August 31, 2016


News and Views


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-emails-controversy-avoiding-press-donald-trump-tax-form-doctor-letter/

Clinton's absence from the public eye comes at a price
CBS NEWS
August 31, 2016, 7:18 AM

Related: Congress receives FBI material on Hillary Clinton emails
Related: GOP chairman: FBI should release Hillary Clinton's State Department schedules
Play VIDEO -- Clinton courts donors in wealthy vacation spots


Sources tell CBS News the FBI will soon release notes from its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email servers. According to the State Department, her latest emails given to the FBI include “approximately 30 documents” that may be related to the Benghazi, Libya attack that killed four Americans.

This comes as Clinton returns to the campaign trail Wednesday after spending most of the past two weeks fundraising, which her aides say was always the plan for the end of summer. But this has come at a price, fueling a new talking point for Donald Trump, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

“She doesn’t do rallies of any consequence,” Trump said of Clinton.

Clinton did phone into two cable news shows last week, promising -- as she has for months -- that she will do a news conference at some point.

“Stay tuned. There will be a lot of different opportunities for me to talk to the press,” Clinton told CNN.

Trump has held at least 14 news conferences this year. His combative approach is a far cry from Clinton’s -- she’s generally too busy ignoring reporters to insult them.

She did take eight questions at a journalism conference earlier this month.

“I may have short-circuited,” she admitted, regarding her explanation on her emails controversy at the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ joint convention in Washington earlier this month.

But two of the questions were on her least favorite subject, which could help explain her aversion to the format.

“I have acknowledged repeatedly that using two email accounts was a mistake,” Clinton said.

As election nears, Trump has grown less accessible too. Nearly all of his recent TV interviews have been with Fox News, and Democrats note he still has not released his tax returns, or explained discrepancies in the glowing letter released by his doctor.

“He said, ‘the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.’ So that physical problem that caused him to not serve in the military has cleared up apparently,” Clinton’s vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine said in Pennsylvania.

Clinton wrapped up her coast-to-coast fundraising tour Tuesday night. Her 22 fundraisers in the wealthy enclaves of Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Cape Cod, The Hamptons plus California, netted at the very least a combined $31 million for her and the Democratic party.

As for Trump, it appears his controversies have caused wealthy Republicans to keep wallets shut. A new analysis by USA Today found wealthy Democrats and liberal groups have given nearly three times as much money as Republicans, and a lot of that Republican giving went to down-ballot races.


Excerpt – “His combative approach is a far cry from Clinton’s -- she’s generally too busy ignoring reporters to insult them.” …. She did take eight questions at a journalism conference earlier this month. “I may have short-circuited,” she admitted, regarding her explanation on her emails controversy at the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ joint convention in Washington earlier this month. …. or explained discrepancies in the glowing letter released by his doctor. “He said, ‘the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.’ So that physical problem that caused him to not serve in the military has cleared up apparently,” Clinton’s vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine said in Pennsylvania.” …. netted at the very least a combined $31 million for her and the Democratic party. As for Trump, it appears his controversies have caused wealthy Republicans to keep wallets shut. A new analysis by USA Today found wealthy Democrats and liberal groups have given nearly three times as much money as Republicans, and a lot of that Republican giving went to down-ballot races.”


This reporter doesn’t like either candidate much. That’s how most American are feeling now, I think; I want Sanders, but I’m not going to “waste my vote by writing his name in on the ballot, and I hope very few others will do that either. If Hillary is a skunk, Trump is a pit viper. I love the comment that Hillary is usually “too busy ignoring reporters to insult them, and that Trump physical problem which he used to avoid the army in Vietnam has apparently healed up. Good going, Tim.



CHICAGO POLICE RESULTS

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/31/492066739/chicago-police-dept-moves-to-fire-5-officers-over-laquan-mcdonald-shooting

Chicago Police Dept. Moves To Fire 5 Officers Over Laquan McDonald Shooting
CAMILA DOMONOSKE
August 31, 2016 8:20 AM ET

Photograph -- Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke leaves the Criminal Courts Building after pleading not guilty to first-degree murder charges related to the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald on December 29, 2015, in Chicago. The police superintendent is now moving to fire Van Dyke and four other officers, who are accused of making false statements about the shooting. Scott Olson/Getty Images
Related: AROUND THE NATION, Chicago Shooting Drives Calls For Emanuel To Go, So Far Without Result
Related: THE TWO-WAY, Justice Department Launches Civil Rights Investigation Into Chicago Police
Related: THE TWO-WAY, Chicago Police Task Force Report Calls For Oversight Reform, Admission Of Racism


Chicago's police superintendent is moving to fire five officers who were involved in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old LaQuan McDonald in 2014 — one who pulled the trigger, and four who are accused of giving false statements about what happened.

McDonald, who was black, was shot 16 times by officer Jason Van Dyke. Other officers said that McDonald had lunged at police before he was shot. But dashcam footage of the incident — released under a court order — contradicted their testimony.

Van Dyke, who is white, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting. He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on bond, NPR's David Schaper reports.

Now Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is seeking the dismissal of Van Dyke, as well as four other officers accused of giving false statements during an investigation into the shooting.

Chicago's inspector general had recommended that 10 officers be fired for the shooting — Van Dyke and nine others.

Of those officers, four have since either resigned or retired. In the case of one officer, a police spokesman said, there was "insufficient evidence" to prove that the officer willfully lied during investigations.

Johnson has filed administrative charges with the Chicago Police Board to request the dismissal of the five officers.



http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/13/474043035/chicago-police-task-force-report-calls-for-oversight-reform-admission-of-racism

Chicago Police Task Force Report Calls For Oversight Reform, Admission Of Racism
MARIE ANDRUSEWICZ
April 13, 2016 3:20 AM ET


A Chicago Police accountability task force is releasing a report Wednesday recommending sweeping changes to what it says is a "broken" system. A draft of the report has already been delivered to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who created the task force and fired police Superintendent Garry McCarthy following the release of a video showing a white police officer shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times.

The Chicago Tribune describes the tone of the draft as "scathing" and says it recommends that the department "acknowledge its racist history and overhaul its handling of excessive force allegations."

NPR's David Schaper reports the recommendations would affect the way investigations are conducted and how police officers are disciplined:

"That could include doing away with the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police shootings and allegations of excessive force. Critics say it's biased in favor of police and turns the code of silence into official policy."

The report calls for the IRPA [sic] to be replaced by a "fully transparent and accountable" civilian agency. The draft also suggests creating the post of deputy chief of diversity and inclusion.

On Tuesday, the Chicago City Council approved Emanuel's request to appoint interim police superintendent Eddie Johnson as the new police superintendent. A national search had presented Emanuel with three candidates for the job, all of whom he rejected. Tuesday's vote by the council allows Johnson's appointment without a second hiring search.

When appointing Johnson to serve as interim superintendent last month, Emanuel said of the 27-year veteran of the force: "He's well respected within the department and among all the rank-and-file officers that I have spoken with. He will have their backs when they do their job well and he will hold them accountable when they do not."

The City Council will take a final vote on Johnson's appointment today.

"We don't have time to play," said Alderman Walter Burnett Jr. during Tuesday's meeting. "People are dying in our wards."



Ferguson, MO, was “the shot heard ‘round the world,” on August 9, 2014. Like the original case in 1775, this almost instantaneously started a legal, social, and somewhat physical war. So far we haven’t had the widespread rioting like some other times in the last few decades, but I believe that’s half luck. It’s not a surprising result, because so little effort has been made within the White communities to STOP their aggression and worse events. It has long been known that there was a basic problem with the police, with the more conservative citizens always stating that we should “give the police the benefit of the doubt,” and in any interaction with officers, we should be very passive and obedient. The result is that nothing has been done to address the problem. Better supervision, better training, hiring officers with a good ethical structure and normal to high intelligence, all are needed.

At present, it is NOT incumbent upon the police to treat citizens with any respect or fairness at all, in the eyes of the conservative members of the public, and that’s a large part of the cause of all those extremely negative interactions to begin with. It comes of rage. Police should be professional and not abusers, and if mental health care is needed, then call an ambulance rather than arresting the subject.

It should surprise no one that officers are now being picked off one at a time by attackers. That should change, too, of course. It’s a vendetta situation, much like a gang war. Latino people, poor whites, homeless and deranged individuals also get harassed and murdered, and about a month ago a Korean woman in her 50s was assaulted by a policeman in a parking lot where she had stopped in an empty parking lot for some problem she was having. It is not illegal or even unusual to stop in an empty parking lot. I do it if I have to read a map or if the rain is coming down in a sheet so that I can’t see. It was thought that part of the problem causing her to be beaten was a language barrier, but why is a policeman beating a woman or child or old person or deaf person or non-English speaker or mentally disabled person anyway?? Now, we will probably be hearing about Islamic people being traumatized as well, since Trump has been inflaming the public sentiment about such people.

Cell phone cameras, dash cams, people stopping when an incident starts and watching to bear witness to the interaction, have begun to stop the almost universally assumed privilege that police have over black and poor citizens of all groups. Wealthy people have little problem, because they always have a personal lawyer, whom they will ask for a letter calling an abusive cop out. Chicago has done well in this case, and I hope more serious punishment will be meted out to police across the country in the future over excessive violence, whether anyone is killed or not.

Those “punishment” beatings that officers sometimes do, and the hideous “rough ride” which was also a punishment in the Gray case, should be absolutely illegal and grounds for instant dismissal and criminal charges. Now if only the jury and judge will actually CONVICT Jason Van Dyke of first degree murder, and send him to Federal Prison there will be a real step forward. It will be a real life punishment and, I feel sure, will be helpful, especially if it is mandated on a nationwide basis. It’s time for Federal law to firmly preside over these local events. I think that will probably come about because the American public is now fully aware of what so often happens. It used to be hidden.

These all-civilian panels to oversee punishments will help. “The draft also suggests creating the post of deputy chief of diversity and inclusion.” That whole idea of “integration” has always been resisted, and is needed for our various minority groups to begin to get along better with each other and the majority population.

The photograph of Supt. Johnson shows a calm and intelligent man, and he is black. He doesn’t look like an angry person at all, so I hope for some regular follow-up reports on the Chicago situation with positive changes. For an excellent and detailed description of the Ferguson case, go to http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html?_r=0.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-supporter-pastor-mark-burns-hillary-clinton-apology-tweet-cartoon-blackface/

Pro-Trump pastor regrets cartoon of Clinton in blackface, but "not the message"
CBS NEWS
August 30, 2016, 6:35 AM

Donald Trump always has something to say on Twitter, but now, a supporter’s tweet is creating outrage.

It shows an image of Hillary Clinton in blackface, at a time when Trump is reaching out to minority groups. Now, the top African American adviser to Trump is apologizing for posting the racially offensive cartoon of Clinton, undercutting any serious Trump effort to appeal to African-American voters, reports CBS News correspondent Major Garrett.

In Atlanta Monday night, supporters defended Donald Trump.

“I know Donald Trump. He does not look down on anybody, he is not racist at all,” 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain told a crowd at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

This came just hours after Trump loyalist Pastor Mark Burns posted a tweet depicting Hillary Clinton in blackface and accusing her of pandering to African American voters.

mark-burns-tweet-square.jpg
Pastor Mark Burn’s controversial cartoon of Hillary Clinton
“It’s not racist to be proud to be an American,” Burns told a rally in Jackson, Mississippi.

Burns -- a frequent warm-up act for Trump -- at first said he did no wrong.

“The picture is designed to do draw attention to the very fact that Hillary Clinton do pander after black groups, after black people,” Burns told MSNBC.

But later, Burns deleted the tweet, apologizing for the imagery, saying, “I regret the offensiveness of the black face,” but not the message.

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Pastor Mark Burns @pastormarkburns
LIVE on #Periscope: I want to Apologize for my Twit that many found to be offensive... https://www.periscope.tv/w/apNz2DYzODAwMzl8MURYeHlMUVpQZUVKTX6b9Iy9IbOs8lcz3jPJG343nrRRYGAxHHVGgdXIbKqD …
8:05 PM - 29 Aug 2016

Pastor Mark Burns @pastormarkburns
I want to Apologize for my Twit that many found to be offensive... — Easley, SC, United States
periscope.tv
175 175 Retweets 347 347 likes
“I still stand by what the image represents but I think that, you know, I should have used better judgment,” Burns said.

The cartoon firestorm heightens the tension around the presidential conversation about race relations, with the candidates’ ongoing exchanging of attacks that accuse each other of racism.

Donald Trump: "Hillary Clinton is a bigot"
Clinton calls out Trump's "steady stream of bigotry"
Also Monday, former KKK Grand Wizard and now U.S. Senate candidate David Duke released a campaign robocall, linking himself to Trump.

“We’re losing our country. It’s time to stand up and vote for Donald Trump for president and vote for me, David Duke for the U.S. Senate,” Duke said.

The Trump campaign denies any relationship to Duke or white supremacist groups.

“We don’t want the support of people who think like David Duke,” Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, told CNN.

The Trump campaign released a statement to CBS News, saying they have no knowledge of and strongly condemn the David Duke robocalls.

As for Pastor Burns, Trump will be with him in Detroit this weekend, attending a church service and doing an interview with an African-American Christian television network.

Burns also apologized again Tuesday morning for the “offensive” image, but also stressed to “stand by the message that we blacks are being used” by Democrats for votes.

Follow
Pastor Mark Burns @pastormarkburns
I'm so sorry for the offensive #Blackface image of @HillaryClinton but stand by the message that we Blacks ARE being Used by #Dems for VOTES
7:06 AM - 30 Aug 2016
199 199 Retweets 392 392 likes



“Burns also apologized again Tuesday morning for the “offensive” image, but also stressed to “stand by the message that we blacks are being used” by Democrats for votes.” If Pastor Burns really thinks that any Republican, or certainly most, will cater to the needs and opinions of black people or any other minority, he is blind. And as for the blackface business, that is unacceptable for anyone. It’s like “n!$%&r.” Some black people do call each other that, sometimes playfully and sometimes not, but it’s still a word with such a horrible history that it raises negative interactions in all cases. We can do better than that as a society. I also don’t think black people should call each other that, but if a white says it, there may be a fight. Let’s GET REAL! Everybody, let's all try to do good things rather than what to me is simply evil, and behave fairly and gently to all. I know. That's idealistic, but it is the real solution, unless we want more and more police on the streets all over the nation.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/huma-abedin-announces-separation-from-anthony-weiner/

Huma Abedin announces separation from Anthony Weiner
CBS NEWS
August 29, 2016, 12:13 PM

19 Photographs -- Huma Abedin
Play VIDEO -- Documentary reveals toll of Anthony Weiner's downfall

Top Clinton aide Huma Abedin announced she’s splitting from her husband, former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner after news broke of yet another sexting scandal involving Weiner.

“After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband,” Abedin said in a statement. “Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life.”

The New York Post on Sunday night reported that last summer, Weiner had started sexting with a buxom brunette who told him she was a supporter of Donald Trump. Among the photos the two exchanged was one Weiner crotch shot that also included his toddler son.

“Someone just climbed into my bed,” Weiner wrote to the woman, the New York Post reported.

“Really?” she wrote back. He then sent the photo -- which focused on his groin and showed he was clad only in white underwear, with his son next to him.

Weiner, according to the Post, seemed nervous that he had inadvertently posted to social media, “For half a second I thought I posted something,” he wrote.

“I see you thought you posted on your TL [public timeline] not DM [direct message]. S**t happens be careful,” the woman wrote back.

Weiner’s Twitter account has been deleted.

Abedin, one of Hillary Clinton’s top aides, has struggled with her husband’s social media exhibitionism in the past. Sexting ended his 12-year congressional career in 2011. Weiner had attempted to mount a comeback in a run for New York City mayor in 2013, and that, too, was thwarted by another sexting scandal.

Abedin and Weiner were the subject of a recent documentary, “Weiner,” which chronicled Weiner’s mayoral run, and it showcased the fallout from the scandal that ended his mayoral candidacy. Weiner recently claimed to the New York Times Magazine that Abedin had not approved extensive footage shown of her in the documentary, a fact disputed by the filmmakers, Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg.

Republican nominee Donald Trump quickly attempted to make Abedin’s decision a campaign issue.

“Huma is making a very wise decision,” he said in a statement. “I know Anthony Weiner well, and she will be far better off without him. I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information.

Who knows what he learned and who he told? It’s just another example of Hillary Clinton’s bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this.”



I have no love for Huma Abedin or Hillary Clinton either nowadays, but I am delighted to see that she is divorcing the obscene SOB to whom she was legally tied. Bless you, Huma.



R.I.P. Gene Wilder. You are one of my happy memories.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/blazing-saddles-star-gene-wilder-dead-at-83/

Gene Wilder, "Blazing Saddles" and "Willy Wonka" star, dead at 83
CBS/AP
August 29, 2016, 3:43 PM

17 Photos -- Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in 1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Related: Doris Roberts, Emmy-winning sitcom icon, dies at 90
Related: Director Garry Marshall dead at 81


NEW YORK -- Gene Wilder, the star of such comedy classics as “Young Frankenstein” and “Blazing Saddles,” has died. He was 83.

Wilder’s nephew said Monday that the actor and writer died earlier this month in Stamford, Connecticut from complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

“It is with indescribable sadness and blues, but with spiritual gratitude for the life lived that I announce the passing of husband, parent, and universal artist Gene Wilder, at his home in Stamford Connecticut. It is almost unbearable for us to contemplate our life without him,” Wilder’s nephew, Jordan Walker-Pearlman, said in a statement.

“The cause was complications from Alzheimers Disease with which he co-existed for the last three years. The choice to keep this private was his choice, in talking with us and making a decision as a family. We understand for all the emotional and physical challenges this situation presented we have been among the lucky ones -- this illness-pirate, unlike in so many cases, never stole his ability to recognize those that were closest to him, nor took command of his central-gentle-life affirming core personality. It took enough, but not that.”

“He continued to enjoy art, music, and kissing with his leading lady of the last twenty-five years, Karen. He danced down a church aisle at a wedding as parent of the groom and ring bearer, held countless afternoon movie western marathons and delighted in the the company of beloved ones.”

The frizzy-haired actor was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Mel Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in “Young Frankenstein” or bilking Broadway in “The Producers.”

But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozy gunslinger in “Blazing Saddles” and as the charming candy man in the children’s favorite “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” Just this week, Brooks had made his case to Vanity Fair that “Blazing Saddles” was the funniest movie ever made.

Brooks himself reacted quickly to news of Wilder’s death.

Follow
Mel Brooks ✔ @MelBrooks
Gene Wilder-One of the truly great talents of our time. He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship.
3:47 PM - 29 Aug 2016
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Scorsese, De Niro honor Mel Brooks at AFI tribute
Wilder developed a special onscreen relationship with “Blazing Saddles” co-writer Richard Pryor, going on to co-star with him in a series of films including “Stir Crazy” and “See No Evil, Hear No Evil.”

Wilder was married four times. His most famous relationship was with “Saturday Night Live” vet Gilda Radner, to whom he was married from 1984 until her death from cancer in 1989. Following Radner’s passing, he married Karen Boyer in 1991.


WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: Pure Imagination Gene Wilder (1971) by TheRealWhatTheFudge on YouTube
Notable deaths in 2016
120 PHOTOS
Notable deaths in 2016



Willy Wonka didn’t appeal to me. That was apparently a well-known children’s story, but not when I was a kid, so I didn’t know the story, and it is more than a little bit strange. Putting the little girl whom he didn’t like into the oven and turning her into a “blueberry girl” because she smarted off a bit was, shall I say, “harsh.” I read several of Dahl’s poems and found them also “dark.” I didn’t like them, either. That particular movie’s failing to appeal to me, however, is not Wilder’s fault but the writer’s. However, my favorites were Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Producers and Silver Streak -- all spectacular films. Like the Marx Brothers he was a truly great talent. I’m very sorry to hear that he has died. May he rest in peace.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/638d6331-0a1e-39bb-8c59-ba58f189e403/ss_mariska-hargitay-reportedly.html

U.S. New York Post
Mariska Hargitay reportedly freaks out on 'Law & Order: SVU' set
Fox News
August 29, 2016

Screenshot -- "Law & Order: SVU" cast member Mariska Hargitay takes part in a panel discussion at the NBC Universal Summer Press Day 2012 in Pasadena, California April 18, 2012.
Photograph – Hargitay and cast on street with cameraman


Mariska Hargitay lost it on the NYC set of “Law & Order: SVU” last week.

“They were shooting on Ninth Avenue, and she was yelling, ‘Did you get that?’ to a crew member. The guy responded, ‘No,’ and she went apes - - t,” a spy said.

“She was saying, ‘When I do these, you have to make sure you get this.’ She was in a full NYPD police vest and was running down the street out of nowhere yelling at this guy.”

A source close to the show, however, told us, “It’s her on-set shtick. This is her joking around with the camera guys . . . They’ve been working together for 18 years.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post's Page Six.



This fascinating near story is all there is, even on NYPost Page Six. There is so little here here that I’m really annoyed. Her name was mentioned, again in the Post, about the ending to the last episode which seemed to show that her character Benson had been fired. When I Googled her just now I found several news stories about her from the last year. Apparently she is one of the “media darlings.” She certainly is a very good actress, and I would grieve if she were to actually go off the show.

Apparently Christopher Meloni “left to pursue a film career,” according to his bio. I must say I really do miss him terribly. He is one of those men who looks like a hawk or falcon – not full of bulky muscle, but with an intensity that is really impressive, and he portrays his role very well. He and Hargitay made a great team, and the whole cast together made the show profoundly believable, moving, exciting and somehow elegant. In short, I love it, and if Hargitay really is leaving it I will be upset. It will be like Perry Mason without Raymond Burr. Shows are on their way down the toilet when they start playing around with their characters like this. The public simply will not accept substitutes.



WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/turkey-backed-syria-rebels-advance-on-u-s-backed-kurds/

Turkey-backed Syria rebels advance on U.S.-backed Kurds
AP August 28, 2016, 10:19 AM

Photograph -- Turkish soldiers stand on tanks as they prepare for a military operation at the Syrian border town of Karkamis in the southern region of Gaziantep, on August 25, 2016 in Jarablus, Turkey. DEFNE KARADENIZ, GETTY IMAGES
Play VIDEO -- Turkey troops attempt to cleanse border of ISIS
Play VIDEO -- Turkey enters Syria to fight ISIS strongholds


BEIRUT - Turkey-backed Syrian rebels seized a number of villages and towns from Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria on Sunday amid Turkish airstrikes and shelling that killed at least 35 people, mostly civilians, according to rebels and a monitoring group.

Turkey sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels drive the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria out of the frontier town of Jarablus last week in a dramatic escalation of its involvement in the Syrian civil war.

The operation, labeled Euphrates Shield, is also aimed at pushing back U.S.-allied Kurdish forces. The fighting pits a NATO ally against a U.S.-backed proxy that is the most effective ground force battling IS in Syria.

Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency said Turkish airstrikes killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” and destroyed five buildings used by the fighters in response to attacks on advancing Turkish-backed rebels in the Jarablus area.

The Turkish military is “taking every precaution and showing maximum sensitivity to ensure that civilians living in the area are not harmed,” Anadolu reported.

A Turkish soldier was killed by a Kurdish rocket attack late Saturday, the first such fatality in the offensive, now in its fifth day.

Various factions of the Turkey-backed Syrian rebels said Sunday they have seized at least four villages and one town from Kurdish-led forces south of Jarablus. One of the villages to change hands was Amarneh, where clashes had been fiercest. Rebels posted pictures from inside the village.

Ankara is deeply suspicious of the Syrian Kurdish militia that dominates the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces, viewing it as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in southeastern Turkey. Turkish leaders have vowed to drive both IS and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, away from the border.

The SDF crossed the Euphrates River and drove ISIS out of Manbij, a key supply hub just south of Jarablus, earlier this month. Both Turkey and the United States have ordered the YPG to withdraw to the east bank of the river. YPG leaders say they have, but their units play an advisory role to the SDF and it is not clear if any of their forces remain west of the Euphrates.

Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS, but the airstrikes that began Saturday marked the first time it has targeted Kurdish-led forces in Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombing killed at least 20 civilians and four Kurdish-led fighters in Beir Khoussa, a village about nine miles south of Jarablus, and another 15 in a village to the west.

ANHA, the news agency of the Kurdish semi-autonomous areas, said Beir Khoussa has “reportedly lost all its residents.”

SDF spokesman Shervan Darwish said the airstrikes and shelling started overnight and continued Sunday along the front line, killing many civilians in Beir Khoussa and nearby areas. He said the bombing also targeted Amarneh village. He said 50 Turkish tanks were taking part in the offensive.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that 20 civilians were killed and 50 wounded in Turkish artillery shelling and airstrikes, calling it Turkish “encroachment” on Syrian sovereignty under the pretext of fighting IS. Turkey is a leading backer of the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.

An Associated Press reporter in the Turkish border town of Karkamis spotted at least three Turkish jets flying into Syria amid heavy Turkish shelling from inside Syrian territory on Sunday morning.



EXCERPT -- “Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS, but the airstrikes that began Saturday marked the first time it has targeted Kurdish-led forces in Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombing killed at least 20 civilians and four Kurdish-led fighters in Beir Khoussa, a village about nine miles south of Jarablus, and another 15 in a village to the west. ANHA, the news agency of the Kurdish semi-autonomous areas, said Beir Khoussa has “reportedly lost all its residents.”


This story disturbs me on several levels. One, the Kurds are not bad guys at all, and now Turkey has wiped out a whole Kurdish village. The degree of devastation in the Middle East is sad and dangerous. Second, Turkey was always a western leaning and secular nation, placed strategically between ISIS and Europe, who was an ally for the US; and now that the regime change has occurred that seems to be less likely to be the case in the future. It further endangers the US in our Middle East involvement and kills more and more human lives.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/your-dog-does-understand-what-youre-saying-study-suggests/

Yes, your dog really does understand what you say, study suggests
AP August 30, 2016, 11:18 AM

Photograph -- New research suggests that dogs - like Prince George’s family pet Lupo, pictured here on July 22, 2016 - process words with the left hemisphere of the brain and process intonation with the right hemisphere, just like humans. MATT PORTEOUS/DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

Play VIDEO -- Here's how dogs are helping kids with summer reading


BERLIN — Scientists have found evidence to support what many dog owners have long believed: man’s best friend really does understand some of what we’re saying.

Researchers in Hungary scanned the brains of dogs as they were listening to their trainer speaking to determine which parts of the brain they were using.

They found that dogs processed words with the left hemisphere, while intonation was processed with the right hemisphere – just like humans.

What’s more, the dogs only registered that they were being praised if the words and intonation were positive; meaningless words spoken in an encouraging voice, or meaningful words in a neutral tone, didn’t have the same effect.

“Dog brains care about both what we say and how we say it,” said lead researcher Attila Andics, a neuroscientist at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest. “Praise can work as a reward only if both word meaning and intonation match.”

Andics said the findings suggest that the mental ability to process language evolved earlier than previously believed and that what sets humans apart from other species is the invention of words.

“The neural capacities to process words that were thought by many to be uniquely human are actually shared with other species,” he said. “This suggests that the big change that made humans able to start using words was not a big change in neural capacity.”

While other species probably also have the mental ability to understand language like dogs do, their lack of interest in human speech makes it difficult to test, said Andics.

Dogs, on the other hand, have socialized with humans for thousands of years, meaning they are more attentive to what people say to them and how.

The study was published in the journal Science.

Andics also noted that all of the dogs were awake, unrestrained and happy during the tests. “They participated voluntarily,” he said.



I will just put in one personal anecdote on how smart and capable of understanding us some dogs are. This is a true story. Years ago at Christmas I was at my in-laws’ house and we had already opened the gifts. They had a largish Border Collie, who was meaningfully communicating with me with her eyes as I stroked her thick fur. Like most of them she was black with a wide white “collar” marking, and I picked up a large red bow from a package and put it around her neck. I petted her and told her about four times how “beautiful” she looked with her red bow. She suddenly got a startled look on her face, turned and pranced over to the wall mirror on the other side of the room and gazed at herself for 20 or 30 seconds, as though to see just how pretty she was. You can believe that or not, but it happened exactly that way.

Not only is her ability to understand words impressive, but the fact that she apparently does understand that the image in the mirror is herself, which is something that many or maybe most monkeys and cats do not understand. Faced with their image they will become angry and try to fight "that other monkey." A chimpanzee or gorilla, however, does know that they are seeing themselves. One chimpanzee was on a psychologist's scientific video and when he saw himself, he stared a bit and then took his fingernail and picked some small piece of food off of his tooth. So a Border Collie may, at least in some ways, be as intelligent as some of the great apes, maybe!