January 13, 2018


News and Views


“YOU'VE HAD 29 REPUBLICANS NOW THAT HAVE DECIDED THEY'RE NOT GOING TO RUN. THEY ONLY NEED 24 SEATS, THE DEMOCRATS, TO TAKE THE HOUSE.” .... ASKED FOR HIS HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE PRESIDENT'S MENTAL FITNESS, SCHIEFFER SAID, "I'M GOING TO SAY I'M NOT A DOCTOR AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS, BUT I DO SAY I KEEP WONDERING WHY DOES HE SAY THESE THINGS?"

THE REPS HAVE LOST 29 SEATS IN THE CONGRESS, DEMOCRATS WON IN A COUPLE OF DOZEN STATE AND FEDERAL SEATS IN RED STATES AROUND THE COUNTRY IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS. I THINK, I HOPE, AND INDEED I PRAY THAT THE CITIZENS WHO CAN BE TURNED AWAY FROM “CONSERVATIVE” AND SIMPLY RACIST THOUGHT PATTERNS IN THIS COUNTRY WILL TURN. I DO SUSPECT THAT WHILE MANY MODERATE AMERICANS, WHO HAVE “GONE ALONG TO GET ALONG” IN THEIR RED AREAS, WILL START STANDING UP AND SPEAKING OUT FOR MORE FAIR AND EQUITABLE POLICIES IN ALL WAYS, BUT ESPECIALLY ON AN ISSUE LIKE RACISM. THE PATH OF SOCIETAL RACISM LEADS TO A HELL ON EARTH, AND I WANT US TO TURN AROUND AND WALK THE OTHER WAY NOW, NOT TOMORROW.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bob-schieffer-trump-immigration-remarks-fire-and-fury/
By JESSICA KEGU CBS NEWS January 12, 2018, 1:11 PM
Bob Schieffer: Trump's immigration remarks are racist

Just 12 days in to the New Year, the White House is already in serious damage control mode. In addition to the publication of an explosive book alleging chaos inside the White House, President Trump faced blistering criticism Friday for using a vulgar expletive during an Oval Office meeting on immigration.

Mr. Trump is contesting reports that he said, "Why do we want all these people from sh*thole countries here?" referring to immigrants from Haiti, several African countries and El Salvador.

The Republicans who've reacted to Trump's "sh*thole countries" remark

When asked on "CBS This Morning" if he considered the president's comments racist, CBS News political contributor Bob Schieffer replied, "Yeah. Yeah. I mean, how can you take it any other way?"

He added, "To say this in the White House during a discussion, this is a new low and I think he ought to be ashamed of himself."

The president's remarks on Thursday come on the heels of a media firestorm over Michael Wolff's tell-all book detailing the inner workings of the Trump White House. The book prompted a cease and desist letter from Trump's lawyer and a split between the president and his former adviser Steve Bannon.

"You know, I think he really nailed the chaos in the White House. And I think he was right on," Schieffer said of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House." "There are as many factions in the White House now as there are up on Capitol Hill and we've never had anything like that before."

On Friday, the president was scheduled to receive his first physical since taking office. Wolff's book prompted a series of tweets from Mr. Trump last week slamming the author and touting his own accomplishments and intelligence. In one of those tweets, the president described himself as "a very stable genius."

Asked for his historical perspective on the president's mental fitness, Schieffer said, "I'm going to say I'm not a doctor and I don't know what it is, but I do say I keep wondering why does he say these things?"

Shifting to what these events might mean for the 2018 midterm elections, Schieffer said that for the first time, he thinks Democrats might have a chance to take control of the House.

"I think that the Democrats may actually take the House this time. You've had 29 Republicans now that have decided they're not going to run. They only need 24 seats, the Democrats, to take the House. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but I think it's now possible. I wouldn't say it's probable, but I think it's possible and I think that's the big story."

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



WHITE NATIONALISTS SPENCER AND DUKE HAVE “PRAISED HIM” AND CALLED FOR HIM TO “ACT ON IT.” THE OPINION OF THE WORLD, HOWEVER, IS NOT SO COMPLIMENTARY. THINGS LIKE THIS CAN ONLY DO OUR COUNTRY HARM IN MULTIPLE WAYS.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/african-ambassadors-to-u-n-call-trumps-remark-outrageous-racist/
CBS/AP January 13, 2018, 8:17 AM
African ambassadors to U.N. blast Trump's remark as "outrageous, racist"
Extraordinary statement condemns "outrageous, racist and xenophobic remarks" and demands an apology

JOHANNESBURG -- The African group of ambassadors to the United Nations has issued an extraordinary statement condemning the "outrageous, racist and xenophobic remarks" by President Donald Trump and demanding a retraction and apology.

Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power has shared the statement on Twitter, saying: "Whoa. I've never seen a statement like this by African countries directed at the United States."

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

Samantha Power
✔
@SamanthaJPower
Whoa. I’ve never seen a statement like this by African countries directed at the United States. After an emergency mtng today @UN, Africa group says it “is extremely appalled at...outrageous & xenophobic remarks” attributed to Trump & “demands a retraction and an apology.”

10:41 PM - Jan 12, 2018
415 415 Replies 6,416 6,416 Retweets 10,166 10,166 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy

The African ambassadors issued the statement late Friday following an emergency meeting after Mr. Trump used vulgar language to reject an immigration bill, asking why the U.S. would take in more people from Haiti and "sh*thole countries" in Africa.

How it happened: Donald Trump's "sh*thole countries" remark

Mr. Trump has denied using that language but others present say he did. He tweeted Friday that he used "tough" language but "not that language," which was being taken as a denial of the "sh*thole" comment, although Mr. Trump did not specifically reference that phrase in his denial.

In Chicago, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, told reporters the president's denial wasn't true.

"It is not true," said Durbin, who was one of the lawmakers at the Oval Office meeting. "He said these hate-filled things. And he said them repeatedly."

The statement the African ambassadors issued expresses concern over the Trump administration's apparent increasing denigration of Africa "and people of color."

Mr. Trump's comment has triggered widespread condemnation. At least one more African leader spoke up on Saturday.

Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo called Mr. Trump's remark "extremely unfortunate" and said that "we will not accept such insults, even from a leader of a friendly country, no matter how powerful."


Nana Akufo-Addo
✔
@NAkufoAddo
The language of @realDonaldTrump that the African continent, Haiti and El Salvador are “shithole countries” is extremely unfortunate. We are certainly not a “shithole country”. We will not accept such insults, even from a leader of a friendly country, no matter how powerful.

8:18 AM - Jan 13, 2018
1,532 1,532 Replies 11,830 11,830 Retweets 27,339 27,339 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy

Haitians reacted with outrage Friday to reports of Mr. Trump's remarks. President Jovenel Moise's government issued a strongly worded statement denouncing what it called a "racist" view of Haitian immigrants and people from African countries.

Mr. Trump's remarks have also left the small cluster of immigration hard-line groups whose agenda Mr. Trump has embraced scrambling to distance themselves from the president.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


GRAHAM’S COMMENTS ABOUT THE LINE OF DIVISION WHICH IS EMERGING AMONG REPUBLICANS – REAGAN STYLE, OR LIKE BANNON/TRUMP. CHOOSING BY NATIONALITY RATHER THAN BY INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS IS A FAR-RIGHT CHOICE. GRAHAM DOESN’T SPEAK ABOUT THE UNFAIRNESS OF THAT THOUGHT PATTERN HOWEVER, BUT SEEMS TO BE POINTING TO HOW DAMAGING IT MAY BE TO THE PARTY. MAYBE I’M INTERPRETING THIS UNFAIRLY OUT OF MY BIAS.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/commentary-a-shithole-swallows-the-gop/
By MICHAEL GRAHAM CBS NEWS January 12, 2018, 11:11 AM
Commentary: A "sh*thole" swallows the GOP

Last Updated Jan 12, 2018 1:32 PM EST

For Republicans, every day is like a recurring horror movie: "The Curious Case of Dr. Donald and Mr. Trump."

One day it's The Donald doing the presidency in a way many hoped he would: Encouraging deal-making on DACA among hardened partisans in Washington, D.C.; Using a carrot and stick to move North Korea toward negotiations and compromise.

The next day? "Sh*thole countries."

And so it goes, with no sign of stopping. And the question for conservatives and Republicans (the two are not synonyms) is how to respond? Join the #NeverTrumpers? Jump on the Trump Train and try to get as many policy wins on taxes, deregulation and border enforcement as you can? It can be a tough call, because the "standard deviation," if you will, on Donald Trump is so wide.

The nonstop criticism from conservative Never Trumpers looks foolish when he's making progress on policies they've long championed. Corporate tax cuts, arming Ukraine, opening ANWR, etc.—these are things that conservatives at National Review, the Weekly Standard and the Wall Street Journal editorial page pushed for. So it only makes sense that, when Trump is leading and getting results, you should see headlines like "Trump Proves He's Sane" on a Dan Henninger column on the WSJ editorial page.

Just in time for the immigration "sh*t storm." Suddenly, supporting Trump looks extremely foolish, too.

What to do? A few weeks ago, conservative media was dominated by a dust-up on the Right between National Review's Charles C. W. Cooke and the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin over the proper reaction to Trump. Rubin has been accused of abandoning positions she's supported in order to always be in opposition to Trump. Cooke has taken a different approach.

"In a sense, Trump's critics now find themselves in the same position as might a parent on the day after his daughter has married someone unsuitable," Cooke, who was firmly anti-Trump during the Republican primary, wrote. "What, other than to say, 'I guess we'll see how it goes, then,' is left to do?"

The problem with Cooke's approach is that it doesn't take into account just how badly it can go. For conservatives who've spent years fighting the left's narrative that policies on immigration and entitlement reform are mere "dog whistles" for racism, Trump's comments on immigration and Africa are devastating. Is pointing out, "Yes, but he's right about chain migration" really enough?

Worse, Trump's talk about preferring immigration from Norway as opposed to North Africa poisons the conversation about immigration reforms conservatives have fought for. Advocating for a points system on immigration similar to Canada's isn't race-based or bigoted. Ending visa lotteries and chain migration means immigrants who are more likely to succeed in America move to the front of line, whether they're from Haiti or the Himalayas.

But in the wake of Trump's race-based rant, those arguments are all but lost.

Is this inevitable? Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, which argues for less immigration, agrees that Trump undermines the cause of border security. "On the other hand, he is who he is, and if he weren't in the White House none of this [reform effort] would be happening," he writes. "Maybe we just have to take the sweet with the sour."

The question for conservatives is this: At what point does the Trump presidency become so sour that it overwhelms the entire movement? When a Tea Party Republican (and Haitian-American) like Rep. Mia Love of Utah has to demand an apology from her own party's president for "comments that are unkind, divisive, elitist and fly in the face of our nation's values?"

That last comment may be the most significant. One of the premises of conservatism in the post-Reagan era has been an insistence on ideas over identity. What matters, many on the right argue, isn't what you look like or where you're from, but rather what you believe in: Limited government, individual liberty, free markets, etc.

Trump's talk about preferring immigrants based on nationality, as opposed to judging individuals based on their ideas and abilities, is the line that separates Reagan-style conservatism from Steve-Bannon-style nationalism.

Deciding which side of the line they fall on may define the Republican Party for years to come.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Michael Graham
CBSN contributor Michael Graham is a conservative columnist for the Boston Herald.


*************************************************************


THIS UNFORTUNATE WOMAN WHO WAS LEFT LAST WEEK WITH ALMOST NO CLOTHES ON IN 30 DEGREE TEMPERATURES ON A BALTIMORE STREET IS “DOING BETTER” NOW. SHE HAS ONE OF THOSE COMBINATIONS OF MENTAL ILLNESS TYPES WHICH CAN GIVE CARETAKERS PROBLEMS WITH STABILIZATION. SHE WENT OFF HER MEDS AND THE PATHWAYS PROGRAM DISCHARGED HER, UNCEREMONIOUSLY. NO FURTHER EXPLANATION IS GIVEN HERE AS TO WHY; PROBABLY AN INSURANCE ISSUE WAS INVOLVED – IT’S USUALLY MONEY. TREATMENT PROGRAMS AND HOSPITALS HAVE SOMETIMES BEEN ACCUSED OF KEEPING PEOPLE LONGER THAN THEY NEED TO STAY, AS LONG AS THE INSURANCE IS PAYING THEM, ALSO. NEITHER ARTICLE I’VE SEEN SO FAR GIVES EXACT DATES AND HISTORY OF THIS WOMAN’S SITUATION DURING THE TWO WEEKS THAT HER MOTHER SAID SHE WAS MISSING.

HOW OR EXACTLY WHEN SHE GOT INTO THE MARYLAND HOSPITAL IS NOT GIVEN HERE, BUT SHE MAY POSSIBLY HAVE WANDERED AROUND ON THE STREETS OF BALTIMORE FOR THOSE WEEKS. SHE WAS TURNED OUT OF THE PATHWAYS PROGRAM (APPARENTLY A SEPARATE ENTITY) FOR FAILING TO TAKE HER MEDS. THAT WAS ON DECEMBER 23, 2017; THEN, EXACTLY WHEN SHE GOT INTO THE BALTIMORE MEDICAL CENTER IS SOMETHING THAT I HAVEN’T DISCOVERED YET. IT WAS THE BALTIMORE MEDICAL CENTER, HOWEVER, WHICH DROPPED HER ON THE SIDEWALK WITH NOTHING WARM ON, AND THAT WAS WITHIN THE LAST WEEK “ON TUESDAY,” [PRESUMABLY JANUARY 9]. HOWEVER, SO THE GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES – THERE MUST BE SOME – WHO HAVE POWER OVER THE HOSPITAL SHOULD SURELY HOLD THEM RESPONSIBLE, FINE THEM EXTENSIVELY, AND MAKE THEM RECERTIFY TO CONTINUE IN BUSINESS. AT ANY RATE, THAT SOUNDS LIKE JUSTICE TO ME. BARAKA, HER RESCUER, SAID THAT THE HEAD OF THE HOSPITAL, DR. SUNTHA, “WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FULLY, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.”

SUNTHA FAULTS HIS HOSPITAL FOR A FAILURE OF “BASIC HUMANITY AND COMPASSION.” NOW THAT IS A TRUE STATEMENT, AND ONE THAT ALL CARETAKER AGENCIES SHOULD BE JUDGED UPON. IN THIS CASE, I EXPECT THE HOSPITAL TO BE SUED, AND I HOPE THE PATIENT AND FAMILY WIN A VERY, VERY LARGE SETTLEMENT. THERE MAY ALSO BE PROBLEMS WITH THE HOSPITAL’S CERTIFICATION, OR SO I HOPE, BECAUSE HOSPITALS REPEATEDLY FIND THIS PRACTICE SUFFICIENTLY TO THEIR TASTES TO KEEP DOING IT OVER AND OVER.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, SEE THE “JOINT COMMISSION” -- HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/JOINT_COMMISSION.

FOR A STORY ON THE HISTORY OF “PATIENT DUMPING,” GO TO http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-what-is-patient-dumping-20180111-story.html

FOR VIDEO OF THE HOSPITAL CEO SUNTHA SPEAKING, GO TO http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-hospital-video-follow-20180111-story.html


NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS – SHE IS IN SAFE HANDS, IN TOUCH WITH HER FAMILY, AND DOING BETTER. I DON’T KNOW WHETHER IMAMU BARAKA WILL BE GIVEN AN AWARD FOR HEROISM OR NOT, BUT AT LEAST I WILL SAY A HEARTY, “HIP HIP HOORAY!”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-who-aided-disoriented-patient-says-shes-doing-a-lot-better/
CBS/AP January 13, 2018, 9:45 AM
Man who aided disoriented patient says "she's doing a lot better"

VIDEO CBS NEWS – hospital apologizes for dumping patient in the cold
Recommended also -- https://patch.com/maryland/baltimore/investigation-hospital-follows-video-vulnerable-woman

BALTIMORE -- The man who said he came to the aid of a visibly disoriented woman discharged from a Baltimore hospital wearing only a gown and socks on a frigid winter's night said Friday that she's been reunited with her family. Imamu Baraka, a psychotherapist who has an office across the street from the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus, said he was so angry at the woman's treatment that he decided to record Tuesday night's events on cellphone video, fearing no one would believe him if he reported a patient being left at a bus stop like that on a cold January night.

"I knew that she was not supposed to be discharged from a hospital with no clothing on and no shoes," he said Friday.

Baraka's cellphone video shows several guards strolling back to the hospital after escorting the patient out wearing only a hospital gown and socks. He described temperatures in the 30s and a cold wind blowing at the woman's hospital gown, exposing her to the elements.

Her street clothes were stuffed in plastic bags and dropped at an open-air bus stop. She appeared disoriented and distressed as she stumbled along the sidewalk, making keening vocalizations but unable to formulate any words.

Baraka said he's been in regular contact with the 22-year-old woman's mother, who is grateful for his intervention, since his video went viral. The video alerted the woman to the whereabouts of her daughter, who had been missing for two weeks, he said.

"She's doing a lot better. She's getting the treatment that she needs. She's in the company of family. This is a good thing now, because now she is getting things she could not get before because of this video," he said.

Baraka said he was furious at the hospital security guards. Of those who brought her outdoors, he said: "I asked them three times, I asked them specifically, 'Are you going to leave this lady out here like this?' They kept walking."

imamu.png
Imamu Baraka CBS NEWS

He then went and tried to help the woman shelter in the bus stop while calling 911 for an ambulance. He said he asked the arriving ambulance crew where they would take her, and they replied "back to the hospital."

That's exactly where she went. That same night, she was put in a taxi and sent to a homeless shelter, according to Baraka.

Baraka questioned the judgment of the medical professionals who authorized her release, asserting that they failed to avoid doing preventable harm.

"They failed that simple test. They put her in an environment where she could have literally ended up dead because it was cold that night," he said.

"She's in the heart of downtown Baltimore with no clothing on, vulnerable, fully exposed, literally, I became enraged," Baraka said.

The mother of the woman has spoken out to correct misconceptions about her daughter. The mother, who asked to be identified only as Cheryl, said she wants to "correct the misinformation that's out there" because her daughter, Rebecca, "was humiliated" by the incident.

"There are people who are saying that my daughter is a drug addict, my daughter's a prostitute, that she's deaf," Cheryl told CBS News. "She's not deaf, not a prostitute, not a drug addict. My daughter has mental illness."

"My daughter was disposed of. She literally was disposed of. It's disgusting, heartbreaking, horrifying," Cheryl continued. "And if it's all of those things for me, I want people to know how does Rebecca feel? This was done to her. She was on the street with her body exposed. There was no human dignity at all."

For the safety of her family, Cheryl chose not to disclose their last name to CBS News.

According to Cheryl, Rebecca was diagnosed with mental illness — bipolar schizoaffective disorder — when she was 16 years old, and also has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism. Rebecca lived in a residential youth program called Pathways from the time she turned 18 until Christmas Eve, when she was discharged for not taking her medication.

"She has to be on meds, otherwise she has psychosis," Cheryl said. "She will have, uh, a manic episode."

Dr. Mohan Suntha, president and CEO of University of Maryland Medical Center, said at a news conference Thursday afternoon that there were no excuses for what happened.

"We believe firmly that we provided appropriate medical care to a patient who came to us in need, but where we absolutely failed, and where we own that failure, is in the demonstration of basic humanity and compassion as a patient was being discharged from our organization after having received that care," he said.

When asked for any updates to the hospital's internal review, spokeswoman Lisa Clough said the administration is continuing its investigation and are "working to ensure that such a situation does not happen again."

"This includes re-examining our policies and procedures to better understand where the breakdown occurred regarding this patient's discharge," Clough said in a Friday email.

The hospital is cooperating with regulatory agencies such as Maryland's Office of Health Care Quality, according to Clough.

Baraka said he has spoken twice to Suntha, who has publicly thanked him for shooting the video.

"We are going to talk again, in person, after all the bigness of this sort of calms down. Oh, but he will be held accountable fully, one way or another," Baraka said.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


DO WATCH THIS FACEBOOK VIDEO OF IMAMU BARAKA AND THE PATIENT. ONE KIND AND INTELLIGENT SOUL CAN SAVE THE DAY! THIS ARTICLE TELLS MORE ABOUT HER MOTHER AND SOME BACKGROUND TO THEIR SITUATION. APPARENTLY, THE POLICE, WHO TOLD THE MOM WHERE SHE WAS, EITHER PUT HER IN THE HOSPITAL OR SEARCHED FOR HER AND FOUND HER THERE – WHICH ONE IS NOT CLEAR. WE HAVE A HUGE AMOUNT OF “STORY” WHICH NEEDS TO BE TOLD HERE. I HOPE TO SEE MORE SOON.

https://www.facebook.com/imamu.baraka/videos/vb.100000124541110/1946302425383890/?type=3&theater


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/12/baltimore-hospital-video-fallout-woman-who-identifies-as-patients-mom-says-was-mocked-by-security.html
Baltimore hospital video fallout: Woman who identifies as patient's mom says she was mocked by security
By Greg Norman | Fox News
January 12, 2018

Photograph -- The University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus says it "failed to fulfill our mission" after a video surfaced of a patient being discharged in cold weather wearing only a gown. (Google Maps)

A woman who says she’s the mother of a patient dumped on the street outside a Baltimore hospital in frigid weather this week says she was laughed at and stonewalled by hospital staff while trying to find out about the status of her daughter.

The mother, who spoke to CBS News and identified herself only as Cheryl, said her daughter, Rebecca, is “not deaf, not a prostitute, not a drug addict,” but suffers from bipolar disorder and Asperger’s syndrome. The woman was filmed moaning and pacing around outside the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus on Tuesday [January 9] after being discharged by workers, in a video that has gone viral.

"The hospital wasn't being helpful," Cheryl told CBS News. "I called the security department [and] they laughed at me. When I told them, 'That's my daughter in the video and I just need to find out if she's in the hospital,' they laughed at me. Every person that I talked to at the hospital either hung up on me or told me to email the hospital, and that everyone was going to tell me the same thing."

Cheryl said as of Thursday night, she has not heard anything from the hospital.

"This was a hospital that has a psychiatric unit. They should know how to deal with mental health patients without dumping them out on the street in the cold, naked," she told CBS News. "They're supposed to be able to deal with mental health issues, and if they don't know how to deal with mental health issues, then they should close their doors."

Cheryl added her daughter, who is 22, had been living at a residential youth program called Pathways since she was 18 up until Christmas Eve, when she was released for not taking her medications.

CBS News reported she has been trying to get legal guardianship of the daughter to gain control of her meds, housing situation and Social Security, but doctors will not speak to her because of patient privacy laws.

"This is a byproduct of what the mental health system is," she said. "I cannot get any help for my daughter."

Cheryl reportedly tried to file a missing persons report with police last month after Rebecca stopped talking with family members, and police told her during the process she was admitted to a Baltimore hospital.

"I didn't even know that it was my daughter initially," she said. "As he got close enough, I saw it was her and I got hysterical because in that moment, it was sheer fear that my daughter was going to die. I still haven't watched all of the video."

The hospital has said in a statement it is conducting an internal review of the case.

“While there are many circumstances of this patient’s case that we cannot address publicly, in the end we clearly failed to fulfill our mission with this patient, no matter the circumstances of her case or the quality of the clinical care we provided in the hospital (which is not depicted in the video),” it said on Facebook earlier this week. “We are taking this matter very seriously, conducting a thorough review, and are evaluating the appropriate response, including the possibility of personnel action.”


**********************************************************************


“PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS BRIEFED ON THE FALSE ALARM SATURDAY, A WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL TOLD CBS NEWS. THE OFFICIAL SAID THE ALARM WAS "PURELY A STATE EXERCISE." THE REST OF THE ARTICLE CONTRADICTS THIS CLAIM THAT THE STATE OF HAWAII ISSUED A DRILL OR TEST, BUT THE POSSIBILITY OF A MALICIOUS HACK, PERHAPS BY THE PRESIDENT’S FRIEND PUTIN, LOOMS LARGE IN MY MIND. IF WE ARE, AS ONE ARTICLE STATED DURING THIS LAST YEAR, “AT WAR” BY MEANS OF CYBERATTACKS, WE CAN EXPECT THINGS LIKE THIS. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHICH WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL CLAIMED THAT. EASING THE UNNECESSARY TENSION WITH NORTH KOREA WOULD HELP A GREAT DEAL.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hawaii-missile-alert-emergency-management-system-false-ballistic-missile-warning-2018-1-13/
CBS/AP January 13, 2018, 6:34 PM
Hawaii missile alert: False alarm warns residents of "ballistic missile threat"

HONOLULU -- Hawaii emergency management officials said an alert sent to mobile phones and televisions warning of an incoming ballistic missile to Hawaii on Saturday was a false alarm. The emergency alert sent to cellphones said, "Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill."

Vern Miyagi, the administrator for the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA), said in a press conference around noon Hawaiian time that his team was responsible for the error. According to Miyagi, the error happened during a shift change and at 8:07 a.m., "the wrong button was pushed" during the internal drill.

According to Miyagi, by 8:10, officials started the recall and cancellation process -- but there is no way to stop messages that have already been sent out. At 8:13 a.m., the state warning point issued a cancellation to prevent any more messages from going out. By 8:24 a.m., Gov. David Ige retweeted a message of the cancellation message.

AP
An image of the false emergency alert sent from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency system on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018. CALEB JONES / AP

Although Ige said no one had authorized the use of the sirens, there were sirens.

Miyagi and Ige said they will be implementing changes to make sure it won't be a single individual and it will be at least two people sending out the alert. But Miyagi said there is a screen that says "are you sure you want to do this?"

"It's a human error we are going to fix," Miyagi said, but he warned his team has spent the past couple of months preparing for the worst-case scenario in case of nuclear weapons.

"The threat is there," Miyagi said. "If this goes out, there will be a 12-14 minute warning for an actual event."

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesman Richard Repoza said it's a false alarm and that the agency is trying to determine what happened.

The incident prompted defense agencies including the Pentagon and the U.S. Pacific Command to issue the same statement, that they had "detected no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii."

The alert broadcasted on television said: "If you are outdoors, seek immediate shelter in a building. Remain indoors well away from windows. If you are driving, pull safely to the side of the road and seek shelter in a nearby building or lie on the floor. We will announce when the threat has ended."

It took Hawaii emergency officials 38 minutes for residents to receive an alert notifying them the previous alert was a false alarm.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, joined CBSN on Saturday and said the false alarm may have been caused by "human error." Schatz said Hawaiians are happy to be safe and "everything got canceled in a very short period of time."

"We're taking a deep breath knowing that it was a false alarm," Schatz said. "What I am hearing, and I don't know for sure, is that it was human error. Regardless of whether it was human error, a glitch or a hack, whatever it was, it is totally unacceptable."

FCC launches investigation into Hawaii false missile warning

Schatz said a local school suffered terrible anxiety from the alert. He said officials shepherd children into a locker room and had them shelter in place. "The state's emergency management system needs to do much, much better, and there needs to be better accountability."

Schatz urged residents to "hug your family, jump in the ocean and then on Tuesday ask your government what they're going to do to make sure this never happens again."

The false alarm comes amid heightened tensions with North Korea as the rogue nation continues to test ballistic missiles.

President Trump was briefed on the false alarm Saturday, a White House official told CBS News. The official said the alarm was "purely a state exercise."

The false alarmed stirred panic across the island on Saturday.

Resident Malika Dudley told KGMB she was with her husband and children when she received the alert. "That was one of the scariest moments of my life, when something like this happens, you can't wait to find out if its a false alarm," Dudley said.

Jamie Malapit, owner of a Honolulu hair salon, canceled appointments with his clients and closed his shop for the day. He told The Associated Press he was still in bed when he received the alert on his phone.

"I woke up and saw missile warning and thought 'no way.' I thought 'No, this is not happening today,'" Malapit said. "I went from panic to semi panic and 'Are we sure?'"


© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



"BOTCHECK.ME"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/berkeley-students-battle-fake-news-with-bot-buster/
By JOHN BLACKSTONE CBS NEWS January 12, 2018, 6:43 PM
Berkeley students battle fake news with "bot buster"

BERKELEY, C.A. - At the University of California, Berkeley, two juniors studying computer science are battling fake news. "One of the things we wanted to see was where did this fake news originate from," said Rohan Phadte. "How did it become so popular?"

Digging deep into Twitter, Ash Bhat and Rohan Phadte found many of the most angry and partisan tweets, on both sides, come not from real people but from automated Twitter accounts known as bots.

Using artificial intelligence they created a bot buster -- "Botcheck.me" -- that anyone can use to check a Twitter account.

"You can just go in and click that and in a few seconds, we get a classification," said Bhat, as he demonstrated how the process works.

blackstone-bot-busters-pkg3-02.jpg
Ash Baht, left, and Rohan Phadte CBS NEWS

Then, "Botcheck.me" shows whether a tweet comes from a machine designed to spread fake news.

"These bots are like retweeting and amplifying voices in the Twitter community that otherwise would not be as amplified," said Bhat.

blackstone-bot-busters-pkg2-02.jpg
Botcheck.me in action on Twitter CBS NEWS

One person can put a tweet out and then put together their army of bots that throw it out across Twitter.

"It seems like all Twitter is saying it right," said Bhat. "It starts trending, you see hashtags like come up and it's a few individuals that are able to really push this trend."

How to keep your Twitter account authentic
How fake news becomes a popular, trending topic

Fake news stories about the 2016 election went viral, gaining readers and credibility -- calling into question Twitter's ability to monitor its platform. In a blog post, Twitter said it is battling the bots, catching "about 450,000 suspicious logins per day."

But the students said their bot buster is still helping users discover thousands of bots on Twitter.

"Initially, this was just a project that we were like, 'hey, this really annoys us,'" said Bhat. "Then all of a sudden we have thousands of daily active users that are using it every single day."

A pair of college students might not win the war against fake news, but they have given those battling to defend the truth a new weapon.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

John Blackstone
From his base in San Francisco, CBS News correspondent John Blackstone covers breaking stories throughout the West. That often means he is on the scene of wildfires, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and rumbling volcanoes. He also reports on the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley and on social and economic trends that frequently begin in the West.



DEMOCRATS ARE REAWAKENING, PERHAPS DUE TO THE SHOCK THAT A DONALD TRUMP COULD ACTUALLY BE ELECTED. I THINK WE’LL BE SEEING MORE OF THIS. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ralph-northam-sworn-in-as-virginia-governor/
CBS NEWS January 13, 2018, 1:15 PM
Ralph Northam sworn in as Virginia governor

Ralph Northam was sworn in as Virginia's governor Saturday, replacing now-former Gov. Terry McAuliffe. At a chilly ceremony in Richmond surrounded by his family and, further back, a number of former governors, Northam took the oath to become the Old Dominion's 73rd chief executive.

Northam, a Democrat, veteran and pediatrician who was previously the state's lieutenant governor, beat Republican Ed Gillespie for the seat in November.

Governors in Virginia cannot have two consecutive four-year terms, so McAuliffe, who was sworn in on a rainy January day four years ago, could not run again. McAuliffe, a Democrat with close ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, is being floated as a possible 2020 presidential candidate, especially since Clinton lost her presidential bid to President Trump.

Virginia Inauguration

Gov. Ralph Northam, right, and his wife, Pam, smile after he took the oath of office during inaugural ceremonies at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018. STEVE HELBER/AP

Virginia, a traditionally conservative state, has become more heavily Democrat in recent years, partly because of the explosive population growth of Northern Virginia outside Washington, D.C.

Local politics in Virginia garnered national interest in recent weeks when a contested statehouse race and the balance of power in the state's lower chamber rested on a single vote. Republican David Yancey beat Shelly Simonds in a state-officiated name drawing last week, meaning Republicans keep their slight edge in Virginia's House of Delegates.

— CBS News' Kathryn Watson contributed to this report

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



THIS IS INTERESTING, BUT I WONDER IF THERE IS REALLY ENOUGH ICE THERE FOR A COLONY TO EXIST. I THINK WE STILL SHOULD TRY TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING HERE SO WE’LL HAVE SOME TERRESTRIAL FRESH WATER IN 2030 OR WHENEVER THE EARTHLINGS MIGHT GET THERE. IT DOES MAKE ME WONDER HOWEVER IF THERE ARE SOME MICROBES STILL ALIVE IN THAT ICE. MICROBES HAVE BEEN FOUND IN GLACIAL ICE, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY. SEE: HTTPS://WWW.NBCNEWS.COM/SCIENCE/SCIENCE-NEWS/ITS-ALIVE-MICROBES-DISCOVERED-DEEP-BENEATH-ANTARCTIC-ICE-N185386 AND HTTP://WWW.BBC.COM/EARTH/STORY/20170504-THERE-ARE-DISEASES-HIDDEN-IN-ICE-AND-THEY-ARE-WAKING-UP.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/01/11/a-fantastic-find-mars-covered-in-thick-sheets-of-ice-just-below-the-surface/
Speaking of Science
'A fantastic find': Mars hides thick sheets of ice just below the surface
By Ben Guarino January 11, 2018

Photograph -- Mars. (NASA/AP)

The slope rises as high as London's Big Ben tower. Beneath its ruddy layer of dirt is a sheet of ice 300 feet thick that gives the landscape a blue-black hue. If such a scene sounds otherworldly, it is. To visit it, you'll have to travel to Mars.

Planetary scientists located eight of these geological features, called scarps, on the Red Planet. An analysis of the scarps revealed that thick ice hides just below the surface. This ice, the researchers say, could be a tempting target for future exploration — as well as a valuable resource for Earthlings camped out on Mars.

“We've found a new window into the ice for study, which we hope will be of interest to those interested in all aspects of ice on Mars and its history,” said Colin Dundas, a member of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Science Center in Arizona and an author of a report published Thursday in the journal Science.

It is not news that Mars is icy. In 2001, the Mars Odyssey spacecraft arrived at the planet and began snooping for chemical signatures of ice. The craft's gamma-ray spectrometer found telltale hydrogen, which indicated Mars had enormous amounts of ice. As much as a third of the Martian surface contains shallow ice. But remotely sensing elements such as hydrogen could not reveal the depth and makeup of the ice.

The newer Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mapped the surface in greater detail. Dundas and his colleagues used its pictures to locate exposed ice in small craters, glaciers and ice sheets. “The high-resolution data has greatly improved our understanding of various ice-related land forms,” he said.

These cliffs are “rare peeks into the subsurface of Mars, giving us access to an undisturbed slice through Mars's ice in the mid-latitudes — a fantastic find!” said Susan Conway, a planetary scientist at the University of Nantes in France who was not involved with this research.

A color-enhanced scarp on Mars, showing the icy region in blue. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/USGS)

Open University's Matt Balme, a planetary scientist in Britain who did not participate in this study, said the key findings were the color images of a bluish tint. That indicates a sub-layer that is “somehow compositionally different” than the red dirt. It is unlikely that the frozen sheets are a mix of water and soil. “If the conclusions of the paper are correct,” he said, “you’re looking at something that's almost pure ice.”

The scarps exist along the planet's middle latitudes, ruling out glaciers that migrated from the poles. The study authors propose that these ice sheets formed when thick snows blanketed Mars. Balme agreed that snowfall probably created the ice over a period of a few thousand years.

“We considered the possibility that we were seeing surface frost,” Dundas said, “but the ice signatures persist through the summer.” The buried ice revealed itself after the structures became unstable and expanded. Those cliffs formed through a process called sublimation, in which exposed ice turned directly into water vapor. Boulders and dust that rested on the ice suddenly had their foundation vanish into the atmosphere.

These slopes are unusually steep, Balme said, though he imagines that the scarps look similar to glacial moraines on Earth.

The sheets' proximity to the surface makes them accessible, in theory, to robot explorers. “This subsurface ice could contain valuable records of the Martian climate, just like the Greenland and Antarctic ice cores,” Conway said. In August, geochemists obtained 2.7-million-year-old ice samples from Antarctica — the oldest ever — and they plan to study air bubbles trapped within them to learn about Earth's prehistoric atmosphere.

And flesh-and-blood explorers might benefit, too (though the middle latitudes of Mars appear to be colder, less welcoming terrain than regions closer to the equator). “If we were to send humans to live on Mars for a substantial period of time, it would be a fantastic source of water,” Balme said. Astronauts living in the pits would have a vital raw material next door. All a thirsty astronaut would have to do would be to go at the scarp with a hammer and, presto, fresh Martian ice chips.



JUST FOR FUN – ALEX JONES AND ROBERT DAVID STEELE DISCUSS ISSUES. OF COURSE, A GOODLY NUMBER OF DONALD TRUMP’S FOLLOWERS ALSO FOLLOW BREITBART AND ALEX JONES, AND SOME PEOPLE DO BELIEVE THEIR TALES.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/01/no-alex-jones-nasa-is-not-hiding-kidnapped-children-on-mars-nasa-says/?utm_term=.540bc0eb5165
Speaking of Science
No, NASA is not hiding kidnapped children on Mars
By Peter Holley July 1, 2017

Photograph -- A photo from February shows a perspective view of the Mars north polar ice cap and its distinctive dark troughs forming a spiral-like pattern. The view is based on undated images taken by the ESA's Mars Express and generated using elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on board the Mars Global Surveyor mission of NASA. (Courtesy of the European Space Agency)

The situation for human beings on Mars is dire, and not just because the red planet's atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and the average temperature is -81 degrees.

There's also the issue of the child-trafficking ring operating in secret on the planet 33.9 million miles from earth, according to a guest on the Alex Jones Show.

“We actually believe that there is a colony on Mars that is populated by children who were kidnapped and sent into space on a 20-year ride,” Robert David Steele said Thursday during a winding, conspiratorial dialogue with Jones about child victims of sex crimes. “So that once they get to Mars they have no alternative but to be slaves on the Mars colony.”

[Megyn Kelly calls Alex Jones’s Sandy Hook views ‘revolting’ — but says interviewing him has value]

NASA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

But Guy Webster, a spokesman for Mars exploration at NASA, told the Daily Beast that rumors about live humans on Mars are false.

“There are no humans on Mars,” he said. “There are active rovers on Mars. There was a rumor going around last week that there weren’t. There are, but there are no humans.”

Jones is known for peddling elaborate and debunked conspiracy theories on his radio show, which airs on 118 stations around the country and reaches millions of listeners. The site had 4.5 million unique page views in the past month and more than 5 million from mid-April to mid-May, according to Quantcast. His YouTube channel has more than 2 million subscribers.

Among his most well-known accusations in recent years is that the December 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, in which 20 children and six adults were killed at a school in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax. Jones has claimed that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and, more recently, promoted the “Pizzagate” conspiracy, which alleged that Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign was linked to a child-sex ring operating from the basement of a suburban Washington D.C. pizzeria.

The theory originated on Reddit, where a user claimed hacked emails belonging to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta revealed evidence of an international child-sex ring. The key, the user alleged, was replacing the word “pizza” with “little boy.”

From that moment, the conspiracy theory took on a life of its own, culminating in a North Carolina man firing a military-style assault rifle inside the restaurant in December. Edgar Maddison Welch told investigators he was there to save abused children. Instead, he pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges in March and was sentenced to four years in prison last month.

Confronted about his Sandy Hook allegations during a controversial interview with NBC's Megyn Kelly last month, Jones hedged.

“I tend to believe that children probably did die there,” he told the anchor. “But then you look at all the other evidence on the other side. I can see how other people believe that nobody died there.”

On Thursday’s Infowars broadcast, Steele appeared to connect the kidnapped children being held captive on Mars to pedophile rings who allegedly use children for their youthful body parts and energy.

“Pedophilia does not stop with sodomizing children,” Steele said. “It goes straight into terrorizing them to adrenalize their blood and then murdering them. It also includes murdering them so that they can have their bone marrow harvested as well as body parts.”

“This is the original growth hormone,” Jones said.

“Yes, it's an anti-aging thing,” Steele replied.

MORE READING:
Controversial pesticides may threaten queen bees. Alternatives could be worse.
A mysterious underwater forest warns of Earth’s rapidly changing climate
This bizarre ancient creature mystified Darwin. Now we finally know what it was.


MADDOW WORLD

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/12/18
White House mired in crisis as Russian hackers target U.S. Senate
A White House that can't even organize a conference call is struggling to keep up with the more-than-daily crises created by Donald Trump, plus, past crises like alleged affairs with porn stars, while Russian hackers remain undeterred. Rachel Maddow reports. Duration: 16:42


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/12/18
Sen. Kamala Harris: Trump's comments simply irresponsible
Senator Kamala Harris talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump's racist remarks about sources of U.S. immigration, and about the plight of DACA recipients to whom the United States made a promise that Trump intends to break. Duration: 9:30


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/12/18
Senator Harris: Robert Mueller's authority must be preserved
Senator Kamala Harris talks with Rachel Maddow about the Trump Russia investigation and why she can't think about things like 2020 while the fate of DACA recipients hangs in the balance. Duration: 5:55


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/12/18
Trump lawyer paid porn star Stormy Daniels to hide affair: WSJ
Michael Rothfeld, financial investigations reporter for The Wall Street Journal, talks with Rachel Maddow about his reporting that Donald Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about a sexual affair she'd had with Trump. Duration: 4:28


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/11/18
Offensive Trump statements may undo racist Trump policies
Rachel Maddow reports on Donald Trump's characterization of some sources of immigration as "shithole countries" and notes that Donald Trump's racist remarks are being used in many court cases to overturn some of his most radical, racist policies. Duration: 23:16


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/11/18
California A.G. Becerra: We used Trump's remarks against him
Xavier Becerra, California attorney general, talks with Rachel Maddow about how Donald Trump's racist remarks and tweets can be used as evidence in court to block some of his racist policies. Duration: 6:13


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/9/18
Trump aide pitched US troop withdrawal to please Putin: report
Rachel Maddow shares a Daily Beast report that a member of Donald Trump's National Security Council, Kevin Harrington, proposed removing U.S. troops from Baltic states as means of currying favor with Putin. Duration: 5:03