April 30, 2016


News and Views


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/iraq-protesters-breach-baghdad-green-zone-storm-parliament/

Anti-government protesters breach Baghdad's Green Zone
CBS/AP
April 30, 2016, 8:46 AM

Photograph -- Followers of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are seen in the parliament building as they storm Baghdad's Green Zone after lawmakers failed to convene for a vote on overhauling the government in Iraq April 30, 2016. REUTERS/AHMED SAAD


BAGHDAD -- Hundreds of protesters climbed over the blast walls surrounding Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone for the first time on Saturday and stormed into parliament, carrying Iraqi flags and chanting against the government.

The breach marked a major escalation in the country's political crisis following months of anti-government protests, sit-ins and demonstrations by supporters of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Green Zone is home to most ministries and foreign embassies and has long been the focus of al-Sadr's criticism of the government.

The Baghdad Operations Command said all traffic attempting to enter the capital through the city's main checkpoints was halted after the breach, and additional police and military units have been deployed to the Green Zone, closing the checkpoints on the compound's outer perimeter and blocking internal roads.

Earlier Saturday, al-Sadr accused Iraqi politicians of blocking political reforms aimed at combating corruption and waste. While al-Sadr didn't call for an escalation to the protests, shortly after his remarks his supporters began scaling the compound's walls. A group of young men then pulled down a section of concrete blast walls to cheers from the crowd of thousands gathered in the streets outside.

The Reuters news agency reports that protesters chanted "The cowards ran away!" - apparently referring to the departed politicians - as the protesters crossed a bridge over the Tigris River.

Cellphone video uploaded to social media showed dozens of young men running through the halls of parliament, chanting slogans in support of al-Sadr and calling for the government to disband.

"We are all with you (al-Sadr)," one group of men yelled as the entered the building's main chamber.

Increasingly tense protests and a series of failed reform measures have paralyzed Iraq's government as the country struggles to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and respond to an economic crisis sparked in part by a plunge in global oil prices.

A broad-based protest movement last summer mobilized millions and pressured Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to submit a proposal to reduce the size of the Cabinet and replace political appointees with independent technocrats.

But that proposal has been stalled in the face of Iraq's entrenched political blocs, and in recent months al-Sadr's movement has come to monopolize the protests.

Earlier on Saturday, a bombing in a market filled with Shiite civilians in Baghdad killed at least 21 people and wounded at least 42 others, according to police and hospital officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it used a three-ton truck bomb. The extremist group regularly carries out attacks targeting the security forces and the country's Shiite majority.



“Hundreds of protesters climbed over the blast walls surrounding Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone for the first time on Saturday and stormed into parliament, carrying Iraqi flags and chanting against the government. The breach marked a major escalation in the country's political crisis following months of anti-government protests, sit-ins and demonstrations by supporters of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Green Zone is home to most ministries and foreign embassies and has long been the focus of al-Sadr's criticism of the government. …. The Reuters news agency reports that protesters chanted "The cowards ran away!" - apparently referring to the departed politicians - as the protesters crossed a bridge over the Tigris River. Cellphone video uploaded to social media showed dozens of young men running through the halls of parliament, chanting slogans in support of al-Sadr and calling for the government to disband. …. A broad-based protest movement last summer mobilized millions and pressured Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to submit a proposal to reduce the size of the Cabinet and replace political appointees with independent technocrats.”


“But that proposal has been stalled in the face of Iraq's entrenched political blocs, and in recent months al-Sadr's movement has come to monopolize the protests.” This sounds very much like our frequent political deadlock in the US legislature, especially since the Tea Party popped up like a mushroom several years ago. Of course the ruling party in Iraq has been avoiding much desired reforms and the dominance of political appointees over “independent technocrats,” who do sound like, relatively speaking, “the good guys” to me. Intelligent, educated, independent and hopefully principled government workers are the ideal.




Annoying, Devious and Dangerous Disinformation In the US:

Those pop-up ads down below that article which you really wanted to read come in several kinds “Childhood Photographs of the World’s Most Evil People,” and more. Those sites are titillating and interesting, if they didn’t put viruses on my computer, but the scary “financial collapse” ads are much more disturbing to me. The naïve Rightist blue collar factors in our country gravitate toward those. My downstairs neighbor is always listening to a late night call in show which ranged from conspiracy theories to Bigfoot. I asked whether he believed that stuff or not, and he said “I don’t know.” There are people who just don’t/can’t read and don’t/can’t think. They are actually dangerous because they do vote.

Ron Paul is featured on one of those pop-ups, put out by the investment group called Stansberry Research, which as you might expect, is a discredited organization featuring unlikely and unreliable investment schemes. In 2003 and 2007 the organization was charged and convicted of fraud (just like Donald Trump).

Two things strike me particularly: first, one of the company names for Stansberry’s umbrella group is “Pirate Investors LLC,” which to any wise person should ring an alarm bell; second, one of their videos is described in Wikipedia as “’The Project to Restore America,’ a 2012 endeavor aimed at restructuring American governance. [3][7]”

Hillary was right. There really is “a vast rightwing conspiracy” and it actually is trying to take over this country. Several of the Dominionist leaning politicians who are filling the ranks of the Tea Party have actually advocated for declaring Christianity as our state religion. Wanting folks to repent is one thing, but mandating it in a democracy is unacceptable. Things are really getting spooky.

Of course there are also a bunch of scam artists who just want to get rich off the backs of the poor and, all too often, very ignorant segments of our society. Instead of saving the few spare dollars they get to achieve more education and a better job, they go for get rich quick schemes like these. See the following from Wikipedia. Trump appealed to these same people with his “online university.” Maybe I’m prejudiced, but an “online university” which is actually accredited – only those who want to fleece the public outright.


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

Stansberry Research
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stansberry Research is a privately owned American publishing company. The company is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, with additional offices in Florida, Oregon, and California.[1] The company specializes in investment research with an information services product line consisting primarily of monthly and bi-monthly advisory newsletters written by a variety of financial editors.[1][2] Topics include natural resource, power, oil and mining company investments, as well as health care and biotechnology.[1] Value, corporate bond and alternative investing are also featured. The company claims its newsletter has subscribers in over one hundred countries.[1]

History[edit]

Stansberry Research (previously Stansberry & Associates) was founded in 1999 as an independent investment research firm.[1] In addition to his editorial duties, company founder, Frank Porter Stansberry, writes opinion pieces in a variety of financial publications discussing diverse and controversial issues ranging from the auto bailout to the European financial panic, among others.[3][4][5][6] Other Stansberry public information efforts include production of a 2011 infomercial entitled "The End of America," as well as the founding of "The Project to Restore America," a 2012 endeavor aimed at restructuring American governance.[3][7]

In 2014, Snopes.com investigated the firm's claim that United States currency will "collapse", and found such claims to be false. [8]

. . . .

SEC case[edit]

In November 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Stansberry of fraud committed while he edited various newsletters published under the umbrella of Agora, Inc. and Agora subsidiary, Pirate Investors LLC.[15][16][17] In August 2007, the court found Stansberry guilty with the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and subsequently denied a 2009 appeal.[17][18][19] Stansberry sought to shed light on the controversy in a March 2010 self-authored, third party blog piece entitled "Why The SEC Sued Me-And Why You Should Care."[20]


MORE ON STANSBERRY --

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/right-wing-conspiracy-theory-barack-obama-third-term

The Latest Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory: Obama's Third Term -- Our Kenyan-born, secret Muslim president has apparently cooked up a sneaky plot to subvert the 22nd Amendment.

Image -- Probably not. benson./Flickr
Chart: Almost Every Obama Conspiracy Theory Ever
Audio -- Limbaugh on “Third Term” rumor

Barack Hussein Obama is hatching a secret plot to pull off the ultimate power grab: securing himself a third term in the White House.

At least that's the narrative being spun by right-wing conspiracy theorists, who seem to believe Obama is modeling his presidency after fictional Nixon in Watchmen.

Among the main proponents of this theory—which comes in several different flavors—is Stansberry & Associates Investment Research, a publishing firm that hawks financial advice—and has a history of promoting dubious claims. Even before the president won reelection, the company began blasting out emails to subscribers of various conservative newsletters, warning of the coming third term of Obama. The emails went out as paid advertisements through the right-leaning Townhall.com, Newsmax, Human Events, and Gingrich Marketplace (a spokesman for Newt Gingrich and the vice president of Human Events both claimed this email blast was a mistake).

The emails alerted readers to a vague—and somewhat counterintuitive—theory: Some unspecified but major event will lead to an epoch of American economic prosperity. Because it will happen under Obama's watch, he'll claim full credit and receive an unprecedented boost in approval ratings, giving him a mandate to demand and subsequently obtain a third term. If you're confused, below are screenshots of two of the emails: (See website for images.)

These messages are accompanied by a slideshow titled "The Third Term — INSIDE: The Secret Plan to Retain Power Through 2020" and narrated by Stansberry & Associates founder Frank Porter Stansberry. It discusses how Obama will become American history's greatest tyrant, responsible for implementing "the most terrifying socialist policies" the country has ever seen. "The Third Term" also highlights the company's supposed track record of correctly predicting the future, and invites readers to check out their trading and investing services and other pricey products.

Stansberry has something of a checkered past when it comes the claims appearing in his newsletters and online videos. In 2010, he released a similar slideshow called "End of America" (77 minutes long), in which he predicted waves of violence and tumult across the United States and the impending implosion of the American economy—an argument that contradicts the premise of "The Third Term." In 2003, the SEC filed a complaint against him for pushing false information via his financial newsletter. In 2007, Stansberry (and his investment firm, then called Pirate Investor) was ordered by a federal court to pay $1.5 million in civil penalties and restitution. Stansberry Research did not respond to a request for comment.

Other conspiracy mongers who have recently jumped on the Obama-third-term-prophecy bandwagon are radio host Alex Jones—who has featured Stansberry on his show—and birtherism promoter and WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah. Over at the conservative forum Free Republic, commenters have ruminated on a related theory. In this scenario, Michelle Obama runs for president in 2016 and wins, thus allowing Barack to run the government as a shadow president. Among the first to prognosticate an Obama power grab was Rush Limbaugh, who was way ahead of the curve: He predicted a third Obama term in the summer of 2009, when the 44th president had just barely moved into the White House:

The third-term theory isn't limited to the far right: Technorati writer Sreedhar Pillai has also mused about a possible third term, and Faheem Younus at the Washington Post's faith blog posted on why war with Iran could grant Obama a Roosevelt-like run.

It's unlikely that this theory will gain much traction nationally (though the third-termers have achieved enough publicity to earn their theory derisive words from Chris Matthews on MSNBC). From a purely legal perspective, there are solid obstacles to the president achieving this alleged goal, mainly the 22nd Amendment. It plainly states:

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

President Obama—who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago for more than a decade—likely knows this already.

"There is no evidence to suggest Obama or his supporters are planning on staging a coup. It's a right-wing fantasy cooked up to try to frighten Americans."

But, just to double check, we asked a few experts about the Obama-third-term theory. "There is nothing in his tenure as president, nothing that we know of him, that indicates that Barack Obama is going to seek a third term," David Adler, director of the Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State University, told Mother Jones. "Short of a military coup, the 22nd Amendment stands as an insurmountable obstacle to a third-term president today, and there is no evidence to suggest Obama or his supporters are planning on staging a coup. It's a right-wing fantasy cooked up to try to frighten Americans."

As a thought experiment, if Obama and his political allies did want to take a stab at repealing the amendment (in a time of economic boom, or whenever), they'd be in for a political fight that would make passing the Affordable Care Act look like a stroll in the park. "As a practical matter, no constitutional amendment can occur without being supported by both major parties," said Akhil Reed Amar, a professor of law and political science at Yale University. "Constitutional amendments require two-thirds of the House and Senate, and three-quarters of the states to ratify. No party controls that much. That's all you need to understand. So, no, Barack Obama will not be serving a third term."

Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation and Bush-era FEC commissioner (and one of the nation's foremost voter fraud crusaders), agrees: "I'm going to attempt to not laugh at this," Von Spakovsky told Mother Jones. "I don't like Obama's policies, but even I don't believe he would try to get a third term in direct contravention of the 22nd Amendment. Particularly because he couldn't. There is a constitutional prohibition as well as a practical one: When you submit an application in every state and in Washington, DC, to the state election official to qualify to get on the ballot, they simply won't accept an application from someone who violates the 22nd Amendment."

Technically, it wouldn't be unprecedented for an American politician to launch an effort to lengthen a term, or seek an extra four years. Early in President Reagan's second term, congressional allies attempted to find support for amending the Constitution to give him a chance to potentially serve a third term. And when Nixon was in office, there was a proposal to expand presidential terms to six years. Both initiatives were quickly abandoned.

As Von Spakovsky said, "This is not a realistic fear that anyone should have."



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-gop-unity-california-intense-backlash-election-2016/

Trump calls for GOP unity in face of intense backlash
CBS NEWS
April 30, 2016, 7:25 AM

Play VIDEO -- Is contested GOP convention still a possibility?
Photograph -- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the California Republican Party Convention on April 29, 2016, in Burlingame, California. RAMIN TALAIE/GETTY IMAGES
Play VIDEO -- Protesters delay California Trump appearance
Play VIDEO -- Indiana Gov. Mike Pence endorses Ted Cruz
Play VIDEO -- Ted Cruz: Maybe Boehner was "auditioning" to be Trump's VP


In San Francisco, hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside the venue where Trump was about to speak to the California GOP convention. The crowds forced him to leave his motorcade and even scale a small barricade to get in through the back.

Many of the protesters were angry over Trump's stance on immigration. Once inside, the GOP presidential front-runner told the convention his entrance was "like crossing the border."

CBS News' Craig Boswell reports that with Trump less than 300 delegates away from clinching the GOP nomination, tensions are running high both inside and outside of the party. Establishment Republicans are accepting he could be their candidate, but opposition to the man and the message shows little sign of letting up.

"That was not the easiest entrance I've ever made," Trump said at the convention after protesters forced him to arrive on foot Friday. "Oh boy, felt like I was crossing the border actually. It's true. I was crossing the border, but I got here."

Trump was in California ahead of the state's June 7 primary, where the most delegates of the nominating cycle will be awarded.

"I speak to the people in this room because there has to be unity in our party," Trump said. "There has to be unity in our party."

He's wooing mainstream Republican audiences who are showing signs of accepting he is the likely nominee.

"I will do my duty and vote for the man if it's Trump because I want a Republican in the White House," said Lois Shade of Glendora, California.

Trump now has 80 percent of the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

"I'm up by 400 or so delegates," Trump said. "I'll be up by more than 500 when it's over, and we'll be up by five million votes, OK?"

Ted Cruz addresses the same California audience Saturday. The Texas senator has been camped out in the crucial state of Indiana, which holds its primary Tuesday.

There, he picked up a key endorsement from the state's Gov. Mike Pence, who avoided taking shots at Trump.

"I'm not against anybody, but I will be voting for Ted Cruz in the upcoming Republican primary," Pence said on the Garrison radio show.

In an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation" airing Sunday, Cruz again responded to former House Speaker John Boehner, who referred to him as "Lucifer in the flesh," suggesting Boehner may want to return to Washington.

"I kind of wondered if Boehner was auditioning to be Donald Trump's vice president," Cruz said. "You know, a Trump-Boehner ticket would really say the Washington cartel in all its force - one has been funding the cartel, the other has been giving in to Democrats for years."

After Cruz addresses the California convention Saturday, it's back to Indiana, where the state's 57 delegates are seen as critical as to whether Cruz can stop Trump from winning the nomination before the GOP convention in July.



“The crowds forced him to leave his motorcade and even scale a small barricade to get in through the back. Many of the protesters were angry over Trump's stance on immigration. Once inside, the GOP presidential front-runner told the convention his entrance was "like crossing the border." …. Establishment Republicans are accepting he could be their candidate, but opposition to the man and the message shows little sign of letting up. …. He's wooing mainstream Republican audiences who are showing signs of accepting he is the likely nominee. "I will do my duty and vote for the man if it's Trump because I want a Republican in the White House," said Lois Shade of Glendora, California. Trump now has 80 percent of the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.”


Republicans have spent the last 30 years or so wooing the South and other ultraconservative parts of the country over to their side by the old “dog whistle” talking points, and now they can’t control them. I wonder if they’re sorry?



http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/man-mirror-sends-shocking-anti-drunken-driving-message-n564981

Man in the Mirror Sends Shocking Anti-Drunken-Driving Message
by MIKE BRUNKER
NEWS APR 30 2016, 12:19 PM ET

Play -- Mirror Campaign Works to Prevent Drunk Driving 1:26


“A guy walks into the restroom at a bar and looks in the mirror ...”

It sounds like the setup for a one-liner, but for customers at a bar in Los Angeles, it was anything but a joke.

See an exclusive interview with MADD founder Candace Lightner on Weekend Nightly News at 6:30 ET tonight

Rather than seeing their own likeness when they looked into the mirror, the patrons at this party — many of them obviously tipsy — saw Kris Caudilla looking back at them in blue prison overalls. And he wasn't just looking, he was talking, sharing his tragic story and warning them not to make the same mistake he did by driving drunk.

The after-hours apparition was not the result of too many cocktails. Caudilla was playing the leading role in a different kind of public service announcement aimed at building new momentum in the fight against drunken driving.

A video of the restroom encounters, titled "Reflections from Inside," shows Caudilla, 32, at the RMC Correctional Facility in Lake Butler, Florida, preparing to go on camera before cutting to an unidentified L.A. bar where patrons are whooping it up at a private party.

The scene then switches to the men's restroom, where male patrons come face to face with Caudilla, who greets them from the mirror with a friendly "What's up, man?"

After appearing to exchange a few pleasantries with the stunned partygoers, Caudilla tells them he's speaking to them from prison and recounts how in January 2010 he killed St. Johns County, Florida, Deputy James Anderson Jr., a 44-year-old married father of four, in a head-on collision while driving home after a night of drinking with friends.

"I made the choice to drink. I made the choice to get in the car," Caudilla tells them after explaining that he is serving a 15-year sentence for DUI manslaughter. "You don't have to make that choice."

The message appears to hit home with the patrons, several of whom assure Caudilla that they have no intention of getting behind the wheel.

The spot was created by the Y&R Miami Bravo advertising agency on behalf of We Save Lives, a highway safety nonprofit led Candace Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

Lightner, 70, who founded MADD after her 13-year-old daughter, Cari, was killed by a drunken driver in 1980, told NBC News that the agency proposed focusing on a perpetrator of a tragedy rather than the victims that are traditionally featured in such PSAs.

"I said why not, because the numbers haven't shifted, even though more laws have passed and PSAs abound," she said, referring to U.S. drunken driving deaths, which have remained flat in recent years after declining sharply from the early 1980s until 2010.

Kris Caudilla warns a patron at a Los Angeles bar not to make the same mistake that put him in prison by driving home drunk in a scene from a public service announcement by We Save Lives, a group created by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) founder Candace Lightner. We Save Lives

The filming of the spot involved some technical trickery, since prison officials would not let Caudilla interact live with the bar patrons. Instead, his statements and questions were filmed in advance and played on cue via a monitor behind the mirror in response to the comments of the drinkers.

The partygoers were aware they were being filmed but didn't know why, accounting for their genuine surprise when they encountered the man in the mirror. It was only at one specific party where Caudilla's video played.

The PSA also was created with social media in mind, with the idea that a talking bathroom mirror might prove popular online.

The strategy appears to be working: the PSA already has been viewed more than 35 million times on social media in the U.S. alone since it was published April 8. All told, it has at least 75 million views in more than 25 countries, according to a spokeswoman for We Save Lives.

After seeing the modest initial goal of 1 million views quickly eclipsed, MADD's Lightner said her group now has a much higher milestone in mind.

"We decided let's go for it and set a goal of reaching 500 million drivers around the world," she said. "It's like there are no boundaries when it comes to language."



“See an exclusive interview with MADD founder Candace Lightner on Weekend Nightly News at 6:30 ET tonight. Rather than seeing their own likeness when they looked into the mirror, the patrons at this party — many of them obviously tipsy — saw Kris Caudilla looking back at them in blue prison overalls. And he wasn't just looking, he was talking, sharing his tragic story and warning them not to make the same mistake he did by driving drunk. …. After appearing to exchange a few pleasantries with the stunned partygoers, Caudilla tells them he's speaking to them from prison and recounts how in January 2010 he killed St. Johns County, Florida, Deputy James Anderson Jr., a 44-year-old married father of four, in a head-on collision while driving home after a night of drinking with friends. "I made the choice to drink. I made the choice to get in the car," Caudilla tells them after explaining that he is serving a 15-year sentence for DUI manslaughter. "You don't have to make that choice." …. The spot was created by the Y&R Miami Bravo advertising agency on behalf of We Save Lives, a highway safety nonprofit led Candace Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)."


"I said why not, because the numbers haven't shifted, even though more laws have passed and PSAs abound," she said, referring to U.S. drunken driving deaths, which have remained flat in recent years after declining sharply from the early 1980s until 2010.” Socializing with alcohol is inextricably entwined in the structure of US society, as well as in most other countries around the world, with the exception of many or most Islamic people, who are famous for banning alcohol in their countries. A great documentary on jihadists who were preparing themselves to blow the crowd around them up for the glory of Allah, showed that they actually did several interesting things first. One is that they made a will, and another is they engaged in a sort of orgy of Islamic sins, including drinking. Was that to make them so depressed that they would willingly blow themselves up, I wonder? I say that, because it wasn’t spontaneous, but on a list of things issued by al Qaeda to “prepare them.” Sick and evil!

Whatever the reason they do that, it is a universal situation that we humans respond to societal influences like fear of financial insecurity, social embarrassment, etc. by getting emotionally “flaky” – abusing drugs, wild sex, violence, and crimes. So if we do wind up with an addiction to the fascinating substances, we can first decide that we WANT to stop drinking and then seek help. I recommend a good psychologist and NA or AA to confront the matter directly and work toward control. This unique intervention by We Save Lives is inventive, but it will still take more than that to manage the problem. The good news is that enough years later and the likelihood of cravings will disappear, especially if we continue to attend meetings, etc.



http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/kasich-gay-people-probably-born-way-n565201

Kasich: Gay People 'Probably' Born That Way
by KAILANI KOENIG, POLITICS
APR 29 2016, 11:54 PM ET

Video -- Kasich and Questioner Get into Exchange Over 'Being Born Gay' 2:07
Related: Kasich and Cruz Had a Week Filled With Hail Marys
Play -- Donald Trump calls for dismissal of LGBT bathroom bill: 'Leave it the way it is' 1:20


SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Friday was pressed by a man in California to answer whether or not he believed people are born gay, setting off a lengthy and somewhat testy exchange that resulted in the Republican presidential candidate declaring that he believes gay people are "probably" born that way.

"Do you believe that some people are born gay?" asked Kelly Bryan, 62, of San Francisco, who attended the Commonwealth Club of California event where Kasich was the featured guest. He later described himself as a Democrat who plans to vote for Hillary Clinton.

"I'm a 62-year-old gay man who came out to both of my parents at 19," Bryan said. "And I've been gay for 45, over 40 years. Gay people are human beings and not a lifestyle choice. Please respond without prayer being an answer."

The next nearly 7 minutes set off a somewhat heated back-and-forth that the moderator tried to end numerous times while Kasich allowed it to continue.

Kasich first launched into describing what religion means to him and that he believes "we'd all be better off in this country if we prayed more." Then, without answering the man's initial question, he turned to the issue of religious liberty laws, as he generally does when he's asked about LGBT issues. "In terms of me, I don't believe in discrimination, I think there is a balance, however, between discrimination and people's religious liberties," Kasich said.

"But I think we should just try to, like, take a chill pill, relax, and try to get along with one another a little bit better instead of trying to write some law to solve a problem that doesn't frankly exist in big enough numbers to justify more lawmaking."

"I THINK WE SHOULD JUST TRY TO, LIKE, TAKE A CHILL PILL, RELAX, AND TRY TO GET ALONG WITH ONE ANOTHER A LITTLE BIT BETTER."

"Republicans don't believe in marriage equality, it's your platform," Bryan responded. "Well, is it?" Kasich asked. "Yes," Brian answered. "I haven't read that thing lately," Kasich said, then Brian told him, "you really should know what you're doing."

"Well, no, they don't tell me what to do by the platform," Kasich rebuffed. "The Republican Party is my vehicle and not my master, okay? I have a right to define the Republican Party, too, okay?" He went on to mention that he believes in "traditional marriage" but also attended the gay wedding of a friend.

When Bryan challenged him again on if people are born gay, Kasich first tried to dodge an answer. "I'm not gonna get into all the analysis of this or that, I'm not gonna do that," he said. As the moderator tried to move the conversation along to the next question, Kasich bounced back. "You know, sir, probably. I mean, I don't, I don't know how it all works, okay? I mean, look. Are they? You know, probability they are. Okay?"

Bryan pressed Kasich about states like Kentucky and Mississippi that have recently passed laws he felt discriminated against the LGBT community, while the moderator again tried to move the discussion to the next question. "No, let me finish, let me finish," Kasich interrupted. "I'm not in favor of that. I'm not in favor of discrimination against anybody."

"But they're using religion," Brian continued, as Kasich responded, "They are not me. Okay? They are not me. I'm telling you my views, okay?" He later reiterated, "Do I think that people are, are, you know, born gay? Probably. I've never studied the issue. But I don't see any reason to hurt you or to discriminate you or make you feel bad or make you feel like a second class citizen."

"One other thing," Kasich added near his conclusion. "Sometimes people, people say that they're religious, okay? Just because I say that I'm a Ford Falcon doesn't make me one. Don't you understand what that means? Just because I say I'm faithful doesn't mean that I am. Just because I make a statement. And don't put everybody who you think, you know, has religion and believes in God, don't put everybody in the same barrel."

After the event, Bryan, who said he was a member of the Commonwealth Club of California and regularly attends their events, told NBC News that he didn't expect a very different answer from Kasich, who he called an "awful candidate."

"I simply wanted it to be answered that gay people are born gay and that it is not a lifestyle or chosen because why would anyone choose to be gay?" he asked, adding, "He had to cop to saying, gay people are, his word, 'probably are born that way' and that was probably the winningiest [sic] point and that was my first question."

Rights for LGBT couples have been a frequent topic of somewhat dramatic exchanges at Kasich's events across in the country. In February in Michigan, Kasich was challenged by a self-described Democratic student who told him it wasn't "enough" for him to claim he had attended a gay wedding. And earlier this month, during a stirring back-and-forth at an MSNBC town hall with Chris Matthews, Kasich stated that he supports "moving on" from the debate over gay marriage, saying of the current laws on the books, "exactly where it is now, I'm fine with it."



"Do you believe that some people are born gay?" asked Kelly Bryan, 62, of San Francisco, who attended the Commonwealth Club of California event where Kasich was the featured guest. He later described himself as a Democrat who plans to vote for Hillary Clinton. …. "But they're using religion," Brian continued, as Kasich responded, "They are not me. Okay? They are not me. I'm telling you my views, okay?" He later reiterated, "Do I think that people are, are, you know, born gay? Probably. I've never studied the issue. But I don't see any reason to hurt you or to discriminate you or make you feel bad or make you feel like a second class citizen." …. And earlier this month, during a stirring back-and-forth at an MSNBC town hall with Chris Matthews, Kasich stated that he supports "moving on" from the debate over gay marriage, saying of the current laws on the books, "exactly where it is now, I'm fine with it."


"Well, no, they don't tell me what to do by the platform," Kasich rebuffed. "The Republican Party is my vehicle and not my master, okay? I have a right to define the Republican Party, too, okay?" Just as I have on some other things that Kasich has said, I like him 200% more than Cruz, Trump, Gov. Scott of FL, and all of the Tea Partiers en masse. Kasich speaks as one who thinks deeply for himself and has a heart. Philosophy without a heart is not only useless, it’s dangerous. In a democracy, that is what I ask of all good citizens. “TAKE A CHILL PILL” is great advice, and shows a sense of humor, which is important in a president.



http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/will-ferrell-walks-away-controversial-reagan-project-n564976

Will Ferrell Walks Away From Controversial Reagan Project
by ADAM HOWARD
POP CULTURE
APR 29 2016, 5:32 PM ET

Video -- Will Ferrell Pulls Out of Controversial Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Movie
Ronald Reagan
Photograph -- U.S. President Ronald Reagan during a news conference in the White House briefing room, Nov. 25, 1986. Bob Dougherty / AP, file
RELATED: Inside Ronald Reagan's hidden history
Image: Will Ferrell, Will Ferrell attends the world premiere of "Zoolander 2" in New York. Evan Agostini / AP
RELATED: Trump The Next Reagan?


Before it even went into production, a planned satire of Ronald Reagan to be produced by and starring Will Ferrell inspired an outpouring of criticism from conservatives and members of the former president's family.

And by Friday, according to The New York Post, the actor backed out of the project.

According to Variety, the still-untitled project is based on a script from Hollywood's legendary "Black List," an annual collection of the most popular, yet-to-be produced screenplays in the industry.

The film, if it goes forward without Ferrell, will almost surely stoke controversy because its plot purportedly portrays Reagan as suffering from dementia while he was still in office.

"The REAGAN script is one of a number of scripts that had been submitted to Will Ferrell which he had considered. While it is by no means a [sic] 'Alzheimer's comedy' as has been suggested, Mr. Ferrell is not pursuing this project," a spokesperson for the actor told the Post on Friday.

MSNBC has reached out to Will Ferrell's production company, Gary Sanchez Productions, which was reportedly developing the film, for comment but has not heard back at this time.

Reagan went public with his Alzheimer's diagnosis in 1994, and while there has long been speculation about his state of mind during his second term in office, there has never been any hard evidence that he suffered from Alzheimer's while president.

Condemnation of the film project came swiftly, and not surprisingly the loudest objections came from right-wing circles — not only because of Ferrell's participation (the "Anchorman" star is a supporter of Democratic candidates and causes, and has a history of sneaking subversive progressive messages into his mainstream comedies), but also because of the potential insensitivity to the health of the former president.

"Alzheimers is not joke…It kills. You should be ashamed," Reagan's son Michael tweeted.

And Reagan's daughter Patti Davis has penned an open letter to Ferrell, in which she wrote: "Perhaps for your comedy you would like to visit some dementia facilities. I have — I didn't find anything comedic there, and my hope would be that if you're a decent human being, you wouldn't either."

Those on the right side of the political spectrum have taken exception to Hollywood's attempts to portray "The Gipper" in the past.

In 2003, CBS was forced to yank a highly touted miniseries about the Reagans after conservative critics railed against the casting — James Brolin, who was cast as the former president, was attacked for being the spouse of outspoken liberal Barbara Streisand — and for dialogue that alluded to Reagan's widely reported apathy during the initial outbreak of the AIDS crisis. Showtime eventually aired the series and Brolin was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe award for his performance.

Lee Daniels' film "The Butler" faced similar criticism 10 years later for depicting Reagan, played by the late British actor Alan Rickman, as being indifferent on civil rights issues. The film covers the 40th president's refusal to support sanctions against apartheid-era South Africa and portrayed him as being generally chilly towards African-American members of the staff at the White House.

"Across the political spectrum, historians, biographers, and former Reagan aides have condemned the movie's outrageous caricature of Ronald Reagan as historically inaccurate and personally unfair, many noting that the president didn't have a racist bone in his body and was actually remarkable in his sensitivities and warmness to blacks and other minorities," wrote Mark Joseph and Paul Kengor in a column for Forbes at the time.

"Reagan," a sure-to-be more flattering biopic based on two books by Kengor, has been in the works for several years. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film "tells Reagan's story through the eyes of Viktor, a KGB agent who kept tabs on Reagan's activities from the time when he was an anti-Communist leader of the Screen Actors Guild."

In 2013, the news that Hollywood icon Michael Douglas would eventually be playing Reagan in a big screen interpretation of the former president's historic 1986 nuclear summit with Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik was also greeted with a collective groan from many on the right, due to the "Wall Street" star's perceived lefty leanings.

Ironically, Reagan had a long history with Hollywood as an actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild. And although he represented a conservative moment that was at odds with many of his peers, he did enjoy an unprecedented level of support from celebrities when he mounted his ultimately successful 1980 campaign for the White House.

"The irony is that Reagan brought Hollywood stagecraft values to the presidency," author and journalist Will Bunch told MSNBC on Thursday. "You could make the argument that Reagan was kind of stepping stone towards Trump, in terms of the way he communicated with the public."

Bunch has been making a concerted effort to bring the Reagan image back down to earth ever since he published his book "Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy" in 2010. In the years since that book's release, the public's perception and conservative worship of the former president has only inflated more.

"He's become more of an icon for people than a real person," Bunch said.

This new movie, which dares to explore one of the more sensitive aspects of his persona, could chip away at many preconceived notions of the former president.

"You could make the argument that doing this movie is courageous in a way. I think there's always been this fear of kind of challenging the narrative of Reagan that's taken hold," argues Bunch, although because the president's Alzheimer's is such a difficult and potentially offensive subject matter, he believes the filmmakers are taking a huge risk.

"I wonder if the studios are really underestimating the level of outrage I would expect this to generate," he said.

Exaggerated comic portrayals of deceased former presidents in Hollywood movies are nothing new. For instance, 1983's "The Right Stuff" depicted Lyndon Johnson as a bit of a lumbering, needy buffoon. Richard Nixon — usually with arms raised in his signature peace sign pose — has become a familiar whipping boy for laughs in films like "Dick" (1999) and "Black Dynamite" (2009). Even dramas like "Selma" and "Frost/Nixon" have not shown these leaders in the best light.

However, history has not been as kind to those presidents, which may speak volumes about how this new Reagan project has already been received. Presidents' reputations are constantly evolving depending on the current mood of the electorate.

For instance, former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight has scored huge applause lines on the stump by comparing the current GOP front-runner Donald Trump to Harry Truman, who left office with some of the worst approval ratings in recorded history. Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz has had a penchant for name-checking former President John F. Kennedy, who had for decades been a liberal icon.

Then there's Bill Clinton. Prior to Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency, many liberals and even some conservatives were downright sanguine about the 42nd president, but in this election cycle buyer's remorse for his 1994 crime bill and welfare reform initiatives has proven to be a perpetual thorn in the side of his wife's campaign for the presidency.

Reagan, despite provoking a partisan response when he was actually in the White House, is now credited by both Republicans and Democrats with elevating the nation's mood, sense of patriotism and for contributing to the end of the Cold War, although how much of a direct role he played in that historic feat is still in dispute.

"Clearly people who agree with ideology and people who completely disagree with his ideology both agree that he had an ability to move people," said Bunch. But Republicans risk overplaying their hand by harping on the former presidency's legacy so much that they produce a kind of Reagan fatigue within the electorate. (Debate drinking games already feature references to the ex-president as a familiar call to chug.) And the backlash that Hillary Clinton received for implying that the Reagans were strong in their response to the HIV/AIDS crisis suggests the voters are more informed on the former presidency than one might suspect.

And as income inequality has increasingly become a top concern for voters across the political spectrum it will be hard to ignore the Reagan administration's complicit role in helping shape our modern economy. As an increasing number of voters will be coming of age without any nostalgia for the Reagan years, the movies may be the new battleground for defining his legacy.

This article originally appeared on MSNBC.com


“While it is by no means a [sic] 'Alzheimer's comedy' as has been suggested, Mr. Ferrell is not pursuing this project," a spokesperson for the actor told the Post on Friday. MSNBC has reached out to Will Ferrell's production company, Gary Sanchez Productions, which was reportedly developing the film, for comment but has not heard back at this time. …. Lee Daniels' film "The Butler" faced similar criticism 10 years later for depicting Reagan, played by the late British actor Alan Rickman, as being indifferent on civil rights issues. The film covers the 40th president's refusal to support sanctions against apartheid-era South Africa and portrayed him as being generally chilly towards African-American members of the staff at the White House. …. Bunch has been making a concerted effort to bring the Reagan image back down to earth ever since he published his book "Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy" in 2010. In the years since that book's release, the public's perception and conservative worship of the former president has only inflated more. "He's become more of an icon for people than a real person," Bunch said. This new movie, which dares to explore one of the more sensitive aspects of his persona, could chip away at many preconceived notions of the former president. …. And the backlash that Hillary Clinton received for implying that the Reagans were strong in their response to the HIV/AIDS crisis suggests the voters are more informed on the former presidency than one might suspect. …. And as income inequality has increasingly become a top concern for voters across the political spectrum it will be hard to ignore the Reagan administration's complicit role in helping shape our modern economy.”


I certainly think that anything that portrays physical disability as humor is grotesque. That, after all, is what Trump did a few months ago when he imitated a reporter with a neurological disorder by stuttering and flailing his arms around over his head. We good people of the earth should avoid those things. We don’t have to be either Republican or Democrat to be a decent human being. That’s why I leave some warmth in my heart for a lot of people I don’t care for, but that doesn’t include those who are essentially cruel. They should be punished, perhaps by a public caning, as a young American was in one of the SE Asian countries in the last ten or so years. He had committed a small but unacceptable crime, and had the same attitude about it as the “Affluenza” teen last year. That’s “just my opinion,” of course.



http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/29/475801199/ebola-carriers-why-the-virus-keeps-coming-back

Ebola Carriers? Why The Virus Keeps Coming Back
Heard on All Things Considered
MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF
April 29, 2016 5:37 PM ET

Chart of incidence in three African nations from the World Health Organization (go to website)


Just when health officials think the Ebola outbreak is over in West Africa, the virus pops up again seemingly out of the blue. It's happened at least five times so far.

Now scientists are starting to figure out why: The virus can lay [sic] dormant in a survivor for more than year and then re-emerge to infect others.

It's called a "persistent infection." It's rare. But it has played a big role in keeping Ebola around in Liberia, an international team of scientists reports Friday in the journal Science Advances.

"We believe that most, if not all, the clusters of new Ebola cases have come from [persistent infections in] survivors, but sometimes it's very hard to determine that with certainty," says Dr. Thomas Frieden, who directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S.

Typically when a person recovers from Ebola, the immune system clears out the virus from the blood and other tissues and the person isn't contagious anymore.

But sometimes, the virus finds its way into parts of the body where the immune system can't reach it — such as inside the eyes, spinal fluid, breast milk and testes.

That last one is the big problem, says Dr. Daniel Bausch, an infectious disease expert at Tulane University. "Sexual transmission is our No. 1 concern," he says.

Scientists have known for years that Ebola can linger in the semen of men who've recovered — and that sexual transmission was possible. But a cluster of cases in Guinea this past March suggest semen can stay infectious for more than a year, far longer than previously thought.

So far, sexual transmission has likely caused at least two of the Ebola flare-ups recorded in Guinea and Liberia — which, in some ways, is a relief, Bausch says.

"Of course, I'm never going to say that sexual transmission is a good thing," he says. "But it's kind of comforting that these [flare-ups] are from a mode of transmission that we understand more and more about."

So what about the other flare-ups? That's where the new study comes in.

When Ebola first returned to Liberia last June, epidemiologists were stumped. They couldn't tell where the seven infected people had caught the virus.

So Jason Ladner and his colleagues at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases went hunting for clues. They isolated Ebola from the patients' blood and sequenced the genomes.

"People were saying this is probably the most important Ebola genome sequence that has been generated thus far," Ladner says, because they hoped it would tell them how Ebola had returned to Liberia.

When Ladner and his team got the results, they were quite surprised. The sequence for each patient's virus almost perfectly matched the one circulating in Liberia nearly a year earlier. During that time, the virus should have mutated. But it didn't. It was like the virus was frozen in time.

That meant the new cases in Liberia came from a dormant virus, hidden inside a survivor for more than a year.

Ladner and his team aren't sure who that survivor is. They have some hints that the flare-up might have begun when a woman passed the virus on to a man, perhaps through sexual contact — which would be a first. So far, only male-to-female transmission has been documented among survivors.

So that's the next medical question to probe — can sexual transmission go both ways?


Excerpt -- “Now scientists are starting to figure out why: The virus can lay [sic] dormant in a survivor for more than year and then re-emerge to infect others. It's called a "persistent infection." It's rare. But it has played a big role in keeping Ebola around in Liberia, an international team of scientists reports Friday in the journal Science Advances. "We believe that most, if not all, the clusters of new Ebola cases have come from [persistent infections in] survivors, but sometimes it's very hard to determine that with certainty," says Dr. Thomas Frieden, who directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. …. But sometimes, the virus finds its way into parts of the body where the immune system can't reach it — such as inside the eyes, spinal fluid, breast milk and testes. That last one is the big problem, says Dr. Daniel Bausch, an infectious disease expert at Tulane University. "Sexual transmission is our No. 1 concern," he says. …. During that time, the virus should have mutated. But it didn't. It was like the virus was frozen in time. That meant the new cases in Liberia came from a dormant virus, hidden inside a survivor for more than a year. Ladner and his team aren't sure who that survivor is. They have some hints that the flare-up might have begun when a woman passed the virus on to a man, perhaps through sexual contact — which would be a first. So far, only male-to-female transmission has been documented among survivors.”



So progress marches on. For a good rundown on Ebola vaccine efforts up to October 2015 at least, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_vaccine. A number of other articles are on the Net under the heading “Ebola vaccine development” which proclaim incomplete but promising successes. See the following:

http://www.nature.com/news/successful-ebola-vaccine-provides-100-protection-in-trial-1.18107, Successful Ebola vaccine provides 100% protection in trial, Study also demonstrates ability to develop a vaccine quickly during an outbreak., Ewen Callaway, 31 July 2015.

An experimental Ebola vaccine seems to confer total protection against infection in people who are at high risk of contracting the virus, according to the preliminary results of a trial in Guinea that were announced today and published1 in The Lancet. They are the first evidence that a vaccine protects humans from Ebola infection.

“We believe the world is on the verge of an efficacious Ebola vaccine," Marie-Paule Kieny, the World Health Organization's assistant director-general for health systems and innovation, said during a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, today.

The results also have implications for outbreak response in general. "This is illustrating that it is feasible to develop vaccines much faster than we’ve been doing," says Adrian Hill, a vaccine scientist at the University of Oxford, UK, who is involved in testing a different Ebola vaccine. “We just need to go on and develop them and get on with them before outbreaks appear.”



http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/europe/austria-tough-migrant-laws/index.html

Austria passes tough new asylum laws as attitudes to migrants harden
By Tim Hume, Atika Shubert and Milena Veselinovic, CNN
Updated 12:10 PM ET, Thu April 28, 2016

Photograph -- Austria passes stringent new asylum laws 02:34
Related: War forced half of all Syrians from their home -- here's where they went
Related Video: A year in the life of migrants 01:47
Graphic map – Barriers along Western Balkan Migration Route To Western Europe
26 Photos -- Europe’s Migration Crisis In 25 Photos [sic]
Related Video -- Small Austrian town has a big heart for migrants 02:59
Amnesty: New laws breach international obligations
Graphic Chart -- Millions On The Move … More Refugees Than The World Has Seen In Decades
Related: Greece sends first migrants back to Turkey under new deal


(CNN)Austria has passed controversial new laws restricting the right of asylum that would allow authorities to turn away most migrants at the border if a state of emergency is invoked.

The laws, among the toughest European responses to the migrant crisis, come as the country prepares to build further fences along its borders, and amid public anger over a shocking child rape case involving an Iraqi migrant.

The legislation, passed Wednesday, allows Austria's government to declare a state of emergency over migration if it deems the country lacks the capacity to receive, house and integrate the number of people who want to enter, said Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck.

He said it would give authorities sweeping powers to block migrants from entering if they deem the country from which they are directly entering -- not their homeland -- is safe.

Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, said the laws were "a glaring attempt to keep people out of Austria and its asylum system."

The measures would breach its obligations under international law by preventing access to protection for thousands of refugees, Amnesty said.

Addressing Austria's Parliament on Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "concerned that European countries are now adopting increasingly restrictive immigration and refugee policies."

"Such policies and measures negatively affect the obligations of member states under international humanitarian law and European law," he said.

"I welcome the open discussions in Europe -- including in Austria -- on integration. But I am alarmed again about growing xenophobia here and beyond. All of Europe's leaders should live up to the principles that have guided this continent."

But Grundboeck, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said Austria's measures were necessary as vast numbers of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa continue to make their way along the so-called Balkan route through southeastern European countries to prosperous "destination countries" in the north.

"What we cannot accept is that migrants just transit through countries without being registered and accommodated," he said.

Austria has been primarily a transit point into Germany, the main destination country for migrants.

But it also received more than 88,000 asylum applications last year, he said.

New border fences proposed

The laws were passed as Austrian authorities announced they were making preparations to be able to erect a 370-meter (404-yard) fence at the Brenner Pass on the border with Italy as well as fences at two border crossings to Hungary.

Grundboeck said the preparations were in place so that authorities would be able to erect the fences if migrant flows required it.

A fence was recently erected along the Spielfeld border crossing between Austria and Slovenia, he said.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi condemned the news of the potential closure of the Brenner Pass, saying that "the possibility of closing the Brenner is blatantly against the European rules, as well as against history, against logic and against the future."

Horrifying rape case

The moves in Austria comes days after the far-right Freedom Party won the first round of the country's presidential elections, and as the trial of an Iraqi asylum seeker accused of raping a child played out this week in a court in Vienna.

The defendant, 20, has been charged in the rape of a 10-year-old boy at a swimming pool in December.

He admitted the attack in court Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the criminal court in Vienna told CNN.

She said the case had been postponed as the court awaited a report on the victim from a child psychologist. If the victim is found to be suffering serious psychological consequences, the sentence could be increased from a potential 10 years to 15 years, she said.

The man told police he had committed the attack due to a "sexual emergency" as he had not seen his wife in four months, prosecutors said.

Initial stance was more welcoming

The case has contributed to hardening attitudes toward migrants in Austria, which initially responded to the migrant crisis with a more welcoming stance.

It follows a spate of sex attacks blamed on migrants across European cities on New Year's Eve, including hundreds of reported assaults of women by a mob of migrants in Cologne, Germany, and sexual assaults of women in Salzburg, Austria.

Earlier this month, the first migrants were deported from Europe to Turkey as part of a controversial new deal between the European Union and Ankara to tackle the migration crisis.

The plan was agreed upon last month as Europe struggles to respond to the largest migration crisis since World War II. More than 1 million people made "irregular arrivals" inside Europe's borders in 2015 alone, many of them displaced by the Syrian civil war.

CNN's Lindsay Isaac and Claudia Otto contributed to this report.



EXCERPT -- “He said it would give authorities sweeping powers to block migrants from entering if they deem the country from which they are directly entering -- not their homeland -- is safe. Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, said the laws were "a glaring attempt to keep people out of Austria and its asylum system." …. Austria has been primarily a transit point into Germany, the main destination country for migrants. But it also received more than 88,000 asylum applications last year, he said. …. The laws were passed as Austrian authorities announced they were making preparations to be able to erect a 370-meter (404-yard) fence at the Brenner Pass on the border with Italy as well as fences at two border crossings to Hungary. …. A fence was recently erected along the Spielfeld border crossing between Austria and Slovenia, he said. …. The moves in Austria comes days after the far-right Freedom Party won the first round of the country's presidential elections, and as the trial of an Iraqi asylum seeker accused of raping a child played out this week in a court in Vienna. The defendant, 20, has been charged in the rape of a 10-year-old boy at a swimming pool in December. He admitted the attack in court Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the criminal court in Vienna told CNN. …. Earlier this month, the first migrants were deported from Europe to Turkey as part of a controversial new deal between the European Union and Ankara to tackle the migration crisis. …. The plan was agreed upon last month as Europe struggles to respond to the largest migration crisis since World War II.


"I welcome the open discussions in Europe -- including in Austria -- on integration. But I am alarmed again about growing xenophobia here and beyond. All of Europe's leaders should live up to the principles that have guided this continent." But Grundboeck, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said Austria's measures were necessary as vast numbers of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa continue to make their way along the so-called Balkan route through southeastern European countries to prosperous "destination countries" in the north.”

There are some very real problems here. One, as ISIS continues to destroy life in Iraq and Syria, this desperate migration will continue unless we can figure out some helpful but not overly oppressive ways to protect all of the nations along the way. The new agreement with Turkey to take refugees back is a good thing. When the hordes of children from Central America were crossing the Rio Grande last year, Obama’s people made an agreement with Mexico to stop them at the border and send them back to their countries of origin, and I haven’t seen news of a similar crisis since then. I think maybe it worked. That didn’t involve “erecting a wall,” but it did involve a strong effort by Latin American countries to stop the flow.

Perhaps a similar agreement with teeth in it would make the Balkans and other European countries cooperate, likewise sending the migrants back. Maybe if that happened the migrants would stand up and fight ISIS like the courageous Kurds do. The Kurds lose fighters, too. They just don’t throw down their weapons and run.

The Austrian law allowing them to be sent back directly to the last country they crossed, thus preventing them from coming through one country after another is not illogical. Mexico didn’t clamp down on its’ southern borders until the US, with some other Latin American nations, confronted them and helped work out a plan. In other words, just putting up fences is not enough, and at the same time is probably too much. Do we want to go back to the living conditions of 1000 AD?

If not, we do need to do something about the overall problem. I understand those Europeans who regret the restrictions of the EU in a number of ways, and the fact that people can pass through from country to country without having to show their passport sounds unwise or even dangerous to me. I think the EU needs to modify its’ agreement to solve internal problems and allow flexibility for the various nations.

It is a very unfortunate thing, however, that the measure has been enacted under the influence of a far right political party in Austria. That sounds like the whole dangerously Rightist uprising that is including the US as well as Europe. Is this merely a kind of group hysteria based on fear of "the other?" I dread to see what the results are going to be. The world does usually work through its’ problems. Sometimes, however, nations and even whole peoples are all but decimated before there is a solution.