December 5 and 6, 2016


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/armed-man-nabbed-pizza-shop-named-clinton-conspiracy-article-1.2898666

Armed man nabbed at D.C. pizza shop named in Clinton conspiracy
BY NICOLE HENSLEY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Monday, December 5, 2016, 2:30 AM

Photograph -- Police surround Comet Ping Pong after a man with an assault rifle entered the restaurant in Washington. (JIM LO SCALZO/EPA)
Photograph -- Police shut down Connecticut Avenue outside Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant that was the subject of a fake news story claiming it was the center of a child sex ring orchestrated by Hillary Clinton. (JIM LO SCALZO/EPA)


Cops arrested a 28-year-old man from North Carolina after he opened fire inside Comet Ping Pong, a Washington D.C. pizza restaurant named in fake news stories about Hillary Clinton.

Edgar Maddison Welch, of Salisbury, told police on Sunday afternoon he decided to “self-investigate” whether the so-called “Pizza Gate” conspiracy theory was true — that Clinton and her campaign chief were operating a child sex ring in the restaurant’s back room.

He stormed the restaurant — going straight for the maligned back room — while brandishing an assault rifle along Connecticut Ave NW near Fessenden St. NW around 3 p.m., police said. He pointed the gun at an employee at some point, cops said, and then fired at least one shot after patrons with children and employees scattered for safety.

No one was injured during the incident.

Officials with Metropolitan Police said two firearms were found with Welch during his arrest. He now faces an assault charge in the brazen stunt inspired by the fictitious conspiracy theory spawned on Reddit.

Restaurant owner James Alefantis thanked police for capturing the suspect after a frantic 911 call and then condemned “certain people” for trying to “spread malicious and utterly false accusations about Comet Ping Pong.”

View image on Twitter
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Sharif Silmi, Esq @bayreef
Suspect at #cometpizza apprehended great job @DCPoliceDept
3:24 PM - 4 Dec 2016

“What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences,” Alefantis wrote in a statement. “I hope that those involved in fanning those flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today, and stop promoting these falsehoods right away.”

Leading up to the November election, Alefantis said he and his 40 employees were inundated with death threats on social media inspired by a bizarre Reddit post.

Conspiracists claimed leaked emails obtained by Wikileaks from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta’s inbox suggested that the pizzeria was a lair for child abusers.

Even Michael Flynn Jr., the son of President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser pick, fueled the fake story.

“Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it’ll remain a story,” wrote Flynn Jr., the son of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. “The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many ‘coincidences’ tied to it.”

Alefantis defended his restaurant in a New York Times interview on Nov. 21 and said he had never met the former Secretary of State and was not under investigation for an alleged human trafficking plot.

“I’ve done nothing for days but try to clean this up and protect my staff and friends from being terrorized,” Alefantis told the Times.

It’s unclear if Welch traveled to D.C. from North Carolina with the intention of menacing the pizzeria.

Last month, citing its policy against posting the personal information of others, Reddit banned the “pizzagate” topic.



EXCERPT – “‘Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it’ll remain a story,’ wrote Flynn Jr., the son of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.”


This, unfortunately, is exactly how the American people in certain environments and of certain types do think, and this story proves that it is, in fact, dangerous. I’ll never forget going into a neighborhood mom and pop shop for a newspaper right after the moon landing and saying to the woman behind the counter, “Isn’t this exciting?” and she said with anger that she didn’t believe man actually landed on the moon; that “God didn’t mean for us to go to the moon,” and therefore it couldn’t happen.

That rumor, along with Bigfoot, Chupacabra, space aliens at Area 51 and my very favorite, Nessie, have remained in our subculture of painfully poor people Black, Hispanic and White people, at least those who never took advantage of their high school education to learn something on their own. I will repeat what I’ve said many times, that’s what reading is for.

I do believe, however, that these bizarre beliefs, in addition to an all too wide educational gap in this country, go along with at least some level of psychosis. Most undereducated people do have what I call “good common sense.” We use that to differentiate between what is possible and what isn’t, what is improbable and what is highly likely. Then we have to investigate. Ease of investigation is the best thing about the Internet. If the US government ever does cut off our use of the free Internet I will be deeply sad and deeply angry. On that subject, read “Morning Special,” which I published December 5. Control over criminal and abusive postings should be applied in individual cases. Making threats, slander, hate speech or actions, pornographic photos, etc. should be stopped. I think the technology is already at a point to achieve that goal.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-orders-immediate-recount-of-michigans-presidential-results/

Judge orders immediate recount of Michigan's presidential results
CBS/AP
December 5, 2016, 8:47 AM

Photograph -- Dr Jill Stein Green Party nominee for US President 2016 Oxford Union, Oxford , Britain 24th February 2016 (Rex Features via AP Images) AP

A federal judge in Detroit has ruled that the recount of Michigan’s presidential results can begin at noon on Monday, a decision that gives the state more time to complete the count ahead of the Dec. 13 deadline.

Judge Mark Goldsmith issued his ruling late Sunday night, rejecting an effort by state officials to wait two business days to get started hand-counting about 4.8 million ballots.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein requested a recount, but Republican President-elect Donald Trump sued elections officials to stop it.

“Many of these costs would be acceptable if Michigan law really did entitle Stein to a recount,” Trump’s team wrote in the objection. “But it does not. And there is no reason to rewrite Michigan election law to accommodate the conspiracy-minded requests of an acknowledged loser.”

Stein’s lawyers argued that waiting until Wednesday to start a recount would cut too close to the Dec. 13 deadline to have it finished. Electors in every state will formally vote for the candidate who won their state on Dec. 19.

The Green Party also wants recounts in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton by 10,704 votes in Michigan. Stein received about 1 percent of the vote.



Out of millions of votes, 10,704 looks like a narrow margin, and should trigger automatic recounts. It seems both fair and logical to have a difference like that subject to an automatic recount, even if it is not requested by the presumed loser. Again, I think rules like that which affect the final outcome of an election, as with other things that looked fishy this 2016 election – electoral college, Superdelegates, choice of candidates, voting hours, early voting, etc. – should be federally regulated. The requirement of a long and very bloody war to eliminate slavery is one proof of that, and the attempts over the last fifteen years to reinstate such corruption is another. There should not be such wide electoral differences from state to state, which means to me that the conduct of elections needs to be federally based. We also need to do away with voter ID laws, caucuses rather than primaries, etc. Those things lead away from fairness rather than toward it. Voting is a great thing, but the way we do it is far from ideal. In a number of ways our Founding Fathers left too much up to the “wisdom” of the states. Dishonesty and cruelty, as well as mental laziness, abound.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/shinzo-abe-to-become-first-japanese-prime-minister-to-visit-pearl-harbor-since-attack/

Shinzo Abe to become first Japanese prime minister to visit Pearl Harbor since attack
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS
December 5, 2016, 8:04 AM

Photograph -- PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII - DECEMBER 7: A U.S. Navy musician plays echo “Taps” in front of the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial during the 71st Annual Memorial Ceremony commemorating the WWII Attack On Pearl Harbor at the World War 2 Valor in the Pacific National Monument December 7, 2012 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This is the 71st anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images) KENT NISHIMURA, GETTY IMAGES
26 PHOTOS -- Pearl Harbor - Day of infamy


Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will become the first Japanese leader to visit Pearl Harbor later this month since the attack on the site in 1941, which drew the U.S. into World War II.

The White House on Monday morning announced Abe’s visit, which will come a few weeks after the 75th anniversary of the attack -- Dec. 7 -- and two days after Christmas. President Obama will meet with Abe during his visit in Honolulu on Dec. 27, according to White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

“The meeting will be an opportunity for the two leaders to review our joint efforts over the past four years to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance, including our close cooperation on a number of security, economic, and global challenges,” Earnest said.

Mr. Obama will also join Abe when he visits the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. A total of 2,335 marines, sailors and soldiers died during the attack and so did 68 civilians.

“The two leaders’ visit will showcase the power of reconciliation that has turned former adversaries into the closest of allies, united by common interests and shared values,” Earnest said.

Abe’s visit will come exactly seven months after Mr. Obama’s historic visit to the site in Hiroshima where the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan .



Perhaps some scar tissue has grown over the old wounds. I hope today’s Trump followers don’t keep attacking ethnic groups who live here. They have already started that, including four Chinese people on a college campus. The fact that college students and professors tend to be decent people doesn’t keep radical Rightists from assaulting and even killing them. We did put our American Japanese citizens into internment camps during WWII, and our citizens today need to be aware of the fact that the same hatred and paranoia are afoot again here. I am sad about it and worried. Pray for peace!



https://fee.org/articles/actually-mike-pence-the-free-market-is-doing-just-fine/?utm_medium=push&utm_source=push_notification

Actually, Mike Pence, the Market Is Doing Just Fine
James Pethokoukis
Monday, December 05, 2016


Donald Trump warned the other day that companies like Carrier “are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences. Not going to happen. It’s not going to happen, I’ll tell you right now.”

When I heard the president-elect make that threat, I responded thusly on CNBC, calling the comments “chilling.” Money manager Doug Kass was even stronger: “I believe that speech was one of the most dangerous and reckless speeches I have ever heard from a President or President-elect.”

And nothing I’ve heard since then sounds much better. From the New York Times:

“I don’t want them moving out of the country without consequences,” Mr. Trump said, even if that means angering the free-market-oriented Republicans he beat in the primaries but will have to work with on Capitol Hill. “The free market has been sorting it out and America’s been losing,” Mr. Pence added, as Mr. Trump interjected, “Every time, every time.”

Let me focus on the Pence comment: “The free market has been sorting it out and America’s been losing.”

I hope this was somehow taken out of context. As a sort of general economic statement, it’s terribly wrong. America isn’t losing today, nor has it been losing. America is a fabulously wealthy nation that pushes the technological frontier of the global economy. Americans overall are better off than they were a generation ago. And while America has lost manufacturing jobs, 80% or more of that seems due to automation rather than bad trade deals. Factory output has gone up, actually. Free trade, including NAFTA, has benefited the US economy.

America isn't losing today, nor has it been losing. Of course, there were regions hurt by the now-dissipating "China trade shock." But there are always winners and losers from automation and globalization, even if net gains overall. Conservatives are supposed to understand the concept of “tradeoffs.” Government has a role to play, maybe everything from retraining to income subsidies to relocation. And, of course, creating a better overall growth environment.

Workers have a responsibility to make sure they are preparing themselves to prosper in a modern, technological advanced, dynamic economy with no promise of lifetime employment at one firm. After all, Trump, in his Carrier speech, said he wouldn’t penalize firms for moving factories within the US. The goal should be an economy of maximum competitive intensity with workers helped by a modernized safety net.

But perhaps the new populist GOP has other plans. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Pence apparently made comments that “suggest that a Trump White House would eschew many of the free-market principles that have guided prior Republican administrations, including injecting itself into the personnel and long-term operating decisions of individual companies.”

This first appeared at AEIdeas.

James Pethokoukis is a columnist and blogger at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, he was the Washington columnist for Reuters Breakingviews, the opinion and commentary wing of Thomson Reuters.



I hope this means, among other things, that under Trump the government won’t fight unions as free market thinkers tend to do, and could even allow cooperatives at the option of the company and employees, perhaps with a flexible minimum wage? We probably won’t be so lucky, though. Pence did seem to say that there could be “a modernized safety net,” such as enhanced workers comp and unemployment benefits with a “guaranteed income,” perhaps? See the “BIG” article below. That idea was mentioned within the last month or so in another story in relation to Trump. That’s the kind of project that a Republican legislature tends to block, of course.

I do believe that BIG would save many families from the intense poverty that families endure today. Wealthy people are doing better than ever now, but “po’ folks” are STILL POOR. This really needs to stop. People wouldn’t lose their houses to the bank, go without dental care and eyeglasses; and would have warm, new clothing, safe transportation to work and school, or fresh vegetables and fruit with plenty of good protein at every meal. They could afford mental health care, which unfortunately isn’t always covered on health insurance plans. We would also have, hopefully, access to free state university tuition for the “working class,” as Bernie has advocated. Of course, I know that one thing which Donald Trump isn’t is “consistent,” so I’m not holding my breath.



http://www.usbig.net/

Sixteenth Annual North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress,
Call for Participation

The North American Basic Income Congress will be held at The Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College
2180 Third Ave, New York, NY 10035, June 16-18, 2017,

With a special event June 15 at Roosevelt House, 47-49 East 65th St.

Papers, panel discussions, roundtables, strategy sessions, and events of other kinds related to basic income are encouraged. Activists in particular are encouraged to propose events in and around the congress, in the evenings for example. Send your proposal, no more than 500 words, to Kate McFarland,
mcfarland.309@osu.edu

by February 1, 2017.

News on Basic Income
UK: Malcolm Torry lecture on “Money for everyone”
December 5. 2016



https://fee.org/articles/the-dea-is-to-blame-for-america-s-opioid-overdose-epidemic/?utm_medium=push&utm_source=push_notification

The DEA Is to Blame for America’s Opioid Overdose Epidemic
Cathy Reisenwitz
Monday, December 05, 2016


Heroin overdose rates doubled in 28 states between 2010 and 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A record-breaking 28,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses in 2014. In 2000, the age-adjusted drug overdose death rate was 6.2 per 100,000 persons. By 2014, it had more than doubled, to 14.7, according to the CDC.

What happened?

The truth is that many of those deaths are completely preventable and result not from painkillers, but from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s war on painkillers.

This week, the Senate is likely to pass the 21st Century Cures Act. Among other things, it allocates $1 billion to help states “combat heroin and painkiller addiction and recovery.” Policymakers would be wise to make sure that states don’t use that $1 billion to make the problem worse.

Who’s Taking Opioids?

Marine corporal Craig Schroeder served in Iraq. In the so-called “Triangle of Death” region, south of Baghdad, a makeshift-bomb explosion left him with traumatic brain injury. Schroeder returned home with a broken foot and ankle and a herniated disc in his back. He suffers from chronic pain in addition to hearing and memory loss.

And the regulations keep coming.

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that half of all troops who return from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from chronic pain.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. During maneuvers in Germany in 1979, retired Army corporal Mike Davis shattered his left arm from the elbow to the fingertips when he fell from a Pershing missile. He’s needed painkillers ever since.

Accidents, failed surgery, degenerative conditions, or all of the above can cause chronic pain. It can hit anyone at any time. In an unpublished paper, Dr. Harvey L. Rose told the story of a 28-year-old man with persistent leg pain caused by a work accident that lumbar disc surgery couldn’t fix. Rose also treated a 78-year-old woman left with chronic back pain after surgery for degenerative cervical disk disease didn’t work.

Forcing Users into the Black Market

The Drug Enforcement Administration actively prevents patients from getting the prescription painkillers they need. It started in the 1970s, when the DEA’s reporting requirements made many doctors decide to stop prescribing painkillers altogether. Why go through the hassle of ordering triplicate forms and turning them over to the government? Many others stopped out of fear. The DEA sent armed men to arrest Ronald Blum, associate director of New York University's Kaplan Comprehensive Cancer Center. It turned out he’d done nothing wrong, other than accidentally filling out his forms incorrectly. That mistake cost him $10,000 in legal fees.

Even in 1973, pain undertreatment was endemic, according to Psychiatrists Richard M. Marks and Edward J. Sachar, writing in the February Annals of Internal Medicine.

And the regulations keep coming. In 2015, the DEA decided to require patients to see their doctor, in person, every month in order to get refills for hydrocodone-based medicine. Earlier this year the CDC released guidelines that discourage clinicians from prescribing opioids. The agency recommended doctors prescribe the “lowest effective dose” and “no greater quantity than needed.”

The Black Market Solution

Opioids work by mimicking chemicals our brains produce naturally. The problem for long-term users is that the brain stops producing them if it doesn’t have to. Stopping medication leaves sufferers “constantly sore, sensitive to pain, depressed, fatigued but unable to sleep,” according to Siegel.

Thanks to the DEA, men and women who lost limbs serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are needlessly entering withdrawal.

Chronic pain sufferers who can’t get their medication experience withdrawal symptoms that “feel like a panic attack and the flu at the same time,” according to the Washington Post.

Going without painkillers isn’t an option for many people who need them. Dr. Rose’s 28-year-old patient turned to alcohol and street drugs after his doctor prescribed an antidepressant instead of a painkiller.

He later hanged himself in his garage.

The 78-year-old woman Rose got into her bathtub with an electric mixer after a series of physicians refused to prescribe an effective dose of painkillers. In all she tried to kill herself four times, slashing her wrists and overdosing on Valium and heart medication.

Thanks to the DEA, men and women who lost limbs serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are needlessly entering withdrawal. After the DEA rules change, Schroeder’s VA doctor couldn’t see him for nearly five months. This isn’t unusual. Schroeder spent those months bedridden in crippling pain and opioid withdrawal. Another Iraq vet can’t drive due to shrapnel in his femur and pelvis. Getting his medications requires a monthly two-hour bus ride for “a one-minute consult.”

Patients who can’t find legal opioids because of the DEA turn to heroin and other black market opioids. With legal prescription opioid medication, chronic pain sufferers know their dose. Without accurate labeling, they must estimate their drugs’ purity, which varies according to source. When they guess wrong, they overdose. Even worse, heroin has a smaller margin of error than prescription opioids. Meaning if you guess wrong with heroin, you’re more likely to die.

The CDC suspects that many, if not most, of the people who died of opioid overdoses in 2014 were taking black-market fentanyl. Many drug dealers add fentanyl to heroin without letting users know.

When the CDC reports on opioid deaths, that includes street drugs like heroin and synthetic opioids. Toxicology tests used by coroners and medical examiners can’t distinguish black-market fentanyl and prescription fentanyl. But we do know that there was more of the illegally-manufactured, synthetic opioid-derived fentanyl available in 2014 than in previous years, according to law enforcement reports. This coincided with the 2014 jump in deaths from opioid overdoses.

Yet the DEA keeps patients from getting methadone and buprenorphine treatment.

In addition, we know that patients combine drugs when they can’t get enough painkiller. Combinations of opioids and drugs like alcohol make up 60% of deaths ruled opioid overdoses by the CDC. New York City government data shows that more than 90% of opioid overdose deaths involve mixtures of opioids with other drugs.

The toxicology tests did reveal that almost none of the opioid deaths involved methadone. Methadone and buprenorphine are synthetic and semi-synthetic opioids that are proven to divert patients away from the black market. Whether a person is no longer in chronic pain, doesn’t like the side effects of opioids, or is caught in a lifestyle they don’t enjoy, these drugs safely keep withdrawal symptoms at bay.

The key, again, is dosing. Under close medical supervision, methadone activates your brain’s opioid receptors just enough to prevent withdrawal, but not enough to get the user high.

Zachary Siegel is a MA candidate at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and has been treated for opioid addiction.

“This gives the brain, and most importantly, one’s connection with the world, a chance to rebuild,” Siegel wrote of his experience with the drugs. “Simply put, these medications hydrate a thirsty system. Synthetic and semi-synthetic opioids help stabilize users and stanch these side effects while giving the brain a chance to heal. On these drugs we can work, drive, and behave virtually indistinguishably from ordinary Janes and Joes.”

Yet the DEA keeps patients from getting methadone and buprenorphine treatment. The DEA forbids doctors outside of highly regulated clinics to prescribe these drugs. The DEA meddles in buprenorphine prescriptions to an unprecedented degree. Even in those clinics, only doctors who’ve completed an eight-hour course and applied for a special license from the DEA are legally allowed to prescribe buprenorphine. And even those doctors can only prescribe it to 275 patients. This is all part of why three-quarters of U.S. opioid-use disorder patients don’t get these medicines.

Dependence Isn’t Addiction

Jacob Sullum pointed out that bureaucrats accept “dependence” on heart or cholesterol medicine. Nobody talks about being addicted to Lipitor. But the government is willing to make criminals of people who depend on certain types of painkillers.

This moralizing and dearth of empathy fuels policies that spend tax dollars to make our lives more difficult and painful.

This is nothing new. In 1973, Drs. Marks and Sachar looked at why patients were complaining about pain after doctors gave them medication. They found that, in “virtually every case.” doctors and nurses were under-prescribing pain medication. Further surveys of patients and doctors found "a general pattern of undertreatment of pain with narcotic analgesics, leading to widespread and significant distress." The problem was, and is, that doctors don’t understand the difference between tolerance and physical dependence, causing "excessive and unrealistic concern about the danger of addiction."

An article in a 1993 National Institute on Drug Abuse newsletter said narcotics “are rarely abused when used for medical purposes" and lamented that "thousands of patients suffer needlessly."

“It’s just insulting to the veteran to assume they are abusing these drugs,” Linda Davis said of her husband Mike Davis. “I’m fully aware that people doctor-shop, some docs overprescribe. But I think they need to realize that there’s a real difference between addiction and dependence.” VA patients suffer nearly double the overdoses of the national average, according to a 2011 American Public Health Association study.

This moralizing and dearth of empathy fuels policies that spend tax dollars to “make our lives more difficult and painful,” Sullum wrote.

We Know How to Cure Addiction and Save Lives

If the goal is to prevent overdoses, we already know how to do that.

The data is clear. By making methadone or buprenorphine harder to get, the DEA has caused death, disease, and crime.

A 2015 U.K.-based study found that opioid-dependent patients treated with medication like methadone and buprenorphine were half as likely to die of an overdose within four years as counseling-only patients. Australia found similar results in their 2014 study of opioid-dependent patients leaving prison. Methadone or buprenorphine treatment reduced their risk of overdose death by 75 percent.

The World Health Organization calls methadone or buprenorphine “essential” for keeping people out of the black market for opioids, which besides saving lives, also reduces crime and the spread of infectious diseases. France allowed doctors to prescribe methadone and buprenorphine when they deemed it necessary during the 1995 HIV outbreak. In the years since, France reduced their overdose deaths by 80 percent. Baltimore cut overdose deaths by 66% by 2008 after making methadone or buprenorphine move available in 1995.

The data is clear. By making methadone or buprenorphine harder to get, the DEA has caused death, disease, and crime.

Will this Money Fund More of the Same?

The DEA wants you to think that overprescribing opioids leads to addiction. Even Huffington Post reporters are buying the story, reporting that the pharmaceutical industry has spent billions of dollars over the last decade encouraging doctors to prescribe OxyContin and other opioids. True as that may be, that’s not the reason opioid pain reliever deaths are up.

This causes overdoses. Not only is it intuitively obvious to anyone who bothers to think about it, it’s even backed up by CDC data.

The irony of blaming prescriptions of OxyContin for opioid deaths is twofold. First, opioids are still underprescribed. Jacob Sullum reports that prescription painkiller has declined recently.

Second, opioids are actually safer than most other pharmaceuticals. The most serious common side effect of long-term opioid use? Constipation.

Aggressive DEA enforcement causes opioid underprescribing. This means patients can’t access safe pain medicine. Facing chronic pain and withdrawal, patients take black-market opioids. The reduction in prescription painkiller use has been accompanied by an increase in heroin use.

A 2014 JAMA Psychiatry study found that most young heroin addicts entering treatment had previously been on prescription painkillers, and more than 90% of them switched to heroin because it was cheaper and easier to get.

This causes overdoses. Not only is it intuitively obvious to anyone who bothers to think about it, it’s even backed up by CDC data.

People simply don’t overdose on prescription painkillers under medical supervision. They overdose when they can’t get the medicine they need and turn to the black market for help. The DEA’s efforts to keep chronic pain sufferers from accessing prescription painkillers and methadone is literally killing them.

And yet lawmakers and reporters keep buying the DEA’s lies that prescription opioids cause overdose deaths. New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen said of the 21st Century Cures Act, “My goal has been trying to get funding to address the heroin and opioid epidemic. And there is significant funding in this bill.” She also supports increasing federal funding “for all aspects of Drug War.”

The 21st Century Cures Act looks likely to pass, with bipartisan support and the Obama administration’s blessing. But if we want to end the opioid overdose epidemic, we don’t actually need to spend $1 billion. We could just abolish the DEA, which would also free up $28 billion.

Think that sounds crazy? Portugal decriminalized heroin, along with every other drug, in 2001.

Check out what happened to their overdose deaths:
For Chart, go to website above.

In Portugal, three out of a million people die each year by overdosing on any drug. Just as a reminder, each year in America 14.7 out of every 10,000 people die of an opioid overdose. Sure, decriminalization demonstrably and unambiguously saves lives. But won’t it lead to more drug use?

No. In Portugal after 2001, fewer people reported doing drugs in the past year and the past month. New HIV infections are also significantly down.

The other key to preventing overdose deaths is legalizing over-the-counter sales of naloxone nationwide. In the same way that you use an EpiPen to reverse anaphylactic shock, naloxone reverses opioid overdoses. It still requires a prescription in most states and is outright banned in three. We should also make sure people who call the ambulance when their friend overdoses won’t face criminal charges.

Since most opioid-related deaths involve alcohol or other drugs, awareness campaigns about the dangers of combining opioids could help. But more important than teaching people not to combine is giving them access to enough safe drugs that they aren’t tempted to.

The best thing the Trump administration could do to end the overdose epidemic is to stop the war on painkillers. Psychiatrist Jerome H. Jaffe, Richard Nixon's drug czar, himself said, “No patient should ever wish for death because of his physician's reluctance to use adequate amounts of potent narcotics."


Cathy Reisenwitz is a D.C.-based writer. She is Editor-in-Chief of Sex and the State and her writing has appeared in The Week, Forbes, the Chicago Tribune, The Daily Beast, VICE Motherboard, Reason magazine, Talking Points Memo and other publications.



As one who has reached her majority and well beyond, I do sometimes want, and yes “need” a serious painkiller that is more effective than my regular nSaid Meloxicam. That’s because of well-developed arthritis. I have now a quarter of a bottle of hydrocodone, which I bought on May 5 of this year, all of which have been carefully cut in half with my handy dandy little pill cutter from the local drugstore. One key with avoiding addiction is to avoid taking too much. One half pill will stop any pain that I have had from arthritis, and that generally occurs when I have foolishly gone beyond my physical capability – carrying thirty pounds of groceries in each hand into the house, for instance, rather than putting off the shopping trip until my little wire grocery “buggy” is in the car.

Tedious as it is, I have a full listing of every half pill I have taken over the last year, and have had no more than two or three such doses a month if that many. These simple procedures really help prevent overuse. The most dangerous part of our undisciplined use of highly effective pain pills is a lack of awareness of how much we have had, and when we last took it.

The use of painkillers to induce SLEEP or to reduce ANXIETY is also a major mistake, however. Chronic insomnia and anxiety are mainly mental health problems, which happen to be very commonplace. Being a non-analytical animal, however, we tend to jump to a simple solution rather than a good solution. Hallucinations are much less common, so we do almost always worry if we have those. Even if we only have anxiety, worrying, or chronic and unreasonable negativity of any kind including anger and depression, it is still LOGICAL and not cowardly at all to see a psychologist for some therapy and a good anti-depressant which is NOT addictive. Be careful of getting those from your medical doctor, however, because their knee jerk reaction is to give a drug which will often be something like Xanax or a heavy sleeping drug which are highly addictive.

Never medicate anxiety without talk therapy. That much anxiety indicates a need to get some talk therapy with a good behaviorist. Prayer is fine, do it, but you still need therapy. It is my opinion that the old Freudian style of therapy in which the doctor prefers analysis of dreams or sexual talk; is highly inferior to identifying and facing our problems in clear, reasonable terms. Freud thought that sex was the root of most anxiety and depression. I think it isn’t, unless the sex is highly traumatic such as rape or incest. A terrible and emotionally abusive relationship with a family member is more likely to be the cause. Those things, especially if they go back to our babyhood, are much more corrosive. If we do have traumatic events in the past, which are very common indeed, a good therapist of any kind will lead us to explore those. Group therapy can be very good, too.

After years and years of experience with “simple” insomnia I have learned to get out of bed when I get that familiar “fear that I can’t sleep.” I came to the conclusion, years ago, that insomnia is not merely a medical condition or a lack of sufficient fatigue, but an active phobia. It doesn’t happen to me often at all now, but when it does I will try turning on the light and reading a book, which tires the eye muscles so that our eyes start to droop and as a result, we feel “sleepy.” The first thing that happens when we are very sleepy is that the eyeball starts to roll backward and the eyelids spontaneously close. Reading induces this needed lack of control of the eye muscles. The second thing that it does for me is to distract me from any inner generated worries that I may have at the moment.

Sometimes I have important things that I need to do, but have been putting off until “later” -- didn’t do my income taxes or pay my rent for instance. At those times, I often get out a piece of blank paper and a pen and start a “steam of consciousness” list of the first words that pop into my mind. Sometimes it may be totally lacking in logic, but it is the thing I was thinking. In order to get to the layer beneath that, I write it down. For some minutes, usually five to ten, I will continue writing, not analyzing but rather acknowledging the worries by “naming” them. My mind, as I think is true of all people, is always operating a layered level. Not RECOGNIZING a thought keeps it active. Naming it brings it out into the open. When I’m about half way down the page of “thoughts,” I will usually find the single most important issue that has been disturbing me embedded in the list. We need our anxieties, because they tell us the things that really need be done. “I saw a cave lion track near our cave,” is a very important thought.

I do break the most common piece of advice that you see in magazine articles, on the subject of insomnia, which is to turn off ALL LIGHT. First, I and many adults have a fear of complete darkness. That means MORE sleeplessness and not less. I use certain tape recordings that I have made over the years with interesting and emotionally neutral subject matter – history, biology, etc. I’m a big fan of the Discover Channel, Animal Planet, History, etc. Those subjects always soothe my personal “inner beast.” The tape should be turned down to a low volume however. I turn it down to the lowest level that I can still understand. Being unable to understand the narration just makes me turn the volume up. I avoid drama and “action stories,” which again take my mind off becoming blissfully relaxed. In my nature flicks, I avoid pictures and videos of bats, spiders, etc. When doing those things, I have pretty much stopped the insomnia in its tracks. If all that does NOT work, I get up and make a pot of coffee and start doing my blog. If I’m sufficiently tired the next day I will be able to relax better.

Half a “7.5-325 T hydrocodone pill – the 325 refers to the quantity of Acetaminophen in the pill -- will stop my joint pain and allow me to sleep within half an hour, so I’m feeling no need or desire to abuse my meds. I do, however, want to have access to this medication when I need it. This article says that veterans are not usually abusing the drugs, so I will add that elderly people are no more likely to be poppin’ pills for fun than are veterans. I didn’t even do it when I was young, and am too smart to do it now.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/imprisoned-former-cia-officer-fights-conviction-over-leak-140131775.html

Imprisoned former CIA officer fights conviction over leak
ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Associated Press
December 5, 2016

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Once an employee of the powerful CIA, Jeffrey Sterling now sits behind bars at a federal prison in Colorado. He bides his time by reading and writing and working at the facility's recreational center.

Nearly two years after Sterling was found guilty of leaking government secrets to a reporter, the 49-year-old maintains that he is innocent. Sterling is now pinning his hopes for an early release on a federal appeals court, which will soon consider whether to reverse his convictions.

"I continue to have hope that the truth will come out," said his wife Holly Sterling, who travels to the prison from their home in Missouri once a month to visit her husband. Sterling is serving a 3 1/2-year prison sentence at an all-male prison that also houses former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and ex-Subway spokesman Jared Fogle.

A jury convicted Sterling on all counts last year after he was charged under the Espionage Act for leaking details of a CIA mission to New York Times journalist James Risen. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in Sterling's case on Tuesday.

Prosecutors portrayed Sterling as a disgruntled former employee who exposed a plan to stall Iranian ambitions to build a nuclear weapon in an attempt to discredit the CIA. That operation involved using a CIA agent nicknamed "Merlin" to deliver flawed nuclear blueprints to Iran in the hopes that they would spend years trying to develop a product that would never work.

Risen described the mission in his 2006 book "State of War." Citing anonymous sources, Risen suggested it was a reckless and botched operation that may have actually helped advance the Iranians' nuclear program. The CIA has strongly disputed that idea.

"Sterling's actions destroyed the program, endangered the lives of a covert human asset and his family, and compromised the United States' ability to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons," prosecutors wrote in their appeals court brief. U.S. Attorney Dana Boente's office declined to comment ahead of the 4th Circuit hearing.

Sterling has maintained that he was not Risen's source, and Risen never testified during trial. His attorneys argued that the leak likely came from a Capitol Hill staffer after Sterling shared his concerns about the program with staffers at a Senate intelligence committee in 2003.

His attorneys and other advocates claim prosecutors only went after Sterling because Risen's story made the CIA look foolish.

"If Risen had written a story about how this was a superb operation that successfully set back the Iranian nuclear program, I don't think there is any chance whatsoever that Mr. Sterling would have been charged," said Barry Pollack, who represented Sterling at trial.

On appeal, Sterling's attorneys argue that, among other things, his conviction should be reversed because prosecutors never proved that Sterling ever disclosed any secret information in the Eastern District of Virginia, where the case was tried.

They also argue that the lower court inappropriately allowed prosecutors to tell jurors about Sterling's mishandling of other CIA documents. His attorneys are urging the 4th Circuit to grant Sterling a new trial.

Sterling's prison sentence currently expires in 2018, but his wife said he may be released as early as next December if he maintains good behavior.

Holly Sterling said her husband has recently been struggling with health issues and fears he could die in prison. She said she knows that the odds that the 4th Circuit will side with Sterling are long, but she remains hopeful.

"We are very confident in our attorneys we are very confident that it can be overturned," Sterling said.


Follow Alanna Durkin Richer on Twitter at twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/alanna-durkin-richer


I empathize with whistleblowers because they usually have discovered a truth that, in order to preserve (or produce) honor, really needs to be told. That was certainly the case with the massive Big Brother file that Edward Snowden uncovered at the potential risk of his life. While I’m no fan of Putin in general, I am grateful to him for protecting Snowden. I don’t consider his act to be that of a traitor, but a citizen under God. Whistleblowers are the unsung heroes of the Big Government and Big Business corruption war against the US and the private citizen.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-slager-trial-jury-note-reveals-new-split/

Michael Slager trial: Note reveals new split among jurors
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS/AP
December 5, 2016, 12:22 PM

Play Video -- CBS News Legal Analyst 15:36
Play VIDEO -- South Carolina shooting video is telling evidence in cop's murder charge
Play VIDEO -- Jury struggles to reach verdict in Michael Slager trial


CHARLESTON, S.C. -- A majority of the jurors in the trail of Michael Slager, the former South Carolina police officer accused of murder in the shooting death of black motorist Walter Scott, are undecided about a verdict in the case, according to a note the jurors provided to the court on Monday.

The note also asked a number of questions of the court, including why was voluntary manslaughter added as a charge, how long must someone have malice in their mind toward someone to be convicted of murder. Jurors also asked whether the definition of self-defense for a police officer is different for an average person.

The jury has now deliberated more than 17 hours over four days in the trial, weighing whether to acquit Slager or find him guilty of murder or voluntary manslaughter in the 2015 shooting death of the 50-year-old Scott. Slager is a former North Charleston police officer.

On Friday, it appeared that the stalemate involved only one juror. The juror sent a letter directly to the judge saying he could not “with good conscience approve a guilty verdict,” while the other 11 wanted to convict. The juror added he was not about to change his mind.

Jurors said Friday they were deadlocked because one juror “wasn’t moving,” but a foreman then told a judge further explanation of the law might help them reach a unanimous decision. The panel continued deliberations and recessed for the weekend before returning again Monday morning.

Monday’s note said that a majority of the jurors on the panel of 11 whites and one black were still undecided.

Slager has testified he was in fear for his life, but prosecutors told the jury they should focus on the video of Scott fleeing as the shots were fired and convict the former officer. The shooting stunned the nation after a bystander captured the scene on a cellphone video, images that have been played multiple times in the courtroom during the trial.

A judge on Monday again denied a defense motion for a mistrial as jurors continued to deliberate.



Police have expressed anger at Joe American's taking their photos or video footage as they commit crimes, but they have no more moral nor LEGAL right to commit murder and get away with it than I do. Not all cops do those things, and in fact, I believe that if those who do would be PUNISHED rather than pampered there would be fewer and fewer cops who do. We can't afford as a society to create so many privileged groups at the expense of the citizenry as a whole. A parent who does not punish her child for being a bully is rearing a dishonest, belligerent, and yes, borderline insane adult. It is a shame, but just as the school system attracts child molesters, the police department will attract and outsized percentage of sadists and immature bastards.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pat-mccrory-north-carolina-governor-concedes-roy-cooper/

North Carolina Gov. McCrory concedes governor's race
CBS/AP
December 5, 2016, 12:51 PM

Photograph -- North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory holds a news conference with fellow members of the Republican Governors Association at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Feb. 23, 2015, in Washington. CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
Play VIDEO -- NCAA president on pulling championships from N.C. over "bathroom" law
Play VIDEO -- Fight over North Carolina's "Bathroom Law" escalates


DURHAM, N.C. -- North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory conceded the governor’s race Monday, clearing the way for Democrat Roy Cooper to be declared the winner nearly four weeks after Election Day.

The win by Cooper, the state’s outgoing attorney general, gives Democrats an important consolation prize after a disappointing election across the country. However, Republicans retain super majorities in both legislative chambers.

In a video message from his office posted to YouTube, McCrory said, “Despite continued questions that should be answered regarding the voting process, I personally believe that the majority of our citizens have spoken, and we now should do everything we can to support the 75th governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper.”

McCrory, who became the first sitting North Carolina governor to lose a re-election bid, was weighed down by a series of divisive laws he signed, including House Bill 2.

That law limited LGBT rights and directed transgender people to use restrooms in schools and government buildings corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificates. It led to companies, sports organizations and entertainers pulling their business from the state, costing hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in spending.

With appeals drying up and postelection counts padding Cooper’s narrow lead, McCrory announced he was giving up.

McCrory, who won the office by a comfortable margin four years ago, was unable to generate the same voter support that lifted Republicans Donald Trump and Richard Burr to victory in the state.

Unofficial results at the State Board of Elections showed Cooper leading McCrory by slightly more than the 10,000 votes needed to avoid an automatic recount. A total of about 4.7 million votes were cast. The state board still must officially certify the results.

Cooper was expected to speak later Monday.

Cooper has stated he wants HB2 repealed because he said it promotes discrimination and has harmed North Carolina’s brand as good place to do business.

McCrory defended signing the law and unsuccessfully tried to focus his campaign on the state’s recovering economy and finances during his four years in office. Flooding after Hurricane Matthew in October also gave McCrory the opportunity to project the image of a leader as he directed recovery efforts as cameras watched.

Cooper, a former state legislator first elected attorney general in 2000 won’t enter office from a position of strength. Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the legislature, making it difficult for him to push his agenda - or stop theirs.

In a statement posted on Facebook Monday, Cooper thanked MCrory and North Carolina’s First Lady Ann McCrory for their service.

“While this was a divisive election season, I know still that there is more that unites us than divides us,” he said. “Together, we can make North Carolina the shining beacon in the south by investing in our schools, supporting working families and building a state that works for everyone.”

Roy Cooper
2 hours ago

I want to thank Governor McCrory and our First Lady Ann McCrory for their service to our state. Kristin and I look forward to working with them and their staff in what I expect will be a smooth transition.

I’m proud to have received the support from so many who believe that we can come together to make a North Carolina that works for everyone. It will be the honor of my life to serve this great state. While this was a divisive election season, I know still that there is more that unites us than divides us. Together, we can make North Carolina the shining beacon in the south by investing in our schools, supporting working families and building a state that works for everyone. I’d like to thank all of the hardworking families in North Carolina, and I look forward to serving the greatest state in the country as your Governor.



North Carolina and the rest of the South have been in the grip of Rightwing thinkers for years now. I’m glad to see that in MY HOME STATE, a Democrat has won out. I’ve always thought the NC and VA were basically superior in their ethical leanings than most or all of the rest of the South.



Is this America’s Kristallnacht?


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/muslim-woman-new-york-city-pushed-down-stairs-subway-called-terrorist/

Muslim woman pushed down NYC stairs, called "terrorist"
CBS/AP
December 5, 2016, 4:19 PM

18 PHOTOS -- Rise in hate crimes following Trump's election win


NEW YORK -- A New York City transit worker who is Muslim was pushed down the stairs at Grand Central Terminal by a man who called her a terrorist, authorities said.

The assault took place on Monday morning as the victim, 45, was heading to work on the subway, CBS New York reported. The suspect followed her off the train and shoved her down the stairs, police said.

Sources told CBS New York the suspect allegedly called the victim a “terrorist” and said she shouldn’t be working in the city. She was wearing a Muslim head covering at the time of the assault, and was treated at a Manhattan hospital for ankle and knee injuries.

Authorities say a good Samaritan intervened, and police are looking for the man who committed the crime.

The assault marked the latest in a string of incidents in which Muslim women were seemingly attacked because of their faith. On Saturday, a man harassed and threatened an off-duty police officer who was wearing a Muslim head covering in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, authorities said.

The officer, Aml Elsokary, had encountered a man who was yelling and pushing her 16-year-old son. She tried to intervene, according to police.

Police said the suspect, 36-year-old Christopher Nelson, said to her, “ISIS [expletive], I will cut your throat, go back to your country,” CBS New York reported.

Nelson was arrested on charges of menacing as a hate crime and aggravated harassment in the case, the NYPD said on Monday. He was arraigned and bail was set at $50,000.

In another incident, a young woman wearing a Muslim head covering was harassed while riding the subway on Thursday.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he has asked the MTA, State Police and Division of Human Rights to work with the NYPD to investigate Monday’s incident and other recent hate crimes in the transit system. On Saturday, swastikas were found scrawled inside a train. Last week, KKK fliers and business cards were distributed at two Long Island Rail Road stations, Cuomo’s office said.

“The work of the Hate Crimes Task Force has never been more urgent and we will continue to crack down on this type of criminal behavior,” Cuomo said in a statement on Monday. “I wish a speedy recovery for the victim, and want to let her know we are seeking justice for her and for all New Yorkers.”

Cuomo’s statement came as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio decried the alleged harassment of the Muslim officer over the weekend.

“I was sick to my stomach when I heard that one of our officers was subjected to threats and taunting simply because of her faith,” de Blasio said on Monday.

Hate crimes have been on the rise across the country, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The organization, which specializes in civil rights, said in mid-November there were at least 700 cases of hateful harassment or intimidation since the presidential election.



A SECOND CASE WHICH MAY BE ETHNIC OR RELIGIOUS IN ORIGIN, AS THE VICTIMS ARE HISPANIC

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ava-castillo-3-teens-charged-in-murder-of-4-year-old-texas-girl/

3 teens charged in fatal shooting of 4-year-old Texas girl
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS NEWS
December 5, 2016, 3:30 PM


HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Three suspects have been charged with capital murder for the shooting death of a 4-year-old girl, reports CBS affiliate KHOU.

Photograph -- diana-gomez-resized-1479339564207-7056083-ver1-0.jpg

Police say the victim, Ava Castillo, and her 10-year-old sister were helping their mom, 27-year-old Diana Gomez, unload groceries on Nov. 14, when the suspects ambushed them and tried to grab Gomez’s purse. The alleged robbers fired several shots at Gomez and one of the bullets hit Ava, who was in her mother’s arms, according to police.

Gomez was hit seven times, and Betzida, the 10-year-old daughter, was also struck at least once. They have both since been released from the hospital.

Philip Battles, 18, and two 17-year-old boys face capital murder charges in the case.

Battle has also been charged with capital murder in the Nov. 7 shooting of Ignacio Ortega, who was killed during an apparent robbery.

Julie Gomez, the sister of Diana Gomez, told the station after the shooting the woman tried to protect the girls by putting them behind her when she saw the gun. She said her sister couldn’t stop crying over the death of her young daughter.

“My sister is at a loss for words. She’s in shock. She’s in disbelief,” Julie Gomez told the station.



If you really want to go beyond the viewpoint that this is just one more murder case, look at the photograph of the clearly sweet, beautiful and intelligent four year old whom the mother was sheltering, unsuccessfully. I’m glad to see the capital murder charges; not because in most cases I agree with capital charges without sufficient PROOF, but when people do crimes of such animalistic depths, I feel it is justified. I would, of course, always want to see full prisoners’ rights take place, from clear proof of guilt to evaluation of any mitigating factors. Those young men are very young. Are they mentally competent? Did they have a horrendous home life growing up? It’s all relevant. It’s just that I feel vicious crimes need to be punished strongly.