November 25, 2016


News and Views


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dylann-roof-found-competent-trial-south-carolina-church-shooting/

Dylann Roof found competent to stand trial in South Carolina church shooting
CBS/AP
November 25, 2016, 9:37 AM

50 Photographs -- Charleston shooting
Photographs -- South Carolina church shooting victims
Play – CBS news video


COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Dylann Roof is competent to stand trial starting next week in the killing of nine black worshippers at a South Carolina church last year, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel’s ruling clears the way for jury selection to restart Monday.

The judge delayed the process to begin narrowing the final jury pool on Nov. 7 when Roof’s lawyers suggested he either didn’t understand the charges against him or couldn’t properly help them with his defense.

In a similarity with the Boston Marathon bombing trial, the key question now will be whether Roof will receive the death penalty in the likely event that he’s convicted, CBS News justice reporter Paula Reid reports.

Roof, 22, is charged in federal court with hate crime, obstruction of religion and other counts for the June 2015 attack at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

The decision came three days after Gergel wrapped up a hastily called two-day hearing that was held behind closed doors.

But the exact reasons and any testimony and facts backing Gergel’s findings are not known. Defense lawyers have not said what led them to question Roof’s competency and the judge sealed his findings for the same reason he took the rare step of only allowing Roof, his lawyers, prosecutors, court officials and witnesses in the hearing - Roof made statements to a psychologist that might not be legal to use at his trial and could taint potential jurors.

Gergel had promised to release a redacted version of his order last week, but instead filed it under seal.

At his competency hearing, Gergel heard testimony from psychologist James Ballenger and four other unnamed witnesses and reviewed sworn statements from three others, the judge wrote in his order. Ballenger completed his psychological review of Roof in just days.

According to police, Roof sat through nearly an hour of prayer and Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church with its pastor and 11 others before pulling a gun from his fanny pack near the end of the class and firing dozens of shots.

Roof hurled racial insults at the six women and three men he’s accused of killing and the three people he left alive, authorities said. He said he left the three unharmed so they could tell the world the shootings were because he hated black people.

Roof has already been found competent in state court, where prosecutors plan a second death penalty trial on nine counts of murder.



For people like Roof who come from a highly racialized political environment, does such an act as he committed constitute insanity, no matter how his lawyer pleads him? To me, it does, which is the same as saying that the Hard Right fringe in this country is due to insanity rather than politics. That leads me to wonder just how many insane people are out there appearing to be normal citizens? I think it’s possible for an entire population to be mentally unbalanced, and steeped in violence and hatred.

Many such people live in Middle Eastern settings where their brand of Islam is psychotic in its’ effect. In our country, I believe the same is true for Christian religions to be so steeped in the philosophy of faith over facts that they become dangerous. I am, of course, agnostic and oriented toward ethical views, so that a group who think that their patriotism, faith and obedience over logic are the ultimate goals of “good citizens.”

It is so sad to me that our country has gone as far away from intelligence and good basic human decency as we have. It isn’t that our country hasn’t provided a basic education, but that our population has declined to take advantage of it. I think Roof is typical of a set of citizens in this country rather than an anomaly. I wonder how many others like him will come forward to help Donald Trump revise our country to something horrible. I think that’s exactly what happened in Germany when their ranting “leader,” took control there.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/albuquerque-starbucks-suspicious-devices-feds/

Feds: Suspicious devices left at three Albuquerque Starbucks
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS NEWS
November 25, 2016, 12:06 PM

Still shot -- A suspect is seen on surveillance footage breaking into one of three Albuquerque Starbucks locations where suspicious devices were found Nov. 25, 2016 FBI


ALBUQUERQUE -- Federal and local officials in New Mexico are investigating after three Albuquerque Starbucks were vandalized and suspicious devices were found at the locations early Friday morning, when the coffee shops were closed.

View image on TwitterView image on Twitter
Follow
Sara Yingling @KRQE_Yingling
Doors and windows were broken. Glass shattered everywhere.
8:20 AM - 25 Nov 2016 · Albuquerque, NM
1 1 Retweet 1 1 like

One of the devices exploded, causing minimal damage, according to the FBI. No one was injured.

Police started receiving calls reporting the devices around midnight, reports CBS affiliate KRQE. Images captured by the station showed broken doors and windows and shattered glass at one of the stores.

The FBI has released photos of a suspect captured on surveillance cameras at one of the three locations. The suspect is seen wearing black clothing and a black hat, walking through a shattered glass door.

Albuquerque fire and police departments and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are assisting in the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call 505-889-1300 or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.



So, we have another “mad bomber,” I take it. What does he have against Starbucks? The video showing him/her looks to me to be either very young or unusually slim and short. Most teens don’t make and place three bombs like this. They don’t have the skills to do it.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/for-some-in-middle-class-trump-plan-would-mean-tax-increase/

For some in middle class, Trump plan would mean tax increase
CBS/AP
November 25, 2016, 11:15 AM


Graphic chart -- ctm0318donaldtrumptaxplan.jpg, Trump’s taxplan and your paycheck, CBS NEWS
Play VIDEO -- Speaker Ryan: Trump's new tax strategy "much closer" to Congress' reform plan


WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s proposals would modestly cut income taxes for most middle-class Americans. But for nearly 8 million families — including a majority of single-parent households — the opposite would occur: They’d pay more.

Most married couples with three or more children would also pay higher taxes, an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found. And while middle-class families as a whole would receive tax cuts of about 2 percent, they’d be dwarfed by the windfalls averaging 13.5 percent for America’s richest 1 percent.

Trump’s campaign rhetoric had promoted the benefits of his proposals for middle-income Americans.

“The largest tax reductions are for the middle class,” said Trump’s “Contract With the American Voter,” released last month.

The tax hikes that would hit single parents and large families would result from Trump’s plan to eliminate the personal exemption and the head-of-household filing status. These features of the tax code have enabled many Americans to reduce their taxable income.

His other proposed tax changes would benefit middle- and lower-income Americans. But they wouldn’t be enough to offset those modifications.

“If you’re a low- or moderate-income single parent, you’re going to get hurt,” said Bob Williams, a fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

Unlike Trump’s polarizing proposals on immigration and trade, his tax plan is in line with traditional Republican policy. His steep tax cuts in many ways resemble those carried out by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and the Republican-run Congress is expected to welcome them.

During the campaign, Trump said his tax cuts — for individuals and companies — would energize the economy by boosting business investment in factories and equipment, while leaving consumers with more cash to spend. His proposals, he contended, would help create 25 million jobs over the next decade.

But Lily Batchelder, a visiting fellow at the Tax Policy Center and former deputy director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, estimates that roughly 7.9 million families with children would pay higher taxes under his proposals. About 5.8 million are led by single parents. An additional 2.1 million are married couples.

Other analysts, including economists at the conservative Tax Foundation and right-of-center American Enterprise Institute, have agreed with Batchelder’s conclusions.

Here’s what her analysis finds:

Right now, a single parent with $75,000 in income and two children can claim a head of household deduction of $9,300, plus three personal exemptions. Those steps would reduce the household’s taxable income by $21,450, to $53,550.

Trump’s plan would more than double the standard deduction to $15,000. But that change would be outweighed by his elimination of personal exemptions and head-of-household status. So the family’s taxable income would be $60,000, and their tax bill would be $2,440 more than it is now.

A married couple with four children and income of $50,000 would absorb a tax increase of $1,090 because of their loss of personal exemptions.

Kelly Rodriguez, 47, who lives in Tampa, Florida, voted for Trump and is a single mother who claims two of her four children as dependents. (Her ex-husband claims the other two.) She made roughly $90,000 last year, including alimony payments. Her taxes would likely rise under Trump’s plan, according to Batchelder’s analysis.

“I would want him to explain that to me,” she said. “Taxes have to make sense to the people paying them.”

Still, Trump’s plan will likely evolve during congressional negotiations before it becomes law.

“This is not anywhere close to a final plan,” Williams said.

Kyle Pomerlau, director of federal projects at the conservative Tax Foundation, noted that House Speaker Paul Ryan’s own tax-cut proposal is similar to Trump’s but wouldn’t raise taxes on single-parent families. In theory, the two plans could be melded, and Trump’s elimination of the head of household status could be dropped.

But leaving the head of household filing status and personal exemptions intact would lower tax revenue by $2.1 trillion over the next decade, the Tax Policy Center says.

Trump’s advisers deny that he will raise taxes on middle-income Americans but don’t provide details. Previously, the campaign suggested that Trump would broadly instruct Congress to avoid raising taxes on lower- and middle-income workers.

“We will cut taxes massively for the middle class and working class and protect everyone in the middle class and working class,” Stephen Miller, Trump’s top policy adviser, said in an email.

Yet all independent analyses show most of the benefit flowing to the wealthiest Americans. Nearly half of Trump’s tax cuts would go to the top 1 percent of earners, the Tax Policy Center found. Less than a quarter of the cuts would benefit the bottom 80 percent.

Trump proposes to reduce the number of tax brackets from seven to three, with rates of 12 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent. That would slash the top rate from the current 39.6 percent. He would repeal the estate tax, which affects only about 0.2 percent of estates — those worth above $5.45 million.

For middle-income earners as a whole, the Trump proposals would cut taxes, even taking into account the increases on single-parent families. Those earning nearly $50,000 to about $83,000 — the middle one-fifth — would receive an average cut of $1,010, according to the Tax Policy Center. That would lift their after-tax incomes 1.8 percent.

By contrast, the wealthiest 1 percent — those earning over $700,000 — would enjoy a tax cut averaging nearly $215,000, boosting their after-tax incomes 13.5 percent. And the richest 0.1 percent — those making above $3.7 million — would receive a bonanza: An average tax cut exceeding $1 million.

“Trump’s campaign rhetoric may have been populist, but his tax plan isn’t,” Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the policy center, wrote on its website.

His tax proposals suggest what may be a challenge for Trump’s administration: Providing his middle- and working-class supporters with tangible signs of economic progress. Middle-income Americans already pay a relatively modest share of federal income taxes compared with the wealthy. That limits the scope of what tax cuts could do for them.

“The thing that he needs to worry about is making life better for his supporters, and that involves more than tax cuts,” Williams said.

Middle class finances have also been squeezed by high and rising costs for health care, higher education and housing, noted Joseph Cohen, a sociologist at Queens College in New York City.

“We’ve been cutting taxes since Reagan, and things have been getting worse for the middle class since Reagan,” he said.



EXCERPT – “The thing that he needs to worry about is making life better for his supporters, and that involves more than tax cuts,” Williams said. Middle class finances have also been squeezed by high and rising costs for health care, higher education and housing, noted Joseph Cohen, a sociologist at Queens College in New York City. “We’ve been cutting taxes since Reagan, and things have been getting worse for the middle class since Reagan,” he said.”


I wonder how long it will take the Middle Class to decide that a higher minimum wage and free college tuition would be helpful to them as well as to those below the poverty level, or that cuts in SS and Medicare taxes will only help them for a short time until they’re of an age to collect. The very wealthy simply won’t cooperate economically unless they are forced, and many working class people don’t understand taxes any more than I do. If a flashy, splashy bedazzling character like Trump tells them that this tax plan of his will help them, they are likely to believe it. Time for Bernie now!




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trumps-stock-in-dakota-access-oil-pipeline-raises-concerns/

Donald Trump's stock in Dakota Access oil pipeline raises concerns
AP November 25, 2016, 10:11 AM

Photograph -- Protesters demonstrate against the Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, in Los Angeles, September 13, 2016. LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS
Play VIDEO -- Trump previews his first 100 days in office
Play VIDEO -- President-elect Trump's potential conflicts of interest


WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump holds stock in the company building the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline, and pipeline opponents warn that Trump’s investments could affect any decision he makes on the $3.8 billion project as president.

Trump’s 2016 federal disclosure forms show he owned between $15,000 and $50,000 in stock in Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners. That’s down from between $500,000 and $1 million a year earlier.

Trump also owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Phillips 66, which has a one-quarter share of Dakota Access.

While Trump’s stake in the pipeline company is modest compared with his other assets, ethics experts say it’s among dozens of potential conflicts that could be resolved by placing his investments in a blind trust, a step Trump has resisted.

The Obama administration said this month it wants more study and tribal input before deciding whether to allow the partially built pipeline to cross under a Missouri River reservoir in North Dakota.

The 1,200-mile pipeline would carry oil across four states to a shipping point in Illinois. The project has been held up while the Army Corps of Engineers consults with the Standing Rock Sioux, who believe the project could harm the tribe’s drinking water and Native American cultural sites.

The delay, which comes as protests unfold daily along the proposed route, raises the likelihood that a final decision will be made by Trump, a pipeline supporter who has vowed to “unleash” unfettered production of oil and gas. He takes office in January.

“Trump’s investments in the pipeline business threaten to undercut faith in this process - which was already frayed - by interjecting his own financial well-being into a much bigger decision,” said Sharon Buccino, director of the land and wildlife program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

“This should be about the interests of the many, rather than giving the appearance of looking at the interests of a few - including Trump,” Buccino said.

Trump, a billionaire who has never held public office, holds ownership stakes in more than 500 companies worldwide. He has said he plans to transfer control of his company to three of his adult children, but ethics experts have said conflicts could engulf the new administration if Trump does not liquidate his business holdings.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called Trump’s investment in the pipeline company “disturbing” and said it fits a pattern evident in Trump’s transition team.

“You have climate (change) deniers, industry lobbyists and energy conglomerates involved in that process,” Grijalva said. “The pipeline companies are gleeful. This is pay-to-play at its rawest.”

Besides Trump, at least two possible candidates for energy secretary also could benefit from the pipeline. Oil billionaire Harold Hamm could ship oil from his company, Continental Resources, through the pipeline, while former Texas Gov. Rick Perry serves on the board of directors of Energy Transfer Partners.

Concern about Trump’s possible conflicts comes as protests over the pipeline have intensified in recent weeks, with total arrests since August rising to 528. A clash this past week near the main protest camp in North Dakota left a police officer and several protesters injured.

North Dakota Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple, along with GOP Sen. John Hoeven and Rep. Kevin Cramer, called on President Barack Obama to authorize the Army Corps of Engineers to approve the pipeline crossing, the last large segment of the nearly completed pipeline.

Kelcy Warren, CEO of Dallas-based Energy Transfer, told The Associated Press that he expects Trump to make it easier for his company and others to complete infrastructure projects.

“Do I think it’s going to get easier? Of course,” said Warren, who donated $3,000 to Trump’s campaign, plus $100,000 to a committee supporting Trump’s candidacy and $66,800 to the Republican National Committee.

“If you’re in the infrastructure business,” he said, “you need consistency. That’s where this process has gotten off track.”

The Army Corps of Engineers granted Warren’s company the permits needed for the crossing in July, but the agency decided in September that further analysis was warranted, given the tribe’s concerns. On Nov. 14, the corps called for even more study.

The company has asked a federal judge to declare it has the right to lay pipe under Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir in southern North Dakota. The judge isn’t likely to issue a decision until January at the earliest.



EXCERPT – “While Trump’s stake in the pipeline company is modest compared with his other assets, ethics experts say it’s among dozens of potential conflicts that could be resolved by placing his investments in a blind trust, a step Trump has resisted. …. He has said he plans to transfer control of his company to three of his adult children, but ethics experts have said conflicts could engulf the new administration if Trump does not liquidate his business holdings.”


My two cents – I would be less than human if I didn’t hope that Trump will be forced out of the Presidency, but he probably has too much self-interest not to comply with our laws and rules and whatever else binds him, massive street protests perhaps? In this particular issue, I don’t want Republicans making it harder for us ordinary people to protect our own lands from being damaged in some way that is beyond our control. For American Indians to be so put upon angers me, because they are already poor for the most part, and their tribal lands are theirs by treaty, for the use of the whole tribe. I think they should be protesting as they are, and the fact that the pipeline can poison their drinking water is unthinkable.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-preview-alzheimers-disease-colombia-lesley-stahl/

Group with Alzheimer's gene mutation exciting disease's researchers
Extended family in Colombia with a genetic mutation causing Alzheimer's may help scientists prevent the disease someday
Lesley Stahl
Nov 23, 2016


Stahl’s report tells the story of how a young doctor and nurse in Colombia unraveled the mystery of a rash of patients who were coming down with Alzheimer’s disease in their mid-40s -- figuring out that they were part of one large, extended family, connected generations back. All of them lived in Antioquia, a Colombian region whose capital is Medellin. The doctor reached out to Dr. Ken Kosik, then a Harvard professor lecturing in Bogota, who realized the significance of the discovery. “When we looked at the family trees, about 50 percent of the offspring were getting the disease. That’s a clear signature of a gene,” says Kosik.

A simple genetic test could reveal which members of the family had the gene mutation that would guarantee they would get early-onset Alzheimer’s. This gave researchers a unique opportunity to test therapies on persons who were certain to develop the disease, years before they showed any symptoms -- a rare window to see whether a treatment might be able to prevent Alzheimer’s. The nonprofit Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix teamed up with the National Institutes of Health, philanthropists, and the drug company Genentech to start a multimillion dollar clinical trial to test an immunotherapy drug to remove amyloid plaque, a substance that builds up in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients years before they start getting sick.

The Colombian family members in Antioquia began participating in the study three years ago. It will be several years before any significant data can be learned, and there are no guarantees it will be successful, but asked by Stahl what the best outcome would be, Dr. Pierre Tariot of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute said, “An ideal outcome… would be nobody who receives the immunotherapy experiences any worsening of their thinking or memory ability -- doesn’t change at all, doesn’t decline. That would be fabulous. That’s a stretch goal.” And for researchers like Dr. Claudia Kawas of the University of California, Irvine, who has been studying the more typical, late-in-life form of Alzheimer’s for over 30 years without a breakthrough, it’s a rare opportunity. “If it makes a difference for them, I think there’s a reasonable chance it could make a difference for all the rest of the people who get Alzheimer’s disease.”



It will be wonderful if we do find treatments that can cure or even prevent Alzheimer’s. Nobody should have to spend their last years in that condition.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/aretha-franklin-does-an-extra-long-version-of-the-national-anthem-for-thanksgiving/

Aretha Franklin does an extra-long version of the national anthem for Thanksgiving
CBS/AP
November 25, 2016, 9:40 AM

Photograph -- Detroit native Aretha Franklin sings the National Anthem prior to the start of the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings game on November 24, 2016 in Detroit, Michigan. GREGORY SHAMUS/GETTY IMAGES


DETROIT -- Aretha Franklin’s lengthy version of the national anthem ahead of the Detroit Lions-Minnesota Vikings matchup may have been as much a topic at Thanksgiving dinner as the game itself.

Franklin’s “Star Spangled Banner” clocked in at 4-minutes, 35 seconds on Thursday. That’s compared to about 2-minutes, 20 seconds for Whitney Houston’s iconic rendition of the song ahead of the Super Bowl in 1991.

TK
Franklin quickly started trending on social media. One Twitter user joked that there was enough time to cook a turkey, eat and do the dishes during the performance. Others opined that the 74-year-old “Queen of Soul” had earned the right to sing the anthem for as long as she wanted.

Follow
B. Miller @BlaiseInKC
I cooked my whole turkey, ate and did the dishes during Aretha Franklin's National Anthem performance.
12:37 PM - 24 Nov 2016
2,964 2,964 Retweets 4,913 4,913 likes

The CBS production team got in on the fun during the game by including Franklin in a time of possession graphic:

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter
Follow
NFLonCBS ✔ @NFLonCBS
Time of possession battle is crucial.
2:17 PM - 24 Nov 2016
1,324 1,324 Retweets 1,547 1,547 likes



The “TK” in the article above mystifies me, mystifies Google also, but I left it in just in case some of you will find it useful to your understanding of this brief story. My favorite comment is “I cooked my whole turkey ....” I also agree that she should sing as long as she wants to. She, along with the Beatles and many others, revolutionized pop music during the ‘60s and ‘70s; and I still love the way she sounds. To me, it was an era of “great art.” She also furthered the development of Women’s Liberation with “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” and other songs. In spite of the Vietnam War and the civil rights struggles, that was an exciting time to be young, and I remember it well.