News Maker at 18

My blog has been about the News makers, shakers, and bakers; I have spotlighted the usual "suspects" and heroes, most of whom were middle-aged or older. I did post about a six year old that had an impact with governmental authorities regarding Chinese development on Cancun. Today's blog is about another young person that has completely "wowed" me. Her name is Julia Schemmer, an 18 year old student at the University of California. Schemmer is a member of the USA TODAY College contributor network.
Schemmer's article on the USA Today website, that caught my attention, was entitled "Voices: 6 things white allies need to know." She wrote about her thoughts regarding the annual Students of Color Conference, the 27th of which was held last month by the University of California Student Association (UCSA) at UC Berkeley. Her article was about discussions at the conference on what it means to be a white ally. Schemmer wrote, “The student protests over racism on campuses that spread nationwide this fall makes the topic more important than ever. And if you’re white and think you know how to reach out and work with students of color, well, I thought I did, too. But at the conference, I learned six things about allying I hadn’t fully understood.”
All six of Schemmer’s points were thought provoking and her closing point was one that we all must do, not only for persons of color, but all – especially in light of the attacks on Muslim residents of the United States after the recent mass shooting. Schemmer’s point number 6:

Be aware of what happens in your own space. Racism is alive and well. To help fight it, be pro-active. When your friend makes a racist joke, call him or her out. When someone makes fun of someone else’s accent, speak up.

The article can be found at: http://college.usatoday.com/2015/12/08/6-things-white-allies-need-to-know/ and I encourage you to take a few minutes to read her article. The sad thing, for me, is some of the comments posted in response to her six points. Point 5 was about recognizing white privilege for what it is. She included a couple words that just infuriated commenters about not being able to get a bandage to match skin color. Maybe she could have used another example, but I think it was fine. Schemmer was just providing some small illustrations of what it means to be a person of color in places of business and home. My wife has a co-worker who moved here from Tanzania.  He and his wife purchased a home in a rather exclusive, mostly white neighborhood. He has been stopped by police multiple times as he approaches his home and been asked “what are you doing in this neighborhood?”

Eighteen year old Julia Schemmer closes with words for all generations: “It takes a village to raise a child, but to combat institutional racism and irrational prejudice; it’s going to take all of us.”

Climate - Paris talks

I recently read an article written by Josh Marks on the website inhabit.com regarding the climate change crisis- “The fossil fuel industry for years has been purposefully misleading the American public about the scientific consensus on man-made global warming. That is the finding of a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science that analyzed 20 years’ worth of data. The study, titled “Corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change,” found that ExxonMobil and the Koch family foundations used similarly deceptive tactics as Big Tobacco to create doubt and confusion about human induced climate change. My favorite targets regarding miss-deeds, the Koch brothers continue to wreak havoc on democracy and not caring even a little about the other 99%.

The Paris talks have 7 or 8 more days for world leaders to sign an agreement regarding what actions to take. Based on past efforts, the influence of the Koch brothers, and big oil companies nothing will change. My generation didn’t realize what burning fossil fuel would do, but people a lot smarter than me did and were shouted down. The Marshall Islands are in immediate danger. Take a look at this site: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/02/world/The-Marshall-Islands-Are-Disappearing.html?emc=edit_na_20151202&nlid=68089924&ref=cta&_r=0

To my fellow students, sadly, I can only apologize for the damage my generation has done, but together we can pressure our leaders to do something now so that your generation and your children’s generation have a plausible chance of avoiding an apocalypse.

Baltimore’s prosecutor – Marilyn Mosby

Baltimore has the unfortunate distinction of being listed in the top ten most dangerous cities. However, at number 7 it still ranks less dangerous than Atlanta. Baltimore has been in the news more frequently following the death of 25-year old Freddie Gray while in police custody.

A relatively young female prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, made headlines by bringing charges against six officers involved in Gray’s arrest. One week from today, the first of the six trials will begin. For me this is noteworthy – Ferguson, Missouri and New York City grand juries decided not to indict police officers that had been involved in police-related deaths. Ms. Mosby has been in office for almost two years and has been tough on crime, but, it appears, not to the point of “looking the other way” if she feels police officers have conducted themselves in a possible illegal manner. She was able to get an indictment from the grand jury.

Ms. Mosby grew up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the Boson area, many members of her family are police officers, and she is married to a candidate for mayor. She has been accused of not remembering her police officer roots, “showboating” to raise her own statue, of being amateurish after some miss-steps in the legal process - to name a few.

A grand jury indictment does not mean that the officers are guilty; it allows for the case(s) to move through the legal process of determining guilt by an impartial jury. This is something that did not occur in the Ferguson or New York City cases. I commend Ms. Mosby for moving the legal process forward in an effort to determine how culpable are the officers regarding Freddie Gray’s death.

Republican candidates and the Paris attacks

The Paris attacks have spotlighted again, unfortunately, the impact a relatively few number of terrorists can have on the free world's comfort level with personal and national safety. In an interview, the French minister of defense indicated that France is a "testing" ground for terrorist's goals of destruction and mayhem and that France is second only to the United States in who "they" hate most.
This act brings focus on the candidates for our presidency. Currently the Republicans are getting more media coverage and my comments are in regard to the comments those candidates have made, but the Democrats are not exempt. Dan Senior, a foreign policy advisor for Republican candidate Mitt Romney in 2012 was quoted "This is a real life crisis situation, and it reminds people of the importance of having a serious person as commander-in-chief." The current candidates have uttered answers that point out lack of knowledge of the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah, mistaken belief that China is involved in the Syrian conflict, or the difference between ISIS and al Qaeda to name a few.
A candidate that I haven't paid much attention to and thought I'd take more thorough look at was John Kasich. Kasich is the current governor of Ohio and previously had spent 9 terms in the House of Representatives. During that time he was also on the Armed Forces committee for almost all 18 years. Unfortunately, some of his other positions are suspect.
So I am still searching for a candidate that will not be in training mode on foreign affairs and has a comprehensive domestic policy.

News Makers - Hope provided by the young

In this era of violence, greater division between the have and have-nots, seemingly disregard for the scientific concerns regarding global warming, I happened across an item that gives a ray of hope that the young will bring about more immediate change.

The item I will reference is regarding a Chinese development project on the island of Cancun.

For some background - from the website "Oceans Futures" written two years ago is the following:
"Situated in the state of Quintana Roo and 36 miles from Cancún, is the historical fishing village of Puerto Morelos. It is known not only for being bordered by fragile mangroves, jungle, and beautiful beaches, but also its close proximity to the world’s second largest barrier reef system: the Mesoamerican. A mere 500 meters from shore lies a reef that is home to such protected and endangered species as the loggerhead, green, and hawksbill sea turtles, as well as elkhorn and staghorn corals. A habitat for over 2,500 marine species, including about 500 species of multicolored tropical fish, it is no wonder that the people of Puerto Morelos have strived to protect their homeland through the establishment of Puerto Morelos National Marine Park...Thus, it has deeply saddened me to learn that this beautiful park is being threatened by a looming development adjacent to Puerto Morelos: the megaproject Chinese Dragon Mart Cancún."

The recent news I read stated that the development had been put on hold by the testimony of Environmental groups and one of the key people testifying before the federal authorities was a 6 year old girl discussing the destruction of the Mangrove trees. While I don't have a transcript of her testimony, these are some facts regarding mangrove trees. "Mangroves, admittedly, are not only important but crucial for the coastal areas. Since estuarine areas are highly populated areas, the slightest ecological imbalance will take a heavy toll. They play a vital role in stabilizing these areas. No engineering and technological solutions can be sought for stabilizing these areas. Even if we negate all benefits of mangroves as forests, their value as "protector of shore-line" is enough to convince us for conserving them."   http://www.mangroves.godrej.com/Whyshouldweprotectmangroves.htm

Koch Bros. - Follow-up to last week

This topic is too important for only one post. Last week, I wrote that a former professor mentioned that the Koch brothers were involved in a little school board election in his town. Hardly made the news. Well, two days ago, national news spotlighted that they were at it again (of course they haven't stopped - just doesn't make the news). In Jefferson county, Colorado, three school board members backed  by a Koch brothers PAC were removed in a recall vote.

I wondered - why are the Koch's involved with a school board or multiple school boards. Jefferson County where this event occurred has approximately 850,000 students whose education agenda is affected by just five individuals on the Board of Education. The conservative agenda can be parlayed across the country school system by school system.

From the Common Dreams website comes an excellent quote from one the newly elected members ""It appears to me public education in Jefferson County is not for sale," school board member-elect Ali Lasell told Chalkbeat Colorado on Tuesday night.

 http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/11/04/victory-public-ed-colorado-boots-koch-backed-school-board

 

The Koch Brothers - Bakers and more

The 2015 elections are a week away and in what will seem like no time at all the 2016, more comprehensive, elections will be here.
The biggest bakers of our politics are already in high gear. The brothers, Charles and David Koch, do their baking with money - LOTS of it. Their ability to pour massive funds into all levels of elections defies the imagination. One of my previous professors provided an example of them being involved in a little tiny school board election in his hometown. Of course, "their" refers to the PACS, SuperPACS, etc. that the Koch's money flows through.
There have been literally thousands of articles about the Koch's, but I would like to quote an article in the Rolling Stone entitled "Together, Charles and David Koch control one of the world's largest fortunes, which they are using to buy up our political system. But what they don't want you to know is how they made all that money"
Excerpts from the article (published just prior to the 2014 elections) "Their political network helped finance the Tea Party and powers today's GOP. Koch-affiliated organizations raised some $400 million during the 2012 election, and aim to spend another $290 million to elect Republicans in this year's midterms." One might wonder what is the reason for the second largest private firm (larger than most public firms, IBM, HP, or Honda) to spend so much on Republicans. I think much of the answer lies in what they produce or invest in to make all their money.

From the article:"The volume of Koch Industries' toxic output is staggering. According to the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute, only three companies rank among the top 30 polluters of America's air, water and climate: ExxonMobil, American Electric Power and Koch Industries. Thanks in part to its 2005 purchase of paper-mill giant Georgia-Pacific, Koch Industries dumps more pollutants into the nation's waterways than General Electric and International Paper combined. The company ranks 13th in the nation for toxic air pollution. Koch's climate pollution, meanwhile, outpaces oil giants including Valero, Chevron and Shell. Across its businesses, Koch generates 24 million metric tons of greenhouse gases a year."

I think this is a great article for a reminder of how massive amounts of money are "baking" our politics and our democracy. It includes some enlightening info regarding the in-fighting within the company prior to David and Charles taking control and the current path of the conglomerate.
(http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924#ixzz3pmUnmJOC)

Social Media - News Shaker MH17

I am a "late comer" to social media- this blog is barely two months old. I have always been of the opinion that social media could never replace investigative journalism of the Edward R. Murrow's. I was shaken positively with this week's events regarding the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

British blogger, Eliot Higgins, and his collaborators were able to track the movements of a Buk missile launcher through rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine on the day the plane was shot down.
(http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/731964/social-media-sleuths-cracked-mh17-missile-case.)

. "As part of our new report examining the open source evidence of the downing of Flight MH17 we tracked the movement of the Russian military convoy that transported the Buk missile launcher to the border with Ukraine. Using StoryMap we’ve put together this interactive map of the route the 53rd Brigade."

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/10/08/exploring-russias-53rd-brigades-mh17-convoy-with-storymap/

I found Higgins website quite interesting, it is definitely worth a look. The latest for the blogger(s) is the Russian activity in Syria

John Boehner- Shaker in the news

Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, made an announcement that shook not only members of his party, but the Democrats as well. He announced his resignation as Speaker. It has been reported that after the announcement, he sang a few bars of "zip-a-dee-doo-dah."
This announcement is significant for a number of reasons - Boehner is the most powerful Republican in America. He is only the fifth speaker to resign and the first to not be either moving to another government position or under investigation. The speaker is also the next person after the Vice President in the line of succession to the presidency.
It has been reported that he had "had enough" of the ideological combat in the Republican Party. What is almost as surprising was - the "odds-on" favorite to succeed him, Kevin McCarthy, subsequently announced he would not seek the Speaker position.
For me, this speaks volumes about America at this moment. Working "across the aisle" occurs no more in Congress. In fact, it looks they can't work across the invisible aisle within their own party. We have hard line members of Congress willing to shut down the government, as occurred in 2013, again this year and the year is not over and could still happen.

News Maker - Prison debate team

A very interesting incident occurred in the penal system of New York State - "Harvard debate team loses to prison debate team." (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/02/1427151/-Harvard-debate-team-loses-to-prison-debate-team)
A debate team formed in a prison facility in New York State defeated the debate team from Harvard University. The prisoners were prepared in a program created by Bard College and they accomplished this feat without access to the internet.  (http://bpi.bard.edu/ )
Last year, New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo, announced plans to increase funding for prisoners to earn college degrees during their incarceration.
Georgia has one of the highest recidivism rates in the country and in our state, 1 in 13 residents is either incarcerated, on probation, or on parole. However, educational opportunities are not offered and the cycle continues to repeat itself.  L.C."Buster" Evans, assistant commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections, said: "It has been many years, if ever, since an inmate has completed his or her high school diploma while incarcerated in a state correctional facility for adults."
I say our state can and should do much, much more.

Meeting of the Presidents

For me, the meeting of Putin and Obama is larger than the current topic - Syria. The world is held under the threat of military escalations between our two countries. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there existed hope of a Russia with political philosophy more aligned with the US and multiple treaties including the START nuclear reduction treaty pointed to a normalization of relations.

President Putin's rise to power coupled with what Putin saw as an aggressive westernization of former Soviet states through NATO admissions created a "caged animal" response by Russia. We have witnessed several military exercises and armed conflict in Crimea and Ukraine, for example, and more recently the infringement of western airspace by Russian military aircraft. Our placing sanctions on Russia have not seemed to have the effect that many might have hoped for.

Earlier this year, KSU sponsored a talk by Dr. J Arch Getty, professor at UCLA. Getty discussed "Does Putin have a point?" in which he provided an interesting glimpse of his experiences in Russia and how the US is viewed and how Putin is perceived in Russia. What I took away was - if we were in Putin's shoes what would we do? What would we do if we saw Russian assimilation attempts to annex Puerto Rico, or Guam or American Samoa?

This is the area that I see as a bigger agenda item than Syria - for the US and Russia to respect each other's viewpoint and diminish the escalation of military exercises in Europe.

Pope Francis - Climate change

I am saddened by the attitude Fox news and specifically Dr. W. David Montgomery, take regarding the Pope's call to all inhabitants of this earth to address climate change. In his Encyclical Letter "LAUDATO SI’" sub-titled "On care for our Common Home" Pope Francis talks about numerous things that we should be addressing. He quotes previous Pope's, for example Pope Paul "he warned that human beings frequently seem to see no other meaning in their natural environment than what serves for immediate use and consumption.” Dr. Montgomery steps in and states "some leaders, including President Obama, who exaggerate the current impacts of climate change on the United States to promote the idea that self-interest demands action." He also stated "The poor in wealthy countries, however, will suffer additionally from the efforts Pope Francis proposes to limit emissions, as the price of energy rises against their small and sometimes shrinking incomes." Finally - "Laudato Si also blames wealthy countries for causing global poverty by exhausting the world's resources. This is simply false."

A documentary released this year "Merchants of Doubt" presents a fact filled assessment of the "experts" that corporations hire to combat the issues raised surrounding GMO's, climate change, water quality. The overarching theme - these "experts" are excellent public speakers and have minimal to no scientific training. Their entire goal is find the tiniest thread of uncertainty and build it to a level of doubt that is hard to overcome in the untrained public. In my search on Dr. Montgomery's background, I could not find one piece of evidence that he has had any scientific training on the causes of climate change. 

From the movie, "Merchants of Doubt" a scene that I think sums it up. Talk show host, Morton Downey Jr. challenged a scientist that was raising the alarm regarding the dangers of cigarettes (in the midst of spin doctors presenting evidence that those claims were false and could not be proved). Downey yelled at the scientist and said he, Downey, looked a lot younger than the scientist. Sadly on two fronts - the scientist seemed to lose the discussion, but Downey paid the ultimate price - he died from lung cancer at 67.

May we all have a more open mind to scientific alerts than Morton Downey and thousands of others.

News Maker

Today’s item is about a News Maker. For me a news maker is someone that is not an “arm waving,” “hear yea hear yea” grandstanding “shaker”, nor someone who “cooks” the news event to his or her situation. It is someone whose words and/or actions just “make” news.

I believe the upcoming visit of Pope Francis and the openness in his statements on a wide variety of topics certainly qualify him as a news maker. I am not a Roman Catholic, but I feel that the positive impact on the Catholic religion and the world in general is definitely worth further reading.

Interesting for me is the fact that he has not visited the U.S. before and, I believe, we are down at number 15 on the list of countries he has visited. While he has not been directly quoted, snippets of his conversations convey the idea that he believes that the U.S. needs to remember we are not the center of everything.

I hope his visit goes well, I hope non-believers (not about his religion, but his openness to investigating climate warming, financial ruthlessness, etc.) will, at least, listen to what he has to say.

News Bakers

I conveyed at the opening of my blog that I would comment on News shakers, makers, and bakers. This post is about a baker or two.
So how about the latest attempt to "bake" the news.
Let me lead in with - politicians, voters, clergy, and almost all humans that inhabit this earth can face gruesome interrogation when something doesn't "smell" right. Heck, there is no congressional committee with all of its high priced lawyers to formulate questions, that can match the interrogation of a suspicious spouse.

Topic today: Two Michigan state lawmakers have been recommended for removal from office after admitting misconduct in covering up an extramarital affair.
Todd Courser ran on a Tea Party/Republican ticket espousing the core "family" values, the sanctity of marriage, and previously from his web page, "This is not my normal email leading into the 4th of July - Last Thursday was a sad day for America. Last Thursday was a crushing day for those who believe in traditional marriage and traditional morality." Of course, "last Thursday" refers to the same-sex supreme court marriage decision.

So, believe me, I am the last to judge a person, but politicians - they are fair game. Todd Courser decided to "bake" the news. Knowing that multiple sources were on to him he decided to state that he really didn't have an affair. From CNN - "the lawmaker sent an email from a pseudonym in May to other state House Republicans describing a fake scandal in which Courser paid for sex with a male prostitute. The email supposedly was an attempt to cover up an affair Courser was allegedly having with fellow Republican state Rep. Cindy Gamrat.

Of all people/groups on which to place the "blame" !!!"

If you would care to hear more- http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/10/politics/michigan-lawmaker-fake-email-male-prostitute-apology/

He talks about blackmailers, news media, and if he could, in my opinion, would have eliminated them as his plan of action (He does talk about letting multiple staff members go).

Todd - a major "I am guilty" and no more would have been what your wife wanted (oh and to state that the inadequacies of your marriage was the cause needs your major reassessment and forget your words about what God wants).
And the Lansing Mafia brought you down !!! No Todd, you brought you down.  Next time - "I'm Sorry " and nothing more would be a better choice.

News Shaker - Dark Web

Ashley Madison! Yes old news by now and there are people scrambling to see if they have actually been "outed." There is a report of a policeman allegedly committing suicide because his name appeared on the A.W. site and he had never accessed the site. (A search for Captain Michael Gorhum will provide additional info).
However, Ashley Madison is not the shaker in this story. For me it is what exposed A.W. - something unknown to me before - the dark web. The apparent ability for unknown individuals/organizations to infiltrate servers of private. public, and government databases and escape detection is a news shaker. I have yet to see the same mass concern for this significant security threat as was shown when credit card numbers were stolen. I am not one for more government surveillance, but now I am rethinking my position.
I am probably behind the learning curve regarding what exists beyond our normal web of the Google's, Yahoo's, etc (the surface web). Here is an excerpt from the BrightPlanet - deep web intelligence site( http://www.brightplanet.com/2014/03/clearing-confusion-deep-web-vs-dark-web/  )

"Continuing with our definitions, we’ve learned that the Surface Web is anything that a search engine can access and the Deep Web is anything that a search engine can’t access. The Dark Web then is classified as a small portion of the Deep Web that has been intentionally hidden and is inaccessible through standard web browsers.
The most famous content that resides on the Dark Web is found in the TOR network. The TOR network is an anonymous network that can only be accessed with a special web browser, called the TOR browser. This is the portion of the Internet most widely known for illicit activities because of the anonymity associated with the TOR network"

Trump continues to amaze

I have had the opportunity to visit and work in other countries. I enjoyed each experience, but almost without a doubt, I was happy to be back in the good ole USA. As frustrating as politics can be in our country, it pales by comparison to the politics in places like Brasil where I worked for a year.
The great thing we have going is the ability for all of us and especially the media to question the elected officials and those that wish to become one of our representatives.

To watch the interaction of Donald Trump and members of the media, most recently Jorge Ramos, I believe tells a lot about what we can expect if Trump were to be elected. Like it or not - all candidates will be subjected to questioners trying to embarrass, criticize or just be a royal pain in the ..  How the elected representative or candidate handles one the basic rights of questioning the implementation our democracy is an important measure of future actions.

Here's a fairly well balanced account from the Christian Science Monitor:

http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/text/USA/Politics/Decoder/2015/0826/Donald-Trump-feuds-with-Univision-s-Jorge-Ramos-blow-to-GOP

The Donald

My blog, entitled News Shakers, Makers and Bakers, will at times focus on one of those areas, but at other times on people that seem to be in all three.
Who better to start with than Donald Trump? Love him or hate him - he certainly personifies all three areas. I had intended to keep my personal political leanings in the background, but I must admit I thought "this is a joke." However, I am spending some time trying to understand what is or are the areas that a significant part of the voting population feel Donald Trump may have palatable ideas.

More to follow