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Trump Vows Teamwork with ‘Allies in the Muslim World’ to ‘Demolish and Destroy ISIS’ – Breitbart News

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

The vast majority of individuals convicted for terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside the country, the President noted, asserting that his administration would modify immigration procedures to ensure that officials identify individuals with ties to terrorist organizationsbefore they enter the country. It is not compassionate, but reckless, to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur, the President said, vowing strong measures to protect our nation from radical Islamic terrorism

We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America, he continued. We cannot allow our Nation to become a sanctuary for extremists.

Among the first actions President Trump took during his first month in officewas a temporary ban on entry for citizens from seven nations with significant security deficits. Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia, President Trumps administration asserted, suffered either from chaotic, war-torn infrastructure decay or systematic government oppression, such that their evaluations of citizens attempting to enter the United States could not be trusted. The move proved controversial, and the White House has vowed to implement an updated version after courts struck down the executive order earlier this month.

President Trump also mentioned the next steps in the war against the Islamic State in the groups strongholds in the Middle East. Trump referred to the terrorist group as a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered Muslims and Christians, and men, women, and children of all faiths and beliefs.

Wewill work with our allies, including our friends and allies in the Muslim world, to extinguish this vile enemy from our planet, he promised.

Cooperating with heads of state in the Middle East who are looking for an ally in the United States has been a priority for many within the Trump administration. Speaking with Breitbart News last week,Deputy Assistant to the President and former Breitbart News National Security editor Dr. Sebastian Gorka vowed that President Trump would reach out to two major Muslim allies in particular: Egypt and Jordan.

This administrations going to help the Jordanians, help the Egyptians, help them fight this war, Dr. Gorka said, adding that ignoring the doctrinal roots of radical Islam hurts Muslims who are on the front lines with the jihadis the most.

Egypts president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has repeatedly called for an Islamic reformation and challenges within the Muslim community against radical Islamic clerics and terrorist recruiters, most notably in a 2015 speech calling for a religious revolution against those who use Islam to condone violence.

Similarly, Jordans King Abdullah II has warned that the world has already entered a third World War against the outlaws of Islam. Speaking to the United Nations in 2015, he urged leaders in the Middle East, in particular, to amplify the voice of moderation against the organized propaganda efforts of groups like the Islamic State. Visiting the new Trump administration in late January, Abdullah reportedly urged the Trump administration to take a harder lineagainst radical Islam than its predecessor.

President Trump began his remarks tonight acknowledging Black History Month, and condemning hate in all its forms in reaction to a series of attacks and threats on Jewish institutions in the past week.

Read President Trumps full prepared remarks for Tuesdays Joint Session of Congress here.

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Trump Vows Teamwork with 'Allies in the Muslim World' to 'Demolish and Destroy ISIS' - Breitbart News

Freedom House: Chinese Communists Intensifying Religious … – Voice of America

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

The Chinese Communist Party has "intensified" its persecution of religious practitioners in recent years under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and the ramifications are being felt well beyond the boundaries of religious policy, according to the U.S.-based Freedom House nonprofit.

In a new report released Tuesday, the group said increased oppression from the Chinese government is creating a thriving "black market" for believers to practice their religion outside of the official institutions.

"The party's rigid constraints render it impossible for state-sanctioned institutions to meet the growing demand for religion in Chinese society," said Senior Research Analyst Sarah Cook, the author of the report.

According to the article, Chinese authorities regularly jail believers for long periods, or engage in sustained violence against certain communities to exert control over illicit religious practices. At least 100 million Chinese, or about one third of the country's population, face "high" or "very high" persecution levels, the report said.

While the government is stepping up its religious restrictions with electronic surveillance at places of worship and imprisonment of those who share religious content on social media, Cook said the efforts illustrate "a remarkable failure," as an increasing number of people are worshipping underground and using tools to circumvent internet censorship.

"It reflects the party's difficulty in confronting citizens who are willing to make sacrifices for higher principles. From this perspective, it would appear that in the long-term battle for China's spirit, an unreformed Communist Party will ultimately lose," she said.

The report shows that China's persecution of religious believers stretches across various faiths, and includes Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Falon Gong practitioners, who face severe human rights violations from the Chinese Communist Party.

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Freedom House: Chinese Communists Intensifying Religious ... - Voice of America

Cayetano urges public to back resumption of war on drugs – Inquirer.net

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, a staunch ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, has called on the public to support the possible resumption of the governments war on drugs after it was ordered suspended last month.

It should now be our peoples war against drugs, not just President Dutertes drug war, because it is our fight for our families safety, rights and values. We thank the President for reiterating his commitment to ending our countrys perennial problem on illegal drugs, Cayetano said in a statement.

A successful anti-drug campaign will mean fewer crimes and more peaceful communities, with our families as the biggest gainers in the process. This is our peoples war on drugs, our fight for the right of every family to a peaceful and safe community, to uphold the right of every peace-loving Filipino to be protected, he added.

Cayetano also called on professional and decent law enforcers to continue to be vigilant to prevent rogue cops from pursuing their criminal activities in the guise of the war on drugs.

Duterteon Tuesdaysaid he would have to call some of the police back to his war on drugs. He said he would leave it to the PNP whether to resume its Oplan Tokhang.

PNP chief Dir. Gen. Ronald Bato Dela Rosa earlier said the police force was ready to resume its antidrug operations following reports that drug perpetrators were supposedly back on the streets during the campaigns suspension.

Duterte suspended the war on drugs in January at the height of controversy surrounding the murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo inside police headquarters in Camp Crame. JE

De Lima: Putting police back in war on drugs reckless, arrogant – Philippine Star

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

MANILA, Philippines Detained Sen. Leila De Lima criticized the governments decision to restart its renewed war on drugs, saying the problems that led to its suspension have not been addressed.

De Lima described as the height of arrogance the governments plan to lift the suspension of police operations against drug peddlers and traffickers without addressing the defects in in its anti-narcotics campaign.

The senator, detained at the custodial center in Camp Crameon drug charges, said that the government should heed the advice of local and global experts against problems in its war on drugs program such as police corruption and lack of an accountability system meant to check police abuses.

Itd be the height of arrogance if our government would resume its most murderous war on drugs without correcting its defects, without getting rid of corrupt policemen, and without making them accountable for their crimes, De Lima said.

Like many of you know, the illegal drug abuse and trafficking present a persistent problem not only for the Philippines but also for other countries. We are against drug trade, but we should not allow innocent people summarily killed, she added.

President Rodrigo Duterte announced on Tuesday that he was tapping the police again in his drug war because of lack of manpower.

Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

The president bared that he had ordered PNP Director General Ronald Dela Rosa to recruit young men imbued with the fervor of patriotism to be members of police groups that would run after drug syndicates.

Every station should have one (task force) pero piling pili, yung walang kaso at walang history ng corruption (they will be selected thoroughly, they should have no cases and no history of corruption), he said.

I have to do it because kulang ako ng tao (I lack manpower), the chief executive admitted.

This rebooted war on drugs by the government however will be different from its previous version because of the involvement of another element: the military.

The Armed Forces of the Philippinessigned a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency making it the campaigns force provider.

The military will aid PDEA in going after high-value targets and help the agency in activities such as counterintelligence, investigation and neutralization of persons involved in the drugs trade.

This move from the AFP came despite warnings from the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the United States would be forced to suspend its military aid should the military become part of the drug campaign.

De Lima said that allowing the PNP to resume its anti-drugs operations would be a reckless move on the part of authorities.

It is reckless, to say the least, to allow the resumption of the anti-drug operations of the Philippine National Police which is more interested in the incentives given them than in investigating and preventing death-squad- style killings, De Lima said.

She said that the government should discard its Double Barrel Project and come up with a better program that respects and protects human rights of individuals, including suspected drug offenders.

The present war on drugs is a dismal failure because there were innocent individuals who were summarily killed, those who were apprehended were not accorded due process of the law, and only the poor were targeted, she said.

De Lima also called on the government to have a look at the Alternate Report the Ateneo Human Rights Center submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

According to De Lima, the report underscored the defects in the governments anti-drugs program which claimed thousands of lives including those of innocent individuals and children who are treated as mere collateral damage in its campaign.

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De Lima: Putting police back in war on drugs reckless, arrogant - Philippine Star

The Liberator: Susan Burton on the War on Drugs, Black Motherhood and Freedom – The Root

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Editors note: Drug policy is race policy. To honor drug-policy reformers on the front lines, for Black History Month, the Drug Policy Alliance, in partnership with The Root, is bringing you the stories of four phenomenal people who have been instrumental in shaping conversations around drug policy and its lethal effects on black communities around the country. To launch the series, we spoke with Wanda James, CEO of the Denver-based cannabis dispensary SimplyPure. Next, we spoke with Columbia University professor Samuel K. Roberts Jr. about the history of the drug war and how it violently pierces black history in the United States. Here, we bring you the story of Susan Burton, founder and executive director of A New Way of Life Reentry Project.

In 1981, Susan Burtons 5-year-old son, her baby, ran into the street outside their home in South Los Angeles and was killed when a Los Angeles police officer struck him with his car.

And he kept going.

The policeman never even stayed around, Burton, 64, told The Root. It was almost like it was a hit-and-run. And all I knew is when I was sitting in the hospital, a whole army of police officers descended into the hospital.

They never ever ever even said, Ms. Burton, Im sorry, Burton said, hurt and anger still evident in her voice. And that just added, you know, another layer of pain and feeling like ... like, worthless that these people didnt even acknowledge me.

Burton could not escape her grief, so she sought refuge in crack cocaine, the only relief she could find from an all-encompassing, debilitating pain that no mother should ever have to bear. And for nearly 20 years, she spiraled in addiction as she cycled in and out of prison on nonviolent drug charges.

In 1997, as Burton exited prison for the sixth time, a prison guard said, Ill see you back in a little while.

She would not return, but her road would not be easy.

Burton could not find a job because of her criminal record. She could not access food stamps or housing assistance. Determined to stay drug-free despite the immense hardships she faced, she entered into a rehabilitation facility, and upon her release, a friend helped her find a job caring for an elderly woman.

And a vision was born.

Burton knew there were other women like her in need of assistance, love and support to navigate a world slowly killing them from the inside. So she began inviting women she knew who had been recently released from prison to stay at her home in South Los Angeles.

She transformed her home into a refuge, a warm place to heal and start over. In 2000 she incorporated her growing efforts into A New Way of Life Reentry Project, which currently assists 32 women and about four children re-enter society with the support system they need. Since 1998, the organization has helped more than 1,000 women discover a new way of life, serving about 60 women per year.

Black women, in particular, have to fight to be mothers in a white supremacist society we were not meant to survive free. We have to fight to raise our children in relative safety, to provide for them, to feed them and clothe them, to educate them, to love them in a society that threatens to snatch their lives away from us while we reach for them with desperate hands.

So, what happens when you compound these conditions with the carceral state and the drug war in which black women are primary targets, not simply adjacent to the criminalization of black men? What happens when we are pathologized as bad mothers, unstable mothers, unworthy mothers?

What happens when our lives become fathomless pits of institutionalized cruelty, grief and despair, and drugs offer the only fleeting relief available?

Every time I was released, I swore I wasnt going back, said Burton in a 2010 CNN interview. But I know now that without the resources and support, its next to impossible. ... If you dont have a new door to walk through, the only thing is the old door.

In the conversation below, Burton talks about the stigma placed on black mothers, the institutional barriers black women face trying to access freedom for themselves and, if they have them, for their children, and how whiteness functions with deliberate cruelty.

The Root: Addiction and poverty are symptoms of the malignancy of white supremacy, but society, especially when it comes to black women, never wants to treat the disease, it wants to criminalize the people suffering from it. Speak to those issues that black women face on an intimate level.

Susan Burton: What I see overall is poverty in this country treated as a weakness and people who are impoverished are used by other people to enhance their wealth. For instance, in my community, there are places with payday loans on every corner. There is over-policing and excessive use of force and just excessive police presence and lack of services, trauma services, services to address violence. So everything is always met with a gun or handcuffs by law enforcement.

And I mean, theres just better ways to address the poverty, which is a symptom of everything else. Poverty produces symptoms of other things like drug use and violence. People want to escape through drug use. And instead of treating and supporting people to divert them from drug use or understanding that this is their bodyand what they put in their body you should not be able to control it or demonize it or criminalize itthey are punished. Punishment on top of suffering.

TR: I completely respect and understand that this may be difficult for you to discuss, and I dont want to place an emotional burden on you at all. So, if we can, Id like to talk about your son. You began to self-medicate, and that path led you into the criminal-justice system?

SB: When I was suffering the grief and loss of my son, you know, I medicated that. It felt like there was a, just a ball of nothing, nothingness, painful nothingness, in my center, and see, it was a policeman that killed my son. It was an LAPD detective that killed my son. I felt so angry and hurt that they never even acknowledged it, never even acknowledged me and what they took from me. My son.

TR: Im thinking right now about reproductive justice. You had an LAPD officer take your son from you, steal your sons life from you, from him, and then you have them killing us, gunning down our children in the streets, and then you have them criminalizing parents in these conditions that this white supremacist societythat hates women, hates blackness, hates povertycreates in the first place. And then you have police officers with a license to kill.

SB: Yes, and then, speaking on reproductive justice, they are locking us up in our reproductive years. So many men and women are locked up through their reproductive years. Its genocidal, what theyre doing. And out here in California, 6 percent of the overall population is black women, but black women make up 29 percent of the prison population. It is genocidal.

(Editors note: From fiscal years 2005-06 to 2012-13, the state of California sterilized women without proper consent, a state audit found. At least 35 black women were sterilized during this time period, but the number is potentially much higher. Most of the women who were coerced into undergoing tubal ligation had low education levels and had been pregnant multiple times. California banned forced sterilization in 1979.)

TR: Also, the system is so quick to label black women as bad mothers.

SB: Exactly. I have a woman here, Ingrid, who just got out of prison. She ran into the store to grab milk and Pampers for her baby, and came back out and got arrested for child endangerment. She was sent to prison for three years. Still in the midst, I believe that what she was suffering from was postpartum depression. The way black women with mental-health issues are treated in this country is just horrible.

TR: Some years ago, I reported on a black mother, Frankea Dabbs, who was clearly suffering from mental illness after experiencing immense trauma in her life. She left her 10-month-old daughter on a subway platform and was instantly vilified. But we have white women who kill their children and empathy is widespread. And, according to a 2009 study conducted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health study:

The rates of mental-health problems are higher than average for black women because of psychological factors that result directly from their experience as black Americans. These experiences include racism, cultural alienation, and violence and sexual exploitation. ... African Americans in low-income, urban communities are at high risk for exposure to traumatic events, including having relatives murdered and their own experience with physical and sexual assaults, all of which are associated with the onset of post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression.

SB: And that depression, that grief, often leads to drug abuse, right? And you know, those drugs just didnt pop up in our community. They were sent to our community. Im really clear that, that the amount of drugs that came into our community didnt come in there by our community members. You know, this was a deliberate tearing apart of our black community. And everything theyve done to us has been deliberate.

And Im watching now, the opiate use by other folks and, all of a sudden, its, Oh, we have a health problem here. But with the cocaine use, we had a criminal problem. So Im watching that and saying, you know, this is what they do. This is what white folks do, you know, they criminalize black people, they offer support to other people. Ive watched the breaking down of our family structures through incarceration and separation and criminalization of our communities.

I remember in a movie I saw, it may have been Roots, and I remember the woman saying, Master, master please dont sell my baby. Master, master please, Ill do anything, dont take my baby. And I watch black women go through the court system and they say, Judge, judge, please let me have my baby back, Ill do anything. Judge, judge please let me have my baby back.

And because a woman is criminalized doesnt mean she is unfit or shes not a good mom. But I watch that judge, regardless of what that woman tries to do in dire, dire circumstances, not give that woman back custody of her child. And its heart-wrenching and its heartbreaking.

TR: And thats another way the criminal injustice system robs black women of motherhood.

SB: So, what do you do? Where do you run to? That woman is pretty much powerless to do anything but curl up in a ball or self-medicate, right? So, you know, I know what it feels like to lose a child. But sometimes, its that that child gets put in the foster care system and, many times, they end up feeling abandoned, no love, and they self-medicate that pain, too. I see the breaking, the criminalization, the hurt and the pain through these systems that is just, oh, its unconscionable.

TR: And that leverage is also used to assault black women, right? Sexual assault is the second-highest reported form of police brutality after excessive force, and women of color are more likely to be attacked. So, you look at someone like [former Oklahoma City Police Officer] Daniel Holtzclaw, who targeted women like you, with prior charges. He targeted black women that he knew were vulnerable, black women (and one black girl) who were fearful of the criminal-justice system, and he raped them.

SB: This goes on, and I know that you know that to law enforcement, black women are criminal. At every level, they abuse women, whether its rape, you know, whether its strip searches, whether its dehumanizing them. I walk into a jail now to visit women, and the women are trained to turn from me and look at the wall. And I just want to cry for them. So all of these are forms of violence and dehumanization. All of them.

TR: You said something earlier about how society should not police what people put into their bodies, and thats such an important point. We talk about the shame and the stigma attached to what is put into our bodies. They will criminalize the body; they will shackle the body, and they will do all these things to control us, as opposed to looking at this system that really needs to be broken, because its functioning exactly as its supposed to. They wont address poverty, but theyll police those living in poverty. They wont address public schools that are intentionally allowed to fail in the service of privatization, but they will keep the school-to-prison pipeline running smoothly.

SB: Thats exactly it. It is a system that needs to be interrupted. When I, when my son died, the grief, the pain that I was in, you know, I needed something to help me cope with that. Ive seen people in physical pain, and Ive seen people in dire mental distress. The level of grief I was in, I needed something to deal with that pain, that rage. I dont know what Id have done to get through that. So I used drugs; I used until I found another solution.

I was never offered help when I stood in front of the judge and told them what had happened in my life. They hit the gavel and sent me to prison, had me stripped down and inspected like a slave. Handcuffed and sent me to work for 8 cents an hour.

I know that given my circumstances, there could have been services and trauma centers available to help me through such a difficult time, but there was not. So what I do now is free women up from that same system. If I can, I help them get their baby back; I do that. I take them to court. I write letters. I stand in front of that judge. I help them meet that court requirement.

Because what I know is, I cant get my baby back, but I can help another woman get hers. I cant take back the years, the time stolen from me, but I can stop another woman from giving all of her years. And thats what I do.

There once lived a woman with deep brown skin and black hair who freed people from bondage and ushered them to safety. She welcomed them to safe homes and offered food, shelter, and help reuniting with family and loved ones. She met them wherever they could be found and organized countless others to provide support and aid in various forms so they would not be recaptured and sent back to captivity. This courageous soul knew well the fear and desperation of each one who came to her, seeing in their eyes all the pain she felt years ago when she had been abused and shackled and finally began her own journey to freedom.

Deep in the night she cried out to God begging for strength, and when she woke she began her work all over again, opening doors, planning escape routes, and holding hands with mothers as they wept for children they hoped to see again. A relentless advocate for justice, this woman was a proud abolitionist and freedom fighter. She told the unadorned truth to whomever would listen and spent countless hours training and organizing others, determined to grow the movement. She served not only as a profound inspiration to those who knew her, but as a literal gateway to freedom for hundreds whose lives were changed forever by her heroism.

Some people know this woman by the name Harriet Tubman. I know her as Susan. Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, from Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women (May 2017)

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The Liberator: Susan Burton on the War on Drugs, Black Motherhood and Freedom - The Root

Trump Vows to Win War on Drugs, But Doesn’t Mention Marijuana … – AlterNet

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

AlterNet

Trump Vows to Win War on Drugs, But Doesn't Mention Marijuana ...
AlterNet
It kind of feels like 1972 again. In his inaugural address to Congress Tuesday night, President Trump echoed the ghosts of Richard Nixon and Ronald ...

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Trump Vows to Win War on Drugs, But Doesn't Mention Marijuana ... - AlterNet

Donald Trump Drug War Strategy | National Review – National Review

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Even five weeks after the inauguration, the president is still, as he demonstrated at CPAC, speaking in absolute terms of reducing crime and shutting down the sale and use of narcotics. Electorates make allowance for the exaggerated claims of politicians seeking election, and the media tend to overlook all but the greatest whoppers of inflated promises. But this president cant, as he as forcefully remarked, expect much fairness from the national media, and if he keeps promising draconian reductions in crime and especially drug abuse, and doesnt act accordingly, it will haunt him. The War on Drugs has largely been a fraud and a complete failure. After the imprisonment of nearly 7 million people and the spending of at least $1.5 trillion, narcotics are as readily available and as or more widely used and absorb more of the GDP than ever. And the United States is not blameless in the inflammation of virtual civil wars in Mexico, Colombia and elsewhere, though there were many other contributing causes in those countries.

Every informed person in America knows that if the entire enforcement apparatus of the United States were employed to prevent drug imports, all aircraft entering American air space illegally and delivering drugs would be shot down or seized on arrival with their air crews and cargoes. Though it would require a serious increase in personnel at border crossings, all entering vehicles and persons could be swiftly checked for the transportation of any sizeable quantities of drugs, and the Mexican frontier could have been sealed to smugglers and unauthorized migrants at any point since General Pershings (unsuccessful) punitive raid against Pancho Villa and others in 1916, by allocating a larger number of adequately equipped people to patrol it. Practically every university campus in America is awash with drugs and every upper-income neighborhood in every city has home delivery of illegal drugs, as reliably as the morning newspaper, and on a more flexible timetable, i.e., at any hour of the day or night requested by a paying customer.

Instead of conducting a serious war, which would entail a massive sweep of campuses and a severe interdiction of delivery, as well as a tight control of border points and the air approaches to the country, it has been easier, these 40 years, just to troll through African-American and Latino areas, round up users, give first offenders a soft ride for denunciations of their suppliers, and send 7 million of such easily replaceable people to prison on absurdly extreme sentences, and masquerade as warriors against drugs. If the anti-drug war were conducted against white middle- and upper-income-area users, and the university students of America, with the same zeal it is waged against the non-white poor, the demand for and supply of drugs would decline sharply, the obscenely inflated number of incarcerated people would skyrocket, the ranks of students in institutions of higher learning would be thinned out sharply; and practically every elected official in the country would be impeached, recalled, or hammered at the polls.

Hypocrisy, selective permissiveness, and in-built failure are not the only problems with the War on Drugs. For the prevention campaign to be so porous, it is almost certain that there is a great deal of official corruption involved also. The legal system is such that anyone guilty of possession is effectively able to inculpate the alleged supplier, whether there is any truth in the denunciation or not. Grandstanding politicians have ensured heavy sentences, often by legislating themselves into the equation ahead of judges and requiring drastic mandatory minimum sentences, regardless of special circumstances, reducing judges who are (for the most part mistakenly) perceived to be a gang of indulgent, addled softies, to the role of rubber stamps.

The consequences of this phony war are not just to ensure that drugs are as pervasive as always, but to give the United States six to twelve times as many incarcerated people per capita as other prosperous democracies facing the same drug problems but applying less blunderbuss methods to them (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom). In 50 years, the United States has gone from the mid-point of those countries in terms of incarceration levels and only a somewhat high ratio of prosecutions that produce convictions to the appalling point where, with less than 5 percent of the worlds population, it has 25 percent of its incarcerated people, and 99 percent of prosecutions are successful, 97 percent without trial. A high proportion of the majority of incarcerated people are in state prisons and fester in barbarous conditions for unconscionably long sentences and no real effort is made to prepare them for a successful return to civil society. The prison system is infested with incompetent and maladjusted correctional officers, and the cost of housing this unseen host, even in miserable conditions, is about $150 billion a year.

I have written here and elsewhere before of my concern about the vagaries of the U.S. justice system, but am here concerned only with the new presidents promise to deal with the drug problem. There are, broadly speaking, two ways to do this. The president can use the armed forces and vastly increased border personnel to stop imports and go after users and suppliers in the middle class, including universities. Or he can legalize all drugs, require treatment for addicts to hard drugs, and tax the sale of marijuana and other less offensive drugs and transform them into a large source of revenue. This could assist the strapped states and municipalities, many of which are on the verge of insolvency, because they lack the federal governments ability to keep going with overt or disguised expansions of the money supply (as the Obama administration did, increasing 233 years worth of accumulated federal debt by 150 percentin eight years).

Marijuana may indeed be a gateway drug to worse substances, but Colorado and Oregon have already discovered the fiscal joys of the revenue it can produce, now that legalized pot is following the well-trodden path of liquor and gambling. All were long prohibited as incompatible with sober and virtuous behavior, diabolical temptations that public policy and Christian ethics required the state to defend the people against, until filthy lucre jostled out righteousness as the flavor of the sugar plums dancing in the heads of those who governed. The grace of conversion swiftly ensued: Liquor was wrested back from the gangsters and casinos sprang up all over. If President Trump really wants to reduce drug use, as he has often pledged as far back as New Hampshire, where he was apparently genuinely appalled to learn of the proportions of the problem in that state nothing short of a massive escalation of the forces applied to that end will achieve anything useful. Conditions are complicated by the fact that some of the strongest drugs can be created by children buying a variety of legal medicines and blending them in the correct proportions and conditions. This can be and is being done in every community in the country, and cannot be blamed on conditions in Mexico and has nothing to do with the borders.

The president will soon have to put up or shut up on this issue. He appears to have in mind a substantial increase in the countrys police forces, and the possible use of the Army or National Guard in Chicago and other cities with chronic problems of violence in some (minority) neighborhoods. Some such program as that, plus sealing the Mexican border, and tightening the screws partially on middle-class drug use would probably generate enough progress to represent to the country as delivering on his promises, if he didnt want to become radically more, or less, permissive. (And the country, though it wants radical results, may not, as has been mentioned, be ready for the methods that would produce them.) He could legalize marijuana and concentrate on more dangerous drugs, and pay for increased constabulary costs by releasing most of the countrys non-violent prison inmates and transferring them to a system of contributed work, Spartan living, and careful monitoring. The vacated prisons and jails could be cleaned up and repurposed as assisted housing for slum-dwellers. These problems are so profound and complicated, and have been the subject of sleazy political posturing for so long, that it is a disservice to toss off policy suggestions flippantly, but there are a number of plausible alternatives to the failed status quo.

It need hardly be said that both black and blue lives matter (and many police qualify on both counts), and that all lives are important. Americans can easily be persuaded that their urban ecosystems are degenerating into shooting galleries by and of the police. Those who wish the country and the administration well can only hope that serious planning is afoot. The sociological need is urgent and the political consequences of doing nothing about rising crime rates and the rampant illicit-drug industry would be so catastrophic they would obscure achievements in other areas. It will not take the presidents enemies in the media long to pounce on failure, and for once they would not be faking it.

Conrad Black is the author of Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom, Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full, and Flight of the Eagle: The Grand Strategies That Brought America from Colonial Dependence to World Leadership.

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Donald Trump Drug War Strategy | National Review - National Review

Bands I Pretended to Like for Boys. Part Ten: The War on Drugs … – TheStranger.com

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

If I like the record, why did I hate the show?

A boy I had a crush on several years ago, who also wrote about music, was pretty into the War on Drugs. It was during that sweet time when Kurt Vile was still in the band, a couple of years after the release of Wagonwheel Blues, which was critically lauded and total catnip for think pieces about authenticity and Americana's strong revivalist foothold in both psych and pop.

After we were done making out to the Walkmen's You & Me, he would set Wagonwheel Blues on his turntable and "Arms Like Boulders" would come on. Adam Granduciel and Kurt Vile would noodle, and Granduciel would sing about planets full of oil in the kind of spacey, Dylan-esque way that all music writers adored, and I would make out with this guy, genuinely enjoying myself.

Then a month or so later, he texted me.

"Hey, War on Drugs is coming to Hi-Dive [sic], want to go?"

I liked the record, I liked the dude, I said yes, and I went.

Like five lifetimes later, the show was overand I was left with one lingering question: If I like the record, why did I hate that?

What I Think Now: I totally pretended to like that show for that guy. That's part of the nuance. Because after that show, he was going on and on about how much he loved it and I wasn't self-assured enough to say what I really thought.

Which is that it was excessive. Look: Granduciel is talented, and the War on Drugs is a project that showcases his best skillscrafting introspective songs that don't sink into themselves and grooves that propel without losing steam, like some sort of perpetual motion machine.

But that man does not know when to stop a solo. I started to see, after standing for two hours staring blankly into the middle distance as the War on Drugs slowly morphed into a jam band before my eyes, that they need the limitations of a studio record to shine. Like many talented guitar players, if you give Granduciel an inch, he will play forever and ever, amen.

So, yeah, that's the problem. I like the War on Drugs. I do not like seeing the War on Drugs. And I trusted my own tastes so little that I saw them three more times, after their subsequent releases, and finally at the last show I turned to my friend and said, "I'm sleepy. I'm leaving."

It felt great. That weekend, I put on Slave Ambient and enjoyed it sitting down, sun coming in my window.

Self-awareness comes slowly, and it comes even more slowly for me. Much like a War on Drugs jam, it's a long journey to get to the point, but every part feels important. Unless you witness it livethen it's kind of a drag.

Was It Worth It: You can like something in some situations and not in others. You can not like something that everyone likes or says you're supposed to like. You can leave in the middle of a show if you're not enjoying yourself (just don't be a dick about it).

There is not just "I hate this" and "I love this," and a big part of me owning my own taste and asserting my own opinions was figuring out the gray area within them.

And never going to see the War on Drugs again.

Yes, it was worth it.

Bands I Pretended to Like for Boys. Part Ten: The War on Drugs ... - TheStranger.com

Video gambling plan could raise $90 million for Missouri coffers – STLtoday.com

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

JEFFERSON CITY Missouri could reap a $90 million per year jackpot if it allows slot machines in bars, truck stops and fraternal organizations, according to a new analysis of a gambling expansion proposal.

In addition to funneling more money to the state, members of a Senate panel Tuesday heard advocates say video gambling could generate an extra $20 million a year for local governments when as many as 15,000 machines are fully up and running by 2020.

The measure is being pushed by coin-operated vending machine companies, whove long wanted a chance to put terminals into local establishments over the objection of the states casino industry.

All this does is give small business a leg up. It gives them a chance to get in the game, said Tom Cobb, Acme Music & Vending Co. of St. Joseph.

The legislation sponsored by Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, would allow as many as five video gambling machines in taverns, restaurants and truck stops and as many as 10 machines for benevolent organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars or the Elks Club.

The plan would allow a maximum bet of $2 for each play and a maximum winning amount of $500.

A similar measure is pending in the House, where its sponsor said the states tight budget situation could make it an attractive time to generate cash without raising taxes.

Missouris 13 casinos are poised to fight the proposals, pointing to Illinois as an example of how video gambling in bars and truck stops has eroded the market share of casinos in the Land of Lincoln.

Mike Winter, executive director of the Missouri Casino Gaming Association, said Illinois casinos have seen a 13 percent reduction in revenue since terminals first began appearing in Illinois taverns in 2012.

We see this as significant, Winter told the Senate panel. Obviously people are taking advantage of playing at local facilities.

The plan would nearly double the number of slot machines in the state, from the current level of 17,650 to 32,650.

Supporters acknowledged slots in bars could hurt casinos.

They very well may lose a small amount of adjusted gross revenues, said Charles Andy Arnold, a lobbyist for J & J Ventures of Missouri, which also has operations in Illinois.

But, Arnold said, the plan also will create thousands of new jobs.

Sen. Jay Wasson, R-Nixa, expressed skepticism over the plan, suggesting video gambling could cannibalize the states gambling revenue.

Do you really think thats new money wed be getting? Wasson asked, adding hes never been a big fan of trying to generate money for schools via gambling.

Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican who has not previously served in elected office, has not publicly expressed a position on the measure.

The legislation is Senate Bill 452.

Be informed. Get our free political newsletter featuring local and national updates and analysis.

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Video gambling plan could raise $90 million for Missouri coffers - STLtoday.com

Otto: March is National Problem Gambling Awareness Month – Roanoke Times

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

How many of us have ever played some sort of a game of chance? A friendly wager among friends? A card game? The office March Madness pool? The impulse buy of a lottery ticket at the convenience store where you stop for gas?

For most people, this is not a problem. Gambling is, after all, one of the oldest of human activities. However, for some people gambling is as dangerous as a harmful drug. Gambling addiction can ruin lives. It can lead to bankruptcy, divorce, theft, prison and, in some cases, suicide.

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Otto: March is National Problem Gambling Awareness Month - Roanoke Times

UK Supreme Court Decides To Hear Phil Ivey’s Gambling Case – CardPlayer.com

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has agreed to hear Phil Iveys infamous high-stakes baccarat case.

Ivey won 7.8 million British pounds while playing at Crockfords Casino London in August 2012. Ivey and a playing partner were able to spot manufacturing defects, in the form of asymmetries, on the backs of playing cards to gain an edge on the unsuspecting house.

Ivey never touched the cards and though his edge sorting isnt cheating, the casino refused to pay that man his money. Crockfords has so far been successful in keeping it.

Ivey lost a court decision in October 2014. The 10-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner lost an appeal in November of last year.

The New Jersey native issued a statement Tuesday following the Supreme Courts decision to hear his case.

Last Novembers Court of Appeal ruling made no sense to me, Ivey said. The original trial judge ruled that I was not dishonest and none of the three Appeal Court judges disagreed, and yet the decision went against me by a majority of 2 to 1. I am so pleased that the Supreme Court has granted me permission to fight for what I genuinely believe is the right thing to do in my circumstances, and for the entire gaming industry. I look forward to the Supreme Court reversing the decision against me.

Iveys attorney Matt Dowd also issued a statement praising the Supreme Court.

Phil and his legal team are delighted that the Supreme Court judges have decided that the Court of Appeals decision should be reviewed, Dowd said. The Court of Appeals ruling left the interpretation of Section 42 of the Gambling Act totally unclear and the decision to grant permission to appeal demonstrates that the Supreme Court agrees with that view.

Crockfords is owned by Genting Casinos, one of the largest casino operators in the world.

Ivey is fighting in a similar case over in Atlantic City. He edge sorted against Borgata, the citys largest casino, and was recently ordered to repay about $10 million. Unlike Crockfords, Borgata paid Ivey out before realizing that he had outsmarted the game.

UK Supreme Court Decides To Hear Phil Ivey's Gambling Case - CardPlayer.com

New bill limits gambling activities to villages – The Guam Daily Post (press release) (registration)

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

A new bill has been introduced that maintains allowances for gaming or gambling facilities during village fiestas but limits these activities to the legal boundaries of the village hosting the fiesta.

Sen. Michael San Nicolas, the chairman of the legislative committee on rules and the bill's author, said the measure Bill 29-34 was meant to close a legal loophole that essentially allowed for the year-round operation of the casino facility in Tiyan, which is also used during the annual Liberation Carnival.

Village mayors can obtain a permit to conduct gaming activities during fiestas, but the law does not specify that such activities be confined to that village, San Nicolas said.

In early February, Jose Cruz, president of the anti-gambling group Linala Sin Casino, drew attention to the use of the Tiyan casino facility by several other villages during the latter part of 2016. Cruz, a former Guam Education Board member, stated that he believed there was a lack of accountability on how often gambling occurred at the casino and recommended that gambling events be held at the villages so that mayors can monitor the activities while giving residents the opportunity to"self-police their community."

Agana Heights Mayor and Mayors' Council of Guam (MCOG) President Paul McDonald said theTiyan facility was a convenient and cost-saving location for gambling activities. Hosting these events within the respective villages would call for the designation of certain areas, which may not be available, leaving mayors to possibly construct their own village venues for the occasional gambling event.

At over $2,000 per event, proceeds were minimal, according to McDonald, and were relegated back to the village hosting the gambling activity.

Not a 'crutch' for gambling

However, after an initial meeting with San Nicolas to talk about issues pertaining to the MCOG, the group's executive leadership appears to have placed its backing behind Bill 29.

"We discussed how we wanted to make sure that the village fiestas weren't being viewed as a crutch to run a year-round casino operation in Tiyan, and they agreed that that's not the perception they want to put out there," San Nicolas said.

"In consultation with them, we introduced this bill to make sure that any fiesta-related activities are taking place within the respective villages."

San Nicolas said he had not yet spoken to mayors outside the executive team about the bill.

McDonald said he felt the concerns were overblown and that by utilizing the Tiyan facility, the mayors believed they were limiting the exposure to gambling activities. However, he said he agreed with limiting such activities to the specific villages. The gaming activities had only occurred last year, McDonald added. Even without the use of the facility, mayors would try to find ways to raise funds for their villages, he said.

The bill is expected to be discussed today during a regular MCOG meeting.

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New bill limits gambling activities to villages - The Guam Daily Post (press release) (registration)

Why are pro sports teams interested in esports? It’s the gambling, for one – Polygon

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

We're live at the Game Developers Conference all week, with news, interviews and livestreams direct from San Francisco.

Andy Miller, chairman and co-founder of NRG Esports, said he thought the growth of gambling on esports was inevitable. In fact, he thinks its a big reason why professional sports teams are interested in the space at all.

Miller was sitting on a panel at the Game Developers Conference with other team owners, including Splyce CEO Marty Strenczewilk, Team Dignitas CEO Jonathan Kemp and Cloud9 board member Dan Fiden. During the question and answer portion of the panel, one audience member broached the topic of gambling. Miller seemed excited about the prospect of its growth, while the other panel members nodded along.

I think of gambling as in daily fantasy, Miller said. I think its going to be a big part of esports. I think, frankly, its one of the reasons why were seeing a lot of traditional sports teams interested in [the space]. Its a big opportunity.

A sort of land grab began in 2015 when NBA star Rick Fox paid more than $1 million for Gravity Gaming. In 2016, the Philadelphia 76ers became the first North American sports team to acquire an esports franchise, merging Team Dignitas and Team Apex under their banner. Then 2017 started with news that the NHLs Boston Bruins had invested in Splyce.

The trend, say the panelists, is likely to continue because of simple demographics. Its a fact that esports fans are younger and more engaged that traditional sports fans, and there are more of them every day.

One of the pillars of making money off them, Miller said, will be gambling.

[Pro sports teams] missed the opportunity with daily fantasy. The NFL should own fantasy football, and they dont. ... But, I think its an inescapable part of esports and could probably... be a real positive if harnessed for viewership.

Miller said that he saw skin trading and gambling in Valves Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as just the beginning.

I think we started a little bit with CSGO, we saw it start in the wrong way and I think it will come back in a way thats productive and safe.

Miller also said player unionization was just as inevitable as the growth of gambling.

Its just going so fast, Miller said. A few years ago, the teams were all run by the players on the team. Now, were talking about billionaires who own NFL teams. Its expansion. Its incredible.

Most of our players each have their own lawyer. ... So were starting to see with CSGO, the players getting together. And we welcome it, as owners. Its a really important thing. Because if theres a players union, then theres rules about contracts and theyll hold their contracts. Its really hard to hold a 16-year-old to his contract.

The rest is here:

Why are pro sports teams interested in esports? It's the gambling, for one - Polygon

Pasig raid nets 15 Chinese in online gambling ‘scam’ – Inquirer.net

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Fifteen Chinese nationals were arrested Monday night for alleged involvement in illegal online gambling in Pasig City.

The Anti-Cybercrime Group of the Philippine National Police also arrested a Filipino male during a raid on the office of YD International Inc. at Belvedere Tower, San Miguel Avenue.

We secured certification from Pagcor that they are not authorized for online gambling, said Supt. Jay Guillermo, leader of the raiding team.

The arrested Chinese nationals included 10 men and five women. The Filipino suspect was identified as Russellbert Yuzon Villar. The PNP-ACG conducted the raid after obtaining a search warrant issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court.

According to Guillermo, the suspects put up a website for online gamblers in mainland China. When you go up the building, you wont recognize what company it is because the names are in Chinese.

The suspects allegedly recruited Chinese nationals as employees and brought them to Philippines as tourists. Every three or six months, they will be going back to China to apply for a tourist visa and then come back here, Guillermo added.

The online players in mainland China were required to open an account with the website. Losses are automatically deducted while winnings are automatically added to the account. But if you win big, there is a big possibility they will shut down the website so you cannot claim your winnings anymore. It is considered a scam, he said.

We received complaints from (players from) other countries like China that they won but they were not able to claim their prize, he added. PHILIP C. TUBEZA

Continued here:

Pasig raid nets 15 Chinese in online gambling 'scam' - Inquirer.net

The euthanasia debate is polarised, yet shared concerns unite all sides – The Guardian

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Research funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that people were united in compassion for those with terminal illnesses. Photograph: Greg White/Reuters

Brigit Forsyth, the actor best know as Thelma in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? is currently playing a terminally ill musician on stage. Her character in Killing Time says shes a prime candidate for a one-way trip to Switzerland. Forsyth has disclosed that her GP grandfather helped dying patients end their lives and that she is in favour of euthanasia. Her comments are the latest in a long line of opinions on legalised assisted dying reported in the press, which has a habit of oversimplifying the complex arguments for and against. And this seems to be damaging our ability to hold meaningful public debate on the subject.

With this in mind, a study funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation sought the views of people with strongly opposed opinions on the matter. Participants in both groups included people with palliative care backgrounds, older and disabled people, those from organisations concerned with care and support and individuals from academic, social work and policy backgrounds.

What emerged is a surprising amount of common ground. People with apparently polarised views on legalising the right to die often shared areas of interest and concern. It is these areas that should form the basis for further public discussion, argues the report, Assisted Dying: Developing the Debate, which is published on Wednesday by the Shaping Our Lives network of user-led groups, service users and disabled people.

Shared concerns included clear agreement that palliative care for terminally ill people is inadequate. Whether for or against assisted dying, participants showed a willingness to discuss quality of life for terminally ill people, the value placed on good-quality care, and how to invest in and provide access to this care in the face of economic inequality.

Participants recognised that the debate on legalising assisted dying was taking place in an unequal society: we often place lower social value on older, sick, and disabled people. The research identified a willingness to discuss prevailing societal values, including the concept of being a burden on society; the value society placed on social care and support work; and our social attitudes towards death and dying. How should assisted dying be funded?, Where should it be performed?, and What methods and means of self-administering a fatal dose should be used?, were just some of the common questions raised.

Despite disagreement about the extent to which detailed processes and safeguards should be included in assisted dying legislation, participants from across the spectrum of opinion generally agreed that the how questions were not being discussed in enough depth.

Areas of shared understanding also emerged when respondents discussed ethical and existential ideas around death and dying, including the psychological aspects of pain and suffering, both for individuals and their loved ones. All participants had a wish to find the best way forward with compassion for people who are terminally ill, regardless of being for or against legalising assisted dying, the report concludes.

The study shows that the issues are far more complex than much of the public debate has so far allowed. Death and dying is a core issue for human beings, and public debate must reflect this. It is time to embrace the personal, social, policy and ethical issues that participants have highlighted.

Back in the theatre, Forsyths dying musician is visited by a young carer (Zoe Mills) who feels it is her duty to help put older people out of their misery. According to the reviews, she comes to realise that life and death is more nuanced.

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The euthanasia debate is polarised, yet shared concerns unite all sides - The Guardian

DJ’s assisted suicide stirs up Italy euthanasia debate – BBC News

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

BBC News

DJ's assisted suicide stirs up Italy euthanasia debate
BBC News
The debate has been especially passionate in a country where the Roman Catholic Church, which is deeply opposed to euthanasia, still holds great sway. The Church sees it as the morally unacceptable killing of a person - a violation of the law of God.
Fabiano Antoniani aka DJ Fabo ends his life in Swiss suicide clinic ...The Sun
Paralysed DJ euthanises himself at suicide clinic following horror ...Yahoo7 News
Italy: assisted dying debate reignitedeuronews
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DJ's assisted suicide stirs up Italy euthanasia debate - BBC News

Evanger’s expands recall because dog food may contain euthanasia drug – The Seattle Times

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

More dog food has been recalled because it may contain a deadly drug.

Evangers Dog and Cat Food announced Tuesday that it is expanding its recall of both Evangers and Against the Grain dog foods because the canned foods may be tainted with pentobarbital. The barbiturate is used to euthanize animals as well as in human executions and physician-assisted suicides.

The initial voluntary recall was announced earlier this month after five Washougal, Clark County, dogs became ill after eating Evangers Hunk of Beef products, and one died.

The expanded recall announced Tuesday includes:

Evangers Hunk of Beef; 12 ounce can; Item #776155

Evangers: Braised Beef; 12 ounce can; Item #776150

Against the Grain Pulled Beef; 12 ounce can; Item #776107

The three recalled products were made between December 2015 and January 2017, and have expiration dates of December 2019 through January 2021, according to Evangers. The products were distributed online and through independent pet stores nationwide.

How the deadly drug and horse meat got into the cans of dog food remains a mystery.

Evangers vice president has blamed his meat supplier for the problem. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspected the suppliers plant and found systems in place to keep euthanized animals out of the food stream, according to Food Safety News.

Evangers vice president Joel Sher told Petfoodindustry.com that along with pentobarbital, private laboratory results found horse DNA in samples of the Hunk of Beef dog food that were recalled Feb. 3. Against the Grain Pet Food recalled one lot of Against the Grain Pulled Beef with Gravy Dinner for Dogs on Feb. 14. Against the Grain is owned by members of the Sher family, according to Petfood Industry.

There is also an issue about the quality of meat Evangers used and the condition of its plants where the food is produced, according to the FDA.

FDA officials have said the Hunk of Beef meat did not come from a U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved supplier of human-grade meat, something that Evangers has claimed since 2003, according to Food Safety News.

And Petfood Industry says FDA inspectors also noted food-safety problems at Evangers Wheeling, Ill., plant where the dog foods are produced. Some of these issues included peeling paint and mold on the walls, lack of raw meat refrigeration, and an open sewer within 25 feet of food storage trailers, Petfood Industry says.

Sher has said he has contested those notes in a response to the FDA.

Evanger's expands recall because dog food may contain euthanasia drug - The Seattle Times

Last Wishes mobile pet euthanasia service adds storefront hospice for pets – Chron.com

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

By Carol Christian, Houston Chronicle

Last Wishes, a pet euthanasia service, has added a stationary hospice to its previously all-mobile business. The new center at 3036 Antoine Drive opened Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.

Keep clicking to see a gallery of some unusual last wishes of people near the end of their lives:

Last Wishes, a pet euthanasia service, has added a stationary hospice to its previously all-mobile business. The new center at 3036 Antoine Drive opened Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.

Keep clicking to see a gallery

Last Wishes, a pet euthanasia service, has added a stationary hospice to its previously all-mobile business. The new center at 3036 Antoine Drive opened Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.

Last wishes come in many forms. Some are more unusual than others.

Family time

Fictional

A final visit

Stopping time

The final wishes of Charles Peeples, a Seguin tow truck operator and owner, were granted when his hearse was given a final lift by his flatbed during his funeral procession on June 4, 2016.

A new home

Celebration

Devin Kohlman rests at his home in Port Clinton, Ohio after returning from a Cincinnati hospital. Kohlman, a boy whose last wish was to be home for his favorite holiday, has died, two weeks after his hometown welcomed him with a Christmas tree outside his window and a motorcycle-riding Santa Claus. Devin, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in the summer of 2012, died Monday, Nov. 11, 2013 in the afternoon, said family friend Roseann Hickman.

Devin Kohlman rests at his home in Port Clinton, Ohio after returning from a Cincinnati hospital. Kohlman, a boy whose last wish was to be home for his favorite holiday, has died, two weeks

Clear his name

Being there

Heart and home

Warn the living

Snowy romp

Last Wishes mobile pet euthanasia service adds storefront hospice for pets

Anyone who lives with companion animals knows that the bond is unique, but can be just as profound as the connection with human loved ones.

So when it's time to put down a pet that is terminally ill or otherwise suffering, animal lovers want to do it as humanely as possible, but may struggle to make the decision.

Helping people cope with that struggle has led to a successful business known as Last Wishes, a 4-year-old mobile pet euthanasia service that allows animals to die at home in a familiar and comfortable environment.

TIGER TREATMENT: Group's suit against Landry's continues after defamation case dismissed

Owned by Dr. Christie Cornelius, Last Wishes has also opened a storefront hospice at 3036 Antoine to provide pet owners another option.

"For people who don't wish to have services performed in their homes or are looking for a less-expensive alternative, we offer in-center euthanasia," Cornelius said.

"What we're offering in our center is a home away from home," she said. "The 'exam rooms' look like living rooms with plush furniture and area rugs in a nice, relaxing, stress-free environment."

The center, near U.S. 290 and West 34th Street in northwest Houston, also offers pain management, laser therapy, acupuncture, pet-loss support groups and community networking, Cornelius said.

JUST IN TIME: Police, Texas vet save puppy from heroin overdose, owners arrested

Most clients come to Last Wishes, either the mobile service or Antoine Drive center, through referrals from other veterinarians, but Cornelius said a referral is not required,

"After a long conversation, we get an idea of whether euthanasia is warranted," she said. "We talk (clients) through a quality-of-life evaluation, to see in what ways their pets are suffering. Typically when an owner is ready, the pet is ready."

A new service, "aquamation," is being offered through a sister business, Earthman Last Wishes, which Cornelius co-owns with partner David Earthman. Rather than cremation of a body through burning, aquamation uses water with a salt base and takes about 20 hours.

"We have the first unit for private use in Texas," Cornelius said of the aquamation facility. "It's an environmentally friendly way to honor your pet."

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Last Wishes mobile pet euthanasia service adds storefront hospice for pets - Chron.com

Philadelphia unions offer to repair vandalized Jewish cemetery – Arutz Sheva

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Vandalism in the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia

Reuters

Two Philadelphia unions said they will provide free services to help repair and secure the city's vandalized Mount Carmel Cemetery.

More than 100 gravestones were toppled and damaged at the Jewish cemetery in the Wissinoming section. The vandalism was discovered Sunday.

Bobby Henon, a Philadelphia City Council member with union ties who represents the Wissinoming neighborhood, tweeted Monday evening that the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council offered to replace the toppled headstones and that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 98 offered to install additional lighting and security cameras.

Labor leader John Dougherty of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council told reporters that the vandalism is a cowardly act of anti-Semitism that cannot be tolerated. His workers also offered to re-sod and clean the cemetery grounds.

Meanwhile, a Gofundme campaign for the Philadelphia cemetery launched by a private citizen, Raphael Caroline, 31, in the hours after the vandalism was discovered has raised nearly $20,000 in 24 hours, double its original goal.

The Jewish Federation of Philadelphia announced that a volunteer cleanup of the cemetery will begin at noon Tuesday and run every day from noon to 4 p.m.

The federation said it will begin cleaning up the cemetery Tuesday and asked for volunteers.

"Representatives from the Jewish Federation will be on hand as well as up to 50 people per hour cleaning and working to help restore this important Philadelphia landmark," the federation said in a statement.

In response to the vandalism, the National Museum of American Jewish History, which is located in Philadelphia, has initiated a project to preserve the stories of the people who are buried there. The museum has called on those who have relatives or friends buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery to share a photo of the person, and one of the headstone, if possible, and a personal story of up to 150 words. They can be posted at http://MtCarmelStories.tumblr.com or emailed to curatorial@nmajh.org.

The project is also open to those whose families were affected by the desecration that occurred last week at the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in the St. Louis area.

We would like those who did this to understand that these are not victimless crimes," said Ivy Barsky, the museums CEO, and Gwen Goodman, its director. "The individuals buried at Mt. Carmel were human beings with names, stories, and families. They contributed to the world while they were here and continue to do so through the loved ones they left behind. We honor their memories.

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Philadelphia unions offer to repair vandalized Jewish cemetery - Arutz Sheva

Number of suspected child sex offenders in Bedfordshire almost … – Bedfordshire News

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

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SUSPECTED online child sex offenders are on the rise across Bedfordshire, with numbers almost doubling in just two years according to the latest figures.

In 2014, a total of 68 people were suspected by police of downloading and distributing indecent images of children. But by 2016, that figure increased by almost 100 per cent to 107.

READ MORE: Luton man guilty of downloading indecent images of children at the most serious level

Over the past three years, the combined total of online child sex offenders identified by the police stands at 246, according to the figures obtained by the BBC in a Freedom of Investigation request.

This increase is evident in the wider eastern region, with a jump from 758 in 2014 to 2,179 last year.

In light of the rising numbers, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is urging for forces across the nation to hit these crimes hard with specialist units.

READ MORE: Bedfordshire repeat offender jailed again for child porn images

An NSPCC spokesperson told BoS: "Downloading and distributing child abuse images is an abhorrent crime. Each picture is a crime scene involving a young victim who has been abused and whose suffering is compounded every time that image is passed around online.

"The proliferation of these appalling images is a major and growing problem which needs industry, government and law enforcement to tackle in unison."

The NSPCC wants to see a specialist digital child abuse unit in every police force, trained to deal with sexual and other online offences against children."

A spokeswoman for Bedfordshire Police said: "Bedfordshire Police has a dedicated unit to tackling online child sexual abuse.

"The Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team (ICAIT) is committed to investigating indecent image offences and works with partners to identify offending and take action against those responsible for viewing and making such images.

"Offenders may think that viewing these images is not causing any direct harm but that is quite simply not the case. Although they may not be directly abusing these children, in order for these images to be created, children across the world have been forced to undergo horrific abuse for the gratification of these individuals - so it is far from a victimless crime.

"The development of the unit and our capabilities in tackling this sickening type of abuse is reflected in the increase in the number of people arrested, and we are committed to continuing to clamp down on online child sex offenders."

Read more of today's latest Bedfordshire news and don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to get the latest news direct to your social media stream.

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Number of suspected child sex offenders in Bedfordshire almost ... - Bedfordshire News

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