January 24, 2018


News and Views


TODAY’S BLOG CONTAINS EIGHT NEWS ARTICLES AND SEVERAL WIKIPEDIA OR OTHER ADD-ONS, RATHER THAN THE SIX THAT I AIM FOR, SO I WILL COMMENT VERY LITTLE. ALL THE ARTICLES HAVE CONSIDERABLE INTEREST VALUE TO ME, SO SIFT THROUGH THEM AS YOU WISH.

TURKEY AND SYRIA SIDE AGAINST THE US AND THE KURDS

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/turkey-announces-expansion-of-anti-kurdish-military-offensive-in-afrin-province/
AP January 24, 2018, 11:18 AM
Turkey expands offensive against Kurds in Syria

Photograph -- Turkish tanks are parked near the Syrian border at Hassa, in Hatay province on January 24, 2018, as part of the operation "Olive Branch", launched a few days ago. The operation aims to oust the YPG, which Turkey considers to be a terror group, from its enclave of Afrin. AFP/GETTY IMAGES/OZAN KOSE

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's president on Wednesday vowed to expand its operation against Kurdish forces in northern Syria toward the town of Manbij, which would bring Turkish troops and their Syrian allies closer to U.S. forces supporting the Kurds against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

A senior U.S. official said Washington is concerned that Turkey's military offensive against the Afrin enclave could distract from the fight against ISIS and be exploited by extremists to re-supply or create safe havens.

TURKEY-SYRIA-CONFLICT-KURDS
Syrian opposition fighters walk through Syria in front of Turkish troops near the Syrian border at Hassa, Hatay province, on January 22, 2018. GETTY

The official told a handful of reporters in Ankara on Wednesday that the Syrian Kurdish fighters in Afrin are not part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which drove ISIS from much of northeastern Syria with the help of the U.S.-led coalition.

Regarding threats to expand the offensive to Manbij, the official said Washington's "number one concern is the safety and security of troops in the vicinity." U.S. forces are based in Kurdish-held parts of northeastern Syria, including near Manbij, but not in or near Afrin.

Turkey launched an incursion Saturday against Afrin, which is controlled by a Kurdish militia known as the People's Defense Units, or YPG. Ankara views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency in Turkey. The YPG forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Any move toward Manbij would bring NATO member Turkey and its Syrian allies closer to U.S. forces, threatening friction. The U.S. has urged Turkey to exercise restraint.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday vowed to "foil games along our borders starting from Manbij."

"We will clean our region from this trouble completely," he told officials at a meeting in Ankara. "This operation will continue until the last member of the terror organization is neutralized."

Kurdish forces captured Manbij, which is west of the Euphrates River, from ISIS in 2016 with the help of the U.S.-led coalition. Turkey has long demanded that the Kurdish fighters withdraw to the eastern bank of the river, and U.S. forces have patrolled the area to reduce tensions.

The head of the Kurdish-controlled Manbij military council, Shervan Darwish, said his forces are prepared for a potential Turkish advance. He said the U.S. helped Kurdish fighters to liberate Manbij and has promised to keep defending it.

"Their presence has been to ensure the stability in Manbij," he said of U.S. troops. "Their patrols are continuing and also air patrols. They are present with us on the front lines."

Kurds plead for help in ISIS fight

The advancing Turkish troops are facing stiff resistance in Afrin. Activists and Kurdish officials say airstrikes are still raining down on several parts of the district, which borders Turkey. On Wednesday, Kurdish officials said airstrikes hit in the vicinity of the Nissan 17 Dam, which provides power and water to the area, without damaging it.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that monitors the civil war, reported airstrikes in nearly 20 villages. The YPG said it infiltrated behind Turkish lines east of Afrin and targeted their bases.

The United Nations says an estimated 5,000 people have been displaced inside the encircled enclave, and that Kurdish forces are not allowing civilians to leave.

Erdogan said Turkish troops and allied fighters have killed at least 268 Syrian Kurdish fighters since the operation began. He said Turkish troops have suffered seven or eight losses.

Turkey says it wants to create a 30 kilometer (20-mile) deep "secure zone" in Afrin. Erdogan said the operation would allow Syrian refugees to return home. Turkey is home to more than 3.4 million Syrian refugees.

At least 27 civilians have been killed in the fighting in Afrin, mainly in Turkish airstrikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that monitors the civil war.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday that the fighting "disrupts what was a relatively stable area of Syria" and "distracts from the international efforts to ensure the defeat of ISIS," using another acronym for the extremist group.

Addressing Turkish complaints that the United States has not kept to its promises to take back weapons supplied to the Syrian Kurdish fighters, the U.S. official in Ankara said Washington intended to "fulfil the commitment," without providing a time frame.

A second U.S. official denied Turkish government claims the U.S. had delivered thousands of trucks of weapons to the Syrian Kurdish forces, saying the bulk of the supplies went to U.S. forces and also included ammunition, food and humanitarian supplies.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

ISIS has been driven from nearly all the territory it once controlled in Syria and neighboring Iraq, but the extremist group has proven resilient after past defeats, and is still launching insurgent-style attacks.

Russia meanwhile accused the United States of promoting unverified reports about chemical weapons attacks in Syria in order to cloud Moscow's latest peace initiative, while the Syrian government dismissed the reports as "lies."

The United States and 28 other countries are launching a new plan to better identify and punish anyone who uses chemical weapons, amid reports of a suspected gas attack in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus earlier this week.

In an interview with the Interfax news agency, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accused the U.S. of promoting "rigged, unverified reports" to hamper Russian peace efforts.

Russia is hosting peace talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi next week that some Syrian opposition figures said will run counter to U.N. peace initiatives.

The U.S. and Russia reached an agreement in 2013 to remove all chemical weapons from Syria, but there have been several reported chemical attacks since then, including one last year that led President Donald Trump to order a retaliatory missile attack on a Syrian air base.

© 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



“... CLONING HAS A FAILURE RATE OF AT LEAST 90 PERCENT ....” I CAN’T SEE THE RIGHT TO LIFE PEOPLE BACKING THIS. NEITHER WOULD I.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/researchers-use-cloning-method-to-create-two-healthy-monkeys/
AP January 24, 2018, 1:00 PM
Researchers clone two healthy monkeys -- are humans next?

Photograph -- In this undated photo provided by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, cloned monkeys Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua sit together with a fabric toy. For the first time, researchers have used the cloning method that produced Dolly the sheep to create two healthy monkeys, potentially bringing scientists closer to being able to do that with humans. SUN QIANG AND POO MUMING / AP

NEW YORK -- For the first time, researchers have used the cloning method that produced Dolly the sheep to create two healthy monkeys, bringing science an important step closer to being able to do the same with humans. Since Dolly's birth in 1996, scientists have cloned nearly two dozen kinds of mammals, including dogs, cats, pigs, cows and polo ponies, and have also created human embryos with this method.

But until now, they have been unable to make babies this way in primates, the category that includes monkeys, apes and people.

Couple pays almost $100,000 to clone late dog
"The barrier of cloning primate species is now overcome," declared Muming Poo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.

He and colleagues announced their success with macaques in a paper released Wednesday by the journal Cell. The female baby monkeys, about 7 and 8 weeks old, are named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua.

"It's been a long road," said one scientist who tried and failed to make monkeys and was not involved in the new research, Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health & Science University. "Finally, they did it."

In principle, Poo said, the feat means humans can be cloned. But he said his team has no intention of doing that. Mainstream scientists generally oppose making human babies by cloning, and Poo said society would ban it for ethical reasons.

Instead, he said, the goal is to create lots of genetically identical monkeys for use in medical research, where they would be particularly valuable because they are more like humans than other lab animals such as mice or rats.

The process is still very inefficient — it took 127 eggs to get the two babies — and so far it has succeeded only by starting with a monkey fetus. The scientists failed to produce healthy babies from an adult monkey, though they are still trying. Dolly caused a sensation because she was the first mammal cloned from an adult.

ap-9702230815-promo-crop.jpg
1997 photo of Dolly the sheep, the world's first clone of an adult animal. Dolly, seen here at age 7 months, was developed by a team of scientists at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland. AP PHOTO/PA/FILE

The procedure was technically challenging. Essentially, the Chinese scientists removed the DNA-containing nucleus from monkey eggs and replaced it with DNA from the monkey fetus. These reconstituted eggs grew and divided, finally becoming an early embryo, which was then placed into female monkeys to grow to birth.

The scientists implanted 79 embryos to produce the two babies. Still, the approach succeeded where others had failed. Poo said that was because of improvements in lab techniques and because researchers added two substances that helped reprogram the DNA from the fetus. That let the DNA abandon its job in the fetus, which involves things like helping to make collagen, and take on the new task of creating an entire monkey.

The Chinese researchers said cloning of fetal cells could be combined with gene editing techniques to produce large numbers of monkeys with certain genetic defects that cause disease in people. The animals could then be used to study such diseases and test treatments. The researchers said their initial targets will be Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Mitalipov, noting the Chinese failed to produce healthy babies from adult cells, said he suspects attempts to clone babies from a human adult would also fail. "I don't think it would be advisable to anyone to even think about it," he said.

Jose Cibelli, a scientist at Michigan State University, said it might be technically possible someday, but "criminal" to try now because of the suffering caused by the many lost pregnancies the process entails.

If the procedure became efficient enough in monkeys, he said, society could face "a big ethical dilemma" over whether to adapt it for humans. The key step of transferring DNA might be combined with gene editing to correct genetic disorders in embryos, allowing healthy babies to be born, he said.

Of course, the familiar image of human cloning involves making a copy of someone already born. That might be possible someday, but "I don't think it should be pursued," said researcher Dieter Egli of Columbia University. "I can't think of a strong benefit."

Henry Greely, a Stanford University law professor who specializes in the implications of biomedical technologies, said the strongest argument he can think of would be the desire of grieving parents to produce a genetic duplicate of a dead child. But he doubts that's a compelling enough reason to undertake the extensive and costly effort needed to get such a procedure approved, at least for "decades and decades."

Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, California, called it unethical to subject that new child to "the psychological and emotional risks of living under the shadow of its genetic predecessor." Human cloning could also require many women to donate eggs and to serve as surrogates, she said.

At the moment, because of safety concerns, federal regulators in the U.S. would not allow making a human baby by cloning, and international scientific groups also oppose it, said biomedical ethics expert Insoo Hyun of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals condemned the monkey-cloning experiments.

"Cloning is a horror show: a waste of lives, time and money - and the suffering that such experiments cause is unimaginable," PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo said in a statement. "Because cloning has a failure rate of at least 90 percent, these two monkeys represent misery and death on an enormous scale."

© 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


ON AIRPLANES, THIS HAS BEEN CRITICIZED BECAUSE SOME PETS BITE, SCRATCH OR URINATE ON THE FLOOR. BAD DOGGY! HOWEVER, IN THESE CLASSROOMS, THEY ARE THE ANSWER TO A PERENNIAL PROBLEM. TEACHERS DON’T HAVE TO KEEP REPRIMANDED STUDENTS. THE DOGS KEEP THEM SOOTHED. REALLY? NO JOKE!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-comfort-dogs-are-transforming-new-york-city-classrooms/
CBS NEWS January 24, 2018, 12:01 PM
How "comfort dogs" are improving behavior in New York City classrooms

Every morning, Principal Kevyn Bowles walks Brightly from his home to New Bridges Elementary School in Brooklyn. Brightly is part of a program in New York City schools called Mutt-i-grees.

Schools adopts rescue animals, which live with a school administrator, and during the day they are embedded into school life. They do everything from curbing conflict, to motivating students, to offering puppy love, reports CBS News' Bianna Golodryga.

"There are teachers who have explicitly said 'I love Brightly so much because she reminds me of the students we have to care about the most,'" Bowles said.

Brightly is the more rambunctious of the two rescue-dogs-turned-comfort-canines who have transformed the learning experience for students like third grader Akeelah Allen.

"I love kissing them. They're so cute," Akeelah said. They also make her feel better.

The curriculum was developed by Yale University and New York's North Shore Animal League. The program was expanded to 42 New York City schools this year.

ctm-012418-muttigrees-4.jpg
Brightly is one of New Bridges Elementary School's two comfort dogs. CBS NEWS

Of these non-humans, Shine is the calmer, mellower dog. She greets students in the morning, attends school assemblies and serves as a reading buddy.

"And, Shine, we call the elder statesman of the two," Bowles said. "She'll just snuggle up next to you on the carpet in the classroom and you could read to her for hours. So they each bring a little different personality to the mix."

These furry, four-legged friends and others like them started roaming school halls at the suggestion of a student council. A fifth grader told a New York City official that students were "angry for no reason" and that dogs could help. For Bowles, the pets are a way to bolster culture and community at his school.

He said there was some apprehension at the beginning, with concerns about allergies and students who are afraid of dogs.

"Some of the kids who were actually afraid of dogs…have come to love the dogs," Bowles said.

Fifth grader Tyrese Butts remembers what class was like without the bushy-tailed companions.

"Fourth grade was kinda weird 'cause all the kids were mean and not following direction. And then when everybody came to fifth grade and Shine and Brightly was here, they all just acted different and started being happy and being nice to each other," Tyrese said.

ctm-012418-muttigrees-2.jpg
Shine, New Bridges Elementary School's other therapy dog sits with students as they read. CBS NEWS

Play time with the dogs is used as an incentive for good behavior.

"We have some really challenging behaviors at our school, as every school does, and seeing certain students who now have individualized behavior plans, where if they meet certain goals each day, they get to come and see me and spend time with the dog has brought a real sense of purpose to those students' days in which they spend the morning trying to earn time with the dog, and then after they spend time with the dog, they are calm and positive for the rest of the day," Bowles said.

The dogs teach kids about responsibility, empathy, and making connections. Across New York City, 95 percent of participating educators say the canines have reduced emotional distress among students.

Shine and Brightly possess the qualities inherent in the best social workers: warmth and unconditional love.

A preliminary evaluation of the program conducted by Yale University reveals that 90 percent of participating educators reported improved student behavior. Seventy-nine percent said the dogs increased student interest in school and researchers are hopeful this success might one day be reflected in academic achievement.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


A SLAVE SHIP? THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH IS EXOTIC, MORE THAN A LITTLE EVIL, AND EXCITING. FROM THE “ROOT” DOCTORS IN THE BAYEUX TO THE “GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC,” WHICH IS THE TREACHEROUS NORTH CAROLINA COAST, WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD THAT COMBINATION OF EXCITEMENT AND BEAUTY. NC HAS MANY SHIPWRECKS, AND IS THE HOME OF THE FAMOUS PIRATE BLACK BEARD. THE OUTER BANKS EXTEND OUTWARD TOO FAR AND ARE TOO CLOSE TOGETHER TO BE SAFE FOR SHIPS IN THOSE DAYS, AND PERHAPS TODAY AS WELL.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-clotilda-last-vessel-slaves-us-newly-discovered-wreck/
CBS/AP January 24, 2018, 12:52 PM
Newly discovered wreck may be last ship to bring slaves to U.S.

MOBILE, Ala. -- Researchers say remnants of a wooden ship found embedded in mud in a river delta in southwestern Alabama may be the Clotilda, the last vessel to bring slaves to the United States nearly 160 years ago. The wreck, which is normally covered by water in the lower Mobile-Tensaw Delta, was recently exposed by unusually low tides and located by a reporter for Al.com who covers the environment and conservation on the coast, Ben Raines.

Experts told Al.com the ship remnants could be the Clotilda, which was burned after delivering captives from what is now the west African nation of Benin to Mobile in 1860, based upon where Raines found it and the way it was built.

"You can definitely say maybe, and maybe even a little bit stronger, because the location is right, the construction seems to be right, from the proper time period, it appears to be burnt. So I'd say very compelling, for sure," said Greg Cook, a University of West Florida archaeologist who examined the wreck.

The Clotilda arrived in Mobile with as many as 160 slaves, CBS affiliate WKRG-TV reports. But federal authorities caught wind of the illegal venture. The captain off-loaded his cargo onto a riverboat and set the Clotilda ablaze and adrift.

The Africans went into slavery in various locations, but after the Civil War they were freed. A group asked one Mobile landowner, Timothy Meaher, for some land. That group settled there in what they called Africatown, WKRG-TV reports.

"What I hope is finding the ship, if this is it, gives people a reason, one, to investigate a little more, to pay attention to Africatown," Raines told the station.

This aerial photo taken Jan. 2, 2018, in Mobile County, Ala., shows the remains of a ship that could be the Clotilda, the last slave ship documented to have delivered captive Africans to the United States.
This aerial photo taken Jan. 2, 2018, in Mobile County, Ala., shows the remains of a ship that could be the Clotilda, the last slave ship documented to have delivered captive Africans to the United States. BEN RAINES/AL.COM VIA AP
John Bratten, who works with Cook exploring shipwrecks, said there was "nothing here to say this isn't the Clotilda, and several things that say it might be."

One key element is the location of the wreck: It's essentially where the Clotilda's captain, William Foster, wrote that he burned and sank the ship in 1860, the year before the start of the Civil War. The wreck shows evidence of damage from fire, and the vessel was constructed using techniques of the mid-1800s, when the Clotilda was built.

President Thomas Jefferson signed a law in 1807 forbidding the importation of slaves, but slavery remained the linchpin of the Southern farm economy for decades more. Mobile was a prime port on the Gulf Coast with river access to the cotton-growing plantations upstream.

The Clotilda, a two-masted schooner, set out for Africa on a bet by an Alabama steamboat captain and plantation owner who wanted to show he could sneak slaves into the country despite federal troops stationed at forts that guarded the mouth of Mobile Bay.

Most of the wreck lies in mud, and Cook said further study, including excavation, is needed to verify the ship is the Clotilda. Cook said the first step is to gather input from the Alabama Historical Commission, other state officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Ultimately, the goal would be to identify the wreck and perhaps put any artifacts on display.

"If it turns out to be the last slaver, it is going to be a very powerful site for many reasons. The structure of the vessel itself is not as important as its history, and the impact it is going to have on many, many people," he 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 I REALLY NEED TO KNOW ALL THIS? THERE’S NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT, AND I KNOW THE CONGRESS AND SENATE WILL DO WHAT THEY NEED TO DO TO KEEP THEIR SEATS. YES. IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR THESE YOUNG IMMIGRANTS, ILLEGAL OR NO. UNFORTUNATELY FOR THEM, THE DREAM ACT IS NOT IN FORCE YET, NOR CAN DACA BE EXPECTED TO LAST MUCH LONGER. THE WRANGLING NOW IS OVER WHETHER TRUMP WILL, IN GOOD FAITH, TRADE DACA FOR THE MUCH DESIRED BORDER WALL. MALICIOUSLY, HE HAS SYSTEMATICALLY GONE ABOUT KILLING ALL OF OBAMA’S HUMANE ACTIONS. HUMANE ACTIONS ARE “PERMISSIVE” TO THE REPUBLICAN MIND, AND “TOO EXPENSIVE,” WHILE GIVING A CONSTANT FLOW OF “CORPORATE WELFARE” IS NOT. YOU WILL NOTICE THAT CERTAIN REPUBLICANS BELOW ARE BEHIND KEEPING DACA AFLOAT. THAT’S A GREAT THING. THIS IS THE LATEST ON THE MATTER: “ON JANUARY 13, 2018, THE GOVERNMENT STATED THAT IT WOULD IMMEDIATELY RESUME APPROVING DACA RENEWAL APPLICATIONS.[124]”

FOR AN UP-TO-DATE SUMMARY OF LEGISLATORS’ COMMENTS ON DACA MATTERS, GO TO HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/DEFERRED_ACTION_FOR_CHILDHOOD_ARRIVALS. HERE IS A CLIP FROM THE ARTICLE THAT UPDATES THE DACA SITUATION TO THE PRESENT. DACA ISN’T DEAD, BUT IT IS ON LIFE SUPPORT, SO DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS OF GOOD CONSCIENCE NEED TO ACT. SEE THE FOLLOWING:

“On June 16, 2017, the United States Department of Homeland Security announced that it intended to repeal the executive order by the Barack Obama administration that expanded the DACA program, though the DACA program's overall existence would continue to be reviewed.[100]

On September 5, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the program is being repealed. Sessions said that the DACA-eligible individuals were lawbreakers who adversely impacted the wages and employment of native-born Americans.[101] Sessions also attributed DACA as a leading cause behind the surge in unaccompanied minors coming to the United States from Central America.[101] Trump said that "virtually all" "top legal experts" believed that DACA was unconstitutional.[101]

Fact-checkers have said that only a few economists believe that DACA adversely affects native-born workers, that there is scant evidence that DACA caused the surge in unaccompanied minors, and that it is false that all "top legal experts" believe DACA to be unconstitutional.[13][102]

Sessions added that implementation would be suspended for six months; DACA status and Employment Authorization Documents ("EAD") that expire during the next six months would continue to be renewed. DACA recipients with a work permit set to expire on or before March 5, 2018 would have the opportunity to apply for a two-year renewal if their application was received by USCIS by October 5, 2017.[103] In a follow-up statement, Trump said "It is now time for Congress to act!"[3] The approximately 800,000 immigrants who qualified enrolled in DACA will become eligible for deportation by the end of those six months.[101] A White House memo said that DACA recipients should "use the time remaining on their work authorizations to prepare for and arrange their departure from the United States."[104]

Reaction

Protesters outside Trump Tower in New York City, September 5, 2017
Protesters in San Francisco, September 5, 2017

According to the New York Times, "Democrats and some Republicans, business executives, college presidents and immigration activists condemned the repeal as a coldhearted and shortsighted effort that was unfair to the young immigrants and could harm the economy."[101] Former President Obama condemned the repeal as "cruel" and wrote:[105]

“They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants. They may not know a country besides ours. They may not even know a language besides English. They often have no idea they're undocumented until they apply for a job, or college, or a driver's license... Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn't threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us... Kicking them out won't lower the unemployment rate, or lighten anyone's taxes, or raise anybody's wages.”

The reaction was mixed among Republicans.[106] Several senior Republicans praised Trump's action, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Ron Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.[107]

Other Republicans, including Senator John McCain, Senator Jeff Flake, and Representative Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, condemned the Trump Administration's choice to rescind the executive order.[107] In a released statement Senator McCain said:[108]

“I strongly believe that children who were illegally brought into this country through no fault of their own should not be forced to return to a country they do not know. The 800,000 innocent young people granted deferred action under DACA over the last several years are pursuing degrees, starting careers, and contributing to our communities in important ways. While I disagreed with President Obama’s unilateral action on this issue, I believe that rescinding DACA at this time is an unacceptable reversal of the promises and opportunities that have been conferred to these individuals.”

Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Anti-Defamation League, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce condemned the repeal.[109] A number of religious organizations condemned the repeal, with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops describing it as "reprehensible". The Catholic University of Notre Dame also urged the president to not resciend [sic] DACA and announced it would stand by those affected.[110]The United Methodist Church said it was "not only unconscionable, but contrary to moral work and witness," and the Evangelical Lutheran Church called on its members to "pray today for those that will suffer undue repercussions due to the end of this program."[111] Asked about Trump's decision to rescind DACA, Pope Francis said that if Trump is truly "pro-life", he "he will understand that the family is the cradle of life and that it must be defended as a unit."[112]

Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, endorsed Trump's repeal.[111]

The September 2017 announcement sparked protests in many cities including Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Los Angeles. At a September 5 protest in New York outside of Trump Tower, more than 30 protesters were arrested.[113] On September 19, more protesters were arrested outside Trump Tower, including Democratic congressmen Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois, and Adriano Espaillat of New York.[114]

Legal challenges

See also: New York v. Trump and Regents of University of California v. United States Department of Homeland Security

The rescission was challenged in court by different entities. On September 6, 2017, for instance, fifteen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit, titled New York v. Trump, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York seeking to stop the repeal.[115] A few days later, the California attorney general, Xavier Becerra, filed a separate lawsuit, which was joined by the states of Maine, Minnesota, and Maryland. Becerra stated that, as a quarter of the people in the DACA program live in California, he thinks that "everyone recognizes the scope and breadth of the Trump decision to terminate DACA hits hardest here."[116] Not only have State Government's filled suit, but also six DREAMERs have filed suit against Trump in San Francisco.[117] The University of California, which currently has approximately 4,000 undocumented students, has also filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security which was filed in the Northern District of California.[118] Janet Napolitano, president of the UC system, called the rescission of DACA, “unconstitutional, unjust, and unlawful".

In a released statement Napolitano said:

“I am deeply troubled by President Trump’s decision to effectively end the DACA program and uproot the lives of an estimated 800,000 Dreamers across the nation. This backward-thinking, far-reaching move threatens to separate families and derail the futures of some of this country’s brightest young minds, thousands of whom currently attend or have graduated from the University of California.[119]”

On December 20, 2017, the Supreme Court remanded five DACA cases originally filed in the Northern District of California back to the Ninth District Court of Appeals. This action stops the district court's order to deliver documents to the plaintiffs.[120][121]

On January 9, 2018, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California temporarily blocked the rescission of the DACA program, ordering the government to renew DACA until further order of the court.[122][123] On January 13, 2018, the government stated that it would immediately resume approving DACA renewal applications.[124]

PROPOSED RESPONSES TO THE DACA REPEAL

DREAM ACT: Proposed by Sens. Graham and Durbin, the DREAM Act offers protections to illegal immigrants similar to DACA, as well as offering a path to citizenship.[125]

RECOGNIZING AMERICA'S CHILDREN ACT: Proposed by Rep. Curbelo, RAC offers a pathway to legalization through education, military service, or work authorization. After 10 years in this program, immigrants could apply for citizenship.[126]

THE AMERICAN HOPE ACT: Proposed by Rep. Gutiérrez, this act offers an expedited path to citizenship that is attainable in eight years, but the immigrant must have entered the US before the age of eighteen.[127]

BRIDGE ACT: Proposed by Rep. Coffman, this bill extends the DACA program by three years, allowing more time to discuss comprehensive immigration reform.[128]


TODAY’S CBS NEWS ARTICLE ON DACA

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/daca-what-you-need-to-know/
CBS NEWS January 24, 2018, 6:00 AM
DACA: What you need to know

The government is open again, and now the fight begins over securing the fate of several hundred thousand immigrants known as Dreamers. To end the shutdown, Democrats exacted a promise from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring a legislative fix for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients (DACA) to the floor on Feb. 8, if government remains open (that's when the new short-term spending bill expires).

Congress will now try and come up with a solution for the undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, in balance with upgrades in border security. Here are some of the questions about DACA and about the challenges ahead:

What's next?

The current spending deal ends on Feb. 8, and Democrats are hoping to have a DACA vote before then, in keeping with McConnell's promise on the Senate floor.

The key for immigration moderates and Democrats is to figure out a bill that not only crosses the Senate's 60-vote threshold but proves so popular that it brings the White House on board, too. If President Trump backs a Senate deal, the thinking goes, it will be a lot easier to move something through the House, although the administration has shied away from backing any of the possible compromises floated so far.

But immigration restrictionists are hoping an immigration deal can emerge from the House and be passed in conference. House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows told CNN that he wants a bill "as conservative as it could possibly be" to emerge from the House and then head to the Senate.

Keeping DACA in exchange for more border security is the basic outline of what a compromise would look like. But what matters is the specifics, such as the money allocated to securing the border and whether funds for a wall would be part of that package. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he offered the White House money for wall funding on Friday as part of a deal, but retracted the offer on Sunday because of Mr. Trump's reluctance to accept the offer.

Conservatives are expected to push hard for wall funding, a major priority of the White House, although any funding is likely to run into stiff opposition from liberals.

Who are the DACA recipients? How many are there?

Some immigrants became qualified for DACA in July 2012, when then-President Barack Obama announced he was signing an executive order directing the DOJ to defer legal action against some immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as minors and allow them to work or go to school in the U.S. on two-year renewable permits.

"They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper," Obama said when he made the announcement from the White House Rose garden.

The classification did not grant those individuals permanent legal status, but it did keep them from being forced to leave the country they were raised in, and for many, the only country they had really known. As of September, there were 689,000 DACA recipients, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The profile of DACA recipients in the U.S. complied [sic] by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) reveals a little more about who DACA recipients are and what they do. They are, according to MPI, largely middle-skilled and enrolled in school or employed across a wide range of occupations.

20 percent are still in secondary school; 44 percent have finished secondary school but haven't enrolled in college, compared to 19 percent in the general population; 18 percent are in college but haven't graduated.
64 percent are in the labor force and 55 percent are working; 8 percent are unemployed
89,000 are in arts, entertainment, food services
54,000 work in retail
Almost 14,000 work in real estate or financial services
About 9,000 are teachers or education professionals
Some 14,000 are in health care practitioner or support jobs
The vast majority of DACA recipients hail from Mexico — more than 79 percent, or 548,000. More DACA recipients live in California than any other state.

How old are DACA recipients? What qualifies them for DACA status?

They were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012, so the oldest are in their late thirties today. They had to have come to the U.S. before reaching their 16th birthdays and also must have continuously lived in the U.S. since June 2007 until the present.

DACA recipients also needed to have been physically in the U.S. on June 15, 2012, just before Obama announced the program. Participants have to be in school or have to have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States.

And they must also not have been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more other misdemeanors, and they may not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.

What's the difference between a DACA recipient and a DREAMer?

DACA and the the DREAM Act*, which stands for "Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors," are similar in their aim to offer protection from deportation to people brought to the United States illegally by their parents as children, but DACA was an executive action by the president and the DREAM Act is a congressional measure.

Obama signed the executive order creating DACA in 2012, while Congress has seen different drafts of the DREAM Act for 16 years. The most recent version was introduced in July 2017 as a bill in the Senate with an identical bill coming shortly after in the House.

What's the March 5 deadline?

Under the Homeland Security (DHS) guidelines rolled out in Sept. 2017, immigrants holding DACA permits expiring between Sept. 5, 2017 and March 5, 2018 could apply for a two-year year renewal until Oct. 5 2017. However, a federal court injunction in January meant that the Trump administration must keep DACA in place for now, so Immigration Services is allowing applications again. The Trump administration has appealed the injunction to the Supreme Court, but at this point, the DACA program is operating as it was before Mr. Trump acted to end the program in September.

Will DACA recipients be deported after March 5?

DHS says that the U.S. isn't going to change the way it prioritizes its deportations. So, criminal aliens would still be the top priority, and officials at DHS say they don't plan to target people outside those parameters. However, when White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked whether DACA recipients would be deported if no deal can be reached, she wouldn't directly answer the question, saying only that the White House wants a "permanent solution to DACA," and it's up to Congress to get the legislation done.

Administration officials also said when the program was ending that those who were in the U.S. illegally should be prepared not to be in the U.S. any longer.

What's on the table?

It's hard to say right now. After the shutdown, some ideas that were floated appear to have been removed, for now, anyway. One example -- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he placed border wall funding on the table, hoping for a solution to DACA. But Mr. Trump, according to Schumer, ultimately did not consider that offer, and that was before the government shutdown over the weekend. Schumer never said how much in funding he offered.

This week Schumer said border wall funding is no longer on the table. The president disagrees, stating in a tweet Tuesday that "if there is no wall, there is no DACA."

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/956015565776277510


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Cryin’ Chuck Schumer fully understands, especially after his humiliating defeat, that if there is no Wall, there is no DACA. We must have safety and security, together with a strong Military, for our great people!

11:07 PM - Jan 23, 2018
39,925 39,925 Replies 30,361 30,361 Retweets 121,527 121,527 likes
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"I CAN'T THINK OF ANY SITUATION WHERE IT'S APPROPRIATE TO SHOOT A HOMEOWNER WHO IS ON THE PHONE WITH 911."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/s-c-deputy-who-shot-paralyzed-911-caller-wont-be-charged/
By CRIMESIDER STAFF AP January 24, 2018, 10:51 AM
S.C. deputy who shot, paralyzed 911 caller won't be charged

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The South Carolina Attorney General's Office says it won't prosecute a white sheriff's deputy who shot and paralyzed a black 911 caller after mistaking him for a burglar in 2015.

Investigators concluded that Charleston County Deputy Keith Tyner acted appropriately in response to an apparent deadly threat and that there isn't enough evidence for criminal prosecution, Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Heather Weiss said in a letter to state investigators Friday.

The deputy was cleared by an internal investigation and returned to duty. Bryant Heyward now relies on his mother for round-the-clock care, The Post and Courier of Charleston reported.

Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

Heyward told investigators he had called 911 because two men were trying to break into the house he shares with his mother and brother in the rural community of Hollywood, South Carolina.

Heyward, then 26, had used a gun to defend himself during the incident but didn't drop it before help arrived, the newspaper reported.

Tyner who responded to the 911 call, shouted commands at Heyward before firing and hitting him in the neck, an incident report says.

On 911 tapes that were previously released, an officer is heard saying that the deputies did not initially know whether the person shot was one of the break-in suspects or a victim.

Heyward's attorney, Democratic state Rep. Justin Bamberg, said he was not surprised by the decision, but he took issue with it.

"I disagree that officer acted appropriately," Bamberg said. "I can't think of any situation where it's appropriate to shoot a homeowner who is on the phone with 911."

Tyner might have reacted differently had he and the dispatchers who initially handled the 911 call been better trained to handle such situations, he said.

Whether Heyward pointed the gun does not matter, said Tyner's lawyer, Frank Cornely. He said the deputy perceived that to be the case and reacted.

The shooting came a month after a white North Charleston officer shot Walter Scott, a black motorist whose videotaped killing drew broad scrutiny of that city's police force.

© 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


ANYTIME I SEE A NAME LIKE “BOINGBOING.NET” IT ATTRACTS ME IMMEDIATELY. THIS ALSO IS HIGH QUALITY THOUGHT-PROVOKING STUFF. I LOVE IT. GO TO THE VIDEO ON THIS SITE FOR THE SANDERS TOWN HALL ON MEDICARE FOR ALL. HE CHOSE BOINGBOING BECAUSE HE DIDN’T EXPECT “THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA” TO BE SUFFICIENTLY INTERESTED IN GIVING HIM DECENT COVERAGE FOR HIM TO REACH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. HOWEVER, 1.1 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE TUNED IN HERE TONIGHT WITH A CLICK. THINK AGAIN ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT SANDERS HAS A CHANCE AT THE PRESIDENCY.

WHILE WATCHING THIS, THINK ABOUT THE WOMAN JUST LAST WEEK WHO WAS PUT OUT ON THE STREET IN FREEZING TEMPERATURES BY A MARYLAND HOSPITAL, BEFORE STABILIZING HER CONDITION AND ARRANGING A SAFE, WARM PLACE FOR HER TO GO. A GOOD SAMARITAN HAPPENED TO SEE THE EVENT AND CALLED AN AMBULANCE AND FOUND HER RELATIVES. THE HOSPITAL HAS NOW BEEN SUED. MEDICAL CARE IS SOMETHING THAT WE WILL ALL NEED SOONER OR LATER, AND POVERTY SHOULD NOT MAKE IT UNAVAILABLE.

https://boingboing.net/2018/01/24/healthcare-is-a-human-right.html
BOINGBOING / CORY DOCTOROW* / 7:26 AM WED JAN 24, 2018
For 100 minutes, more than a million tuned into Sanders' Medicare for All town hall
Bernie Sanders 'Medicare for All' Town Hall LIVESTREAM | NowThis
January 24, 2018

Bernie Sanders decided that the media would never give a fair shake to his bill proposing universal healthcare in America, so he sidestepped them by livestreaming a "Medicare for All town hall" where experts discussed the proposal, prompted by Sanders as a kind of talk-show host.

The event was noteworthy not just for its substance -- 100 minutes' worth of wonkish* discussion of the fine points of universal healthcare models from Canada, Norway and elsewhere -- but for the incredible audience it drew, more than a million people tuned into the livestream.

It's another indicator that in the wake of the all-out Republican assault on the mild compromise of Obamacare, America is more ready than ever for a debate on real, national, universal healthcare.

The livestream was promoted by a coalition of left-wing vanguard organizations: the Young Turks, Attn and NowThis.

“Are you finding that more people in the business community going behind ideology and finding that Medicare for All would be good policy for them?” asked Sanders.

“Every day,” said Master.

Sanders, who largely sat and listened to his guests, clearly relished the chance to speak without the confines of a campaign or a TV show. After Kimmich compared the cost of health care with her tax burden, Sanders called himself “the recipient of 30-second ads that raised that issue” and went off.

“What people will say, is, ‘Oh, Sanders is trying to raise taxes,’ ” he said. “It’s true. Many people, not all, will pay more in taxes. But if I told you today that instead of paying $10,000 a year for health insurance, you could pay $7,000 in taxes and have comprehensive health-care coverage for your whole family? Well, what most Americas would say is: Where can I sign up?”

Bernie Sanders talks universal Medicare, and 1.1 million people click to watch him [David Weigel/Washington Post]

(via Naked Capitalism)



https://www.bing.com/search?q=CORY+DOCTOROW&form=PRUSEN&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&refig=bd42d921a83443a39b05e882934daeb9&sp=-1&pq=cory+doctorow&sc=9-13&qs=n&sk=&cvid=bd42d921a83443a39b05e882934daeb9
Cory Doctorow
Journalist

Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licenses for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, and post-scarcity economics.

Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license



WONK* -- THIS IS JUST ONE OF THOSE PURPOSELY DISRESPECTFUL TERMS THAT MEMBERS OF “THE POPULAR CROWD” USE ON THOSE WHO ARE STUDIOUS. I FIRST HEARD IT OF AL GORE WHEN SOMEONE CALLED HIM “A POLICY WONK.” WONK CAN BE APPLIED TO ANY “OVERLY” STUDIOUS PERSON OR ARGUMENT THAT STANDS IN CONTRAST TO “COOL,” “SLICK,” OR FACILE. LET’S FACE IT, ALL THE NON-WONKISH PEOPLE HAVE TO DO IS “MAKE DEALS,” STEAL A COPY OF THE TEST OR BRIBE THE AUTHORITIES. WORKING TOO HARD OR HAVING A REAL INTEREST IN ANYTHING AREN’T “COOL.”

https://www.google.com/search?q=wonk&oq=wonk&aqs=chrome..69i59j69i57j69i59j0l3.5402j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8


wonk
wäNGk/ noun NORTH AMERICAN informal derogatory

a studious or hardworking person.
"any kid with an interest in science was a wonk"
a person who takes an excessive interest in minor details of political policy.
"he is a policy wonk in tune with a younger generation of voters"

Origin
1920s: of unknown origin.


http://www.dictionary.com/browse/wonkish
. . . .
Origin of wonk

1960-1965 -- 1960-65, Americanism; of expressive orig.; nautical slang wonk “a midshipman,” Australian slang: “white person, homosexual” are probably independent formations