One of the major, if not the major cause of a bankruptcy is a major medical happening in a family. Those uninsured or under-insured frequently fail to seek medical advice for a feared medical condition, because they can't pay for it. The fact that there is a big demand for medical care is borne out by the large crowds that turn up whenever medical providers donate their services to whoever shows up.
It would seem that the only viable way to insure everyone in the United States is through single payer. A major selling point that has been heretofore missed is that under a revamped federal income tax rate structure, many of those now insured would get an after-tax financial windfall, because the increase in their taxes would be less than what they currently pay for health insurance coverage.
My proposal is to have a tax rate schedule going from sixteen percent to sixty-four percent. I have tried as much as possible to have the percentage rate hikes to kick in at the same income levels as under the 2014 tax rate schedule; however, because my plan has nine tax rate brackets, versus the current seven, I have had to make adjustments in income levels near the top of the tax rate schedule. Robert Reich, a former labor secretary in the President Clinton's administration, is advocating a top marginal tax rate of seventy percent. Reich may have been influenced by the fact that from World War II to the Reagan presidency, the top marginal tax rate was never under seventy percent. That period was a time of great economic prosperity in the United States. I would prefer a seventy percent top rate but it would be harder to sell politically.
The examples below compare the taxes owed based on the 2014 tax rate schedule with the taxes owed under my 16-64 percent schedule. I subtract the standard deductions and exemptions from the Adjusted Gross Income to arrive at taxable income. Itemization is not considered but would likely have a neutral effect. For ease of reference, I use lines 43 and 44 on the standard 1040 form.
2014 Tax Rate Schedule
Taxpayer, Filing as Single Married, Filing Jointly
Line 43 - $25,000 Line 43 - $25,000
Line 44 - $3,300 Line 44 - $2,848
Line 43 - $50,000 Line 43 - $50,000
Line 44 - $8,363 Line 44 - $6,596
Line 43 - $75,000 Line 43 - $75,000
Line 44 - $14,613 Line 44 - $10,481
Line 43 - $99,000 Line 43 - $99,000
Line 44 - $20,903 Line 44 - $16,469
16-64% Tax Rate Schedule
Taxpayer, Filing as Single Married, Filing Jointly
Line 43 - $25,000 Line 43 - $25,000
Line 44 - $3,504 Line 43 - $4,411
Line 43 - $50,000 Line 43 - $50,000
Line 44 - $11,694 Line 44 - $9,911
Line 43 - $75,000 Line 43 - $75,000
Line 44 - $19,494 theLine 44 - $15,483
Line 43 - $99,000 Line 43 - $99,000
Line 44 - $27,029 Line 44 - $22,203
Tax Increases Under 16-64% Schedule
Single - $25,000 - +$204 --- $50,000 - +$3331 --- $75,000 - +$4881 --- $99,000 - +$6,126
Married, Filing Jointly - $25,000 - +$1563 --- $50,000 - +$3315 --- $75,000 - +$5002 --- $99,000 - +$5734.
Looking at the above, in every case in which a taxpayer's tax increase is less than his/her current health insurance premium/deductible liability, there will be higher after-tax income. To use one example from Public Citizen,which posits a family of four paying a $8,000 premium and having a $4,000 deductible, the financial windfall would range from $10,437 to $6,266, depending on taxable income.
Employer-sponsored family coverage reached $16,351 in 2013, with workers, on average, paying $4,565. This average would now be somewhat higher. Note that single taxpayers with taxable incomes of $50,000 or less would have higher after-tax incomes and at $75,000 the outcome would be about the same. The following are the most recent average U.S. monthly premium costs for the various plans under the Affordable Care Act: Bronze - $256; Silver - $324; Gold - $369; and Platinum - $441. These costs are for single coverage. Even at the Bronze plan level, most low-income taxpayers would have a higher after-tax income under my proposed tax plan.
A single taxpayer with a taxable income of $1,000,000 would pay a tax of $353,045 under the 2014 rate schedule and $514,200 under my 16-64% tax rate plan, or $161,155 more. A married couple, filing jointly, would pay a tax of $342,751 under the 2014 rate schedule and $523,522 under my 16-64% tax rate plan, or $180,771 more. These differences could be released by $20,000 or more of the taxpayers had "Cadillac" private insurance plans.
The uninsured who didn't pay taxes, or paid a relatively low level of taxes would be disadvantaged by my plan; however, they would be helping to finance the new single payer system, whereas presently they are "free-riders." Also, the reason I eliminated the current 10 and 15% rates was to reduce the percentage of those who did not pay any federal income tax for the last year that the IRS had full data -- 47%. Rather than trying to excuse the 47% by arguing that they pay other taxes, it would be better to foster a notion of "We're all in this together," to take some of the sting out of the wealthy having to pay significantly higher taxes.
My proposed tax plan would insure everyone; reduce the income and wealth inequality in the nation; increase the percentage of those who will pay some federal income tax; and significantly increase governmental revenue to reduce future budgetary deficits and fund critically neglected domestic infrastructure needs.
I realize that my plan would lead to the loss of many jobs due to eliminating the private health insurance industry; however, many more jobs for medical professionals and administrative staff would be opened up. There would also be a need for a corps of people to check the doctor and hospital bills being filed to insure they aren't being inflated. The single payer bill that languished in the U.S. House of Representatives for so long, made provision to fund more workers in the health care field.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Myths and Lies About Single Payer
I. Single Payer Is Socialized Medicine
* The Veterans Administration and the British health care system are examples of socialized medicine, where the government pays for the doctors and hospitals.
* Under single payer, you get a health care card and you can go to any doctor or hospital in the United States.
* Doctors are not employees of the government.
* Hospitals remain in private hands.
II. Single Payer Will Lead to Rationing, Like in Canada
* The present private insurance companies ration care.
* If you don't have health insurance, you don't get health care, except as a matter of charity.
* Public Citizen says that 120 Americans die every day from lack of health care, while no Canadians die due to lack of health insurance.
III. Costs Will Skyrocket Under Single Payer
* Single payer is the only health care reform that will save enough money to insure everyone.
* Public Citizen says that by eliminating the health insurance industry, $350 billion will be saved in administrative costs and profits.
* The savings an be used to insure those who lack health insurance and fully cover those who are under-insured.
* More people will be seeking health care because they will now have insurance; also, medical problems will be discovered earlier, thus preventing more costly treatment later.
IV. Drugs Will Be More Difficult to Get Under Single Payer
* The drug industry claims there will be less research and development under a single payer system; however, much medical research is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health.
* Under single payer, research and development will grow.
* Drugs will be cheaper under single payer, because when all patients are under one system, the payer wields a lot of clout.
* The single payer system is the main reason why other countries' drug prices are lower than ours.
V. Single Payer Will Cover Less Than Current Insurance
* For most Americans, single payer will be a vast improvement.
* All medically necessary care would be funded through the single payer, including doctor visits, hospital care, prescriptions, mental health services, nursing home care, and rehabilitation care.
* Under single payer there will be no deductions, no bills and no co-pays.
VI. Single Payer Will Cost More Than Private Health Insurance
* The vast majority of Americans will pay about the same or less than they are paying now.
* If funded through the federal income tax, many taxpayers will receive a financial windfall, because their increase in taxes will be less than the cost of their current health insurance. I will show in a future blog how this would be the case.
NOTE: Most of the information presented was taken from a Public Citizen fact sheet but I have made some modifications in it.
* The Veterans Administration and the British health care system are examples of socialized medicine, where the government pays for the doctors and hospitals.
* Under single payer, you get a health care card and you can go to any doctor or hospital in the United States.
* Doctors are not employees of the government.
* Hospitals remain in private hands.
II. Single Payer Will Lead to Rationing, Like in Canada
* The present private insurance companies ration care.
* If you don't have health insurance, you don't get health care, except as a matter of charity.
* Public Citizen says that 120 Americans die every day from lack of health care, while no Canadians die due to lack of health insurance.
III. Costs Will Skyrocket Under Single Payer
* Single payer is the only health care reform that will save enough money to insure everyone.
* Public Citizen says that by eliminating the health insurance industry, $350 billion will be saved in administrative costs and profits.
* The savings an be used to insure those who lack health insurance and fully cover those who are under-insured.
* More people will be seeking health care because they will now have insurance; also, medical problems will be discovered earlier, thus preventing more costly treatment later.
IV. Drugs Will Be More Difficult to Get Under Single Payer
* The drug industry claims there will be less research and development under a single payer system; however, much medical research is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health.
* Under single payer, research and development will grow.
* Drugs will be cheaper under single payer, because when all patients are under one system, the payer wields a lot of clout.
* The single payer system is the main reason why other countries' drug prices are lower than ours.
V. Single Payer Will Cover Less Than Current Insurance
* For most Americans, single payer will be a vast improvement.
* All medically necessary care would be funded through the single payer, including doctor visits, hospital care, prescriptions, mental health services, nursing home care, and rehabilitation care.
* Under single payer there will be no deductions, no bills and no co-pays.
VI. Single Payer Will Cost More Than Private Health Insurance
* The vast majority of Americans will pay about the same or less than they are paying now.
* If funded through the federal income tax, many taxpayers will receive a financial windfall, because their increase in taxes will be less than the cost of their current health insurance. I will show in a future blog how this would be the case.
NOTE: Most of the information presented was taken from a Public Citizen fact sheet but I have made some modifications in it.
Sunday, November 22, 2015
The Refugee Scare and Trump's Latino Problem
I. The Syrian Refugee Scare
The recent massacres in Paris, bringing death or injury to between 400 and 500 people, and the early reports that one of the attackers had a Syrian passport, which he used to "hide " among the refugees streaming into European countries, have brought on a hysteria about the admittance of Syrian refugees.
Both former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) are supporting the admittance of only those Syrians who are Christian. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has called for the admittance of only "certified" Christians but has not given a description of the certification process. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson has told a story about parents bringing their children into the house if the word is that there are "rabid dogs" in the neighborhood -- some have heard him as saying "rabbit dogs." Carson has not explicitly linked Syrian refugees to the description, nor is it clear if he is talking about refugees in general. Donald Trump was asked by a NBC News reporter about the prospect of a database and whether Muslims would be required to be registered; and Trump answered, "They have to be." Trump later Twittered that he didn't suggest creating a database but was only answering a reporter's question; however, he did not disavow creation of a registry.
Jeb Bush called the prospect of a registry "abhorrent." Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said the idea was "unnecessary" and it was not something Americans would support. Senator Cruz said: "I am not a fan of government registries on American citizens." Cruz also said that the First Amendment protects religious liberties.
With the overwhelming support of Republican lawmakers and 47 Democratic lawmakers joining in, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill tightening restrictions on admittance of Syrian refugees by requiring major agency heads to sign off on every refugee admitted; also, the bill requires the briefing of Congress on how the vetting process in going.
The governors of 31 states have declared that they are opposed to the admission of any Syrian refugees; however, immigration and refugee policy is the prerogative of the national government. It is also the case that a 1980 law allows the president to admit up to 50,000 refugees and more if certain provisions are met.
The current vetting process for refugees appears to be quite robust. The head of World Relief says it consists of 13 steps and consumes about 18 months. President Obama says the vetting process takes about 18 months to two years. A career official in vetting of refugees told MSNBC that it was about an 18-month process and required the involvement of the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the CIA. I have heard numbers of 1,400, 1,900 and 2,000 in reference to Syrian refugees admitted to the U.S. in the past four years and there is no documented record of any Syrian thus admitted as being involved in terrorist-related activity.
II. Donald Trump's Latino Problem
In the November 14, 2015 issue of the Albuquerque Journal, a republished article of the syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette takes Donald Trump to task for resurrecting the "historical black eye known as 'Operation Wetback.'" In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower removed more than one million Mexicans from the U.S. Some of the deported died while being transported and many were dumped in a desert well into the Mexican interior. Navarrette writes: "Relaunch Operation Wetback? You might as well suggest bringing back Jim Crow and interning Japanese-Americans."
Ruben Navarette cites polls to show how how strong is the Latino disapproval of Trump. "In mid-July, a Wall Street/NBC News/Telemundo poll found that 75 percent of Latinos disapproved of Trump. In a Univision poll taken at the same time, 79 percent of Latino voters said that they considered Trump's comments offensive, and 71 percent had an unfavorable view of him."
Navarrette concludes that Donald Trump sealed his fate with Latinos when he trashed the 14th Amendment by proposing the elimination of birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of the undocumented.
The recent massacres in Paris, bringing death or injury to between 400 and 500 people, and the early reports that one of the attackers had a Syrian passport, which he used to "hide " among the refugees streaming into European countries, have brought on a hysteria about the admittance of Syrian refugees.
Both former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) are supporting the admittance of only those Syrians who are Christian. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has called for the admittance of only "certified" Christians but has not given a description of the certification process. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson has told a story about parents bringing their children into the house if the word is that there are "rabid dogs" in the neighborhood -- some have heard him as saying "rabbit dogs." Carson has not explicitly linked Syrian refugees to the description, nor is it clear if he is talking about refugees in general. Donald Trump was asked by a NBC News reporter about the prospect of a database and whether Muslims would be required to be registered; and Trump answered, "They have to be." Trump later Twittered that he didn't suggest creating a database but was only answering a reporter's question; however, he did not disavow creation of a registry.
Jeb Bush called the prospect of a registry "abhorrent." Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said the idea was "unnecessary" and it was not something Americans would support. Senator Cruz said: "I am not a fan of government registries on American citizens." Cruz also said that the First Amendment protects religious liberties.
With the overwhelming support of Republican lawmakers and 47 Democratic lawmakers joining in, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill tightening restrictions on admittance of Syrian refugees by requiring major agency heads to sign off on every refugee admitted; also, the bill requires the briefing of Congress on how the vetting process in going.
The governors of 31 states have declared that they are opposed to the admission of any Syrian refugees; however, immigration and refugee policy is the prerogative of the national government. It is also the case that a 1980 law allows the president to admit up to 50,000 refugees and more if certain provisions are met.
The current vetting process for refugees appears to be quite robust. The head of World Relief says it consists of 13 steps and consumes about 18 months. President Obama says the vetting process takes about 18 months to two years. A career official in vetting of refugees told MSNBC that it was about an 18-month process and required the involvement of the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the CIA. I have heard numbers of 1,400, 1,900 and 2,000 in reference to Syrian refugees admitted to the U.S. in the past four years and there is no documented record of any Syrian thus admitted as being involved in terrorist-related activity.
II. Donald Trump's Latino Problem
In the November 14, 2015 issue of the Albuquerque Journal, a republished article of the syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette takes Donald Trump to task for resurrecting the "historical black eye known as 'Operation Wetback.'" In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower removed more than one million Mexicans from the U.S. Some of the deported died while being transported and many were dumped in a desert well into the Mexican interior. Navarrette writes: "Relaunch Operation Wetback? You might as well suggest bringing back Jim Crow and interning Japanese-Americans."
Ruben Navarette cites polls to show how how strong is the Latino disapproval of Trump. "In mid-July, a Wall Street/NBC News/Telemundo poll found that 75 percent of Latinos disapproved of Trump. In a Univision poll taken at the same time, 79 percent of Latino voters said that they considered Trump's comments offensive, and 71 percent had an unfavorable view of him."
Navarrette concludes that Donald Trump sealed his fate with Latinos when he trashed the 14th Amendment by proposing the elimination of birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of the undocumented.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Misunderstanding Regulations and Looking at the Numbers
I. Regulations No Major Cause of Layoffs
The Washington Post reports that while government regulations do lead to job losses, the overall effect is minimal. Analyses by economists and government statistics show that few job losses are a result of tougher regulations. The Post noted that while utility provider AEP will cut 159 jobs when it closes a decades-old coal-fired power plant in Ohio due to new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency, the company is building a new natural-gas-fired plant an hour away from the old plant. Hundreds have been hired to build it and when completed it will employ 25 people, with a significant decrease in pollution, meaning an improvement in the quality of life for area residents.
A study led by Richard Morgenstern, who worked in the EPA during the Reagan administration, looked at the effect of regulations on pulp and paper mills, plastic manufacturers, petroleum refiners, and iron and steel mills between 1979 and 1991. The study concluded that higher spending to comply with environmental rules did not cause "a significant change" in industry employment and when jobs were lost they were often made up in the same industry. (Source: "Studies: Regulations Not Major Cause of Layoffs," Newsmax.com, November 14, 2011.)
II. DC By the Numbers
* $278M- Amount raised by by super-PACs during the current presidential cycle.
* $15.4M - Amount raised by super-PACs at the same point in the 2012 presidential campaign.
* 88% - Donations to Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign from donors giving less than $200.
* 20% - Donations to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign from donors giving less than $200. (Source: The Nation, November 9, 2015.)
American Socialism?
* 47% - Americans who are willing to vote for a socialist, according to a new Gallup poll.
* 59% - Democrats who are willing to vote for a socialist for president.
* 52% - Americans who support heavily taxing the rich to support a more equitable distribution of wealth.
* 63% - Americans who believe that wealth should be distributed more equitably. (Source: The Nation, November 16, 2015.)
III. It's Tradition - The Long Dog Whistle
Does the GOP have a tradition of racism disguised in the mantle of "states' rights"? Following are some relevant statements:
* " Republicans have rejected the old concept of states rights as instruments of reaction and accepted a new concept: states rights as instruments of progress." (Richard Nixon, Arkansas, 1968)
* "You have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to." (Richard Nixon, private tapes, 1969)
* "By 1968 you can't say 'nigger' -- that hurts you. Backfires, So you say stuff like 'forced busing,' 'states rights,' and all that stuff." (Lee Atwater, Reagan campaign adviser, later campaign manager for George H.W. Bush)
* "I believe in states rights." (Ronald Reagan, 1980, speaking in the Mississippi town where three Freedom Riders were murdered in 1964.)
* "States should be allowed to protect the integrity of the franchise with voter-identification laws." (Jeb Bush, 2013.)
* "The placement of a Confederate flag on the Capitol grounds is a state issue." (Scott Walker, 2015.) (Overall Source: The Nation, November 9, 2015.)
IV. Punish the Child - Palestinian Kids Under Occupation
In a July report, Human Rights Watch described the treatment of Palestinian children by the Israeli Defense Forces.
* 11 - Age of the youngest Palestinian child interviewed for the report who was arrested or detained by Israeli security forces using unnecessary force. Treatment of children included choking and beating them while they were in custody, throwing stun grenades at them, and threatening and interrogating them without disclosing their whereabouts to parents.
* 163 - Palestinian children classified by the Israeli military as 'security detainees' in detention at the end of January 2015, including children convicted for offenses like throwing stones ( but not including children convicted as 'criminal detainees'.)
* 128 - Cases in which the Israeli military failed to record its interrogation of a child, out of a total of 440 cases in 2014, according to the Israeli military.
* 138 - Interrogations of Palestinian children in 2014 that were recorded as well as conducted in Arabic, out of 440 cases total.
* 162 - Palestinian children arrested during nighttime raids on their families' homes in 2013, according to the Israeli military. (Source: The Nation, November 9, 2015.)
The Washington Post reports that while government regulations do lead to job losses, the overall effect is minimal. Analyses by economists and government statistics show that few job losses are a result of tougher regulations. The Post noted that while utility provider AEP will cut 159 jobs when it closes a decades-old coal-fired power plant in Ohio due to new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency, the company is building a new natural-gas-fired plant an hour away from the old plant. Hundreds have been hired to build it and when completed it will employ 25 people, with a significant decrease in pollution, meaning an improvement in the quality of life for area residents.
A study led by Richard Morgenstern, who worked in the EPA during the Reagan administration, looked at the effect of regulations on pulp and paper mills, plastic manufacturers, petroleum refiners, and iron and steel mills between 1979 and 1991. The study concluded that higher spending to comply with environmental rules did not cause "a significant change" in industry employment and when jobs were lost they were often made up in the same industry. (Source: "Studies: Regulations Not Major Cause of Layoffs," Newsmax.com, November 14, 2011.)
II. DC By the Numbers
* $278M- Amount raised by by super-PACs during the current presidential cycle.
* $15.4M - Amount raised by super-PACs at the same point in the 2012 presidential campaign.
* 88% - Donations to Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign from donors giving less than $200.
* 20% - Donations to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign from donors giving less than $200. (Source: The Nation, November 9, 2015.)
American Socialism?
* 47% - Americans who are willing to vote for a socialist, according to a new Gallup poll.
* 59% - Democrats who are willing to vote for a socialist for president.
* 52% - Americans who support heavily taxing the rich to support a more equitable distribution of wealth.
* 63% - Americans who believe that wealth should be distributed more equitably. (Source: The Nation, November 16, 2015.)
III. It's Tradition - The Long Dog Whistle
Does the GOP have a tradition of racism disguised in the mantle of "states' rights"? Following are some relevant statements:
* " Republicans have rejected the old concept of states rights as instruments of reaction and accepted a new concept: states rights as instruments of progress." (Richard Nixon, Arkansas, 1968)
* "You have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to." (Richard Nixon, private tapes, 1969)
* "By 1968 you can't say 'nigger' -- that hurts you. Backfires, So you say stuff like 'forced busing,' 'states rights,' and all that stuff." (Lee Atwater, Reagan campaign adviser, later campaign manager for George H.W. Bush)
* "I believe in states rights." (Ronald Reagan, 1980, speaking in the Mississippi town where three Freedom Riders were murdered in 1964.)
* "States should be allowed to protect the integrity of the franchise with voter-identification laws." (Jeb Bush, 2013.)
* "The placement of a Confederate flag on the Capitol grounds is a state issue." (Scott Walker, 2015.) (Overall Source: The Nation, November 9, 2015.)
IV. Punish the Child - Palestinian Kids Under Occupation
In a July report, Human Rights Watch described the treatment of Palestinian children by the Israeli Defense Forces.
* 11 - Age of the youngest Palestinian child interviewed for the report who was arrested or detained by Israeli security forces using unnecessary force. Treatment of children included choking and beating them while they were in custody, throwing stun grenades at them, and threatening and interrogating them without disclosing their whereabouts to parents.
* 163 - Palestinian children classified by the Israeli military as 'security detainees' in detention at the end of January 2015, including children convicted for offenses like throwing stones ( but not including children convicted as 'criminal detainees'.)
* 128 - Cases in which the Israeli military failed to record its interrogation of a child, out of a total of 440 cases in 2014, according to the Israeli military.
* 138 - Interrogations of Palestinian children in 2014 that were recorded as well as conducted in Arabic, out of 440 cases total.
* 162 - Palestinian children arrested during nighttime raids on their families' homes in 2013, according to the Israeli military. (Source: The Nation, November 9, 2015.)
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Columbine Copycat: The Only Pattern in Mass Shootings
When Malcolm Gladwell, writing for the New Yorker magazine, tried to find a pattern in mass shootings -- defined as a shooting in which at least four people are killed -- he did not find the problem to be an endless supply of deeply disturbed young men who are willing to contemplate horrific acts. The situation is worse. It's that young men need not be deeply disturbed to contemplate horrific acts. [1]
Sociologist Mark Granovetter studied riots to try to find a pattern on how riots start and then grow. He saw a riot as a case of destructive violence that involves a number of people who would not usually be disposed to violence. He concluded that our social patterns are driven by our thresholds, which he defined as the number of people who would need to see other people doing some activity before they would join them. Thus some people would not join in a destructive activity if they saw only one person throwing a brick, some people might join in if two people throw bricks, and others might join in brick-throwing if three people threw bricks. Others might have a higher threshold.
Although Malcolm Gladwell found little pattern in mass shootings and sociologist Granovetter's threshold theory may help explain how riots start and grow, there is evidence of "a copycat effect rippling through many cases, both among mass shooters and those aspiring to kill." This assessment comes from a FBI report on a study of 160 active-shooter cases. "Perpetrators and plotters look to past attacks for not only inspiration but operational details, in hopes of causing even greater carnage." [2]
On April 20, 1999, two teenage boys, named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, fatally shot thirteen people and injured twenty-four others at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. A Mother Jones investigation shows that the nation's worst high school shooting has inspired at least seventy-two plots or attacks in thirty states. The breakdown of the 72 cases follows:
* 72 Known Copycat Cases --- 51 Plots or Threats Thwarted by Law enforcement --- 21 Attacks.
* 12 Cases Involved Plotters Who Hoped to Surpass the Carnage of the Columbine Shooting. --- Plotters in at Least 9 Cases Cited the Columbine Shooters as Heroes, Idols, Martyrs, or God --- 3 Plotters Made Pilgrimages to Columbine While Planning Attacks. 2 of Them Later Launched Attacks. The Third Plot Was Thwarted.
* 53% of the Cases Involved Guns --- 18% Involved Bombs or Explosives --- 14% Involved Knives.
* The Overall Toll - 89 Killed --- 126 Wounded --- 9 Shooter Suicides
* 94% of the Plotters Were Male. --- Only 4 Cases Involved Women Acting Alone --- None Resulted in Attacks.
* 17 - Average Age.
* 4 Out of 5 Were White (in Cases in Which Race or Ethnicity Was Known)
* 14 Attacks Were Planned for an Anniversary of the Columbine Attack. --- 12 of These Plots Were Thwarted. --- 2 Were Ultimately Carried Out on Different Dates. [3]
A History of Violence - Mass Shootings Are Becoming More Common -- and Deadlier.
* The Frequency of Mass Shootings Has Tripled Since 2011.
* Between 1982 and 2011, a Mass Shooting Occurred in the United States Every 200 Days.
* Between 2011 and 2014, a Mass Shooting Occurred Every 64 Days.
* Of the 13 Mass Shootings With Double-Digit Death Tolls Over the Past 50 Years, 7 Took Place in the Last 9 Years. (Source: Harvard School of Public Health, Congressional Research Service).
Footnotes
[1] Malcolm Gladwell, "The Thresholds of Violence," The New Yorker, October 19, 2015.
[2] Mark Follman, "Trigger Warnings," Mother Jones, November/December 2015.
[3] Ibid.
Sociologist Mark Granovetter studied riots to try to find a pattern on how riots start and then grow. He saw a riot as a case of destructive violence that involves a number of people who would not usually be disposed to violence. He concluded that our social patterns are driven by our thresholds, which he defined as the number of people who would need to see other people doing some activity before they would join them. Thus some people would not join in a destructive activity if they saw only one person throwing a brick, some people might join in if two people throw bricks, and others might join in brick-throwing if three people threw bricks. Others might have a higher threshold.
Although Malcolm Gladwell found little pattern in mass shootings and sociologist Granovetter's threshold theory may help explain how riots start and grow, there is evidence of "a copycat effect rippling through many cases, both among mass shooters and those aspiring to kill." This assessment comes from a FBI report on a study of 160 active-shooter cases. "Perpetrators and plotters look to past attacks for not only inspiration but operational details, in hopes of causing even greater carnage." [2]
On April 20, 1999, two teenage boys, named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, fatally shot thirteen people and injured twenty-four others at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. A Mother Jones investigation shows that the nation's worst high school shooting has inspired at least seventy-two plots or attacks in thirty states. The breakdown of the 72 cases follows:
* 72 Known Copycat Cases --- 51 Plots or Threats Thwarted by Law enforcement --- 21 Attacks.
* 12 Cases Involved Plotters Who Hoped to Surpass the Carnage of the Columbine Shooting. --- Plotters in at Least 9 Cases Cited the Columbine Shooters as Heroes, Idols, Martyrs, or God --- 3 Plotters Made Pilgrimages to Columbine While Planning Attacks. 2 of Them Later Launched Attacks. The Third Plot Was Thwarted.
* 53% of the Cases Involved Guns --- 18% Involved Bombs or Explosives --- 14% Involved Knives.
* The Overall Toll - 89 Killed --- 126 Wounded --- 9 Shooter Suicides
* 94% of the Plotters Were Male. --- Only 4 Cases Involved Women Acting Alone --- None Resulted in Attacks.
* 17 - Average Age.
* 4 Out of 5 Were White (in Cases in Which Race or Ethnicity Was Known)
* 14 Attacks Were Planned for an Anniversary of the Columbine Attack. --- 12 of These Plots Were Thwarted. --- 2 Were Ultimately Carried Out on Different Dates. [3]
A History of Violence - Mass Shootings Are Becoming More Common -- and Deadlier.
* The Frequency of Mass Shootings Has Tripled Since 2011.
* Between 1982 and 2011, a Mass Shooting Occurred in the United States Every 200 Days.
* Between 2011 and 2014, a Mass Shooting Occurred Every 64 Days.
* Of the 13 Mass Shootings With Double-Digit Death Tolls Over the Past 50 Years, 7 Took Place in the Last 9 Years. (Source: Harvard School of Public Health, Congressional Research Service).
Footnotes
[1] Malcolm Gladwell, "The Thresholds of Violence," The New Yorker, October 19, 2015.
[2] Mark Follman, "Trigger Warnings," Mother Jones, November/December 2015.
[3] Ibid.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Getting Cops Out of U.S. Schools
School resource officer Ben Fields put a recalcitrant student in a choke-hold and flipped her upside down at her desk; and then, for good measure, he flipped the desk of a student who verbally protested the treatment of the student who refused to give up her cellphone. CNN analyst and former police detective Harry Houck said she may have had it coming for disrupting the class and for disrespecting the officer's authority. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who initially called out the student for her disruptive and disrespectful behavior, also claimed that the student punched the officer in the chest. Lott later fired the officer for using what is "not a proper technique."
The media has not critically examined the question of whether police officers should be in schools. The Justice Policy Institute recommended in a 2011 study that it is time to "remove all law enforcement offices from schools"; also, there are no research findings that having cops in school reducers crime. Having cops in school helps contribute to an atmosphere of fear and intimidation and results in the criminalization of young people, especially those of color. Ben Fields, for example, was called "Officer Slam" by students at the South Carolina high school where they saw Fields slamming people around.
Beginning in the 1990s, the number of police officers in U.S. public schools has literally exploded. In 2009, The New York Times estimated that that there were more than 17,000 police officers based in schools. According to figures from the Department of Education ad the Department of Justice, 28 percent of all schools now have armed security officers assigned to them. [1]
Antecedents to the presence of so many police officers in public schools go back to 1994, when then-President Bill Clinton introduced the Gun-Free Schools Act, which led to the enactment of "zero tolerance" school policies. Shortly thereafter, political scientist John DiLulio introduced the idea of the "juvenile superpredator," heralding the arrival of a youth crime wave. On a broader societal basis there was the emergence of the belief that a rising tide of crime could not be handled by reform measures and more punishment and control was needed, as exemplified by "three strikes" laws and mandatory-minimum sentencing laws.
Turning now to the issues of punishment in schools and the disparities in how that punishment is administered, there are a number of sources that help paint that picture. PBS News-Hour found New York City charter schools were suspending kids a young as kindergarten age for behavioral infractions. One study shows that schools with school resource officers SROs) had nearly five times the arrest rate of.non-SRO schools, even after controlling for student demographics like income and race. A 2011 study by the New York Civil Liberties Union found that students with disabilities are four times more likely to be suspended than their peers. In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a class-action lawsuit against the schools of Birmingham, Alabama, claiming that they were systematically using excessive force. The SPLC alleged that since 2006, more than 300 students had been assailed by SROs with a combination of pepper spray and a tear-gas agent called Freeze +P that causes extreme pain and skin irritation, and can impede breathing and vision. According to a report by Mother Jones, from 2010 to 2015, at least 28 students were severely injured by SROs. [3]
Finally, attesting to the prevalence of "use of force" incidents, in the absence of national data, The Houston Chronicle found that in the last four years, police in eight Houston-area school districts reported 1,300 "use of force" incidents.
ADDENDUM: DC By the Numbers - "Kindergarten Cop"
* 92 K - Students subjected to school-related arrests during the 2011-12 academic year.
* 16% - Portion of the student population that is black.
* 31% - Students arrested n school who are black.
* 24.3% - Suspension rate for black students in 2010.
* 7.1% - Suspension rate for white students the same year.
Footnotes
[1] "Policing Education," The Nation, November 23/30, 2015.
[2] Ibid.; [3] Ibid..
The media has not critically examined the question of whether police officers should be in schools. The Justice Policy Institute recommended in a 2011 study that it is time to "remove all law enforcement offices from schools"; also, there are no research findings that having cops in school reducers crime. Having cops in school helps contribute to an atmosphere of fear and intimidation and results in the criminalization of young people, especially those of color. Ben Fields, for example, was called "Officer Slam" by students at the South Carolina high school where they saw Fields slamming people around.
Beginning in the 1990s, the number of police officers in U.S. public schools has literally exploded. In 2009, The New York Times estimated that that there were more than 17,000 police officers based in schools. According to figures from the Department of Education ad the Department of Justice, 28 percent of all schools now have armed security officers assigned to them. [1]
Antecedents to the presence of so many police officers in public schools go back to 1994, when then-President Bill Clinton introduced the Gun-Free Schools Act, which led to the enactment of "zero tolerance" school policies. Shortly thereafter, political scientist John DiLulio introduced the idea of the "juvenile superpredator," heralding the arrival of a youth crime wave. On a broader societal basis there was the emergence of the belief that a rising tide of crime could not be handled by reform measures and more punishment and control was needed, as exemplified by "three strikes" laws and mandatory-minimum sentencing laws.
Turning now to the issues of punishment in schools and the disparities in how that punishment is administered, there are a number of sources that help paint that picture. PBS News-Hour found New York City charter schools were suspending kids a young as kindergarten age for behavioral infractions. One study shows that schools with school resource officers SROs) had nearly five times the arrest rate of.non-SRO schools, even after controlling for student demographics like income and race. A 2011 study by the New York Civil Liberties Union found that students with disabilities are four times more likely to be suspended than their peers. In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a class-action lawsuit against the schools of Birmingham, Alabama, claiming that they were systematically using excessive force. The SPLC alleged that since 2006, more than 300 students had been assailed by SROs with a combination of pepper spray and a tear-gas agent called Freeze +P that causes extreme pain and skin irritation, and can impede breathing and vision. According to a report by Mother Jones, from 2010 to 2015, at least 28 students were severely injured by SROs. [3]
Finally, attesting to the prevalence of "use of force" incidents, in the absence of national data, The Houston Chronicle found that in the last four years, police in eight Houston-area school districts reported 1,300 "use of force" incidents.
ADDENDUM: DC By the Numbers - "Kindergarten Cop"
* 92 K - Students subjected to school-related arrests during the 2011-12 academic year.
* 16% - Portion of the student population that is black.
* 31% - Students arrested n school who are black.
* 24.3% - Suspension rate for black students in 2010.
* 7.1% - Suspension rate for white students the same year.
Footnotes
[1] "Policing Education," The Nation, November 23/30, 2015.
[2] Ibid.; [3] Ibid..
Friday, November 13, 2015
Police Excessive Use of Force Immunity and the Self-Protective Paradigm
When Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott initially reacted to school resource officer Ben Fields overturning the occupied desks of two students, he created an expectation that he was going to shield Fields from any form of punishment. He said that the student who refused to give up her cellphone to the teacher in the classroom. He said the student was disruptive, was very disrespectful, refused to follow the teacher's instructions, and was disrespectful to the arriving school administrator. And, oh yes, she started the whole affair. Something undoubtedly happened in the interim to cause Lott to fire Fields and even have harsh words to say about his behavior. Fields overturned the offending student's chair and attached desk and then dragged her across the floor. Then, for good measure, he overturned the chair and desk of a student who verbally protested the overbearing use of force by Fields.
Carlos, the comedian who appears regularly on Stephanie Miller Show, triggered a storm of negative response from callers to the show by blaming the student for escalating the situation. So strong was the criticism for his focusing much of the blame on the student, that people were calling in for several days to register their anger at what Carlos had said. He tried to wiggle out of his predicament by saying the officer was wrong for using excessive force; however, by putting so much blame on the student with the cellphone, he minimized the blame that should have landed on Ben Fields.
Those students in the classroom who had never experienced police use of excessive force had a vivid introduction to it; those students who had experienced or witnessed it likely had a negative view of the police reinforced; and those in the nation or in the rest of the world who saw the video, had a disturbing view of police behavior.
-
Recently, video from a police intervention of a campus party that had triggered complaints of excessive noise was shown on national television. Police are shown rampaging through a campus dormitory and one police officer responds to a student's request for a warrant with a reply that can't be aired on the media. There are scenes of police Tasering students and using their batons on them.
-
During the past week, I caught much of the story of a 37-year-old female officer who had just been found not guilty for Tasering a man to death. She had Tasered him at least twice and a video from either her lapel camera or the vehicle dashcam showed the man lying in the snow with his hands under his body. He may have tried to break his fall with his hands when hit by the Taser. What I gathered from the story was that the officer was afraid that he might have a concealed gun and that is why she Tasered him again.
Building on this rare instance of a female officer using excessive force. there has been extensive coverage of the death of Daniel Webster, an Albuquerque, NM police officer killed in a gunfight with a thief. During the funeral covered by a local TV station, there were frequent mentions of officers putting their lives on the line for the citizenry and spouses unsure if their marriage partner will come home every day. Although there is widespread agreement that policing is a dangerous job, it does not the list of the ten most dangerous jobs in the United States -- the family of a commercial fisherman, for example, is far less likely to have their loved one return home alive at the end of a day.
As for officers putting their lives on the line, it may be time that we adopted a different paradigm. It is very common for police officers to claim that they had to kill a person because they believed their own lives were on the line. These claims occur even when the officer has no basis to believe that the person he encounters is armed. Darren Wilson told the Ferguson Grand Jury that: "I had to kill him," meaning Michael Brown. Many, if not most, prosecutors would consider that to be a first degree murder charge based on intent to kill. Under this new paradigm, we should be much more skeptical of a police officer's claim that his/her only option was to kill.
Carlos, the comedian who appears regularly on Stephanie Miller Show, triggered a storm of negative response from callers to the show by blaming the student for escalating the situation. So strong was the criticism for his focusing much of the blame on the student, that people were calling in for several days to register their anger at what Carlos had said. He tried to wiggle out of his predicament by saying the officer was wrong for using excessive force; however, by putting so much blame on the student with the cellphone, he minimized the blame that should have landed on Ben Fields.
Those students in the classroom who had never experienced police use of excessive force had a vivid introduction to it; those students who had experienced or witnessed it likely had a negative view of the police reinforced; and those in the nation or in the rest of the world who saw the video, had a disturbing view of police behavior.
-
Recently, video from a police intervention of a campus party that had triggered complaints of excessive noise was shown on national television. Police are shown rampaging through a campus dormitory and one police officer responds to a student's request for a warrant with a reply that can't be aired on the media. There are scenes of police Tasering students and using their batons on them.
-
During the past week, I caught much of the story of a 37-year-old female officer who had just been found not guilty for Tasering a man to death. She had Tasered him at least twice and a video from either her lapel camera or the vehicle dashcam showed the man lying in the snow with his hands under his body. He may have tried to break his fall with his hands when hit by the Taser. What I gathered from the story was that the officer was afraid that he might have a concealed gun and that is why she Tasered him again.
Building on this rare instance of a female officer using excessive force. there has been extensive coverage of the death of Daniel Webster, an Albuquerque, NM police officer killed in a gunfight with a thief. During the funeral covered by a local TV station, there were frequent mentions of officers putting their lives on the line for the citizenry and spouses unsure if their marriage partner will come home every day. Although there is widespread agreement that policing is a dangerous job, it does not the list of the ten most dangerous jobs in the United States -- the family of a commercial fisherman, for example, is far less likely to have their loved one return home alive at the end of a day.
As for officers putting their lives on the line, it may be time that we adopted a different paradigm. It is very common for police officers to claim that they had to kill a person because they believed their own lives were on the line. These claims occur even when the officer has no basis to believe that the person he encounters is armed. Darren Wilson told the Ferguson Grand Jury that: "I had to kill him," meaning Michael Brown. Many, if not most, prosecutors would consider that to be a first degree murder charge based on intent to kill. Under this new paradigm, we should be much more skeptical of a police officer's claim that his/her only option was to kill.
Monday, November 9, 2015
Ben Carson Doubles Down on His lies
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has been embroiled in defending the several stories he has told about his life up through his university attendance. The most recent subject to have burst into public controversy is his claim that he was "offered" a full scholarship to West Point.
1. The Full West Point Scholarship
Ben Carson has claimed that he was offered a full scholarship to attend West Point. He has told more than one story of who the scholarship offer came from. One version is that the offer came during a meeting with General Westmoreland. Another version is that the offer came at an affair attended by a number of retired and active duty high-ranking military officers. When contacted by the media, West Point sources said there is no record of West Point offering Carson a scholarship; these sources described getting admitted to West Point is a "long, arduous" process.
It is possible that Carson was told by someone in a .position of authority that he should apply to West Point, maybe even by the commander in Carson's ROTC service in high school, but such encouragement or advice would not constitute an "offer."
2. Carson's Violent Early Teen Years
Ben Carson has emphasized how violent he was in his early teen years, using knives, a hammer and even a baseball bat to strike or threaten others. He has described directing a knife toward the stomach of someone, only to have the knife break when it hit a large belt buckle. He has described tying to drive a hammer into his mother's head but being stopped before he could complete the act. At one point Carson described the person he tried to knife as a relative and at another point he said it was a non-relative.
CNN has interviewed at least nine people who were close to Carson, going all the way back to elementary school. None of hem have been able to describe a single violent act or even fit of anger on the part of Ben Carson. Carson argued at a recent press conference that how could anyone expect that any of his youthful acquaintances could accurately remember something that happened some fifty years ago.
3. The Incident at Popeyes
At a press conference following the mass shooting at a community college in Oregon, Carson said that had he been in the proximity of the shooter, he would not have just stood there; instead, he would have told those around him: "Come on, guys, let's charge him; he can't shoot and kill all of us.!" Carson, however, has told a story of being in a Popeyes, and having someone jam a gun into his ribs. Carson said he told the gunman: "You don't went me; you want the guy behind the counter." Popeyes, nor anyone else, has been able to confirm the incident. If the incident did happen, Carson didn't display the heroism he now has said he would display. Instead, he encouraged the gunman to put someone else under the gun.
4. "The Most Honest Person"
Ben Carson has claimed that in a psychology class at Yale University, the students there declared him to be "the most honest person." -- either in the class or of anyone they knew at Yale. Carson added that his picture appeared on the front page of the student newspaper. No such issue of the newspaper has been located and no one has come forth to confirm Carson's story. Apparently, this was a made-up story put in a joke or satire paper by acquaintances of Carson.
5. The Media Closely Scrutinized Him But Gave Barack Obama a Pass
Although Ben Carson's claim that the media gave Obama a pass but is intent on savaging him, would not directly qualify as a lie but it is a gross mischaracterization. Carson ignores the long-running media focus on Obama's relationship with his church pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and portions of Wright's most fiery sermons were played over-and-over. The prevailing question was: Why would Obama remain in a church for twenty years, with a pastor who interlaced anti-American themes into his sermons? There were frequent media stories about Obama's relationship with the former Weatherman radical Bill Ayres. Obama held a campaign fundraiser in Ayres' home and served on a board focused on educational reform with Ayres. Then of course, there was the birther story, whereby Obama was alleged to have been born in Kenya and thereby not eligible to be president of the United States. Obama is the only candidate for U.S. president who has had to produce a birth certificate. There were many negative stories about Obama's father and even claims that Obama was secretly helping a "radical" Kenyan campaign for Kenya's political leadership. The above is just a sampling of the often negative media coverage of Obama's run for the presidency..
Ben Carson's claim that the Egyptian pyramids were designed to be storehouses for grain is not a lie but testifies to Carson's profound ignorance. Archaeologists have extensively examined the pyramids and have not found any vestiges of grain in them. The conclusive scientific finding is that the pyramids are elaborate tombs for Egypt's pharaohs. The pyramids were built of huge stones ragged for many miles by enslaved workers. If the Egyptians felt they needed grain storage facilities they would have built barn-like structures.
Ben Carson's source for his pyramid claim may have been a passage in Genesis that refers to making preparations for an upcoming drought.
1. The Full West Point Scholarship
Ben Carson has claimed that he was offered a full scholarship to attend West Point. He has told more than one story of who the scholarship offer came from. One version is that the offer came during a meeting with General Westmoreland. Another version is that the offer came at an affair attended by a number of retired and active duty high-ranking military officers. When contacted by the media, West Point sources said there is no record of West Point offering Carson a scholarship; these sources described getting admitted to West Point is a "long, arduous" process.
It is possible that Carson was told by someone in a .position of authority that he should apply to West Point, maybe even by the commander in Carson's ROTC service in high school, but such encouragement or advice would not constitute an "offer."
2. Carson's Violent Early Teen Years
Ben Carson has emphasized how violent he was in his early teen years, using knives, a hammer and even a baseball bat to strike or threaten others. He has described directing a knife toward the stomach of someone, only to have the knife break when it hit a large belt buckle. He has described tying to drive a hammer into his mother's head but being stopped before he could complete the act. At one point Carson described the person he tried to knife as a relative and at another point he said it was a non-relative.
CNN has interviewed at least nine people who were close to Carson, going all the way back to elementary school. None of hem have been able to describe a single violent act or even fit of anger on the part of Ben Carson. Carson argued at a recent press conference that how could anyone expect that any of his youthful acquaintances could accurately remember something that happened some fifty years ago.
3. The Incident at Popeyes
At a press conference following the mass shooting at a community college in Oregon, Carson said that had he been in the proximity of the shooter, he would not have just stood there; instead, he would have told those around him: "Come on, guys, let's charge him; he can't shoot and kill all of us.!" Carson, however, has told a story of being in a Popeyes, and having someone jam a gun into his ribs. Carson said he told the gunman: "You don't went me; you want the guy behind the counter." Popeyes, nor anyone else, has been able to confirm the incident. If the incident did happen, Carson didn't display the heroism he now has said he would display. Instead, he encouraged the gunman to put someone else under the gun.
4. "The Most Honest Person"
Ben Carson has claimed that in a psychology class at Yale University, the students there declared him to be "the most honest person." -- either in the class or of anyone they knew at Yale. Carson added that his picture appeared on the front page of the student newspaper. No such issue of the newspaper has been located and no one has come forth to confirm Carson's story. Apparently, this was a made-up story put in a joke or satire paper by acquaintances of Carson.
5. The Media Closely Scrutinized Him But Gave Barack Obama a Pass
Although Ben Carson's claim that the media gave Obama a pass but is intent on savaging him, would not directly qualify as a lie but it is a gross mischaracterization. Carson ignores the long-running media focus on Obama's relationship with his church pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and portions of Wright's most fiery sermons were played over-and-over. The prevailing question was: Why would Obama remain in a church for twenty years, with a pastor who interlaced anti-American themes into his sermons? There were frequent media stories about Obama's relationship with the former Weatherman radical Bill Ayres. Obama held a campaign fundraiser in Ayres' home and served on a board focused on educational reform with Ayres. Then of course, there was the birther story, whereby Obama was alleged to have been born in Kenya and thereby not eligible to be president of the United States. Obama is the only candidate for U.S. president who has had to produce a birth certificate. There were many negative stories about Obama's father and even claims that Obama was secretly helping a "radical" Kenyan campaign for Kenya's political leadership. The above is just a sampling of the often negative media coverage of Obama's run for the presidency..
Ben Carson's claim that the Egyptian pyramids were designed to be storehouses for grain is not a lie but testifies to Carson's profound ignorance. Archaeologists have extensively examined the pyramids and have not found any vestiges of grain in them. The conclusive scientific finding is that the pyramids are elaborate tombs for Egypt's pharaohs. The pyramids were built of huge stones ragged for many miles by enslaved workers. If the Egyptians felt they needed grain storage facilities they would have built barn-like structures.
Ben Carson's source for his pyramid claim may have been a passage in Genesis that refers to making preparations for an upcoming drought.
Sunday, November 8, 2015
A Revealing Look at J. Edgar hoover's Secret FBI
My fellow Peace Action board member, Lawrence (Larry) Wittner, published in NewPolitics a review of Betty Medsger's book, The Burglary (Alfred A. Knopf, 2014). I have selectively excerpted Larry's review to give a sense of what Medsger found out about the FBI's secretive ways after she learned that two old friends of hers had participated in the burglary. After persuading the two friends to be interviewed, she learned the identity of the other six participants and was able to interview them.
"The Burglary tells the story of how, on March 8, 19871, in the midst of the Vietnam War, eight peace activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, in a effort to discover whether the FBI was working, illegally, to suppress American dissent. Spiriting away all the records in the FBI office, these daring men and women soon learned that the crime-fighting bureau was, indeed, engaging in a broad range of unlawful activities."
"A major virtue of the book is its revelation of vast FBI criminality. Hoover's secret FBI, as Medsger summarizes it:
'Usurped citizens' liberties... and used deception, disinformation, and violence as tools to harass, damage and ... silence people whose opinions the director opposed.... Agents and informers were
required to be outlaws. Blackmail and burglary were favorite tools in the secret FBI. Agents and
informers were ordered to spy on -- and create ongoing files on -- the private lives, including the
sexual activities, of the nation's highest officials and other powerful people.' "
"The FBI's spying operation were extraordinarily extensive. All black college student organizations, for example, were placed under surveillance and infiltrated. Indeed, on some college campuses, every black student was placed under surveillance. Moreover, the FBI infiltrated the Congress of Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the NAACP. In fact, NAACP officials were also under continuous FBI surveillance since 1923."
COINTELPRO "was perhaps Hoover's most ambitious program of criminal activity. Created by Hoover in 1956 to harass Communists and other radicals, COINTELPRO was updated to COINTELPRO-New Left by the FBI director in 1968. The revised model was designed to 'expose, disrupt, and otherwise neutralize' the New Left movement by any means necessary, including spreading false, derogatory information about its leaders and organizations, creating conflicts among its leaders and members, burglary and violence. It targeted nearly all social change movements, including the civil rights movement, the peace movement, the women's movement, the gay rights movement, and the environmental movement. The FBI also secretly, and sometimes, violently, attacked college campus and alternative newspapers. Medsger observes that the bureau worked at 'forcing the publications to close, infiltrating them with informants, and threatening the credibility -- and sometimes the lives -- of their staff.' "
"With the FBI operating almost everywhere, its records grew enormously, and eventually included 500,000 domestic intelligence files, each typically including several individuals' names; Medsger writes of Hoover:
'No part of the government or American life was outside his reach. He used his secret power to destroy
individuals and to manipulate and destroy organizations. ... He secretly punished people he regarded
as wrong-thinking -- civil rights leaders, senior members of Congress who questioned war policy,
and also average people who wrote letters to a member of Congress or dared to express their dissent by appearing at an antiwar demonstration. In hoover's world ... any American was fair game.' "
"Thousands of university faculty members were spied upon and many fired from their jobs as a result of FBI activity. A 1958 study found that two-thirds of the then approximately 2,500 social science faculty members surveyed had been visited by the FBI at least once, and a third had been visited three or more times.' "
Plots against Dr. Martin Luther King JR. included office break-ins, use of informers, mail openings, wiretapping and burglary. Hoover's FBI even tied to convince King to commit suicide.
When in 1943, the U.S. Attorney General told Hoover to end his Custodial Detention Index -- a list of 26,000 Americans who might be imprisoned in the event of a war or national emergency -- Hoover lied about ending it. Hoover used material in his files as blackmail.
President Ronald Reagan relaxed restrictive guidelines on FBI activity put in by Attorney General Edward Levi.
"The Burglary tells the story of how, on March 8, 19871, in the midst of the Vietnam War, eight peace activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, in a effort to discover whether the FBI was working, illegally, to suppress American dissent. Spiriting away all the records in the FBI office, these daring men and women soon learned that the crime-fighting bureau was, indeed, engaging in a broad range of unlawful activities."
"A major virtue of the book is its revelation of vast FBI criminality. Hoover's secret FBI, as Medsger summarizes it:
'Usurped citizens' liberties... and used deception, disinformation, and violence as tools to harass, damage and ... silence people whose opinions the director opposed.... Agents and informers were
required to be outlaws. Blackmail and burglary were favorite tools in the secret FBI. Agents and
informers were ordered to spy on -- and create ongoing files on -- the private lives, including the
sexual activities, of the nation's highest officials and other powerful people.' "
"The FBI's spying operation were extraordinarily extensive. All black college student organizations, for example, were placed under surveillance and infiltrated. Indeed, on some college campuses, every black student was placed under surveillance. Moreover, the FBI infiltrated the Congress of Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the NAACP. In fact, NAACP officials were also under continuous FBI surveillance since 1923."
COINTELPRO "was perhaps Hoover's most ambitious program of criminal activity. Created by Hoover in 1956 to harass Communists and other radicals, COINTELPRO was updated to COINTELPRO-New Left by the FBI director in 1968. The revised model was designed to 'expose, disrupt, and otherwise neutralize' the New Left movement by any means necessary, including spreading false, derogatory information about its leaders and organizations, creating conflicts among its leaders and members, burglary and violence. It targeted nearly all social change movements, including the civil rights movement, the peace movement, the women's movement, the gay rights movement, and the environmental movement. The FBI also secretly, and sometimes, violently, attacked college campus and alternative newspapers. Medsger observes that the bureau worked at 'forcing the publications to close, infiltrating them with informants, and threatening the credibility -- and sometimes the lives -- of their staff.' "
"With the FBI operating almost everywhere, its records grew enormously, and eventually included 500,000 domestic intelligence files, each typically including several individuals' names; Medsger writes of Hoover:
'No part of the government or American life was outside his reach. He used his secret power to destroy
individuals and to manipulate and destroy organizations. ... He secretly punished people he regarded
as wrong-thinking -- civil rights leaders, senior members of Congress who questioned war policy,
and also average people who wrote letters to a member of Congress or dared to express their dissent by appearing at an antiwar demonstration. In hoover's world ... any American was fair game.' "
"Thousands of university faculty members were spied upon and many fired from their jobs as a result of FBI activity. A 1958 study found that two-thirds of the then approximately 2,500 social science faculty members surveyed had been visited by the FBI at least once, and a third had been visited three or more times.' "
Plots against Dr. Martin Luther King JR. included office break-ins, use of informers, mail openings, wiretapping and burglary. Hoover's FBI even tied to convince King to commit suicide.
When in 1943, the U.S. Attorney General told Hoover to end his Custodial Detention Index -- a list of 26,000 Americans who might be imprisoned in the event of a war or national emergency -- Hoover lied about ending it. Hoover used material in his files as blackmail.
President Ronald Reagan relaxed restrictive guidelines on FBI activity put in by Attorney General Edward Levi.
Friday, November 6, 2015
TPP, Yemen Precedent and U.S. Exceptionalism
I. Why Democrats Reject TPP
Senator Bernie Sanders said of the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that "These folks have been proven wrong time after time." Sanders was referring to the failure of prior free trade deals to result in the creation of mass U.S. job growth. Rep Keith Ellison said: "We cannot afford to rush through another NAFTA that values corporate profits above families." Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown referred back to the 2008 presidential race: "During the 2008 presidential primary, I watched Obama argue in Cleveland that we should renegotiate NAFTA. Instead we've seen more empty promises of jobs through exports, while American workers are hit with a flood of imports and jobs shipped overseas."
While campaigning in 2008, Barack Obama stood side-by-side with opponents of ill-considered trade deals. He decried "a Washington where decades of trade deals like NAFTA and China have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits, but none for our environment or our workers who've seen factories shut their doors and millions of jobs disappear..."
The Obama administration predicted that the South Korea Free Trade Agreement would create 70,000 jobs and deliver up to $11 billion in exports. Instead, it only increased U.S. exports to Korea by $4 billion, while Korean imports have skyrocketed to more than $12 billion. The U.S. already has a trade deficit with Japan and ten other countries included in the TPP. Since 1997, the deficit with these countries has increased by $151.4 billion. [1]
II. The Yemen Precedent
The U.S.opposed the Palestinian request in the United Nations Security Council to become a member of the International Criminal Court. Nigeria was persuaded by the U.S. to change its vote from "yes" to "abstain."
There is a long-standing precedent, known as the Yemen Precedent, that dates back to the first Gulf War in 1990, when Yemen was one of only two nations -- the other being Cuba -- who voted against endorsing the U.S. proposal to go to war. As soon as Yemen's ambassador put down his hand, the U.S. ambassador was at his side, saying: "That will be the most expensive vote you ever cast." Three days later, the U.S. cut its entire aid budget to Yemen.
The U.S. has used the Yemen Precedent over-and-over again in the United Nations to pressure, threaten and bribe other nations to follow the U.S. lead.
III. U.S. Exceptionalism in Admitting Mistakes
After a drone strike in Pakistan that killed two Western hostages -- one of them being an American -- President Barack Obama stood behind a podium and apologized for the killings. Obama said:, "one of the things that sets America apart from many other nations, one of the things that makes us exceptional, is our willingness to confront squarely our imperfections and to learn from our mistakes." In his 2015 State of the Union address, Obama described America as exceptional." When he spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, he said, "Some may disagree, but I believe that America is exceptional."
American exceptionalism reflects the belief that Americans are somehow better than everyone else. The claim of American exceptionalism triggered deep concern and even outrage with the leak of a Department of Justice White Paper that describes circumstances under which the President can order the targeted killing of U.S. citizens. There had been little public concern about drone strikes that killed people in other countries; however, killing U.S. citizens was of another order. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was prompted to write a letter to the New York Times, in which he asked: "Do the United States and its people really want to tell those of us who live in the rest of the world that our lives are not of the same value as yours?"
President Obama insists the CIA and the U.S. military are very careful to avoid Civilian casualties. In May 2013, he declared in a speech at the National Defense University: "Before any strike is taken, there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured -- the highest standard we can set." Yet, the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), which examined nine drone strikes in Yemen, concluded that civilians were killed in every one. A study based on classified military data, conducted by the Center for Naval Analyses and the Center for Civilians in Conflict, concluded that the use of drones in Afghanistan had caused 10 times more civilian deaths than manned fighter aircraft. Other studies show that many civilians are killed in drone strikes.
A fact sheet released by the Obama administration in 2013, specifies that in order to use lethal force, the target must pose a "continuing, imminent threat to U.S. persons." But the leaked Justice Department White Paper says that a U.S. citizen can be killed even when there is no "clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future." If there is such a low bar for killing citizens, is there no bar whatever for killing foreigners?
There must also be "near certainty" that the terrorist target is present; however, the CIA did not know who it was slaying when two hostages were killed. This was a "signature strike," that targets "suspicious compounds" in areas controlled by "militants."
Do drone strikes advance "long-term U.S. security interests?" They do not, according to a panel with experienced specialists from both the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations, which issued a 77-page report for the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan think tank.
"The guarantee of due process in the U.S. Constitution as well as in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights must be honored, not just in its breach. That means arrest and fair trial, not summary execution. What we really need is a complete reassessment of Obama's continuation of Bush's 'war on terror..' Until we overhaul our foreign policy and stop invading other countries, changing their regimes, occupying, torturing and indefinitely detaining their people, and uncritically supporting other countries that illegally occupy other peoples' lands, we will never be safe from terrorism." [2]
Footnotes
[1] John Nichols, "Why So Many Democrats Rejected Obama's Lobbying on the Trans-Pacific Trade Deal," The Nation, May 11, 2015.
[2] Marjorie Cohn (professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law), "Challenging American Exceptionalism," Global Research, April 26, 2015.
Senator Bernie Sanders said of the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that "These folks have been proven wrong time after time." Sanders was referring to the failure of prior free trade deals to result in the creation of mass U.S. job growth. Rep Keith Ellison said: "We cannot afford to rush through another NAFTA that values corporate profits above families." Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown referred back to the 2008 presidential race: "During the 2008 presidential primary, I watched Obama argue in Cleveland that we should renegotiate NAFTA. Instead we've seen more empty promises of jobs through exports, while American workers are hit with a flood of imports and jobs shipped overseas."
While campaigning in 2008, Barack Obama stood side-by-side with opponents of ill-considered trade deals. He decried "a Washington where decades of trade deals like NAFTA and China have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits, but none for our environment or our workers who've seen factories shut their doors and millions of jobs disappear..."
The Obama administration predicted that the South Korea Free Trade Agreement would create 70,000 jobs and deliver up to $11 billion in exports. Instead, it only increased U.S. exports to Korea by $4 billion, while Korean imports have skyrocketed to more than $12 billion. The U.S. already has a trade deficit with Japan and ten other countries included in the TPP. Since 1997, the deficit with these countries has increased by $151.4 billion. [1]
II. The Yemen Precedent
The U.S.opposed the Palestinian request in the United Nations Security Council to become a member of the International Criminal Court. Nigeria was persuaded by the U.S. to change its vote from "yes" to "abstain."
There is a long-standing precedent, known as the Yemen Precedent, that dates back to the first Gulf War in 1990, when Yemen was one of only two nations -- the other being Cuba -- who voted against endorsing the U.S. proposal to go to war. As soon as Yemen's ambassador put down his hand, the U.S. ambassador was at his side, saying: "That will be the most expensive vote you ever cast." Three days later, the U.S. cut its entire aid budget to Yemen.
The U.S. has used the Yemen Precedent over-and-over again in the United Nations to pressure, threaten and bribe other nations to follow the U.S. lead.
III. U.S. Exceptionalism in Admitting Mistakes
After a drone strike in Pakistan that killed two Western hostages -- one of them being an American -- President Barack Obama stood behind a podium and apologized for the killings. Obama said:, "one of the things that sets America apart from many other nations, one of the things that makes us exceptional, is our willingness to confront squarely our imperfections and to learn from our mistakes." In his 2015 State of the Union address, Obama described America as exceptional." When he spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, he said, "Some may disagree, but I believe that America is exceptional."
American exceptionalism reflects the belief that Americans are somehow better than everyone else. The claim of American exceptionalism triggered deep concern and even outrage with the leak of a Department of Justice White Paper that describes circumstances under which the President can order the targeted killing of U.S. citizens. There had been little public concern about drone strikes that killed people in other countries; however, killing U.S. citizens was of another order. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was prompted to write a letter to the New York Times, in which he asked: "Do the United States and its people really want to tell those of us who live in the rest of the world that our lives are not of the same value as yours?"
President Obama insists the CIA and the U.S. military are very careful to avoid Civilian casualties. In May 2013, he declared in a speech at the National Defense University: "Before any strike is taken, there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured -- the highest standard we can set." Yet, the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), which examined nine drone strikes in Yemen, concluded that civilians were killed in every one. A study based on classified military data, conducted by the Center for Naval Analyses and the Center for Civilians in Conflict, concluded that the use of drones in Afghanistan had caused 10 times more civilian deaths than manned fighter aircraft. Other studies show that many civilians are killed in drone strikes.
A fact sheet released by the Obama administration in 2013, specifies that in order to use lethal force, the target must pose a "continuing, imminent threat to U.S. persons." But the leaked Justice Department White Paper says that a U.S. citizen can be killed even when there is no "clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future." If there is such a low bar for killing citizens, is there no bar whatever for killing foreigners?
There must also be "near certainty" that the terrorist target is present; however, the CIA did not know who it was slaying when two hostages were killed. This was a "signature strike," that targets "suspicious compounds" in areas controlled by "militants."
Do drone strikes advance "long-term U.S. security interests?" They do not, according to a panel with experienced specialists from both the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations, which issued a 77-page report for the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan think tank.
"The guarantee of due process in the U.S. Constitution as well as in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights must be honored, not just in its breach. That means arrest and fair trial, not summary execution. What we really need is a complete reassessment of Obama's continuation of Bush's 'war on terror..' Until we overhaul our foreign policy and stop invading other countries, changing their regimes, occupying, torturing and indefinitely detaining their people, and uncritically supporting other countries that illegally occupy other peoples' lands, we will never be safe from terrorism." [2]
Footnotes
[1] John Nichols, "Why So Many Democrats Rejected Obama's Lobbying on the Trans-Pacific Trade Deal," The Nation, May 11, 2015.
[2] Marjorie Cohn (professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law), "Challenging American Exceptionalism," Global Research, April 26, 2015.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
A Perspective on Mass Killing and Specious Torture Rationales
I. "Mass Killing in the Name of God" (International Peace Bureau, January 13, 2015)
"It is time to forcefully confront violent extremism and fundamentalism, wherever it manifests itself. It's time to stop pointing at 'the others' and to confront the extremism in our own backyard, whether it is from our own beliefs or attitudes or is manifested by other groups in our neighborhood. In this context it is important to find a way to set aside religious or para-religious that make 'infidels' or 'blasphemous' justified targets.
An even deeper challenge is to strengthen our work to overcome the division in the world between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.' Analyses shows that social injustice and inequality are not only ills in themselves but also hamper development and give rise to violence and armed conflict.
The present confrontation between radical elements in the Muslim world and the more secular West plays into the hands of militant minorities on both sides. Furthermore, it benefits those who seize the opportunity to call for more spending on the military and more aggressive and militant policies. There is a serious danger that states will use current events to increase their surveillance of all activists and citizens instead of only those who present a serious risk. Acknowledging the equality and interdependence of all people in our globalized world should help open the eyes to the need for dialogue, mutual respect and understanding.
There is another dimension that is receiving much less coverage in mainstream media. The major world powers are in many ways themselves responsible for the growth in Islamist militancy, on the account of:
* the long history of colonial domination of the Middle East and the Muslim world generally, and the support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands;
* the role of the US arming and funding the Afghan mujahideen against the USSR -- who then became major figures in the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and are now operating in Syria and elsewhere.
* the devastating 'war on terror' which has caused enormous death and suffering in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and around the Islamic world; and which is at the same time imposing draconian restrictions on human rights and freedom, notably in the area of international migration.
* the persistent tendency -- especially in sections of the mass media -- to demonize the whole world to suggest that all Hindus and Muslims are a threat to democratic values."
II. The Specious Genesis of U.S. Torture Policy
On November 13, 2001, George W. Bush, acting as President and Commander-in-Chief, signed a military order concerning the "Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism." Suspected terrorists who are not citizens were to be detained at an appropriate location designated by the Secretary of Defense. If brought to trial, they were to be tried and sentenced by a military commission. No member of the commission need be a lawyer. Ordinary military rules would not apply, nor would the laws of war.
Suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without charge, denied knowledge of the evidence against them, and, if tried, convicted and sentenced by courts, incarcerated under no established rules. Bush didn't want to call detainees, criminals, because criminals have rights; they couldn't be called prisoners of war, because prisoners of war have rights under international law. So the Bush administration invented a new classification: "unlawful combatants."
Any pretense of a legal process hinged on a 50-page memo issued by the Department of Justice, signed by Jay S. Bybee, but probably written by the more notorious John Yoo. The memo purported to draw a distinction between acts that are "cruel, inhuman, or degrading," and acts that constitute torture. In essence, the Bush administration envisioned creating for the first time a permanent legal structure under the president's sole command. [1]
Footnotes
[1] Jill Lepore, "The Dark Ages," The New Yorker, March 11, 2013.
"It is time to forcefully confront violent extremism and fundamentalism, wherever it manifests itself. It's time to stop pointing at 'the others' and to confront the extremism in our own backyard, whether it is from our own beliefs or attitudes or is manifested by other groups in our neighborhood. In this context it is important to find a way to set aside religious or para-religious that make 'infidels' or 'blasphemous' justified targets.
An even deeper challenge is to strengthen our work to overcome the division in the world between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.' Analyses shows that social injustice and inequality are not only ills in themselves but also hamper development and give rise to violence and armed conflict.
The present confrontation between radical elements in the Muslim world and the more secular West plays into the hands of militant minorities on both sides. Furthermore, it benefits those who seize the opportunity to call for more spending on the military and more aggressive and militant policies. There is a serious danger that states will use current events to increase their surveillance of all activists and citizens instead of only those who present a serious risk. Acknowledging the equality and interdependence of all people in our globalized world should help open the eyes to the need for dialogue, mutual respect and understanding.
There is another dimension that is receiving much less coverage in mainstream media. The major world powers are in many ways themselves responsible for the growth in Islamist militancy, on the account of:
* the long history of colonial domination of the Middle East and the Muslim world generally, and the support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands;
* the role of the US arming and funding the Afghan mujahideen against the USSR -- who then became major figures in the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and are now operating in Syria and elsewhere.
* the devastating 'war on terror' which has caused enormous death and suffering in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and around the Islamic world; and which is at the same time imposing draconian restrictions on human rights and freedom, notably in the area of international migration.
* the persistent tendency -- especially in sections of the mass media -- to demonize the whole world to suggest that all Hindus and Muslims are a threat to democratic values."
II. The Specious Genesis of U.S. Torture Policy
On November 13, 2001, George W. Bush, acting as President and Commander-in-Chief, signed a military order concerning the "Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism." Suspected terrorists who are not citizens were to be detained at an appropriate location designated by the Secretary of Defense. If brought to trial, they were to be tried and sentenced by a military commission. No member of the commission need be a lawyer. Ordinary military rules would not apply, nor would the laws of war.
Suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without charge, denied knowledge of the evidence against them, and, if tried, convicted and sentenced by courts, incarcerated under no established rules. Bush didn't want to call detainees, criminals, because criminals have rights; they couldn't be called prisoners of war, because prisoners of war have rights under international law. So the Bush administration invented a new classification: "unlawful combatants."
Any pretense of a legal process hinged on a 50-page memo issued by the Department of Justice, signed by Jay S. Bybee, but probably written by the more notorious John Yoo. The memo purported to draw a distinction between acts that are "cruel, inhuman, or degrading," and acts that constitute torture. In essence, the Bush administration envisioned creating for the first time a permanent legal structure under the president's sole command. [1]
Footnotes
[1] Jill Lepore, "The Dark Ages," The New Yorker, March 11, 2013.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Defying the Principles of Law and the Rules of Evidence
On November 13, 2001, George W. Bush, acting as President and Commander-in-Chief, signed a military order concerning the "Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism." Suspected terrorists who are not citizens of the ;United States were to be ":detained at an appropriate location designated by the Secretary of Defense." If brought to trial, they were to be tried and sentenced by a military commission. No member of the commission need be a lawyer, nor would the ordinary rules of military law apply. In the language of the order, "It is not practicable to apply in military commissions under this order the principles of law and the rules of evidence generally recognized in the trial of criminal cases in the United States district courts." Suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without charges, denied knowledge of the evidence against them, and, if tried, sentenced by courts following no previously established rules. [1]
Initially, prisoners were housed at Camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. More camps were built, eventually housing 779 detainees from forty-eight countries. The U.S. dropped a blizzard of flyers onto Afghanistan, offering bounties for information about men with ties to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Detainees told of being sold for bounties of between $5,000 and $25,000. Those detained weren't called criminals, because criminals have to be charged with a crime. They couldn't be called prisoners, because prisoners of war have rights. The Bush administration invented a new category of detainee, called "unlawful combatants." [2]
The 50-page Department of Justice memo, signed by Jay S. Bybee -- but probably written by DoJ lawyer, John Yoo -- in August 2002, attempted to draw a distinction between acts that are "cruel, inhuman, or degrading," and acts that constitute torture. The Bush administration envisioned creating for the first time a permanent legal structure under the president's sole command.
In 2006, a team from Seton Hall School of Law released a study of the 517 detainees still at Guantanamo, that according to Department of Defense data, only five percent of the detainees had been captured by U.S. troops and at least 47 percent had been captured by Pakistan or Northern Alliance troops, when the U.S. began offering bonuses.
ADDENDUM:
A History of Violence - Mass Shootings Are Becoming More Common -- And Deadlier
* The frequency of mass shootings has tripled since 2011.
* Between 1982 and 2011, a mass shooting occurred in the United States every 200 days.
* Between 2011 and 2014, a mass shooting occurred every 64 days.
* Of the 13 mass shootings with double-digit death tolls over the past 50 years, 7 took place in the last 9 years.
Initially, prisoners were housed at Camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. More camps were built, eventually housing 779 detainees from forty-eight countries. The U.S. dropped a blizzard of flyers onto Afghanistan, offering bounties for information about men with ties to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Detainees told of being sold for bounties of between $5,000 and $25,000. Those detained weren't called criminals, because criminals have to be charged with a crime. They couldn't be called prisoners, because prisoners of war have rights. The Bush administration invented a new category of detainee, called "unlawful combatants." [2]
The 50-page Department of Justice memo, signed by Jay S. Bybee -- but probably written by DoJ lawyer, John Yoo -- in August 2002, attempted to draw a distinction between acts that are "cruel, inhuman, or degrading," and acts that constitute torture. The Bush administration envisioned creating for the first time a permanent legal structure under the president's sole command.
In 2006, a team from Seton Hall School of Law released a study of the 517 detainees still at Guantanamo, that according to Department of Defense data, only five percent of the detainees had been captured by U.S. troops and at least 47 percent had been captured by Pakistan or Northern Alliance troops, when the U.S. began offering bonuses.
ADDENDUM:
A History of Violence - Mass Shootings Are Becoming More Common -- And Deadlier
* The frequency of mass shootings has tripled since 2011.
* Between 1982 and 2011, a mass shooting occurred in the United States every 200 days.
* Between 2011 and 2014, a mass shooting occurred every 64 days.
* Of the 13 mass shootings with double-digit death tolls over the past 50 years, 7 took place in the last 9 years.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Street Living Costs and the Grim State of the Rehab Industry
I. The Price of Living on the Street
Based on 2014 data, there are approximately 580,000 homeless people in the United States. Jurisdictions that have embraced the Housing First model have helped drive down national totals in recent years. But even areas that have pursued reform are up against the national affordable housing crisis. Housing First is based on the premise that overall costs of providing for the homeless can be reduced if individual housing is provided.
1. Nearly 1/3 of All Homeless Live in Just 10 Cities
New York City 67,810
Los Angeles (city and county) 34,393
Las Vegas/Clark County 9,417
Seattle/King County 8,949
San Diego (city and county) 8,506
Washington, DC 7,748
San Jose/Santa Clara ( city and county) 7,567
Denver 6,621
San Francisco 6,408
Chicago 6,287
2. Cost of Multiple Arrests
Osceola County, Florida tracked 37 homeless people arrested 1,250 times over 10 years for 61,896 days of incarceration. Here's what they cost: Booking costs - $130,000 + Jail costs - $4,951,680 + Mental-health care in jail - $1,336,225 = $6,417,905.
3. Denver's Housing First Savings
Denver saved $17,858 per person over 2 years in the following costs alone: the largest savings came in impatient care, followed closely by detox costs, then came emergency room costs, followed by outpatient costs and, finally, incarceration costs.
4. Homelessness Down Since 2007 But Gains Not Uniform
Homelessness up 29% in New York but down 18% in California.
5. A Person on LA's Skid Row Costs Nearly 5 Times as Much as One in Housing First
A homeless person on the street costs $2,897/month, versus $605/month in supportive housing. Homeless costs on the street are composed of: welfare services, jail, private hospitals, public hospitals and clinics, and paramedics. Public hospitals and clinics comprise the largest single cost. (Sources: Mother Jones, March/April 2015; motherjones.com/homeless)
II. The Grim State of the Rehab Industry
1. Needed Alcohol Treatment
18.7 million Americans needed alcohol treatment in 2010 and only 1.7 million received it.
2. Reason Addicts Give for Not Getting Help
45.5% Can't afford it/inadequate health coverage
24.5% Not ready to stop using
9.0% Don't know where to go
8.0% No transportation/inconvenience
6.6% Worried about their job.
3. Too Few Clinics
There are 14,148 addiction treatment facilities in America. Very few include impatient services.
81% Outpatient
26% Residential
6% Hospital impatient
4. High Prices
Private insurers covered only 15% of the costs of alcohol addiction treatment. While it's possible to get free treatment at charities like the Salvation Army, a month of residential care can cost as little as $1,800 at a government subsidized center and up to $60,000 at the kind of facility that helps celebrities like Lindsay Lohan.
5. Poor Oversight
* 20 states require either no degree or only a high school diploma to become a certified addiction counselor.
* Only 10 states require residential treatment programs to have a physician on staff.
* Only 8 states require the same of outpatient treatment programs.
* Only 21 states require the tracking of patient outcomes.
6. Cost to Society
* Alcohol addiction costs $250 billion each year.
* 1 percent ($28 billion) of total health care costs in 2010 went to treating drug and alcohol addiction.
* For every dollar federal and state governments spent, 95.6 cents went to pay for the consequences of substance use; only 1.9 cents were spent on any type of prevention or treatment. (Sources: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Columbia University; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Based on 2014 data, there are approximately 580,000 homeless people in the United States. Jurisdictions that have embraced the Housing First model have helped drive down national totals in recent years. But even areas that have pursued reform are up against the national affordable housing crisis. Housing First is based on the premise that overall costs of providing for the homeless can be reduced if individual housing is provided.
1. Nearly 1/3 of All Homeless Live in Just 10 Cities
New York City 67,810
Los Angeles (city and county) 34,393
Las Vegas/Clark County 9,417
Seattle/King County 8,949
San Diego (city and county) 8,506
Washington, DC 7,748
San Jose/Santa Clara ( city and county) 7,567
Denver 6,621
San Francisco 6,408
Chicago 6,287
2. Cost of Multiple Arrests
Osceola County, Florida tracked 37 homeless people arrested 1,250 times over 10 years for 61,896 days of incarceration. Here's what they cost: Booking costs - $130,000 + Jail costs - $4,951,680 + Mental-health care in jail - $1,336,225 = $6,417,905.
3. Denver's Housing First Savings
Denver saved $17,858 per person over 2 years in the following costs alone: the largest savings came in impatient care, followed closely by detox costs, then came emergency room costs, followed by outpatient costs and, finally, incarceration costs.
4. Homelessness Down Since 2007 But Gains Not Uniform
Homelessness up 29% in New York but down 18% in California.
5. A Person on LA's Skid Row Costs Nearly 5 Times as Much as One in Housing First
A homeless person on the street costs $2,897/month, versus $605/month in supportive housing. Homeless costs on the street are composed of: welfare services, jail, private hospitals, public hospitals and clinics, and paramedics. Public hospitals and clinics comprise the largest single cost. (Sources: Mother Jones, March/April 2015; motherjones.com/homeless)
II. The Grim State of the Rehab Industry
1. Needed Alcohol Treatment
18.7 million Americans needed alcohol treatment in 2010 and only 1.7 million received it.
2. Reason Addicts Give for Not Getting Help
45.5% Can't afford it/inadequate health coverage
24.5% Not ready to stop using
9.0% Don't know where to go
8.0% No transportation/inconvenience
6.6% Worried about their job.
3. Too Few Clinics
There are 14,148 addiction treatment facilities in America. Very few include impatient services.
81% Outpatient
26% Residential
6% Hospital impatient
4. High Prices
Private insurers covered only 15% of the costs of alcohol addiction treatment. While it's possible to get free treatment at charities like the Salvation Army, a month of residential care can cost as little as $1,800 at a government subsidized center and up to $60,000 at the kind of facility that helps celebrities like Lindsay Lohan.
5. Poor Oversight
* 20 states require either no degree or only a high school diploma to become a certified addiction counselor.
* Only 10 states require residential treatment programs to have a physician on staff.
* Only 8 states require the same of outpatient treatment programs.
* Only 21 states require the tracking of patient outcomes.
6. Cost to Society
* Alcohol addiction costs $250 billion each year.
* 1 percent ($28 billion) of total health care costs in 2010 went to treating drug and alcohol addiction.
* For every dollar federal and state governments spent, 95.6 cents went to pay for the consequences of substance use; only 1.9 cents were spent on any type of prevention or treatment. (Sources: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Columbia University; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Monday, November 2, 2015
Battlefield Power Galore
The ABQ Free Press investigated the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and found an arsenal that might have been called "Guns and Ammo R Us." The full reference for the article is: Peter St. Cyr and Dan Vukelich, "APD Weapons Boast Battlefield Firepower," ABQ Free Press, June 3, 2015.
The investigation found that APD possesses the following weapons:
* More than 3,300 weapons of all types.
* Three armored vehicles.
* One .50-caliber rifle capable of firing exploding anti-armor rounds.
* More than 387,000 rounds of ammunition of all types.
* More than 2,500 less-than-lethal rounds of projectiles for crowd control, including teargas, rubber and sponge bullets, smoke grenades and barricade-defeating projectiles fired from .37 mm or .40 mm launchers.
* More than 1,300 Tasers.
* Five H and K MPS rifles, described y the manufacturer as fully automatic weapons capable of firing 800 rounds a minute.
* Twenty-five silencers fitted to .223 caliber or 5.56-caliber assault rifles.
* More than 350 Noise and Flash Diversionary Devices, commonly called "flash-bang" grenades used in drug raids, hostage standoffs and other SWAT situations.
* A variety of weapons, including M16s and AR-15 assault rifles, door-breaching shotguns with special non-ricochet disintegrating ammo, an AK-47 assault rifle, Walther PPKs, and a bolt-action rifle modeled on the 7-8 mm Mausers used by the German infantry in World War II.
Bernalillo County District Judge Alan Malott ruled in May 2015 that the city wrongfully withheld the inventory of its military-style weapons and equipment and issued an order forcing it to produce the documents.
APD's inventory of ammunition for the Barrett .50-caliber rifle contains 62 ordinary or "ball" rounds, 51 tracer rounds, 365 incendiary rounds, 75 so-called "black tip" rounds and 51 so-called "Raufoss" rounds. Raufoss rounds have a dense metal core surrounded by explosives. On contact with a hard object, the explosives blast a hole, allowing the heavy metal penetrator to continue onward.
During the U.S. army's battler with Somali insurgents in the 1993 "Blackhawk Down" incident in Mogadishu, .50 caliber rounds tore through walls of buildings several blocks away from the battle zone. The International Red Cross has expressed concern that the use of a Raufoss round could constitute a war crime.
When the ABQ Free Press asked APD spokeswoman Celina Espinoza why the department has a need for such destructive ammunition as the Raufoss, she answered that there was a need to "overcome heavily fortified obstacles and to disable heavy equipment." Also, she pointed to a 2004 rampage in Granby, Colorado, by a heavily armed man in an armored bulldozer which couldn't be stopped by lighter ammunition.
The ABQ Free Press has raised a legitimate concern about the militarization of local police departments.
The investigation found that APD possesses the following weapons:
* More than 3,300 weapons of all types.
* Three armored vehicles.
* One .50-caliber rifle capable of firing exploding anti-armor rounds.
* More than 387,000 rounds of ammunition of all types.
* More than 2,500 less-than-lethal rounds of projectiles for crowd control, including teargas, rubber and sponge bullets, smoke grenades and barricade-defeating projectiles fired from .37 mm or .40 mm launchers.
* More than 1,300 Tasers.
* Five H and K MPS rifles, described y the manufacturer as fully automatic weapons capable of firing 800 rounds a minute.
* Twenty-five silencers fitted to .223 caliber or 5.56-caliber assault rifles.
* More than 350 Noise and Flash Diversionary Devices, commonly called "flash-bang" grenades used in drug raids, hostage standoffs and other SWAT situations.
* A variety of weapons, including M16s and AR-15 assault rifles, door-breaching shotguns with special non-ricochet disintegrating ammo, an AK-47 assault rifle, Walther PPKs, and a bolt-action rifle modeled on the 7-8 mm Mausers used by the German infantry in World War II.
Bernalillo County District Judge Alan Malott ruled in May 2015 that the city wrongfully withheld the inventory of its military-style weapons and equipment and issued an order forcing it to produce the documents.
APD's inventory of ammunition for the Barrett .50-caliber rifle contains 62 ordinary or "ball" rounds, 51 tracer rounds, 365 incendiary rounds, 75 so-called "black tip" rounds and 51 so-called "Raufoss" rounds. Raufoss rounds have a dense metal core surrounded by explosives. On contact with a hard object, the explosives blast a hole, allowing the heavy metal penetrator to continue onward.
During the U.S. army's battler with Somali insurgents in the 1993 "Blackhawk Down" incident in Mogadishu, .50 caliber rounds tore through walls of buildings several blocks away from the battle zone. The International Red Cross has expressed concern that the use of a Raufoss round could constitute a war crime.
When the ABQ Free Press asked APD spokeswoman Celina Espinoza why the department has a need for such destructive ammunition as the Raufoss, she answered that there was a need to "overcome heavily fortified obstacles and to disable heavy equipment." Also, she pointed to a 2004 rampage in Granby, Colorado, by a heavily armed man in an armored bulldozer which couldn't be stopped by lighter ammunition.
The ABQ Free Press has raised a legitimate concern about the militarization of local police departments.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Some Water Use Estimates and School Testing Measures
I. Some Water Use Estimates in the Home
* Do a load of laundry - 13-41 gallons
*Take a 10-minute shower - 20-25 gallons
*Flush a toilet - 1.6-8 gallons [1]
II. Overall California Water Use
Annual water use in California homes (in billions of gallons)
Lawns and pools - about 475
Toilets - about 240
Showers - about 160
Faucets - about 140
Washing machines - about 110
Leaks - about 90
Dishwashers - about 15 (Sources: Natural Resources Defense Council, estimates by the Pacific Institute, 2003).
III. Testing Measurements, Outcomes and Critical Student Disparities
1. By 2009, President Barack Obama used his Race to the Top initiative to promote using test scores to hire, fire, and compensate teachers. Today, 35 states require teacher evaluations to include these scores as a factor and many states have introduced new tests just for this purpose. In addition to the scandal in Atlanta, Georgia public schools, in which teachers and school administrators changed answers on students' test results -- and a number have been sentenced to serve time in prison -- for the 2011-12 school year, the Government Accountability Office reported that officials in 33 states confirmed at least one instance of school staff flat-out cheating. [2]
2. Testing Hours in Ohio and Urban-Suburban Testing Disparities
Average testing hours by selected grades for students in Ohio are as follows: kindergarten - 11.3; 1st grade - 11.6; 2nd grade - 13.6; 3rd grade - 28.0; 8th grade - 23.0; 10th grade - 28.4; 11th grade - 18.9; and 12th grade - 12.2. The average for all grades is 19.8 hours. [3]
Studies have shown that urban students spend far more time on district-mandated tests than do those in the suburbs -- especially in high school. Urban students spend 80% more time on these tests than do suburban students in grades 3rd through 5th; 73% more time in grades 6th through 8th; and 266% more time in grades 9th through 12th. Yet, given the additional time devoted to standardized testing since No Child Left Behind was enacted, American students' performance compared to other nations -- on tests that measure skills and knowledge more broadly -- remained flat or declined between 2000 and 2012. [4]
3. Gaps in Teacher Pay, Qualifications and School Funding
Teachers in schools with the highest share of black and Latino students are paid roughly $2,000 less than those with the lowest share of such students in the same district. Black students are more than four times as likely as white students to attend schools where less that 80 percent of teachers are fully certified. [5]
The per student funding gap between rich and poor schools nationwide has grown 44 percent in the last decade -- even as the number of needy students has grown. "In 2013, for the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of US public school students came from low-income families." [6]
Yet, in the final analysis, studies have consistently shown that the home environment is the greatest single factor in how well students perform in school.
Footnotes
[1] Mother Jones, July/August 2015
[2] "Sorry, I'm Not Taking This Test," Mother Jones, September/October 2015.
[3[; [4]; [5]; and [6] All ibid.
* Do a load of laundry - 13-41 gallons
*Take a 10-minute shower - 20-25 gallons
*Flush a toilet - 1.6-8 gallons [1]
II. Overall California Water Use
Annual water use in California homes (in billions of gallons)
Lawns and pools - about 475
Toilets - about 240
Showers - about 160
Faucets - about 140
Washing machines - about 110
Leaks - about 90
Dishwashers - about 15 (Sources: Natural Resources Defense Council, estimates by the Pacific Institute, 2003).
III. Testing Measurements, Outcomes and Critical Student Disparities
1. By 2009, President Barack Obama used his Race to the Top initiative to promote using test scores to hire, fire, and compensate teachers. Today, 35 states require teacher evaluations to include these scores as a factor and many states have introduced new tests just for this purpose. In addition to the scandal in Atlanta, Georgia public schools, in which teachers and school administrators changed answers on students' test results -- and a number have been sentenced to serve time in prison -- for the 2011-12 school year, the Government Accountability Office reported that officials in 33 states confirmed at least one instance of school staff flat-out cheating. [2]
2. Testing Hours in Ohio and Urban-Suburban Testing Disparities
Average testing hours by selected grades for students in Ohio are as follows: kindergarten - 11.3; 1st grade - 11.6; 2nd grade - 13.6; 3rd grade - 28.0; 8th grade - 23.0; 10th grade - 28.4; 11th grade - 18.9; and 12th grade - 12.2. The average for all grades is 19.8 hours. [3]
Studies have shown that urban students spend far more time on district-mandated tests than do those in the suburbs -- especially in high school. Urban students spend 80% more time on these tests than do suburban students in grades 3rd through 5th; 73% more time in grades 6th through 8th; and 266% more time in grades 9th through 12th. Yet, given the additional time devoted to standardized testing since No Child Left Behind was enacted, American students' performance compared to other nations -- on tests that measure skills and knowledge more broadly -- remained flat or declined between 2000 and 2012. [4]
3. Gaps in Teacher Pay, Qualifications and School Funding
Teachers in schools with the highest share of black and Latino students are paid roughly $2,000 less than those with the lowest share of such students in the same district. Black students are more than four times as likely as white students to attend schools where less that 80 percent of teachers are fully certified. [5]
The per student funding gap between rich and poor schools nationwide has grown 44 percent in the last decade -- even as the number of needy students has grown. "In 2013, for the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of US public school students came from low-income families." [6]
Yet, in the final analysis, studies have consistently shown that the home environment is the greatest single factor in how well students perform in school.
Footnotes
[1] Mother Jones, July/August 2015
[2] "Sorry, I'm Not Taking This Test," Mother Jones, September/October 2015.
[3[; [4]; [5]; and [6] All ibid.
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