September 2, 2017


News and Views


REMEMBER THE COP VS NURSE STORY FROM YESTERDAY? HERE IS THE UPDATE. THE STORY IS UNFOLDING TO INCLUDE A SECOND OFFICER, THOUGH THAT NAME HASN’T BEEN RELEASED. THE PUBLIC OUTCRY HAS BEEN IMMENSE. THANK GOD, NO MATTER WHAT POLITICIANS CHOSE TO DO, THE PEOPLE DO CARE, AND WILL SPEAK OUT!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/second-officer-placed-on-leave-over-utah-nurse-arrest-video/
CBS NEWS September 2, 2017, 2:55 PM
Second officer placed on leave over Utah nurse arrest video
Last Updated Sep 2, 2017 3:30 PM EDT

VIDEO – CBS THIS MORNING

SALT LAKE CITY -- Two Salt Lake City police officers have been placed on administrative leave as authorities investigate the arrest of a Utah nurse who refused to blood draw from an unconscious patient.

The Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake has opened a criminal investigation into the case involving officers from the Salt Lake City Police Department, CBS affiliate KUTV reports. The arresting officer, detective Jeff Payne, and an unidentified officer have been placed administrative leave for the duration of the probe.

Police Chief Mike Brown issued a joint statement with Mayor Jackie Biskupski on Friday, condemning the officer who arrested nurse Alex Wubbles.

"I was alarmed by what I saw in the video with our officer and Ms. Wubbles. I am sad at the rift this has caused between law-enforcement and the nurses we work so closely with," Brown said, promising that his department would take steps to "ensure this will never happen again."

The incident took place on July 26 and went viral Friday when body camera footage was released to the public. Wubbels can be seen speaking with Payne, explaining that she couldn't allow a blood draw on a patient who had been injured in a car accident.

Utah nurse arrested for objecting to police drawing blood from unconscious patient
Play VIDEO
Utah nurse arrested for objecting to police drawing blood from unconscious patient

She tells Payne that the patient is required to be conscious to give consent, unless the patient is under arrest or if officers had a warrant, and that the parameters are spelled out in an agreement between the hospital and the department.

Despite the warning, Payne is heard saying, "We are done. We are done. You are under arrest" as he takes her into custody.

"No medical professional in Salt Lake City should be hindered from performing their duties, and certainly not be fearful of the police officers they so often partner with to save lives," Biskupski said in the statement Friday.

Biskupski said she ordered the department to conduct a review of "all policies and trainings to ensure respect" in future situations.

Wubbles told KUTV that she accepts the apology but hopes the video ensures that nothing like this ever happens again.

"I felt a duty to everyone that has ever had this happen to them that didn't have the evidence that I have to show it, and it seemed like a good time to do it," she said. "Clearly this is an issue that is bigger than just me."



ABOUT THE ISSUE OF BEING ARRESTED FOR OBJECTING TO OR TAKING VIDEOS OF POLICE ACTIVITY BEING A BASIS FOR ARREST, SEE THE FOLLOWING LEGAL OPINION.

http://nhlawoffice.com/recording-a-police-officer-a-crime-or-a-right/
RECORDING A POLICE OFFICER – A CRIME OR A RIGHT?
C. KEVIN LEONARD
[THIS ARTICLE IS UNDATED. TODAY’S DATE: 9/2/17]

NH Police Recording – Over the last several years it was commonplace to see news reports concerning citizens being arrested for videotaping police officers while doing acts in the line of duty, like making a motor vehicle stop or a sidewalk arrest. These video-taping citizens were often charged with crimes such as “obstructing government operations” or violations of wiretapping laws intended to protect private conversations. While it may seem obvious to most that a job which requires officers to “protect and serve” the public should be subject to the scrutiny by members of the public being “protected and served,” many law enforcement officials apparently objected to having their public duties recorded.

New Hampshire Attorney General

Thankfully, The New Hampshire Attorney General released a memorandum to all law enforcement agencies in the State making it clear that citizens have a right to record police officers conducting official duties, so long as the recording does not actually interfere with the performance of those duties. Embarrassment at being on film does not constitute interference – it would have to be something like the cameraman getting in the way of an officer making an arrest.

The Attorney General’s memorandum was issued in the wake of an Order issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in the case of Glik v. Cunniffe, 655 F.3d 78 (1st Cir. 2011). The Court of Appeals held that citizens have rights under the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution to record government officials during the performance of their official duties.

NH Wiretapping Statute

Such recording does not violate New Hampshire’s wiretapping statute. Prior to the Attorney General’s memorandum, police departments were relying on the “two party consent” rules of the wire-tapping statute to arrest people who recorded officers’ voices without their consent. The wiretapping statute was not intended to protect people, and especially not public officials doing their jobs, who are out in public speaking where they do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. It was intended to protect truly private conversations, held out of easy earshot of others.

While the Glik case and the Attorney General’s memorandum are welcome, if overdue, vindications of the right to hold government officials accountable for their actions – good or bad – some officers have begun to come up with creative ways to circumvent citizens’ constitutional rights. For instance, a San Diego police officer recently ordered a person to stop recording an encounter, claiming that his cell phone could be a “weapon.”

Officers doing their jobs in an accountable, above-board manner have nothing to fear from being recorded. Most officers actually welcome it, because it keeps the person they are interacting with as honest as they are. It is the officers who do not want to be recorded that most need to be. As the conduct of the San Diego officer shows, we will all need to remain vigilant to avoid efforts to violate our fundamental rights to hold our government officials accountable.

If you believe your rights have been violated, you should consult an experienced lawyer at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our online contact form for a case evaluation.

C. KEVIN LEONARD
Kevin has written employment law articles and appeared as a lecturer to other attorneys on employment law topics.


IT’S JUST MORE DONALD TRUMP BALONEY!

https://www.yahoo.com/news/justice-department-affirms-no-evidence-obama-wiretapped-trump-212100198.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=433beca8-469f-3942-9fad-a13615dd8aa8&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Justice Department affirms no evidence Obama wiretapped Trump
Reuters
By Dustin Volz
September 2, 2017

Photograph -- The FBI had previously shot down the claims, that were made as controversy over alleged links between Trump's campaign team and Russia intensified earlier this year (AFP Photo/NICHOLAS KAMM)

By Dustin Volz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said it had no evidence to support the unsubstantiated claim made in March by President Donald Trump that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had ordered a wiretap of Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign.

There has never been any evidence to support Trump's assertion on Twitter that "Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory," despite continued insistence from some conservative websites and commentators.

But in a court filing late on Friday, the Justice Department added itself to the list of entities debunking the allegation.

The FBI and the Justice Department's National Security Division "confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described" by tweets from Trump posted on March 4, the department said in a court filing in Washington.

The filing was in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by American Oversight, a government watchdog group.

Trump Tower, a mixed-used New York skyscraper, is home to one of Trump's private residences and served as his campaign headquarters during the election.

The surveillance claim, which first appeared in conservative media before being picked up by Trump, prompted a rare rebuke by Obama, who responded at the time through a spokesman to denounce the idea that he had ordered surveillance against then-candidate Trump as "simply false."

In a statement, American Oversight* said the Justice Department filing "confirmed in writing that President Trump lied when he tweeted that former President Obama 'wiretapped' him at Trump Tower."

Asked for comment, a White House spokeswoman said on Saturday, "This is not news. We answered this weeks ago."

Despite the lack of evidence, the White House for several weeks attempted to bolster the baseless claim, and it helped fuel an also unsubstantiated inquiry by Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee, into whether the Obama administration improperly "unmasked" surveillance intercepts of phone conversations Trump associates had with foreigners.

(Reporting by Dustin Volz; Editing by Bill Trott and Will Dunham)


WHO IS AMERICAN OVERSIGHT?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/13/new-legal-watchdog-seeks-trump-administration-records-sunshine-week/99034426/
Legal watchdog launches to hound Trump agencies
Donovan Slack, USA TODAY Published 5:03 a.m. ET March 13, 2017

WASHINGTON — Concerned by the shortage of government experience and early missteps by Trump administration officials —including President Trump — a group of lawyers is launching a watchdog organization that will seek to track the administration's ethics and expose potential conflicts, fraud or other wrongdoing.

The organization, “American Oversight,” which says it is nonpartisan despite some of its founders having deep ties to Democrats, will focus on prying loose documents through public records requests and lawsuits under the Freedom of Information Act. Regardless of what they uncover, such efforts could haunt the administration much the way similar actions by conservative group Judicial Watch produced emails from the State Department that dogged Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

“We were very troubled to see in the wake of the election all the red flags going up about how this executive branch was going to be run, and how Congress was reacting, which was essentially to put its head in the sand or only act when really forced to do so over egregious matters,” said, Austin Evers, a State Department lawyer under Obama and now executive director of American Oversight.

“So we’re going to be using the tools available to citizens to extract information about corruption, about how money’s being misspent, about how rules aren’t being followed and publicize it so at minimum, voters can hold their government accountable.”

There are numerous watchdog groups in Washington, but many are focused on Congress and the White House. American Oversight plans to target federal agencies, including the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Education, both of which are led by secretaries without governing experience. HUD Secretary Ben Carson is a former neurosurgeon, while Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was a philanthropist and school-choice advocate.

According to Evers and Melanie Sloan, a senior adviser to the group, they will delve well below the cabinet level down into the thousands of mid- and lower level appointees and employees. One of their most pressing concerns as they launch is the preservation of records.

Evers is sending letters Monday to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the chief archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, David Ferriero, asking them to investigate recent reports that administration officials and career government employees are using encrypted apps and other methods to conduct official business that violate the Presidential Records and Federal Records acts.

“Instead of waiting months or years to remedy this problem, NARA should act today to ensure that problems are curtailed as soon as possible,” Evers wrote in a letter to Ferriero. “We call on you to investigate potential violations of law occurring across the executive branch, to ensure that all records reflecting official government business are properly preserved and to report your findings to Congress so that the public can have confidence that the administration is not shirking accountability by hiding its records.”

The organization timed its launch to kick off Sunshine Week, an annual national effort to highlight the importance of access to public information. The group has only a handful of lawyers on board at this point, but is still staffing up. It does have a web site set to go live Monday with a portal for people to report waste, fraud or corruption, americanoversight.org. The group is organized as a 501c3 nonprofit and doesn't plan to disclose its funding sources.

“We don’t discuss our donors,” Sloan said.

She previously was founding executive director of the left-leaning watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, and Evers was a senior counsel at State during the height of the Clinton email scandal. But they insist American Oversight will not be partisan in its watchdog efforts.

“This is a down-the-middle, nonpartisan group,” Evers said. “We’re not looking to score points for anybody.”

Sloan noted that during her tenure at CREW, she was vocal in her criticism of Democrats as well as Republicans. CREW forwarded a tip to the FBI that helped lead to still-pending federal corruption charges against Sen. Bob Menendez, D- N.J., who has pleaded not guilty.

Sloan and Evers said they plan to post online records requests and any documents they receive, regardless of what they reveal.

“It will speak for itself,” Sloan said. “So on this question about whether somebody’s funding some part of it, people will be able to make their own determinations based on the material that’s there.”

*** Watchdog group files lawsuit over foreign payments to Trump businesses
*** House Republicans drop plan to gut ethics office



THE DONALD JUST LIVES TO TWEET, AND WHAT BETTER TO TWEET ABOUT THAN A GOOD PRESIDENT WHO HAPPENS TO BE BLACK. I WILL CONTINUE TO IGNORE HIM.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/29/opinion/trumps-obama-obsession.html?_r=0
The Opinion Pages | OP-ED COLUMNIST
Trump’s Obama Obsession
Charles M. Blow
JUNE 29, 2017

Donald Trump has a thing about Barack Obama. Trump is obsessed with Obama. Obama haunts Trump’s dreams. One of Trump’s primary motivators is the absolute erasure of Obama — were it possible — not only from the political landscape but also from the history books.

Trump is president because of Obama, or more precisely, because of his hostility to Obama. Trump came onto the political scene by attacking Obama.

Trump has questioned not only Obama’s birthplace but also his academic and literary pedigree. He was head cheerleader of the racial “birther” lie and also cast doubt on whether Obama attended the schools he attended or even whether he wrote his acclaimed books.

Trump has lied often about Obama: saying his inauguration crowd size exceeded Obama’s, saying that Obama tapped his phones and, just this week, saying that Obama colluded with the Russians.

It’s like a 71-year-old male version of Jan from what I would call the Bratty Bunch: Obama, Obama, Obama.

Trump wants to be Obama — held in high esteem. But, alas, Trump is Trump, and that is now and has always been trashy. Trump accrued financial wealth, but he never accrued cultural capital, at least not among the people from whom he most wanted it.

President Trump heading to the White House Rose Garden on June 1, when he announced that he would pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord. Credit Al Drago/The New York Times

Therefore, Trump is constantly whining about not being sufficiently applauded, commended, thanked, liked. His emotional injury is measured in his mind against Obama. How could Obama have been so celebrated while he is so reviled?

The whole world seemed to love Obama — and by extension, held America in high regard — but the world loathes Trump. A Pew Research Center report issued this week found:

“Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, and ratings for the U.S. have declined steeply in many nations. According to a new Pew Research Center survey spanning 37 nations, a median of just 22 percent has confidence in Trump to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs. This stands in contrast to the final years of Barack Obama’s presidency, when a median of 64 percent expressed confidence in Trump’s predecessor to direct America’s role in the world.”

Obama was a phenomenon. He was elegant and cerebral. He was devoid of personal scandal and drenched in personal erudition. He was a walking, talking rebuttal to white supremacy and the myths of black pathology and inferiority. He was the personification of the possible — a possible future in which legacy power and advantages are redistributed more broadly to all with the gift of talent and the discipline to excel.

It is not a stretch here to link people’s feelings about Obama to their feelings about his blackness. Trump himself has more than once linked the two.

Just two months before Trump announced his candidacy, he weighed in on the unrest in Baltimore in the wake of the police killing of Freddie Gray, tweeting:

“Our great African American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!”

Months earlier, following the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., after the police killing of Michael Brown, Trump complained:

“President Obama has absolutely no control (or respect) over the African American community—they have fared so poorly under his presidency.”


Trump also tweeted:

“Sadly, because president Obama has done such a poor job as president, you won’t see another black president for generations!”

Clearly, not only was Obama’s blackness in the front of Trump’s mind, but Trump also appears to subscribe to the racist theory that success or failure of a member of a racial group redounds to all in that group. This is a burden under which most minorities in this country labor.

Trump’s racial ideas were apparently a selling point among his supporters. Recent research has dispensed with the myth of “economic anxiety” and shone a light instead on the central importance race played in Trump’s march to the White House. As the researchers Sean McElwee and Jason McDaniel reported in The Nation in March:

“In short, our analysis indicates that Donald Trump successfully leveraged existing resentment towards African Americans in combination with emerging fears of increased racial diversity in America to reshape the presidential electorate, strongly attracting nativists towards Trump and pushing some more affluent and highly educated people with more cosmopolitan views to support Hillary Clinton. Racial identity and attitudes have further displaced class as the central battleground of American politics.”

Trump was sent to Washington to strip it of all traces of Obama, to treat the Obama legacy as a historical oddity. Trump’s entire campaign was about undoing what Obama had done.

Indeed, much of what Trump has accomplished — and it hasn’t been much — has been to undo Obama’s accomplishments, like pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris climate agreement and reversing an Obama-era rule that helped prevent guns from being purchased by certain mentally ill people.

For Trump, even plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act aren’t so much about creating better policy as they are about dismantling Obama’s legacy. The problem with Obamacare isn’t that it hasn’t borne fruit, but rather that it bears Obama’s name.

For Trump, the mark of being a successful president is the degree to which he can expunge Obama’s presidency.



WHEN THE EPA WILL EXAMINE THE NUMEROUS HOUSTON AREA SITES HASN’T BEEN DECIDED. I’M SURE THEY CAN’T GET TO THEM TO TAKE A LOOK YET. MEANWHILE, DON’T DRINK THE WATER.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-not-on-scene-of-toxic-waste-sites-flooded-by-harvey/
AP September 2, 2017, 2:00 PM
EPA not on scene of toxic waste sites flooded by Harvey

HIGHLANDS, Texas -- As Dwight Chandler sipped beer and swept out the thick muck caked inside his devastated home, he worried whether Harvey's floodwaters had also washed in pollution from the old acid pit just a couple blocks away.

Long a center of the nation's petrochemical industry, the Houston metro area has more than a dozen such Superfund sites, designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as being among America's most intensely contaminated places. Many are now flooded, with the risk that waters were stirring dangerous sediment.

The Highlands Acid Pit site near Chandler's home was filled in the 1950s with toxic sludge and sulfuric acid from oil and gas operations. Though 22,000 cubic yards of hazardous waste and soil were excavated from the acid pits in the 1980s, the site is still considered a potential threat to groundwater, and EPA maintains monitoring wells there.

When he was growing up in Highlands, Chandler, now 62, said he and his friends used to swim in the by-then abandoned pit.

Harvey-Toxic Sites Underwater

Dwight Chandler walks through his devastated home in Highlands, Texas on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. Chandler, 62, said he worried whether Harvey's floodwaters had also washed in pollution from the old acid pits that were designated as a U.S. EPA Superfund site just a couple blocks from his home. The Highlands Acid Pit site near Chandler's home was filled in the 1950s with toxic sludge and sulfuric acid from oil and gas operations. JASON DEAREN / AP

"My daddy talks about having bird dogs down there and to run and the acid would eat the pads off their feet," he recounted on Thursday. "We didn't know any better."

The Associated Press visited five Superfund sites in and around Houston during the flooding. All had been inundated with water; some were only accessible only by boat.

EPA spokeswoman Amy Graham could not immediately provide details on when agency experts would inspect the Houston-area sites. She said Friday that EPA staff had checked on two other Superfund sites in Corpus Christi and found no significant damage.

"We will begin to assess other sites after flood waters recede in those areas," Graham said.

At the Highlands Acid Pit on Thursday, the Keep Out sign on the barbed-wire fence encircling the 3.3-acre site barely peeked above the churning water from the nearby San Jacinto River.

Harvey-Toxic Sites Underwater
At the Highlands Acid Pit on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, the No Trespassing sign on the barbed-wire fence encircling the 3.3-acre Superfund site barely peeked above the churning flood water from the nearby San Jacinto River. JASON DEAREN / AP

A fishing bobber was caught in the chain link, and the air smelled bitter. A rusted incinerator sat just behind the fence, poking out of the murky soup.

Across the road at what appeared to be a more recently operational plant, a pair of tall white tanks had tipped over into a heap of twisted steel. It was not immediately clear what, if anything, might have been inside them when the storm hit.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has called cleaning up Superfund sites a priority, even as he has taken steps to roll back or delay rules aimed at preventing air and water pollution. President Trump's proposed 2018 budget seeks to cut money for the Superfund program by 30 percent, though congressional Republicans are likely to approve a less severe reduction.

Like Mr. Trump, Pruitt has expressed skepticism about the predictions of climate scientists that warmer air and seas will produce stronger, more drenching storms.

More explosions imminent at Houston-area chemical plant
Play VIDEO
More explosions imminent at Houston-area chemical plant

Under the Obama administration, the EPA conducted a nationwide assessment of the increased threat to Superfund sites posed by climate change, including rising sea levels and stronger hurricanes. Of the more than 1,600 sites reviewed as part of the 2012 study, 521 were determined to be in 1-in-100 year and 1-in-500 year flood zones. Nearly 50 sites in coastal areas could also be vulnerable to rising sea levels.

The threats to human health and wildlife from rising waters that inundate Superfund sites vary widely depending on the specific contaminants and the concentrations involved. The EPA report specifically noted the risk that floodwaters might carry away and spread toxic materials over a wider area.

The report listed two dozen Superfund sites determined to be especially vulnerable to flooding and sea-level rise. The only one in Texas, the Bailey Waste Disposal site south of Beaumont, is on a marshy island along the Neches River. The National Weather Service said the Neches was expected to crest on Saturday at more than 21 feet above flood stage -- 8 feet higher than the prior record.

In Crosby, across the San Jacinto River from Houston, a small working-class neighborhood sits between two Superfund sites, French LTD and the Sikes Disposal Pits.

The area was wrecked by Harvey's floods. Only a single house from among the roughly dozen lining Hickory Lane was still standing.

After the water receded on Friday, a sinkhole the size of a swimming pool had opened up and swallowed two cars. The acrid smell of creosote filled the air.

Rafael Casas' family had owned a house there for two decades, adjacent to the French LTD site. He said he was never told about the pollution risk until it came up in an informal conversation with a police officer who grew up nearby. Most of the homes had groundwater wells, but Casas said his family had switched to bottled water.

"You never know what happens with the pollution under the ground," said Casas, 32. "It filters into the water system."

How long will Congress take to fund Harvey recovery?
Play VIDEO
How long will Congress take to fund Harvey recovery?

His neighbor, Mary Ann Avila, was sobbing as she surveyed her waterlogged home across from the sinkhole. She said officials had sent her a letter warning her to have her well tested. She said her family hadn't had any health problems in the 17 years she's lived there.

"Even the man that drilled our well drank from it," said Avila, 39. "But we basically just bathe, wash our face and wash our teeth with it. But not drinking water."

At the Brio Refining Inc. Superfund site in Friendswood, southeast of downtown Houston, the water had receded by Saturday. There was a layer of silt on the road along with large muddy pools. A drainage ditch leading out of the fenced site was full and flowing into a nearby waterway.

The company operated a chemical reprocessing and refining facility there until the 1980s, leaving behind polluted soil and groundwater.

A few miles away, the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund site was completely covered with floodwaters when an AP reporter saw it Thursday. According to its website, the EPA was set to make a final decision this year about a proposed $97 million cleanup effort to remove toxic waste from a paper mill that operated there in the 1960s.

The flow from the raging river washing over the toxic site was so intense it damaged an adjacent section of the Interstate 10 bridge, which has been closed to traffic due to concerns it might collapse.

There was no way to immediately access how much contaminated soil from the site might have been washed away. According to an EPA survey from last year, soil from the former waste pits contains dioxins and other long-lasting toxins linked to birth defects and cancer.

Kara Cook-Schultz, who studies Superfund sites for the advocacy group TexPIRG, said environmentalists have warned for years about the potential for flooding to inundate Texas Superfund sites, particularly the San Jacinto Waste Pits.

"If floodwaters have spread the chemicals in the waste pits, then dangerous chemicals like dioxin could be spread around the wider Houston area," Cook-Schultz said. "Superfund sites are known to be the most dangerous places in the country, and they should have been properly protected against flooding."



THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT HURRICANE HARVEY

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-the-worst-of-harvey-brought-out-americas-best/
By STEVE HARTMAN CBS NEWS September 1, 2017, 7:09 PM
How the worst of Harvey brought out America's best

NEW YORK -- This week we saw what a trillion gallons of water can cover. But more importantly, we saw what it can uncover -- our potential as a nation.

I know it seems like eons ago, but remember what was in the news before this? Remember when nothing was more important to America than the fate of a Confederate statue? We were literally at each other's throats over race, religion, immigration and, of course, politics.

And then Harvey came and pounded us with perspective.

Volunteers in Texas look for anyone left behind
Play VIDEO
Volunteers in Texas look for anyone left behind

When the roof over your head becomes the floor beneath your feet, no one cares about the color or creed of his or her rescuer. No one passes judgment because a hero's boat is too big, or his means are too meager. No one says, "Thanks for the rope, but I'd rather wait for someone more like me."

And later, when they find themselves on the business end of a dump truck with nothing but the soggy shirts on their backs, I'm guessing no one ever thinks he's better than the person suffering next to him.

A lot of people in Texas and Louisiana lost everything, but they are rich with perspective tonight, and blessed with a new and priceless appreciation of their community.

"If everyone did this, we'd have a lot less to worry about," one rescuer said.

From the start of the storm, the volunteer rescuers were Harvey's silver lining. They risked their lives -- some even lost their lives -- in service to their neighbors.

"Continue helping people. We're going to go save some more lives, help some more people," said another rescuer.

d3nn-hartman-harvey-0901-transfer-frame-2689.jpg
One of the Harvey rescuers CBS NEWS

This guy spoke for many.

"Spirit of Texas, that's what it's all about."

But I do take slight issue with that last part. I think most Americans are heroes, just waiting for their moment. And if Harvey taught us anything, it's to be grateful for every last one of them.

Which brings me to one rescue in Houston. These people were trying to save someone from a sinking car.

d3-hartman-harvey-0901.jpg
A human chain formed to rescue someone from a car M & J DESIGN WOOD WORKS VIA STORYFUL

I don't know who the folks are, but I do know this: If you took out a Christian, took out a Democrat, an immigrant, a Republican, Muslim or Jew, remove any link in this brave chain of Americans, the whole group is adrift and a piece of humanity is lost.

In this case, the chain held.

When Mother Nature is at its worst, human nature is at its best. The challenge will be, as the flood waters recede, will we still be able love at these same record levels?


OF COURSE, THE HURRICANE DAMAGE MUST BE CLEANED UP AND PEOPLE RESCUED, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN THAT GLOBAL WARMING ISN’T THE CAUSE, OR THAT REPUBLICANS SHOULDN’T REIN THEIR BUSINESS CRONIES IN ABOUT EMISSIONS. WHY REFUSE TO DISCUSS THE ISSUE?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-perry-says-climate-change-debate-is-secondary-amid-harvey-destruction/
CBS NEWS September 2, 2017, 10:17 AM
Rick Perry says climate change debate is "secondary" amid Harvey destruction

Energy Secretary Rick Perry, a former Texas governor, is still taken aback by Hurricane Harvey's devastation, but said conversations about climate change can wait.

"No one has ever seen flooding like this," he told CBSN in an interview Friday, noting that parts of Texas had seen 50 inches of rain.

In spite of the record-breaking rainfall and scientists charging that warming seas have caused hurricanes of greater intensity, Perry declined to weigh in right now on whether the White House would make any changes to its stance on climate change.

"We can line up scientists on both sides of this," he told CBSN's Stephanie Sy, but "this is not the time to be having this conversation." At this moment, he said, it's time to focus on helping victims recover from the damage wrought by Harvey.

"Everyone wants to run to the climate change debate, but that is very secondary at this particular time," he said.

Trump heads to Harvey's path for second Texas visit
Play VIDEO
Trump heads to Harvey's path for second Texas visit

He also dismissed the notion that President Trump's budget would cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and disaster relief funding, saying that in his experience as governor and as energy secretary he had never seen a final budget that resembled the original one proposed.

An analysis by scientists at the University of California, Davis on repetitive flooding pointed out that Texas has a large share of properties that are subject to repeated flooding. FEMA, it pointed out, keeps a list of properties designated as Severe Repetitive Loss Properties (SRLPs). They're defined as properties that have filed for at least four claims of $5,000 or more from flood damage -- or total claims that exceed the value of the structure.

Of the 30,000 on the list, 4,889 are in Texas and have received some $962 million in National Flood Insurance Plan (NFIP) payments, second only to Louisiana. The analysis points out that Harvey is likely to push Texas into the No. 1 spot.

Over half of these properties are in Harris County, the analysis says, and 1,925 are in the city of Houston. This raises questions about the flood maps and whether some of the properties damaged by Harvey should even be rebuilt, a point that Perry seemed to concede.

"I think it's a conversation worth having," Perry told Sy. But, "people first, paperwork second," he added. He went on, however, to consider the point.

"Are our flood maps modern? Do we need to look at when these flood maps were done? Has there been a change in weather patterns?" Perry asked. "And we need to have that conversation. I am completely open to having those discussions at the appropriate time."

In an attempt to keep gas prices from rising too quickly in Harvey's wake -- gas prices have already hit a two-year peak -- Perry on Friday authorized the release of 500,000 barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.



EXCUSE ME, GOV. PERRY. LOOK AT THIS AND THINK AGAIN ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF GLOBAL WARMING. I PERSONALLY DON’T BELIEVE THAT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IS “GOD’S WILL.” I BELIEVE IN PREVENTABLE HUMAN ERROR AND GREED AS BEING THE CAUSE MOST OF OUR PROBLEMS. IN THE 1700S WHEN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION STARTED, THEY DIDN'T KNOW THE DAMAGE DONE BY AIR POLLUTANTS, BUT WE DO NOW, AND THOSE IN POWER STILL REFUSE TO DO ANYTHING.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/01/547992600/early-data-from-harvey-shows-epic-flooding
AMERICA
Early Data From Harvey Shows Epic Flooding
September 1, 20179:56 PM ET
CHRISTOPHER JOYCE

FLOOD MAPS: Notes
The analysis of surface water area is preliminary and does not represent all flooded areas.
Source: University of California, Davis Center for Watershed Sciences; FEMA; Texas Department of Transportation; USGS
Credit: Katie Park/NPR

Scientists have produced a preliminary map of the flooding in Houston from Tropical Storm Harvey.

The map doesn't yet represent all the flooded areas, and for technical reasons, it likely understates the extent of flooding. But even this early analysis shows that flooding from Harvey extended well beyond the traditional flood plains mapped out by the federal government.

The map above was drawn with data from flood experts at the University of California, Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. The researchers used radar imagery from two polar orbiting satellites taken on August 29. That imagery likely underestimates flooding because trees and buildings on the ground can obscure the view of flooding from space. The map should not be used for emergency services or insurance purposes.

Houston's Jazz Envoys Describe A Vibrant Scene Deluged, And Worry For Its Future
JAZZ NIGHT IN AMERICA
Houston's Jazz Envoys Describe A Vibrant Scene Deluged, And Worry For Its Future

Insurers Gear Up For Deluge Of Claims, Hope To Avoid Sandy Repeat
BUSINESS
Insurers Gear Up For Deluge Of Claims, Hope To Avoid Sandy Repeat

But what it does show is how much of the flooding occurred outside government-drawn flood zones. Two-thirds of the flooding was outside the 100-year flood zone, as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). And more than half the flooding was outside all flood zones — 100-year, 500-year or minimal hazard.

Team member Nick Santos points out that Houston has had several floods in recent years that qualify as 100-year or 500-year events. Harvey appears to have topped even those. Santos says this suggests the flood zone maps may no longer represent true risk for property owners. "So we need to rethink the total risk map for areas like this," he says.

Ultimately, that in turn, that may effect [sic] both private and federal flood insurance programs.


BERNIE SANDERS AND KAMALA HARRIS

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/30/politics/kamala-harris-bernie-sanders-single-payer-medicare/index.html
Kamala Harris to co-sponsor Bernie Sanders' single-payer health care bill
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 10:30 PM ET, Wed August 30, 2017

Photograph -- Fact check: Both sides spin the CBO's numbers 02:38

Washington (CNN)Sen. Kamala Harris is the first Democrat to announce she'll co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders' single-payer health care bill when it's introduced in September.

The California freshman -- seen as a rising star in the party and a 2020 presidential prospect -- revealed her plans to back Sanders' legislation at a town hall Wednesday night in Oakland.

"Here, I'll break some news: I intend to co-sponsor the Medicare-for-all bill, because it's just the right thing to do," Harris said. She announced her support for Sanders' single-payer plan at the end of her town hall and joked that "somebody should tell my staff."

Her co-sponsorship is another sign that the Democratic Party is increasingly embracing a shift away from the private health insurance market and toward a government-run program. The issue is poised to become a major litmus test for its presidential candidates in 2020.

It comes just 20 months after the party's last standard-bearer in a presidential election, Hillary Clinton, called Sanders' single-payer proposal "a theoretical debate about some better idea that will never, ever come to pass."

"This is about understanding, again, that health care should be a right, not a privilege. And it's also about being smart," Harris said. "It is so much better that people have meaningful access to affordable health care at every stage of life, from birth on. Because the alternative is that we as taxpayers otherwise are paying huge amounts of money for them to get their health care in an emergency room. So it's not only about what is morally and ethically right, it also makes sense from a fiscal standpoint, or if you want to talk about it as a return on investment for taxpayers."

The early endorsement from Harris could clear the way for more Democrats to co-sponsor the bill. Already this summer, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand have announced their support for single-payer health insurance.

Sanders tweeted his thanks to Harris on Wednesday night. "Let's make health care a right, not a privilege," he wrote.

Some of Sanders' most vocal supporters, who had questioned Harris' progressive bona fides, expressed cautious optimism about Harris' position.

"Like it or not, single payer has become the litmus test in order to run for office. I expect a a lot or senators to agree. But count on Bernie 100% to actually follow through," said RoseAnn DeMoro, the executive director of National Nurses United, the first major union to back Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.

But DeMoro added she wants to hear single-payer supporters aggressively argue for the end of private insurance, too. "I want to hear an actual articulation of the principles of single payer from these candidates, including that the insurance industry has no role. Bernie says that. Will they?" she said.

Winnie Wong, the co-founder of People for Bernie, said Harris is "meeting her constituents where they are. I see this as a pragmatic political decision." She added that it could revitalize a state-level debate in California about moving to a single-payer program.

CNN's Gregory Krieg contributed to this report.


SANDERS IS IN THE COMPANY OF HEROES IN THIS SPEECH INVITATION. TO BE ASKED IS A GREAT HONOR. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OLD GUARD MAY HAVE REJECTED HIM, BUT THE PEOPLE DO NOT. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE, DNC!

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/update-westminster-draws-bernie-sanders-for-prestigious-lecture/article_fd7b588a-8f3f-11e7-8f41-1b10fd537741.html
UPDATE: Westminster draws Bernie Sanders for prestigious lecture
KACEN J. BAYLESS September 2, 2017

Photograph -- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders waves to supporters outside JQH Arena at Missouri State University after his rally on Saturday, March 12, 2016, in Springfield.

Sen. Bernie Sanders will take the podium at Fulton’s Westminster College at 11 a.m. Sept. 21, the college’s Facebook page announced at 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Acting college President Carolyn Perry and Hancock Symposium director Kurt Jefferson announced the decision over Facebook Live in front of students and faculty. The Hancock Symposium is an annual, two-day event featuring lectures, panel discussions and presentations on global interests.

“I can just tell you that if the lecture is anything like the initial reaction from our students, then it’s going to be an exciting time,” Westminster spokesman Rob Crouse said. “There were mouths and eyes wide open with students jumping and hugging each other.”

Crouse said ticketing and media availability procedures will be announced sometime next week. He said that because Sanders is a public servant, he will not receive payment for his lecture.

Sanders, an independent from Vermont and a former candidate for president, will address the college through the John Findley Green Lecture Series, a foundation that works to promote speakers of international reputation, according to the National Churchill Museum’s website.

His lecture will focus on his beliefs in progressive American foreign policy, according to a Westminster news release.

“If you look at the history of our Green lecturers, there has been a procession of various figures who were prominent in the world and who had a passionate and important message that they felt they needed to share,” Crouse said.

Crouse said Mark Boulton, chairman of the Hancock Symposium, deserves much of the credit for getting in touch with Sanders.

“He was very persistent in just researching people that he could contact that might be able to get word to Sen. Sanders,” Crouse said. “He obviously was successful.”

The foundation was established in 1936 in memory of a St. Louis attorney and graduate of Westminster. The lectures are designed to encourage understanding of international economic and social problems.

Sanders will be the 58th speaker in the series.

Westminster was the site of Winston Churchill’s famous “Sinews of Peace” speech in 1946, at which he coined the term "Iron Curtain" as the European divide between East and West. Churchill’s speech is historically seen as a prediction of the Cold War and the Berlin Wall. Other well-known speakers at the college include former U.S. presidents Harry S. Truman, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, whose 1992 speech was regarded as the end of the Cold War.

“Ever since Winston Churchill, Westminster has seemed to be the ideal place because of its symbolic nature to deliver these addresses of global concern,” Crouse said.

The college uploaded a “Special Announcement” video to its YouTube channel Thursday in anticipation of Friday’s announcement. After Westminster posted the teaser video, several Facebook users tried to guess who the speaker might be. The predictions included Joe Biden, Jimmy Carter, Justin Trudeau and Mariah Carey.

Friday’s announcement comes after Sanders delivered a speech to a sold-out Iowa City crowd on Thursday evening promoting his book “Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution,” according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette. In the speech, Sanders reprimanded President Donald Trump over his threats to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

In 2016, Sanders, 75, ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination bid, eventually losing to Hillary Clinton. Sanders has participated in politics since serving as the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, from 1981 to 1989. While in college, he was heavily involved in the civil rights movement, including the 1963 March on Washington and a sit-in against off-campus housing segregation in 1962.

On April 30, 2015, Sanders announced he would seek the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. In a record-breaking fundraising campaign, Sanders relied heavily on individual donations instead of political action committees and garnered an unexpected progressive following, according to biography.com.

Along with the college’s international lecture series, Westminster College’s campus is home to the National Churchill Museum and the “Breakthrough” sculpture, built from slabs of the Berlin Wall. Founded in 1851, Westminster is a private, coeducational college about 25 miles from Columbia in Fulton.

“Once again, all eyes are on this small, liberal arts college in Fulton, MO,” Crouse said.

Supervising editor is Elizabeth Brixey.