Tuesday, August 18, 2015

bauaw2003 BAUAW NEWSLETTER, TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015



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Starting this September, Rising Tide North America is calling for mass actions to shut down the economic and political systems threatening our survival.

Already, hundreds of thousands are streaming into the streets to fight back against climate chaos, capitalism and white supremacy.

This wave of resistance couldn't be more urgent. To stop climate chaos we need a phenomenal escalation in organizing, participation and tactical courage. We need a profound social transformation to uproot the institutions of capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy, the systems that created the climate crisis. And we need to link arms with allies fighting for migrant justice, dignified work and pay, and an end to the criminalization and brutal policing of black and brown bodies.

We need to #FloodTheSystem.

In the lead up to the United Nations climate talks in Paris, in December, we will escalate local and regional resistance against systems that threaten our collective survival. Together, we will open alternative paths to the failing negotiations of political elites.

This is not another protest. It is a call for a massive economic and political intervention. It is a call to build the relationships needed to sustain our struggles for the long haul. To build popular power along the intersections of race, class, gender and ability. To collectively unleash our power and change everything.

The Story So Far

Over the past year, hundreds of thousands of people have flowed into the streets to fight back.

Fast food workers in over a hundred cities went on strike, with thousands arrested demanding $15 an hour and a union. Young people in Ferguson, protesting the murder of Michael Brown by Darren Wilson, showed us the power of sustained action as they fought back against state violence for weeks, reinvigorating a national movement for Black liberation. Hundreds of thousands of climate activists marched at the People's Climate March in New York, and the next day Flood Wall Street shut down the heart of New York's financial district.

Across the country, and the world, powerful movements are using nonviolent direct action to to disrupt business as usual and demand lasting systemic change.

These moments show that broad mobilization and disruption are ways that we can transform our society. It is time we move beyond conventional strategies. Its time we connect across movements and #FloodTheSystem.

Rising Tide North America and its allies call on communities, networks, affinity groups and organizations across the continent to join together this Fall to rapidly escalate the pace and scale of the anti-capitalist climate justice movements.

We need to wash away the root causes of climate change -- capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and colonialism. These systems enable the domination of people and Earth. They place gains for the elite before the well being of our communities.

To build the scale of movements necessary to take on this challenge, we need everyone. Using sustained, coordinated direct action we can bring more people into a movement for radical social transformation than ever before.

The upcoming United Nations meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Paris (COP 21) at the end of the year provide us with an opportunity. Framed as climate negotiations they are really about capitalism and the corporate elites. We have an opportunity to focus the debate on capitalism itself as negotiators wedded to and benefiting from the status quo refuse to discuss the systems that drive the crisis. This is a natural moment to preemptively highlight community resistance and radical alternatives in advance of another colossal failure of international leadership. Through our combined action we can turn the failure of these critical talks into a moment in which the systemic nature of the crisis moves to the center and in which our movements begin to connect and collaborate.

In the past, the climate movement has repeatedly tried days of action and one-day marches. While these have built important relationships, they have not created the sustained movement swells we need. To lay the groundwork for exponential movement growth we are asking groups to convene Action Councils, like those forming in the Pacific Northwest, California, Montana, Northeast and elsewhere, with the intention of coming together to organize sustained actions beginning in late Summer, continuing through November and beyond.

With luck, waves of mobilizations breaking across the continent and world will build off each other to create a flood of resistance to fossil fuel extraction, capitalism and colonialism.

Vision

#FloodTheSystem invites the Rising Tide network, the larger climate justice movements, and other non-climate focused groups to create a flood of massive economic and political disruption of the systems that allow the climate and economic crisis to continue to escalate. This is not a simple call to action or day of action, it's a long-term process. We want to organize a series of actions that would:
  • Build a more robust anti-capitalist movement that clearly defines climate change as a symptom of capitalism. Specifically, we hope to support and catalyze regional organizing networks and relationships to challenge extreme energy infrastructure and the systems of oppression that enable it.
  • Build long term local, regional and continental networks that can continue to coordinate, build connections between movements, and escalate these fights in 2016 and beyond.
  • Begin to work closely with other movements through the analysis of where our struggles intersect and through a commitment to anti-oppressive organizing practices.
  • Share, implement and gain experience in innovative models of horizontal movement structures and mass democracy in organizing that will serve radical forces for the long haul.
  • Create a flood of energy within regions that inspires others to join in with organic, spontaneous actions and organizing. Regional blocks of escalating action are already planned that will lead into, and play off, each other. More emerge everyday.
  • Preemptively highlight community resistance and real alternatives to the fossil fuel economy ahead of the inevitable colossal failure by global elites at the United Nations climate negotiations in Paris.

Principles

#FloodTheSystem will organize and act according to the following principles.
  • Anti-capitalism/colonialism/racism/patriarchy - We see the climate crisis as a symptom of hierarchical social systems based upon domination and exploitation of lands, and predominately people of color. Addressing the crisis at its roots means joining with and supporting those who are fighting for liberation from these and other oppressive systems, and for their replacement with relations based upon equity, mutual aid, and ecological stewardship.
  • Grassroots Led, NGOs in Support Role - Non-profits and NGOs often function to co-opt and defuse resistance into reform-based avenues which are amenable to the social systems we are ultimately seeking to dismantle and replace. The priorities of this mobilization should be driven by groups grounded in and accountable to the communities most impacted by white supremacy, capitalism, and settler colonialism, with NGOs in a support role -- not the other way around.
  • Community-Based Alternatives - Corporations, nation-states, and multilateral institutions like the United Nations are integral pillars upholding global capitalism and colonialism. We see alternatives to extreme energy and the climate crisis arising out of social struggles which challenge and seek to replace these institutions and their logics. However, we recognize that there may be important defensive struggles within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, such as fighting the expansion of carbon markets or advancing state recognition of Indigenous land rights.


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Commute Kevin Cooper's Death Sentence

Sign the Petition:
https://act.amnestyusa.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1839&ea.campaign.id=40574&ea.tracking.id=Country_USA~MessagingCategory_DeathPenalty~MessagingCategory_PrisonersandPeopleatRisk&ac=W1507EADP1&ea.url.id=432762&forwarded=true

Urge Gov. Jerry Brown to commute Kevin Cooper's death sentence. Cooper has always maintained his innocence of the 1983 quadruple murder of which he was convicted. In 2009, five federal judges signed a dissenting opinion warning that the State of California "may be about to execute an innocent man." Having exhausted his appeals in the US courts, Kevin Cooper's lawyers have turned to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights to seek remedy for what they maintain is his wrongful conviction, and the inadequate trial representation, prosecutorial misconduct and racial discrimination which have marked the case. Amnesty International opposes all executions, unconditionally.

"The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man." - Judge William A. Fletcher, 2009 dissenting opinion on Kevin Cooper's case

Kevin Cooper has been on death row in California for more than thirty years.

In 1985, Cooper was convicted of the murder of a family and their house guest in Chino Hills. Sentenced to death, Cooper's trial took place in an atmosphere of racial hatred — for example, an effigy of a monkey in a noose with a sign reading "Hang the N*****!" was hung outside the venue of his preliminary hearing.

Take action to see that Kevin Cooper's death sentence is commuted immediately.

Cooper has consistently maintained his innocence.

Following his trial, five federal judges said: "There is no way to say this politely. The district court failed to provide Cooper a fair hearing."

Since 2004, a dozen federal appellate judges have indicated their doubts about his guilt.

Tell California authorities: The death penalty carries the risk of irrevocable error. Kevin Cooper's sentence must be commuted.

In 2009, Cooper came just eight hours shy of being executed for a crime that he may not have committed. Stand with me today in reminding the state of California that the death penalty is irreversible — Kevin Cooper's sentence must be commuted immediately.

In solidarity,

James Clark
Senior Death Penalty Campaigner
Amnesty International USA

News Updates

  • Death Row Stories
    Kevin Cooper's case will be the subject of a new episode of CNN's "Death Row Stories" airing on Sunday, July 26 at 7 p.m. PDT. The program will be repeated at 10 p.m. PDT. The episode, created by executive producers Robert Redford and Alex Gibney, will explore how Kevin Cooper was framed by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and District Attorney.Viewers on the east coast can see the program at 10 p.m. EDT and it will be rebroadcast at 1 a.m. EDT on July 27. Viewers in the Central Time zone can see it at 9 p.m. and midnight CDT. Viewers in the Mountain Time zone can see it at 8 p.m. and ll p.m MDT. It will be aired on CNN again during the following week and will also be able to be viewed on CNN's "Death Row Stories" website.
Kevin Cooper: An Innocent Victim of Racist Frame-Up
- from the Fact Sheet at: www.freekevincooper.org
 
Kevin Cooper is an African-American man who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in 1985 for the gruesome murders of a white family in Chino Hills, California: Doug and Peggy Ryen and their daughter Jessica and their house- guest Christopher Hughes. The Ryens' 8 year old son Josh, also attacked, was left for dead but survived.

Convicted in an atmosphere of racial hatred in San Bernardino County CA, Kevin Cooper remains under a threat of imminent execution in San Quentin.  He has never received a fair hearing on his claim of innocence.  In a dissenting opinion in 2009, five federal judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals signed a 82 page dissenting opinion that begins: "The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man." 565 F.3d 581.

There is significant evidence that exonerates Mr. Cooper and points toward other suspects:

  The coroner who investigated the Ryen murders concluded that the murders took four minutes at most and that the murder weapons were a hatchet, a long knife, an ice pick and perhaps a second knife. How could a single person, in four or fewer minutes, wield three or four weapons, and inflict over 140 wounds on five people, two of whom were adults (including a 200 pound ex-marine) who had loaded weapons near their bedsides?

  The sole surviving victim of the murders, Josh Ryen, told police and hospital staff within hours of the murders that the culprits were "three white men." Josh Ryen repeated this statement in the days following the crimes. When he twice saw Mr. Cooper's picture on TV as the suspected attacker, Josh Ryen said "that's not the man who did it."

  Josh Ryen's description of the killers was corroborated by two witnesses who were driving near the Ryens' home the night of the murders. They reported seeing three white men in a station wagon matching the description of the Ryens' car speeding away from the direction of the Ryens' home.

  These descriptions were corroborated by testimony of several employees and patrons of a bar close to the Ryens' home, who saw three white men enter the bar around midnight the night of the murders, two of whom were covered in blood, and one of whom was wearing coveralls.

  The identity of the real killers was further corroborated by a woman who, shortly after the murders were discovered, alerted the sheriff's department that her boyfriend, a convicted murderer, left blood-spattered coveralls at her home the night of the murders. She also reported that her boyfriend had been wearing a tan t-shirt matching a tan t-shirt with Doug Ryen's blood on it recovered near the bar. She also reported that her boyfriend owned a hatchet matching the one recovered near the scene of the crime, which she noted was missing in the days following the murders; it never reappeared; further, her sister saw that boyfriend and two other white men in a vehicle that could have been the Ryens' car on the night of the murders.

Lacking a motive to ascribe to Mr. Cooper for the crimes, the prosecution claimed that Mr. Cooper, who had earlier walked away from custody at a minimum security prison, stole the Ryens' car to escape to Mexico. But the Ryens had left the keys in both their cars (which were parked in the driveway), so there was no need to kill them to steal their car. The prosecution also claimed that Mr. Cooper needed money, but money and credit cards were found untouched and in plain sight at the murder scene.

The jury in 1985 deliberated for seven days before finding Mr. Cooper guilty. One juror later said that if there had been one less piece of evidence, the jury would not have voted to convict.

The evidence the prosecution presented at trial tying Mr. Cooper to the crime scene has all been discredited…         (Continue reading this document at: http://www.savekevincooper.org/_new_freekevincooperdotorg/TEST/Scripts/DataLibraries/upload/KC_FactSheet_2014.pdf)

     This message from the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. July 2015

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Free Albert Woodfox!

On June 8, 2015 a federal judge granted Louisiana prisoner Albert Woodfox unconditional release. Albert's conviction had already been overturned three times - most recently in 2013 - yet every time the state has appealed.

Today, Albert is still behind bars after spending four decades in cruel, unjust solitary confinement. He believes that he and fellow prisoners, Herman Wallace and Robert King, were first placed in solitary confinement in retaliation for their activism. All three men were members of the Black Panther Party. Together, they came to be known as the Angola 3.

It is time for the State of Louisiana to stop standing in the way of justice. Call on Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to ensure Albert's cruel and unjust confinement is not his legacy. Learn more

http://act.amnestyusa.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1839&ea.campaign.id=35593&ea.tracking.id=Country_USA~MessagingCategory_PrisonersandPeopleatRisk&ac=W1506EAIAR2&ea.url.id=414689&forwarded=true

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Amnesty for all those arrested demanding justice for Freddie Gray!

 

Amnesty for ALL those arrested
demanding justice for Freddie Gray!

Sign and distribute the petition to drop the charges!
Spread this effort with #Amnesty4Baltimore

"A riot is the language of the unheard"
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

An estimated 300 people have been arrested in Baltimore in the last two weeks. Many have been brutalized, beaten and pepper-sprayed by police in the streets, and held for days in inhumane conditions. Those arrested include journalists, medics and legal observers.

One individual arrested for property destruction of a police vehicle is now facing life in prison and is being held on $500,000 bail. That's $150,000 more than the officer charged with the murder of Freddie Gray.  

The legal system has made it clear that they care more about broken windows than broken necks; more about a CVS than the lives of Baltimore's Black residents.

They showed no hesitation in arresting Baltimore's protesters and rebels, and sending in the National Guard, but took 19 days to put a single one of the killer cops in handcuffs. This was the outrageous double standard that led to the Baltimore Uprising.

 Sign the petition to drop the charges on all who have been arrested.

Petition to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

Download PDF of Petition 

http://www.answercoalition.org/amnesty_for_all_those_arrested_demanding_justice_for_freddie_gray?utm_campaign=baltimore_amn1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=answercoalition

Amn3.pngMayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake
City Hall, Room 250,
100 North Holliday St.,
Baltimore, MD 21202

Dear Mayor Rawlings-Blake:

I stand in solidarity with those in Baltimore who are demanding that all charges be dropped against those who rose up against racism, police brutality, oppressive social conditions and delay of justice in the case of Freddie Gray. The whole world now recognizes that were it not for this powerful grassroots movement, in all its forms, there would be no indictment.

It is an outrage that peaceful protesters have been brutalized, beaten and pepper-sprayed by police in the streets, and held for days in inhumane conditions. Those arrested include journalists and legal observers.

Even the youth who are charged with property destruction and looting should be given an amnesty. There is no reason a teenager -- provoked by racists and justifiably angry -- should be facing life in prison for breaking the windows of a police car.

The City of Baltimore should work to rectify the conditions that led to this Uprising, rather than criminalizing those who took action in response to those conditions. Drop the charges now!

Sincerely,
[add your name below]

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CANCEL ALL STUDENT DEBT!

Sign the Petition:

http://cancelallstudentdebt.com/?code=kos


Dear President Obama, Senators, and Members of Congress:


Americans now owe $1.3 trillion in student debt. Eighty-six percent of that money is owed to the United States government. This is a crushing burden for more than 40 million Americans and their families.

I urge you to take immediate action to forgive all student debt, public and private.

American Federation of Teachers
Campaign for America's Future
Courage Campaign
Daily Kos
Democracy for America
LeftAction
Project Springboard
RH Reality Check
RootsAction
Student Debt Crisis
The Nation
Working Families


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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter

Table of Contents:

A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS

B. ARTICLES IN FULL


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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS


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Mumia Abu-Jamal Has Hepatitis C:
Demand Treatment Now!



Mumia Abu-Jamal has Hepatitis C-- and the prison is refusing treatment. We are going back to court to demand critical care, and we can't do it without you. Will you support Mumia getting immediate treatment by giving $250, $100 or even $25 today? Every gift and action makes the difference for Mumia getting the care he needs. Thank you, Noelle.

The time to act is now.

Five months after being rushed to the hospital, new medical tests show that Mumia has active Hepatitis C. But prison officials are refusing to treat him for it.

With your help, that changes- today.

Mumia Abu-Jamal remains weak, ill, and in the prison infirmary.

Five months after being admitted to the hospital with lethal blood sugar levels and in renal failure, he continues to have a debilitating skin rashes, open wounds and swelling across his lower extremities. Because of our relentless demands for medical testing and treatment, we finally know the likely cause of his severe ailments: Hepatitis C.

But what is news to us is not news to his jailers. Prison officials have known that Mumia was Hep. C positive since 2012-- and have done nothing.

Even now that prison doctors know that Mumia's Hep. C is active -from testing they performed solely because we demanded it- they are refusing to provide treatment.

Today, we are going back to court to demand justice for our brother. 

Mumia's legal team (Bret Grote of Abolitionist Law Center and Robert Boyle of New York) is filing an amended lawsuit today, 'Abu-Jamal v. Kerestes', to include medical neglect and demand immediate treatment.

Meanwhile, Prison Radio is working tirelessly to make sure Mumia's legal and medical team have the necessary resources to get Mumia the critical care he needs.

And we can't do it without you.

We need your help today to ensure that the prison treats Mumia's Hepatitis C now!

The world came together for Mumia when he fell unconscious five months ago. Because of our international outcry for justice and the critical steps we took, Mumia is alive today.

Now, we need your help to get Mumia a treatment plan. Can you fight for Mumia's right to medical care by giving $100, $25 or $250 today?

Your donation will:
File an amended lawsuit 'Abu-Jamal v. Kerestes' to include medical neglect
Get Mumia a full Hepatitis C work up and treatment plan

Grant Mumia's consulting physicians access to directly examine Mumia 

Fuel a public campaign to bring Mumia back to health

Support the demand for treatment of Hepatitis C for all Pennsylvania prisoners
Please join us in demanding immediate medical treatment by giving $25, $100 or even $1,000 now. Every gift and action matters.

bit.ly/fight4mumia
I Demand Treatment NOW!
Luchando por la justicia y la libertad,
Noelle Hanrahan
Director, Prison Radio
To give by check:
PO Box 411074
San Francisco, CA
94141
Stock or legacy gifts:
Noelle Hanrahan
(415) 706 - 5222


Prison Radio has recorded Mumia and other political prisoners for over 25 years, and we are pulling out all the stops to keep these voices on the air. 

Please donate today to amplify prisoners' voices far and wide beyond the bars:

     Support Prison Radio: prisonradio.org/donate
     Defeat SB 508: bit.ly/defendfreespeech


Copyright © Prison Radio

www,prisonradio.org 415-706-5222

Our mailing address is:

Prison Radio PO Box 411074, SF CA 94141

http://us10.campaign-archive2.com/?u=247585f092e945ff55b9a1bb2&id=e113d0b6d0&e=0107d76ccd

Donate Now

$35 is the yearly membership.

$50 will get you a beautiful tote bag (you can special order a yoga mat bag, just call us).

$100 will get the DVD "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary"

$300 will bring one essay to the airwaves.

$1000 (or $88.83 per month) will make you a member of our Prison Radio Freedom Circle. Take a moment and Support Prison Radio

Luchando por la justicia y la libertad,

Noelle Hanrahan, Director, Prison Radio

PRISON RADIO

P.O. Box 411074 San Francisco, CA 94141

www.prisonradio.org
info@prisonradio.org 415-706-5222


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The  Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Mobilizes Support Internationally:
No Execution by Medical Neglect!

International Unions Demand Decent Medical Treatment for Mumia Abu-Jamal

June 2, 2015

Mumia Abu-Jamal was recently sent back to prison after having been hospitalized for the second time. There are some reports that his health is improving. He said to Suzanne Ross of the International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal that "if there had not been an international outcry about the lack of appropriate treatment, in fact AGAINST the 'treatment' that was bringing him so close to death, he was sure he would not be alive today".

In some good news, he was also told by the prison doctor that his biopsy results came back negative.
However, neither Mumia nor his wife, lawyers or consulting doctors have been seen the actual medical reports detailing his condition. The Department of Corrections refuses to hand over his medical records, claiming that they don't have to hand them over because there is litigation to have them released! Denying Mumia and his family his medical records is an outrage!
We would like to inform you about some recent actions taken by unions around the world on behalf of Mumia.

- Unite, the largest union in the UK, representing over 1.4 million members, wrote letters to Governor Tom Wolf, Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel and Legal Counsel Theron Perez protesting Mumia's treatment.

- The International Dockworkers Council, representing 90,000 dockworkers from affiliated unions around the world, wrote an appeal to the labor movement calling for action on behalf of Mumia.
- The Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific sent a protest letter to Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel.

We hope that you will continue to take action on behalf of Mumia. Please call and email Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel and demand the following:

1) Mumia Abu-Jamal is an innocent man! He should be freed immediatel
2) Confirm what Mumia's medical condition is. Release his medical records to his family and lawyers!

3) Allow Mumia to be given medical treatment from a doctor of his choice. His doctor should be allowed to conduct an on-site medical examination, to communicate by phone with Mumia, and to communicate freely with prison medical staff.

4) Allow Mumia daily visits from his family, friends and lawyers!

5) Conduct an independent investigation of healthcare treatment inside the Pennsylvania prison system!DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, SECRETARY JOHN WETZEL 717 728 4109

We are also attaching a sample union resolution for you to use as a template. Please consider submitting it to your union and asking them to take action on behalf of Mumia. We would also be happy to work with you and make a presentation to your union or community group about his condition.

The Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jam


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Campaign to Free Lorenzo Johnson
 
Updates from the New "Team Free Lorenzo Johnson":
Thank you all for your relentless effort in the fight against wrongful convictions and your determination to stand behind Lorenzo.

To garner even more support for Lorenzo Johnson, we have been hard at work updating the website and developing an even more formidable and dedicated team. Please take a moment to visit the new site here.

During the month of July, Lorenzo wrote two new articles for The Huffington Post titled "When Prosecutors Deny Justice for the Innocent," and "Hurry Up and Wait for Justice: The Struggle of Innocent Prisoners." In these articles, Lorenzo discusses the flaws in the criminal justice system, which he deems is a "serious problem in this country."

Lastly, Lorenzo has a message to you all.

A Letter from Lorenzo:

July 23, 2015
Dauphin County Prison
Harrisburg, PA

Dear Supporters,

I hope all is well with everyone and your families. As for myself, I'm still on my journey in pursuit of my vindication. Sorry for my website being shut down for a couple of weeks. It was being transferred to a new provider and management. I'm back and will do my best to keep everything up to speed with what's taking place.

I would like to thank ALL of my loyal supporters in the U.S. and in the MANY different counties that have signed on to support my innocence. Thanks for all of the letters, emails, photos, etc. Like I always say, I get energy to carry on and inspiration hearing form you, please stay engaged in my struggle.

As of this moment, nothing has changed, but – the continued delay tactics are constantly being used by my prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General William Stoycos. With the mounting of evidence that supports my innocence and police and prosecution misconduct claims that is steadily piling up, you would think that I would be having a couple of evidentiary hearings on my actual innocence appeal that have been pending since August 5, 2013.

At the time of this writing, I've been moved from SCI-Mahanoy to Dauphin County Prison and locked down for 23 hours and 40 minutes a day. In the 20 minutes I get to come out, I get to take a shower and make a short call. Prosecutor Stoycos had me moved so I can be a witness in his attempt to have my codefendant Corey Walker's attorney removed from representing him. How dare he call into question an attorney who is seeking justice for her client, when prosecutor Stoycos himself violated multiple constitutional rights of mine and Mr. Walker, that led to us being in prison for 20 years and counting.

Prosecutor Stoycos is continuously abusing his power and his endless resources he has at his disposal. He is not tough on crime, he's tough on Innocent Prisoners. Prosecutor Stoycos is doing everything in his power to prevent justice from taking place. I encourage everyone to continue to speak out against my nightmare, invite others to get involved by going to my website and signing my Freedom Petition and whatever else they're willing to do.

On a positive note, I just enrolled in warehouse management trade and started on July 13th. Unfortunately, you're only allowed to miss a couple of days and Prosecutor Stoycos had me temporarily transferred on July 14th … It's extremely hard on Lifers to get into these trades due to the fact that Lifers are placed at the back of the list of ALL vocational classes. I try to further my education every chance I get, so when I do come home, I will be certified in different work.

The month of the hearing has come and left, without me being brought to the courthouse … I'm one of MANY innocent prisoners who endures this non-stop madness in our pursuit of Justice and Freedom. Now that my webpage is almost caught up to speed, I promise prompt updates and as everyone knows that contacted me directly, I personally reply to those in the states and out of the country. For those who can make a financial contribution, everything counts. Take care and let's continue to fight until we achieve Freedom, Justice, and Equality for all innocent prisoners.

"The Pain Within"

Free the Innocent
Lorenzo "Cat" Johnson

[Note: Lorenzo has since been transferred back to SCI Mahanoy and can be reached at his usual address.]

Thank you all for reading this message and please take the time to visit the new website and contribute to Lorenzo's campaign for freedom!

Write: Lorenzo Johnson
            DF 1036
            SCI Mahanoy
            301 Morea Rd.
            Frackville, PA 17932

 Email: Through JPay using the code:
              Lorenzo Johnson DF 1036 PA DOC
                                     or
              Directly at LorenzoJohnson17932@gmail.com

Have a wonderful day!
- The Team to Free Lorenzo Johnson


freelorenzojohnson.org

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 Join the Fight to Free Rev. Pinkney!

Click HERE to view in browser

http://www.iacenter.org/prisoners/freepinkney-1-28-15/


On December 15, 2014 the Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan was thrown into prison for 2.5 to 10 years. This 66-year-old leading African American activist was tried and convicted in front of an all-white jury and racist white judge and prosecutor for supposedly altering 5 dates on a recall petition against the mayor of Benton Harbor.

The prosecutor, with the judge's approval, repeatedly told the jury "you don't need evidence to convict Mr. Pinkney." And ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE WAS EVER PRESENTED THAT TIED REV. PINKNEY TO THE 'ALTERED' PETITIONS. Rev. Pinkney was immediately led away in handcuffs and thrown into Jackson Prison.

This is an outrageous charge. It is an outrageous conviction. It is an even more outrageous sentence! It must be appealed.

With your help supporters need to raise $20,000 for Rev. Pinkney's appeal.

Checks can be made out to BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community Organization). This is the organization founded by Rev. Pinkney.  Mail them to: Mrs. Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union Street, Benton Harbor, MI 49022.

Donations can be accepted on-line at bhbanco.org – press the donate button.

For information on the decade long campaign to destroy Rev. Pinkney go to bhbanco.org and workers.org(search "Pinkney").

We urge your support to the efforts to Free Rev. Pinkney!Ramsey Clark – Former U.S. attorney general,
Cynthia McKinney – Former member of U.S. Congress,
Lynne Stewart – Former political prisoner and human rights attorney
Ralph Poynter – New Abolitionist Movement,
Abayomi Azikiwe – Editor, Pan-African News Wire<
Larry Holmes – Peoples Power Assembly,
David Sole – Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice
Sara Flounders – International Action Center

MESSAGE FROM REV. PINKNEY

I am now in Marquette prison over 15 hours from wife and family, sitting in prison for a crime that was never committed. Judge Schrock and Mike Sepic both admitted there was no evidence against me but now I sit in prison facing 30 months. Schrock actually stated that he wanted to make an example out of me. (to scare Benton Harbor residents even more...) ONLY IN AMERICA. I now have an army to help fight Berrien County. When I arrived at Jackson state prison on Dec. 15, I met several hundred people from Detroit, Flint, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids. Some people recognized me. There was an outstanding amount of support given by the prison inmates. When I was transported to Marquette Prison it took 2 days. The prisoners knew who I was. One of the guards looked me up on the internet and said, "who would believe Berrien County is this racist."

Background to Campaign to free Rev. Pinkney

Michigan political prisoner the Rev. Edward Pinkney is a victim of racist injustice. He was sentenced to 30 months to 10 years for supposedly changing the dates on 5 signatures on a petition to recall Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower.

No material or circumstantial evidence was presented at the trial that would implicate Pinkney in the purported5 felonies. Many believe that Pinkney, a Berrien County activist and leader of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO), is being punished by local authorities for opposing the corporate plans of Whirlpool Corp, headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

In 2012, Pinkney and BANCO led an "Occupy the PGA [Professional Golfers' Association of America]" demonstration against a world-renowned golf tournament held at the newly created Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The course was carved out of Jean Klock Park, which had been donated to the city of Benton Harbor decades ago.

Berrien County officials were determined to defeat the recall campaign against Mayor Hightower, who opposed a program that would have taxed local corporations in order to create jobs and improve conditions in Benton Harbor, a majority African-American municipality. Like other Michigan cities, it has been devastated by widespread poverty and unemployment.

The Benton Harbor corporate power structure has used similar fraudulent charges to stop past efforts to recall or vote out of office the racist white officials, from mayor, judges, prosecutors in a majority Black city. Rev Pinkney who always quotes scripture, as many Christian ministers do, was even convicted for quoting scripture in a newspaper column. This outrageous conviction was overturned on appeal. We must do this again!

To sign the petition in support of the Rev. Edward Pinkney, log on to: tinyurl.com/ps4lwyn.

Contributions for Rev. Pinkney's defense can be sent to BANCO at Mrs Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union St., Benton Harbor, MI 49022

Or you can donate on-line at bhbanco.org.

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COURAGE TO RESIST

 http://couragetoresist.org/

New Action--write letters to DoD officials requesting clemency for Chelsea!

Secretary of the Army John McHugh

President Obama has delegated review of Chelsea Manning's clemency appeal to individuals within the Department of Defense.

Please write them to express your support for heroic WikiLeaks' whistle-blower former US Army intelligence analyst PFC Chelsea Manning's release from military prison.

It is important that each of these authorities realize the wide support that Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning enjoys worldwide. They need to be reminded that millions understand that Manning is a political prisoner, imprisoned for following her conscience. While it is highly unlikely that any of these individuals would independently move to release Manning, a reduction in Manning's outrageous 35-year prison sentence is a possibility at this stage.

Take action TODAY – Write letters supporting Chelsea's clemency petition to the following DoD authorities:

Secretary of the Army John McHugh

101 Army Pentagon

Washington, DC 20310-0101

The Judge Advocate General

2200 Army Pentagon

Washington, DC 20310-2200

Army Clemency and Parole Board

251 18th St, Suite 385

Arlington, VA 22202-3532

Directorate of Inmate Administration

Attn: Boards Branch

U.S. Disciplinary Barracks

1301 N. Warehouse Road

Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2304

Suggestions for letters send to DoD officials:

The letter should focus on your support for Chelsea Manning, and especially why you believe justice will be served if Chelsea Manning's sentence is reduced.  The letter should NOT be anti-military as this will be unlikely to help.

A suggested message: "Chelsea Manning has been punished enough for violating military regulations in the course of being true to her conscience.  I urge you to use your authorityto reduce Pvt. Manning's sentence to time served."  Beyond that general message, feel free to personalize the details as to why you believe Chelsea deserves clemency.

Consider composing your letter on personalized letterhead -you can create this yourself (here are templates and some tips for doing that).

A comment on this post will NOT be seen by DoD authorities–please send your letters to the addresses above

This clemency petition is separate from Chelsea Manning's upcoming appeal before the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals next year, where Manning's new attorney Nancy Hollander will have an opportunity to highlight the prosecution's—and the trial judge's—misconduct during last year's trial at Ft. Meade, Maryland.

Help us continue to cover 100% of Chelsea's legal fees at this critical stage!


Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org


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B. ARTICLES IN FULL


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1) Police Abuse Is a Form of Terror
By Charles M. Blow
AUG. 12, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/13/opinion/police-abuse-is-a-form-of-terror.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

Writing about the wave of deadly encounters — many caught on video — between unarmed black people and police officers often draws a particular criticism from a particular subset of readers.

It is some variation of this:

"Why are you not writing about the real problem — black-on-black crime? Young black men are far more likely to be killed by another young black man than by the police. Why do people not seem to protest when those young people are killed? Where is the media coverage of those deaths?"

This to me has always felt like a deflection, a juxtaposition meant to use one problem to drown out another.

Statistically, the sentiment is correct: Black people are more likely to be killed by other black people. But white people are also more likely to be killed by other white people. The truth is that murders and other violent crimes are often crimes of intimacy and access. People tend to kill people they know.

The argument suggests that police killings are relatively rare and therefore exotic, and distract from more mundane and widespread community violence. I view it differently: as state violence versus community violence.

People are often able to understand and contextualize community violence and, therefore, better understand how to avoid it. A parent can say to a child: Don't run with that crowd, or hang out on that corner or get involved with that set of activities.

A recent study by scholars at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale found that homicides cluster and overwhelmingly involve a tiny group of people who not only share social connections but are also already involved in the criminal justice system.

We as adults can decide whether or not to have guns in the home. According to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, having a gun may increase the chances of being the victim of homicide. We can report violent family members.

And people with the means and inclination can decide to move away from high-poverty, high-crime neighborhoods.

These measures are not 100 percent effective, but they can produce some measure of protection and provide individual citizens with some degree of personal agency.

State violence, as epitomized in these cases by what people view as police abuses, conversely, has produced a specific feeling of terror, one that is inescapable and unavoidable.

The difference in people's reactions to these different kinds of killings isn't about an exaltation — or exploitation — of some deaths above others for political purposes, but rather a collective outrage that the people charged with protecting your life could become a threat to it. It is a reaction to the puncturing of an illusion, the implosion of an idea. How can I be safe in America if I can't be safe in my body? It is a confrontation with a most discomforting concept: that there is no amount of righteous behavior, no neighborhood right enough, to produce sufficient security.

It produces a particular kind of terror, a feeling of nakedness and vulnerability, a fear that makes people furious at the very idea of having to be afraid.

The reaction to police killings is to my mind not completely dissimilar to people's reaction to other forms of terrorism.

The very ubiquity of police officers and the power they possess means that the questionable killing in which they are involved creates a terror that rolls in like a fog, filling every low place. It produces ambient, radiant fear. It is the lurking unpredictability of it. It is the any- and everywhere-ness of it.

The black community's response to this form of domestic terror has not been so different from America's reaction to foreign terror.The think tank New America found in June that 26 people were killed by jihadist attacks in the United States since 9/11 — compared with 48 deaths from "right wing attacks." And yet, we have spent unending blood and treasure to combat Islamist terrorism in those years. Furthermore, according to Gallup, half of all Americans still feel somewhat or very worried that they or someone in their family will become a victim of terrorism.

In one of the two Republican debates last week, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina seemed to be itching for yet another antiterrorism war, saying at one point: "I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took."

Whatever, however, long. This is not only Graham's position, it's the position of a large segment of the population.

Responding to New America's tally, Fareed Zakaria wrote in The Washington Post in July:

"Americans have accepted an unprecedented expansion of government powers and invasions of their privacy to prevent such attacks. Since 9/11, 74 people have been killed in the United States by terrorists, according to the think tank New America. In that same period, more than 150,000 Americans have been killed in gun homicides, and we have done … nothing."

And yet, we don't ask "Why aren't you, America, focusing on the real problem: Americans killing other Americans?"

Is the "real problem" question reserved only for the black people? Are black people not allowed to begin a righteous crusade?

One could argue that America's overwhelming response to the terror threat is precisely what has kept the number of people killed in this country as a result of terror so low. But, if so, shouldn't black Americans, similarly, have the right to exercise tremendous resistance to reduce the number of black people killed after interactions with the police?

How is it that we can understand an extreme reaction by Americans as a whole to a threat of terror but demonstrate a staggering lack of that understanding when black people in America do the same?

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2) Let's Expose the Gender Pay Gap
By JOANNE LIPMAN  
AUG. 13, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/13/opinion/lets-expose-the-gender-pay-gap.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

HOW serious are we, really, about tackling income equality?

The Securities and Exchange Commission took a shot at it last week, approving a rule that would require companies to disclose their C.E.O. pay gap — comparing how much chief executive officers take home compared with ordinary employees.

That's a fine idea. But here's a better one: require companies to publish their gender pay gap.

Think about it. Calling out top executives for making too much money will at most embarrass a few suits. But calling out companies for paying women too little will help millions — and perhaps crack one of the most intractable problems of our time.

More than a half-century after President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the gap between what men and women earn has defied every effort to close it. And it can't be explained away as a statistical glitch, a function of women preferring lower-paying industries or choosing to take time off for kids.

Claudia Goldin, a labor economist at Harvard, has crunched the numbers and found that the gap persists for identical jobs, even after controlling for hours, education, race and age. Female doctors and surgeons, for example, earn 71 percent of what their male colleagues make, while female financial specialists are paid just 66 percent as much as comparable men. Other researchers have calculated that women one year out of college earn 6.6 percent less than men after controlling for occupation and hours, and that female M.B.A. graduates earn on average $4,600 less than their male classmates for their first jobs.

It's not that men are intentionally discriminating against women — far from it. I've spent the past year interviewing male executives for a book about men and women in the workplace. A vast majority of them are fair-minded guys who want women to succeed. They're absolutely certain that they don't have a gender problem themselves; it must be some other guys who do. Yet they're leaders of companies that pay men more than women for the same jobs.

Women are trying mightily to close that chasm on their own. Linda Babcock, an economist at Carnegie Mellon and co-author of the book "Women Don't Ask," has found that one reason for the disparity is that men are four times more likely to ask for a raise than women are, and that when women do ask, we ask for 30 percent less. And so women are told we need to lean in, to demand to be paid what we're worth. It's excellent advice — except it isn't enough.

There is an antidote to the problem. Britain recently introduced a plan requiring companies with 250 employees or more to publicly report their own gender pay gap. It joins a handful of other countries, including Austria and Belgium, that have introduced similar rules. (In the United States, President Obama last year signed a presidential memorandum instructing federal contractors to report wage information by gender and race to the Department of Labor.) The disclosures "will cast sunlight on the discrepancies and create the pressure we need for change, driving women's wages up," Prime Minister David Cameron said last month.

Critics of the British plan protest that it's too expensive and complex. Some contend that it doesn't address the root of the problem: systemic issues that block women from higher-paying industries, and social issues like unconscious bias.

But real-world results suggest otherwise. Last year, the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers voluntarily released its gender pay gap in Britain, one of five firms in the country, including AstraZeneca, to do so. Simply saying the number out loud "created much more momentum internally" to close it, Sarah Churchman, who runs the firm's British diversity and inclusion efforts, told me.PricewaterhouseCoopers's analysis showed that most of its 15.1 percent pay disparity (compared with a Britain-wide gap of more than 19 percent) reflected a lack of women in senior jobs. So the firm focused on whether it was promoting fairly. In 2013, the grade just below partner was 30 percent female, yet only 16 percent of those promoted to partner were women. A year later, the percentage of women promoted to partner had more than doubled.

The firm's executives were also stunned to find a bonus pattern that favored men. The analysis showed that men who were passed over for partnership were routinely offered retention bonuses to keep them from quitting. Women weren't. Ms. Churchman believes that's because men often threatened to leave, while women typically decided to work harder and try again next year.

The potential cost savings of publishing the gender wage gap are enormous. About 20 percent of large companies now train employees to recognize unconscious bias, spending billions of dollars to try to stamp out unintentional discrimination. Paying for a salary analysis is cheaper and potentially more effective. Evidence also suggests that less secrecy about pay results in greater employee loyalty and lower turnover.

There's a strong argument to be made for transparency not just for women, but for minorities and other disadvantaged groups. African-American men earn less than white men, for example, though a Harvard Business Review analysis found that controlling for education, black men out-earn both white and black women.

Political realities being what they are, the chances of achieving that kind of transparency are slim; even the tepid C.E.O. pay gap rule took the S.E.C. five years to push through, in the face of fierce industry opposition.

But why would we not want a measure that will settle the controversy over the pay gap with quantifiable facts? Shining some much-needed sunlight on the gender wage gap will make a difference for every one of us, men and women, right now.

Joanne Lipman is working on a book about men and women at work. She is a former editor at The Wall Street Journal and editor of Conde Nast Portfolio.
 


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3) Through the Keyholes, Reporting on Prisons
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ  
AUG. 12, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/insider/through-the-keyholes-reporting-on-prisons.html

Mike Winerip and I have been reporting on New York jails and prisons for more than a year. Doing so is like looking through a keyhole: It is very difficult to get reliable information about what is going on inside a corrections facility.

Inmates can be, or be seen as, unreliable, and the correctional bureaucracies are often not forthcoming.

So we have to be creative. The first indication that correction officers might be subjecting inmates to brutal interrogation following the escape of two inmates, David Sweat and Richard W. Matt, from Clinton Prison, the subject of a front-page story today, came from prisoners' wives and girlfriends. We had been in contact with several of them from the beginning, and as they received reports from their husbands, they passed information along to us.

The inmates also began writing letters to a group called Prisoners' Legal Services of New York. Lawyers from the group then put us in contact with inmates.

This story relied heavily on inmates' accounts. We did not have the names of correction officers with whom we might speak; the State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision supplied only a short statement suggesting that allegations of abuse were under investigation.

The accounts we received from inmates were, however, strikingly consistent, and we felt they were credible. (We spoke to several inmates on the phone and visited four in the prison.) Many said that officers put plastic bags over their heads, or tied them around their necks, or threatened to do so. Others said they were handcuffed and taken to out-of-the-way rooms or hallways and beaten. The State Police and the Correction Department's internal affairs bureau conducted interrogations, but inmates said correction officers were the only ones who were physically abusive.

Ultimately, a story like this hopefully will generate tips leading to further insights. There are still many, many unanswered questions about the escape from Clinton, so stay tuned.


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4) Man Is Executed for Killing Officer
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  
AUG. 12, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/13/us/man-is-executed-for-killing-officer.html?mabReward=CTM&moduleDetail=recommendations-1&action=click&contentCollection=Times%20Insider&region=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&src=recg&pgtype=article

HUNTSVILLE, Tex. — Daniel Lee Lopez got his wish on Wednesday and was executed for striking and killing a police lieutenant with a sport-utility vehicle during a chase more than six years ago. The lethal injection was carried out after the United States Supreme Court rejected appeals from his lawyers, who disregarded Mr. Lopez's desire to die and disagreed with lower court rulings that found him competent to make that decision.

"I hope this execution helps my family and also the victim's family," said Mr. Lopez, 27.

A prosecutor said Mr. Lopez showed "no regard for human life" when he fought with an officer during a traffic stop, then sped away, eluding pursuing officers and striking Lt. Stuart Alexander of the Corpus Christi police. Even when finally cornered by police cars, Mr. Lopez tried ramming his S.U.V. to escape and did not stop until he was shot.

David Dow, who represented Mr. Lopez, said that Mr. Lopez was obviously mentally ill and that the crime was not a capital murder because he did not intend to kill Lieutenant Alexander.
 


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5) Violent Backlash Against Migrants in Germany as Asylum-Seekers Pour In
By MELISSA EDDY  
AUG. 13, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/europe/germany-migrants-attacks-asylum-seekers-backlash.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

FREITAL, Germany — Even as Germany has been trying to accommodate a swelling stream of newcomers, the most anywhere in Europe, it is also experiencing a persistent pattern of violence against migrants, raising concerns about escalating far-right opposition.

Rights activists who monitor the treatment of refugees say while they are seeing an increase in hate crimes across Europe, particularly targeting Roma or asylum-seekers from Europe's poorest countries, nowhere have they seen mass demonstrations or attacks on housing for refugees like those in Germany.

"We've seen many bad news stories from Germany, but not that many from other countries — not in the sense of calling it a growing trend," said Thorfinnur Omarsson, a spokesman for the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, based in Brussels.In the first half of this year alone, more than 179,000 people applied for asylum in Germany, a country of about 80 million. That is an increase of 132 percent over the same period in 2014, with Syrians the largest group, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said.

During the same period, the Interior Ministry recorded 202 attacks on housing for asylum-seekers, including attempts to render shelters uninhabitable through arson, attacks with stones or other vandalism. In addition, a group called Courage Against the Right cites 48 attacks on individuals, based on local police records.

Some of the episodes, such as the arson attacks in the Bavarian town of Vorra and in the eastern town of Tröglitz, have received widespread attention. But there have been many others, including one in Lunzenau in Saxony on July 29, when vandals broke into and deliberately flooded an empty shelter for 50 asylum-seekers by opening the taps in the bathrooms.

That same night, in nearby Dresden, a group of 50 people staged a demonstration against a tent city, hastily set up by the state to temporarily shelter hundreds of asylum-seekers. The Courage Against the Right group has counted 89 such demonstrations this year, many organized by local groups with names like Freital Defends Itself that have sprung up in cities and towns where empty office buildings and hotels have been converted into hostels for new arrivals.

Germany has also witnessed record numbers of people volunteering their time, clothing and money to help the newcomers, and the German government, both nationally and on the state level, has strongly denounced the attacks.

Still, the persistence of such attacks has human rights groups and security officials worried about the wider implications.

Gauri van Gulik, who monitors Europe for Amnesty International in London, said the group had seen a general increase in hate crimes directed against migrants in other European countries, but neither it nor any other group was able to provide solid statistics, in part because the laws vary by country. Germany, for example, has no laws against hate crimes, but counts rightist attacks as politically motivated crimes.

"In Germany, the language has been so classic neo-Nazi we immediately identify it with the types of crimes associated with the far-right," Ms. van Gulik said.

Elsewhere, the rhetoric has been no more welcoming, and often the official policies are designed to push migrants away. Right-wing parties in Denmark are seeking to clamp down on the number of people coming in, while Hungary is pushing ahead with plans to build a 13-foot-high barbed-wire fence along its border with Serbia, despite criticism from its European Union partners.

The Czech government has defended the right of the police to detain illegal migrants. Last week, its president, Milos Zeman, responded to a revolt among migrants held in a guarded facility by saying, "No one invited you here," and, "If you don't like it, leave."

But since Pegida, the German acronym for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, grew from a cluster of friends into a movement, with organized demonstrations that attracted thousands to weekly marches through Dresden, German security officials have seen more attempts by neo-Nazis to use unease over the migrants to further incite hatred.

Many in this country recall the racist attacks on facilities for asylum-seekers in parts of the former East Germany in the early 1990s, amid high joblessness and a breakdown of social services after that country's collapse.

President Joachim Gauck, a former pastor and activist from East Germany, last month condemned the attacks on refugee housing as "despicable" and "intolerable."

Weeks of protests outside the former Leonardo Hotel in Freital that was converted to housing for asylum-seekers finally ended last week when the police in this town near Dresden banned another demonstration. Since then the situation has calmed, but red-and-white police tape still flutters across the street from the hostel, which houses people from Albani, Morocco and Syria.

Abdel Wahir, 16, has been in Germany only three weeks. During that time, he has witnessed the country at both its best and its ugliest. His sister-in-law has received first-class medical care for an unspecified throat problem he said she developed on the trip here from Afghanistan. But he also witnessed the angry mobs shouting racial slurs on the street outside the former three-star hotel.

Abdel Wahir said he stayed indoors and waited out the demonstration, but the tone was enough to cause another refugee, a 27-year-old from Syria, to withdraw his asylum application, Agence France-Presse reported.

Throughout Europe, the pace of new arrivals has accelerated as many scramble to make a Mediterranean or land crossing while the weather is still warm. Scuffles, or worse, between migrants and local residents and the authorities seem to be more commonplace.

In Germany, with many asylum-seekers camped out in temporary accommodations and schools that will need to be used again when summer vacation ends, the authorities are increasingly worried about how they will be able to house everyone.

Government officials and others have called for compassion and tolerance, and the overwhelming reaction to the migrants has been sympathetic. But last week, a leading television journalist, Anja Reschke, used an opportunity to give a commentary on the public television network ARD denouncing Internet commentators who she said were helping to incite fear with hate-filled remarks.

"Until recently, these commentators hid behind pseudonyms, but now these comments are increasingly being published under the writers' real names," Ms. Reschke said. "Apparently it's no longer embarrassing — on the contrary, phrases like 'filthy vermin should drown in the sea' garner praise and a lot of 'likes.' "

In the video, which went viral in Germany, Ms. Reschke encouraged Germans who are "not of the opinion that all refugees are freeloaders that should be hunted, burned or gassed" to make their opinion "very clearly known."

"Speak up against it," Ms. Reschke said. "Open your mouth. Show attitude. Publicly name and shame."

Comments have poured in, with most thanking her for giving voice to what they see as the silent majority and praising her for encouraging them to speak out. But others reflected the very tone that Ms. Reschke deplored, such as Jens Hamann who wrote in German on Saturday that his country "doesn't need more humanity, but secure borders — with mines."

For those like Abdel Wahir, who walked for months and paid smugglers to help him on his journey through Europe, even the angry demonstrations are not enough to encourage him to turn back or seek refuge elsewhere.

Speaking in broken English, he said he had not yet had time to learn German, but planned to begin once his application for asylum was accepted, so that he could go on to study and get a job. "Germany still good," he said, a broad smile on his face.

 


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6) What Eating 40 Teaspoons of Sugar a Day Can Do to You
By Anahad O'Connor
August 14, 2015
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/what-eating-40-teaspoons-of-sugar-a-day-can-do-to-you/?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below
Soda has been a major target in the debate over sugar and its role in the obesity crisis. But high levels of added sugars can be found in many seemingly healthful foods, from yogurts to energy bars and even whole-grain bread.

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times


A new movie called "That Sugar Film" seeks to educate consumers about the hazards of consuming too much added sugar, which can be found in an estimated 80 percent of all supermarket foods. The new documentary stars Australian actor-director, Damon Gameau, who modeled his movie after "Super Size Me," the 2004 film that followed Morgan Spurlock as he consumed an all-McDonald's diet for 30 days.

In "That Sugar Film," which first had its debut in Australia this year, Mr. Gameau gives up his normal diet of fresh foods for two months to see what happens when he shifts to eating a diet containing 40 teaspoons of sugar daily, the amount consumed by the average Australian (and an amount not far from the 28 teaspoons consumed daily by the average American teenager). The twist is that Mr. Gameau avoids soda, ice cream, candy and other obvious sources of sugar. Instead, he consumes foods commonly perceived as "healthy" that are frequently loaded with added sugars, like low-fat yogurt, fruit juice, health bars and cereal.

Mr. Gameau finds that his health and waistline quickly spiral out of control. While the film is mostly entertainment, it tries to present the science of sugar in a consumer-friendly way, with helpful cameos from Hugh Jackman, Stephen Fry and others. It is also timely. Just last month, the federal government proposed a new rule that would require nutrition labels to carry details about added sugars, a measure that has faced resistance from the food industry.

Recently, we caught up with Mr. Gameau to talk about why he made the film (which has also been turned into a book), what he learned along the way, and why he believes that sugar – despite his criticism of it – should not be vilified.
Q.

So why did you make this film?
A.

It came about because I was noticing how much conflicting press there was about sugar. I'd read one article one day saying it's toxic and poisonous. Then, the next day, I'd see an article saying it's fine and we need it for energy. I thought the only way to find out the truth was to do an experiment and assemble a team of doctors and scientists. Despite some of the doctors telling me I was crazy, I thought consuming a lot of foods like low-fat yogurt and orange juice would be just fine.
Q.

Was it?
A.

Very quickly things started to change. I put on a lot of weight very quickly. After 18 days, I developed signs of fatty liver. That was a huge turning point for the film. That's when we started exploring a lot more of the science and then looking for people to interview and stories to tell in the film.
Q.

You were focusing on foods perceived as healthy. Can you talk about that?
A.

Yes. These are the foods with flowers and bees and sunsets on their labels. That's the whole point of the film. If I had been eating chocolate doughnuts and soft drinks, we know what would have happened to me. But the fact that this happened when I was following the low-fat diet that we've all been prescribed for 35 years – that was surprising.
Q.

Do you think people put too much faith in food labels and claims?
A.

Yes. There was a study done in Australia that found that 55 percent of people get their nutrition advice from food labels, compared with only 25 percent who get their advice from a nutritional advocate. That's where we need integrity. People are taking at face value what these products tell them. We're encouraging people to turn that label around, look at the sugar content, see through the marketing hype and the slogans and actually take control of what they're putting in their bodies.
Q.

What was your diet like before the start of the film?
A.

I kept away from processed foods as much as I could. I'd have eggs for breakfast. I'd eat healthy fats like avocado, and I'd snack on nuts and a little cheese. I'd have lots of fruits and vegetables and protein sources like fish. I just tried to eat real foods, and I kept it really simple.
Q.

How did it change during the film?
A.

I swapped all that for the refined carbohydrates. Cereals, low-fat yogurts and apple juice would be my breakfast instead of eggs and avocado. And lunch would be pasta with pasta sauce, or some vegetables or fish with a teriyaki sauce or some kind of dressing that had added sugars in it.
Q.

What was the most surprising change you noticed?
A.

My calorie intake didn't change. What I was eating before – the avocados and nuts and other foods – are high in calories. So I kept a similar calorie intake. But on the diet with all the added sugars, I was snacking a lot more. I just never felt full, and it was affecting my moods. What I learned was that I was triggering insulin and all sorts of hormones that were trapping fat in my body.
Q.

The film first launched in Australia. What was the response like?
A.

I didn't get a lot of the abusive letters that I thought I would get. Instead, it's been mostly very large companies that rely on sugar, saying: "Can we do a screening of your film for our staff? We want to talk about ways to move forward." They know this is coming. The science is irrefutable now. They know there is a movement. So they are scrambling for sugar replacements, for healthier products. It's capitalism. They want to give the public what it wants. They want to survive, and so they'll have to adapt. I guess we just need to be careful about what they replace the sugar with.
Q.

What have critics said?
A.

It hasn't been everyone's cup of tea. Some critics have completely hated it because it's not a typical film. But we didn't make it for them. We made this for the general public because the people need this message.
Q.

There are some who say sugar is the latest dietary scapegoat, like fat and cholesterol before it. Your thoughts?
A.

I think they're right. I don't think we should ever demonize one nutrient. But when that one single nutrient is now in 80 percent of all foods, we do need to look at it. This is not just about putting sugar in your tea or coffee. It's pervaded our entire food supply, and people are having far too much of it. And I think most of those people don't realize how much they're having.

We're not demonizing sugar, we're just showing people where it's hiding. There are people having their chocolate bar or ice cream at the end of the day without realizing they've had 30 teaspoons in other foods throughout the day. I say enjoy your chocolate and your ice cream, but just know where most of the sugar in your diet is hiding.
Q.

Do you think that message comes across in the film?
A.

We say at the end of the film that sugar is not solely to blame for obesity. There is a host of other factors. But the science is now saying that it is a major player. So there's no possible risk in lowering sugar intake. That's all we're saying. You don't have to quit it. You don't have to ban it. It's just that the excessive amount we're having is not working.
Q.

What happened after you gave up all the processed foods?
A.

When I went back to just drinking water and eating food again, the weight dropped, and all my symptoms went away. I think we just need to simplify things. Stick to the perimeter of the supermarket where all the fresh foods are. Buy real foods as much as you can. We all know it. But we've been bombarded with food industry marketing for so long.
Q.

What kind of impact has the film had so far?
A.

I have hundreds of people who write to me and say the film has changed their families or their kids' attitudes toward food, which is very heartening.

We've developed a school study guide from Grade 5 through 11 that's been rolled out to 1,000 schools in Australia. There's a group in the United Kingdom that is looking to put it into 12,000 schools. There's a full parliamentary screening of the film scheduled in the U.K. There have been hospitals changing their food structure. The journal BMJ just wrote a beautiful review of the film. To get that kind of support has been so inspiring.
Q.

You have a daughter who is now nearly 2 years old. Is it difficult navigating the sugar issue as the parent of a small child?
A.

We talk about it all the time because obviously we don't want to demonize sugar and give our daughter an eating disorder. But what we've learned in our very short time as parents is that children want to do what the adults are doing. And because my wife and I don't eat a lot of sugar, our daughter doesn't either. Blueberries are a fantastic treat for her at the moment – she gets so excited. Or my wife might make a homemade chocolate cake and use banana or coconut as the sweetener, and our baby absolutely loves it. It's almost defining for her palate what sweet is.

Of course, we haven't hit the kid's party circuit yet. But I guess we're not too extreme about it. We believe that if you're careful at home, it's O.K. to loosen the shackles when you're out. The odd birthday party is not going to hurt. We're fine with all that.



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7) The Painful Lessons of the Yonkers Housing Crisis
By LISA BELKIN  
AUG. 14, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/15/opinion/the-painful-lessons-of-the-yonkers-housing-crisis.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region&region=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region&_r=0

"IS that what all the trouble was about? Just that?" a young actor asked me, sweeping her hand toward a row of cream-shingled townhouses on a leafy residential street in Yonkers.

The clustered homes were nondescript — not the most pristine on the block, but not the scruffiest either. Behind us, a camera and dolly track were being readied to recreate a bifurcated panorama for HBO: African-American characters carrying boxes out of moving vans on one side of the street, angry Caucasian extras glaring at them from the other side.

Yes, all the trouble was about that.

The first time I'd been on this street, in front of these same homes, was more than 20 years ago. There were no cameras or extras, just me with a notepad and pen, watching real people carry real belongings into the same townhouses. I was researching a book about the civil rights battle that birthed these homes.

In 1985, a federal judge ruled that the city of Yonkers, just north of the Bronx, had purposely segregated its citizens by deliberately cramming all public housing into one square mile. He ordered the city to integrate by building new housing for poor minority residents on the white, middle-class side of town, inciting a three-year, angry, sometimes violent fight that made headlines around the country and brought Yonkers to the brink of bankruptcy before it was finally forced to comply. It was 1992 before the new residents finally moved in.

Back then I thought I was watching an ending — "the trouble" was officially over, the city had lost, the houses were finally here. I'd hoped it would offer a fresh start for the residents who had been chosen (literally out of a bingo drum) for the move, many of whom came with no furniture rather than risk bringing vermin from their decrepit public housing units across town. It also felt like a turning point, a new chance for the city, maybe even the country, to see that integration could work, one quiet block at a time.

I assumed that the N.A.A.C.P., which brought the lawsuit that became the Yonkers case, would, as planned, ask for similar rulings in other cities, and that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which made the pivotal decision to authorize those scattered townhouses rather than the huge brick apartment complexes that had failed so spectacularly in the past, would, as promised, build similar designs nationwide. The lesson of Yonkers would be that proximity can make neighbors out of strangers and bridge racial gaps one street at a time. That didn't happen.

Since then there has been only a smattering of similar suits around the country, and a sprinkling of new townhouses, but nothing more. Supporters of desegregation won the Yonkers battle — but the high cost of victory lost them the war. Few in this country had the will to risk another divisive, ugly municipal bruising any time soon.

So the fight that was meant to map a road out of racial separation instead further codified it, leading deeper down the path of what the Kerner Commission so long ago described as "separate but unequal." That was what I saw with sudden clarity on that day of filming last fall: Yonkers was not an end, nor a beginning, but a murky middle. We're still a nation divided by race, staring at one another from different sides of literal and metaphorical streets.

Through the months on location last year, the present echoed but also amplified the past. A scene of hate-fueled crowds nearly overturning a long-ago mayor's car was filmed on a day when images of white-hot anger in Ferguson, Mo., were still fresh. Another scene, a character's awkward encounter at a restaurant where she was the darkest face in the room, was shot at a time when the national conversation was of white privilege and of the countless invisible cuts people of color face every day.What then were fights like the one in Yonkers for? What it might have been was a model for what works. These townhouses, now 23 years old, are still home to 200 low-income minority families. They have hardly integrated the east side of Yonkers, but they haven't destroyed it as some feared, either.

Crime has not increased. Property values have not decreased. Life is pretty much the same for those who lived on these blocks before the townhouses were built. And for those who moved in from the projects? The change of address didn't solve all their problems, but it did make their lives safer, cleaner and measurably better.

Last month, the Obama administration announced that it would put teeth behind a policy making federal housing funds conditional on a city's demonstrated efforts to reduce housing segregation. It won't be easy.

Already in Westchester County, not far north of Yonkers, local politicians are sounding exactly like those here in the 1980s. Ordered to build 750 units of affordable housing in 31 of its wealthiest, whitest towns, Westchester's county executive, Rob Astorino, staged a photo op at Hillary Clinton's front gate in Chappaqua, warning: "This is happening right here in Westchester County, and if you live in Ohio, if you live in Florida, if you live in Maine — wherever you live in the United States — you are next."

But if there is a new commitment from the federal government, and the longstanding but deeply frayed rules are actually (and finally) enforced, then perhaps the legacy of Yonkers can be more than Pyrrhic. Maybe we're a few steps further along than we thought.

Lisa Belkin, a former reporter for The New York Times, is the author of "Show Me a Hero," the basis for the HBO miniseries.
 

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8) U.S. Is Poised to Oppose Freeing Guantánamo Hunger Striker
By CHARLIE SAVAGE  
AUG. 14, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/15/us/us-is-expected-to-oppose-freeing-guantanamo-hunger-striker.html?ref=us

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided for now to fight any court-ordered release of a detainee at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, who has been on a hunger strike since February 2007 and now weighs less than 75 pounds, according to officials familiar with internal deliberations.

A lawyer for the detainee, a Yemeni named Tariq Ba Odah, has asked a federal judge to order his release because of his "severe physical and psychological deterioration." The Justice Department asked a judge three times to extend its deadline to respond while the administration deliberated internally about what to say.

The latest delay moved the deadline to file a response to just before midnight on Aug. 14. The Justice Department was expected to tell the court by then that the executive branch opposes Mr. Ba Odah's habeas corpus petition, officials said, although the filing may be under seal because it includes medical information.The case of Mr. Ba Odah has divided the administration. State Department officials argued that the government should not oppose his petition to be freed. They cited the incongruity of sending diplomats to ask other countries to take in such detainees while also fighting to prolong their detention in court.

But officials at the Pentagon argued that if the government did not oppose a court-ordered release of Mr. Ba Odah, who is being force-fed, other detainees would have an incentive to go on hunger strikes, causing operational problems at the prison. In 2013, a major hunger strike took place at the prison, resulting in reinforcements of medical corpsmen to handle force-feedings.

Mr. Ba Odah was recommended for transfer by a six-agency task force in 2009 if security conditions could be met in the receiving country. But because Yemen is in chaos, he has remained at Guantánamo. Out of the 116 remaining at the wartime prison, he is among 52, most of them Yemenis, who are on the transfer list.

The administration's decision to oppose Mr. Ba Odah's petition may not be final. Officials familiar with internal deliberations said one concern was that the State Department did not have any deal in place to relocate Mr. Ba Odah, raising the prospect that the government would be forced to repatriate him to Yemen if a judge ordered his immediate release.

Officials at the Defense Department, the Justice Department and the White House's National Security Council declined to comment. Ian Moss, a spokesman for the State Department, declined to comment on Mr. Ba Odah specifically, but said the administration was working on finding transfer deals.

"We are absolutely determined to generate transfer opportunities for each of the detainees currently approved for transfer, and are working very hard on the diplomatic front to do so," Mr. Moss said in an email.

Mr. Ba Odah is about 37 and has been held for more than 13 years. The Pakistani Army captured him along the Afghan border, and he is accused of having gone to the region to fight with the Taliban and of having received some weapons training.
 

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9) Charlotte Officer Says He Had No Choice in 2013 Shooting of Unarmed Black Man
By JONATHAN M. KATZ  
AUG. 14, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/15/us/charlotte-officer-says-he-had-to-fire-at-black-motorist-seeking-help.html?ref=us

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The police officer said he had no choice but to shoot the unarmed man. But prosecutors pushed back hard on Friday as the officer, Randall Kerrick, took the witness stand, challenging his credibility and account of the night he killed Jonathan Ferrell.

"You shot at him 12 times, right?" Teresa Postell, a North Carolina assistant attorney general, asked.

"Yes ma'am," the officer replied.

She asked if it was true that Mr. Ferrell did not have a weapon.

"I was not aware of that at the time," the officer protested.

She repeated her question.

"I'm aware of that now, yes, ma'am," he replied.Officer Kerrick, who is charged with voluntary manslaughter, testified during the second week of his trial in the killing of Mr. Ferrell early on Sept. 14, 2013. Mr. Ferrell, 24, who was black, had just wrecked the car he was driving and had sought help at a house in a subdivision near the eastern edge of Charlotte. But the woman who owned the house, fearing that he was a burglar, called 911.

Three officers responded. One fired a Taser at Mr. Ferrell and apparently missed. Only Officer Kerrick, who is white, pulled out his gun. He fired four times while walking slowly backward. Both he and Mr. Ferrell fell, and Officer Kerrick continued to shoot eight more times. Mr. Ferrell was hit 10 times.

Officer Kerrick, 28, was charged the day after the shooting and suspended without pay. Taking the stand on Friday, the second day of his testimony, he was at times defiant and emotional. His eyes filled with tears several times, especially after his defense lawyer, George V. Laughrun II, asked questions about his wife and infant son.

Throughout the morning and afternoon, Officer Kerrick reiterated the main points of his defense: that Mr. Ferrell, a former football player at Florida A&M University, matched the description of the suspect in a reported breaking-and-entering attempt; that he could not rule out the possibility that Mr. Ferrell wanted to attack him; and that shooting him was his only viable option.

He described Mr. Ferrell as having run directly at him with blank eyes that looked "like a hologram." He said that after both men fell, Mr. Ferrell climbed onto him in an attempt to take the officer's gun from his right hand. Until the final two shots at point-blank range, Officer Kerrick said, he felt as though his gun "wasn't working at all."

"He had a good chance to get my gun from me and take it from me," he said. "There was absolutely nothing else I could have done."

Ms. Postell presented an alternate theory of events: That Mr. Ferrell, barefoot and dazed after the crash, ran to avoid the Taser shot, unintentionally careening toward Officer Kerrick, who immediately opened fire.

Officer Kerrick admitted that he had not fired any warning shots and had not ordered Mr. Ferrell to show his hands.

He also acknowledged that he intentionally turned off his cruiser's dashboard camera when he arrived. In a video recorded by another officer's dashboard camera, Mr. Ferrell can be seen walking, then running, as soon as the police arrive. But the shooting occurs off camera.

Each of Officer Kerrick's admissions set off a verbal tug of war with the prosecutor."This was not just any call," Officer Kerrick said. "This was a priority breaking-and-entering call at 2:30 in the morning with the homeowner inside the house."

"It wasn't an important enough call to you to leave your D.M.V.R. on, right?" Ms. Postell asked, referring to his dashboard-mounted video recorder.

"No."

The prosecutor also cited instances in which the officer appeared to change his story. He told investigators the day after the shooting that he had not ordered Mr. Ferrell to stop moving until after another officer fired his Taser, Ms. Postell said. But Officer Kerrick told the prosecutor he was no longer sure when he shouted.

"Ma'am, this was taken just a little bit after I was in a fight for my life," Officer Kerrick said. "I'm sorry if there are a few inconsistencies." As she pressed him on whether he remembered the details of the shooting, he said, "I live it every day, ma'am."

Presaging what may become an important point of contention in the case, the prosecution produced the dark-blue pants Officer Kerrick wore the night of the shooting. He acknowledged they were not covered with blood, other than a small spot that he said "appears to be DNA." The prosecutor raised an eyebrow. "Or mud," he said.

The prosecutor pushed him to acknowledge that Mr. Ferrell was dying as both men lay on the ground. He would not.

"He was still advancing towards me. I did not know that he was dying," the officer said.

"He was dying," she replied.

"I did not know he was dying," he said.

Other emergency workers testified that Mr. Ferrell was dead when they arrived, minutes after the shooting.

 

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10) Man Is Released After 34 Years in Prison; Murder Conviction Is Thrown Out
By KATIE ROGERS  
AUG. 14, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/15/us/man-is-released-after-34-years-in-prison-murder-conviction-is-thrown-out.html?ref=us

A man who served 34 years in prison for the rape and murder of a teenager in Pennsylvania has been freed after new DNA analysis led a judge to vacate his murder conviction.

The man, Lewis Fogle, was released from prison on bond Thursday after lawyers for the Innocence Project obtained consent to retest physical evidence from the autopsy of the murdered teenager, Deann Katherine Long, 15, who was raped and killed with a single gunshot in 1976.

In a statement after Mr. Fogle's release, the Innocence Project, which works to clear the wrongfully convicted, said the authorities had relied on jailhouse informants who said Mr. Fogle had confessed to them. At his trial in 1982, no physical evidence was presented linking Mr. Fogle to the crime, the Innocence Project said.

The new DNA results came from a semen sample that was collected from Ms. Long's body using new technology.

David Loftis, the managing attorney for the Innocence Project, said the group had paid for several rounds of tests on the evidence. Evolving technologies for DNA testing has led more prisoners who proclaim their innocence to seek the group's help. The organization says it gets more than 3,000 first-time requests a year for assistance.

In Mr. Fogle's case, Mr. Loftis said in a phone interview on Friday, "we understood that the conviction was unsafe; that turned out to be true."

Mr. Fogle may still be retried on a charge of second-degree murder, or felony murder, which in Pennsylvania is defined as murder committed during the course of another felony, said Patrick Dougherty, the district attorney for Indiana County, Pa.

He said in a phone interview on Friday that detectives were combing through the remaining physical evidence, which could result in a conviction, and were interviewing witnesses.

Mr. Fogle's next court date is in September.

Mr. Dougherty said that he would not pursue a trial unless there was a legitimate chance for success. "In all fairness," he said, "a young woman was raped and murdered."

Mr. Loftis said, however, that he did not believe that Mr. Fogle would be retried. On Friday morning, the former prisoner, who had checked in with his probation officer, was spending time at a hotel with people who were focused on reintroducing him to a life "with choices," Mr. Loftis said. Social workers were also going to help him rebuild relationships with his family.

"The choices are, Do you begin working? Do you begin hobbies? What's the next step of your life?" Mr. Loftis said.

The first stop would be a restaurant, according to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

"I'd like to get me a steak," Mr. Fogle was quoted as saying. "I haven't had beef for a long, long time. We get suet instead of beef, and I don't like suet."

Mr. Fogle said he was not bitter, "but I don't like how I was arrested and convicted," according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He said that because he was let down before, he did not allow himself to show emotion until his release was official.

The idea of being free was a little overwhelming, he told The Post-Gazette. "I don't know how to even order a sandwich today," he said. "I have no idea how to run a computer or anything like that. They scare the heck out of me."

Daniel Victor contributed reporting.
 

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11) Community Seeks Answers After Officers Shoot Trenton Boy
By JASON GRANT  
AUG. 14, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/15/nyregion/community-uneasy-after-trenton-boy-is-shot-by-2-officers.html?ref=nyregion

TRENTON — It was the start of a violent weekend in this capital city of 85,000.

On Friday, Aug. 7, Radazz Hearns, 14, was walking with friends near an open field across from the Prospect Village apartments on Louise Lane after 10 p.m. Responding to reports of gunfire in that area, three police officers got out of their vehicle and questioned the group, according to investigators from the state attorney general's office. Radazz took off running, according to the authorities and witnesses. Two police officers chased Radazz and opened fire, hitting him in the legs and buttocks. Radazz was released from the hospital on Friday, one week after the shooting.

What remains in dispute, and is the source of deepening anxiety among some residents and civic leaders, is the contention by the state attorney general's office, which is investigating the shooting, that Radazz was reaching into his waistband as the officers chased him. The authorities also said they found a loaded 22-caliber handgun on the ground near the scene of the shooting.

But in the neighborhoods of Trenton, a long-troubled city that saw several shootings during the Aug. 7 weekend, the prevailing narrative is different. On Thursday, at a community meeting in a large Baptist church, some among the more than 150 people who attended expressed doubt that Radazz, who is black, was carrying a gun or that he had reached into his waistband in a threatening way. They wanted to know more.

Some people said that as he was being carried to an ambulance, Radazz had yelled at the officers: "Why did you have to shoot me?" Others, along with the Hearns family's lawyer, Samuel A. Anyan Jr., said Radazz had not been armed. In addition, Mr. Anyan and others asked why the gun recovered was not found until 12 hours after the shooting, despite dozens of investigators combing the scene. Mr. Anyan said Radazz was shot seven times and that the handgun, which was discovered under a car, "was not even near the path" or direction the boy had run.

At the end of the meeting, which was held at Shiloh Baptist Church and lasted about two and a half hours, about 30 people encircled Radazz's mother, Slimes Jackson, 32, and other family members in a hug while praying.

"I want to know what my son wants to know," Ms. Jackson said. "Why did they shoot him?"

The refrain at the meeting, which drew several times as many people as a similar meeting on Tuesday, was that investigators with the attorney general's Shooting Response Team were not being forthcoming with information, including the names of the officers involved. Several elected officials, including Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat who represents central New Jersey, said the community deserved more information. She called for a federal investigation.

On Friday night, a spokesman for the United States attorney for New Jersey, Paul J. Fishman, said the office was closely watching the state investigation and communicating with John J. Hoffman, the acting attorney general. While some at the meeting on Thursday discussed organizing a protest, they said they were still seeking answers about the encounter and did not want to see the type of unrest that has occurred in places where unarmed black men have been shot by police officers.

"We might need a march, a protest rally," the Rev. Lukata Mjumbe, co-chairman of the United Mercer Interfaith Organization, a Trenton-based group that focuses on community organizing, said during the meeting. "That might be some sort of direct action that will bring attention to this."

"People need to be aware of what happened," he said. "Mike Brown was shot seven times, and he's not with us anymore. And this shooting here occurred on the eve, on the weekend, of the one-year anniversary of the Mike Brown shooting" in Ferguson, Mo.

Soon afterward, Mayor Eric Jackson said his efforts to learn more about the investigation had been stymied.

"I want a transparent, full-fledged investigation," he said, "soup to nuts, from the very beginning to the very end, on every question that has been asked."

The attorney general's office provided a news release about the investigation and other basic information, though Mr. Hoffman's spokesman did not return calls on Friday.

In a phone interview on Friday, Capt. Stephen Jones, a state police spokesman, said: "Any of these investigations need to be done thoroughly and meticulously, so that all of the information can be put together. You don't want to rush something as important as this. So speed is going to take a back seat to accuracy."

Despite the violence over the Aug. 7 weekend, the numbers of shootings and resulting homicides in Trenton are down this year compared with the same period last year. According the attorney general's office, there had been 74 shootings with nine homicides in the city in 2015 as of Aug. 9, compared with 122 shootings with 20 homicides during the same period in 2014.

Near the end of the meeting on Thursday, James Hearns, an uncle of Radazz, told those gathered: "He was walking home on a Friday night, on a very nice night, with his friends. Whatever may have occurred, he didn't deserve to get shot seven times. The facts don't add up."


 

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12) Brooklyn Man Awarded $4 Million After 2009 Rooftop Fall in Police Chase
By AL BAKER  
AUG. 14, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/15/nyregion/brooklyn-man-awarded-4-million-after-2009-rooftop-fall-in-police-chase.html?ref=nyregion

The impact from the fall, on Aug. 22, 2009, was undeniable: A Brooklyn man, Brian D. Martin, fell more than 30 feet to the ground, fracturing his back in several spots and shattering his left heel.

How Mr. Martin came to fall was the subject of a nearly three-week civil trial in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn that ended Thursday with Mr. Martin being awarded $4.15 million from the New York Police Department.

In its decision, the jury affirmed Mr. Martin's version of events, in which two plainclothes officers, Alex Bakalis and Jose Cofresi, had pursued him to the roof of his building, at 225 Hoyt Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn. And while Mr. Martin was hanging from a brick parapet, one of the two officers struck Mr. Martin's fingers, the court papers said, causing him to lose his grip more than 30 feet above the street and knock down an air conditioner while falling.

Jurors also agreed that Mr. Martin was falsely arrested after he had fallen from the roof. The award included money to cover the "permanent effect of his injuries" and medical expenses over the next 45 years, or until Mr. Martin is in his mid-70s.

A day after the ruling, Mr. Martin, 31, sat in his lawyer's office in Lower Manhattan and described daily bouts of pain. He must sleep with his foot elevated to take pressure off his heel. A six-inch rod fusing several vertebrae in his back restricts his mobility. He worries about the degenerative effects that may build with age.

"As I get older, my son gets older," he said, speaking of his 3-year-old son, Brian Jr. "And basically, the more things he's going to want to do with me, the less I'm going to be able to do."

Mr. Martin was initially charged with reckless endangerment and trespassing, but the charges were dropped after the Brooklyn district attorney's office declined to prosecute the case.

His lawyer, Seth A. Harris, said he would ask the inspector general for the New York Police Department, and the department itself, to review the evidence in the case, which he said began as a "racially biased" street stop by two anti-crime unit officers, even though the five-year statute of limitations to seek charges against the officers had elapsed.

Nicole Turso, a spokeswoman for Philip K. Eure, the inspector general, said in an email on Friday that "the office has no comment at this time." Police officials did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the verdict.

A spokesman for the city's Law Department, which represented the city and the police at trial, said in a statement, "We're disappointed in the verdict and we are considering our options."

The events on Aug. 22, 2009, Mr. Martin said, began around 6 p.m. as he walked back to the Gowanus Houses after a haircut. He recalled thattwo men in a car yelled, "Hey, you, come over here." He kept going. When the men emerged with "guns pointing in my direction," he said, "I just ran, right away," not realizing they were officers.

He ran to the building where he had lived for two years, in a ground-floor apartment with his girlfriend, and went up to the roof. An arrest report said Mr. Martin "did jump from rooftop," damaging the air conditioner and causing it to fall. But during the trial, Mr. Cofresi, who has since been promoted to detective, testified that the account in the report was inaccurate.

"Is that sentence true or not?" Mr. Cofresi was asked, according to a transcript of the proceedings Mr. Harris provided.

"No, it's not true," he replied.

The police report said the officers initially tried to stop Mr. Martin "for a large bulge in his waistband," which appeared to be the outline of a firearm. But Mr. Martin said he had no gun, and Mr. Harris said none was found.

On Friday, Mr. Martin said the encounter "changed everything" for him.

He was absent from work and lost his apprenticeship in the sheet-metal workers union. On unemployment, he made what Mr. Harris called a "stupid mistake" and pleaded guilty in 2011 in federal court to conspiracy to sell crack cocaine. He was released in October 2013, after 27 months in prison, and has since been working for a bank as a loan broker.

He said he understood police officers' mission to protect people, having been a victim of street crime himself.

"I believe that police need to patrol the areas," he said. "I just think they're too aggressive. That's all, they're just too aggressive."
 

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13) Inmate’s Death Follows Reports of Abuse at a New York State Prison
By and

On the evening of April 21 in Building 21 at the Fishkill Correctional Facility, Samuel Harrell, an inmate with a history of erratic behavior linked to bipolar disorder, packed his bags and announced he was going home, though he still had several years left to serve on his drug sentence.

Not long after, he got into a confrontation with corrections officers, was thrown to the floor and was handcuffed. As many as 20 officers — including members of a group known around the prison as the Beat Up Squad — repeatedly kicked and punched Mr. Harrell, who is black, with some of them shouting racial slurs, according to more than a dozen inmate witnesses. “Like he was a trampoline, they were jumping on him,” said Edwin Pearson, an inmate who watched from a nearby bathroom.

Mr. Harrell was then thrown or dragged down a staircase, according to the inmates’ accounts. One inmate reported seeing him lying on the landing, “bent in an impossible position.”

“His eyes were open,” the inmate wrote, “but they weren’t looking at anything.”

Corrections officers called for an ambulance, but according to medical records, the officers mentioned nothing about a physical encounter. Rather, the records showed, they told the ambulance crew that Mr. Harrell probably had an overdose of K2, a synthetic marijuana.

He was taken to St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital and at 10:19 p.m. was pronounced dead.

In the four months since, state corrections officials have provided only the barest details about what happened at Fishkill, a medium-security prison in Beacon, N.Y., about 60 miles north of New York City. Citing a continuing investigation by the State Police, officials for weeks had declined to comment on the inmates’ accounts of a beating.

An autopsy report by the Orange County medical examiner, obtained by The New York Times, concluded that Mr. Harrell, 30, had cuts and bruises to the head and extremities and had no illicit drugs in his system, only an antidepressant and tobacco. He died of cardiac arrhythmia, the autopsy report said, “following physical altercation with corrections officers.”

The manner of death: Homicide.

Previous Reports of Violence

No officers have been disciplined in connection with the death, officials said. A classification of homicide is a medical term that indicates the death occurred at the hands of other people, but it does not necessarily mean a crime was committed.

Inmate witnesses at Fishkill say they are the ones who have been punished. Several described being put into solitary confinement and threatened with violence after speaking with Mr. Harrell’s family, their lawyers and with news reporters.

The Times documented similar allegations of abuse from inmates at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., where in June two convicted murderers escaped, resulting in a three-week manhunt. There, inmates described being beaten and choked with plastic bags by corrections officers seeking information about the escapees. Many were then thrown into solitary confinement.

The prison building where Mr. Harrell died has long been singled out as a violent place. In 2013, the Correctional Association of New York, a 171-year-old inmate advocacy group with a legislative mandate to inspect New York State prisons, published a report documenting “harassment and provocation” by officers working in Building 21 from 3 to 11 p.m. This was the same time frame when Mr. Harrell died. The association, which found similar problems in 2005, briefed officials with the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in fall 2013, including the acting commissioner, Anthony Annucci, as well as Fishkill’s superintendent, William J. Connolly, who resigned this month.

Even so, inmates said, the problems have persisted. Five weeks before Mr. Harrell’s death, David Martinez, an inmate in Building 21 who was serving time for attempted murder, among other charges, filed a grievance saying he was being assaulted and harassed by officers, and asking that the officers on that shift “be split up.” In a subsequent letter, he described them as “a group of rogue officers” who “go around beating up people.”

In July, another inmate, Rickey Rodriguez, said that officers beat him so severely that he lost his two front teeth and had to be hospitalized. Interviewed a little more than a week after he was released from prison, Mr. Rodriguez, who was serving time for attempted murder, was still covered with cuts and bruises, and the white of his right eye was stained red with blood. “They go out of their way to pick and choose to beat on guys,” he said.

The State Police plan to turn over the evidence gathered to the Dutchess County district attorney’s office “in the very near future,” said Beau Duffy, an agency spokesman. The corrections department said it was cooperating with the State Police.

“Anyone found to have engaged in any misconduct or in any legal violations will be disciplined and prosecuted,” the department said in a statement.

The Times pieced together the events leading to Mr. Harrell’s death from 19 affidavits and letters written by inmates and obtained through the law firm Beldock Levine & Hoffman, which is representing Mr. Harrell’s family. Most of the inmates shared their affidavits on the condition that their names not be used, because they said they feared retribution from corrections officers. Three agreed to be interviewed with their names made public.

According to Luna Droubi, a lawyer at the firm, at least nine of the inmates who saw what happened had been placed at some point in solitary confinement. She said that the firm would soon file a lawsuit in connection with the death, and that there was a need for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate.

The inmates witnessed the encounter from several vantage points, including a day room and bathroom just a few feet away. Two described being at the bottom of the staircase and seeing Mr. Harrell come falling down.

Inmate witnesses are typically viewed with skepticism by investigators, but the accounts from Fishkill are strikingly consistent. Inmates there are serving sentences for felonies, such as drug crimes and murder, but have earned the right to take part in programs like work release.

Mr. Harrell also had a history of heart disease and drug abuse, which the autopsy report said contributed to his death.

The day he died, several inmates described him as being depressed and withdrawn. Ibrahim Camara said he found Mr. Harrell sitting alone, watching television and asked what was wrong. “I said, ‘Is it your mom, family or something?’” Mr. Camara recalled in a phone interview from prison. “He shook his head yes.” Mr. Harrell’s mother had died in November.

Around 8:30 that night, Mr. Harrell — whose nickname was JRock — told two officers that his wife and sister were coming to pick him up and take him home, according to one inmate’s affidavit.

His earliest release date from prison was September 2020.

The officers called for medical and mental health assistance but could not reach anyone, the inmate reported. Soon after, the inmate said that two more officers arrived. “I believe JRock panicked after seeing all those officers surrounding him,” the inmate wrote. “JRock jumped up and ran.”

Mr. Camara said he was in the day room, watching a playoff game between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, when he heard a commotion in the hallway. “Me and other inmates, we hear the walls shaking, doom, doom, doom, doom,” he recalled. “Somebody opened up the door and looked outside, and said, ‘Yo, that’s JRock they got out there.’”

He was on the floor, face down and handcuffed, several inmates said. In short order, a large group of officers converged around him. The inmates in their affidavits and letters identified nine officers by name as being involved.

“I saw the officers kicking him, jumping on his head multiple times and screaming, ‘Stop resisting,’ even though I didn’t see him moving,” wrote Mr. Pearson, who has since been released after serving two years on a weapons charge.None of the affidavits or letters mentioned Mr. Harrell’s fighting back or speaking during the encounter. Several said that once he was on the floor, handcuffed, he stopped moving, and a few of the inmates speculated he may have already been dead by then.

Indeed, Mr. Camara said inmates were surprised that Mr. Harrell, who was over six feet tall and weighed 235 pounds, did not try to defend himself. “People was even mad, I was mad,” he said. “You’re a big guy and you let these people literally kill you.”

The inmates said that during the encounter, an officer they identified as Robert Michels appeared to have a medical emergency. Mr. Pearson, who later identified Officer Michels through a Facebook photo, said he saw the officer “rip open his shirt and he was gasping for air and grabbing his chest.”

Officers went to attend to Officer Michels, who was soon carried out on a stretcher, inmates said.

Identifying the Guards

Mental Illness

No one could say for sure what set off the confrontation with Mr. Harrell. There were no surveillance cameras in that area, according to inmates, and corrections officials acknowledged that there are only a few for the entire prison.

James Miller, a spokesman for the corrections officers’ union, the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, said in an email last month that Mr. Harrell was “acting violently and appeared delusional as a result of apparently ingesting drugs.” While trying to subdue him, one guard had several ribs broken, Mr. Miller said.

Officials have described abuse of K2 by inmates as a problem throughout the state prison system.

On Monday, Mr. Miller wrote in an email that the union was “reviewing all the facts before rushing to judgment.”

“Rather than simply relying on allegations made by a handful of violent convicted felons,” he wrote, “we will continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to ensure a resolution to this tragic incident.”

Mr. Harrell had served several stints in prison for drug crimes starting in 2002. He had five disciplinary infractions while incarcerated, including one days before his death for possessing contraband, according to prison records. None involved violence.

Inmates and family members say that any erratic behavior more likely stemmed from his mental illness. In the weeks before his death, they said, he had been depressed. In 2010 he learned he had bipolar disorder and was hospitalized, according to medical records. His wife, Diane Harrell, said that when he was not taking his medication, he would go through the house turning over family photographs for fear they were staring at him. He also believed the television was talking to him, she said.

While Mr. Harrell lay still on the floor, officers periodically walked by, kicking him and hitting him, Mr. Camara said.

Most of the inmates could identify the officers by last names only, which they spelled in a variety of ways in their affidavits. In a database of New York State employees, seethroughny.net, there are several Fishkill officers who appeared to match the guards most often named by the inmates as being directly involved in the encounter. They are Thomas Dickenson (named by 10 of the inmates), John Yager (10), Officer Michels (nine), Bryan Eull (five) and a white woman they knew only as “Ms. B” (four).

They also identified the ranking officer at the scene as Sgt. Joseph Guarino. Reached by telephone, Sergeant Guarino confirmed he was present that night but said he could not comment.

Neither the corrections department nor the union would confirm the names of the officers. Reached by phone, several of the officers declined to comment. Others did not respond to voice mail messages, emails or messages sent through Facebook.

Through the years, Sergeant Guarino, 60, has been sued several times by inmates accusing him of brutality. One case was settled by the state in 2012 for $60,000 and another in 2011 for $65,000. In a 2011 deposition, he said inmates typically filed about 30 grievances against him a year and referred to him by the nickname Sergeant Searchalot.

Four inmates wrote that after Officer Michels was taken away, they heard Sergeant Guarino order officers to throw Mr. Harrell down the stairs.

“Harrell came rolling sideways down the stairs,” Mr. Martinez wrote, adding that he had a “bedsheet tied all around his body and he was in mechanical restraints.”

Mr. Martinez said that two officers he identified as Mr. Eull and Mr. Dickenson then tried to put Mr. Harrell into a wheelchair but had difficulty lifting him.

Mr. Harrell, he wrote, “was not responsive at all” and “kept sliding off the wheelchair.”

Another inmate who was nearby said that Officer Eull ordered him to stop looking, and then grabbed him and pushed him into a corner. “He then told me, ‘You better forget what you saw here if you ever want to make it home,’” the affidavit said.

An inmate looking out of his cell wrote that he saw Mr. Harrell being taken away. The inmate wrote that he had seen 10 to 15 corrections officers “surrounding a wheelchair being wheeled out of the building with a white sheet draped over a body that could have been naked because I seen bare feet dragging on the ground.”

According to records from the ambulance service, a call came reporting a possible overdose at the Fishkill prison at 9:16 p.m.; the ambulance team arrived there at 9:30 p.m. and reached Mr. Harrell by 9:34 p.m. “Staff reports that pt. was possibly smoking K2 and became very aggressive, shortly after he went unresponsive and into cardiac arrest,” the records said.

The next morning at 7:30, Mr. Harrell’s sister, Cerissa Harrell, received an anonymous call from an inmate in Building 21. “He called me and said, ‘Sam got hit the night before and they took him and he hasn’t been back and nobody has heard or seen from him.’”

“You could hear the franticness in his voice,” she said.

A half-hour later, she said, someone from the corrections agency called to say her brother was dead.

Susan C. Beachy contributed research.





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14) President Obama’s Department of Injustice
By ALEC KARAKATSANIS

WASHINGTON — LAST month, President Obama used his clemency power to reduce the sentences of 46 federal prisoners locked up on drug-related charges. But for the last six years, his administration has worked repeatedly behind the scenes to ensure that tens of thousands of poor people — disproportionately minorities — languish in federal prison on sentences declared by the courts, and even the president himself, to be illegal and unjustifiable.

The case of Ezell Gilbert is emblematic of this injustice. In March 1997, he was sentenced to 24 years and four months in federal prison for possession with the intent to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine. Because of mandatory sentencing laws, Mr. Gilbert was automatically sentenced to a quarter-century in prison, though even the judge who sentenced him admitted that this was too harsh.

At his sentencing, Mr. Gilbert noted a legal error that improperly increased his sentence by approximately a decade based on a misclassification of one of his prior offenses. In 1999, without a lawyer, he filed a petition seeking his release. A court ruled against him.

Nearly 10 years later, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in another prisoner’s case, confirming that Mr. Gilbert had been right. A public defender helped him file a new petition for immediate release in light of this new decision.

Mr. Obama’s Justice Department, however, convinced a Florida federal judge that even if Mr. Gilbert’s sentence was illegal, he had to remain in prison because prisoners should not be able to petition more than once for release. The “finality” of criminal cases was too important, the department argued, to allow prisoners more than one petition, even if a previous one was wrongly denied.

A federal appellate court disagreed, and in June 2010, three judges set Mr. Gilbert free. The judges rejected the administration’s argument as a departure from basic fairness and explained that it simply could not be the law in America that a person had to serve a prison sentence that everyone admitted was illegal. Mr. Gilbert returned home and stayed out of trouble.

Here’s where it gets interesting. There are many people like Mr. Gilbert in America’s federal prisons — people whose sentences are now obviously illegal. Instead of rushing to ensure that all those thousands of men and women illegally imprisoned at taxpayer expense were set free, the Justice Department said that it did not want a rule that allowed other prisoners like Mr. Gilbert to retroactively challenge their now illegal sentences. If the “floodgates” were opened, too many others — mostly poor, mostly black — would have to be released. The Obama administration’s fear of the political ramifications of thousands of poor minority prisoners being released at once around the country, what Justice William J. Brennan Jr. once called “a fear of too much justice,” is the real justification.

In May 2011, the same court, led by a different group of judges, sided with the original judge, saying that the “finality” of sentences was too important a principle to allow prisoners to be released on a second rather than first petition, even if the prison sentence was illegal. A contrary rule would force the courts to hear the complaints of too many other prisoners. Mr. Gilbert was rearrested and sent back to prison to serve out his illegal sentence.

Judge James Hill, then an 87-year-old senior judge on the appellate court in Atlanta, wrote a passionate dissent. Judge Hill, a conservative who served in World War II and was appointed by Richard M. Nixon, called the decision “shocking” and declared that a “judicial system that values finality over justice is morally bankrupt.” Judge Hill wrote that the result was “urged by a department of the United States that calls itself, without a trace of irony, the Department of Justice.”Judge Hill concluded: “The government hints that there are many others in Gilbert’s position — sitting in prison serving sentences that were illegally imposed. We used to call such systems ‘gulags.’ Now, apparently, we call them the United States.”

Two years later, the Justice Department used a similar tactic to overturn an entirely different federal appellate court decision that could have freed thousands of prisoners convicted of nonviolent crack cocaine offenses — again, mostly impoverished and mostly black — on the grounds that their sentences were discriminatory and unjustifiable. The administration again did its work without fanfare in esoteric legal briefs, even as the president publicly called the crack-cocaine sentencing system “unfair.”

In 2013, several years after sending him back to prison, Mr. Obama granted Mr. Gilbert clemency, and the president has recently won praise for doing the same for several dozen other prisoners of the war on drugs. Mr. Obama even visited a federal prison last month, staring into the cells — emptied for his visit — of some of the men whom his own administration has needlessly kept there.

But Mr. Obama must take steps to further undo the damage that he has done. He should use his clemency power to release all those currently held in a federal prison on an illegal sentence. And he should appoint a permanent special counsel whose job would be to review new laws and federal court cases on a continuing basis to identify and release other prisoners whose sentences retroactively become clearly unlawful. That the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons have never created such a position is an outrage. If we fail to demand change now, this moment for justice may be lost.

Alec Karakatsanis is a civil rights lawyer and co-founder of Equal Justice Under Law, which litigates on behalf of indigent clients.


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15) Depiction of Amazon Stirs a Debate About Work Culture
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Amazon recently surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the country. It is ceaselessly inventive, unafraid to try something and fail. Its ambitious goal: sell everything to everyone everywhere. It is also figuring out how to extract the most from its employees, whose dedication and obsession is the real engine behind the company’s success.
A recent article in The New York Times —“Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace” — offered a glimpse into what could be described as a workplace that is both bruising and thrilling. It gave accounts of workers who suffered from cancer, miscarriages and other personal crises who said they had been evaluated unfairly or edged out rather than given time to recover in Amazon’s intense and fast-paced workplace.
The reaction to the story was voluminous and spirited. On websites like Reddit and Hacker News, tech workers, Amazon employees and friends and relatives offered thoughtful and detailed reflections of their experiences at the company. Jeff Bezos, its chief executive, also weighed in.
Many of the more than 4,000 comments posted to nytimes.com recounted what life was like at Amazon.
Dan Kreft’s was among them. He joined the company in 1999 after a short career in basketball, first at Northwestern University and then around the world after college. An old pair of his size 21 shoes, he wrote in a follow-up email to The Times, became one of the prizes handed out to recipients of the company’s Just Do It award — a recognition of an employee taking the initiative to do something above and beyond the call of duty. He said he left last month, after putting in 15 years, 10 months and 11 days at the company.
“Amazon is a great place to learn from fantastically skilled and intelligent people. It’s a terrific place to work on systems on a scale that most companies can’t even fathom. It’s a thrilling place to work if you thrive on pressure and love being a part of something huge and powerful.
It’s a great place to work if you don’t have any interests outside of work and if you’re a corporate-ladder-climber type. But corporate culture doesn’t really promote treating its employees like human beings who have feelings and a life outside of work. At Amazon, you’re just a login...a face on a badge...“head count”...a row in a database in a giant air-conditioned room filled with servers, just waiting to have your bit flipped. So go ahead, Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History...but defenestrate any silly notions that you matter as a person.
I wish Jeff Bezos and Company continued success, but I wonder how much more successful they could be if they would only show the same kind of obsessive care about their employees as they do about their customers.” — Dan
Another Amazon employee put it a bit more succinctly — if not more dramatically:
“As someone who worked at Amazon headquarters in Seattle for over 5 years I can tell you that it is an obscenely stressful place to work. I wouldn’t wish a job at Amazon on my worst enemy. Everyone I knew was on drugs for depression, drank too much and had severe sleeping problems — forget about having any life outside of Amazon, 75-plus hour work weeks are the norm. It’s absolutely brutal. I didn’t even realize how disgustingly abusive it was until I left.” — Frmr Amzn

“I still struggle with the Amhole nature within,” a Seattle technology recruiter who worked there for four years wrote, referring the pejorative Seattle nickname for employees, “resisting the desire to verbally castrate my current colleagues who are not up to my vision of competence.”

Dozens of current and former employees, as well as loved ones, wrote in to talk about how difficult it was to maintain a work/life balance. Many pointed out that the two year-mark was often the cut off for how long they could last there. As one Amazon customer put it:
“We are terribly naive to think that the instant gratification services we demand — kitty litter in an hour or less, groceries and other services — do not have an impact to the employees hired to support our immediate whims.” — misterboh
The depiction of life at Amazon left many commenters wondering whether they should continue shopping with the company. Not everyone, however, was so quick to lambaste it and its practices.
“America needs more companies like Amazon that demand more from employees and rewards them accordingly. Our nation’s Silicon Valley culture isn’t perfect and can burn people out, but is also the reason we have Apple, Microsoft, and Google keeping us competitive.” — SeattleGuy
A recent hire noted that for him, the grueling environment feels like it’s worth it in terms of career development — an attitude he believes is shared among other young engineers in the tech industry. He expects to be pushed, he said.
“While it may seem appalling to many readers, all you need to see the light is a switch in mindset. If you think of work as working for somebody else, you will be appalled at the work conditions at any high performing company. But if you understand that what you do, no matter who you do it for, is at the end of the day for yourself, all this starts to make sense.
“The skills I develop while working will be mine to keep for life. I’m not here to put in the hours for a paycheck. I’m here being paid to learn.” — Jumbo
Some current Amazon employees said their experiences matched the most upbeat ones described in the original article.
A European employee wrote that he found the company unusually supportive.
”The pace is fast but it brings a sentiment of accomplishment and satisfaction to the people working here. I have never seen anybody sick or in pain not being treated in the most humane way possible and I cannot imagine anybody at Amazon condoning the behaviors you have described. These were bad managers that do not deserve to work for us. Working for Amazon has made me raise my standards and I’m grateful for it.” — Bernard K
Another Amazon employee echoed that experience. He pointed to the climate inside the company as a place that fosters projects that can have a huge impact on millions of people.
“I’ve never seen someone cry at their desk. I’ve taken a family leave with no negative repercussions. I’ve given (and as a manager, received) tons of anonymous feedback, most of it positive or constructive, which would be normal to submit at almost any company with a collaborative workforce.” — Josh
Josh didn’t deny feeling stressed or overworked or being pushed at times for deadlines that struck him as unreasonable. He did, however, suggest that working there might be “unsustainable.”



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16) Shell Wins Final Permission for Arctic Oil and Gas Drilling
By CORAL DAVENPORT



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17) Virginia: Ex-Police Officer Charged With Murder in Shooting
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS



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