Thursday, December 17, 2015

BAUAW NEWSLETTER, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015




 
 
-->
Happy Winter Solstice and Happy New Year!
The whole world is in turmoil suffering the capitalist descent into barbarism. At the same time, there is a great awakening of consciousness among the masses of working people that we are all in the same sinking boat. Across the globe, we are all facing the economic reality of austerity for us, and untold accumulation of wealth for the ruling elite. Democratic rights are being decimated. Police brutality and murder is rampant. And while the corporations can kill, mutilate and rob with impunity, the poor are locked up for the crime of being impoverished. We are reaching a tipping point both in our climate crisis and our overwhelming social crisis of unending war, poverty and criminalization of the poor.
The only solution is world socialist revolution under the democratic control of the whole working class and in defense of all life on Earth!
Peace and solidarity for a better tomorrow,
Bonnie
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*


Bay Area United Against War Newsletter

Table of Contents:

A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS

B. ARTICLES IN FULL


*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*



A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS



*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Is this email not displaying correctly?
View it in your browser.
Chelsea Manning Support Network

What does Chelsea want for her
28th birthday this week?

This Thursday, December 17th, is heroic WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning's 28th birthday-- the sixth year she'll have spent her birthday behind bars for exposing war crimes, and other information that should never have been secret in the first place.

Here are three important ways you can support Chelsea on her birthday:

1. Give the gift of a donation to the Chelsea Manning Defense Fund

Attorneys Nancy Hollander and Vincent Ward are well into the process of preparing for Chelsea's first legal appeal next year. The appeals process has the potential to take decades off Chelsea's 35 year prison sentence. Donate Today!

2. Send her a birthday message:

CHELSEA E. MANNING 89289
1300 N Warehouse Rd
Ft Leavenworth KS 66027-2304

3. Join or create a birthday action in celebration of Chelsea's birthday

Currently, birthday actions are planned all over the world to celebrate Chelsea Manning's Birthday from Dec 17th-Dec 19th. Join candlelight vigils, card-writing meetups, and tabling events in London, Berlin, Oakland, Boston, Bucharest, Vancouver, and even Chelsea's hometown in Oklahoma! Click here for a list of actions world-wide.
Super secret insider info: Not only are Chelsea Manning shirts and stuff already 50% off in our online store, if you use discount code "chelsea" during check out, you'll get an additional 50% off. That is insane, so please don't tell anyone else, as we can't afford for this news to get out too broadly. Here's the link to the store, just for you Bonnie.

Chelsea honored in Advocate's 40 under 40!

"In blogs, tweets, and handwritten letters from prison, the former Army intelligence specialist is still trying to change the world."
"I often hear and read that many people all over the world consider me a ‘whistleblower’ or a ‘heroine.’ This experience can be a little intimidating at times," she tells The Advocate. "That’s an idea that would be a lot to live up to! I don’t feel like I can live up to the expectations of being a ‘heroine.’ I don’t have any special powers or abilities like a comic book super hero. I actually feel a lot more vulnerable than that. In fact, I am very vulnerable. I just try to be myself, and that’s all I aspire to be.” Read more...

Help us continue to cover
100% of Chelsea's legal fees!

Please donate today!





*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*




 




*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*


When Drone Whistleblowers are Under Attack,

What Do We Do?

STAND UP, FIGHT BACK!



 We honor Stephan, Michael, Brandon and Cian!

These four former ex-drone pilots have courageously spoken out publicly against the U.S. drone assassination program.  They have not been charged with any crime, yet the U.S. government is retaliating against these truth-tellers by freezing all of their bank and credit card accounts.  WE MUST BACK THEM UP!
Listen to them here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43z6EMy8T28

PLEASE HELP THEM:

1.  Sign up on this support network:
         www.facebook.com/events/1502272456740302/

2.  Sign this petition  NOW:
               https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-congress-attorney-general-loretta-lynch-protect-the-drone-assassination-program-whistleblowers?recruiter=436431670&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

3.  Call and email officials TODAY, listed below and on FB site.

4.  Ask your organization if they would join our network.


**************************************************************
Statement of Support for Drone Whistleblowers
(Code Pink Women for Peace: East Bay, Golden Gate, and S.F. Chapters 11.28.15)

Code Pink Women for Peace support the very courageous actions of four former US drone operators, Michael Haas, Brandon Bryant, Cian Westmoreland, and Stephan Lewis, who have come under increasing attack for disclosing information about “widespread corruption and institutionalized indifference to civilian casualties that characterize the drone program.” As truth tellers, they stated in a public letter to President Obama that the killing of innocent civilians has been one of the most “devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.”* These public disclosures come only after repeated attempts to work privately within official channels failed.

Despite the fact that none of the four has been charged with criminal activity, all had their bank accounts and credit cards frozen. This retaliatory response by our government is consistent with the extrajudicial nature of US drone strikes.

We must support these former drone operators who have taken great risks to stop the drone killing. Write or call your US Senators, your US Representatives, President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, and CIA Director John Brennan demanding that Michael Haas, Brandon Bryant, Cian Westmoreland, and Stephan Lewis be applauded, not punished, for revealing the criminal and extrajudicial nature of drone strikes that has led to so many civilian deaths.

Petition

URGENT: Sign and Share NOW! Drone Whistleblower Protection Petition
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-congress-attorney-general-loretta-lynch-protect-the-drone-assassination-program-whistleblowers?recruiter=436431670&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

Contacting your Government
- White House comment line: 202-456-1111
 
- Email President Obama: president@whitehouse.gov and cc info@whitehouse.gov
 
- White House switchboard: 202-456-1414 for telephone numbers of your Senators and Representatives.

- Email your Senators and Representatives:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

-Contact Ashton Carter Secretary of Defense: Go to http://www.defense.gov/About-DoD/Biographies/BiographyView/Article/602689 and select appropriate icon.

- Contact John Brennan, CIA Director: Go to
https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/leadership/john-o-brennan.html and select appropriate icon.

For more information on the 4 Drone Whistleblowers:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1502272456740302/
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43z6EMy8T28
(Must see Democracy Now interview with the 4 drone operators)

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/18/life-as-a-drone-pilot-creech-air-force-base-nevada

*http://thefreethoughtproject.com/drone-pilots-bank-accounts-credit-cards-frozen-feds-exposing-murder/#fqt0crLvckG2OdbD.99

Code Pink Women for Peace: eastbaycodepink@gmail.com








*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

Save Ashraf Fayadh

Palestinian poet sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia.

Ashraf Fayadh, Palestinian refugee poet and artist living in Saudi Arabia, has been sentenced to death by a Saudi court, on charges of apostasy or abandoning his faith in Islam. The charges appear to be based on his poetry and writing and also maybe a form of retaliation for posting an online video showing Saudi religious police lashing a man in public.

Fayadh is a Palestinian refugee who was born in Saudi Arabia and has become a leading member of the young Saudi art scene. He was arrested in January 2014, his identity documents confiscated, and held for a lengthy period without charge. He was then sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes; after he appealed; he was re-tried last month and sentenced to death. He did not have legal representation.

Fayadh is being sentenced to death after having been jailed for more than 22 months in the Saudi city of Abha without clear legal charges beyond “insulting the Godly self” and having “ideas that do not suit the Saudi society.” These charges are based on the complaint of a reader’s interpretation of Fayadh's 2008 poetry collection titled, Instructions Within.

“According to Fayadh’s friends, when the police failed to prove that his poetry was atheist propaganda, they began berating him for smoking and having long hair,” reported the Guardian. Fayadh said his poetry book, Instructions Within, is “just about me being [a] Palestinian refugee…about cultural and philosophical issues. But the religious extremists explained it as destructive ideas against God.”

This is not the first time that Saudi authorities have arrested Ashraf Fayadh. The poet was detained before after a Saudi citizen filed a complaint with the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice accusing Fayadh of having “misguided and misguiding thoughts.” Fayadh was bailed out of jail at the time, only to get arrested again. According to sources close to Fayadh, the poet has been denied both visitation and legal representation rights.

Amnesty international stated, “We condemn these acts of intimidation targeting Ashraf Fayadh as part of a wider campaign inciting hate against writers and using Islam to justify oppression and to crush free speech. We express our solidarity with Fayadh, hoping to increase support for the poet as well as pressure to release him. Our efforts should come together to ensure the proliferation of free speech and personal freedoms. We specifically call on Saudi intellectuals to express solidarity with Fayadh against Takfiris’ intimidation practices meant to silence poets, writers, and artists like him. Let the flag of creativity fly free and remain innovative. Remaining silent towards Fayadh’s detention is an insult to knowledge, literature, culture, and thought as well as to freedom and human rights.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins the call for the immediate freedom of Ashraf Fayadh. His imprisonment, persecution and death sentence by the Saudi regime reflects the deeply reactionary and far-right role played by the Saudi regime in the region—alongside its close imperial partners in the United States, Canada and Europe—that threatens Palestinian and Arab culture, life, and movements and works to block and suppress any struggle for liberation.

One hundred Arab intellectuals have called for Fayadh’s release and so far over 10, 000 people have signed an AI petition to save his life. Please sign and share the petition. https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Amnesty_international_Save_the_palestinian_poet_and_artist_Ashraf_Fayadh/?tUPvwdb

To take further action:

1. Call the Saudi Embassy in your area and demand freedom for Ashraf Fayadh. In the United States, call 202-342-3800. In Canada, call 613-237-4100. Find the embassy in your country here: http://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/saudi-arabia

2. Protest at the Saudi Embassy in your area for freedom for Ashraf Fayadh. Print signs and materials, and gather outside the Saudi embassy with Palestine rights activists, artists and others to demand his freedom. See the list of Saudi embassies here: http://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/saudi-arabia

3. Contact your government officials. The Saudi regime is a close partner of the United States, Canadian and various European governments. Demand that your government pressure the Saudi regime to release Fayadh. In Canada, Call the office of the Foreign Minister, Stéphane Dion, at 613-996-5789 and demand Canada pressure Saudi Arabia to release Fayadh, or email: stephane.dion@parl.gc.ca. In the U.S., call the White House (202-456-1111) and the U.S. State Department (202-647-9572); demand the U.S. pressure Saudi Arabia to release Fayadh. In the EU, contact your Member of the European Parliament—you can find your MEP here:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/map.html

Please also write letters, Facebook posts, emails or send Facebook messages to your local politicians, newspapers and friends to publicize this dire case and spread the information about the situation of Ashraf Fayadh.

—Steven Katsineris

Information from Amnesty International, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and AVAAZ.

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Commute Kevin Cooper's Death Sentence

Sign the Petition:
http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/petition.php


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

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*




For Immediate Release – Thursday, October 29, 2015 
Solitary Prisoners' Lawyers Slam CDCR for Sleep Deprivation

Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition

SAN FRANCISCO – Yesterday, lawyers for prisoners in the class action case Ashker v. Brown submitted a letter condemning Pelican Bay prison guards' "wellness checks," which have widely been viewed as sleep deprivation. The letter was submitted to United States Magistrate Judge Nandor Vadas, and calls on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to put an end to the checks.

Last month, prisoners achieved a historic victory in the settlement of Ashker v. Brown where the indefinite long term solitary confinement was effectively ended in California, with Magistrate Judge Vadas currently monitoring implementation of the settlement terms.

The guards at Pelican bay Security Housing Units have been conducting disruptive cell checks every 30 minutes around the clock for three months, causing prisoners widespread sleep disruption. The process is loud and according to prisoners, "the method and noise from the checks is torture."

Attorneys representing Pelican Bay SHU prisoners have just completed extensive interviews with prisoners who demand that "the every 30-minute checks have to be stopped or people are going to get sick or worse." In addition, they report that regular prison programs have been negatively impacted.

"To sleep is a fundamental human right," said Anne Weills, a member of the prisoners' legal team and one of the attorneys who conducted the interviews with prisoners in Pelican Bay. "To take away such a basic human right amounts to severe torture, adding to the already torturous conditions of being in solitary confinement."

Most prisoners report low energy, exhaustion and fatigue. Most state that they have trouble concentrating. They try to read, but they nod off and/or can't remember what they have read. Their writing is much slower ("I can't think to write"), and describe the constant welfare checks as having a negative impact on their mental state.

While this recent attorney survey was specifically focusing on sleep deprivation and its effects, prisoners volunteered information about the negative impact of these frequent checks: yard policy and practice has reduced access to recreation, access to showers has been reduced, programs and meals are being delayed, and property for those newly transferred to Pelican Bay is still being delayed and withheld.

Sleep deprivation constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Prisoners and their attorneys are demanding that these checks be halted.
--
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org


*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

UPDATE:

Albert Woodfox, Angola Inmate, Can Be Tried 3rd Time, Court Rules

By ASHLEY SOUTHALL  
NOV. 9, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/10/us/angola-inmate-can-be-tried-3rd-time.html?ref=us


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

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

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

Mayor 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]

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*



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






*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*


URGENT ALERT

MAJOR TILLERY IN 

HOSPITAL!







Sometime yesterday Major Tillery, a 65 year-old man, was rushed to the hospital from SCI Frackville. Since hearing this yesterday evening through the prison grapevine, family and attorney have tried to learn more.

Today, the only thing we have been told by Superintendent Brenda Tritt is that this was "a routine admission" and Major is "receiving the appropriate medical attention." Nothing more to to Major Tillery's daughter, Kamilah Iddeen--not the hospital, the reason for rushing Major to the hospital, no agreement for family and legal visits.
Major Tillery has liver disease and a liver shunt, arthritis with chronic back and hip pain, and a festering skin rash and open sores. Major Tillery has filed grievance after grievance objecting to the lack of medical treatment and refusal to renew needed medical devices.

Major Tillery has been imprisoned for 30 years, 25 in the hole and in the most severe super max prisons in the country. For prison officials his crime is his advocacy for other prisoners and leadership capabilities, including challenging abusive prison conditions and inadequate medical treatment. He has been subject to retaliation by prison authorities since he began his successful legal effort to stop the overcrowding and curb the inhumane conditions in SCI Pittsburgh over 25 years ago. See, Tillery v. Owens (1990)

In early 2015, Major complained about the spreading skin disease at SCI Mahanoy, where he was then imprisoned. He stood up for Mumia Abu-Jamal and other prisoners who were suffering from this. For his acts of solidarity, Major Tillery was transferred to SCI Frackville and then put in the hole on falsified charges. After four months with limited food rations, deprived of commissary, contact visits and allowed less than one-hour a day of exercise, Major was released into general population. This was two months less than his prison sentence of six months in the hole – the prison's response to an international campaign for Major!

Now Major is in the hospital. He is not being allowed contact with his family or attorney. They are not being given any real information on his condition.

Call prison officials and demand:
Visits with Major Tillery by his family and lawyer. Full medical information and treatment should be provided to his family and lawyer.
Stop the Retaliation Against Major Tillery. He should be exonerated for the false charges of drug possession and this misconduct removed from his record.
Transfer Major Tillery from SCI Frackville back to SCI Mahanoy or to another facility in eastern Pennsylvania to remain near his family.

Dept. Of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel           (717) 728-4109
Superintendent Brenda Tritt, SCI Frackville           (570) 874-4516

Write to
Major Tillery AM 9786
SCI Frackville
1111 Altamont Blvd.
Frackville, Pa. 17931

For More Information, Go To: Justice4MajorTillery/blogspot
Call/Write:
Kamilah Iddeen (Major Tillery's daughter) (717) 379-9009, Kamilah29@yahoo.com
Nancy Lockhart (843) 412-2035, thewrongfulconviction@gmail.com
Rachel Wolkenstein, Esq. (917) 689-4009, RachelWolkenstein@gmail.com


Justice4MajorTillery/blogspot





*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*








Support Mumia in Court on Dec. 18
Demand that Mumia and 10,000 other PA Prisoners Receive Lifesaving HCV Treatment

Your support is needed once again for renowned political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, this time to demand immediate treatment for the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

In the wake of thousands of signed petitions, phone calls, emails plus meetings, street actions and pressure from sympathetic state officials, Federal Court Judge Robert Mariani has ordered a full evidentiary hearing on Friday, Dec. 18 to determine if the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) must provide, as Abu-Jamal's legal team requests, the new, direct-acting, anti-viral medication with a 95 percent cure rate for HCV .

The DOC currently has no standard of care for treating prisoners with HCV. Prison authorities willfully ignored Mumia's health crisis until supporters initiated a campaign which eventually revealed medical proof that his ailments stem from untreated HCV he contacted via a blood transfusion when he was shot by police 34 years ago. The DOC is denying the lifesaving treatment "until the final stages of the condition" - when it would be too late to save Mumia's life!

Abu-Jamal's legal team will make a strong case during the hearing on why Mumia and the other 10,000 HCV-infected prisoners in Pennsylvania need immediate treatment.  Most leading hep C specialists and national HCV organizations now recommend immediate treatment with this drug. Abu-Jamal will testify via videoconferencing - the first time in decades he will be given the opportunity to testify in court   If he is successful in winning the new hep C treatment, it will set a precedent that can potentially help infected prisoners throughout Pennsylvania and other states.

Statistics show that HCV, if left untreated, is spread when prisoners return home, creating a public health crisis which has a disproportionate impact on people of color and impoverished communities who are also impacted negatively by the outrageously high prices charged by Gilead Sciences for this lifesaving medicine.

Join activists from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City and other East Coast cities in a rally outside the courthouse in Scranton and perhaps witness the court proceedings inside (seating is very limited).  Your participation on Dec. 18 can prove once again that people's power can successfully force the capitalist state to consent to the right to proper health care for Abu-Jamal and all prisoners with HCV.

International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), Educators for Mumia, Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, International Action Center and Mundo Obrero-Workers World Party are all organizing to attend. 

9:30 am Friday, December 18,
U.S. Court House
235 N. Washington Ave, Scranton, PA 18501

There's a chance the proceedings may continue into a second day,
Monday, Dec 21.

If you need a ride or can offer a ride from Philadelphia to Scranton,
contact 484.343.2172,  215.724.1618
or HepCcure4Mumiaallprisoners@gmx.com.

From NYC, call 212.330.8029 to reserve a seat on the bus.

If you cannot be in Scranton please call the following officials on Dec. 18 to demand immediate anti-viral HCV medication for Mumia
and the other prisoners:

 Gov. Tom Wolf, 717.787.2500
John Wetzel, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, 717.728.4109
John Kerestes, Superintendent SCI Mahanoy,
570.773.2158 ext. 8102







*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

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

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

 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.

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

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


*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*



B. ARTICLES IN FULL


*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) Indianapolis Police Kill Man Who Had Knife
By LIAM STACK

Indianapolis police officers shot and killed a man on Saturday after he lunged at an officer with a knife following an unsuccessful effort to subdue him using nonlethal force, the department said in a statement.

The killing of the man, whose identity had not been released, was met with anger by some residents in the neighborhood, who briefly confronted police officers and smashed the windshield of a police car, The Indianapolis Star reported.

The statement from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said officers responding to a report of a suicidal person shortly before 11:30 a.m. Saturday found a knife-wielding man who ignored orders to drop his weapon.

They used a Taser but it “appeared to have no effect on him,” according to the statement. An officer then tackled the man but was unable to wrestle the knife from his hands. At that point, two officers fired at the man. Emergency medical workers pronounced him dead at the scene.

People who had gathered near where the shooting took place, which appeared in a cellphone video shot by a bystander to be a residential neighborhood, responded angrily to the shooting, cursing and screaming at police officers and smashing the windshield of a police car after a brief confrontation.

Some people in the crowd appeared to have known the man.

“He had a mental illness,” one person in the crowd shouted, according to The Star.

The police department said the officers involved in Saturday’s shooting had been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.

Lt. Richard Riddle, a spokesman for the police department, defended the officers’ decision to use lethal force, saying they “had no other choice.”

“We have homicides, we have stabbings, we have serious violent offenses that occur daily in this city via the use of a knife,” Lieutenant Riddle said at a news conference. “So a knife is deemed to be a deadly weapon in any vernacular and our officers were confronted with an individual who was armed with a knife and who refused to drop it.”

He estimated there had been 20 officer-involved shootings in the city so far in 2015, including nine or 10 fatalities.


*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

2) LA Sheriff's Office Responds to Video of Deputies Shooting Man As He Crawls Away
By Tess Owen
December 13, 2015
https://news.vice.com/article/lynwood-police-shooting-nicholas-robertson-los-angeles-county-sheriff?utm_source=vicenewsemail

Police in Southern California are facing scrutiny after dramatic video footage emerged that appears to show two white officers repeatedly shooting a black man as he attempted to crawl away from them.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office held a press conference on Sunday afternoon to address the video and shooting incident, which occurred Saturday morning outside a gas station in Lynwood, about 15 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. The sheriff's office identified the victim as Nicholas Robertson, 28, from Compton. He was reportedly a father of three.

The deputies involved in the shooting initially said that Robertson was armed and refused to drop his weapon, but video recorded by a bystander in a building across the street seems to contradict those claims. It appears to show two officers standing a short distance away from Robertson as he walks away from them with his back turned. The officers suddenly open fire and continue shooting as Robertson falls to the ground and attempts to crawl away.

The footage has prompted outrage in a city that is already sore from a number of controversial officer-involved shootings over the last two years. Crowds of protesters gathered at the site of the incident on Saturday night.

Ahead of Sunday's press conference on the shooting, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell urged the public to avoid drawing conclusions about the incident based on what the video shows.

"In this modern age of cellphone video and instant analysis on the Internet, I would ask that we keep in mind that a thorough and comprehensive investigation is detailed and time-intensive," McDonnell said in a statement "It will involve not just one source of information but numerous sources, potentially including multiple videos, physical evidence and eyewitness accounts."

Speaking at Sunday's press conference, Captain Steve Katz of the sheriff's office said that deputies received numerous reports before 11am on Saturday of an individual toting a handgun in the vicinity of a busy intersection in Lynwood, and that shots were fired in the area around that time. Katz shared video footage and photographs from a business overlooking the intersection by the gas station that he said showed Robertson "behaving erratically" and carrying a handgun.

Katz said Robertson was "yelling out expletives," and that a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun was found at the scene of the incident. It wasn't loaded, Katz said, but Robertson had additional rounds on his person. Katz said they had no evidence that Robertson fired at police deputies, but that they were certain it had been fired "multiple times" earlier in the day. The police official suggested a marital dispute or a "drug nexus" had made Robertson agitated.

Katz said the deputies fired 15 and 16 shots, respectively, during the encounter. He said the number of shots wasn't necessarily unusual, but that it would be evaluated as part of the investigation into the incident. He also described one of the officers involved as veteran, but when pressed on how he defined "veteran," he acknowledged the man had only been in the field for a year. Both officers involved will be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The sheriff's office stressed their understanding of the "significant community concern" and "strong emotions" about the shooting, underscoring the fact that the investigation is in very early stages. Katz pleaded for patience, and said that "facts may change" as the investigation proceeds.




*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

3) In Talks Over Seized U.S. Property, Havana Counters With Own Claim
By

MIAMI — Some of the thorniest conversations in the long road toward full relations between Cuba and the United States have only just begun in recent days: The two sides are sitting down for the first time to discuss the American properties Cuba confiscated decades ago.The very idea of compensation for property and businesses seized in the wake of the Cuban revolution sent a quiver of excitement down the backs of the thousands of people who lost everything from sugar mills to family homes to oil refineries.

People started dusting off yellowing deeds. Lawyers were called.

But what if Cuba approaches these historic talks with a rather different unsettled claim in mind?

In 1999, a Cuban court found the United States government liable for deaths and damages caused by America’s “aggressive policies” against the island — namely, the Bay of Pigs invasion and the trade embargo prohibiting American citizens and companies from doing business in Cuba.Arguing that the United States had strangled Cuba’s economy and caused irreparable harm, the court ordered the United States to pay $181 billion in damages.


So while legal representatives from the State Department flew to Havana last week to make the case for American claims against Cuba, the Cubans made a presentation of their own.

“We know that they believe that they have billions of dollars of claims relating to human damage and economic damage resulting from the embargo,” said a State Department official who briefed reporters on the condition that she not be named. “And I think we can expect that we will hear more about that as we proceed with these discussions.”

The official would not say whether the Cubans demanded an exact figure in reparations. It is unclear how the Cuban government arrived at any of the many damage estimates bandied about.

At the United Nations this year, Cuba said it was owed about $121 billion. The Cuban government-run news media says the amount owed is $833.75 billion.

“This is an extremely complicated subject,” Josefina Vidal, head of United States affairs in the Cuban Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press after the first meeting of the bilateral commission this fall. “I imagine that when the two countries begin to meet, one of the first things we will have to do is to clarify all the accounts.”

(She noted that the Cuban court verdict was 15 years old, suggesting there were fresh numbers to crunch.)

The State Department official said last week’s meeting was both preliminary and professional, but she emphasized that the issue of compensation for the confiscated properties was crucial. More meetings are expected in the coming months.

“This meeting is the first step in a complex process that may take some time, but the United States views the resolution of outstanding claims as a top priority for normalization,” the American official said.

In Havana, the American delegation detailed how the Foreign Settlement Claims Commission arrived at the $1.9 billion in 5,913 certified American claims, which are estimated to be worth $8 billion with interest. Most of the money is owed to American companies, experts say. The claims do not include any from the many thousands of Cubans who lost property before leaving the island and becoming American citizens.

The State Department also laid out the 10 state and federal court judgments American courts have levied against the Cuban government, totaling another $2 billion or so, as well as “some claims of the U.S. government against Cuba,” the official said.

Experts said that American claimants should not be too worried about Cuba’s daunting counter-demands.

“Those are the opening positions,” said Richard E. Feinberg, a Latin America adviser during the Clinton administration who published a study on the claims issue this month for the Brookings Institution. “This is a negotiation.”

Mr. Feinberg noted that Cuban officials should be motivated to make a deal because they had no doubt paid close attention to the legislative elections last weekend in Venezuela, where the leftist government that keeps Cuba afloat financially took a beating at the polls for the first time in 17 years.

Cuba needs the United States to lift the trade embargo, and the best way to get that done is by settling the property claims, he said. The embargo was put in place in 1962 after a dispute that began precisely because Fidel Castro expropriated American oil companies that had refused to process Russian crude.

With an end to Venezuela’s financial aid a greater possibility, Cuba needs a new revenue stream. Soon.

“The fuse has been lit,” Mr. Feinberg said. “Time is running out.”

Mauricio J. Tamargo, a Washington lawyer who chaired the Foreign Settlement Claims Commission for eight years, said the two sides must come up with a bargain that is fair, or Congress would not vote to lift the embargo.

The claims have also been a stumbling block to re-establishing direct air travel between the two countries, because Cuba fears its planes could be seized to satisfy court judgments, Mr. Feinberg said.

Should the talks advance, there are plenty of models negotiators could look at.

Past examples of such settlements have varied considerably, with claimants receiving as little as 10 percent of their claims, with no interest. When the Berlin Wall fell, American claimants got 100 percent of the value of their properties, plus interest.

In Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, confiscated properties were sometimes returned to their original owners.

Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania offered compensation, “usually inadequate, and often symbolic and not necessarily monetary,” said Nicolás J. Gutiérrez, a consultant in Miami who has worked on the issue for decades after his family lost a $35 million empire in Cuba.

The Cuban case is trickier: Not only does the government have its own counterclaim, but the people who did the confiscating are still in power.

In that sense, the Cuba’s situation is more parallel with Vietnam and China.

In 1979, China agreed to pay $80 million to a China Claims Fund, which allowed American claimants 39 percent of the value of their lost properties, according to the Brookings study. Vietnam, to normalize relations with the United States, agreed in 1995 to apply its assets frozen by the United States government to pay claimants 100 percent of the principal and 80 percent of the interest they were owed.

Mr. Gutiérrez believes the claims should have been settled before the embassies were opened. He now fears that the two lists of demands are so lopsided that the American claimants will walk away with nothing.

The State Department negotiates on behalf of American claimants and does not have to seek their approval before reaching an accord.

“You can almost imagine Obama negotiators saying: ‘Look, we got them to drop the fantasy $120 billion!’” Mr. Gutiérrez said. “We drop the $8 billion, and no one gets anything.”

The George W. Bush administration paid the Creighton University School of Law in Nebraska $375,000 to come up with proposals. The university recommended creating a special tribunal — as President Jimmy Carter did in Iran. Cuba could pay with development rights, tax incentives encouraging foreign investment in Cuba, or in a lump settlement, which could be financed by the international community, said Michael J. Kelly, who co-wrote the report.

Mr. Kelly said the Cuban counterclaim for reparations should not be taken seriously.

“Those claims are not supported by international law,” he said in an email. “The property claims are.”

More are sure to surface. Already, a Tampa resident, Gary Rapoport, has publicly inquired about compensation for the Riviera, a 352-room waterfront hotel in Havana that was inaugurated in 1957 by Ginger Rogers. It was owned by Mr. Rapoport’s grandfather, Meyer Lansky, an organized crime figure.

In an interview with The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the mobster’s grandson, put it like this: “Cuba owes my family money.”



*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

4) Inquiry Into Egypt Plane Crash Hasn’t Found Evidence of Terrorism
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Investigators have not yet found any evidence to show that an “illegal or terrorist act” brought down the Russian jetliner that crashed on the Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31, but they are still looking, Egypt's chief investigator said in a statement released Monday.

Russia has said an explosive device was detonated on the airplane, and the Sinai branch of the Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the disaster. All 224 people on board the plane were killed, most of them vacationing Russians who were flying home to St. Petersburg from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh.

The crash led Russia to suspend all flights to and from Egypt, dealing a heavy blow to the country’s tourism industry, a vital part of its economy.

Ayman al-Muqaddam, the head of the investigatory committee looking into the disaster, said in a vaguely worded statement on Monday that the panel had completed a preliminary report on Sunday and that it was “continuing its work.”He said that the search for wreckage extended more than 16 kilometers, about 10 miles, from the main crash site, and that all parties to the investigation, including Russian aviation experts and the company that insured the plane, had the chance to examine the wreckage.

Mr. Muqaddam said the committee was arranging with the Egyptian air force to move the wreckage to a safe location in Cairo for further study. He said the committee had already analyzed the plane’s 38 computers and two engine computers, but was still combing through technical data about the plane and its repair history.

A spokesman for the Russian government, Dmitry Peskov, did not comment directly on the Egyptian statement, but reminded reporters that Russian experts had already concluded that the crash “was a terrorist action.”

The aircraft, an Airbus A321-200 operated by Metrojet, was manufactured in 1997 and owned by an Irish leasing company. The technical investigation of the crash includes experts from Egypt, Russia, France (where Airbus is based) and Ireland.

The Egyptian authorities are also investigating whether security had been compromised at the Sharm el Sheikh airport. That investigation has focused on baggage handlers, their security supervisors and workers involved in aircraft catering, security officials have said.



*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

5)  In Powerful Warning to City Officials, Chicago Teachers Vote for Mass Strike
By Nadia Prupis
Common Dreams, Monday, December 14, 2015
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/12/14/powerful-warning-city-officials-chicago-teachers-vote-mass-strike

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) on Monday voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if contract disputes are not resolved, paving the way for members' second mass walkout since 2012 as city officials threaten further cuts and layoffs.

"Chicago Teachers Union members do not want to strike, but we do demand that you listen to us," said CTU vice president Jesse Sharkey. "Do not cut our schools, do not lay off educators or balance the budget on our backs."

CTU's 24,752 members voted over the course of three days, with a 91 percent turnout. Overall, 88 percent voted in favor of authorizing a strike.

A strike can only take place after mediation between teachers and city officials, so it would not happen before March 2016, Sharkey told the Chicago Tribune on Monday.

His statement following the vote specifically addressed Chicago Public Schools chief executive Forrest Claypool as well as Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who faces a growing call for resignation from grassroots groups demanding racial, social, and economic justice.

"Rahm, Forrest Claypool—listen to what teachers and educators are trying to tell you: do not cut the schools anymore, do not make the layoffs that you have threatened; instead, respect educators and give us the tools we need to do our jobs," Sharkey said.

As CTU outlined in its statement following the vote, educators' demands are to: 

--Improve the teaching and learning conditions by reducing standardized testing, eliminate time-sucking compliance paperwork, and restore professional respect and autonomy to teachers on matters like grades. These improvements cost nothing;

--Staff our schools at an adequate level. We deserve reasonable class sizes, instruction in art, music, science and technology, a library with a librarian, a nurse;

--Help our schools and our communities address the social crisis in large swaths of our city. While we do not expect the schools to fix homelessness, broken immigration policy, crisis-level unemployment, and racism, we must address the undeniable fact that these problems spill over into our schools and devastate the lives of our children. We have modest demands to address these problems—allow our counselors to counsel, approve restorative justice programs in targeted schools, help with translation and bilingual services.

The contracts reached during the 2012 strike, which saw Chicago public schools come to a halt for a full week before city officials met teachers' demands, expired in June. More recent negotiations stalled over disputes about salaries, teacher evaluations, and standardized testing, among other contentious issues. School administrators have threatened mass layoffs and pay cuts to address the system's shortfall, which is estimated to hit $1 billion next year.


*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

6) Bowe Bergdahl to Face Court-Martial on Desertion Charges
By
A top Army commander on Monday ordered that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl face a court-martial on charges of desertion and endangering troops stemming from his decision to leave his outpost in 2009, a move that prompted a huge manhunt in the wilds of eastern Afghanistan and landed him in nearly five years of harsh Taliban captivity.The decision by Gen. Robert B. Abrams, head of Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., means that Sergeant Bergdahl, 29, faces a possible life sentence. That is a far more serious penalty than had been recommended by the Army’s investigating officer, who testified at the sergeant’s preliminary hearing in September that prison would be “inappropriate.”According to Sergeant Bergdahl’s defense lawyers, the Army lawyer who presided over the preliminary hearing also recommended that he face neither jail time nor a punitive discharge and that he go before an intermediate tribunal known as a “special court-martial,” where the most severe penalty possible would be a year of confinement.Monday’s decision rejecting that recommendation means that Sergeant Bergdahl now faces a maximum five-year penalty if ultimately convicted by a military jury of desertion, as well as potential life imprisonment on the more serious charge of misbehavior before the enemy, which in this case means endangering the troops who were sent to search for him after he disappeared.

Sergeant Bergdahl has been the focus of attacks by Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign, and it is far from clear that General Abrams’s decision will temper their criticisms.

Donald J. Trump, for one, has called the sergeant a “traitor” who should be executed, while Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has vowed to hold hearings if the sergeant is not punished.

Last week, House Republicans issued a report portraying as reckless and illegal Mr. Obama’s decision in May 2014 to swap Sergeant Bergdahl for five Taliban detainees who were being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The Army did not elaborate on Monday’s decision by General Abrams, or on why he decided that Sergeant Bergdahl should face the potential for a far more serious punishment than what the two independent Army fact-finders had recommended. A spokesman for Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg noted in an email that recommendations made by preliminary hearing officers “are advisory in nature.”

No date has been set for Sergeant Bergdahl’s next court hearing, which will be held at Fort Bragg, the Army said. He is currently assigned to the Army’s Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, the site of his preliminary hearing in September.

In a terse statement after the decision, Sergeant Bergdahl’s chief defense lawyer, Eugene R. Fidell, said that General Abrams “did not follow the advice of the preliminary hearing officer who heard the witnesses,” and added that he “had hoped the case would not go in this direction.”

He also criticized some politicians who have spoken out on the case, saying they have inflamed opinions against the sergeant.

“We again ask that Donald Trump cease his prejudicial monthslong campaign of defamation against our client,” Mr. Fidell said in a statement. “We also ask that the House and Senate Armed Services Committees avoid any further statements or actions that prejudice our client’s right to a fair trial.”

Mr. McCain’s office declined to comment on Monday.

General Abrams’s decision came just days after Sergeant Bergdahl was heard for the first time publicly explaining why he left his base, in taped interviews that were broadcast by the podcast “Serial” last week.

In the interviews, which were recorded by Mark Boal, the screenwriter and producer, Sergeant Bergdahl said that he realized within 20 minutes of leaving that he had done “something serious.”

In the interviews, he told the same story that he had described to the Army’s investigating officer, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, about why he left the outpost: He wanted to cause a crisis by hiking to another base 18 miles away that would allow him to have an audience with a senior Army commander where he could outline what he felt were serious leadership problems endangering his unit.

Sergeant Bergdahl told Mr. Boal that during his hike he had also decided to surveil Taliban fighters emplacing improvised explosive devices that could be used to kill American soldiers, and to turn that information over to commanders when he arrived at the other base. He said that he “was trying to prove to the world” that he was a top soldier, and that in some sense he even wanted to emulate someone like Jason Bourne, the spy-movie character.

The Army Forces Command spokesman said those statements on “Serial” played no role in General Abrams’s announcement, or its timing.

But some critics doubted that. Joe Kasper, the chief of staff for Representative Duncan Hunter of California, a Republican helping lead congressional efforts to investigate the trade for Sergeant Bergdahl, said the sergeant’s comments “forced the Army’s hand.”

“When that podcast hit, whatever sympathy there was for Bergdahl dried up,” Mr. Kasper said. “He did himself absolutely no favors by talking.”Republicans have asserted that the swap would embolden the Taliban to kidnap other Americans and that it was done without the required notification of Congress. Some Republicans and members of Sergeant Bergdahl’s unit have also asserted that a half-dozen or more American troops died searching for him.

But in his testimony, General Dahl — who was recently promoted from major general to lieutenant general — said that no troops had died specifically searching for Sergeant Bergdahl and that no evidence was found to support claims that he intended to walk to China or India or that he was a Taliban sympathizer.

At the Texas hearing, an Army prosecutor, Maj. Margaret Kurz, described a frantic but fruitless search for Sergeant Bergdahl in the weeks after he disappeared.

“For 45 days, thousands of soldiers toiled in the heat, dirt, misery and sweat with almost no rest, little water and little food to find the accused,” Major Kurz said. “Fatigued and growing disheartened, they search for the accused knowing he left deliberately.”

The prosecution’s witnesses included Sergeant Bergdahl’s former platoon leader and company and battalion commanders, who all recounted the scramble to find the soldier after he was reported missing early on June 30, 2009.

His former platoon leader, Capt. John Billings, testified about his “utter disbelief that I couldn’t find one of my own men.”

He and the other commanders said soldiers searched almost nonstop, never knowing when the ordeal would end, while their underlying mission to support Afghan security forces fell by the wayside. The manhunt involved thousands of troops across thousands of square miles.

General Dahl described Sergeant Bergdahl as a truthful but delusional soldier, who identified with John Galt, the hero of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.” He also said that Sergeant Bergdahl’s worries about severe problems in his unit were unwarranted, but that he found that his concerns were sincerely held.

Another defense witness, Terrence Russell, who debriefed Sergeant Bergdahl after his release, testified that the sergeant had suffered more in captivity than any American since Vietnam, including beatings with rubber hoses and copper cables, and uncontrollable diarrhea for more than three years.

The defense team, led by Mr. Fidell, argued that Sergeant Bergdahl did everything an American serviceman was supposed to do in captivity, trying to escape numerous times despite the harsh treatment the attempts brought him, and never revealing secrets.



*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

7) 120 Multistate Outbreaks: Tip of Iceberg in Food-borne Infection
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

The E. coli infections linked to the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain are only the latest cluster of illnesses caused by contaminated food.

To be sure, the Chipotle outbreak was large. As of Dec. 2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 52 people had been infected in nine states and 20 had been hospitalized. But there was nothing unusual about such incidents.

As of Nov. 23, an outbreak of E. coli traced to a sample of diced celery and onions sold at Costco had infected 19 people in seven states. Five people had been hospitalized, and two had developed kidney failure. By Dec. 2, Salmonella from nut butter spread had infected people in nine states.

According to an analysis published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report last month, there were 120 multi-state outbreaks of food-borne infection from 2010-14 — an average of one every two weeks.

Every state in the country has been affected, along with Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and the outbreaks led to 7,929 illnesses, 1,460 hospitalizations and 66 deaths.

Fruits, vegetable row crops like lettuce, beef and sprouts were the main sources. But seeded vegetables, dairy products, chicken, fish, eggs and turkey have all been contaminated.

Imported foods accounted for only 18 of the outbreaks, so experts did not blame poor hygiene in foreign countries. Widespread food-borne outbreaks are being identified more often, partly because of better surveillance and reporting, and because of the greater centralization of food processing and distribution practices.

Although they accounted for disproportionate numbers of serious illness and deaths, the 120 multi-state outbreaks were in a sense the tip of the iceberg. Over the five-year period, the C.D.C. reported 4,163 cases of food-borne disease outbreaks, or an average of more than two a day. More than 71,000 people were sickened, 4,247 were hospitalized, and 118 died.

“These outbreaks are a big problem and our goal is to prevent them,” said the lead author of the report, Samuel J. Crowe, an epidemiologist at the C.D.C. “We want to detect quickly, trace the food back to its source, and learn where the food was contaminated.”




*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

8) Underlying U.S. Inflation Creeps Higher
By REUTERS

WASHINGTON — Underlying U.S. inflation pressures rose in November, which could give the Federal Reserve more confidence to raise interest rates on Wednesday, even as renewed weakness in gasoline prices kept overall consumer prices in check.The Labor Department said on Tuesday its so-called core Consumer Price Index, which excludes food and energy, gained 0.2 percent last month. It was the third straight month that the core CPI increased by that margin, and reflected rising rents, airline fares, new motor vehicles and healthcare costs.

In the 12 months through November, the core CPI rose 2.0 percent, the largest gain since May 2014, after rising 1.9 percent in October. The Fed targets 2 percent inflation and it tracks an index that is running far below the core CPI.

The inflation report was released as Fed officials prepared to gather for a two-day policy meeting. The U.S. central bank is expected to lift its benchmark overnight interest rate from near zero at the end of the meeting on Wednesday, encouraged by a strengthening labor market.

"This report should shore up the Fed's confidence in the inflation outlook as the firming in domestic prices will likely serve as a confidence booster in their expectation for inflation to move back towards target in a timely manner," said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.

There is optimism that tightening labor market conditions, characterized by a jobless rate now in a range that some Fed

officials view as consistent with full employment, and strong domestic demand will put upward pressure on wages and drive inflation toward its target.

Inflation is also seen heading higher in 2016 as the effects of last year's sharp drop in oil prices fade. The dollar's pace of appreciation is also expected to slow, which could ease some of the pressure on commodity prices.

Signs of firming inflation pressures and a rebound in crude oil prices from near 11-year lows weighed on U.S. Treasury debt prices. The dollar firmed against a basket of currencies and U.S. stocks were trading higher.

MODERATE PACE

Other data on Tuesday showed factory activity in New York states contracted for a fifth straight month in December as the sector continues to reel from dollar strength and ongoing efforts by businesses to reduce an inventory bloat.

Homebuilder confidence dipped in December, but remained at levels consistent with a gradual housing market recovery.

"Housing market activity continues to improve at a moderate pace," said Jesse Hurwitz, an economist at Barclays in New York.

Last month's increase in the core CPI was offset by falling gasoline prices, leaving the overall CPI unchanged after a 0.2 percent increase in October. But in the 12 months through November, the CPI increased 0.5 percent, the largest gain since last December.

Energy prices fell 1.3 percent, with gasoline prices dropping 2.4 percent after rising 0.4 percent in October. The cost of electricity, however, increased 0.3 percent. Food prices dipped 0.1 percent, reversing the prior month's gain.

Within the core CPI, rents increased 0.2 percent after rising 0.3 percent in October. They were up 3.6 percent in the 12 months through November, reflecting rising demand for rental accommodation as more Americans shun home ownership.

Healthcare costs increased broadly, with doctor visits rising 1.1 percent. Apparel prices fell for a third straight month, while airline fares increased 1.2 percent. There were also increases in the cost of tobacco, education, communication and motor vehicle insurance.

"We think that the underlying strength of the domestic economy will continue to allow inflation rates to grind higher," said Harm Bandholz, chief economist at UniCredit Research in New York.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Frances Kerry)


*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

9) California: Civil Rights Suit Filed Over Man Shot to Death by Police
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS



*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

10) Thousands March in South Africa to Call for President’s Resignation
By

JOHANNESBURG — Thousands of people marched in major cities across South Africa on Wednesday to demand the resignation of President Jacob Zuma after an important government appointment last week that raised concerns about his handling of the nation’s economy.

Protesters in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and elsewhere have called on the governing African National Congress to recall Mr. Zuma, whose tenure as president has been marred by a series of scandals and accusations of pervasive corruption, but the party has stood by him so far.

Last week, Mr. Zuma surprised even members of his own cabinet by abruptly firing Nhlanhla Nene, his well-respected finance minister, who had clashed with the chairwoman of the state-owned South African Airways, Dudu Myeni, who is a close ally of Mr. Zuma’s.

Mr. Zuma named David van Rooyen, a low-profile lawmaker with no experience in government finance, as Mr. Nene’s successor. But only days later he was forced to replace Mr. van Rooyen with Pravin Gordhan, a former finance minister, after investors expressed grave concern about the independence of South Africa’s treasury and the country’s currency, the rand, dropped sharply.

Zwelinzima Vavi, the former leader of Cosatu, the powerful trade union federation, and a former ally of Mr. Zuma’s, called on the president to step down.

“We are refusing to be reconciled with the eating away of the moral fiber of our society by a small elite that has managed to intimidate so many South Africans with their corruption,” Mr. Vavi said.

On Wednesday, Moody’s became the latest credit ratings agency to lower its outlook on South Africa’s debt, to negative from stable.

Moody’s cited slow growth in the country, which has been hurt by falling prices of its main commodities, and pressure to increase public spending before elections in metropolitan areas next year, with “the potential for losses of several important cities.”

Political analysts say that officials in the A.N.C., which has governed since the end of apartheid in 1994 and controls eight of the country’s nine provinces, could reconsider their support of Mr. Zuma if the party incurs major losses in the metropolitan elections.

Poor blacks make up a majority of the population of South Africa and constitute the bedrock of the A.N.C.’s support, but they appeared underrepresented in the marches on Wednesday. White South Africans represented a large majority of marchers in Cape Town, and their presence in other demonstrations was significant enough to elicit running commentary on social media.

“We’re not happy with Zuma’s leadership — corruption, no accountability,” said Lumkile Sizila, 41, a black man who was marching in Cape Town and who said he used to support the A.N.C. “We want a stable president who consults widely.”

Asked about the low turnout of black marchers, Mr. Sizila added, “I support this event, but we need black people, who vote for the A.N.C., at the forefront.”

Kimon de Greef contributed reporting from Cape Town.



*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

11) Mexico: Bodies Discovered Dumped in Southern State
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS



*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

12) Physicists in Europe Find Tantalizing Hints of a Mysterious New Particle
By

Does the Higgs boson have a cousin?Two teams of physicists working independently at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, reported on Tuesday that they had seen traces of what could be a new fundamental particle of nature.

One possibility, out of a gaggle of wild and not-so-wild ideas springing to life as the day went on, is that the particle — assuming it is real — is a heavier version of the Higgs boson, a particle that explains why other particles have mass. Another is that it is a graviton, the supposed quantum carrier of gravity, whose discovery could imply the existence of extra dimensions of space-time.

At the end of a long chain of “ifs” could be a revolution, the first clues to a theory of nature that goes beyond the so-called Standard Model, which has ruled physics for the last quarter-century.It is, however, far too soon to shout “whale ahoy,” physicists both inside and outside CERN said, noting that the history of particle physics is rife with statistical flukes and anomalies that disappeared when more data was compiled.

A coincidence is the most probable explanation for the surprising bumps in data from the collider, physicists from the experiments cautioned, saying that a lot more data was needed and would in fact soon be available.

“I don’t think there is anyone around who thinks this is conclusive,” said Kyle Cranmer, a physicist from New York University who works on one of the CERN teams, known as Atlas. “But it would be huge if true,” he said, noting that many theorists had put their other work aside to study the new result.

When all the statistical effects are taken into consideration, Dr. Cranmer said, the bump in the Atlas data had about a 1-in-93 chance of being a fluke — far stronger than the 1-in-3.5-million odds of mere chance, known as five-sigma, considered the gold standard for a discovery. That might not be enough to bother presenting in a talk except for the fact that the competing CERN team, named C.M.S., found a bump in the same place.


*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

13) New York Prisons Take an Unsavory Punishment Off the Table
By
ALBANY — Of all the punishments meted out upon prisoners in solitary confinement, the most unsavory may well be a misshapen one-pound brick of cuisine.It goes by various names — Nutraloaf and Disciplinary Loaf, among them — and the ingredients can vary. Pennsylvania prison chefs invented a chickpea version, while Illinois included ground beef and applesauce in its court-contested recipe, as well as other ingredients that do not usually go together.

The version in New York State prisons used a motley assortment of baking staples and hard-to-overcook vegetables, including shredded carrots and unskinned potatoes. It was served with little more than water, to choke it down, and cabbage as a side.

But under an agreement announced on Wednesday, the loaf’s long reign as the worst food in the worst corners of New York prisons came to an end, a symbolic victory for inmate advocates and state officials seeking more humane, and more appetizing, treatment for prisoners.

“We will eliminate the loaf,” said Alphonso B. David, the chief counsel to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

The menu modification is just one of a raft of changes to solitary confinement policy announced by the Cuomo administration and applauded by supporters of prisoners’ legal and human rights, including improved living conditions and restrictions on the length of stays in small, isolated cells. “I view it as a tremendous step forward,” Karen Murtagh, director of Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, said of Wednesday’s announcement.

But experts say no change may have a more immediate impact on prisoners’ moods, and on those of the officers assigned to keep them behind bars, than the end of the so-called disciplinary-sanctioned restricted diet.

“Food is very important to prisoners in a deprived and harsh environment; it is one of the very few things they have to look forward to,” said David C. Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project. “And when you mess with prisoners’ food that leads to unhappy prisoners, which leads to management problems.”

Taste tests have generally ended up with spit-out food and comparisons to cardboard, packing material and other inedible offerings. Critics frequently invoke medieval rations of bread and water, even if such sustenance is embraced by some hard-line law-enforcement officials.

But some former prisoners who were punished with such meals chose to go hungry rather than eat the loaf.

“I would taste it and just throw it away,” said George Ba Ba Eng, 67, who served 36 years for murder and several stints in Special Housing Units, as solitary confinement is formally known. “You’d rather be without food than eat that.”

Ms. Murtagh called the loaf “a disgusting, torturous form of punishment that should have been banned a century ago.”

“Most people are appalled at using food as punishment,” she said, adding that many people believe “such behavior went out with the stocks, whips and shackling to the wall.”

The inglorious gastronomical history of the loaf dates back decades, and legal challenges to it and other prison food have percolated through the courts for years. In a 1978 Supreme Court case, Hutto v. Finney, a group of Arkansas prisoners successfully sued over their conditions, including an exotic dish called “grue,” a square substance made by mashing together meat, potatoes, syrup, vegetables, eggs and margarine, and then hard-baking it in a pan. (The court found the “grue diet” had caused many prisoners to lose weight, perhaps because they did not want to eat something called “grue.”)

For its part, New York’s recipe — baked at each prison that so punished inmates — was simple, vegetarian and often industrial scaled: two types of flour (whole wheat and all-purpose), two types of milk (1 percent and dried), yeast, salt, potatoes, carrots, margarine and a big scoop of sugar (presumably to counteract the intense blandness of the other ingredients).

Indeed, for those who have tasted the loaf, cleansing the palate can be tough.

“It’s like dense, heavy, not bread, but something akin to bread but with no leavening,” said Jean Casella, a co-director of Solitary Watch, a watchdog group on solitary confinement, who tried the loaf and was surprised how sugary it was. “It’s something that would sit in your stomach like a rock. I ate a tiny piece of it, and wouldn’t want to go any further than that.”

Reserved for prisoners in solitary confinement who have already lost their other privileges, the loaf was often used to punish those who had engaged in toddlerlike behavior — throwing food, for example, or perhaps less pleasant, bodily waste. Refusing to obey orders from corrections officers during mealtime could also result in loaf lunches (and breakfasts and dinners, too) for up to 14 days.

In recent years, the state drastically reduced the number of prisoners subjected to the restricted diet, according to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, which also noted the loaf and cabbage prix fixe had still provided “all the appropriate nutrients required in an inmate’s diet,” and about 3,000 calories a day. The state made dietary exceptions for Passover, and Jewish inmates were given kosher loaves baked at Green Haven Correctional Facility.

The meal that is replacing the loaf is hardly luxurious, but it does include a piece of fresh fruit, two slices of American cheese, two hard-boiled eggs and four slices of bread for breakfast. The lunch and dinner menu adds two slices of lunch meat and coleslaw in place of the eggs. (No substitutions allowed.)

New York’s decision to dump the loaf comes as such dietary sanctions have been on the wane nationwide, said Laurie Maurino, president of the Association of Correctional Food Service Affiliates. Ms. Maurino, a registered dietitian who oversees the prison feeding for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, says her state no longer uses the loaves, though some county jails do.

After all, forcing inmates to eat the loaf could amount to a constitutional violation, Ms. Maurino added. “It is considered,” she said, “cruel and unusual punishment.”


*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*













































__._,_.___
Posted by: bonnieweinstein@yahoo.com
Reply via web post • Reply to sender • Reply to group • Start a New Topic • Messages in this topic (1)





.


__,_._,___
Posted by at

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

ninest123 16.03
ugg boots, polo ralph lauren outlet, ugg boots, michael kors outlet, ugg boots, michael kors outlet, louis vuitton outlet, tiffany jewelry, ray ban sunglasses, prada handbags, michael kors, replica watches, longchamp, ugg boots, oakley sunglasses, burberry, ray ban sunglasses, gucci outlet, louis vuitton, chanel handbags, louboutin shoes, burberry outlet online, nike air max, replica watches, michael kors outlet, tory burch outlet, oakley sunglasses, polo ralph lauren outlet, nike air max, louis vuitton outlet, louis vuitton, jordan shoes, oakley sunglasses, oakley sunglasses, nike outlet, christian louboutin outlet, longchamp outlet, prada outlet, cheap oakley sunglasses, louboutin, michael kors outlet, ray ban sunglasses, michael kors outlet, louis vuitton, longchamp outlet, nike free, tiffany and co, uggs on sale, louboutin outlet

8:53 PM
Anonymous said...

nike air max, nike free, louboutin pas cher, mulberry, nike roshe run, sac guess, lululemon, kate spade outlet, abercrombie and fitch, converse pas cher, kate spade handbags, vans pas cher, burberry, nike air max, michael kors, sac longchamp, ralph lauren uk, nike air max, longchamp pas cher, michael kors, ray ban pas cher, north face, coach purses, vanessa bruno, true religion jeans, oakley pas cher, air force, hollister, michael kors, coach outlet, nike roshe, replica handbags, new balance pas cher, tn pas cher, ray ban uk, true religion outlet, nike blazer, hermes, true religion jeans, nike free run uk, lacoste pas cher, timberland, hogan, north face, michael kors, true religion jeans, coach outlet, hollister pas cher, air jordan pas cher, ralph lauren pas cher, air max

8:53 PM
Anonymous said...

montre pas cher, juicy couture outlet, canada goose uk, moncler, lancel, thomas sabo, louis vuitton, moncler, gucci, canada goose, links of london, moncler, moncler, pandora jewelry, moncler outlet, louis vuitton, wedding dresses, pandora jewelry, canada goose outlet, barbour, canada goose, karen millen, vans, juicy couture outlet, coach outlet, pandora charms, bottes ugg, louis vuitton, canada goose, sac louis vuitton pas cher, pandora charms, ugg pas cher, ray ban, ugg,ugg australia,ugg italia, toms shoes, replica watches, converse outlet, canada goose outlet, canada goose, barbour jackets, moncler, swarovski crystal, hollister, moncler, ugg boots uk, marc jacobs, swarovski, louis vuitton, converse, doudoune canada goose, ugg,uggs,uggs canada, supra shoes, moncler
ninest123 16.03

8:54 PM

Post a Comment