when asked if their words are being used as ammunition by terrorist groups. "Big time. They are already using those statements in the propaganda video."

Obsiye, a lawyer, and Bihi spoke at a meeting last night between Muslim leaders and law enforcement to discuss potential backlash from terror attacks.

In the last four months, there have been reports of several hundred attacks against Muslims.

Asma Jama says a woman smashed her face with a beer mug in October because she was speaking Swahili. The attacker yelled at her to go back to her country.

"It has changed me completely, and I do not have trust in anybody outside. I cannot go outside by myself," Jama said of the incident.

"You can't put everybody in the same box, I'm an American and if an attack happens in this coffee shop right now we will be casualties. All of us, they don't pick and choose," she continued.

"These people who use Islam to kill people have killed so many Muslims. I'm not a terrorist, I'm an American citizen, I want what's good for this country. I want to leave [sic] in peace, just like everybody else."

Concerns about backlash stretch beyond the Minneapolis community. After the brussels attacks, leaders in seven states from New York to California spoke out against targeting Muslims.


“In a recent survey, 60 percent of American Muslims said they faced discrimination in the past year because of their religion. High-profile terror attacks, and anti-Muslim rhetoric from some of the presidential candidates, are adding to the backlash. In Minneapolis, home to America's largest Muslim Somali community, we sat down with Aman Obsiye, Asma Jama and Abdirizak Bihi in a coffee shop. Bihi has been working to stem radicalization there since 2008, when young Somali Americans started joining terror groups abroad. He worries comments from candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz about Muslims could make things worse. .… In the last four months, there have been reports of several hundred attacks against Muslims. Asma Jama says a woman smashed her face with a beer mug in October because she was speaking Swahili. The attacker yelled at her to go back to her country. …. Concerns about backlash stretch beyond the Minneapolis community. After the brussels attacks, leaders in seven states from New York to California spoke out against targeting Muslims”


Just because we have “sincerely held” religious beliefs, that’s no reason to say that ours is the only faith that is sanctioned by God. After all, we only have tradition as our guarantee that our dogmas are correct. That’s why we call it FAITH and not FACT. We all, here in the US and most of the modern world, call our deity God now, though there are still other god names. Buddha is not a god, but a philosopher. The Hindus, however, do have a bevy of gods, though a yoga friend of mine said that they do not take their religious stories literally as so many in this country do. In spite of our almost universal freedom of religion in the US, there are clearly still fundamentalist groups here that see the matter as a war between “us and them.” We must work as a society to avoid cultural warfare in this country. No god wants us to live on hatred.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brussels-attacks-dogs-may-be-the-best-line-of-defense-against-subway-attacks/

Dogs may be the best line of defense against subway attacks
CBS/AP
March 25, 2016, 9:16 PM

Photograph -- A police officer speaks to a traveler as he makes a patrol with his dog at Union Station in Washington March 22, 2016. REUTERS/JOSHUA ROBERTS
Play VIDEO -- Detecting advanced explosives used in Brussels attacks
Play VIDEO -- How technology could help detect and stop explosives
Play VIDEO -- New device could detect explosive popular with terrorists
Photograph -- van-cleave.png, Professor Gregory demonstrates how the TATP detection device works CBS NEWS


NEW YORK -- Even in an era of high-tech crime-fighting, the best line of defense against a Brussels-style attack on airports and subways has four legs and a tail.

Dogs, with their exquisitely sensitive noses, have been trained in recent years to pick up the scent of explosives on people moving through crowded concourses, and so far they have proved a better early warning system than anything engineers have come up with.

"They outperform both men and machines," said James Waters, chief of the New York City Police Department's counterterrorism unit, which just this week graduated its latest squad of dogs capable of following the vapor from explosives such as the terrorist bomb-making material of the moment, TATP.

But experts say there are not enough of these "vapor wake" dogs to go around. Only about 130 have gotten the patented training nationwide since its development about a decade ago. And only one dog is in Europe, according to the chief trainer.

For security reasons, NYPD won't say how many of these dogs it has to cover the nation's largest subway system, with more than 400 stations and millions of riders.

New York's department already has 36,000 officers, employs counterterrorism analysts, created specialized counterterror units and uses a highly sophisticated computer system linked to surveillance footage that can spot a bag sitting for too long. It also has 100 other dogs, including traditional bomb-sniffers and drug dogs.

But the threat is changing -- Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremists are using small devices in crowded areas, as seen in the airport and subway attacks in Belgium that left 31 people dead.

The NYPD's newly graduated class of eight "vapor wake" dogs underwent 15 months of training to sniff out explosive particles in the heat plume left by humans as they walk through a crowd, then follow the scent to the source. They're different from traditional bomb-sniffing dogs trained to smell a stationary object.

A dog has 200 million olfactory sensors in its nose. By contrast, the human nose has 5 million. Even though dogs get tired and distracted, no technology can match one, officials say.

One that may come close is under development at the University of Rhode Island, where professor Otto Gregory created an electronic sensor designed to continuously monitor an area, unlike a quick swab of a hand or luggage, for vapors from explosives. The sensor hasn't been deployed in any real-world scenarios yet. But one advantage is that it doesn't need training or breaks, as dogs do.

"It's an electronic trace detection system that can do and compete with a dog, and doesn't need a break. It detects 24/7," Gregory, a chemical engineering professor, told CBS News transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave.

Gregory said that in closed spaces like airports, the sensor can detect amounts as small as 1 part per billion. He held a vial which contained trace amounts of TATP, and within seconds the computer graph spiked, alerting to the presence of the explosive.

The device will enter real-world testing later this year. The goal to get it down to the size of a smartphone so it could be put on things like a turnstile, or worn by an officer.

"We would like to get it out there yesterday," Gregory said.

Other animals with sophisticated olfactory ability could theoretically be used, including elephants and even rats. But the canine's special social relationship with humans makes it uniquely suitable.

Dog trainers generally say Labrador retrievers are best because they are social and not aggressive. Spaniels, German pointers and other breeds are also used.

"They have an incredible capability for the detection of hazardous chemicals. But even the canine, we look at it as a technology, and over the years the instrumentation has advanced, the proactive nature of dogs has advanced and is still advancing," said Paul Waggoner of Auburn University's veterinary school, which pioneered the vapor wake training.

Because of the rising threat of suicide bombings, demand for the dogs has outstripped supply. Since January, there have been orders for 36 more, said Paul Hammond of AMK9, the security firm that works with Auburn to train the animals.

They cost about $49,000 each and are licensed for a year, after which they are retrained to account for terrorists' changing tactics.

Hammond said the demand isn't just from law enforcement agencies but from major sports teams and theme parks looking for a way to search large crowds safely.

"The threat is changing and these animals are really at the forefront of detection," he said.



“But experts say there are not enough of these "vapor wake" dogs to go around. Only about 130 have gotten the patented training nationwide since its development about a decade ago. And only one dog is in Europe, according to the chief trainer. …. For security reasons, NYPD won't say how many of these dogs it has to cover the nation's largest subway system, with more than 400 stations and millions of riders. New York's department already has 36,000 officers, employs counterterrorism analysts, created specialized counterterror units and uses a highly sophisticated computer system linked to surveillance footage …. professor Otto Gregory created an electronic sensor designed to continuously monitor an area, unlike a quick swab of a hand or luggage, for vapors from explosives. The sensor hasn't been deployed in any real-world scenarios yet. But one advantage is that it doesn't need training or breaks, as dogs do. …. Gregory said that in closed spaces like airports, the sensor can detect amounts as small as 1 part per billion. He held a vial which contained trace amounts of TATP, and within seconds the computer graph spiked, alerting to the presence of the explosive. …. the proactive nature of dogs has advanced and is still advancing," said Paul Waggoner of Auburn University's veterinary school, which pioneered the vapor wake training. Because of the rising threat of suicide bombings, demand for the dogs has outstripped supply. Since January, there have been orders for 36 more …. They cost about $49,000 each and are licensed for a year, after which they are retrained to account for terrorists' changing tactics.”


“A dog has 200 million olfactory sensors in its nose. By contrast, the human nose has 5 million.” Amazing! Remind me not to try to run away from a dog. A dog like this is worth $49,000 each, given the security needs nowadays. I understand from one of my TV documentaries that a cadaver dog – used in earthquakes, etc. – has to be rested every few hours because they will become despondent if they find too many people who have been killed. Periodically the handlers play a short game of chase with them to pick their spirits up. Other times handlers will have a live human to hide, and then give the dog a piece of his clothing so that he will be given a chance to find a living person. In other words, dogs are intelligent enough to grieve and actively care about life, as we humans do, and they are highly dependent on other life forms. Like humans, also, they will choose an amazing variety of other creatures with which to bond emotionally. I have a picture on my computer of a cat perched on a fence rail rubbing heads with a horse. Life is beautiful, isn’t it? So much better than killing.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/confederate-symbols-removal-new-orleans-death-threats-intimation-possible-car-torching/

Removal of Confederate symbols turns ugly in New Orleans
AP March 25, 2016, 11:14 AM

26 photographs -- In this Dec. 10, 2015 file photo, an unidentified participant holds a sign during a rally lead by the Take 'em Down Coalition, as confederate heritage supporters bear confederate flags nearby in front of City Hall in New Orleans. GERALD HERBERT, AP
Play VIDEO -- Members of confederate flag advocate group facing terror charges
50 PHOTOS -- Charleston shooting


NEW ORLEANS -- Backlash against a plan to remove prominent Confederate monuments in New Orleans has been tinged by death threats, intimidation and even what may have been the torching of a contractor's Lamborghini.

For now, at least, things have gotten so nasty the city hasn't found a contractor willing to bear the risk of tearing down the monuments. The city doesn't have its own equipment to move them and is now in talks to find a company, even discussing doing the work at night to avoid further tumult.

Initially, it appeared the monuments would be removed quickly after the majority black City Council on Dec. 17 voted 6-1 to approve the mayor's plan to take them down. The monuments, including towering figures of Gens. Robert E. Lee and P.G.T. Beauregard, have long been viewed by many here as symbols of racism and white supremacy.

The backlash is not surprising to Bill Quigley, a Loyola University law professor and longtime civil rights activist in New Orleans who's worked on behalf of a group demanding the monuments come down.

The South has seen such resistance before, during fights over school integration and efforts in the early 1990s to racially integrate Carnival parades in New Orleans.

"Fighting in the courts, fighting in the legislature, anonymous intimidation," Quigley said. "These are from the same deck of cards that are used to stop all social change."

For all its reputation as a party city of fun and frolic, New Orleans is no stranger to social change and the tensions that come with it. It was the site of an early attempt to challenge racial segregation laws in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case and home to then-6-year-old Ruby Bridges whose battle to integrate her elementary school was immortalized in a Norman Rockwell painting.

New Orleans is a majority African-American city although the number of black residents has fallen since 2005's Hurricane Katrina drove many people from the city. Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who proposed the monuments' removal, rode to victory twice with overwhelming support from the city's black residents.

Nationally, the debate over Confederate symbols has become heated since nine parishioners were killed at a black church in South Carolina in June. South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its statehouse grounds in the weeks after, and several Southern cities have since considered removing monuments.

"There is no doubt that there is a huge amount of rage over the attack on Confederate symbols," said Mark Potok with the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based group that tracks extremist activity.

His group counted about 360 pro-Confederate battle flag rallies across the nation in the six months after the church shootings. Such rallies were rare before then, he said.

In New Orleans, things have turned particularly ugly.

In early January, as it beat back legal challenges seeking to stop the removal, the city hired a contractor to remove the monuments.

But H&O Investments LLC. of Baton Rouge soon pulled out of the job, citing death threats, "unkindly name-calling," outrage on social media and the threat of other businesses canceling contracts.

One day, several protesters came while H&O workers took measurements. Some of the protesters wore materials "with affiliation to white supremacy groups," said Roy Maughan Jr., a lawyer for the contractor.

That same day, Maughan said, "a specific articulated threat" was phoned into city authorities warning workers at the monuments to leave for their safety. On Jan. 12, H&O sent the city a letter saying it was dropping out.

Then, on Jan. 19, a Lamborghini belonging to the owner of H&O Investments was set on fire. The sports car was parked outside his office near Baton Rouge, Maughan said.

A national rental crane company the city had hoped to hire also refused to be involved.

The FBI and local fire investigators declined to comment. No arrests have been made.

After H&O withdrew, the city opened a public bid process to find a new contractor - and things got messy again.

When the names of companies interested in the work turned up on a city website, businesses were reportedly slammed with emails and telephone calls denouncing their involvement. The protest was organized at least in part by Save Our Circle, a group touting thousands of supporters who want a massive monument to Lee in Lee Circle preserved in the spot where it has stood since 1884.

The city closed public viewing to the bidding process and has met with contractors without disclosing their names. The mayor declined requests for an interview.

Michel-Antoine Goitia-Nicolas said his reasons for supporting boycotts, making calls and joining protests on behalf of the monuments are personal: He traces his ancestry to Beauregard, a Louisiana native who led Rebel troops at the opening of the Civil War. A prominent equestrian statue of Beauregard at the entrance to City Park is slated to be taken down.

"It's totally divided this city," Goitia-Nicolas said of the city's plans.

Standing next to the Beauregard statue, Goitia-Nicolas said he was willing to chain himself to statues to stop the removal.

"Our lesson in history is that when we tear down the monuments of the past we rebuild the errors of our past," he said. He said he was proud of Beauregard, who he said "never owned slaves."

"Why take it down? Put a statue of somebody positive in black history right here, in the midst of Beauregard, or in the midst of Lee. We support that."

Just this month, a state lawmaker began pushing a bill meant to save the monuments. Legal challenges, too, are on appeal.

"With this city, the way things go, it might not come down," Lisa Huber, a 39-year-old greenhouse gardener, said as she pondered the statue of Lee atop a 60-foot-high marble column, standing in his Confederate uniform with his arms crossed, staring down the North.

"I think it should come down, just because of the symbolism behind it."


“The South has seen such resistance before, during fights over school integration and efforts in the early 1990s to racially integrate Carnival parades in New Orleans. "Fighting in the courts, fighting in the legislature, anonymous intimidation," Quigley said. "These are from the same deck of cards that are used to stop all social change." For all its reputation as a party city of fun and frolic, New Orleans is no stranger to social change and the tensions that come with it. It was the site of an early attempt to challenge racial segregation laws in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case …. Nationally, the debate over Confederate symbols has become heated since nine parishioners were killed at a black church in South Carolina in June. South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its statehouse grounds in the weeks after, and several Southern cities have since considered removing monuments. …. In early January, as it beat back legal challenges seeking to stop the removal, the city hired a contractor to remove the monuments. But H&O Investments LLC. of Baton Rouge soon pulled out of the job, citing death threats, "unkindly name-calling," outrage on social media and the threat of other businesses canceling contracts. One day, several protesters came while H&O workers took measurements. Some of the protesters wore materials "with affiliation to white supremacy groups," said Roy Maughan Jr., a lawyer for the contractor. …. "Our lesson in history is that when we tear down the monuments of the past we rebuild the errors of our past," he said. He said he was proud of Beauregard, who he said "never owned slaves." "Why take it down? Put a statue of somebody positive in black history right here, in the midst of Beauregard, or in the midst of Lee. We support that."


This reminds me of a controversy in DC between those of us who disliked the Vietnam War, to put it mildly, and the Reagan Republicans. It was over the beautiful set of polished marble slabs which had every Vietnam casualty listed on them. Dems loved it, but Republicans hated it because it wasn’t Patriotic enough. So they put up two statues along with it, of two American service members, one a man and the other a woman. In those days, women didn’t fight, so the woman was – to be politically correct in that time period – a nurse. I thought that was fine, but it didn’t seem important to me, nor any more patriotic than the elegant wall of names.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-forgetting-to-exercise-may-mean-memory-loss-as-you-age/

Study: Forgetting to exercise may mean memory loss as you age
By JONATHAN LAPOOK CBS NEWS
March 25, 2016, 7:53 PM

Photograph -- en0325lapookexercise2.jpg, Israel Brenner, 73, in his spin class.
Play VIDEO -- Exercise may help keep your brain young
Photograph -- en0325lapookexercise3.jpg, Exercise class with seniors working out their bodies and minds.




NEW YORK --Israel Brenner, 73, exercises four times a week. For him, that means peddling in a high-intensity spin class with people half his age.

"I'm in great health," he said.

He's one example of a growing body of evidence making the case that what's good for the heart is good for the brain.

Over five years, a study followed people who averaged 71 years old and began with no memory problems.

Out of 876 participants, 90 percent reported that they either didn't exercise at all or did light workouts -- such as walking or yoga. The other 10 percent engaged in moderate or high-intensity exercise, like running or aerobics.

"We found that people who exercise moderately or heavily had a reduced risk of memory loss and what we call executive function, equivalent to about 10 years of aging," said Dr. Mitchell Elkind, one of the researchers.

One way exercise may protect the mind is by preventing high blood pressure and diabetes, conditions that can damage blood vessels in the brain. Brenner, for one, said he thought the exercise helped with his cognitive function.


"I think if I wasn't exercising, I wouldn't have that same response in terms of new learning. I think exercise as one component of staying mentally fit is fabulous."

As Americans live longer, preventing dementia has become a national priority. So for those looking to stay sharp, following an active exercise program might make all the difference.



“Over five years, a study followed people who averaged 71 years old and began with no memory problems. Out of 876 participants, 90 percent reported that they either didn't exercise at all or did light workouts -- such as walking or yoga. The other 10 percent engaged in moderate or high-intensity exercise, like running or aerobics. …. One way exercise may protect the mind is by preventing high blood pressure and diabetes, conditions that can damage blood vessels in the brain. Brenner, for one, said he thought the exercise helped with his cognitive function.”


This article is a sore subject with me. I don’t have money for a gym membership and I have never tended to exercise just to keep fit. I will try to fit half an hour or so a day in to my schedule. Though, because I am in danger of serious memory problems if I don’t.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-teacher-resigns-video-shows-knocking-over-special-needs-student/

Video shows teacher knocking over special needs student
AP March 25, 2016, 2:59 PM

Photograph -- In this screen capture taken from surveillance video, Georgia teacher Amelia Stripling appears to knock a special needs student to the floor at the Tift County Pre-K Center in Tifton, Georgia, on March 17, 2016. TIFT COUNTY SCHOOLS
Video -- RAW CBS46 News


TIFTON, Ga. -- A Georgia teacher has resigned after surveillance video appears to show her knocking a special needs student to the floor in a school hallway.

WALB-TV reports the incident happened at the Tift County Pre-K Center in Tifton on March 17.

The child's mother, Sarah Patterson, tells the station that the teacher thrust her knee into the little boy's back, causing him to fall forward near a classroom door.

Tift County school officials say the boy was not hurt. Schools spokeswoman Stacey Beckham said Amelia Stripling, a teacher for 22 years, resigned the next day. She says an eyewitness said it appeared she intentionally pushed the child.

There was no answer Friday at a Tifton phone number listed under Stripling's name.

Tifton is about 200 miles south of Atlanta.


This is really a sick thing for an adult to do if it was done purposely, but in defense of this teacher, it looked to me more like she didn’t know how close to him she was and stumbled into him. Her right knee did catch him in center back, but I want to think this was an accident. She bent right over and straightened him up and gave him a little hug afterward.



http://www.politicalpeopleblog.com/general-election-hillary-clinton-against-donald-trump-bernie-sanders/

BERNIE SANDERS IS 20% MORE LIKELY TO BEAT DONALD TRUMP THAN CLINTON, NEW POLL FINDS
March 23, 2016 Political People


Lots of the recent talk about general election speculation has revolved around the recent head-to-head match ups which have been conducted by polling companies to offer voters a valuable insight into each candidate’s electability. For example, Bernie Sanders beats the presumptive GOP nominee, Donald Trump by 13% according to these match-ups, while Hillary Clinton beats Trump by just 9%. The tendency for these polls to drastically fluctuate however, undermines their value and suggests they aren’t a very accurate representation of how a general election would play out.

After conducting days of research and mathematical analysis we have found a far better way of predicting which candidate – Senator Bernie Sanders or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – is better suited to beat the billionaire businessman in a general election. The most effective metric at measuring a candidate’s general election chances is their unfavorability ratings.

For example, at this time in 2008 Barack Obama had an unfavorability rating of 37%, meanwhile John McCain amassed an unfavorability rating of 43%. Barack Obama went on to win the general election against the Republican nominee, McCain in a landslide. Similarly, at this point in the 2000 election, George W. Bush had an unfavorability rating of 41%, whereas Al Gore’s was at 42%. The subsequent general election between the two was the second tightest ever – only the 1960 race, in which John F. Kennedy squeaked out victory over Richard M. Nixon by just 0.1 of a percent was closer – and Bush reigned triumphant.

These two examples provide evidence that unfavorability ratings fulfill multiple roles in an election. They not only allow us to see who is more likely to win in a Presidential election match-up from early on in the campaign, but they also clearly supply evidence as to how tight an election would be, making them far better sources for predictions than the match-ups run by polling companies.

Here is further evidence : at this stage of the race in 1996 Bill Clinton had an unfavorability rating of 44% compared to Bob Dole who had 47%. When the two met in the Presidential election Clinton managed to win by a considerable margin. Finally, at this period during the 2004 election John Kerry and George W. Bush were tied in their an unfavorability ratings and the election between the pair that ensued was the closest we have come to 269/269 in the electoral college for a long time.

With the fact that the unfavorability ratings of candidates allow us to match them up against each other in the confidence that the evidence suggests the conclusion will be mathematically sound in mind – how do this year’s Presidential candidates fare? Presuming – as the delegate count stands – that Donald Trump will be the GOP nominee, the Democratic candidate needs to have a better unfavorability rating than 61%. Trump’s unfavorability rating of 61% would make him the worst ever Presidential candidate in terms of electability since Jimmy Carter in 1980.

The constant presentation of the case that Hillary Clinton is a more suitable candidate to beat Donald Trump in a general election by her campaign and the ‘mainstream media’ has been disprove by the aforementioned head to head match-ups. The far more conclusive and accurate data is as follows : Hillary Clinton’s unfavorability rating currently stands at 54% (7% better than Donald Trump), Bernie Sanders, however, has a far better unfavorability rating at 40%. In fact, Bernie Sanders has the best favorability rating of any candidate remaining in the Presidential race. The only candidate to have dropped out who beats Sen. Sanders in terms of favorability is Dr. Ben Carson.

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The conclusion of this study is that previous election cycles act as a means of justification to prove that unfavorability ratings are a solid, mathematically reliable way of predicting the outcome of a general election between two candidates. According to this metric, Bernie Sanders’ ratings prove him to be 20% more electable than Clinton, and therefore 20% more likely to defeat the eventual GOP nominee in a general election.


Well, this is good news. Polls do vary one from another, however, and if I depended on these I would constantly be unbalanced emotionally. Why? Because Trump is a Chump, Hillary’s not to me a very rousing choice, and Sanders is the greatest in years!!