Your weekly dispatch from the world of higher education....
"The San Bernardino, California, mass shooting is now being investigated as "an act of terrorism," FBI official David Bowdich said Friday. Bowdich said the FBI "uncovered evidence ... of extreme planning."
FBI Director Comey on #SanBernardino attack: ‘This is now a federal terrorism investigation led by the FBI.’ pic.twitter.com/l9fQlRIhqg
— ABC News (@ABC) December 4, 2015
Because we're officially in some bizarro world, even Chris Hayes seems to get it:
This is why people were so intent on calling the Planned Parenthood shooting terrorism. With that one word, everything changes.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 4, 2015Baltimore Police Officer William G. Porter told investigators that he saw no reason to call a medic for Freddie Gray, but was poised to take him to a hospital for treatment. ... Porter said he knew Gray from prior interactions and that he had a reputation for being difficult to arrest. He said Gray seemed lethargic, but responded to questions and did not articulate a specific medical problem. "I said, 'What's your deal, what's wrong with you. .. He doesn't say anything, just 'help,'" Porter told the investigators. Later, he said, "He doesn't ask to go to the hospital ... I offer, he says yes."Yesterday, according to CNN, Police Instructor Alice Carson Johnson had testified that "If you recognize someone needs medical assistance, always call 911 or EMS. A police officer is provided with the ability through appropriate training to make a determination if someone is in a medical emergency." Upon cross-examination, however, she conceded that someone like Freddie Gray who is verbally complaining that they could not breath, and who was therefore necessarily speaking, most certainly must also be breathing.
The lawsuit names as defendants various federal entities such as the Department of State, Secretary of State John Kerry, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, as well as International Rescue Committee, Inc., a nonprofit organization involved in refugee resettlement. According to the the complaint, the Refugee Act of 1980 (8 U.S.C. § 1522) “establishes a framework for collaboration and cooperation” between the federal government, state and local governments, and volunteer nonprofit organizations, and also requires that the federal government and these private groups “shall consult regularly” and work “in close cooperation and advance consultation” with the states about “the sponsorship process and the intended distribution of refugees among the States and localities before their placement in those States and localities.” The Texas HHSC was told during a phone call with International Rescue Committee that the group intended to resettle two families of Syrian refugees — a total of six people — in Dallas, Texas this week, possibly as early as Thursday, December 3. However, as the complaint alleges, neither this nonprofit group nor the federal government have met their obligations under the Refugee Act of 1980 to consult with Texas about these refugees. Therefore, Texas is demanding that the court order the federal government and International Rescue Committee to comply with the law by consulting with Texas and providing the requested information, and to block the resettlement of these Syrian refugees until that occurs.Friday, Paxton withdrew the complaint:
It soon became clear that for many people the problem had became an “us against them” battle, separate groups vs. integrated, whites vs. blacks. Though ‘The Movement’, which is a student group that hung fliers and wrote in chalk on Martin’s Way, the main path through campus, in favor of minorities on campus, said that it wasn’t a black and white issue, multiple accounts during the meeting made it clear that many people had felt it was.The recent revelation that "The Movement" issued a list of 83 Demands has caused more racial turmoil on campus.
We’ve had a massive decline in gun violence in the United States. Here’s why. Premeditated mass shootings in public places are happening more often, some researchers say, plunging towns and cities into grief and riveting the attention of a horrified nation. In general, though, fewer Americans are dying as a result of gun violence — a shift that began about two decades ago.
Thursday’s vote was a major event in the Senate, as Democrats never allowed a standalone vote on an ObamaCare repeal bill when they controlled the chamber. Democrats were also unable to block the GOP measure, which was brought to the floor under budget reconciliation rules that prevented a filibuster. “For too long, Democrats did everything to prevent Congress from passing the type of legislation necessary to help these Americans who are hurting,” McConnell said on the floor. “Today, that ends.”If by some miracle this bill actually gets a signature from President Veto, Obamacare and it's reign of health insurance premium terror will be dead. Mostly.
It was a variation on the theme, "when seconds count, the police are only minutes away."
Now a Sheriff in Ulster County, NY, north of New York City, has urged residents to do the same in light of recent terror attacks like that in San Bernardino.
The local CBS News affiliate reports:
All licensed handgun owners in Ulster County should carry their pistols. That’s the message Thursday from the Ulster County Sheriff. Ulster County is located about two hours north of New York City.
Three white women (all over the age of 50) Three black men (all over the age of 50) Five black women (range of ages) One white man
And thanks to commenter Ragspierre: Additionally, three white men and one black man were chosen as alternates. As we emerge from day two of the Freddie Gray trial of Police Officer William Porter, we have yet to see a compelling narrative of guilt from the prosecution, particularly on the more serious charges brought against Porter.There is no live remote access to the court room, so the information below is largely obtained from the reporting of the Baltimore Sun newspaper:Porter's charges stem from his decisions not to seat-belt Gray in the back of the van despite his being handcuffed with shackles on his legs, or failing to provide him medical assistance when he requested it, prosecutors have said. Porter was not the van's driver, but responded to assist other officers with Gray at multiple stops on the van's route.Porter did not personally assist in Gray's arrest, nor was Porter responsible for the operation of the police van (that duty fell to the driver of that van Officer Goodson). Interestingly, jurors had the opportunity to actually inspect that police van today, when it was towed into the courthouse. Curiously, the Baltimore Sun reports that while the jurors were allowed to closely inspect the van, the vehicle itself was not entered into evidence. For 160 years (not a typo) the Baltimore Police Department left to the discretion of the officers on the scene whether to belt a suspect into a van (whether horse-drawn or motorized). In fact, while seatbelt use in passenger cars is now de rigueur, there are perfectly valid and rational reasons for not belting in a prisoner in a police van. In particular, that belting the prisoner in can lead to greater, not lesser, injuries in the event of a crash. (See my earlier post on this issue: Freddie Gray Case: Autopsy report further undermines prosecution.) Then, a mere week prior to Gray's arrest a new policy was promulgated by the Baltimore Police Department that all prisoners in vans were to be belted in. The prosecution in this trial has argued that Porter was "trained" in this policy, but it appears that "trained" in this context merely means that Porter was sent a single group email, one of scores officers receive from the department each day, and that was in no way particular noteworthy.
San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said investigators had not determined a motive for the shooting, in which 17 people were wounded. But an official at the FBI, which is working with local agencies, said he could not rule out terrorism as a motive.
Judicial Watch today released a new batch of emails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton connected to the Benghazi attack. Included is an email chain showing that Clinton slept late the Saturday after the Benghazi attack and missed a meeting that her staff had been trying to set up about sensitive intelligence issues, including the Presidential Daily Brief, on a day she was to make a slew of phone calls to foreign leaders.There was also an interesting detail in an email concerning Bowe Bergdahl's father's concern over "Crusader paradigm."
The documents contain an email passed to Clinton in the days following the Benghazi attack in which the father of alleged Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl anguishes over the “‘Crusade’ paradigm” which he says “will never be forgotten in this part of the world.”You may remember Mr. Bergdahl from Obama's over-the-top, tin-eared, and inappropriate Rose Garden ceremony announcing the exchange of Bowe Bergdahl, who has since been charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, for five top Taliban leaders.
Germany has struck a secret pact with Turkey for the European Union to take in as many as half a million Syrians currently living in Turkish refugee camps, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed. While EU officials were vociferously denying the suggestions of a secret deal with Ankara, they did not dispute that efforts are being made to manage the resettlement of Syrians in Europe more efficiently. Speaking in Budapest, Mr Orban said an EU agreement on the transfer of refugees from Turkey would be announced in Berlin on 3 December or the day after. “A nasty surprise lies in wait for Europe,” he said.
