{"id":23052,"date":"2019-04-13T21:40:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T05:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=23052"},"modified":"2019-04-14T01:13:24","modified_gmt":"2019-04-14T09:13:24","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-free-them-both","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-free-them-both\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Free Them Both."},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say Fight Back!<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Polish teachers strike over pay after talks with government fail<\/h1>\n

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WARSAW (Reuters) – Teachers across Poland held a strike on Monday after the government and unions failed to agree on proposed wage increases, the leader of the biggest teachers’ union ZNP said.<\/p>\n

Talks between three teachers trade unions and the government ended on Sunday evening with the ZNP and another union sticking by their demand of monthly salary increase of 1,000 zlotys (200 pounds). Only one smaller union agreed to the government’s offer of a 15 percent monthly increase starting from September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Public sector workers in Poland stepped up calls for pay increases after the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) promised in February a hefty increase social spending as part of its election campaign.<\/p>\n

“Today, at 0800, starts the biggest strike in education since 1993,” ZNP leader Slawomir Broniarz told private broadcaster TVN24.<\/p>\n

Many teachers are also unhappy with what they say has been a chaotic education reform.<\/p>\n

“We are ready to convince the government that this strike is not only economically motivated, but that this strike is also to defend the quality of education, which has been damaged in recent years,” Broniarz said.<\/p>\n

According to the ZNP, almost 80 percent of Polish schools and kindergartens have declared they would take part in the strike, but the union has not said how long it would last.<\/p>\n

In March thousands of workers at Polish courts and prosecutors’ offices took to the streets of Warsaw to demand better pay and working conditions.<\/p>\n

Teachers’ salaries in Poland range between 3,045 zlotys and 5,603 zlotys per month. Official data in February showed the average corporate salary in Poland stood at around 4,949 zlotys.\u00a0 www.euronews.com\/2019\/04\/08\/polish-teachers-strike-over-pay-after-talks-with-government-fail<\/a><\/p>\n

University of Arizona charges 3rd student in Border Patrol protest<\/h1>\n

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The University of Arizona has charged a third student related to a protest of Border Patrol agents<\/a> on campus in March, the university said Friday.<\/p>\n

Marianna Ariel Coles-Curtis, a 27-year-old graduate student at the university, was charged with a class 1 misdemeanor for\u00a0interference with the peaceful conduct of an educational institution.<\/p>\n

The third student’s charges come after videos of a protest of Border Patrol’s presence on campus went viral, spread mostly by social media accounts and blogs that did not agree with the protest’s purpose.<\/p>\n

Two other students were charged<\/a> with the same misdemeanor on Monday.<\/p>\n

Denisse Moreno Melchor, a 20-year-old UA student, and Mariel Alexandra Bustamante, a 22-year-old student, were charged with class 1 misdemeanors for\u00a0interference with the peaceful conduct of an educational institution. Moreno Melchor also faces a second charge for\u00a0threats and intimidation, UA previously said.<\/p>\n

Moreno Melchor and Bustamante are scheduled to appear in Pima County Justice Court on April 22. Coles-Curtis is scheduled to appear in Pima County Justice Court on April 25, UA said.\u00a0https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/news\/local\/arizona-education\/2019\/04\/05\/university-arizona-protest-border-patrol-3rd-student-charged\/3379687002\/<\/p>\n

The Little Red Schoolhouse<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In preposterous expensive farce, identity politics appointee De la Torre inaugurated, talks of \u2018lofty visions\u2019 for SDSU<\/h1>\n

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In one of academia\u2019s oldest rituals, colorfully robed professors led Adela de la Torre onto a public stage Thursday at San Diego State University, where she was inaugurated president of a school that has grand dreams of building a large satellite campus a short distance away.<\/p>\n

De la Torre became SDSU\u2019s first permanently appointed woman president 10 months ago, after years of service as an executive at UC Davis.<\/p>\n

But she also embraced the opportunity to undergo a formal inauguration, a ceremony that many colleges and universities use to publicly mark and celebrate a change of leadership.<\/p>\n

The $160,000 event was held before a modest but joyous crowd at SDSU\u2019s Viejas Arena, which can hold about 12,000 spectators. Between 2,500 and 3,000 people turned out on Thursday. Students were given permission to skip class for the event. But comparatively few did so<\/strong><\/em>….As she has done since first taking office, de la Torre spoke Thursday about the university\u2019s hope of buying the old SDCCU Stadium complex in Mission Valley and transforming it into a satellite campus that would feature a multiple-use stadium, a technology and research park, classrooms, housing, retail space and a river park\u00a0\u00a0 www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/education\/story\/2019-04-11\/de-la-torre-inaugurated-talks-of-lofty-visions-for-sdsu<\/a><\/p>\n

Katehi scandal at UC Davis called \u2018worse than pepper spray\u2019<\/h3>\n

…Emily Prieto, who would later become Katehi\u2019s daughter-in-law, arrived at UC Davis in 2013 as an executive analyst with a $77,000 salary, according to the UC Office of the President. In 2014, she was promoted to chief of staff to Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Adela de la Torre<\/strong> and was paid $90,419, according to a UC pay database. In 2015, she added assistant vice chancellor to her title. She currently is paid $132,457 annually.<\/p>\n

Emails obtained by The Bee through a public records request show that Prieto was being considered for yet another promotion and possible raise earlier this year. The promotion to associate vice chancellor was requested by de la Torre<\/strong> because of expanded duties due to a reorganization of the Student Affairs Department, according to university documents.<\/p>\n

Engelbach, Katehi\u2019s chief of staff, called the request \u201centirely appropriate\u201d in an email to de la Torre. He indicated that he would consider the request instead of the chancellor.<\/p>\n

The promotion was discussed in emails between de la Torre, Englebac<\/strong>h and others between January and June of this year, but as of Monday, Prieto had not been promoted, said university spokeswoman Dana Topousis. Read more here: www.sacbee.com\/news\/local\/education\/article90418047.html#storylink=cpy<\/a><\/p>\n

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West Bloomfield High School cracks down on students having food delivered during school day<\/h1>\n

School districts frustrated by students using Uber Eats<\/em><\/h2>\n

School administrators in West Bloomfield are pumping the brakes on students using Uber Eats to have food delivered to them during the school day.<\/p>\n

Students aren’t always the ones ordering food. Parents are also ordering pizzas and more to send to students.<\/p>\n

Now, school districts are sending a message that this practice is over.<\/p>\n

West Bloomfield High School freshman Nathan Kallabat jumped on the bandwagon this school year.<\/p>\n

“I was hearing people say, ‘I just got some bomb pizza from Uber Eats,’ so I was like, ‘Why not?'” Kallabat said.<\/p>\n

His receipt shows he ordered two any-style eggs, French toast and pancakes from Leo’s Coney Island at 10:08 a.m. Jan. 29, three hours after the school day started.<\/p>\n

“It was amazing,” Kallabat said. “I was, like, the cool kid of the school for four days straight. Not telling you a lie.”<\/p>\n

West Bloomfield Principal Pat Watson tweeted that enough is enough last week, ending the trend at the school.<\/p>\n

“Some days, eight, 10, 15 deliveries coming,” Watson said. “It was nonstop\u00a0 www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/west-bloomfield-high-school-cracks-down-on-students-having-food-delivered-during-school-day<\/a><\/p>\n

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Sacramento Teachers Picket Outside Schools In One-Day Strike Amid Budget Crisis<\/h1>\n

Sacramento teachers and school employees went on strike Thursday in order to pressure the city school district to fully implement a deal they made back in 2017, labor leaders say.<\/p>\n

The Sacramento City Teachers Association, the union representing 2,500 teachers and employees, organized the strike. It says the picket was not over salaries, but instead because school administrators aren\u2019t following through on a promise to fund better classroom staffing.<\/p>\n

History teacher Tim Douglas was one of the first to join the picket line at McClatchy High School on Thursday morning. He wants the district to stick to a contract and decrease class sizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to be out here, but we\u2019re doing it for your children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

David Fisher, president of SCTA, says the union agreed during contract negotiations in the fall of 2017 to switch employee health coverage to save the district money, but only if it spent the freed-up money on reducing class sizes and other student services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve been trying to get these services for students for over a decade,\u201d said Fisher. \u201cOur ratios of school nurses, school psychologists, counselors and even class sizes are the largest and the most atrocious in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sacramento City Unified School District denies that class sizes are a problem. Spokesperson Alex Barrios says the school district has a massive $35 million budget hole, and it needs any savings garnered through an employee health plan change to help close the spending gap.<\/p>\n

Barrios says almost half of the budget deficit could be remedied by switching employee health benefits.\u00a0 www.capradio.org\/articles\/2019\/04\/11\/sacramento-teachers-go-on-strike-amid-school-district-budget-crisis\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Death of an Adjunct<\/h1>\n

Thea Hunter was a promising, brilliant scholar. And then she got trapped in academia\u2019s permanent underclass.<\/p>\n

A bald eagle in flight<\/span> is elegance to behold. The sudden, violent flaps of its wings are broken by sublime extension as it locks onto a breeze and glides. Occasionally, 10 blocks north of the George Washington Bridge in Manhattan, you can spot a bald eagle overhead in Fort Tryon Park. There, Thea Hunter could often be counted among the bird\u2019s admirers\u2014typically while walking her dog, Cooper, a black Labrador retriever.<\/p>\n

Thea loved the park, a bastion of calm amid the city\u2019s constant hum, and she reveled in the chance encounters she had with eagles there. Often, even in the middle of winter, she would wrestle out her phone to call a friend. Some birds flap, flap, dive,<\/em> she would explain, while others catch a current and soar. It was remarkable, really, that bald eagles were there at all, as they had once been so close to extinction.<\/p>\n

When her friends try to find a way to talk about why she\u2019s not here anymore, they pause, and then they pause again. She, perhaps, would have explained it gracefully. We don\u2019t know how to talk about death<\/em>, she would have said. It\u2019s a fact of life that we\u2019re tense about. It\u2019s a natural part of the cycle, one that can be hastened by circumstance. And those circumstances, her friends seethe, were the hardships Thea faced as an adjunct professor, as a member of academia\u2019s underclass.<\/p>\n

To be a perennial adjunct professor is to hear the constant tone of higher education\u2019s death knell. The story is well known\u2014the long hours, the heavy workload, the insufficient pay\u2014as academia relies on adjunct professors, non-tenured faculty members, who are often paid pennies on the dollar to do the same work required of their tenured colleagues.\u00a0 www.theatlantic.com\/education\/archive\/2019\/04\/adjunct-professors-higher-education-thea-hunter\/586168\/?fbclid=IwAR1Ok97e08lTtDhWsiBN9SoTJpXxrMyABfSiHO-ShnUTPjWE0ajDLGJQ3mU&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share<\/a><\/p>\n

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CUNY\u2019s teachers get stiffed: An adjunct explains just how hard it is to make ends meet on what the city\u2019s public university pays<\/h1>\n
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City University of New York management and faculty are deep into contract negotiations that will determine the fate of CUNY adjuncts like me. The overwhelming majority of CUNY faculty are adjuncts. They teach the most classes, and yet they are among the lowest paid workers in the city, especially when you consider that the job requires an advance degree.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I have been an adjunct at CUNY since fall 2010 and have taught at least two classes there per semester, every semester since. I have an MFA in creative writing, which is a terminal degree, that is, the highest degree in my field. When I taught at Queensborough Community College, my students won English department and college-wide awards. I led pedagogical initiatives and served on college wide committees. I have been invited to present papers on my research and teaching at regional, national and international conferences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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On March 25, the faculty caucus at York College in Queens, where I now teach, elected me to the university-wide Faculty Senate as a part-time alternative representative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For my contribution to CUNY, I earned $21,000 last year. Full-time faculty assigned exactly the same teaching load, who in many cases did less research and fewer presentations than I did, earned anywhere from $45,000 to $128,000 depending on their rank.\u00a0 www.nydailynews.com\/opinion\/ny-oped-cunys-teachers-get-stiffed-20190408-rvxovg6yhrhc7e3tjit4fvtfbq-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1YBYjlRowkcKuz27MXArYiJ9LasZ8XTIaW0059g1Ka8_CHiS8KdkxHOWw<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

How College Professors Turned Into Uber Drivers<\/h1>\n
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Our system of higher education has also been, in a sense, gigafied, and it has yielded similar results. College teaching, once a middle-class profession, increasingly leaves its practitioners in poverty. Hidden behind glossy brochures with photos of Frisbee games on the college lawn and students at work in the library are the underpaid and overworked adjunct faculty who teach most of America\u2019s undergraduates.<\/p>\n

In his new book, The Adjunct Underclass<\/i>, <\/i>Herb Childress describes why colleges and universities turned to a contingent workforce, and the consequences this shift has had. A former adjunct himself, Childress explains how this system has left adjuncts impoverished and heartbroken. He relates, for example, the experience of Ellen Tara James-Penney, an adjunct at San Jose State University, to illustrate the difficult circumstances of the poorly paid PhD. James-Penney \u201coften drives to a parking lot to grade papers. When it\u2019s dark, she\u2019ll use a headlamp from Home Depot so she can continue her work. At night, she\u2019ll repark in a residential neighborhood and sleep in her 2004 Volvo. She keeps the car neat to avoid suspicion.\u201d<\/p>\n

washingtonmonthly.com\/magazine\/april-may-june-2019\/how-college-professors-turned-into-uber-drivers\/#.XKt8aP05iYo.email<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Morning Report: Explosive Docs Show Officials Failed to Act Over Problem Teacher for Years<\/h1>\n

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If it wasn\u2019t for an obscure state agency that handles teacher credentialing, we still might not know about the extent to which students had complained a La Jolla High School teacher groped and harassed them \u2014 and how little the San Diego Unified School District did in response.<\/p>\n

We asked for records detailing complaints against LJHS teacher Martin Teachworth in 2015. We asked again in 2017. Over and over, the district told us it had no records.<\/p>\n

Now, it says it discovered them in an abandoned room. And what they show is shocking.<\/a> School police determined one interaction Teachworth had with a student in 2003 rose to the level of criminal behavior. Yet he was never disciplined.<\/p>\n

In the 2012-2013 school year, a stream of students and parents came forward to report similar accusations: that Teachworth had touched, grabbed, tickled or groped students. Though district officials brought in police and lawyers, again, they did not discipline Teachworth.<\/p>\n

Only when two former students who say the school ignored their complaints went directly to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing did something start to happen. That agency, it turns out, has subpoena power.<\/p>\n

When it served San Diego Unified with a legal request for its records on Teachworth, the district had a different response than it did the many times VOSD asked. This time, it had them.<\/p>\n

Teachworth retired in 2017, but the credentialing commission is nonetheless weighing whether to revoke his credential.\u00a0 www.voiceofsandiego.org\/topics\/news\/morning-report-explosive-docs-show-officials-failed-to-act-over-problem-teacher-for-years\/?utm_source=Voice+of+San+Diego+Master+List&utm_campaign=5d6823103d-Morning_Report&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c2357fd0a3-5d6823103d-81862829&goal=0_c2357fd0a3-5d6823103d-81862829<\/a><\/p>\n

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Woman says Michigan State used ‘scare tactic’ to silence rape allegations against basketball players<\/h1>\n

A Michigan State senior went public Thursday with her allegations that the university tried to scare her from pursuing an alleged rape case against three basketball players.<\/p>\n

Bailey Kowalski went in front of cameras and answered questions in East Lansing a day after speaking to The New York Times, attaching her name<\/a><\/strong> to a lawsuit filed against MSU last year<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

She said she wanted to speak publicly on the four-year anniversary of the rape because she’s graduating in May and no longer feels afraid.<\/p>\n

“I know that there are others who exist, and they, too, have been afraid,” Kowalski said. “I want to be an example for them.”\u00a0 www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/woman-says-michigan-state-used-scare-tactic-to-silence-rape-allegations-against-basketball-players<\/a><\/p>\n

Wayne State doctors: School skimmed $60M in Medicaid aid<\/h1>\n

Groups representing Wayne State University pediatricians, heart and vascular doctors, anesthesiologists and other specialists\u00a0are accusing the university of improperly taking of tens of millions in Medicaid funds that they say they are owed but never received.<\/p>\n

One group alone \u2014\u00a0University Pediatricians, representing\u00a0220 pediatricians at DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan \u2014\u00a0argues Wayne State’s School of Medicine has shortchanged it by as much as over\u00a0$60 million over the past seven years.<\/p>\n

It has asked a Detroit federal bankruptcy judge to review\u00a0how the Medicaid funds were distributed as part of an insolvency case for\u00a0another university-affiliated\u00a0physicians group through which the federal money is funneled to other doctors’ groups.<\/p>\n

Other groups, including Northstar Anesthesia of Michigan, Heart & Vascular Consultants, ARK Cardiovascular & Arrhythmia Center and others, have also registered concerns, according to court filings.\u00a0 The Medical Center Emergency Services physician group submitted a claim to the bankruptcy court that it is owed more than $20.7 million.\u00a0 www.detroitnews.com\/story\/news\/local\/michigan\/2019\/04\/09\/wayne-state-doctors-school-skimmed-60-m-medicaid-aid\/3380184002\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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Is the U.S. a Democracy? A Social Studies Battle Turns on the Nation\u2019s Values (no smart people involved)
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Michigan spent five years debating how to teach American history. One of the biggest questions was how to describe the nation\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

Bruising political fights are usual business in Becky Debowski\u2019s eighth-grade social studies classroom. From a model Constitutional Convention to a bare-knuckle debate in Congress over slavery, she regularly has students assume roles of partisans throughout American history, like Abraham Lincoln and John C. Calhoun.<\/p>\n

After the exercises, the class comes back together to debate whether the nation lived up to what the state of Michigan calls \u201ccore democratic values,\u201d such as equality, liberty and diversity.<\/p>\n

For decades, the values have been the heart of the state learning standards in social studies, a doorstop of a document that guides what teachers of history, civics, economics and geography cover in their lesson plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of my students,\u201d Ms. Debowski said. \u201cThey can handle the complexity.\u201d So she was angry last year when she learned of a proposed revision of the state standards, in which the word \u201cdemocratic\u201d was dropped from \u201ccore democratic values,\u201d and the use of the word \u201cdemocracy\u201d was reduced.\u00a0 www.nytimes.com\/2019\/04\/07\/us\/usa-democracy.html?action=click&module=Top+Stories&pgtype=Homepage&fbclid=IwAR3PVsrVVe8r7c8QG8YMj_d7-tFGcNdt_YPR6YsF3tC0eGiSzttGmJAZ8RQ<\/a><\/p>\n

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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US Army terminal missile defense system is headed to Eastern Europe<\/h1>\n
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So far only the Pacific region and, more recently, the Middle East have seen operational deployments of the U.S. Army\u2019s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system<\/a>, but now it\u2019s headed to Romania this summer, according to an April 11 U.S. European Command statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Questions have swirled for years on when, where and if THAAD<\/a> would deploy to Europe, particularly as the situation on the eastern flank has heated up since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The THAAD system, according to the USEUCOM statement, will deploy this summer \u201cin support of NATO Ballistic Missile Defense\u201d \u2014 in other words, it\u2019s filling in for the operational Aegis Ashore missile defense system while it undergoes a \u201climited period of scheduled maintenance and updates.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Aegis Ashore in Deveselu, Romania, has been operational since 2016. It is part of the European Phased Adaptive Approach, or EPAA, designed to defend U.S. troops and its allies in Europe against possible ballistic missile attacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The EPAA consists of an AN\/TPY-2 radar in Turkey and two Aegis Ashore systems \u2014 one in Romania and one in Poland. The Polish system has been hit with delays due to construction issues at Redzikowo military base that are unrelated to the system\u2019s performance. It won\u2019t be operational until 2020.\u00a0 www.defensenews.com\/land\/2019\/04\/11\/us-army-terminal-missile-defense-system-is-headed-to-eastern-europe\/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ebb%2004.13.19&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief<\/a><\/p>\n

UN Lifting Sanctions on Key Taliban Leaders to Support Negotiations<\/h1>\n

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All Taliban at Qatar office have been removed from the UN blacklist<\/span><\/header>\n<\/div>\n

According to sources within the Taliban movement, the UN has been steadily removing the names of their political leadership from the terror blacklist for the past nine months<\/a>. This is meant to facilitate ongoing US-Taliban peace talks.<\/p>\n

The removal from the blacklist is officially \u201ctemporary,\u201d and it\u2019s not exactly clear who all has been removed. Everyone at the Taliban\u2019s office in Qatar is removed from the list, and indications are everyone else involved in US talks has been as well.<\/p>\n

The UN has not confirmed this move at all, and neither has the Afghan government, but the reports present it as both a confidence-building measure as well as a practical necessity for organizing and holding talks.<\/p>\n

Talks between the US and Taliban have been making progress, and a deal is starting to come together, based around the US withdrawing from Afghanistan and the Taliban promising to keep ISIS and al-Qaeda out of the country in the future.\u00a0 news.antiwar.com\/2019\/04\/12\/un-lifting-sanctions-on-key-taliban-leaders-to-support-negotiations\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Navy drops all criminal charges against commander, junior officer in Fitzgerald collision cases<\/h1>\n
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By: <\/span> Geoff Ziezulewicz<\/a><\/span> <\/span> \u2003 <\/i> 3 days ago <\/span><\/div>\n
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Cmdr. Bryce Benson was in charge of the Fitzgerald when it collided with a merchant vessel in 2017, killing seven sailors. (Navy)<\/h4>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
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The Navy is expected Thursday to drop criminal charges against the commanding officer of the warship Fitzgerald<\/a> and another officer who were facing court-martial trials tied to the fatal 2017 collision with a merchant vessel, according to Navy officials and the family of one of the fallen sailors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Navy Times obtained a letter to the family of one of the sailors drowned in the disaster and it indicated that Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson<\/a> was dropping charges against the Fitz\u2019s skipper at the time of the collision, Cmdr. Bryce Benson<\/a>, and the tactical action officer, Lt. Natalie Combs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe cases are being dismissed for legal reasons that impede the continued prosecution of either officer,\u201d the message states.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Instead, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer will issue letters of censure to both officers, the message stated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Defense attorneys for Benson and Combs said they had not been officially notified about their clients\u2019 legal fates but the messages were confirmed to Navy Times by officials at the highest levels of the sea service.\u00a0 www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/04\/11\/navy-expected-to-drop-criminal-charges-against-fitzgerald-skipper\/<\/a><\/p>\n

More legal bombshells explode in war crimes case<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Following a Pentagon directive, in 2009 the Secretary of the Navy ordered his sea service to create a repository of war crimes allegations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Nearly nine years later, the Navy admitted that they never put anything in it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s empty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s one of the legal bombshells set to detonate Thursday morning in the ongoing war crimes prosecution of Navy Lt. Jacob X. \u201cJake\u201d Portier, who stands accused of covering up a string of war crimes involving fellow SEAL Team 7 Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward \u201cEddie\u201d Gallagher<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Email messages exchanged this week involving multiple attorneys at the Office of the Judge Advocate General at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., and Navy prosecutors in San Diego revealed that the war crimes repository is a shell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIn accordance with SECNAVINST 3300.1C the Office of the Judge Advocate General (OJAG) established a central repository in 2009 for alleged law of war violations by or against Navy personnel,\u201d wrote Lt. Cmdr. Aaron Waldo in one Tuesday message. \u201cThe repository does not currently contain any records.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Instead, combatant commanders worldwide and the U.S. Army retain these reports, plus the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Waldo wrote.\u00a0 www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/04\/11\/more-legal-bombshells-explode-in-war-crimes-case\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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2 Charges Dropped but Navy SEAL Still Faces Murder Count<\/h1>\n
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A <\/span>judge in San Diego has dropped two charges against a Navy SEAL accused of stabbing a teenage Islamic State prisoner in Iraq and posing with the corpse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The San Diego Union-Tribune reports Monday that the judge in the court martial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher dropped a count related to the officer’s battlefield re-enlistment ceremony next to the body. Also dropped was a charge related to Gallagher allegedly operating a drone over the corpse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gallagher attorney Colby Vokey calls those charges “character-smearing.”<\/p>\n

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A Navy spokesman, Brian O’Rourke, says that won’t affect the rest of the case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gallagher is still accused of stabbing the wounded fighter, firing on civilian crowds and shooting a girl and an elderly man during his 2017 deployment. He’s pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder.\u00a0 www.usnews.com\/news\/best-states\/california\/articles\/2019-02-04\/2-charges-dropped-but-navy-seal-still-faces-murder-count<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Japan: (another) Sailor kills woman, self in Okinawa<\/h1>\n
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A U.S. serviceman fatally stabbed a Japanese woman and then killed himself in Okinawa on Saturday, Japan\u2019s Foreign Ministry said, amid growing resentment about the presence of American troops in the southwestern Japanese region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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U.S. Forces Japan<\/a> said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service <\/a>was working with local police to look into the deaths of a U.S. Navy sailor assigned to a Marine unit and an Okinawa resident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis is an absolute tragedy and we are fully committed to supporting the investigation,\u201d it said in a statement, adding that more information would be released later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Japan\u2019s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeo Akiba <\/a>telephoned U.S. Ambassador William Hagerty, asking for cooperation with the investigation and efforts to prevent a recurrence, and expressed \u201cextreme regrets,\u201d the Foreign Ministry said.<\/p>\n

Although Okinawa makes up less than 1 percent of Japan\u2019s land space, it hosts about half of the 54,000 American troops stationed in Japan, and is home to 64 percent of the land used by the U.S. bases in the country under a bilateral security treaty.\u00a0 People there have long complained about crime, noise and the destruction of the environment.\u00a0 www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/04\/13\/japan-sailor-kills-woman-self-in-okinawa\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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Three Veterans Die by Suicide in Five Days at Veterans Affairs Facilities<\/h1>\n

Three veterans died by suicide in a five-day span at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, prompting a response from Capitol Hill. Two veterans died by suicide in Georgia, and another shot himself in the waiting room at a VA clinic in Austin, Texas. \u201cThose deaths did not go by me without noticing them, nor has it gone by me that we have a job to do,\u201d said Sen. Johnny Isakson, (R-GA). The Trump administration\u2019s VA has failed to spend millions of dollars<\/a> that were allocated for suicide prevention, according to\u00a0a recent report\u00a0by the Government Accountability Office. VA officials have left millions of dollars available for outreach campaigns in 2018 untouched and severely cut back on their advertising efforts. According to a report by The Washington Post<\/a><\/em>, 19 suicides occurred on VA property between October 2017 and November 2018. \u201cEvery one of these is a gut-wrenching experience for our 24,000 mental health providers and all of us that work for VA,\u201d said Richard Stone, executive in charge of the Veterans Health Administration.\u00a0 www.thedailybeast.com\/three-veterans-die-by-suicide-in-five-days-at-veterans-affairs-facilities<\/a><\/p>\n

Hundreds witness veteran shoot and kill himself in VA waiting room<\/h1>\n
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A horrific scene unfolded Tuesday in the waiting room of an Austin, Texas, Veterans Affairs clinic when a veteran reportedly shot himself to death in front of hundreds of witnesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Despite the commotion, many in the building remained unaware of what had occurred for some time after the shooting, KWTX News 10<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One group therapy class even continued on for almost an hour after the shot was fired.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAll of a sudden, over the intercom, they have this statement about everyone must clear the building including staff, so it was a little surprising,\u201d veteran Ken Walker told News 10.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Once vacant, the hospital was locked down for an investigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reddit user Diane_Kirkendall<\/a> shared a photo reportedly taken in the waiting room in the wake of the suicide.\u00a0 www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/04\/11\/hundreds-witness-veteran-shoot-and-kill-himself-in-va-waiting-room\/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Socialflow+MAR&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR3KYyMwKYiNEy471phhtkiwWf1U3V06QrJo2670rKJE6gNNt9Qs0XMFrG8<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Marine shot and killed fellow Marine at South Carolina air station<\/h1>\n

A Marine was shot and killed by a fellow service member on Friday night at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina, Corps officials announced on Saturday.<\/p>\n