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.
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