Why Are Things As They Are?

We Say Fight Back!

43 years ago, deep in rural Louisiana, three young black men were silenced for trying to expose continued segregation, systematic corruption, and horrific abuse in the biggest prison in the US, an 18,000 acre former slave plantation called Angola.

Peaceful, non-violent protest in the form of hunger and work strikes organized by inmates caught the attention of Louisiana’s elected leaders and local media in the early 1970s. They soon called for investigations into a host of unconstitutional and extraordinarily inhumane practices commonplace in what was then the “bloodiest prison in the South.” Eager to put an end to outside scrutiny, prison officials began punishing inmates they saw as troublemakers.

At the height of this unprecedented institutional chaos, Albert Woodfox, Herman Wallace, and Robert King were charged with murders they did not commit and thrown into 6×9 foot solitary cells.

Robert was released in 2001, and Herman in October 2013, but Albert remains in solitary, continuing to fight for his freedom.

Despite a number of reforms achieved in the mid-70s, many officials repeatedly ignore both evidence of misconduct, and of innocence.

The State’s case is riddled with inconsistencies, obfuscations, and missteps. A bloody print at the murder scene does not match Albert, Herman, or anyone charged with the crime and was never compared with the limited number of other prisoners who had access to the dormitory on the day of the murder.

Potentially exculpatory DNA evidence has been “lost” by prison officials—including fingernail scrapings from the victim and barely visible “specks” of blood on clothing alleged to have been worn by Albert. … We seek the immediate release of Albert Woodfox, an innocent man and the sole member of the Angola 3, still in solitary confinement more than 43 years after his wrongful conviction.               angola3.org/

Afghan Teachers on Strike (billions from Obamagogue for the Gangster Karzai regime and nothing for education–why is the Taliban winning?)  A teachers strike demanding higher pay has shut down at least 27 schools in Afghanistan’s capital, officials said Tuesday.

Fazel Ahmad Fazel, the newly appointed head of a national teachers’ council, said Tuesday that 80 schools were closed in Kabul alone, and that teachers were on strike in at least 18 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.

But Fazel Ahmad Harderi, deputy head of Kabul’s Department of Education, says just 27 schools in the capital are closed, down from 55 at the start of the protests last week.

It was not immediately possible to resolve the conflicting accounts. Kabul has a total of 284 schools.

Teachers in Afghanistan are poorly paid and often do not receive their salaries for months on end because of the government’s cash-flow problems. The Education Ministry has said it is holding daily meetings with teacher representatives to try to resolve the latest dispute and reopen the schools.

The teachers have expressed sorrow over cancelling classes, but say they feel they have no other choice.

Ahmadullah Alkozai, a striking teacher from Kabul’s Ghazi high school, said he has been teaching for 27 years and still doesn’t own a home. He is among 180 teachers at the now-closed school, which has 4,500 students.

“I am so upset for my students that the school is closed, but I had no other choice,” he said, adding that the strike will continue until the teachers’ demands are met.  bigstory.ap.org/article/b9ab4f7289da4685beebe0154c11c5f1/afghan-teachers-strike-shuts-down-least-27-schools

Detroit teacher, fired for breaking up student brawl with broom, sues A Detroit teacher who was fired after using a broom to break up a fight between students is suing the Education Achievement Authority school district.

Tiffani Eaton-Davis’ lawsuit says administrators did not warn her about or prepare her for the “violent conditions” at Pershing High School. Other teachers who physically intervened in fights were never disciplined, the complaint alleges.

A video of the April 30, 2014, fight between two boys in Eaton-Davis’ classroom spread quickly online. It showed the students throwing punches and falling into desks and onto the floor before Eaton-Davis struck one with a broom. www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/06/09/teacher-tried-break-fight-broom-sues-district/28737729/

Below, one of the infinite Hillbillary lies…then Libya, then Syria, and on…

BBC Videos Smuggled out of IS’ Mosul Exclusive footage reveals how Islamic State wields power over people’s everyday lives in Iraq’s second city, Mosul, a year after it was captured.

Secretly filmed videos obtained by the BBC’s Ghadi Sary show mosques being blown up, abandoned schools, and women being forced to cover up their bodies.

Residents said they were living in fear of punishment according to the group’s extreme interpretation of Islamic law.

They also described IS preparations for an expected government offensive.  www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32831854

Marine Corps Afraid of “Marine Corps Times” Dozens of newly released internal emails provide additional insight into the Marine Corps’ contentious effort last year to bar the independent Marine Corps Times newspaper and its newsstands from their traditional prominent spot at the front of on-base stores.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request made 16 months ago, Marine Corps headquarters on Monday produced more than 100 internal emails related to the move, the high-level debate about it among top Marine officers and the wave of media coverage it generated. The communications are heavily redacted, but they demonstrate the time, effort and attention the service’s senior leaders devoted to a matter that mushroomed into a public-relations headache for the Pentagon  www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/06/09/marine-corps-spat-with-newspaper-marine-corps-times-caused-internal-frenzy/28706937/

The Little Red Schoolhouse

Marines Improve their own high-stakes testing–a life or death matter Late last month, Marine Corps Recruiting Command distributed a solicitation asking for research and studies to help identify predictors for success at Officer Candidate School and The Basic School that follows. The document explains that officials have found consistent attrition patterns with current recruiting methods, which focus on a prospective candidate’s grades, test scores and physical fitness performance, as well as accomplishments that demonstrated qualities such as integrity and leadership. Historically, anywhere from one-quarter to one-third of officer candidates do not make it through OCS.

“To refine the recruiting process to produce higher quality officers while maximizing efficiency is a task that will require ingenuity and an adaptive force,” the solicitation notes. “Obtaining a non-cognitive test that narrows the margin of error when selecting a Marine Corps officer candidate could potentially change the dynamic of the officer recruiting mission.”

The new concept of non-cognitive testing for the Marine Corps is closely linked to an initiative in the Commandant’s Planning Guidance, published by Gen. Joseph Dunford at the start of this year. www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2015/06/08/marines-non-cognitive-testing-for-better-officers/28479045/

And, as with the Marines, the US Empire’s Schools will test for that same mindset  The nation’s premiere federal testing program is poised to provide a critical window into how students’ motivation, mindset, and grit can affect their learning.
Evidence has been building for years that these so-called noncognitive factors play a role in whether children succeed both academically and socially. Now, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often dubbed the “nation’s report card,” is working to include measures of these factors in the background information collected with the tests beginning in 2017.
“Teachers self-report spending 10 percent of their teaching time on noncognitive skills. That’s more time than students spend on any subject other than English and math—more than they spend on arts, for example,” said Chris Gabrieli, an adjunct lecturer with the Transforming Education project at Harvard Graduate School of Education and a co-founder of the National Center on Time & Learning in Boston.
“It’s not a question of whether schools are going to do more working on noncognitive factors,” he said, “it’s of whether we are going to have any instrumentation at all that lets us know which things are working and which things are not.”
Researchers from the Educational Testing Service described the project at a symposium here last month at the annual conference of the Association for Psychological Science. The background survey will include five core areas—grit, desire for learning, school climate, technology use, and socioeconomic status—of which the first two focus on a student’s noncognitive skills, and the third looks at noncognitive factors in the school.   www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/06/03/nations-report-card-to-gather-data-on.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2

Highland Park (MI) Hi Shuts Down. Vulture Schools Arrive seeking Child/dollar signs Highland Park Renaissance Academy High School was packed with representatives from schools across Metro Detroit on Monday, there to woo parents and students after the district announced the school was closing.

The representatives — from Melvindale to Madison Heights, along with Detroit Public Schools, the Education Achievement Authority and others — displayed their pamphlets and souvenir pens, and other trinkets at tables set up on two floors.

The academy will close its doors by the end of the month, the district announced May 28, leaving students scrambling for new schools.

Ciara Bunkley, 16, in the ninth grade at the high school, visited many of the tables, searching for a new school.

“It’s very sad because I’ve been attending this school since it was a middle school and I will miss my teachers because they made me feel welcome and at home,” said Ciara. “A lot of us who live in Highland Park need this school. To just branch off to a new school is out of my comfort zone.”

Three years after the state took control of the Highland Park school district and turned it over to a charter operator, the high school is closing, the district announced last month.

“Our enrollment declined significantly and it is not financially feasible to continue with the high school,” Don Weatherspoon, the district’s emergency manager, told reporters before parents toured the tables Monday.

Since 2012-13, when the Leona Group began operating the district’s schools, the number of students at the high school has fallen from nearly 400 to 160.

The Highland Park Public School Academy System has 509 students this school year, according to state figures.

A letter was sent to parents explaining the decision and inviting them to the community meeting Monday, where they were treated to lemonade, cookies and a hot buffet. Weatherspoon said there also would be a raffle of several tablets.  www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2015/06/08/schools-pitch-students-parents-highland-park/28721799/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP5pbskLQR4

Where Might those Highland Park Kids Go? Detroit Public Safety Academy where they are “cadets” The Detroit Public Safety Academy, authorized by Eastern Michigan University, is the first (and only) school of its kind in Michigan.

Along with excellent academics, students learn about careers in Law Enforcement, Fire, Emergency Medical Services and others.

We partner with Federal, State and Local public safety agencies such as; Detroit Police Department, Detroit Fire Department, Wayne County Sheriff, Michigan State Police, US Border Patrol, Federal Emergency Management Agency, US Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, US Marshals and more.

Our cadets earn certificates in various courses related to public safety as well as college credits toward an advanced degree.www.detroitpsa.com/

Creationism via Missionaries for Superstition in Louisiana When a student in Louisiana opens her textbook in biology class, she might not have the standard Miller and Levine Biology with a dragonfly on the cover, and she might not ever learn about evolution.

For some Louisiana public school students, their science textbook is the Bible, and in biology class they read the Book of Genesis to learn the “creation point of view.”

Through a public records request, I obtained dozens of emails from the Bossier Parish school district that specifically discuss teaching creationism.

Shawna Creamer, a science teacher at Airline High School, sent an email to the principal, Jason Rowland, informing him of which class periods she would use to teach creationism. “We will read in Genesis and them [sic] some supplemental material debunking various aspects of evolution from which the students will present,” Creamer wrote  “We know that one in eight high school biology teachers advocate for creationism, even though it’s unconstitutional,” says Josh Rosenau of the National Center for Science Education. Read more: www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/06/louisiana_science_education_school_boards_principals_and_teachers_endorse.html#ixzz3cbpv92hm

Hillbillary Woos NEA and Easily Adopts Anti-test stand of liberals who want to love capitalist schooling  Last week, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State, and far-and-away front-runner for the Democratic nomination, met with the American Federation of Teachers. And this week, it was the National Education Association’s turn.So did Clinton’s rhetoric sound any different this time around? With the AFT, she talked about the importance of teachers, and made it clear that they shouldn’t be “scapegoats” for broader problems in K-12.And in speaking to the NEA, Monday Clinton sounded, perhaps, a shade or two more skeptical of standardized testing than she has in the past.

 Arne Wowed Delegates at NEA RA

LAUSD Manipulates Graduation Rates The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday retreated from new, more rigorous graduation standards out of concern that huge numbers of students would fail to earn diplomas.

The board previously had required students, starting in 2017, to receive a C or better in a set of college preparatory courses required for admission to four-year state universities. The goal was to ensure that all L.A. Unified students were eligible to apply for the University of California and Cal State systems.

On Tuesday, however, the board backed down from that policy. Now, students will be allowed to pass these courses — and graduate — with a D. But they will be ineligible for admission to UC or Cal State campuses with a D in any of these classes.

The board acted in response to the disclosure in March that as many as three-quarters of 10th-graders — the first class affected — were not on track to meet the tougher requirements. A more recent analysis showed that 53% of students were unlikely to meet the criteria.

Students who got Ds should not be denied diplomas because the school system has not provided enough help for them to meet the higher standard, board members said.  www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-20150610-story.html

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor

Alfred McCoy: Washington’s New Great Game and Why it is failing (long and worth it) the rise of China as the world’s largest economy, inconceivable a century ago, represents something new and so threatens to overturn the maritime geopolitics that have shaped world power for the past 400 years. Instead of focusing purely on building a blue-water navy like the British or a global aerospace armada akin to America’s, China is reaching deep within the world island in an attempt to thoroughly reshape the geopolitical fundamentals of global power. It is using a subtle strategy that has so far eluded Washington’s power elites.

After decades of quiet preparation, Beijing has recently begun revealing its grand strategy for global power, move by careful move. Its two-step plan is designed to build a transcontinental infrastructure for the economic integration of the world island from within, while mobilizing military forces to surgically slice through Washington’s encircling containment.

The initial step has involved a breathtaking project to put in place an infrastructure for the continent’s economic integration. By laying down an elaborate and enormously expensive network of high-speed, high-volume railroads as well as oil and natural gas pipelines across the vast breadth of Eurasia, China may realize Mackinder’s vision in a new way. For the first time in history, the rapid transcontinental movement of critical cargo — oil, minerals, and manufactured goods — will be possible on a massive scale, thereby potentially unifying that vast landmass into a single economic zone stretching 6,500 miles from Shanghai to Madrid. In this way, the leadership in Beijing hopes to shift the locus of geopolitical power away from the maritime periphery and deep into the continent’s heartland….

To capitalize such staggering regional growth plans, in October 2014 Beijing announced the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. China’s leadership sees this institution as a future regional and, in the end, Eurasian alternative to the U.S.-dominated World Bank. So far, despite pressure from Washington not to join, 14 key countries, including close U.S. allies like Germany, Great Britain, Australia, and South Korea, have signed on. Simultaneously, China has begun building long-term trade relations with resource-rich areas of Africa, as well as with Australia and Southeast Asia, as part of its plan to economically integrate the world island.

Finally, Beijing has only recently revealed a deftly designed strategy for neutralizing the military forces Washington has arrayed around the continent’s perimeter. In April, President Xi Jinping announced construction of that massive road-rail-pipeline corridor direct from western China to its new port at Gwadar, Pakistan, creating the logistics for future naval deployments in the energy-rich Arabian Sea.

In May, Beijing escalated its claim to exclusive control over the South China Sea, expanding Longpo Naval Base on Hainan Island for the region’s first nuclear submarine facility, accelerating its dredging to create three new atolls that could become military airfields in the disputed Spratley Islands, and formally warning off U.S. Navy overflights.  www.tomdispatch.com/post/176007/tomgram%3A_alfred_mccoy%2C_washington%27s_great_game_and_why_it%27s_failing_/

Obamgogue Has no Strategy for ISIS (like “people make gods, gods don’t make people: you will create the same pyramid of capital that all superstitious societies create”)  President Barack Obama said Monday his top national security advisers were still working to solidify training plans for Iraqi defense forces battling ISIS in their own country.

“We don’t yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the Iraqis,” Obama said during concluding remarks at the G7 conference in Germany, citing recruitment as a key stumbling block facing the central government in Iraq.www.cnn.com/2015/06/08/politics/obama-abadi-iraq-germany-g7/

But Obamagogue is sending hundreds of troops to fight ISIS anyway  In a major shift of focus in the battle against the Islamic State, the Obama administration is planning to establish a new military base in Anbar Province and send 400 American military trainers to help Iraqi forces retake the city of Ramadi.

Although a final decision by the White House has yet to be announced, the plan follows months of behind-the-scenes debate about how prominently plans to retake another Iraqi city, Mosul, which fell to the Islamic State last year, should figure in the early phase of the military campaign against the group.

The fall of Ramadi last month effectively settled the administration debate, at least for the time being. American officials said Ramadi is now expected to become the focus of a lengthy campaign to regain Mosul at a later stage, possibly not until 2016.  www.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/world/middleeast/us-adding-military-advisers-to-reclaim-iraqi-city-officials-say.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvYqj0IjzEQ

WW3 Clock is Ticking: Obamagogue to Send Heavy Weapons to E. Europe

In a significant move to deter possible Russian aggression in Europe, the Pentagon is poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 American troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries, American and allied officials say.

The proposal, if approved, would represent the first time since the end of the Cold War that the United States has stationed heavy military equipment in the newer NATO member nations in Eastern Europe that had once been part of the Soviet sphere of influence. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine have caused alarm and prompted new military planning in NATO capitals.  www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/world/europe/us-poised-to-put-heavy-weaponry-in-east-europe.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Imperialism’s Victims Eleven million people were uprooted by violence last year, most propelled by conflict in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine and Afghanistan. Conflict and extreme poverty have also pushed tens of thousands out of parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Here’s a look at the international response to what has become the worst migration crisis since World War II, according to the United Nations.  www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/09/world/migrants-global-refugee-crisis-mediterranean-ukraine-syria-rohingya-malaysia-iraq.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Bourgeoisie Feminists Cheer! Women Marines in Combat for Empire “I think for the males they kind of expected us to be, you know, the moms, the sisters — kind of take care of us,” Flemming said. “But now they’re like, ‘OK, we’re a Marine, you’re a Marine. Let’s just get the job done.’”

Flemming is one of nearly 100 women and 300 men volunteering for the experiment.

“Everything on the vehicle is pretty heavy,” Flemming said. “Our hatches are pretty heavy, so it takes two people to be able to lift them up and open them up, or just grabbing gear and just being on the move.”  www.kpbs.org/news/2015/jun/10/marine-women-train-combat-camp-pendleton/

Female Marines who are part of an experimental task force to test the ability of women to fight in ground combat pose for a photo at Camp Pendleton, May 15, 2015.

US Drones Attack Pakistan funeral–kill 34  On Friday, US drones attacked a funeral in Afghanistan’s Khost Province, tearing through a crowd of mourners and leaving at least 34 of them dead. The funeral was reportedly for a Taliban fighter, and the Afghan government insisted that by extension, all the mourners must’ve been Taliban too.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed the strike, but insisted a number of the victims were innocent civilians from the nomadic tribe the slain fighter was a member of . Afghan MPs from the region similarly claimed a number of civilians were slain.

Oddly, while everyone else was reporting the attack was on a funeral inside a cemetery, Khost provincial police claimed the US strike was against Taliban forces who were “running away” from the police along the Pakistan border.  news.antiwar.com/2015/06/05/us-drones-attack-afghanistan-funeral-killing-34-mourners/

LIfe is good on the Base—well, there are those little lost wars….The 43,300 military personnel and family members who live on the Marines’ major West Coast base, Camp Pendleton, enjoy the amenities of a prosperous midsized town — five schools, nine health clinics, a golf course, swimming pools and dozens of child-care facilities.

There are a new hospital, a movie theater, two florists, four dry cleaners, three “big box” stores, 20 fast-food restaurants, and, because it’s a military base, 13 barber shops and a commissary selling groceries for up to 30% less than at civilian supermarkets.

Tree-shaded neighborhoods like Wire Mountain and Stuart Mesa feature attractive two-story houses flanked by green lawns. Enlistees live in college-like dorms, not wooden barracks. The website for housing on the base, with its 17 miles of Pacific coastline, touts seaside living and a “recreational paradise.”

“We build communities, just like the housing outside the fence,” said Robert Marshall, director of family housing. “Just because the Marines are on the march, it doesn’t mean the spouses and kids have to be on the same march.”

That benevolent approach reflects a growing trend in the all-volunteer military — provide for the families as well as the warriors.

The question is whether the sheltered, subsidized lifestyle on this heavily guarded mega-base, and others like it, has reinforced the separation of the all-volunteer military from the nation it serves.  www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-warrior-pendleton-20150613-story.html#page=1

The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor

Money Launderer to the Cartels, HSBC Sets up to 50,000 layoffs HSBC will cut almost 50,000 jobs from its payroll, take an axe to its investment bank and shrink its risk-weighted assets by $290 billion in an effort to improve its sluggish performance, Europe’s biggest bank said on Tuesday.

The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement

Petraeus and Bimbo Broadwell, keeper of some “state” secrets, and others too.

Dems, Repubs, Tony Blair, and Many more wrote letters of support for idiot skank-chasing General Petraeus (now CUNY prof)  Blair said Petraeus’ expertise on counterterrorism issues is needed.

“In my view, he is one of the most outstanding public servants I have ever worked with,” said Blair, the British prime minister between 1997 and 2007. “We need his service at this time and his brainpower.”

Feinstein, a Democrat, said she hoped the judge would take into account Petraeus’ “extraordinary contributions.”

“General Petraeus recognizes the error of his actions and has admitted his guilt. … I believe the punishment proposed in his plea agreement is fair, and that he recognizes the error of his actions as well as the importance of protecting classified information,” she said.

When Petraeus was sentenced, some argued that he received preferential treatment, noting the government’s prosecution in other security cases.

Supporters of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer convicted of giving a New York Times reporter classified details of an operation to derail Iran’s nuclear ambitions, had noted the Petraeus case. Sterling was sentenced last month to 42 months in prison, but federal prosecutors in Virginia had been urging a stiffer sentence.

Petraeus’ plea agreement was filed in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina, the city where Paula Broadwell, the general’s biographer and former lover, lives with her husband and children.

Prosecutors said that while Broadwell was writing her book in 2011, Petraeus gave her eight binders of classified material he had improperly kept from his time as the top military commander in Afghanistan. Days later, he took the binders back to his house.

Those binders were later seized by the FBI in an April 2013 search of Petraeus’ Arlington, Virginia, home, where he had kept them in the unlocked drawer of a desk in a ground-floor study.

Prosecutors said that after resigning from the CIA in November 2012, Petraeus signed a form falsely attesting he had no classified material. He also lied to FBI agents by denying he supplied the information to Broadwell, according to court documents.

In his letter to the judge, retired Admiral Michael Mullen, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Petraeus knows he made a mistake.

“He is a human being of character and strong moral fiber who led with integrity. Dave is also humanly flawed, as many are, for which he had paid a huge price both personally and professionally. And I am certain he will deeply regret his mistakes for the rest of his life,” he said.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysfELeU2XBQ

Reminder: Arthur Rosenberg’s “Fascism as a Mass Movement” Rosenberg’s key argument here is that ‘the ideology which is today called “fascist” was already fairly widespread throughout Europe before the War and exerted a strong influence on the masses.’ He goes on to say, ‘However, with one exception, what was missing then was the peculiar tactic of using stormtroopers which is thoroughly characteristic of modern fascism. The sole exception was formed by the Black Hundreds of Tsarist Russia and their ability to stage pogroms’ (p. 152).

Innocent Youth Murdered by Jail Kalief Browder, whose three years in jail without trial inspired calls for reform in New York, has committed suicide at age 22, his attorney said Sunday.

Browder was 16 when he was arrested on suspicion of stealing a backpack, and he spent about two years in solitary confinement. He died at home in the Bronx on Saturday, attorney Paul V. Prestia told the Los Angeles Times.
“I think what caused the suicide was his incarceration and those hundreds and hundreds of nights in solitary confinement, where there were mice crawling up his sheets in that little cell,” Prestia said in a phone interview Sunday evening. “Being starved, and not being taken to the shower for two weeks at a time … those were direct contributing factors.… That was the pain and sadness that he had to deal with every day, and I think it was too much for him.”

Prestia then became emotional, his voice wavering as he recalled Browder, whom he said hadn’t had mental health problems before he was arrested and jailed in 2010.

“He was a good friend of mine — I wasn’t just his attorney, you know?” Prestia went silent for a few seconds, then continued: “He was a really good kid.”

A Colorado man accused police in Greenwood Village of being “paramilitary thugs” after they blew up his home while trying to catch a gun-toting shoplifter who had decided to hide out there.

“There was one gunman with a handgun and they chose to turn this house into something that resembles Osama Bin Laden’s compound,” Leo Lech explained to KMGH.

Robert Jonathan Seacat, 33, had allegedly picked Lech’s home at random last Wednesday when he was on the run from police who suspected him of shoplifting. Seacat was said to have opened fire on officers as they tried to apprehend him.

Although a 9-year-old boy was inside the home when Seacat entered, negotiators were able to convince him to let the boy go.

According to a SWAT spokesperson, officers were able to end the 20-hour standoff by using flash-bangs, chemical agents and a “breaching ram” to enter the home.

Lech, however, said that it looked more like the home he had recently purchased for his son’s family to live in had been in a war zone.

“There was obviously some kind of explosive that was fired into here,” Lech pointed out.

KMGH reported that nearly every room in the second floor of the home had holes blown into the walls.  www.rawstory.com/2015/06/paramilitary-thugs-colorado-man-livid-after-swat-blows-up-his-entire-home-in-pursuit-of-shoplifter/

Solidarity for Never

Sectarians clash with Opportunists in Detroit Schools Steve Conn’s supporters say he is pumping new life into a union that had become too passive. His critics describe him as reactive and even radical.

“He has strengths and weaknesses like all leaders,” said Phil Fisher, a DPS teacher. “One of his strengths is that he wants to stand up for teachers. … A weakness I see is not listening to membership, and that’s huge.”

Fisher is among a group of teachers that is circulating petitions in an effort to get Conn recalled. They are close to getting the 1,000 signatures needed to spark recall proceedings, he said. The union has about 4,000 members.

One of the stickiest issues for some people is Conn’s strong ties to the social justice group By Any Means Necessary. Teachers say Conn has allowed BAMN members to attend members-only union meetings — in violation of the union’s constitution and bylaws, they argue. He has tapped BAMN’s national chair, attorney Shanta Driver, as his legal adviser.

Some BAMN members are disruptive, combative and have even tried to cast voice-votes at meetings, Fisher said, something Conn denies.  www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/06/10/controversial-union-president-faces-recall-effort/28767175/

above, Ratfink

AFSCME Lobbies to Prevent Strikes The state’s largest public employee union is pushing a bill that would prevent state workers from striking or being locked out in the event talks on a new labor contract stall.Instead, the labor dispute would be handed over to an arbitrator to resolve through binding arbitration.

The House Labor and Commerce Committee approved Senate Bill 1229 on Thursday night on a partisan vote.Mike Newman, deputy director for Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the bill applies to workers in state agencies that report to Gov. Bruce Rauner.

The current contract terms will remain in effect while an arbitrator completes his work.”That will prevent any unilateral and dictatorial imposition of any harsh and unreasonable changes in employment, changes that would likely force a work stoppage, thereby causing massive disruption of state services,” Newman said.  www.sj-r.com/article/20150528/NEWS/150529401

The UAW Dues Increase Was for a “strike fund” but much of the money went to:

• UAW bosses loaned another $5.1 million to its Black Lake resort and golf club increasing the outstanding loan amount to $50.8 million on an asset that may be worth half that amount.
• For the 18 UAW officers, UAW spent $2.7 million in dues on salaries and other disbursements not including benefits.
• For the UAW staff, UAW spent $77.8 million in dues on salaries and other disbursements not including benefits.
• In addition to salaries and wages, UAW bosses spent $59.3 million in dues on benefits.  LM2 report is here nrtwc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2012-UAW-Intenational-Union-LM-2-Disclosure-Report.pdf

Background on the UAW “Strike” Fund Bait and Switch www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2014/09/24/uaw-dues-hike-unnecessary/16116863/

Professional Sellout Delores Huerta Endorses Hillbillary early Huerta reiterated her support for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but the support is not solely based on gender. She explained, “[Clinton] is a strong woman. She has the experience [and] she’s been connected with the Latina community for many decades even before she was the secretary of state or when she ran for the presidency the first time.” www.latinpost.com/articles/58209/20150609/dolores-huerta-latinos-election-clinton-rubio-bush-cruz-immigration.htm

Corporate Ed Week Runs Ad for Opportunists’ Fake Opt Out Movement opposition to both the common core and its affiliated assessments has grown exponentially. Concerned families are not going away, and they increasingly are taking action to express their dissatisfaction by opting their children out of mandated state tests. As the opt-out movement gained momentum in Ohio, the state’s department of education responded by providing school administrators with a two-page bulleted list of talking points that outlined potential consequences, including grade retention, ineligibility for high school graduation, and fallout for teachers, schools, and communities. Contrary to the oversimplified depiction of parents as self-interested actors, many families are still willing to risk short-term consequences for their children to send a larger message about the state of public education.  www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/06/10/the-opt-out-movement-is-gaining-momentum.html

Spy versus Spy

The Obama administration has asked a secret surveillance court to ignore a federal court that found bulk surveillance illegal and to once again grant the National Security Agency the power to collect the phone records of millions of Americans for six months.

The legal request, filed nearly four hours after Barack Obama vowed to sign a new law banning precisely the bulk collection he asks the secret court to approve, also suggests that the administration may not necessarily comply with any potential court order demanding that the collection stop.

US officials confirmed last week that they would ask the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court – better known as the Fisa court, a panel that meets in secret as a step in the surveillance process and thus far has only ever had the government argue before it – to turn the domestic bulk collection spigot back on.

Justice Department national security chief John A Carlin cited a six-month transition period provided in the USA Freedom Act – passed by the Senate last week to ban the bulk collection – as a reason to permit an “orderly transition” of the NSA’s domestic dragnet. Carlin did not address whether the transition clause of the Freedom Act still applies now that a congressional deadlock meant the program shut down on 31 May.

But Carlin asked the Fisa court to set aside a landmark declaration by the second circuit court of appeals.  www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/09/obama-fisa-court-surveillance-phone-records

Those Wacky Horn-dog Secret Service Agents carry Uzis A Secret Service agent can’t even send an indecent text message to a prospective date these days without his actions going public.

Our colleague Carol Leonnig, the authority on all things Secret Service, confirmed a National Enquirer report Wednesday that a junior agent met a young woman while on detail at a Michelle Obama-attended event. He approached her and, whilst protecting the first lady, got her phone number.

His meet-cute (if this was a romantic comedy) with the young woman at the May 20 event ended with him later sending her sexual images and suggestive texts. His possible distraction at the event and the subsequent messaging has put the junior agent under the scrutiny of federal investigators.  www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/06/10/sexting-secret-service-agent-investigated-for-flirting-on-the-job-sending-lewd-messages/?hpid=z4

The Magical Mystery Tour

June 14th, 1954, Eisenhower Stuck the Words “under god,” in the pledge.

The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World

June 14, 1940, Paris fell to the Nazis whose way was paved by the betrayals, again, of the Social Democrats and the Second International who voted for Petain.

Vietnam: Low Wages and Luxury Goods. Socialism Failed. Ho Weeps The number of affluent people in Vietnam with disposable incomes of more than $75,000 per year totaled about 100,000 in 2013, an almost threefold increase from five years earlier, according to British research firm Euromonitor International. Luxury brand stores are booming in Vietnam, in part because Vietnamese people like to show off their high-end goods.

Domestic data shows that sales of luxury products are increasing most in the automobile market.

Sales of Mercedes-Benz cars totaled 1,106 units in the first six months of 2014, up 70% from a year earlier and the highest for the January-June period since the German automaker entered the Vietnamese market 19 years ago. In particular, cars in the high-end S and E classes drew more buyers than cheaper ones.

Another Germany luxury car maker, Audi, logged a 40% sales gain in the same period.

According to the 2014 Nikkei Brand Survey, which asked Vietnamese consumers to name brand goods they have purchased or used, Germany luxury car makers BMW, Mercedes and Audi ranked fourth, seventh and ninth, respectively, in the automobile category. Japanese automaker Toyota Motor’s luxury Lexus brand came in seventh.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars opened its first Vietnamese showroom in Hanoi in late August to display high-end models such as the Phantom EWB for $1.41 million. It sold a Phantom Oriental Sun for $260,000, the state-run newspaper Tuoi Tre reported.  asia.nikkei.com/magazine/20141106-Asia-s-most-desired-brands/Cover-Story/Vietnam-soaking-up-luxury-goods

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_7zgf2UTbI

Detroit (again) Woman Shoots Carjacker  After a would-be carjacker confronts her on Detroit’s west side, a woman took matters into her own hands – ending up in a brief gunfight.

Tamika McNeil had just arrived home when she was approached by a man with a gun trying to carjack her. McNeil had her own gun and shot the teen suspect, while his shots missed her.

Officers followed his blood trail but could not find him. Later police found and arrested the 16-year-old after he went to a local hospital with a wound needing surgery.

Sabrina McNeil says she wasn’t at home when the tense moments unfolded involving her sister, but their mother contacted her with the details.

“My mom just texted me and told me that she was carjacked at gunpoint and she fired back,” she said.

Family members say the victim is licensed to carry a gun and they’re thankful for that because they believe this story would have a different ending.

“It could have went way different if she didn’t have (a gun),” Sabrina said  www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/29268525/woman-being-carjacked-shoots-armed-suspect

June 14 1994

Army’s Site Hacked The Army took down its homepage Monday after the site was hacked, the Army confirmed, with a group loyal to the Syrian government claiming responsibility.

“Today an element of the Army.mil service provider’s content was compromised,” Brig. Gen. Malcolm Frost, chief of Army public affairs, said in a statement Monday. “After this came to our attention, the Army took appropriate preventive measures to ensure there was no breach of Army data by taking down the website temporarily.”

The site remained down Monday afternoon.  www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/tech/2015/06/08/syrian-electronic-army-hackers-website/28705565/

Orange Tint is the New Black  Dolezal’s transformation was not unconditional; it was commensurate with benefits received for posing as a black person and speaking on black people’s behalf. She profited both personally and professionally from passing as black. She applied to Howard University, was understood as black by the admissions office, and given a scholarship. She rose to a position of power in the NAACP, and she serves as chair of a police/community relations commission in her city. In her statements since the story broke, she has endeavored to protect her power, refused to admit that she has misrepresented herself, and cast herself as a chief authority on the matter of who is and is not black.  www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/06/13/rachel-dolezal-story-lesson-how-racism-works/J8R27qgq2YfDRUuOVhpYGI/story.html

So Long