October 11, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/for-third-time-in-40-years-no-social-security-increase-coming/

For third time in 40 years, no Social Security increase coming
AP October 11, 2015

WASHINGTON - For just the third time in 40 years, millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees can expect no increase in benefits next year, unwelcome news for more than one-fifth of the nation's population.

They can blame low gas prices.

By law, the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is based on a government measure of inflation, which is being dragged down by lower prices at the pump.

The government is scheduled to announce the COLA - or lack of one - on Thursday, when it releases the Consumer Price Index for September. Inflation has been so low this year that economists say there is little chance the September numbers will produce a benefit increase for next year.

Prices actually have dropped from a year ago, according to the inflation measure used for the COLA.

"It's a very high probability that it will be zero," said economist Polina Vlasenko, a research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. "Other prices - other than energy - would have to jump. It would have to be a very sizable increase that would be visible, and I don't think that's happened."

Congress enacted automatic increases for Social Security beneficiaries in 1975, when inflation was high and there was a lot of pressure to regularly raise benefits. Since then, increases have averaged 4 percent a year.

Only twice before, in 2010 and 2011, have there been no increases.

In all, the COLA affects payments to more than 70 million Americans.

Almost 60 million retirees, disabled workers, spouses and children get Social Security benefits. The average monthly payment is $1,224.

The COLA also affects benefits for about 4 million disabled veterans, 2.5 million federal retirees and their survivors, and more than 8 million people who get Supplemental Security Income, the disability program for the poor. Many people who get SSI also receive Social Security.

Carol Mead of Montrose, Pennsylvania, said she and her husband were counting on Social Security COLA to help them with their finances.

"My husband is working just so we can pay our bills," said Mead, a retired land-use administrator. "He's 70 years old, and he's still working in a stone quarry. He's told me a number of times that he thinks he's going to have to work until the day he dies."

More bad news: The lack of a COLA means that older people could face higher health care costs.

Most have their Medicare Part B premiums for outpatient care deducted directly from their Social Security payments, and the annual cost-of-living increase is usually enough to cover any rise in premiums. When that doesn't happen, a long-standing federal "hold harmless" law protects the majority of beneficiaries from having their Social Security payments reduced.

But that leaves about 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries on the hook for a premium increase that otherwise would be spread among all. Those who would pay the higher premiums include 2.8 million new beneficiaries, 1.6 million whose premiums aren't deducted from their Social Security payments and 3.1 million people with higher incomes.

Their premiums could jump by about $54 a month; more for those with higher incomes.

States also would feel a budget impact because they pay part of the Medicare premium for about 10 million low-income beneficiaries.

All beneficiaries would see their Part B annual deductible for outpatient care jump by $76, to an estimated $223. The deductible is the annual amount patients pay before Medicare kicks in.

"This would affect all beneficiaries," said Tricia Neuman of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "This kind of an increase is unprecedented."

Senate Democrats have introduced legislation that would freeze Medicare's Part B premium and deductible for 2016, but its prospects are uncertain.

White House spokeswoman Katie Hill said, "We share the goal of keeping Medicare's premiums affordable, are exploring all options."

By law, the cost-of-living adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W, a broad measure of consumer prices generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It measures price changes for food, housing, clothing, transportation, energy, medical care, recreation and education.

The COLA is calculated by comparing consumer prices in July, August and September each year with prices in the same three months from the previous year. If prices go up, benefits go up. If prices drop or stay flat, benefits stay the same.

The numbers for July and August show that, overall, consumer prices have fallen since last year. Fuel prices are down by 23 percent from a year ago, according to the August inflation report. But prices for some other goods and services, such as health care and housing, are up.

Advocates argue that the government's measure of inflation doesn't accurately reflect price increases in the goods and services that older Americans use.

"The COLA is determined by the buying power of younger working adults," said Mary Johnson of The Senior Citizens League.

Many advocates for seniors want Congress to adopt an experimental price index that seeks to capture the inflation experienced by Americans 62 and older. The Social Security Administration estimates it would increase the annual COLA by an average of 0.2 percentage points - which still might not be enough to generate a COLA for next year.

Lee Marshall of Greenville, California, said the current inflation index isn't good enough.

"They have a formula that they use that doesn't reflect the actual cost of living," said Marshall, 68, a retired laborer and casino dealer. "Just because the price of gas is going down, that doesn't mean anything."




“The government is scheduled to announce the COLA - or lack of one - on Thursday, when it releases the Consumer Price Index for September. Inflation has been so low this year that economists say there is little chance the September numbers will produce a benefit increase for next year. Prices actually have dropped from a year ago, according to the inflation measure used for the COLA. …. . "Other prices - other than energy - would have to jump. It would have to be a very sizable increase that would be visible, and I don't think that's happened." Congress enacted automatic increases for Social Security beneficiaries in 1975, when inflation was high and there was a lot of pressure to regularly raise benefits. Since then, increases have averaged 4 percent a year. …. But that leaves about 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries on the hook for a premium increase that otherwise would be spread among all. Those who would pay the higher premiums include 2.8 million new beneficiaries, 1.6 million whose premiums aren't deducted from their Social Security payments and 3.1 million people with higher incomes. Their premiums could jump by about $54 a month; more for those with higher incomes. …. All beneficiaries would see their Part B annual deductible for outpatient care jump by $76, to an estimated $223. The deductible is the annual amount patients pay before Medicare kicks in. "This would affect all beneficiaries," said Tricia Neuman of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "This kind of an increase is unprecedented." …. Lee Marshall of Greenville, California, said the current inflation index isn't good enough. "They have a formula that they use that doesn't reflect the actual cost of living," said Marshall, 68, a retired laborer and casino dealer. "Just because the price of gas is going down, that doesn't mean anything."

I don’t drive my car every day anymore so the lower price of gas isn’t significant. It amounts to an average of $10.00 every time I fill up, which is twice a month. My main costs are rent, co-pay and co-insurance, food in the grocery store, non-prescription drugs (vitamins, etc.), once or twice a month a restaurant meal, a movie every three months or so, very occasionally a new item of clothing from Belk Department Store, car repair and upkeep. Occasionally I buy something in the $15.00 range or give a few dollars to a charity. I would like to see food costs, car expenses and non-prescription drugs go down. I agree with those who mentioned that the costs for elderly people tend to be missed in the COLA, and if the premiums go up or the raise doesn’t happen, it will be felt. Let’s face it, though, a small increase measured in percentages doesn’t translate into very many dollars on the street where I live, and having to replace my car muffler may use the whole monthly raise up entirely.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/11/447783979/iran-test-fires-a-new-precision-guided-ballistic-missile

Iran Test-Fires A New, Precision-Guided Ballistic Missile
Eyder Peralta
OCTOBER 11, 2015

Photograph -- This picture, released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Sunday, claims to show the launching of an Emad long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile in an undisclosed location.
AP


"The Emad missile is able to strike targets with a high level of precision and completely destroy them ... This greatly increases Iran's strategic deterrence capability," Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said at a televised news conference, according to Reuters.

Dehqan said that this is the first long-range missile that can be precision guided all the way to its target.

The question now is whether the apparently successful test violates the terms of Iran's nuclear agreement with the United States and five other world powers.

As The New York Times reports, a resolution passed by the United Nations shortly after a deal was struck in Vienna specifies that Iran is not allowed to develop missiles "designed to carry nuclear warheads."

The Times reports:

"In recent decades, with Iran's air force plagued by economic sanctions and other restrictions, the country has invested heavily in its nuclear program and has produced missiles that can reach as far as Europe.

"'We don't seek permission from anyone to strengthen our defense and missile capabilities,' Mr. Dehghan said."

Reuters adds:

"Michael Elleman, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), said it would probably take Iran 'many years... and dozens of flight tests' to master the new guidance technology.

"In August, Iran unveiled a new short-range missile named Fateh-313, which it said also offered improved precision over its predecessor, as part of an apparent drive to upgrade the accuracy of its missile arsenal.

"'What has become increasingly clear is Iran's desire to enhance missile accuracy and lethality, a priority that very likely supersedes the need for seeking longer-range missiles,' Elleman said."




"The Emad missile is able to strike targets with a high level of precision and completely destroy them ... This greatly increases Iran's strategic deterrence capability," Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said at a televised news conference, according to Reuters. Dehqan said that this is the first long-range missile that can be precision guided all the way to its target. The question now is whether the apparently successful test violates the terms of Iran's nuclear agreement with the United States and five other world powers. …. "'What has become increasingly clear is Iran's desire to enhance missile accuracy and lethality, a priority that very likely supersedes the need for seeking longer-range missiles,' Elleman said."

This article doesn’t say whether this new missile is designed to carry a nuclear payload. Since the new UN resolution prohibits that, it probably isn’t. The Iranian government spokesman stated that it is for deterrent purposes. That’s what we say about our nuclear weapons, of course, and we’ve long had long range missiles.



http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/10/11/444526183/biking-behind-bars-female-inmates-battle-weight-gain

Biking Behind Bars: Female Inmates Battle Weight Gain
TAUNYA ENGLISH
OCTOBER 11, 2015

Photograph -- Women incarcerated at the Riverside Correctional Facility in Philadelphia take part in a spinning class run by Gearing Up. Amanda Cortes (second from left) lost 90 pounds in a year.
Bastiaan Slabbers for NPR
Photograph -- Leahya Ellis and other spinning class participants use exercise as a way to shake away stress, anger and depression.
Bastiaan Slabbers for NPR


The gym at Riverside Correctional Facility in Philadelphia is through the metal detector, two heavy doors and down the hall.

There's a basketball court like one you'd see at any high school, except there's a corrections officer on guard near the 3-point line.

Sixteen stationary bikes are set up in a half-circle in the corner. On bike No. 2, Lakiesha Montgomery, 32, from Philadelphia, is pedaling fast and singing along to the Nicki Minaj song "Fly."

"I didn't think I'd be able to keep up; I'm not the skinniest thing in the bunch," she says.

But she is keeping up.

In 2011, biking advocates from the nonprofit group Gearing Up persuaded prison administrators to let them bring in bikes to teach indoor cycling. Founder Kristin Gavin says before that she had mentored ex-offenders out in the community.

"Over and over I had conversations with women who were saying, 'While I was incarcerated, I put on 60 pounds, I put on 70 pounds,' " she says. Then she would ask them how long they were in prison and she says they'd typically respond, "six months."

At Riverside, Montgomery spends time in the prison yard most days but doesn't get much exercise there.

"The outside is not a real outside, it's like a minigarage. They have a basketball court there, but I don't play basketball. It's a lot of people that come out so you don't have room to really jog or walk. It's like you sit out to just get some air," she says.

She has arm tattoos and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. Her hair is braided back into cornrows. She also has high cholesterol.

Montgomery was charged with assault this year, among other charges, and has been in county jail for about six months.

"First time, last time," she says. In the meantime, spin class is something to do.

"Keep away frustration being locked up, it helps you get through," Montgomery says.

The Department of Justice surveyed the health of state and federal inmates in 2012 and found that women are more likely than men to be obese.

A study of prison health in Kentucky found greater weight gain for women compared with men. Women on average gained nearly 11 pounds, men only gained 2.5 pounds.

Gearing Up is working with researchers at Temple University to track the weight and body image of the women who spin at Riverside Correctional. The study was just eight weeks long and small, but they've already found small improvements in resting and recovery heart rate — two preliminary measures of heart health.

Gavin says often the women come to class initially to stop gaining weight then later find other reasons to keep coming back.

"I can speak to myself — if I weren't given the opportunity to be physically active, I'd probably go a little crazy. I probably wouldn't be able to manage my emotions, my temper, my anger. I think anger management is a huge issue for a lot of women who are in prison; they are victims of trauma and abuse," Gavin says.

And, of course some of the women have hurt other people.

Exercise can be a way to release all sorts of emotions.

Erica Tibbetts from Gearing Up often leads the spin class.

Tibbetts is in bike shorts. Everyone else has on prison blues: long navy pants and a white T-shirt.

"The worst seems to be women don't have good sports bras in here," she says.

No one has a water bottle and exercise shorts aren't allowed. Tibbetts says the women come to class anyway and work with what they have.

Climb on a bike and there's a sense of freedom, even if you're not going anywhere.

At the beginning of class, one by one, the women call out their intention for the ride. The ritual is called "clearing."

Christina wants to leave behind shakedowns. Jean wants to forget "cough and squat."

Sheik is leaving behind "wrongful mistakes."

Others want to shake off the past, stress and depression.

In a 2010 survey, women at Riverside gained about 36 pounds in a year, on average. But after some changes at the facility, that weight gain dropped to 26 pounds when the medical team checked again in 2015.

Bruce Herdman, the prison's chief of medical operations, says weight gain is a problem, but it's not the most urgent health problem his team is managing.

"The chlamydia rate — 6.6 percent on admission. We'll treat a thousand people for HIV. The hepatitis C rate here, largely because of intravenous drug use, is 13 percent. Then you have hypertension, diabetes, all the regular things," he says.

The prison pays Gearing Up to hold spin class three times a week. There's also an occasional yoga class, but the big change affecting women's weight was the food. The meals are certified heart healthy by a nutritionist. There's a lot of it, but portion sizes are smaller now. Last year, the prison cut calories from nearly 2,900 a day to 2,500 for men and women.

That helped, but the facility-provided meals aren't the only food around. Inmates also make do-it-yourself meals with food from the prison commissary. A favorite is called "chi-chis."

"It's where you mix ramen noodles with cheese puffs," explains Amanda Cortes. "You put it in hot water, you put the meat inside, you can do honey mustard sauce or ranch on top, and you just put in a potato chip bag and you mix it up. It's actually pretty good."

Cortes has been in jail for five years and eating that way for most of that time. She's facing several charges including involuntary manslaughter and is waiting for a court date. She says lots of women use food to cope with boredom and depression.

"Some people get two or three trays, so they get fat like that. They take whole loaves of bread to their room," Cortes says.

So Cortes cycles to keep the weight off, and on visiting day, her 10-year-old son noticed.

"When he first seen me he was like, 'Mommy you got skinny!' So I was excited," she says, smiling.

During a year, going to three spin classes a week, Cortes dropped 90 pounds.

At the end of the Gearing Up class, just before the goodbyes and sweaty hugs, there's one last ritual.

The women share what they've brought back from the ride.

One women says she's "bringing sexy back." She and everyone around the circle has a wish: "I'm Jean, and I'm bringing back my bikini. I'm Ruth, and I'm bringing back faith and confidence."

This story is part of a reporting partnership with NPR, WHYY and Kaiser Health News.




“There's a basketball court like one you'd see at any high school, except there's a corrections officer on guard near the 3-point line. Sixteen stationary bikes are set up in a half-circle in the corner. On bike No. 2, Lakiesha Montgomery, 32, from Philadelphia, is pedaling fast and singing along to the Nicki Minaj song "Fly." …. In 2011, biking advocates from the nonprofit group Gearing Up persuaded prison administrators to let them bring in bikes to teach indoor cycling. Founder Kristin Gavin says before that she had mentored ex-offenders out in the community. "Over and over I had conversations with women who were saying, 'While I was incarcerated, I put on 60 pounds, I put on 70 pounds,' " she says. Then she would ask them how long they were in prison and she says they'd typically respond, "six months." …. Montgomery was charged with assault this year, among other charges, and has been in county jail for about six months. "First time, last time," she says. In the meantime, spin class is something to do. "Keep away frustration being locked up, it helps you get through," Montgomery says. The Department of Justice surveyed the health of state and federal inmates in 2012 and found that women are more likely than men to be obese. …. The study was just eight weeks long and small, but they've already found small improvements in resting and recovery heart rate — two preliminary measures of heart health. …. "I can speak to myself — if I weren't given the opportunity to be physically active, I'd probably go a little crazy. I probably wouldn't be able to manage my emotions, my temper, my anger. I think anger management is a huge issue for a lot of women who are in prison; they are victims of trauma and abuse," Gavin says. …. The prison pays Gearing Up to hold spin class three times a week. There's also an occasional yoga class, but the big change affecting women's weight was the food. The meals are certified heart healthy by a nutritionist. There's a lot of it, but portion sizes are smaller now. Last year, the prison cut calories from nearly 2,900 a day to 2,500 for men and women. …. One women says she's "bringing sexy back." She and everyone around the circle has a wish: "I'm Jean, and I'm bringing back my bikini. I'm Ruth, and I'm bringing back faith and confidence."

“Cortes has been in jail for five years and eating that way for most of that time. She's facing several charges including involuntary manslaughter and is waiting for a court date. She says lots of women use food to cope with boredom and depression.” She’s in jail five years while waiting for a court date??? Isn’t that unconstitutional? That’s not a “speedy” trial. Also, five years sounds like a lot for “involuntary manslaughter.” Still, I’m glad to see that some jails anyway are humanizing their environment. The one biker Ruth said the thing she has gained is “faith and confidence.” That’s a more important kind of improvement than weight, to me, though of course being obese does emotionally weigh anyone down. The worst thing about prison is the boredom, inactivity and loneliness and these “spinning classes” bring not only much better health but companionship of a positive type as well. Congratulations to Riverside Correctional for doing something good without being forced to.







http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/11/447694198/tamir-rices-family-prosecutor-is-on-a-quest-to-avoid-accountability

Tamir Rice's Family: Prosecutor Is On A Quest To Avoid Accountability
Eyder Peralta
OCTOBER 11, 2015

Photograph -- Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir, a 12-year-old boy fatally shot by a Cleveland police officer, speaks during a news conference in December 2014, in Cleveland.
Tony Dejak/AP


The family of a 12-year-old boy who was killed by a Cleveland police officer say that the prosecutor on the case "has been on an 11-month quest to avoid providing that accountability."

The family of Tamir Rice issued a statement after Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty released two independent reports that found that Officer Timothy Loehmann was justified in opening fire.

The AP reports:

"The report prepared by retired FBI agent Kimberly A. Crawford concluded that Loehmann's use of force did not violate Tamir's constitutional rights, saying the only facts relevant to such a determination are those the patrolman had at the time he fired his weapon.

"Loehmann, she wrote, "had no information to suggest the weapon was anything but a real handgun, and the speed with which the confrontation progressed would not give the officer time to focus on the weapon."

"'It is my conclusion that Officer Loehmann's use of deadly force falls within the realm of reasonableness under the dictates of the Fourth Amendment,' Crawford wrote, though she noted she was not issuing an opinion as to whether Loehmann violated Ohio law or department policy."

If you remember, Rice was killed almost a year ago. Surveillance video shows the boy playing with a pellet gun at a park. Police were called by a man who said someone was pointing a gun — maybe a toy gun — at people in the park.

The video shows a police cruiser pull up to the park, officer Loehmann steps off and within two seconds opens fire.

In their statement, the family says in order for Loehmann to be held accountable, a prosecutor has to advocate for Rice. The statement goes on:

"Any presentation to a grand jury—without the prosecutor advocating for Tamir—is a charade. To get so-called experts to assist in the whitewash—when the world has the video of what happened—is all-the-more alarming.

"These hired guns—all pro-police—dodge the simple fact that the officers rushed Tamir and shot him immediately without assessing the situation in the least. Reasonable jurors could find that conduct unreasonable. But they will never get the chance because the prosecutor is working diligently to ensure that there is no indictment and no accountability."

Back in June, a judge issued a largely symbolic opinion in which he said there was enough evidence to bring reckless homicide or dereliction of duty charges against Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback.

"The video in question in this case is notorious and hard to watch," Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine. "After viewing it several times, this court is still thunderstruck by how quickly this event turned deadly."

McGinty said that these two reports released last night represent only a part of the evidence that a grand jury will weigh.

"The gathering of evidence continues, and the grand jury will evaluate it all," McGinty said.




“The AP reports: "The report prepared by retired FBI agent Kimberly A. Crawford concluded that Loehmann's use of force did not violate Tamir's constitutional rights, saying the only facts relevant to such a determination are those the patrolman had at the time he fired his weapon. "Loehmann, she wrote, "had no information to suggest the weapon was anything but a real handgun, and the speed with which the confrontation progressed would not give the officer time to focus on the weapon."

"'It is my conclusion that Officer Loehmann's use of deadly force falls within the realm of reasonableness under the dictates of the Fourth Amendment,' Crawford wrote, though she noted she was not issuing an opinion as to whether Loehmann violated Ohio law or department policy." It’s a mental stretch for me to see the relevance to either search and seizure or probable cause here, though maybe probable cause would fit. Interestingly she did not exactly exonerate the police officer, in that she stated that Ohio law and police department policy weren’t including in her defense of him. We do, of course, need more stringent and more clear-cut laws that cover these instantaneous decisions that lead to a fatality, when no effort to assess the facts of the situation (the orange tipped gun) before shooting. He might well also have noted that a 12 year old boy does not look like an 18 year old who might be more likely to be dangerous. The police report stated “pointing a gun — maybe a toy gun.“ So the idea that it wasn’t a real weapon was provided to the officers in the beginning as a possiblility. I believe they should have held their fire and run the fairly small risk that it could be real weapon. The officer could pull his weapon and have it in his hand when he went up to the boy to examine the weapon, for instance, and if I remember correctly he had a partner on the call that day, too. Shooting without investigation is often the cause of these things – cell phones being interpreted as guns, for instance.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. It was adopted in response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, a type of general search warrant issued by the British government and a major source of tension in pre-Revolutionary America. The Fourth Amendment was introduced in Congress in 1789 by James Madison, along with the other amendments in the Bill of Rights, in response to Anti-Federalist objections to the new Constitution.. It was adopted in response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, a type of general search warrant issued by the British government and a major source of tension in pre-Revolutionary America. The Fourth Amendment was introduced in Congress in 1789 by James Madison, along with the other amendments in the Bill of Rights, in response to Anti-Federalist objections to the new Constitution.

October 10, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.npr.org/2015/10/09/447202433/-great-pause-among-forensic-scientists-as-dna-proves-fallible

'Great Pause' Among Prosecutors As DNA Proves Fallible
Martin Kaste
OCTOBER 09, 2015

Graphics -- Chromosomes and double helix over silhouettes of man
Lee Woodgate/Ikon Images/Getty Images
Related Article -- Wash. Lawmakers Fight For DNA Sampling At Arrest

Over the summer, the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which sets standards for physical evidence in state courts, came to an unsettling conclusion: There was something wrong with how state labs were analyzing DNA evidence.

It seemed the labs were using an outdated protocol for calculating the probability of DNA matches in "mixtures"; that is, crime scene samples that contain genetic material from several people. It may have affected thousands of cases going back to 1999.

At first, they assumed the update wouldn't make a big difference — just a refinement of the numbers.

But when a state lab reran the analysis of a DNA match from a murder case about to go to trial in Galveston, Texas, it discovered the numbers changed quite a bit.

Under the old protocol, says defense lawyer Roberto Torres, DNA from the crime scene was matched to his client with a certainty of more than a million to one. That is, you'd have to go through more than a million people to find somebody else who'd match the sample. But when the lab did the analysis again with the new protocol, things looked very different.

"When they retested it, the likelihood that it could be someone else was, I think, one in 30-something, one in 40. So it was a significant probability that it could be someone else," Torres says.

The change didn't affect the outcome of that case because there was other evidence against his client, but officials in Texas have just begun the process of correcting the mistake.

"We have to go back and identify which of those cases involved DNA mixtures where the lab may have given incorrect results," says Jack Roady, the district attorney in Galveston. "It's going to be a herculean task, but we're gonna do it."

Roady has been cooperating with the Texas Forensic Science Commission on fixing the problem, and he recalls the scene in September when he described the situation to a meeting of his fellow prosecutors.

"There was sometimes moments of collective gasps," he says. "The fact that this science may not have been done correctly in the past gives us great pause."

It's unsettling to find out DNA analysis can vary like this because it threatens to undermine the deep faith people have placed in the technology.

"And it's not faith they should not have had to begin with," says Keith Inman, who teaches forensic science at California State University, East Bay.

Inman has worked with DNA evidence since the 1980s. He says forensic DNA-matching is based on sound science, but sometimes labs can get ahead of themselves. What happened in Texas, he says, is that labs have been using cutting-edge "testing kits" that can extract tiny traces of DNA from crime scenes, but those samples were then analyzed with math that's not suited to "weak" samples that combine DNA from many people.

A Washington State Patrol crime lab technician opens DNA sample cards containing cheek swabs sent from jails and prisons. If the state Legislature approves pre-conviction DNA sampling, the number of cards the lab processes could double.

He says the problem isn't limited to Texas. He says the newest, best analysis method — called "probabilistic genotyping" — takes time to roll out, and that's put labs in a quandary.

Prosecutors said a project to review untested rape kits proved the innocence of Michael Phillips, who says he pleaded guilty to a 1990 rape because his attorney advised him to avoid trial.

"There's this interim time that cases are coming up and the analyst has to do something with it, and they know by definition that there is a better approach," Inman says.

Meanwhile, the justice system's hunger for DNA evidence just keeps growing. There are now police departments that have made swabbing for DNA part of their routine.

"We collect DNA evidence daily," says Jim Ferraris, deputy chief in Salem, Ore. His department has taken advantage of quicker testing provided by the state lab, and he says every officer in town is now trained to collect DNA. They even swab stolen cars and burgled homes.

"The doorjamb area, the point of entry — we'd swab that area," says Ferraris. "Let's say the dresser got rifled, we'd look on the handles. DNA has been folded into the fabric of what we do every day here."

All that swabbing has paid off. They've found DNA links between crimes, and they've found suspects. Ferraris believes the DNA-swabbing has led to a decrease in property crimes.

At the same time, these "touch samples" can be very challenging for the labs. When you take a sample from a doorjamb, the sample may include DNA from several people, in roughly equal proportions, all mixed together.

Faced with ambiguous samples like that, results can vary. A lab using one method may find a match, while another lab, using a more conservative analysis, may judge the same sample to be inconclusive.

In the world of scientific research, this would be seen as normal; scientific doubt is considered part of the process. But NYU law professor Erin Murphy says in the world of courts and lawyers, those doubts aren't always understood.

"We have this tendency in criminal justice to look for solutions to the most vexing problem, which is, 'How do we find dangerous people and stop them?' And when we look for those solutions, we like for them to be perfect," Murphy says.

I feel like we're clinging to a life raft of DNA, and saying, 'Well this one will save us!'
Erin Murphy, NYU law professor
Murphy has written a new book about this called Inside the Cell: the Dark Side of Forensic DNA. She says people should understand that DNA analysis can involve "subjectivity," and she worries about the tendency of juries to look past doubt.

"[Juries] are even willing to go a step further and say, 'We'll convict on the basis of DNA, even in the face of evidence — non-DNA evidence — that this isn't the perpetrator," Murphy says.

She has a pet theory about this. She says the public has seen other kinds of evidence discredited over the years, such as bite mark analysis and hair analysis. Even eyewitness testimony is now seen as unreliable. So we look to DNA.

"I feel like we're clinging to a life raft of DNA and saying, 'Well this one will save us!' " Murphy says. "But I think that both wrongly inflates DNA's capabilities, and it also is just overlooking the part of the story of these old techniques, where they were used in our system for decades without challenge."

If we now push this technology too hard — say, by prosecuting someone on nothing more than a genetic match — then DNA may also be headed for the kind of reassessment that has battered the reputation of older types of physical evidence.




“I feel like we're clinging to a life raft of DNA, and saying, 'Well this one will save us!' Erin Murphy, NYU law professor. Murphy has written a new book about this called Inside the Cell: the Dark Side of Forensic DNA. She says people should understand that DNA analysis can involve "subjectivity," and she worries about the tendency of juries to look past doubt. …. "But I think that both wrongly inflates DNA's capabilities, and it also is just overlooking the part of the story of these old techniques, where they were used in our system for decades without challenge."


People, including me, are always looking for the absolutely reliable “truth,” and it just doesn’t exist. We want everything to be easy. Laboratory work and scientific theory are not 100% perfect, as individual practitioners are not. Juries are just going to have to keep paying attention to the “reasonable doubt” and retain a healthy suspicion of the “certainty” of this or any other evidence. Sometimes police departments and attorneys even cheat, paying a coroner to falsify evidence so a wealthy local citizen is not convicted. More often they may mishandle biological material by accident or simple oversight, causing it to read results that are inaccurate, as with the tainted blood samples in the OJ Simpson trial which had been carried around for too long a time by an officer rather than his bothering to make a special trip to the lab.

I still think techniques of DNA evidence are better than the piecemeal tests that we have had in the past, but as Quincy would tell you, we mustn’t overlook any peculiar variance at all that might indicate an error. The courts can only do their best, and I’m sure they will continue to try to do that.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/09/447236239/mexico-says-it-will-allow-international-experts-to-revisit-missing-students-case

Mexico Says It Will Allow International Experts To Revisit Missing Students Case
Eyder Peralta
OCTOBER 09, 2015

Photograph -- A man holds a banner that reads in Spanish "Justice," during a march by parents and relatives of 43 missing students who were killed, in Iguala, Mexico.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP


Mexico says that it will allow a team of international experts to revisit the case of 43 students who went missing last year.

NPR's Carrie Kahn reports that the United Nations' top human rights official recommended the move after a visit to the country.

Carrie filed this report for our Newscast unit:

"Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the U.N.'s High Commissioner on Human Rights, recommended the experts re-examine the site where the government says the bodies of the students were burned.

"Authorities contend the 43 were kidnapped, then murdered by a local drug gang. All the bodies were allegedly burned in one night at a garbage dump. That version has been publicly challenged by relatives and international experts.

"Mexico says it will allow seven experts from five countries to re-review the crime area.

"During his visit, the UN commissioner criticized Mexico's police and prosecutors. Referring to the tens of thousands of unsolved murders and disappearances.

"'No one in Mexico can feel safe. They're not enjoying the protection of the law,' he said."

El Universal reports that Arely Gómez González, the country's attorney general, told senators today that it had assembled an international team to take part in the investigation.

"The case of Iguala is not closed," she said. "The investigations continue."

Back in January, Mexico declared all 43 students dead. The attorney general at the time made a multimedia presentation that said the students were kidnapped, taken to a trash dump, killed, set on fire, the remains put in bags and then thrown into a river.




"Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the U.N.'s High Commissioner on Human Rights, recommended the experts re-examine the site where the government says the bodies of the students were burned. "Authorities contend the 43 were kidnapped, then murdered by a local drug gang. All the bodies were allegedly burned in one night at a garbage dump. That version has been publicly challenged by relatives and international experts. …. "During his visit, the UN commissioner criticized Mexico's police and prosecutors. Referring to the tens of thousands of unsolved murders and disappearances. "'No one in Mexico can feel safe. They're not enjoying the protection of the law,' he said."

“Back in January, Mexico declared all 43 students dead. The attorney general at the time made a multimedia presentation that said the students were kidnapped, taken to a trash dump, killed, set on fire, the remains put in bags and then thrown into a river.” How many gang members does it take to kill, burn, bag and discard in a river 43 people who were young and probably able to run away? I guess if they’re terrified enough to cause them to simply give up and accept “their fate,” maybe fifteen or twenty attackers with assault rifles could do it. How did the gang get them all rounded up in one spot like that, though? This story is really steeped in mystery.

Hopefully we’ll hear the results of this UN study. The very poor control exercised by Mexican police over the drug lords has been in the news for years, and according to Al Hussein there are “tens of thousands of unsolved murders and disappearances.” The police, meanwhile, have been heavily corrupted with bribes. A situation like this mass killing is too barbaric to fully imagine in modern times, but ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and undoubtedly others whose names I haven’t heard mentioned are as ruthless and brutal in their actions. Oh, yes, Hitler’s Germany and other European nations have also committed mass murders complete with mass burials. A recently discovered grave of that kind in Eastern Ukraine, the Russian part, was in the news just a few weeks ago.

The name of the website for that story is http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hidden-holocaust-60-minutes/. The star of the story is a French priest who is researching the MANY such graves in Russia and other European nations. It’s moving and fascinating information. Hatred was an everyday thing in that time period, and in others down through history. Listen to the video as well. It is very moving.





http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2015/10/08/446877747/are-we-ex-apes-a-story-of-human-evolution

Are We Ex-Apes? A Story Of Human Evolution
Barbara J King
October 8, 2015

Photograph -- A beautiful profile of a chimpanzee or bonobo with what looks to be a “smile” on its lips



"We are biocultural ex-apes trying to understand ourselves," declares biological anthropologist Jonathan Marks in his new book Tales of the Ex-Apes:How We Think About Human Evolution.

That term — ex-apes — get emphasized in the book a lot by Marks, as does "human exceptionalism." Marks really doesn't want to be an ape — and he delivers his argument in a book that's fresh (in all senses of the word), funny and full of rigorous anthropological scholarship. His argument pushes back against my tendency — even while working within the same discipline as Marks's — to emphasize not ape-human boundaries but ape-human continuities.

There are two central themes, as I see it, in Marks's Tales.

Tales of the Ex-Apes
Tales of the Ex-Apes
How We Think about Human Evolution
by Jonathan Marks

Paperback, 220 pages purchase
nonfiction
history & society
More on this book:
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Read an excerpt

First, human meaning-making is centered on kinship. Unlike other animals, we decide to whom we're related based as much on our shared ideas as on the fact of our shared genes. Consider first cousins. In some societies, your mother's brother's offspring and your mother's sister's offspring, though equally genetically related to you, may be considered to be in two wildly different categories of kin, such that one is a perfectly acceptable mating partner and the other would be a scandalously incestuous choice.

Second, because science is everywhere and always a cultural enterprise, this meaning-making extends to the ways we make sense of human origins. It's notoriously hard to distinguish one extinct species from another, which means that species are units of cultural thought as much as of biological fact. The inevitable conclusion is that in studying human evolution, we impose upon fossil finds more than discover from them trees of relatedness that attempt to draw connections among various ancestral species.

Marks concludes that ancestry "is an origin myth. It takes the world of biological data and emphasizes some things, invents others, and relates the present to the past in a meaningful way."

So far, so good.

But what about that next step, the one that carries us firmly into the territory of human exceptionalism? Sure, humans make meaning in ways that chimpanzees don't. But why push hard to wall us off as ex-apes from these smart, savvy primates who make meaning in their own ways?

And push hard Marks does. Making a cultural decision of his own, he portrays chimpanzees as a kind of dumb cousin.

Chimpanzees don't speak. Instead, Marks notes, "one ape goes 'oo-oo-oo,' and the others join in." Lacking graveside rituals for their dead, when a companion is unresponsive, chimpanzees are limited to understanding only that "once Boo-Boo has ceased to move, he is not going to start moving again." Chimpanzees, in fact, "have small, weak brains."

Marks doesn't, of course, deny that this way of framing chimpanzees is a cultural framing — that would go against all his conclusions. I asked him this week by email if scientists who study chimpanzees might find his language to be pretty obviously biased, an explicit attempt to stretch the ape-human divide. He replied in this way:

"Yes, absolutely! My point is precisely that nobody can say 'You're being political/ideological/biased and I'm not.' Given the subject, it is all bio-political, and that is what we need to acknowledge — this is not like fruit-fly genetics."
So, then, what is my bio-political take on our "dumb" cousins?

Even though chimpanzees neither speak nor bury their dead, they're not so dumb at all. In their dynamic fission-fusion communities, chimpanzees communicate with meaningful vocalizations and gestures, express both lethal violence and also empathy and grief, and show nifty levels of cognition by keeping track of complex social relationships, hunting collaboratively and making tools (used in precise sequence) that increase their foraging success.

Aren't we apes, in the same way that we are mammals? On this point, Marks holds firm. He told me:

"Let's differentiate between taxonomic terms and descriptive ones. We are mammals, because that is a classificatory term whose defining properties we possess. We are also hominoids; that is a classificatory term and we have the defining properties (no tail, Y-5 molars, rotating shoulder, etc.). Those are statements about what kinds of animals we are most similar to, and are taxonomic.

Apes is not a taxonomic category, but a descriptive category. By exactly the same criteria that would lead you to say we are apes (i.e., phylogeny), you would also have to say that we are fish. But we don't say that we are fish (because it would be stupid). There are certainly thing we can learn about our biology by coming to grips with our fish ancestry, but we aren't fish. Rather, we say that our ancestors were fish, but they evolved into land-dwelling, air-breathing tetrapods. Likewise our ancestors were long-armed, small-brained, and hairy (i.e., "apes"), but they evolved into short-armed, big-brained, glabrous creatures.

If evolution is descent with modification, then to say that we are fish would be to invoke descent without modification — just descent. That is the same situation for apes."

Point to Marks: We don't want to invoke descent without modification. Biological anthropologist John Hawks stresses the value in invoking precise phylogeny when he says, too, that humans aren't apes.

Yet, seeing ourselves as apes (and mammals, and even as fish, too) invites us to acknowledge the trajectory by which humans evolved to be who we are. We carry — in a very non-deterministic fashion — parts of our ancestral past with us; today we aren't so far apart from other animals as people sometimes think.

Marks and I agree on the big things. Humans shared a common ancestor with today's apes. The human lineage evolved over the last 6 or 7 million years in unprecedentedly bio-cultural ways.

And in taking up different emphases when describing modern humans' relationships to the apes, we embody the very heart of Marks's book. The interpretation of our own origins is a profoundly cultural process.

Barbara J. King, an anthropology professor at the College of William and Mary, often writes about human evolution, primate behavior and the cognition and emotion of animals. Barbara's most recent book on animals is titled How Animals Grieve. You can keep up with what she is thinking on Twitter: @bjkingape




“His argument pushes back against my tendency — even while working within the same discipline as Marks's — to emphasize not ape-human boundaries but ape-human continuities. …. First, human meaning-making is centered on kinship. … Second, because science is everywhere and always a cultural enterprise, this meaning-making extends to the ways we make sense of human origins. It's notoriously hard to distinguish one extinct species from another, which means that species are units of cultural thought as much as of biological fact. …. Marks concludes that ancestry "is an origin myth. It takes the world of biological data and emphasizes some things, invents others, and relates the present to the past in a meaningful way." …. Sure, humans make meaning in ways that chimpanzees don't. But why push hard to wall us off as ex-apes from these smart, savvy primates who make meaning in their own ways? And push hard Marks does. Making a cultural decision of his own, he portrays chimpanzees as a kind of dumb cousin. …. . I asked him this week by email if scientists who study chimpanzees might find his language to be pretty obviously biased, an explicit attempt to stretch the ape-human divide. He replied in this way: "Yes, absolutely! My point is precisely that nobody can say 'You're being political/ideological/biased and I'm not.' Given the subject, it is all bio-political, and that is what we need to acknowledge — this is not like fruit-fly genetics." …. We carry — in a very non-deterministic fashion — parts of our ancestral past with us; today we aren't so far apart from other animals as people sometimes think. Marks and I agree on the big things. Humans shared a common ancestor with today's apes. The human lineage evolved over the last 6 or 7 million years in unprecedentedly bio-cultural ways.”


“The interpretation of our own origins is a profoundly cultural process.” In taking several comparative religion and anthropology courses in college, I was told that EVERY group of people who self-identify with others of their own kind, had in the past and usually still do today, a creation myth in which the earth, sky, and life forms are described as originating in a magical way. Ouranos “spilled his seed on the Earth, who was named Gaia, to create other offspring. Gaia happened to be the first Entity after Chaos, and the mother of all those to come after. You will note she was therefore also his mother, which today would be a deep and horrible sin. But from that line developed the Greeks, as the story goes. The Hebrew Bible has its own set of beliefs which are very different, but each groups holds to its own views and interpretations of reality. Painfully, we humans will even fight wars over such beliefs.

Who we are related to is therefore very important to people. Being related to an ape is abhorrent to Christians and maybe most modern religious groups, though the Hindu religion has some of those animal to human stories. I took a Siddha Yoga introductory course and went to a number of ceremonies at their Ashram. The chants we sang were composed of names of Hindu Gods. My friend, who was more seriously into the meditation and philosophy than I, did tell me that the modern Indians don’t really “believe” those stories in the literal way that Fundamentalist Christians or very conservative Jews believe theirs. They have emotional and spiritual value, but are not considered history. They do link large groups together under an umbrella of kinship.

I feel, along with the writer of this article, that our link with the apes (which is not direct descent, but rather as too offshoots on a much older tree) is very obviously a physical link. I do believe in genetics and change over time, thus adaptation to the ever challenging environment. I cannot watch videos of apes without marveling at the obvious kinship. They do, after all, share over 90% of our genetic material. I wouldn’t want one as a pet because they are not reliably docile and they are strong as well. You might as fight hand to hand with a cougar as to fight a chimpanzee. I have been told that though a male chimpanzee is only about five feet tall and not as bulky in their musculature as a male gorilla, he can literally grasp a man’s arm and pull it totally out of its socket.

The psychological studies dealing with their intelligence are many and various, and should be read in order to appreciate just how clever they really are. The famous gorilla Koko was given a non-verbal IQ test which gives the score of 80 as “low normal,” and Koko scored 80. Granted she has been living with her human handler her whole life with a house trailer of her own at the San Diego Zoo and learning sign continuously. She has been taught a modified human sign language used by the deaf and knows several thousand words. She was in the news a few years ago when she informed her owner with her hands that she had a very bad pain in her mouth, at which point Penny took her to a human dentist who put her to sleep and pulled that bad tooth. You can’t put that down to simple training. It was original thinking and putting the thought into understandable language. Apes cannot speak, but they can handle thoughts and, yes, words. They may be our “dumb cousins,” but they aren’t as dumb as many people choose to think. And why is that? Because humans want an excuse to use them in laboratory tests and even kill and eat them. Gorillas are still being killed in Africa by superstitious tribesmen because their large and powerful hands are considered magical. Mankind should realize that in doing things like that perhaps we are actually showing how “primitive” we are, as well.





http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/10/09/447211121/scottish-nurse-who-recovered-from-ebola-is-back-in-isolation

Scottish Nurse Who Recovered From Ebola Is Back In Isolation
Jason Beaubien
OCTOBER 09, 2015

Photograph -- Pauline Cafferkey is now in isolation at the Royal Free Hospital in North London, where she was treated in January for Ebola.
Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images


A Scottish nurse who recovered from Ebola in January has been medevaced from Glasgow to London in a Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules transport plane specially equipped for infection control.

Doctors say Pauline Cafferkey is suffering "an unusual late complication" from her previous Ebola infection. They note that "Pauline previously had the Ebola virus and this is therefore not a new infection."

Cafferkey is being treated in the isolation unit of the Royal Free Hospital in London, the same high-security, bio-safety ward where she was treated for Ebola in January.

Cafferkey came down with the virus in December of last year. After volunteering as a nurse at an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone, she got sick soon after returning to the U.K.

Cafferkey was the first recorded Ebola case on British soil. Although she became critically ill, she made a full recovery and was released in late January.

Dr. Aneesh Mehta, who is part of a team of doctors at Emory University that treated four Ebola patients during the recent outbreak, says Cafferkey's readmission to the isolation unit is puzzling.

"If it truly does turn out that she has Ebola 10 months [later] without any further exposures, that would be surprising to us," Mehta says, "And I believe [it] would be the first time that we've ever found a relapsed case of Ebola."

Officials at the Royal Free Hospital have released limited details about Cafferkey's case but as of Friday listed her as being in "serious" condition.

Mehta at Emory says the virus is capable of lingering in some patients long after they've recovered. The two main reservoirs are the testicles and the eyes. But his team has only seen this happen in men.

"We had two female patients here. There has been no persistent site of Ebola found in any of the female patients that we've taken care of nor have we heard of any other sites of persistence [of the Ebola virus] in any women," Mehta says.

Sandro Galea, the dean of the school of public health at Boston University, says this case illustrates the mysteries of Ebola. "There's a lot that we don't understand about this particular disease," Galea says.

If the Ebola virus is capable of lying dormant inside survivors and then re-emerging, this could have major implications in West Africa. There are roughly 17,000 survivors in the region. Liberia has already had at least one case of a male survivor who still carried Ebola in his semen and sexually transmitted the virus to a woman, who later died.

That new case occurred six months after the original patient had been declared Ebola-free.

If Ebola is shown to be capable of re-emerging, life could become even more difficult for survivors. They could face future health concerns in addition to the stigma and discrimination they already have to deal with.




“Doctors say Pauline Cafferkey is suffering "an unusual late complication" from her previous Ebola infection. They note that "Pauline previously had the Ebola virus and this is therefore not a new infection." …. Dr. Aneesh Mehta, who is part of a team of doctors at Emory University that treated four Ebola patients during the recent outbreak, says Cafferkey's readmission to the isolation unit is puzzling. "If it truly does turn out that she has Ebola 10 months [later] without any further exposures, that would be surprising to us," Mehta says, "And I believe [it] would be the first time that we've ever found a relapsed case of Ebola." …. Mehta at Emory says the virus is capable of lingering in some patients long after they've recovered. The two main reservoirs are the testicles and the eyes. But his team has only seen this happen in men. …. Mehta at Emory says the virus is capable of lingering in some patients long after they've recovered. The two main reservoirs are the testicles and the eyes. But his team has only seen this happen in men.”

Perhaps physicians should “watch” patients who seem to have recovered for any alarming changes in their condition as they do survivors of cancer. You aren’t considered to be truly a survivor until five years is up. If these people are having recurring episodes with Ebola, that fact could help explain why certain parts of Africa have these frightening “pop-up” epidemics after some years have passed. Of course, there are also the large and meaty fruit bats which certain tribes eat as a delicacy. It’s very difficult, given the poverty and lack of education, to break long held habits like that. Besides, they do have to find something to eat, and many still love “bush meat.” Every now and then even I want a nice dish of homemade “from scratch” buttermilk biscuits drowned in lightly salted sausage gravy, and if I go to my local Famous Amos Restaurant I can get it.

October 9, 2015


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gunfire-rings-out-on-arizona-college-campus/

Northern Arizona University shooting leaves 1 dead, 3 wounded
CBS/AP
October 9, 2015

Video -- Three women embrace before Northern Arizona University officials hold a press conference on a deadly shooting on the campus in Flagstaff, Arizona, Oct. 9, 2015. KPHO-TV

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- An early morning fight between two groups of students escalated into gunfire in the parking lot outside an Arizona university dormitory, leaving one student dead and three others wounded, authorities said Friday.

The suspected shooter, identified by police as 18-year-old Steven Jones, was in custody, said Northern Arizona University Police Chief JT Fowler.

The student who died was identified by the school as Colin Brough. The victims being treated at Flagstaff Medical Center are Nicholas Prato, Kyle Zientek and Nicholas Piring.

The parking lot where the shooting happened is just outside Mountain View Hall dormitory at the northeast side of the Flagstaff campus, said school public relations director Cindy Brown.

The dorm is home to many of the campus' sororities and fraternities, according to the school's website.

"This is not going to be a normal day at NAU," said school president Rita Cheng. "Our hearts are heavy."

Two women embrace before Northern Arizona University officials hold a press conference on a deadly shooting on the campus in Flagstaff, Arizona, Oct. 9, 2015.

Student Maria Gonzalez told The Associated Press that she at first suspected firecrackers.

"I was studying for an exam so I looked out the window and see two people running, and that's when I realized they weren't fireworks they were actually gunshots," she said.

The first police call about the gunfire came in at 1:20 a.m. PDT.

On its website, the university said that the campus was stabilized and the campus was not on lockdown.

"How am I supposed to feel safe where I'm learning," Gonzalez said.

Both university and Flagstaff police are investigating.

In a statement, Arizona Sen. John McCain called the shooting a "terrible tragedy."

"My thoughts and prayers are with families of the person who was killed and the three others who were wounded in the horrific shooting on the campus of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff early this morning," McCain said.

The Flagstaff shooting comes on the same day that President Obama is scheduled to visit Roseburg, Oregon, where eight students and a teacher were shot and killed last week at Umpqua Community College. The gunman in the Oregon shooting wounded nine others before turning the gun on himself.

NAU plays a major role in the northern Arizona city of Flagstaff.

The 4-year public university has more than 25,000 total undergraduates.

A NAU sorority reacted to the shooting on Twitter.

Thoughts and prayers out to the brothers of Delta Chi. The Greek community is here for you 💚

— Kappa Delta at NAU (@naukappadelta) October 9, 2015




“An early morning fight between two groups of students escalated into gunfire in the parking lot outside an Arizona university dormitory, leaving one student dead and three others wounded, authorities said Friday. The suspected shooter, identified by police as 18-year-old Steven Jones, was in custody, said Northern Arizona University Police Chief JT Fowler. …. The student who died was identified by the school as Colin Brough. The victims being treated at Flagstaff Medical Center are Nicholas Prato, Kyle Zientek and Nicholas Piring. …. Both university and Flagstaff police are investigating. In a statement, Arizona Sen. John McCain called the shooting a "terrible tragedy." "My thoughts and prayers are with families of the person who was killed and the three others who were wounded in the horrific shooting on the campus of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff early this morning," McCain said.”

You may want to go to the video of the press conference, as it tells a good bit more about the shooting. It seems to be a “simple” case of some immature and probably drunk young men, one of whom was breaking the campus policy by carrying a hand gun. If mental illness is involved, nothing was said about it. There will be more later, I’m sure.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-partner-vetted-syrian-groups-pause-rebel-training-program/

U.S. to partner with vetted Syrian groups, pause rebel training program
By MARGARET BRENNAN CBS NEWS
October 9, 2015

Play VIDEO -- The problems in training Syrian rebels
Play VIDEO -- ISIS militants may have used chemical weapons against Kurds


A senior U.S. official said the Obama administration has decided to "modify" its policy by focusing on directly supplying weapons and ammunition to vetted opposition forces already fighting on the ground against ISIS in Syria. A number of Pentagon-trained advisors will also be instructed to embed with the domestic forces - Syrian Kurds and other moderate fighters - to help them be more efficient. The decision was made to focus in on vetted groups that have shown results rather than to rely on a Pentagon-led program to train and equip thousands of vetted fighters.

A senior Defense official told CBS' Cami McCormick on Friday that a decision about the future of train and equip program means that it will now be "refocused to enhance its effectiveness."

That change to policy is part of the administration's decision to suspend a $500 million dollar Pentagon-led program to train and equip a large fighting force. That suspension was first reported by CBS' David Martin in late September. At that time the Pentagon acknowledged that the exfiltration of new recruits had been "paused" but insisted it was temporary.

"I remain convinced that a lasting defeat of ISIL in Syria will depend in part on the success of local, motivated, and capable ground forces," Secretary Carter said Friday in a statement. "I believe the changes we are instituting today will, over time, increase the combat power of counter-ISIL forces in Syria and ultimately help our campaign achieve a lasting defeat of ISIL."

Any policy decision on Syria has been a long time coming. President Obama was presented with a number of options last week to both scale up and reduce U.S. involvement in the four and a half year conflict. Senior advisors have been divided over whether fallout from the brutal conflict -- a hemorrhage of refugees, foreign fighters and terrorists -- presented a threat that requires action or whether those symptoms can be contained.

Despite Secretary of State John Kerry and other advisors including Gen. John Allen who have argued for a more muscular response to help the U.S.-supported opposition and create so-called buffer zones to protect civilians, a vocal group of Administration officials pushed for caution. In light of Russia's increasingly aggressive military campaign to bolster the Syrian regime led by Bashar al-Assad, the administration is determined to avoid any involvement that feeds what could be seen as a 'proxy war.'

In recent days, an increasingly vocal group of administration officials have argued that Putin's decision to step up military action in Syria will be similar to the ill-fated Soviet intervention in 1980s Afghanistan. The hypothetical outcome would be that Russia will become a target for jihadis enraged by Putin's decision to bolster Assad whose brutality against Syrians has fed the conflict and drawn in foreign fighters. So far that potential threat has not dissuaded either of Assad's patrons - Iran nor Russia - from increasing their support.

A senior administration official indicated that President Obama has been persuaded by advisors that any explosion of violence from Syria in to the region could be "managed" but also acknowledged that the prospects for a diplomatic solution in Syria appeared "bleak."

The body count from the four and a half year war is impossible to tally but is estimated to be well in excess of 200,000 people. Four million Syrians are refugees and seven million others have been made homeless within their own country due to the violence. Aid groups fear that those millions of displaced people will also attempt to flee.




“A senior U.S. official said the Obama administration has decided to "modify" its policy by focusing on directly supplying weapons and ammunition to vetted opposition forces already fighting on the ground against ISIS in Syria. A number of Pentagon-trained advisors will also be instructed to embed with the domestic forces - Syrian Kurds and other moderate fighters - to help them be more efficient. "I remain convinced that a lasting defeat of ISIL in Syria will depend in part on the success of local, motivated, and capable ground forces," Secretary Carter said Friday in a statement. …. Senior advisors have been divided over whether fallout from the brutal conflict -- a hemorrhage of refugees, foreign fighters and terrorists -- presented a threat that requires action or whether those symptoms can be contained. ….


Obama is now going to give aid to “groups that have shown results” such as the Syrian Kurds. Now how many times have I told him that? Some people are fighters and some aren’t. We have been following a political link with the Iraqi government (whose forces WON’T fight) in our refusal to aid the Kurds with tanks and other weapons -- assuming we aren’t willing to send any soldiers in there under any conditions. That was viewed as being politically advantageous, but if ISIS overruns the entire Middle East and then comes for the rest of the world that will not be politically advantageous. We are also going to have to cooperate with Russia in Syria. Bashar al-Assad was quoted yesterday or the day before as saying that he would be willing to step down if necessary, and that’s one of the US goals. Let’s call that grounds for mutual cooperation all the way around. Hope this works.




REPUBLICAN POLITICS CLOSE UP – TWO ARTICLES


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gop-lawmakers-eye-paul-ryan-for-house-speaker-run-after-kevin-mccarthy-withdraws/

House GOP leaders begging Paul Ryan to run for speaker
CBS NEWS
October 9, 2015


Republican leaders are begging Wisconsin's Paul Ryan to run for House speaker as the GOP rushes to try to fill a power vacuum following Kevin McCarthy's sudden withdrawal from the race for the post Thursday.

He pulled out at the last possible moment, just before a vote he was expected to win.

But Ryan said despite being "grateful for the encouragement," he will not be running.

The problem now is there aren't many people who want to lead a party that is this divided, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

McCarthy's decision left lawmakers reeling, including his two opponents.

One, Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, said he was "absolutely stunned. [I] did not see that coming."

Some lawmakers were even in tears following McCarthy's abrupt announcement, upset that what should have been an orderly transition of power has descended into what many of them called chaos.

McCarthy had faced opposition from the same 40 hard-line conservatives who wanted to unseat the current speaker, John Boehner.

Tim Huelskamp of Kansas said McCarthy's exit from the race is a victory for the American people.

"They want Congress to respect conservatives and other members of Congress and that hasn't happened very much in the last four and a half years," said Huelskamp.

But not everyone saw it that way, like New York congressman Peter King.

"We can't allow a small minority of 30-35 people to hijack the House of Representatives," said King.

Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen called it "a fight for the soul of the GOP."

"We need somebody who's willing to negotiate and talk to the other side, and those are not bad ways to govern," Lehtinen said.

Three days ago, North Carolina Republican Walter Jones sent a letter to Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers saying if any candidate for speaker has committed any "misdeeds," he should "withdraw" from the race.

McCarthy denied that this was behind his sudden move. "No. No. Come on," he remarked to reporters.

The chaos surrounding the speaker election comes as Congress faces looming deadlines, including the vote to raise the debt ceiling by Nov. 5 and finding a way to fund the government by December.

Boehner says he will stay on until a new speaker is elected.




“Some lawmakers were even in tears following McCarthy's abrupt announcement, upset that what should have been an orderly transition of power has descended into what many of them called chaos. McCarthy had faced opposition from the same 40 hard-line conservatives who wanted to unseat the current speaker, John Boehner. …. But not everyone saw it that way, like New York congressman Peter King. "We can't allow a small minority of 30-35 people to hijack the House of Representatives," said King. Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen called it "a fight for the soul of the GOP." "We need somebody who's willing to negotiate and talk to the other side, and those are not bad ways to govern," Lehtinen said.”

Both King and Lehtinen both are apparently conservative Republicans, but not willing to give in entirely to the Tea Partiers. I’m glad to see King fight back, and Lehtinen stand up for negotiation in preference to the repeated and unintelligent government shutdowns. The Tea Party’s real problem is that they are pushing a radical agenda and not a truly conservative one – look the word up in the dictionary – which includes promoting a federally ensconced state religion of Christianity, a type of high school education that would dumb down our young people rather than educating them, an economic plan that benefits only the top 1% of citizens, and a destructive set of environmental goals. I hope Republicans of good ethics and cooperative spirit will win over the Radical wannabes so that lawmaking will again improve life for the 99%.





http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-real-benghazi-investigation-1444345572?mod=trending_now_6

The Real Benghazi Investigation:
The Clinton-McCarthy spat is a shame. Trey Gowdy has led a model search for the truth.
By Kimberly A Strassel
Oct. 8, 2015

Photograph -- Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.), the House Benghazi committee chairman, and other committee members at a Capitol Hill news conference, Sept. 10. Photo: Bloomberg News

Kevin McCarthy unexpectedly withdrew from the House speaker’s race on Thursday, a casualty of a fractured Republican conference. The Californian didn’t do much to inspire confidence last week when he suggested that the House Benghazi committee had been designed to attack Hillary Clinton.

One pity of the McCarthy comments is that they tainted the committee’s work with politics. The bigger pity is that they are dead wrong. South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy is 18 months into the committee that the House purpose-built to investigate the 2012 terrorist assault in Libya that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. His Benghazi investigation has been a model of seriousness, professionalism and discreetness.

The statistics alone bear this out. The committee has so far reviewed 50,000 new pages of documents. Less than 5% have anything to do with Mrs. Clinton’s work as secretary of state. It has interviewed 51 witnesses. Forty-one of those were brand-new—no committee had bothered to speak with them before, though seven were eyewitnesses to the attack.

Not that you will have seen any of this testimony. Congress generally loves public hearings—members relish parading in front of cameras, grilling and humiliating witnesses. But Mr. Gowdy, a former prosecutor, is more interested in getting information. All 51 of the committee’s interviews have been done in private, attended by committee members or staff from both parties. In a public hearing, the majority Republicans get more time than Democrats to speak. In private interviews, time is divided equally. Mr. Gowdy is fine with that.

If Republican Rep. Darrell Issa were running this committee, is there any doubt that he would have put Clinton fixer Sidney Blumenthal in the public hot seat? Mr. Gowdy’s committee interviewed him privately. When Mr. Blumenthal’s lawyer said he would be out of the country on the proposed interview date, Mr. Gowdy rescheduled; he wanted the Democratic operative to have competent counsel. Former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills’s private interview concluded with the remarkable sight of her, Mr. Gowdy and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings together at a post-interview press availability, where she thanked the committee for its “professionalism” and “respect.”

The House Select Committee on Benghazi has held three public hearings. Mr. Gowdy allowed Democratic members to choose the first two topics. They predictably focused on the work of the State Department’s Benghazi Accountability Review Board, which they like to claim has already settled what happened in Libya. Mr. Gowdy nonetheless committed to thorough hearings. When Washington Democrat Adam Smith looked likely to miss a hearing because of hip surgery, Mr. Gowdy set up a Skype connection so that he could ask his questions. Mr. Gowdy made the same offer to Illinois’s Tammy Duckworth, who’d just had a child. When she politely declined, he allotted her question time to Mr. Cummings—a fair-play move rarely seen in D.C.

Washington lawmakers love their powers, and Mr. Gowdy has plenty. He has exercised them prudently. The Benghazi committee has issued only threes subpoenas. One to Mr. Blumenthal, whom the committee had trouble tracking down. One to the State Department for a specific batch of emails. And one to Mrs. Clinton, when the news first broke that she had maintained a private server for her email. When Mrs. Clinton later claimed that she was not under subpoena, Mr. Gowdy didn’t complain, he simply released the subpoena to set the record straight. He has declined to answer questions about whether he thinks she has committed any crimes.

Mr. Gowdy hasn’t needed to use subpoenas because agencies are willingly giving him documents. He has obtained materials from the CIA and Defense Department that those agencies refused to give to other committees. The White House has also agreed to give him material. Mr. Gowdy inspires confidence that, unlike most congressional committees, his group isn’t going to leak information to sabotage political targets.

That’s because Mr. Gowdy handpicked a staff of 16 professionals, many recruited from law-enforcement and legal backgrounds, headed up by retired Lt. Gen. Dana Chipman, who was an Obama-appointed Army judge advocate general. Mr. Gowdy told every hire on day one that leaking was a firing offense.

Keeping the Benghazi committee on the straight and narrow hasn’t been fun. Democrats work with Mr. Gowdy in private but then berate his committee in public. Conservative activists and talk-radio hosts blast him for depriving them of the drama they crave—for not running a get-Hillary committee. The State Department blocks him. And now his own side has made his job that much harder.

Don’t expect Mr. Gowdy to give up. He has run his committee with one goal in mind: finding answers for the families of four dead Americans. Mrs. Clinton flatters herself if she thinks it’s all about her.




“The Californian didn’t do much to inspire confidence last week when he suggested that the House Benghazi committee had been designed to attack Hillary Clinton. One pity of the McCarthy comments is that they tainted the committee’s work with politics. The bigger pity is that they are dead wrong. …. His Benghazi investigation has been a model of seriousness, professionalism and discreetness. The statistics alone bear this out. The committee has so far reviewed 50,000 new pages of documents. Less than 5% have anything to do with Mrs. Clinton’s work as secretary of state. It has interviewed 51 witnesses. Forty-one of those were brand-new—no committee had bothered to speak with them before, though seven were eyewitnesses to the attack. …. Keeping the Benghazi committee on the straight and narrow hasn’t been fun. Democrats work with Mr. Gowdy in private but then berate his committee in public. Conservative activists and talk-radio hosts blast him for depriving them of the drama they crave—for not running a get-Hillary committee. The State Department blocks him. And now his own side has made his job that much harder.”

This article is a piece whose sole goal is to praise Mr. Gowdy and prove his fairness to the Democrats and to Hillary Clinton. Okay. He made a good case. I am still waiting impatiently for the results of the ongoing investigation. I looked on the Net about a month ago for a clear explanation of what Clinton supposedly did wrong that day in Benghazi – not about her emails and private server, but how the debacle is her fault. I don’t believe she told the Pentagon to give orders to a bunch of ready and eager Marines to “stand down,” and thus left the Embassy unguarded. She surely wouldn’t make such a decision on her own authority. The more likely case might be that the Embassy needed a much larger and more reliable group of guards for permanent assignment there and better intelligence of what was afoot on the ground. I want to hear more. The following two articles are “fact-check” stories written by two different groups.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2014/may/16/fact-checking-benghazi-our-most-recent-round-/, Fact-checking Benghazi: The rhetoric hasn't matched up with reality
By Angie Drobnic Holan on Friday, May 16th, 2014

This article is too long to put in here, but contains quite a number of scotched rumors and pieces of timeline information. If you want a Republican leaning article there’s one by Boehner written up in the Washington Times, which for those of you who don’t live in DC is the right-leaning paper. If I bought a paper when I lived there I always bought a Washington Post. I can tell, however, from the Politifact article that there is more smoke than fire on the Republican side, and that if the issue of too little security at the Embassy is the central problem, then the Republicans shouldn’t have pushed so hard for their everlovin’ attempts to save government money.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-opens-its-doors-to-western-journalists-for-70th-anniversary-workers-party-military/

"We get to show good things": N. Koreans talk to Western media
By SETH DOANE CBS NEWS
October 9, 2015

24 PHOTOS -- On the road in North Korea


North Korea is preparing for a massive military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the ruling Worker's Party Saturday. The event is open to Western journalists, an opportunity so rare that even something as simple as a drive down the street is "newsworthy." CBS News correspondent Seth Doane is in the capital city of Pyongyang.

We boarded our flight to North Korea back in Beijing. On Air Koryo, the inflight magazine with its glossy propaganda photo of leaders set the tone for our trip.

The first people to meet us at Pyongyang's brand new airport were our government-assigned minders who will be with us every step of the way.

This trip is carefully choreographed--we board buses and are told where we're heading just before we depart. We're brought to different places, but we cannot choose where we'll go. Today we're being brought to the birthplace of Kim Il Sung.

He is credited with founding modern North Korea. As you might imagine, there are no surprises here.

Then, it was back on the bus, which took what appeared to be a wrong turn through a rather run-down residential neighborhood. We didn't stay long.

Deep, deep below ground, old subway cars pull in and out beneath elaborate chandeliers. Patriotic music is piped in.


This is hardly just a casual stop at the subway - it is a deliberate effort to show us infrastructure at work. One of the things Kim Jong Un said is that he wants to improve people's everyday life. The question is, if that is really happening.

But trying to get an authentic answer with government minder in tow is hard to do.

"My recommendation is you don't go for the old man...because they don't like it," said a minder.

One 27-year-old woman told us she has a good, comfortable life and seeing foreign media here made her proud.

"Because it means people want to come here and we get to show good things to them," she said.

You see the imprint of the government nearly everywhere you turn--people wear pins depicting former leaders.

"This is my heart," a minder said about his Kim Il Sung pin. "This doesn't get off, even one hour."

There is great excitement here for the parade. Driving around Pyongyang, you see huge groups of people dressed the same with flags, practicing routines, painting the white lines in the side walk, or pruning the grass, sometimes with scissors.




This is a pretty depressing article about people full of patriotic pride for their culture and pleasure to see outsiders coming in to visit, though they may have been commanded or paid to come forward to talk about the glories of North Korea. I feel sure they have little choice in the matter. I wonder how easy it is for one individual American to visit the country without a specific purpose and without being thoroughly vetted. I also wonder how many American watch lists I would get my name on for trying to do that. That’s okay. I don’t want to go there.





http://www.npr.org/2015/10/09/446866939/gun-debate-divides-nations-police-officers-too

Gun Debate Divides Nation's Police Officers, Too
Martin Kaste
OCTOBER 09, 2015

Photograph -- Photos of victims of the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., are displayed behind Portland Police Sgt. Peter Simpson (left) and Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
13.7: COSMOS AND CULTURE -- Is Gun Violence Due To Dangerous People Or Dangerous Guns?


After the mass shooting in Roseburg, Ore., last week, the national media gave a lot of attention to the fact that the local sheriff, John Hanlin, is an ardent supporter of gun rights. He'd written a letter to Vice President Joe Biden shortly after the Dec. 14, 2012, massacre of schoolchildren at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., saying gun control was not the answer. In the letter, Hanlin pledged not to enforce gun regulations he believed to be unconstitutional.

What wasn't widely reported was how common views like Hanlin's have become in law enforcement.

"Talking about firearms now is like talking about race," says Richard Beary, chief of police for the University of Central Florida and president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "These are difficult conversations, and people get very polarized on each side of it."

It's not unusual to see law enforcement executives arguing with each other about guns in public.

Take the situation in Milwaukee. The county sheriff, David A. Clarke Jr., is a champion of gun rights; earlier this spring he released a statement attacking the city administration for being "anti-gun" and "anti-Second Amendment," and for "blaming the gun instead of the behavior."

Milwaukee's police chief, Edward Flynn, responded to Sheriff Clarke by saying that he wouldn't hold back from talking about guns and how they get into the hands of criminals.

"Our bad guys with guns learn nothing because the laws are so weak, and we need help," Flynn said. "And I would like to think that people who think of themselves as advocates for law enforcement could get that through their skull."

Jennifer Carlson, an American sociologist at the University of Toronto who studies police attitudes toward gun laws, says this divide has grown since the 1990s. A generation ago, she says, police chiefs made a common cause of legislation such as the Assault Weapons Ban and the Brady bill.

"And now you've really seen police not taking as much as a unified stance, at least publicly," she says. "That's been a major shift."

She thinks this may have something to do with the expansion of concealed handgun permits, which gun rights groups pushed for especially hard starting in the late 1990s. Police chiefs initially resisted the expansion of the gun permits, but Carlson says many of them changed their minds when they saw that increased permits didn't cause a big increase in shootings.

Carlson says that once they got more comfortable with the idea of citizens carrying guns, some police embraced and even profited from the trend.

"In Michigan, for example, police are able to certify people," Carlson says. "They can get in the business of running those firearms schools."

The differing opinions of law enforcement leaders often mirror an urban-rural divide. Earlier this year, Sheriff John Hanlin of Roseburg — a town of about 22,000 that's more than 70 miles south of Eugene — appeared before a committee of the Oregon Legislature and spoke out against a proposed state bill to expand background checks to private gun sales.

"This law is not going to protect citizens of Oregon," he said. "We have laws that prohibit the possession of other things, like methamphetamine, and it doesn't stop it."

The bill passed, but not without a bitter political fight, including an attempt by gun rights groups to recall legislators who voted for it. That's why it's understandable that national police organizations tread carefully on the issue of guns.

"We don't want to separate ourselves from our communities," says Beary.

These days, national police groups are more likely to talk about making existing gun laws work better and finding ways to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill — middle-ground positions that can get the support of their divided membership.




“In the letter, Hanlin pledged not to enforce gun regulations he believed to be unconstitutional. What wasn't widely reported was how common views like Hanlin's have become in law enforcement. …. . "These are difficult conversations, and people get very polarized on each side of it." It's not unusual to see law enforcement executives arguing with each other about guns in public. …. The county sheriff, David A. Clarke Jr., is a champion of gun rights; earlier this spring he released a statement attacking the city administration for being "anti-gun" and "anti-Second Amendment," and for "blaming the gun instead of the behavior." Milwaukee's police chief, Edward Flynn, responded to Sheriff Clarke by saying that he wouldn't hold back from talking about guns and how they get into the hands of criminals. "Our bad guys with guns learn nothing because the laws are so weak, and we need help," Flynn said. "And I would like to think that people who think of themselves as advocates for law enforcement could get that through their skull." …. A generation ago, she says, police chiefs made a common cause of legislation such as the Assault Weapons Ban and the Brady bill. "And now you've really seen police not taking as much as a unified stance, at least publicly," she says. "That's been a major shift." She thinks this may have something to do with the expansion of concealed handgun permits, which gun rights groups pushed for especially hard starting in the late 1990s. Police chiefs initially resisted the expansion of the gun permits, but Carlson says many of them changed their minds when they saw that increased permits didn't cause a big increase in shootings. …. "In Michigan, for example, police are able to certify people," Carlson says. "They can get in the business of running those firearms schools." …. These days, national police groups are more likely to talk about making existing gun laws work better and finding ways to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill — middle-ground positions that can get the support of their divided membership.”


“The bill passed, but not without a bitter political fight, including an attempt by gun rights groups to recall legislators who voted for it. That's why it's understandable that national police organizations tread carefully on the issue of guns.” What’s going on is not just a matter of communities forming a consensus in a civilized manner, but a war, and one that is based on the vast amount of money the gun industry makes around the world and especially here in the US.

The furor set up by the NRA for the last 30 or so years has added to the apparent indoctrination of the average American citizen on a series of subjects which not only anger me, they frighten me. I enjoy watching “Gunsmoke” on TV, but I don’t want to live in a world like that. I love history, but I want to keep my TV and computer and car, and I wouldn’t go back to the days when women were not allowed to vote and black people were slaves. Those aren’t “the good old days.” The people who are behind the fight against better gun laws have their fingers in a lot of other cultural pies as well that they should not have access to. It’s common knowledge that the NRA has bought a great many legislative representatives, so that our lawmaking process is tainted with their control.

Since 9/11 a set of “conservatives” have emerged out of their mountain shacks who are dangerous. They support unrestricted gun collecting, this ridiculous trend of “open carry” groups -- who are parading around in Walmart, etc., with their AK47s strapped across their fat bellies -- and all other extremes such as allowing the mentally ill and felons to buy a gun are equally dangerous. In addition, nobody needs more than three guns even if they are hunters – one hand gun for self-protection, one rifle and one shotgun for hunting. There’s no logical use for an AK47 except to stockpile weapons for a White Supremacist militia group – in other words, for killing people.

Fascination with guns should be a sign of a dangerous propensity to snap like this. All or nearly all of the misguided individuals who shot up a theater or a church have been “collectors” of guns, and enamored of the thrill of power that the gun gives them. They are people who lack insight into their own minds or human relations, and owning half a dozen or more guns makes them feel more powerful. They may be actually psychotic, but often they are simply unable to blend well enough with people to have good friends, so that they are lonely and discouraged. Many of them have been bullied because of their mental disabilities. A teen a few months ago was eaten up with hatred at all women because girls weren’t attracted to him, so he started shooting. They get depressed or just too angry to hold it in. Then one day they carry out the plan that had been carefully nurtured in their imaginations for months or years, and we have another tragedy.

I know how unpopular this suggestion is, especially to those for whom the right to refuse medication and treatment is a basic American right, but I think it’s time we reconsidered that. We actually need for every person who has a history of any kind of mental disorder to have to be monitored by a mental health professional and given therapy, whether or not they are considered to be “a danger to themselves or others,” and they absolutely should not have the right to own a gun without supervision.

Many who present with depression symptoms are given a prescription for antidepressants and very loosely monitored on their medication, but not given any intensive therapy. We need a list of the individuals who have such issues, accessible by computer, which is consulted when they try to buy a gun, because many of these people who are doing the shootings have not been judged by a psychiatrist or in a court as being dangerous, but they are. They’re just very quiet and adept about covering their anger up. Many times those who know them say “he wouldn’t hurt anybody.” That judgment is made because he is “quiet” and withdrawn, which is a sign of mental illness, hence the old adage, “It’s the quiet one you have to watch.”. We need to wise up in this country about symptoms and disorders which don’t look to the average person like insanity, and accept the possibility that “my son” could have such a problem.

I know they came under severe criticism, but long term mental hospitals are needed to house individuals whose parents can’t control them and who become erratic and aggressive. The boy who did the killing at Sandy Hook had been under psychiatric care, but wouldn’t take his medications, and his mother was unable to find a place to keep him. Many of the prisoners in this country have underlying mental health issues, and would be better housed and controlled in an asylum with medication that they are required to take. Half or more of the homeless are in the same condition. It’s sad, but something that as a society we need to handle.