Showing posts with label drugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drugs. Show all posts
Friday, July 14, 2017
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Destroy Their Economic Livelihoods, and They Will Come
As we all heard Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric during the American election drama that "illegal" & "undocumented" immigrants are destroying US. Whether they are indeed "destroying" American economy & the country itself, that's up for debate, but what nobody ever talks about is why there are so many people pouring across the border from Latin & Central America.
I have explored this topic earlier, in my blogs, that one of the many reasons so-called "developing" countries of the world are stuck in "developing" mode for decades, & even centuries, is that the wealthy & developed Global North (i.e. US, Canada, Western Europe, Australia etc.) are actively destroying & deliberately keeping the "developing" countries in the "developing" mode. There are several ways of doing this through economic (subsidies on industries etc.), financial (aid with exorbitant interest rates & conditions), & military (sell weapons) means. Several times, all these are intertwined. For instance, financial aid is provided to a country, which then turns around & buy military equipment from the same countries that gave the aid in the first place. So, the aid is never got used to service the public or improve the country.
In this Real News analysis, Mr. Faux is essentially saying the same thing that the average person from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, or El Salvador is running away from its country & trying to enter US because US made those countries a hell for that average person. The average American is hating that "illegal" Honduran or Guatemalan or El Salvadoran taking away his/her job or whatnot but the fact of the matter is that that average American racist person is the cause for that "illegal" to run away from his/her home in the first place.
If that average American would not have elected or at least protested against its own government's illegal intervention in the internal governmental matters of those Central American countries, then there would be far less, if not none, "illegals" in the US.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTvjSam5yyE
JEFF FAUX, AUTHOR, THE SERVANT ECONOMY: For the last few months, the last 6, 8 months, ... tens of thousands of children have been pushing across the U.S. border between Mexico and Texas in a desperate effort to flee poverty and violence and hopelessness in their countries.
They're overwhelming facilities down there. The detention centers are overcrowded. The immigration service doesn't know what to do with these kids. Some of them get put on buses to be sent to families someplace. It's a mess.
And it's quickly deteriorated into politics, of course. The Democrats and Republicans blame the president. The president says it's a humanitarian crisis, so we have to act, and so we do. But lost in this debate is the question of U.S. responsibility for the basic causes of this tragic immigration to the United States. Immigration politics in the U.S. focuses on the U.S. But ... the question of what to do with people who are arriving here misses the point of how they arrived and why they arrived.
People come from somewhere, and in this case 95% of these children are coming from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Now, this just happens to be three countries, along with much of the rest of Central America, that the U.S. has dominated and controlled for the last hundred years.
ANTON WORONCZUK, TRNN PRODUCER: Well, exactly what role has U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and Central America played in driving this immigration?
FAUX: ... to answer that question, start with another question. If the United States is skilled in nation building, which it says it is, why are these economies such social and economic disasters? The answer is we have not run these economies for the people there. We have run them for U.S. investors who want cheap labor and their oligarch cronies who provide the cheap labor.
The enforcer of this system--and this is a system that goes back decades--... is the U.S. military. Whenever people there have challenged the rule of these oligarchs and these repressive governments, the United States has run to the rescue of the oligarchs.
In 1954, famously, Guatemala elected, finally, a left-leaning reformer. The first thing that happened was that the United States organized the Guatemalan military for a coup and an attack, and they drove the president out. It was followed by 40 years of savage repression, 150,000 people murdered in that little country over that period of time. Today, the same rich families and the same military control Guatemala.
I was in Guatemala recently, and people told me they were afraid to take a bus, because what happened is that every once in a while, ... armed thugs, would come aboard the bus, shoot the driver, and rob the passengers. A few days later, I was talking to a young man who said no one can get a real job in this country unless they're connected to one of the five or six ruling families, so everyone wants to immigrate to the United States. But it costs $10,000 to hire a coyote take him here. Where are you going to get the $10,000? They borrow it from the criminal gangs. Most of the time, people never make it and they find themselves back in Guatemala owing $10,000 to some pretty bad people. And those criminals, gangs, say, give us the money (this is in his words) or we'll kill your mother, or come work for us. And your first job is to put a mask on, take a gun, go board a bus, shoot the driver, and rob the passengers.
Guatemala is a basket case under the regimes that we have supported.
Same thing in Honduras. 1963, a reformer got elected. We supported a coup to get rid of him. 2009, another reformer gets elected. We support another coup. Now, 2009, the Obama administration publicly said, oh, that's terrible and ... they denounced it, but privately, they paved the way for the military-run government to stay, and the oligarchs once again triumphed.
In 2011--this is only the latest budget numbers that we've been able to uncover--we exported $1.3 billion in military electronic equipment to Honduras. Now ask yourself: what is Honduras--who is Honduras defending itself against? Who is invading Honduras? The answer, of course, is nobody. Now, their rationale is this great war on drugs. In the last 30, 40 years, billions of U.S. dollars have gone to the military in Central America, ostensibly because of the war on drugs. Now, after 30 or 40 years, it's quite clear that the war on drugs is a failure. And the reason it's a failure is because the military that gets all this aid is knee-deep in narcotrafficking. And what's happened now is the combination of drugs, weapons, and poverty is destroying this country to the point where the children are fleeing. The war on drugs in Central America is a failure, but the war of the elite oligarchs on their own people has been a success. And the result are these poor children being driven across the border.
Now, whatever comes of the immigration battle between the Democrats and Republicans, whatever happens to the president's bill, the waves of desperate immigrants from Central America, from other parts of the Caribbean that we have essentially dominated over the last hundred years will not diminish and is never going to diminish unless the United States government and the United States people face the reality that the basic cause of this immigration is rooted in the corrupt regimes that we have supported all these years.
I have explored this topic earlier, in my blogs, that one of the many reasons so-called "developing" countries of the world are stuck in "developing" mode for decades, & even centuries, is that the wealthy & developed Global North (i.e. US, Canada, Western Europe, Australia etc.) are actively destroying & deliberately keeping the "developing" countries in the "developing" mode. There are several ways of doing this through economic (subsidies on industries etc.), financial (aid with exorbitant interest rates & conditions), & military (sell weapons) means. Several times, all these are intertwined. For instance, financial aid is provided to a country, which then turns around & buy military equipment from the same countries that gave the aid in the first place. So, the aid is never got used to service the public or improve the country.
In this Real News analysis, Mr. Faux is essentially saying the same thing that the average person from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, or El Salvador is running away from its country & trying to enter US because US made those countries a hell for that average person. The average American is hating that "illegal" Honduran or Guatemalan or El Salvadoran taking away his/her job or whatnot but the fact of the matter is that that average American racist person is the cause for that "illegal" to run away from his/her home in the first place.
If that average American would not have elected or at least protested against its own government's illegal intervention in the internal governmental matters of those Central American countries, then there would be far less, if not none, "illegals" in the US.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JEFF FAUX, AUTHOR, THE SERVANT ECONOMY: For the last few months, the last 6, 8 months, ... tens of thousands of children have been pushing across the U.S. border between Mexico and Texas in a desperate effort to flee poverty and violence and hopelessness in their countries.
They're overwhelming facilities down there. The detention centers are overcrowded. The immigration service doesn't know what to do with these kids. Some of them get put on buses to be sent to families someplace. It's a mess.
And it's quickly deteriorated into politics, of course. The Democrats and Republicans blame the president. The president says it's a humanitarian crisis, so we have to act, and so we do. But lost in this debate is the question of U.S. responsibility for the basic causes of this tragic immigration to the United States. Immigration politics in the U.S. focuses on the U.S. But ... the question of what to do with people who are arriving here misses the point of how they arrived and why they arrived.
People come from somewhere, and in this case 95% of these children are coming from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Now, this just happens to be three countries, along with much of the rest of Central America, that the U.S. has dominated and controlled for the last hundred years.
ANTON WORONCZUK, TRNN PRODUCER: Well, exactly what role has U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and Central America played in driving this immigration?
FAUX: ... to answer that question, start with another question. If the United States is skilled in nation building, which it says it is, why are these economies such social and economic disasters? The answer is we have not run these economies for the people there. We have run them for U.S. investors who want cheap labor and their oligarch cronies who provide the cheap labor.
The enforcer of this system--and this is a system that goes back decades--... is the U.S. military. Whenever people there have challenged the rule of these oligarchs and these repressive governments, the United States has run to the rescue of the oligarchs.
In 1954, famously, Guatemala elected, finally, a left-leaning reformer. The first thing that happened was that the United States organized the Guatemalan military for a coup and an attack, and they drove the president out. It was followed by 40 years of savage repression, 150,000 people murdered in that little country over that period of time. Today, the same rich families and the same military control Guatemala.
I was in Guatemala recently, and people told me they were afraid to take a bus, because what happened is that every once in a while, ... armed thugs, would come aboard the bus, shoot the driver, and rob the passengers. A few days later, I was talking to a young man who said no one can get a real job in this country unless they're connected to one of the five or six ruling families, so everyone wants to immigrate to the United States. But it costs $10,000 to hire a coyote take him here. Where are you going to get the $10,000? They borrow it from the criminal gangs. Most of the time, people never make it and they find themselves back in Guatemala owing $10,000 to some pretty bad people. And those criminals, gangs, say, give us the money (this is in his words) or we'll kill your mother, or come work for us. And your first job is to put a mask on, take a gun, go board a bus, shoot the driver, and rob the passengers.
Guatemala is a basket case under the regimes that we have supported.
Same thing in Honduras. 1963, a reformer got elected. We supported a coup to get rid of him. 2009, another reformer gets elected. We support another coup. Now, 2009, the Obama administration publicly said, oh, that's terrible and ... they denounced it, but privately, they paved the way for the military-run government to stay, and the oligarchs once again triumphed.
In 2011--this is only the latest budget numbers that we've been able to uncover--we exported $1.3 billion in military electronic equipment to Honduras. Now ask yourself: what is Honduras--who is Honduras defending itself against? Who is invading Honduras? The answer, of course, is nobody. Now, their rationale is this great war on drugs. In the last 30, 40 years, billions of U.S. dollars have gone to the military in Central America, ostensibly because of the war on drugs. Now, after 30 or 40 years, it's quite clear that the war on drugs is a failure. And the reason it's a failure is because the military that gets all this aid is knee-deep in narcotrafficking. And what's happened now is the combination of drugs, weapons, and poverty is destroying this country to the point where the children are fleeing. The war on drugs in Central America is a failure, but the war of the elite oligarchs on their own people has been a success. And the result are these poor children being driven across the border.
Now, whatever comes of the immigration battle between the Democrats and Republicans, whatever happens to the president's bill, the waves of desperate immigrants from Central America, from other parts of the Caribbean that we have essentially dominated over the last hundred years will not diminish and is never going to diminish unless the United States government and the United States people face the reality that the basic cause of this immigration is rooted in the corrupt regimes that we have supported all these years.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
"How Drug and Driving Addicts Talk" by Andy Singer
"How Drug and Driving Addicts Talk" - Andy Singer, US
Monday, May 23, 2016
‘West creates refugees by destroying Islamic nations’ – Chechen leader
In some of my blog posts last year [2015], I also wrote in detail how Western countries try to create chaos in so-called developing / third-world countries, & especially so-called Islamic countries, to destroy their economies while getting cheap educated labour for themselves.
So, I wholeheartedly agree with Ramzan Kadyrov's statement about the West ruining Muslim countries, destroying their economies, provoking conflicts, & making thousands of refugees. But, I also want to add my disclaimer here that Ramzan Kadyrov is the "installed" leader of Chechen Republic by Putin & hence, he is saying what Putin thinks of the West. Regardless, Mr. Kadyrov is still correct.
To make Ramzan's point (& my point) hit home, let's take the example of current conflict going on in Yemen. American military brain is helping Saudis kill thousands of Yemenis & making thousands others refugees. British & Canadians are also supplying Saudis with weapons, arms & ammunitions, which will, & are being used, against Yemenis & to quell any internal unrest, like peaceful protests for human rights.
Then, these same countries will make a big noise for Saudi government to work towards instituting human rights in its country. Muslims, all over the world, are of course, completely brainwashed by "white idiots". Nobody is going to blame why UK, Canada, & US supplied Saudis with the same weapons that they are using to kill their fellow Muslim brethren but put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Saudi government. I am not excusing Saudi government for its actions, but you cannot ask for harsh punishment for the drug dealer to facilitate drugs for youths & then turn around & blame youths for using drugs, & absolve the drug dealer for all its heinous actions.
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The head of Russia’s Chechen Republic claims the current asylum seeker crisis in European countries originated in the aggressive policies of the USA & the EU. He also called upon all Muslim nations to jointly fight the root of the problem.
“If today no one rises against the inhumane policies of the Western countries, tomorrow the disaster may come to any Muslim country. I call upon you to urgently discuss this problem, to develop a unified position and to save the lives of thousands of people,” Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram account (Kadyrov uses Instagram as a social network for public statements).
“Tens of thousands of Muslims are dying. Women, old people, children and young people as well. Under such conditions the leaders of Islamic countries has no right to remain silent, to stand aside and remain simple observers,” he added.
Kadyrov also explained in his post that in his opinion the West must be blamed for tragedies that are currently taking place in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Libya, Yemen, Algeria & other Muslim nations.
Europe & the USA are not simply refusing to act, they instigate the tragedies of millions of people by destroying the economy of Islamic countries & starting wars in Muslim regions of the world, he added.
“The problem cannot be solved by fighting its consequences, by silencing the reasons that caused it. But this is what Europe and the United States are currently doing. The USA and Europe have ruined these countries, destroyed their economies, provoked lingering internal conflicts and forced the desperate people into becoming refugees,” the Chechen leader wrote.
In February this year [2015], Kadyrov openly accused the US & other Western nations of “spawning” Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in order to incite hatred towards Muslims all over the world.
Kadyrov also suggested the West was backing IS in order to distract public attention from numerous problems in the Middle East, in the hope of destroying Islamic nations from inside.
Prior to this, Kadyrov had told reporters that he possessed information that the IS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been recruited to work for the US personally by General David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA & former commander of coalition forces in Iraq & Afghanistan. At that time, Kadyrov claimed IS “was acting on orders from the West and Europe.”
So, I wholeheartedly agree with Ramzan Kadyrov's statement about the West ruining Muslim countries, destroying their economies, provoking conflicts, & making thousands of refugees. But, I also want to add my disclaimer here that Ramzan Kadyrov is the "installed" leader of Chechen Republic by Putin & hence, he is saying what Putin thinks of the West. Regardless, Mr. Kadyrov is still correct.
To make Ramzan's point (& my point) hit home, let's take the example of current conflict going on in Yemen. American military brain is helping Saudis kill thousands of Yemenis & making thousands others refugees. British & Canadians are also supplying Saudis with weapons, arms & ammunitions, which will, & are being used, against Yemenis & to quell any internal unrest, like peaceful protests for human rights.
Then, these same countries will make a big noise for Saudi government to work towards instituting human rights in its country. Muslims, all over the world, are of course, completely brainwashed by "white idiots". Nobody is going to blame why UK, Canada, & US supplied Saudis with the same weapons that they are using to kill their fellow Muslim brethren but put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Saudi government. I am not excusing Saudi government for its actions, but you cannot ask for harsh punishment for the drug dealer to facilitate drugs for youths & then turn around & blame youths for using drugs, & absolve the drug dealer for all its heinous actions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The head of Russia’s Chechen Republic claims the current asylum seeker crisis in European countries originated in the aggressive policies of the USA & the EU. He also called upon all Muslim nations to jointly fight the root of the problem.
“If today no one rises against the inhumane policies of the Western countries, tomorrow the disaster may come to any Muslim country. I call upon you to urgently discuss this problem, to develop a unified position and to save the lives of thousands of people,” Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram account (Kadyrov uses Instagram as a social network for public statements).
“Tens of thousands of Muslims are dying. Women, old people, children and young people as well. Under such conditions the leaders of Islamic countries has no right to remain silent, to stand aside and remain simple observers,” he added.
Kadyrov also explained in his post that in his opinion the West must be blamed for tragedies that are currently taking place in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Libya, Yemen, Algeria & other Muslim nations.
Europe & the USA are not simply refusing to act, they instigate the tragedies of millions of people by destroying the economy of Islamic countries & starting wars in Muslim regions of the world, he added.
“The problem cannot be solved by fighting its consequences, by silencing the reasons that caused it. But this is what Europe and the United States are currently doing. The USA and Europe have ruined these countries, destroyed their economies, provoked lingering internal conflicts and forced the desperate people into becoming refugees,” the Chechen leader wrote.
In February this year [2015], Kadyrov openly accused the US & other Western nations of “spawning” Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in order to incite hatred towards Muslims all over the world.
Kadyrov also suggested the West was backing IS in order to distract public attention from numerous problems in the Middle East, in the hope of destroying Islamic nations from inside.
Prior to this, Kadyrov had told reporters that he possessed information that the IS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been recruited to work for the US personally by General David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA & former commander of coalition forces in Iraq & Afghanistan. At that time, Kadyrov claimed IS “was acting on orders from the West and Europe.”
Friday, July 24, 2015
Deadly blooms of Helmand
Ghulam Hassan is in the mood to celebrate Eid ... 3 months early. His 1.5-acre farm in a small village in Helmand province has been blooming with white & crimson flowers. Now the petals are just beginning to drop, giving way to round, sticky, pungent green pods. In a few more days the pods will swell to the size of a bulb. This is when Mr Hassan’s family of 14 will move in. They will carefully slice open the bulbs & collect the oozing white latex or resin – the main ingredient in heroin.
“This is a bumper crop. The yield will be enough to feed my family for more than a year,” Mr Hassan said, gazing gleefully at his poppy field just outside the village of Hajj Alam in the Nehri Saraj district.
He is one of thousands of Afghan farmers who, despite the best efforts first of the US-led coalition & now of the country’s own anti-narcotics department, are growing more poppies than ever before.
Not only is the income from opium up to $1,800 (£1,200) per acre, some 12 times higher than that from conventional crops, but there is another, more insidious factor at work. Last year, like the year before that, Hassan had sown wheat.
“I borrowed from relatives & friends to buy seeds & fertilisers. The harvest was good,” he said. “But that’s where the good news ended. Because of the Taliban threat, truck drivers were not willing to carry the produce to bigger markets. As a result, most of my wheat rotted in the field. The crop was lost & I was left with a $4,000 debt.”
Dozens of Mr Hassan’s neighbours too have discarded wheat, maize & vegetable crops for opium poppies, which not only gives them easy access to credit & protection from the Taliban, but also fetches more money.
There is no sign that the Afghan government, now supposed to be policing the whole country itself since the formal conclusion of the US-led combat operation last year, is bringing the Taliban under control. More than 7 months after President Ashraf Ghani took office, Afghanistan still does not have a Defence Minister, & the security situation is deteriorating nationwide.
Meanwhile, the prospect of a higher income at a time of growing insecurity is driving more & more farmers to take up poppy cultivation. Last year, according to official Afghan & UN figures, the total area under opium poppy cultivation in the country rose by 7%, to more than 550,000 acres. Helmand, with almost 300,000 acres, had the dubious distinction of being Afghanistan’s biggest poppy-growing province.
Officials in the ministry of counter-narcotics say that Helmand is on course to set a record for poppy-growing this year, with the area under the crop rising a further 16%.
It is bad news for Colonel Mohamed Abdali, head of the interior ministry’s counter-narcotics police team in Helmand, whose already difficult job is becoming ever more challenging. Colonel Abdali is responsible for eradicating the province’s poppy fields. For the past 4 months, he & his 80-man team have been gathering information, mapping & photographing the fields. “We have prepared our own database – location of the fields, area under the crop, owners, etc,” Colonel Abdali said. “We send this data to the counter-narcotics ministry & on its clearance, destroy the fields.
“We have only a small, one-and-a-half month window to destroy the crop. It’s best to clear the field when the poppy has blossomed. Eradicating the crop before that allows a farmer to replant & regrow.” As he spoke, he signalled his men to mount 4 US-made Massey Ferguson tractors. Escorted by 15 armed soldiers in 3 police vans, they began to roll towards Trikh Nawar, ... some 20 miles from where Mr Hassan was preparing to harvest his crop.
The convoy makes its first stop at Haji Mamoon Khan’s field, & soldiers jump out to take up defensive positions. On Colonel Abdali’s signal, 5 men set off carefully to search for mines or any hidden improvised-explosive devices. “We always follow this drill. We are the enemies of both the Taliban & the drug dealers, said Colonel Abdali. “The villagers are also hostile to us. We have to keep our eyes & ears open for lurking Taliban fighters, roadside bombs & IEDs. We can’t take any chances.”
When a whistle from the field gave an “all-clear” signal, 2 tractors set about ploughing up Mr Khan’s poppies.
“They have ruined me & my family,” said the farmer, contemplating the crop that he had nurtured for months. “The produce would have helped me pay for my wife’s surgery & for my son’s wedding. But it’s all gone now. I can’t bring home happiness.”
His quiet sobs seem to unsettle the young colonel. “I know I am destroying someone’s livelihood. An entire family was depending on this crop,” Colonel Abdali said. “But it would have destroyed so many other families.”
The next day, as the team prepared to enter another poppy farm, Colonel Abdali received a phone call back at his Lashkar Gah HQ. “There’s been a landmine explosion,” the caller said. “One officer is dead, one is wounded.”
“Do not touch anything. Come out of the farm. Tread only on the tractor tyre marks,” Colonel Abdali warned.
The explosion, in Trikh Nawar, came as Sayed Shah, a counter-narcotics officer, was trying to defuse a mine. His body, covered by a tarpaulin, was lying in an ambulance, & 2 soldiers were bleeding from head wounds. As the ambulance was about to pull away, a phone rang in the dead soldier’s pocket. Colonel Abdali pulled out the phone to answer it. The caller was the soldier’s brother. “Sayed Shah is a martyr now. We are bringing him home,” Colonel Abdali told him.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
How the US criminal justice system became an unforgiving machine
Since, I have previously blogged a few times how the American criminal justice is all racially biased & "arrest & sentence now, ask questions later," I won't reiterate my thoughts here. This piece is quite great in explaining how the US criminal justice benefits a few at the expense of many.
While reading this great opinion piece, you do have to keep in mind that this is currently happening, & has been happening, in US, & not in some Middle Eastern country or some other 3rd world country. This is the country which touts its human rights record around the world while its criminal justice system is so flawed that African-Americans are now out on the streets, protesting against decades of oppression & marginalization.
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Walter Scott, a 50-year-old black man killed by a South Carolina police officer during a chase that millions of people have now viewed on video, is the latest victim of a criminal justice system whose tentacles have reshaped the very nature of American democracy.
This latest shooting illustrates how the relationship between law enforcement & poor & working-class communities of color requires a fundamental transformation. The necessary political & policy changes will need to be amplified by a cultural shift that can stop the criminalization of black & brown bodies in the US.
The simple reason why police officers can often routinely brutalize &, in certain horrific instances such as Scott’s, even execute black citizens is the consent they essentially receive from the US criminal justice system & other political & civic institutions.
Over the past 35 years, America’s criminal justice system, swept up by the hysteria over the rise of crack cocaine & the broader War on Drugs, has transformed into a system of racial control, oppression & containment that has often turned the idea of black citizenship into an Orwellian nightmare. Racial disparities in death sentences between whites & blacks became glaring enough to help change former pro-death penalty Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun into a notable dissenter by 1994.
Legal scholar Michelle Alexander’s bestselling The New Jim Crow revealed a stunning indictment of a criminal justice system that has allowed wide-scale racial profiling lead to mass arrests, incarceration for nonviolent offenses, & for those who leave prison, a segregated existence that in too many ways replicates the political disfranchisement of racial apartheid.
Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged as much in his 2013 speech granting federal prosecutors more discretion in handling drug-crime cases. The police are the tip of the spear in a system that includes prosecutors, judges, probation officers & politicians.
Democrats & Republicans have both contributed to this new status quo. President Ronald Reagan, the conservative icon, signed the 1980s antidrug bills that effectively racialized drug crimes; users & dealers of crack cocaine (many of whom are black) are punished far more harshly than users of powdered cocaine (many of whom are white). President Bill Clinton, who Toni Morrison once called the nation’s “first black president,” signed crime & welfare reform bills that blocked ex-offenders’ access to public housing, food stamps & other vital support. Many lost voting rights as well.
Even as national crime rates declined throughout the 1990s, the federal government, through its Byrne grants, distributed billions of dollars to state & local law enforcement authorities. The resulting militarization of many police forces appeared to offer police another incentive to detain & arrest some of the most vulnerable citizens.
The justice system’s punitive nature & rapacious appetite mean that blacks who are released from prison often have too little opportunity available. Former inmates suffer high rates of unemployment, lack resources to complete education, cannot vote & can be returned to jail for a litany of nonviolent offenses, among them failure to pay child support, the reason Scott is suspected of having run from the officer.
The elephant in the room is that America’s three-decade-long prison boom, which now accounts for about 2 million inmates from roughly 350,000 inmates in 1980, has been largely driven by drug arrests & what looks like a targeting of black and brown men & women.
Police shootings of unarmed black men are the most visible manifestations of a virtual normalization of black criminality. US politicians & the public often appear to lack empathy & presume guilt in connection with many people of color.
The recommendations from the Obama administration’s interim taskforce on policing in the 21st century do not fully acknowledge the scale of this crisis. Law enforcement’s tentacles have invaded US public schools, welfare offices, voting booths & popular culture.
The presumption of guilt & innocence is important here. Studies have shown that whites are often given second chances. One recent study revealed stunning results about the degree of white privilege allowed. African-Americans face a starker reality: One youthful indiscretion can mean a lifetime of living on the margins — or worse.
Can such as system be transformed? Yes, but not if we refuse to diagnose the problem. America’s prison-industrial complex is a booming business that has successfully monetized the criminalization of African-Americans through private prisons, federal grants & an entertainment industry that pushes images of black criminality to young people like a drug dealer pushes designer narcotics.
The US justice system needs to be reimagined so radically that police officers can see that black people, however flawed & imperfect, are not only citizens worthy of respect but also human beings deserving of dignity whose lives matter greatly.
While reading this great opinion piece, you do have to keep in mind that this is currently happening, & has been happening, in US, & not in some Middle Eastern country or some other 3rd world country. This is the country which touts its human rights record around the world while its criminal justice system is so flawed that African-Americans are now out on the streets, protesting against decades of oppression & marginalization.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Walter Scott, a 50-year-old black man killed by a South Carolina police officer during a chase that millions of people have now viewed on video, is the latest victim of a criminal justice system whose tentacles have reshaped the very nature of American democracy.
This latest shooting illustrates how the relationship between law enforcement & poor & working-class communities of color requires a fundamental transformation. The necessary political & policy changes will need to be amplified by a cultural shift that can stop the criminalization of black & brown bodies in the US.
The simple reason why police officers can often routinely brutalize &, in certain horrific instances such as Scott’s, even execute black citizens is the consent they essentially receive from the US criminal justice system & other political & civic institutions.
Over the past 35 years, America’s criminal justice system, swept up by the hysteria over the rise of crack cocaine & the broader War on Drugs, has transformed into a system of racial control, oppression & containment that has often turned the idea of black citizenship into an Orwellian nightmare. Racial disparities in death sentences between whites & blacks became glaring enough to help change former pro-death penalty Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun into a notable dissenter by 1994.
Legal scholar Michelle Alexander’s bestselling The New Jim Crow revealed a stunning indictment of a criminal justice system that has allowed wide-scale racial profiling lead to mass arrests, incarceration for nonviolent offenses, & for those who leave prison, a segregated existence that in too many ways replicates the political disfranchisement of racial apartheid.
Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged as much in his 2013 speech granting federal prosecutors more discretion in handling drug-crime cases. The police are the tip of the spear in a system that includes prosecutors, judges, probation officers & politicians.
Democrats & Republicans have both contributed to this new status quo. President Ronald Reagan, the conservative icon, signed the 1980s antidrug bills that effectively racialized drug crimes; users & dealers of crack cocaine (many of whom are black) are punished far more harshly than users of powdered cocaine (many of whom are white). President Bill Clinton, who Toni Morrison once called the nation’s “first black president,” signed crime & welfare reform bills that blocked ex-offenders’ access to public housing, food stamps & other vital support. Many lost voting rights as well.
Even as national crime rates declined throughout the 1990s, the federal government, through its Byrne grants, distributed billions of dollars to state & local law enforcement authorities. The resulting militarization of many police forces appeared to offer police another incentive to detain & arrest some of the most vulnerable citizens.
The justice system’s punitive nature & rapacious appetite mean that blacks who are released from prison often have too little opportunity available. Former inmates suffer high rates of unemployment, lack resources to complete education, cannot vote & can be returned to jail for a litany of nonviolent offenses, among them failure to pay child support, the reason Scott is suspected of having run from the officer.
The elephant in the room is that America’s three-decade-long prison boom, which now accounts for about 2 million inmates from roughly 350,000 inmates in 1980, has been largely driven by drug arrests & what looks like a targeting of black and brown men & women.
Police shootings of unarmed black men are the most visible manifestations of a virtual normalization of black criminality. US politicians & the public often appear to lack empathy & presume guilt in connection with many people of color.
The recommendations from the Obama administration’s interim taskforce on policing in the 21st century do not fully acknowledge the scale of this crisis. Law enforcement’s tentacles have invaded US public schools, welfare offices, voting booths & popular culture.
The presumption of guilt & innocence is important here. Studies have shown that whites are often given second chances. One recent study revealed stunning results about the degree of white privilege allowed. African-Americans face a starker reality: One youthful indiscretion can mean a lifetime of living on the margins — or worse.
Can such as system be transformed? Yes, but not if we refuse to diagnose the problem. America’s prison-industrial complex is a booming business that has successfully monetized the criminalization of African-Americans through private prisons, federal grants & an entertainment industry that pushes images of black criminality to young people like a drug dealer pushes designer narcotics.
The US justice system needs to be reimagined so radically that police officers can see that black people, however flawed & imperfect, are not only citizens worthy of respect but also human beings deserving of dignity whose lives matter greatly.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Global drug market approaching scale of $4 Trillion oil & gas industry
Thanks to US & its allies' activities in further destabilizing sensitive areas of the world, not only we have groups now, conducting physical violence, we also have a booming drugs trade. What did US & NATO achieve in Afghanistan when Taliban are back there & apparently, 80% of heroin is being produced there? What did US achieve with its covert war tactics against Colombia & Nicaragua where, apparently, 100% of cocaine being produced there?
It seems to me that all those billions of $$$, which the world was led to believe that that money would be spent on war & reconstruction efforts, went into pockets of defense department's top generals & contractors.
Ironically, the losers are American general public because they are increasingly turning into drug addicts because of lack of spending on welfare, healthcare, education, infrastructure, job creation etc. Sort of like a double whammy for the general American public.
Adding further insults to injuries is that not only criminal organizations are earning trillions of $$$ through their drugs trade, but they also help fuel more crime, e.g. due to a lack of jobs & increasingly expensive post-secondary education, youths turn towards dealing drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, arms smuggling, & terrorism etc. to make a living. Authorities can't turn them towards non-criminal activities, since those activities don't provide the kind of lifestyle criminal activities do.
So, essentially, all those wars US & its allies initiated in foreign lands are, & will, increasingly raise their ugly heads in North America & Western Europe. And rich business & political elites, who are the ones starting, & profiting, from the wars will not feel the effects but the poor general public will be adversely affected by those crimes.
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The dark underworld of drug trafficking will soon be bigger than the world’s $3.7 trillion oil & gas market, & is already bigger than the global auto industry, the director of Russia’s drug control agency said.
“We see that drug trade is a significant part of the global economy. Unfortunately we have to state today that the drug traffic market is bigger than the automotive industry & its volume is approaching that of the oil & gas sector,” Viktor Ivanov said during a ministry meeting with BRICS countries to discuss the war on drugs.
Ivanov singled out Afghanistan & South America as major drug production hubs, noting that more than 80% of heroin is produced in Afghanistan & 100% of cocaine in South America, by his estimates.
“Unfortunately, production has once again started to increase in the so-called Golden Triangle of Thailand, Myanmar & Laos,” said Ivanov.
Before, Ivanov estimated that underground drug dealers in the informal sector inject $1 trillion into the global financial system per annum. Many of these drug revenues end up being funneled to criminal organizations, & often terrorism.
Sales of autos in the US alone was $1.1 trillion in 2014. Revenues from the top 10 car retailers already surpassed $1 trillion in revenue, not even counting some of the smaller players like Kia, Chrysler, Renault or Mazda. The global oil& gas market in 2015 will see more than $4 trillion in revenue, according to IBIS World’s Global Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Market Research Report released in March 2015.
It is difficult to precisely quantify the exact figure of the illegal drug market, as most transactions are kept off the books due to their illicit nature.
It seems to me that all those billions of $$$, which the world was led to believe that that money would be spent on war & reconstruction efforts, went into pockets of defense department's top generals & contractors.
Ironically, the losers are American general public because they are increasingly turning into drug addicts because of lack of spending on welfare, healthcare, education, infrastructure, job creation etc. Sort of like a double whammy for the general American public.
Adding further insults to injuries is that not only criminal organizations are earning trillions of $$$ through their drugs trade, but they also help fuel more crime, e.g. due to a lack of jobs & increasingly expensive post-secondary education, youths turn towards dealing drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, arms smuggling, & terrorism etc. to make a living. Authorities can't turn them towards non-criminal activities, since those activities don't provide the kind of lifestyle criminal activities do.
So, essentially, all those wars US & its allies initiated in foreign lands are, & will, increasingly raise their ugly heads in North America & Western Europe. And rich business & political elites, who are the ones starting, & profiting, from the wars will not feel the effects but the poor general public will be adversely affected by those crimes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The dark underworld of drug trafficking will soon be bigger than the world’s $3.7 trillion oil & gas market, & is already bigger than the global auto industry, the director of Russia’s drug control agency said.
“We see that drug trade is a significant part of the global economy. Unfortunately we have to state today that the drug traffic market is bigger than the automotive industry & its volume is approaching that of the oil & gas sector,” Viktor Ivanov said during a ministry meeting with BRICS countries to discuss the war on drugs.
Ivanov singled out Afghanistan & South America as major drug production hubs, noting that more than 80% of heroin is produced in Afghanistan & 100% of cocaine in South America, by his estimates.
“Unfortunately, production has once again started to increase in the so-called Golden Triangle of Thailand, Myanmar & Laos,” said Ivanov.
Before, Ivanov estimated that underground drug dealers in the informal sector inject $1 trillion into the global financial system per annum. Many of these drug revenues end up being funneled to criminal organizations, & often terrorism.
Sales of autos in the US alone was $1.1 trillion in 2014. Revenues from the top 10 car retailers already surpassed $1 trillion in revenue, not even counting some of the smaller players like Kia, Chrysler, Renault or Mazda. The global oil& gas market in 2015 will see more than $4 trillion in revenue, according to IBIS World’s Global Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Market Research Report released in March 2015.
It is difficult to precisely quantify the exact figure of the illegal drug market, as most transactions are kept off the books due to their illicit nature.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
"Heckler & Koch in Mexico" by Rainer Hachfeld
"Heckler & Koch in Mexico" - Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Berlin, Germany
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Snitch fact
This is what the country gets when the justice system gets greedy. Prisons have become for-profit businesses. State & Federal Attorney Generals have aspirations to become governors etc. & hence, their performance is based on how many people, innocent or guilty, get in the prison system. Judges are paid well to hand down harsher sentences for misdemeanors.
Result is that prisons are getting filled up. For-profit companies are using those prisoners in those prisons as slave-labour to manufacture products. Judges & AGs are being perceived as increasing safety & security for the ordinary citizens.
Result is that prisons are getting filled up. For-profit companies are using those prisoners in those prisons as slave-labour to manufacture products. Judges & AGs are being perceived as increasing safety & security for the ordinary citizens.
The losers are people who make one mistake in their life & will pay very dearly for that one mistake until their death; be it financial, social, economical cost (unemployed, discriminated etc.).
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high
So who benefitted from Afghanistan war? American & Afghani politicians & American contractors.
Who lost from Afghanistan war? American troops, Afghani military & civilians, & American public (billions taken from them & given to contractors & in the end, causing a recession).
End result: Taliban are back in full force. World drug market is flooded with drugs derived from opium.
Is this a successful end of a decade-long conflict?
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In a war full of failures, the US counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan stands out: opiate production has climbed steadily over recent years to reach record-high levels last year.
Yet one clear winner in the anti-drug effort is not the Afghan people, but the infamous mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater.
Statistics ... reveal that the rebranded private security firm, known since 2011 as Academi, reaped over a quarter billion dollars from the futile Defense Department push to eradicate Afghan narcotics, some 21% of the $1.5 billion in contracting money the Pentagon has devoted to the job since 2002.
The company is the second biggest beneficiary of counternarcotics largesse in Afghanistan. Only the defense giant Northrop Grumman edged it out, with $325m.
According to the US inspector general for Afghanistan “reconstruction”, the $309m Academi got from US taxpayers paid for “training, equipment, & logistical support” to Afghan forces conducting counternarcotics, such as “the Afghan National Interdiction Unit, the Ministry of Interior, & the Afghan Border Police”.
Far from eradicating the deep-rooted opiate trade, US counternarcotics efforts have proven useless, according to a series of recent official inquiries. Other aspects of the billions that the US has poured into Afghanistan over the last 13 years of war have even contributed to the opium boom.
In December, the UN reported a 60% growth in Afghan land used for opium poppy cultivation since 2011, up to 209,000 hectares. The estimated $3 billion value of Afghan heroin & morphine represents some 15% of Afghan GDP.
“Given the growth in opium poppy cultivation, it must be assumed that the Taliban’s income from the illegal trade in narcotics has remained an important factor in generating assets for the group,” the UN reported.
That same month, the US inspector general for Afghanistan warned that the opium trade would surely rise as international aid money flees the country with the winding down of the war. Yet the inspector general also noted that US reconstruction projects, particularly those devoted to “improved irrigation, roads, & agricultural assistance” were probably leading to the explosion in opium cultivation.
“[A]ffordable deep-well technology turned 200,000 hectares of desert in southwestern Afghanistan into arable land over the past decade,” the inspector general found, concluding that “much of this newly arable land is dedicated to opium cultivation”.
Academi & its former Blackwater incarnation have an infamous history in Afghanistan. It once set up shell companies to disguise its business practices, according to a Senate report, so that its contracts would be unimpeded by company employees’ killings of Iraqi & Afghan civilians.
Blackwater’s founder, Erik Prince, sold the company – then renamed “Xe” – in 2010. Under new ownership, the firm occasionally gestures toward emphasizing its original business training military & police personnel, but it has never quite divested itself of its security contracting business.
In 2010, Blackwater was one of a group of firms selected by the State Department for its $10 billion contract to protect its diplomats worldwide, precisely the mission Blackwater performed when its agents opened fire on Iraqi civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007 & turned the company into the ugly face of private security. The following year, the firm’s newly installed CEO pledged, “We’re not backing away from security services.”
Who lost from Afghanistan war? American troops, Afghani military & civilians, & American public (billions taken from them & given to contractors & in the end, causing a recession).
End result: Taliban are back in full force. World drug market is flooded with drugs derived from opium.
Is this a successful end of a decade-long conflict?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a war full of failures, the US counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan stands out: opiate production has climbed steadily over recent years to reach record-high levels last year.
Yet one clear winner in the anti-drug effort is not the Afghan people, but the infamous mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater.
Statistics ... reveal that the rebranded private security firm, known since 2011 as Academi, reaped over a quarter billion dollars from the futile Defense Department push to eradicate Afghan narcotics, some 21% of the $1.5 billion in contracting money the Pentagon has devoted to the job since 2002.
The company is the second biggest beneficiary of counternarcotics largesse in Afghanistan. Only the defense giant Northrop Grumman edged it out, with $325m.
According to the US inspector general for Afghanistan “reconstruction”, the $309m Academi got from US taxpayers paid for “training, equipment, & logistical support” to Afghan forces conducting counternarcotics, such as “the Afghan National Interdiction Unit, the Ministry of Interior, & the Afghan Border Police”.
Far from eradicating the deep-rooted opiate trade, US counternarcotics efforts have proven useless, according to a series of recent official inquiries. Other aspects of the billions that the US has poured into Afghanistan over the last 13 years of war have even contributed to the opium boom.
In December, the UN reported a 60% growth in Afghan land used for opium poppy cultivation since 2011, up to 209,000 hectares. The estimated $3 billion value of Afghan heroin & morphine represents some 15% of Afghan GDP.
“Given the growth in opium poppy cultivation, it must be assumed that the Taliban’s income from the illegal trade in narcotics has remained an important factor in generating assets for the group,” the UN reported.
That same month, the US inspector general for Afghanistan warned that the opium trade would surely rise as international aid money flees the country with the winding down of the war. Yet the inspector general also noted that US reconstruction projects, particularly those devoted to “improved irrigation, roads, & agricultural assistance” were probably leading to the explosion in opium cultivation.
“[A]ffordable deep-well technology turned 200,000 hectares of desert in southwestern Afghanistan into arable land over the past decade,” the inspector general found, concluding that “much of this newly arable land is dedicated to opium cultivation”.
Academi & its former Blackwater incarnation have an infamous history in Afghanistan. It once set up shell companies to disguise its business practices, according to a Senate report, so that its contracts would be unimpeded by company employees’ killings of Iraqi & Afghan civilians.
Blackwater’s founder, Erik Prince, sold the company – then renamed “Xe” – in 2010. Under new ownership, the firm occasionally gestures toward emphasizing its original business training military & police personnel, but it has never quite divested itself of its security contracting business.
In 2010, Blackwater was one of a group of firms selected by the State Department for its $10 billion contract to protect its diplomats worldwide, precisely the mission Blackwater performed when its agents opened fire on Iraqi civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007 & turned the company into the ugly face of private security. The following year, the firm’s newly installed CEO pledged, “We’re not backing away from security services.”
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Siege limits options for Gaza's chronically ill
A good article showing what ill Gazans have to live through in the enclosed & occupied land.
There was a good Canadian-produced 2012 movie, "Inch'Allah," showing how a Canadian doctor sees the life on the Israeli side of the border & in the Palestinian territories. The movie starts with a Palestinian girl blowing herself up in an Israeli city. Now, we all know the Western newspapers always telling the world how suicide bombers killed so many innocent Israeli civilians. That's what the movie showed. But, the movie didn't stop there. It went back & then showed all the events which led to that specific suicide bombing.
In one of the scenes near the end, which really tested the sympathy of Canadian doctor, it is shown that how a pregnant Palestinian woman, who recently got the news that her husband has been sentenced to 20 years in an Israeli prison, is trying to get to a hospital where she can deliver her first child (& who will be the only thing she has any hope to live for, since her husband is now jailed for 2 decades), but the Israeli military is not letting her through. The Canadian doctor, who by the way, is a Canadian non-Muslim woman, is pleading with the Israeli military to let her through right away. She also has her doctor colleague, who is also her supervisor, & who is shown to be a European non-Muslim. Both are pleading as that pregnant girl is losing a lot of blood & needs to be hospitalized right away.
Of course, as you can imagine, that young woman gives birth in the car, steps away from the hospital. By the way, that hospital was not even across from a checkpoint. Israeli military just felt like closing access to that hospital that day. Anyway, as soon as baby is delivered, that Canadian woman cuts the umbilical cord & runs towards the military closure so to plead them, so they can let her through with the newborn. But, unfortunately, the newborn dies in her arms. That's the scene that any person, who is not biased towards Israel & watches it with an objective eye, will cry.
You can imagine what that young Palestinian woman has to live for, at that moment? What she has left to live for at that moment? Husband is imprisoned, rightly or wrongly. Her first newborn dies right after birth. Does she has anything to live for?
So, if she doesn't have anything to live for now, then what do you think she will do?
What people forget that nobody likes to die in this world. Everyone wants to live as long for as they can. But everyone also wants to live freely with his/her loved ones. Killing yourself requires a lot of courage & anger. It's not easy to blow yourself up. Heck, Islam strictly forbade Muslims from committing suicides. There is no reward for blowing yourself up.
I am not excusing suicide bombers from killing other innocent civilians, but what I am trying to say is that we, very easily, forget to ask what & why a person will blow themselves up. We, right away, start blaming religions & people, & start labelling them with such choice words, as "barbarians" & "uncivilized". Everyone loves life. But when a person has taken everything away from him/her & feel he/she has nothing to live for, & has no control whatsoever over his/her life, he/she will try to regain a modicum of control by blowing him/herself up.
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Residents of the Gaza Strip are facing tighter restrictions on obtaining medical care outside of the besieged coastal enclave, according to a recent monthly report issued by the World Health Organisation's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office.
According to the report, the closure of the Rafah border with Egypt has "virtually eliminated access to specialised medical treatments outside of Gaza for private patients", while 20% of patients applying for permits to travel through Israel's Erez checkpoint for medical care last month were not approved.
Ashraf Alkdra, a spokesman for Gaza's health ministry, said restrictions on these border crossings have exacerbated the health conditions of Gazans living with chronic illness. "Increasingly, we are unable to provide them treatment," he said.
In 2006, after Hamas won elections & took power in Gaza, Israel imposed a strict embargo on the densely populated Palestinian territory. This embargo, coupled with 3 Israeli wars on Gaza since 2009, has affected the lives of everyone in Gaza. But those suffering from chronic illness face an added layer of hardship.
Dr. Akihiro Seita, the health department director of the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), told Al Jazeera that chronic illnesses "are highly prevalent in Gaza", & that continued restrictions on the movement of Gaza's population worsen public health problems.
Given Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's recent electoral victory, & Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi labelling Hamas a terrorist organisation, it seems likely that Gaza's borders will remain closed for the foreseeable future.
Fikr Shaltoot, Medical Aid Palestine's director of programmes in the Gaza Strip, concurred with Seita, explaining that the closed borders have severe consequences for those living with chronic illness.
"If the crossings were open, including the Rafah crossing, some medicine would be donated through international Arab organisations," Shaltoot said. "Also, [Palestinians] would have purchased Egyptian medication at a lower cost."
Drugs coming from Israel are far more expensive than what used to come through Rafah, she said, adding that their delivery also takes longer.
Speaking from a doctor's clinic near Khan Younis, Aisha Aborjela, a 57-year-old mother of four, told Al Jazeera that her hypertension & Type 2 diabetes cause her great difficulty in everyday life.
Her husband makes "barely enough" to provide for their family, despite workdays that last up to 14 hours, & Aborjela maintains the household in his absence.
"I am on my feet from sunrise to sunset," she told Al Jazeera. "The diabetes causes me to become very tired. There are times when I can't see, & I'm always hungry," Aborjela said, citing common symptoms of the chronic illness.
The United Nations Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) provides free medication for Gaza's refugees, who account for 1.2 of the more than 1.5 million people living there.
Although this has helped Aborjela, the living conditions in Gaza can lead to additional health problems: For example, the stress she experienced during the past 3 wars caused her blood pressure to rise for extended periods, which can lead to heart disease, a condition common in her family.
"During the last war, I was trapped inside Dr Qdeih's clinic for weeks. We were being bombed, & I was so worried about my family, I couldn't eat or sleep," Aborjela recalled. "Now, I worry that if I have heart problems, I won't be able to leave Gaza [for treatment]."
Gaza's long blackouts - there are 18 hours of scheduled electrical outages a day, due to lack of energy supplies & infrastructure damaged by Israeli bombings - also have major effects on public health, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Ibrahim Arjela, 22, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last summer, during Israel's Operation Protective Edge offensive on Gaza. The insulin he must take daily to treat his condition requires constant refrigeration, stored between 2.2 & 7.8 degrees Celsius, for it to retain its effectiveness over long periods.
"When it's too hot, or too cold, it's useless. My electricity goes out for nearly 9 hours every day, so when it's hot outside I can't keep it cool. When it's cold, it doesn't stay warm enough," Arjela complained, adding that he often has to travel to the UNRWA centre in Gaza City to replace spoiled insulin, as temperatures in Gaza were uncharacteristically harsh this past winter, with 5 children reportedly dying as a result of cold & lack of shelter.
Compounding Gaza's public health problems is its food crisis, caused by years of siege. The price of chicken rose from 10 NIS ($2.83 US) to 15 NIS ($4.24 US) in August 2014, & both farmers & fishermen suffer from Israeli military attacks, making it difficult for Gazans to find fresh vegetables or fish.
Diabetics are advised to eat lean meats, fish & vegetables; & to stay away from foods high in carbohydrates, such as bread & rice, which are staples of the Palestinian diet.
But Seita, the UNRWA health department director, said the siege causes "people with diabetes to have no choice but unhealthy diet, e.g. they can only eat bread as it [is] subsidised".
Nevertheless, Arjela is hopeful that he will be able to adjust to the reality faced by him & other Gazans suffering from chronic illness. "I've got to work with what I've got. I'll figure it out," he concluded optimistically.
There was a good Canadian-produced 2012 movie, "Inch'Allah," showing how a Canadian doctor sees the life on the Israeli side of the border & in the Palestinian territories. The movie starts with a Palestinian girl blowing herself up in an Israeli city. Now, we all know the Western newspapers always telling the world how suicide bombers killed so many innocent Israeli civilians. That's what the movie showed. But, the movie didn't stop there. It went back & then showed all the events which led to that specific suicide bombing.
In one of the scenes near the end, which really tested the sympathy of Canadian doctor, it is shown that how a pregnant Palestinian woman, who recently got the news that her husband has been sentenced to 20 years in an Israeli prison, is trying to get to a hospital where she can deliver her first child (& who will be the only thing she has any hope to live for, since her husband is now jailed for 2 decades), but the Israeli military is not letting her through. The Canadian doctor, who by the way, is a Canadian non-Muslim woman, is pleading with the Israeli military to let her through right away. She also has her doctor colleague, who is also her supervisor, & who is shown to be a European non-Muslim. Both are pleading as that pregnant girl is losing a lot of blood & needs to be hospitalized right away.
Of course, as you can imagine, that young woman gives birth in the car, steps away from the hospital. By the way, that hospital was not even across from a checkpoint. Israeli military just felt like closing access to that hospital that day. Anyway, as soon as baby is delivered, that Canadian woman cuts the umbilical cord & runs towards the military closure so to plead them, so they can let her through with the newborn. But, unfortunately, the newborn dies in her arms. That's the scene that any person, who is not biased towards Israel & watches it with an objective eye, will cry.
You can imagine what that young Palestinian woman has to live for, at that moment? What she has left to live for at that moment? Husband is imprisoned, rightly or wrongly. Her first newborn dies right after birth. Does she has anything to live for?
So, if she doesn't have anything to live for now, then what do you think she will do?
What people forget that nobody likes to die in this world. Everyone wants to live as long for as they can. But everyone also wants to live freely with his/her loved ones. Killing yourself requires a lot of courage & anger. It's not easy to blow yourself up. Heck, Islam strictly forbade Muslims from committing suicides. There is no reward for blowing yourself up.
I am not excusing suicide bombers from killing other innocent civilians, but what I am trying to say is that we, very easily, forget to ask what & why a person will blow themselves up. We, right away, start blaming religions & people, & start labelling them with such choice words, as "barbarians" & "uncivilized". Everyone loves life. But when a person has taken everything away from him/her & feel he/she has nothing to live for, & has no control whatsoever over his/her life, he/she will try to regain a modicum of control by blowing him/herself up.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Residents of the Gaza Strip are facing tighter restrictions on obtaining medical care outside of the besieged coastal enclave, according to a recent monthly report issued by the World Health Organisation's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office.
According to the report, the closure of the Rafah border with Egypt has "virtually eliminated access to specialised medical treatments outside of Gaza for private patients", while 20% of patients applying for permits to travel through Israel's Erez checkpoint for medical care last month were not approved.
Ashraf Alkdra, a spokesman for Gaza's health ministry, said restrictions on these border crossings have exacerbated the health conditions of Gazans living with chronic illness. "Increasingly, we are unable to provide them treatment," he said.
In 2006, after Hamas won elections & took power in Gaza, Israel imposed a strict embargo on the densely populated Palestinian territory. This embargo, coupled with 3 Israeli wars on Gaza since 2009, has affected the lives of everyone in Gaza. But those suffering from chronic illness face an added layer of hardship.
Dr. Akihiro Seita, the health department director of the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), told Al Jazeera that chronic illnesses "are highly prevalent in Gaza", & that continued restrictions on the movement of Gaza's population worsen public health problems.
Given Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's recent electoral victory, & Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi labelling Hamas a terrorist organisation, it seems likely that Gaza's borders will remain closed for the foreseeable future.
Fikr Shaltoot, Medical Aid Palestine's director of programmes in the Gaza Strip, concurred with Seita, explaining that the closed borders have severe consequences for those living with chronic illness.
"If the crossings were open, including the Rafah crossing, some medicine would be donated through international Arab organisations," Shaltoot said. "Also, [Palestinians] would have purchased Egyptian medication at a lower cost."
Drugs coming from Israel are far more expensive than what used to come through Rafah, she said, adding that their delivery also takes longer.
Speaking from a doctor's clinic near Khan Younis, Aisha Aborjela, a 57-year-old mother of four, told Al Jazeera that her hypertension & Type 2 diabetes cause her great difficulty in everyday life.
Her husband makes "barely enough" to provide for their family, despite workdays that last up to 14 hours, & Aborjela maintains the household in his absence.
"I am on my feet from sunrise to sunset," she told Al Jazeera. "The diabetes causes me to become very tired. There are times when I can't see, & I'm always hungry," Aborjela said, citing common symptoms of the chronic illness.
The United Nations Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) provides free medication for Gaza's refugees, who account for 1.2 of the more than 1.5 million people living there.
Although this has helped Aborjela, the living conditions in Gaza can lead to additional health problems: For example, the stress she experienced during the past 3 wars caused her blood pressure to rise for extended periods, which can lead to heart disease, a condition common in her family.
"During the last war, I was trapped inside Dr Qdeih's clinic for weeks. We were being bombed, & I was so worried about my family, I couldn't eat or sleep," Aborjela recalled. "Now, I worry that if I have heart problems, I won't be able to leave Gaza [for treatment]."
Gaza's long blackouts - there are 18 hours of scheduled electrical outages a day, due to lack of energy supplies & infrastructure damaged by Israeli bombings - also have major effects on public health, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Ibrahim Arjela, 22, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last summer, during Israel's Operation Protective Edge offensive on Gaza. The insulin he must take daily to treat his condition requires constant refrigeration, stored between 2.2 & 7.8 degrees Celsius, for it to retain its effectiveness over long periods.
"When it's too hot, or too cold, it's useless. My electricity goes out for nearly 9 hours every day, so when it's hot outside I can't keep it cool. When it's cold, it doesn't stay warm enough," Arjela complained, adding that he often has to travel to the UNRWA centre in Gaza City to replace spoiled insulin, as temperatures in Gaza were uncharacteristically harsh this past winter, with 5 children reportedly dying as a result of cold & lack of shelter.
Compounding Gaza's public health problems is its food crisis, caused by years of siege. The price of chicken rose from 10 NIS ($2.83 US) to 15 NIS ($4.24 US) in August 2014, & both farmers & fishermen suffer from Israeli military attacks, making it difficult for Gazans to find fresh vegetables or fish.
Diabetics are advised to eat lean meats, fish & vegetables; & to stay away from foods high in carbohydrates, such as bread & rice, which are staples of the Palestinian diet.
But Seita, the UNRWA health department director, said the siege causes "people with diabetes to have no choice but unhealthy diet, e.g. they can only eat bread as it [is] subsidised".
Nevertheless, Arjela is hopeful that he will be able to adjust to the reality faced by him & other Gazans suffering from chronic illness. "I've got to work with what I've got. I'll figure it out," he concluded optimistically.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Land of the free? The US has a prison problem
Although, it was good to read this article that US has started to look into reforming its prison system, I don't have much hope of something actually happening. Reason being that US prison system, similar to its medical system, is becoming profit-driven.
Some states have contracted out the prison system to private contractors. Those private contractors benefit from prison population's almost-free / "slave" labour & they also get subsidies / tax breaks from the government (similar to several other companies / industries). Of course, if the contractors are profiting from the labour, they need more of that "free" labour. So, of course, they lobby hard & get the judiciary (judges, attorney generals etc.) on their side of the table.
Result is harsh sentencing laws, e.g. minimum mandatory sentence, are then passed. By the way, there was a good crime drama 2013 movie on this issue, "Snitch," starring Dwayne Johnson, & based on a real story. Anyway, so contractors need to keep a certain level of beds fill in their prisons. They may even be getting tax breaks or subsidies based on prison fill-rate (sort of like how hotels operate their business). On top of that, attorneys' successes are measured based on their conviction rate. So the more they put people behind bars, the more they are considered as making the public safe. That perception comes in very handy if those attorneys are dreaming of getting into government one day.
So who suffers in all of this self-serving agendas, fiasco & corruption? The Public.
1. Taxpayers: As the article states, millions of taxpayer $$$ are spent in housing these prisoners. Those same millions which could have been spent on improving infrastructure, putting food on the poor family's table (by increasing the budget of food stamp program, instead of cutting it), improving schools in poor, urban areas so kids of disadvantaged families also get the same quality of education as the kid from an elite family.
2. People: Those people who get snared in this prison system. As recent incidents have widely shown how much racism is still existent in the American society; African-Americans, who are usually on the disadvantaged spectrum of the general population, face the brunt of these harsh laws. They get locked up for minor offences, assuming they did commit an offence in the first place.
Once they caught up in that cycle, there is no exit out of that maze. Even when they do get out, they have a hard time securing employment and/or housing. Result is they may not have enough money to pay alimony or provide a suitable place to live for their kids or live in a safe & secure place just by themselves.
So, if, due to unemployment, that person, who was not a violent offender in the first place, but has an "ex-con" label now, doesn't pay child support, then he is put into prison. If that person, due to unemployment, can't secure housing, & starts living on the streets, where he/she can easily become a drug addict, & if he gets caught with a drug, he/she visits the prison, again. What happens with all these prison visits? That person is labelled a multiple offender, & has much longer sentences.
Essentially, that person, who was wrongly / perhaps, harshly convicted of a minor offense, becomes a hardened criminal. Who gets the blame then? That person him/herself.
My solution:
1. Be extra careful in sentencing a person in the first place. Don't make stupid harsh laws, which, in effect, make the net bigger, so more "fish" are caught.
Try to make laws which focus on catching violent criminals in the first place, rather than, making one out of a non-violent offender.
2. I'm a proponent of capital punishment. That's why, I said in point one above, that try to make laws to catch violent criminals in the first place.
Once those hardened criminals are caught, the hopes of those criminals ever becoming good guys again are slim to none. So, execute them swiftly.
What these two points will do in tandem?
1. Improve relations between the public & law enforcement, since the law enforcement is focusing more on violent criminals & not catching any & all people. Arresting violent criminals will be looked at appreciatively by the general public, since then, the perception would be of a just society.
2. Law enforcement will also become more efficient & their efforts more effective, since their conviction rates will go up, since they are focusing on violent criminals, who will, most likely, get convicted, & since, they are focusing more on few people, they will get more efficient.
3. Law enforcement agencies will focus more on less people, so they may also need fewer cops, which in turn, will result in decreasing the tax burden on the public.
4. Decreasing tax burdens from keeping few people, if any, in prison, fewer cops, fewer prisons, & a less clogged judicial system, where cases are moving faster.
5. Seeing the end result of what happens to a violent criminal, other people, e.g. misguided youths in the public, will also avoid pursuing that lifestyle. Currently, they see that the worst happening to them, if they do pursue that lifestyle, is going to jail & perhaps, staying in there, & in return do some work & get free housing & food, & make friends with life-minded individuals. Life is sweet.
That mindset will get a jolt that no, if you commit a serious crime, you will get the lethal injection. No free lunches & friend with a gang leader.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since 1990, Missouri’s Hedy Harden has been lobbying for criminal justice reforms in the Midwestern state. On March 11, the 70-year-old chair of the Missouri branch of CURE—a national criminal-justice-reform organization founded in 1972—joined other like-minded activists for a lobby day in the state capital of Jefferson City to pressure lawmakers to pass a handful of bills aimed at reducing the state’s mandatory-minimum laws & other reforms.
Missouri’s prison system cost state taxpayers some $680 million in 2014—up from $220 million in 1994 after the state brought in harsh sentencing legislation that curbed early prison release. Its prison population has since increased nearly 9 times over the past 3 decades, mirroring similar trends across the US.
And while Harden has 25 years under her belt advocating for changes to Missouri’s justice laws—& is growing increasingly skeptical that proposed legislation will ever make it into law—the case for criminal-justice reform is riding a wave of support across the US.
That support has been spurred by a combination of budgetary constraints, prison overcrowding, shifts in public attitudes & a media spotlight trained on events such as the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August in Ferguson, Mo., by police officer Darren Wilson, & the subsequent nationwide protests & scrutiny of policing & the criminal justice system. “Definitely, we all had some really high hopes because of Ferguson,” Harden says, “& we know the legislature has to deal with the whole issue of Ferguson.”
The results of the federal justice department’s investigation into the Ferguson police force in the wake of the shooting ... uncovered a municipal justice system rife with racial bias & geared more toward generating revenue for the St. Louis suburb than any concern for public safety. The federal probe found that, according to the police department’s own statistics, between 2012 & 2014, blacks accounted for 85% of traffic stops, 90% of citations, & 93% of arrests made by Ferguson police, despite making up 67% of the city’s population. They also faced significantly more citations for minor offences & bore the brunt of documented force by police. The municipal court, meanwhile, routinely ordered arrest warrants for residents who failed to pay fines for minor infractions such as traffic tickets & parking violations.
President Barack Obama cited Ferguson—as well as other recent high-profile police-related deaths in New York & Cleveland—in his March 7 speech in Alabama on the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights marches. “We can make sure our criminal justice system serves all, & not just some,” he said. “Together, we can address unfair sentencing & overcrowded prisons, & the stunted circumstances that rob too many boys of the chance to become men, & rob the nation of too many men who could be good dads, & good workers, & good neighbours.”
In Washington, Obama isn’t alone in calling for change in how America handles matters of crime & punishment. Criminal-justice reform has turned into a rare point of bipartisan consensus in a Congress that’s become synonymous with partisanship, gridlock & division.
The US is currently the world’s largest jailer, with roughly 2.2 million people behind bars. According to data compiled by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), maintaining that prison system cost American taxpayers $80 billion in 2012. In 2013, the US had an incarceration rate of 716 prisoners for every 100,000 Americans. (By comparison, according to stats from the Sentencing Project, Canada’s incarceration rate is 118 per 100,000.) And, since 1980, the federal prison system grew nearly 800%, with some 219,000 people behind bars.
Policy-makers such as outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder are now increasingly likely to talk about being “smart on crime” instead of “tough on crime,” & there is a raft of proposed legislation meant to fix the system. The Smarter Sentencing Act, introduced in February in the Senate by Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee & Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, & in the House by Republican Raul Labrador & Democrat Bobby Scott, would reduce the mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders, along with other measures.
A prison-reform bill also introduced last month by Texas Republican & Senate majority whip John Cornyn & Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, aims to shrink the federal prison population by offering incentives to low- & medium-risk prisoners to participate in recidivism-reduction programs. And, last week, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul (a potential presidential candidate), along with New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker, introduced the Redeem Act. That sweeping legislation would reduce the collateral problems former prisoners face when voting & seeking housing & employment. It would also make it easier for juveniles & adults convicted of non-violent offences to seal their criminal records, among other provisions. These & similar bills have been introduced in prior sessions of Congress in the past few years, but failed to gain real traction.
Groups such as the ACLU say increasingly harsh sentencing & parole policies, the war on drugs & rising parole revocations are behind the spike in the US prison population over the past 3 decades. Recently, however, sentencing reforms at the state level have helped to spur the first drop in prison populations in decades—a modest overall decline (2.8%) between 2009 & 2012.
Those state-level successes ... mean advocates for criminal-justice reform are optimistic. “I do think something significant will happen this year. I think the stars are really aligned,” says Marc Levin, co-founder of the advocacy group Right on Crime, & a prominent voice in the conservative criminal-justice-reform movement. “[It] is such a rarity in a gridlocked system [to find] actual agreement. I think there’s a desire on the part of many Republicans, & many of the consultants to Republicans, to show they’ve got a positive agenda, that they can govern & get something done. There’s a real breakthrough, where there’s something in it for everyone.”
Levin also has prominent conservatives lined up behind him: Big-name Republicans such as Newt Gingrich, presumptive 2016 frontrunner Jeb Bush, & Arkansas governor & former US Drug Enforcement Administration head Asa Hutchinson have all signed on to his organization’s statement of principles. Jesselyn McCurdy, who works with the ACLU in Washington to get members of Congress on board with criminal-justice reform, agrees the timing is right. “Any successes we have at the state level we’re hoping to translate to the federal level,” she says.
In November, the ACLU netted $50 million from liberal billionaire benefactor George Soros’s Open Society Foundations to push at the state level to reduce prison populations. Soros has also joined forces with the conservative Koch brothers & other groups (including the ACLU & Right on Crime) to form the new Coalition for Public Safety, billed as “the largest national effort working to make our criminal justice system smarter, fairer & more cost-effective at the federal, state & local level.”
... in a January op-ed in Politico magazine, Charles Koch made the case for reform, writing: “Overcriminalization has led to the mass incarceration of those ensnared by our criminal justice system, even though such imprisonment does not always enhance public safety. Indeed, more than half of federal inmates are non-violent drug offenders. Enforcing so many victimless crimes inevitably leads to conflict between our citizens & law enforcement.”
Still, while there’s broad agreement that the current prison system isn’t sustainable, not everyone agrees on the proposed blueprints for reform. In Congress, those skeptics include Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who, as head of the Senate judiciary committee, holds sway over which reform bills end up on the legislative agenda. On the Senate floor this past week, Grassley voiced strong opposition to the Smarter Sentencing Act, saying the arguments for it “are merely a weak attempt to defend the indefensible,” & pointing to examples such as growing heroin use in states such as Vermont. He also expressed misgivings that the legislation could impede efforts to curtail major drug-trafficking operations, or that it would allow repeat offenders to avoid serious jail time.
In California, Proposition 47—a ballot initiative passed last November with nearly 60% support that reclassifies some drug & theft crimes from felonies to misdemeanours—is also facing opposition from critics who argue it’s a flawed & dangerous measure. David Bejarano, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, argues that Prop 47 has: scrapped felony charges for possession of substances such as the date-rape drug; created a loophole for handgun theft; & removed a legal tool used by law enforcement to force people into drug rehab in lieu of jail time. “Other states are watching what California does. What we’re trying to do now through our legislature is correct some of the most obvious concerns we have,” he says.
In Missouri, there’s another campaign building to pass House Bill 657, which would reduce the state’s so-called “85% law.” The Republican-sponsored bill would lower the threshold of time served before being eligible for parole for certain dangerous felonies (arson, robbery, & assault) from 85% of the sentence to 50%. Even with that push, & a slew of bills aimed at reforming everything from those mandatory minimums to juvenile justice & the death penalty, Harden called the state legislature “a tough nut to crack.”
Some states have contracted out the prison system to private contractors. Those private contractors benefit from prison population's almost-free / "slave" labour & they also get subsidies / tax breaks from the government (similar to several other companies / industries). Of course, if the contractors are profiting from the labour, they need more of that "free" labour. So, of course, they lobby hard & get the judiciary (judges, attorney generals etc.) on their side of the table.
Result is harsh sentencing laws, e.g. minimum mandatory sentence, are then passed. By the way, there was a good crime drama 2013 movie on this issue, "Snitch," starring Dwayne Johnson, & based on a real story. Anyway, so contractors need to keep a certain level of beds fill in their prisons. They may even be getting tax breaks or subsidies based on prison fill-rate (sort of like how hotels operate their business). On top of that, attorneys' successes are measured based on their conviction rate. So the more they put people behind bars, the more they are considered as making the public safe. That perception comes in very handy if those attorneys are dreaming of getting into government one day.
So who suffers in all of this self-serving agendas, fiasco & corruption? The Public.
1. Taxpayers: As the article states, millions of taxpayer $$$ are spent in housing these prisoners. Those same millions which could have been spent on improving infrastructure, putting food on the poor family's table (by increasing the budget of food stamp program, instead of cutting it), improving schools in poor, urban areas so kids of disadvantaged families also get the same quality of education as the kid from an elite family.
2. People: Those people who get snared in this prison system. As recent incidents have widely shown how much racism is still existent in the American society; African-Americans, who are usually on the disadvantaged spectrum of the general population, face the brunt of these harsh laws. They get locked up for minor offences, assuming they did commit an offence in the first place.
Once they caught up in that cycle, there is no exit out of that maze. Even when they do get out, they have a hard time securing employment and/or housing. Result is they may not have enough money to pay alimony or provide a suitable place to live for their kids or live in a safe & secure place just by themselves.
So, if, due to unemployment, that person, who was not a violent offender in the first place, but has an "ex-con" label now, doesn't pay child support, then he is put into prison. If that person, due to unemployment, can't secure housing, & starts living on the streets, where he/she can easily become a drug addict, & if he gets caught with a drug, he/she visits the prison, again. What happens with all these prison visits? That person is labelled a multiple offender, & has much longer sentences.
Essentially, that person, who was wrongly / perhaps, harshly convicted of a minor offense, becomes a hardened criminal. Who gets the blame then? That person him/herself.
My solution:
1. Be extra careful in sentencing a person in the first place. Don't make stupid harsh laws, which, in effect, make the net bigger, so more "fish" are caught.
Try to make laws which focus on catching violent criminals in the first place, rather than, making one out of a non-violent offender.
2. I'm a proponent of capital punishment. That's why, I said in point one above, that try to make laws to catch violent criminals in the first place.
Once those hardened criminals are caught, the hopes of those criminals ever becoming good guys again are slim to none. So, execute them swiftly.
What these two points will do in tandem?
1. Improve relations between the public & law enforcement, since the law enforcement is focusing more on violent criminals & not catching any & all people. Arresting violent criminals will be looked at appreciatively by the general public, since then, the perception would be of a just society.
2. Law enforcement will also become more efficient & their efforts more effective, since their conviction rates will go up, since they are focusing on violent criminals, who will, most likely, get convicted, & since, they are focusing more on few people, they will get more efficient.
3. Law enforcement agencies will focus more on less people, so they may also need fewer cops, which in turn, will result in decreasing the tax burden on the public.
4. Decreasing tax burdens from keeping few people, if any, in prison, fewer cops, fewer prisons, & a less clogged judicial system, where cases are moving faster.
5. Seeing the end result of what happens to a violent criminal, other people, e.g. misguided youths in the public, will also avoid pursuing that lifestyle. Currently, they see that the worst happening to them, if they do pursue that lifestyle, is going to jail & perhaps, staying in there, & in return do some work & get free housing & food, & make friends with life-minded individuals. Life is sweet.
That mindset will get a jolt that no, if you commit a serious crime, you will get the lethal injection. No free lunches & friend with a gang leader.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since 1990, Missouri’s Hedy Harden has been lobbying for criminal justice reforms in the Midwestern state. On March 11, the 70-year-old chair of the Missouri branch of CURE—a national criminal-justice-reform organization founded in 1972—joined other like-minded activists for a lobby day in the state capital of Jefferson City to pressure lawmakers to pass a handful of bills aimed at reducing the state’s mandatory-minimum laws & other reforms.
Missouri’s prison system cost state taxpayers some $680 million in 2014—up from $220 million in 1994 after the state brought in harsh sentencing legislation that curbed early prison release. Its prison population has since increased nearly 9 times over the past 3 decades, mirroring similar trends across the US.
And while Harden has 25 years under her belt advocating for changes to Missouri’s justice laws—& is growing increasingly skeptical that proposed legislation will ever make it into law—the case for criminal-justice reform is riding a wave of support across the US.
That support has been spurred by a combination of budgetary constraints, prison overcrowding, shifts in public attitudes & a media spotlight trained on events such as the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August in Ferguson, Mo., by police officer Darren Wilson, & the subsequent nationwide protests & scrutiny of policing & the criminal justice system. “Definitely, we all had some really high hopes because of Ferguson,” Harden says, “& we know the legislature has to deal with the whole issue of Ferguson.”
The results of the federal justice department’s investigation into the Ferguson police force in the wake of the shooting ... uncovered a municipal justice system rife with racial bias & geared more toward generating revenue for the St. Louis suburb than any concern for public safety. The federal probe found that, according to the police department’s own statistics, between 2012 & 2014, blacks accounted for 85% of traffic stops, 90% of citations, & 93% of arrests made by Ferguson police, despite making up 67% of the city’s population. They also faced significantly more citations for minor offences & bore the brunt of documented force by police. The municipal court, meanwhile, routinely ordered arrest warrants for residents who failed to pay fines for minor infractions such as traffic tickets & parking violations.
President Barack Obama cited Ferguson—as well as other recent high-profile police-related deaths in New York & Cleveland—in his March 7 speech in Alabama on the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights marches. “We can make sure our criminal justice system serves all, & not just some,” he said. “Together, we can address unfair sentencing & overcrowded prisons, & the stunted circumstances that rob too many boys of the chance to become men, & rob the nation of too many men who could be good dads, & good workers, & good neighbours.”
In Washington, Obama isn’t alone in calling for change in how America handles matters of crime & punishment. Criminal-justice reform has turned into a rare point of bipartisan consensus in a Congress that’s become synonymous with partisanship, gridlock & division.
The US is currently the world’s largest jailer, with roughly 2.2 million people behind bars. According to data compiled by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), maintaining that prison system cost American taxpayers $80 billion in 2012. In 2013, the US had an incarceration rate of 716 prisoners for every 100,000 Americans. (By comparison, according to stats from the Sentencing Project, Canada’s incarceration rate is 118 per 100,000.) And, since 1980, the federal prison system grew nearly 800%, with some 219,000 people behind bars.
Policy-makers such as outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder are now increasingly likely to talk about being “smart on crime” instead of “tough on crime,” & there is a raft of proposed legislation meant to fix the system. The Smarter Sentencing Act, introduced in February in the Senate by Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee & Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, & in the House by Republican Raul Labrador & Democrat Bobby Scott, would reduce the mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders, along with other measures.
A prison-reform bill also introduced last month by Texas Republican & Senate majority whip John Cornyn & Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, aims to shrink the federal prison population by offering incentives to low- & medium-risk prisoners to participate in recidivism-reduction programs. And, last week, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul (a potential presidential candidate), along with New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker, introduced the Redeem Act. That sweeping legislation would reduce the collateral problems former prisoners face when voting & seeking housing & employment. It would also make it easier for juveniles & adults convicted of non-violent offences to seal their criminal records, among other provisions. These & similar bills have been introduced in prior sessions of Congress in the past few years, but failed to gain real traction.
Groups such as the ACLU say increasingly harsh sentencing & parole policies, the war on drugs & rising parole revocations are behind the spike in the US prison population over the past 3 decades. Recently, however, sentencing reforms at the state level have helped to spur the first drop in prison populations in decades—a modest overall decline (2.8%) between 2009 & 2012.
Those state-level successes ... mean advocates for criminal-justice reform are optimistic. “I do think something significant will happen this year. I think the stars are really aligned,” says Marc Levin, co-founder of the advocacy group Right on Crime, & a prominent voice in the conservative criminal-justice-reform movement. “[It] is such a rarity in a gridlocked system [to find] actual agreement. I think there’s a desire on the part of many Republicans, & many of the consultants to Republicans, to show they’ve got a positive agenda, that they can govern & get something done. There’s a real breakthrough, where there’s something in it for everyone.”
Levin also has prominent conservatives lined up behind him: Big-name Republicans such as Newt Gingrich, presumptive 2016 frontrunner Jeb Bush, & Arkansas governor & former US Drug Enforcement Administration head Asa Hutchinson have all signed on to his organization’s statement of principles. Jesselyn McCurdy, who works with the ACLU in Washington to get members of Congress on board with criminal-justice reform, agrees the timing is right. “Any successes we have at the state level we’re hoping to translate to the federal level,” she says.
In November, the ACLU netted $50 million from liberal billionaire benefactor George Soros’s Open Society Foundations to push at the state level to reduce prison populations. Soros has also joined forces with the conservative Koch brothers & other groups (including the ACLU & Right on Crime) to form the new Coalition for Public Safety, billed as “the largest national effort working to make our criminal justice system smarter, fairer & more cost-effective at the federal, state & local level.”
... in a January op-ed in Politico magazine, Charles Koch made the case for reform, writing: “Overcriminalization has led to the mass incarceration of those ensnared by our criminal justice system, even though such imprisonment does not always enhance public safety. Indeed, more than half of federal inmates are non-violent drug offenders. Enforcing so many victimless crimes inevitably leads to conflict between our citizens & law enforcement.”
Still, while there’s broad agreement that the current prison system isn’t sustainable, not everyone agrees on the proposed blueprints for reform. In Congress, those skeptics include Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who, as head of the Senate judiciary committee, holds sway over which reform bills end up on the legislative agenda. On the Senate floor this past week, Grassley voiced strong opposition to the Smarter Sentencing Act, saying the arguments for it “are merely a weak attempt to defend the indefensible,” & pointing to examples such as growing heroin use in states such as Vermont. He also expressed misgivings that the legislation could impede efforts to curtail major drug-trafficking operations, or that it would allow repeat offenders to avoid serious jail time.
In California, Proposition 47—a ballot initiative passed last November with nearly 60% support that reclassifies some drug & theft crimes from felonies to misdemeanours—is also facing opposition from critics who argue it’s a flawed & dangerous measure. David Bejarano, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, argues that Prop 47 has: scrapped felony charges for possession of substances such as the date-rape drug; created a loophole for handgun theft; & removed a legal tool used by law enforcement to force people into drug rehab in lieu of jail time. “Other states are watching what California does. What we’re trying to do now through our legislature is correct some of the most obvious concerns we have,” he says.
In Missouri, there’s another campaign building to pass House Bill 657, which would reduce the state’s so-called “85% law.” The Republican-sponsored bill would lower the threshold of time served before being eligible for parole for certain dangerous felonies (arson, robbery, & assault) from 85% of the sentence to 50%. Even with that push, & a slew of bills aimed at reforming everything from those mandatory minimums to juvenile justice & the death penalty, Harden called the state legislature “a tough nut to crack.”
Friday, May 1, 2015
Audit: Canada should've handled Afghan aid program differently
While reading this article, a particular scene came to my mind from Tom Hanks' 2007 movie, "Charlie Wilson's War," which was about American collusion with Afghan mujahideen (freedom fighters) to topple USSR.
In that scene, America has essentially won the war by achieving its sole objective of defeating USSR & Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson) is back with government leaders & asks for more funding. They ask why, since the war has already been won. Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson) says that we need this funding to rebuild hospitals, schools, utilities infrastructure etc; basically, help the Afghans in rebuilding their society. Other government leaders laugh at him & Charlie Wilson never got the funding.
Afghanistan's infrastructure, post-USSR exit, never got any improvements. Due to continuing poverty, power struggles ensue, & fights broke out among different tribes, & eventually, Taliban rose up. They helped Al-Qaeda settle in Afghanistan & the rest is history.
Funny thing is that all these governments & the public never learn from their mistakes & as the saying goes that whoever doesn't learn from its mistakes is doomed to repeat it. Well, we are well on the road to repeating all those mistakes.
In one of my other blog posts, it was mentioned that ISIS is reaping billions from transporting drugs out of Afghanistan & into Europe & North America. Afghanistan has become a haven for opium farming & the whole world, especially the Western world, is going to suffer from it very heavily, when their populations are getting addicted to coke, heroin, hashish & etc drugs. Since, the economy & jobs are on the downhill slope, people are resorting to these drugs to alleviate their mental problems, like depression & stress. On top of that, Taliban are back in Afghanistan with a vengeance, & this time, they know nobody is there to stop them, since most of the Western world has their own problems to contend with.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada walked away from a decade-long $2.2 billion aid program in Afghanistan hoping the US would just carry on with its plan, an internal government audit has found.
Instead, Canada’s vision was left in the dust, officials told auditors looking into the largest aid program in government history, one of the 3 pillars of the effort to stabilize the war-torn country after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
The massive aid program was supposed to bolster the military’s work in securing the country & diplomatic efforts to shore up its governance, a whole-of-government approach that in some ways should serve as a model for approaching similar conflicts in the future, the evaluation found.
But there were major flaws in the Afghan aid program’s conception & its delivery, the evaluation concluded, including a failure to ever completely understand what was driving the conflict in Afghanistan & in turn be able to really help solve it.
“Canada is recognized as a consistent & reliable donor with a clear results orientation, but there is insufficient evidence to provide a definitive answer to the overall evaluation question related to Canada’s contribution to long-term stability & sustainable development in Afghanistan,” the report said.
The ongoing & eventually worsening violence in Afghanistan has been largely blamed for keeping development programs from doing what they were ostensibly designed to do — help secure the peace won by the military.
When that peace was declared elusive & the military decided to leave Kandahar in 2011, aid officials were left to create exit strategies of their own — keeping a large-scale development program going was never an option, evaluators were told.
A decision was made to hand everything over to the US, & the Americans then started pursuing their own, differing, priorities, the report found.
“The frequent change of American staff on the ground meant that there was little institutional memory remaining to keep the strategic Canadian legacy alive,” the evaluation concluded.
“Many interviewees indicated that this exit strategy may have been short-sighted & that, given the enormous Canadian investments made in Kandahar, other alternatives should have been explored as was done by other bilateral donors.”
Canada’s 3 signature projects, the rehabilitation of the irrigation system flowing from the Dahla Dam, the construction of 50 schools & polio vaccination had mixed results.
More than 50 schools were actually built but it’s unclear how many are open & how many students are enrolled, while polio cases from Pakistan continue to infiltrate Afghanistan. The irrigation system repair achieved most of its objectives, but with no new money earmarked to continue the work, it is all at risk, the report found.
The emphasis on short-term implementation strategies may have seen projects completed faster, but came at the expense of ensuring sustainable long-term development results, the report said.
“However, a few years after the Canadian exit from Kandahar, there is limited evidence of positive outcomes in terms of more jobs, enhanced income opportunities or better quality of services outside of the health & education sectors,” the report said.
While the politics of the Afghan mission may be a thing of the past for Canadian parliamentarians, they reared their head for the evaluation team, who reported feeling some pressure to emphasize the positive results of the aid program in their report.
In the end, they drew 9 conclusions from their study & provided 5 recommendations. In its response to the report, the government acknowledged the program’s shortcomings & agreed with many of the evaluation’s conclusions.
Canada has committed to spending $227 million in Afghanistan between 2014 & 2017 but the report suggests Afghans are left wanting.
“There are still positive developments at the community level as a result of improved physical infrastructure & strengthened community organizations, but there are also clear signs of frustration & anger, despite the fact that some development activities are continuing,” the report said.
In that scene, America has essentially won the war by achieving its sole objective of defeating USSR & Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson) is back with government leaders & asks for more funding. They ask why, since the war has already been won. Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson) says that we need this funding to rebuild hospitals, schools, utilities infrastructure etc; basically, help the Afghans in rebuilding their society. Other government leaders laugh at him & Charlie Wilson never got the funding.
Afghanistan's infrastructure, post-USSR exit, never got any improvements. Due to continuing poverty, power struggles ensue, & fights broke out among different tribes, & eventually, Taliban rose up. They helped Al-Qaeda settle in Afghanistan & the rest is history.
Funny thing is that all these governments & the public never learn from their mistakes & as the saying goes that whoever doesn't learn from its mistakes is doomed to repeat it. Well, we are well on the road to repeating all those mistakes.
In one of my other blog posts, it was mentioned that ISIS is reaping billions from transporting drugs out of Afghanistan & into Europe & North America. Afghanistan has become a haven for opium farming & the whole world, especially the Western world, is going to suffer from it very heavily, when their populations are getting addicted to coke, heroin, hashish & etc drugs. Since, the economy & jobs are on the downhill slope, people are resorting to these drugs to alleviate their mental problems, like depression & stress. On top of that, Taliban are back in Afghanistan with a vengeance, & this time, they know nobody is there to stop them, since most of the Western world has their own problems to contend with.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada walked away from a decade-long $2.2 billion aid program in Afghanistan hoping the US would just carry on with its plan, an internal government audit has found.
Instead, Canada’s vision was left in the dust, officials told auditors looking into the largest aid program in government history, one of the 3 pillars of the effort to stabilize the war-torn country after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
The massive aid program was supposed to bolster the military’s work in securing the country & diplomatic efforts to shore up its governance, a whole-of-government approach that in some ways should serve as a model for approaching similar conflicts in the future, the evaluation found.
But there were major flaws in the Afghan aid program’s conception & its delivery, the evaluation concluded, including a failure to ever completely understand what was driving the conflict in Afghanistan & in turn be able to really help solve it.
“Canada is recognized as a consistent & reliable donor with a clear results orientation, but there is insufficient evidence to provide a definitive answer to the overall evaluation question related to Canada’s contribution to long-term stability & sustainable development in Afghanistan,” the report said.
The ongoing & eventually worsening violence in Afghanistan has been largely blamed for keeping development programs from doing what they were ostensibly designed to do — help secure the peace won by the military.
When that peace was declared elusive & the military decided to leave Kandahar in 2011, aid officials were left to create exit strategies of their own — keeping a large-scale development program going was never an option, evaluators were told.
A decision was made to hand everything over to the US, & the Americans then started pursuing their own, differing, priorities, the report found.
“The frequent change of American staff on the ground meant that there was little institutional memory remaining to keep the strategic Canadian legacy alive,” the evaluation concluded.
“Many interviewees indicated that this exit strategy may have been short-sighted & that, given the enormous Canadian investments made in Kandahar, other alternatives should have been explored as was done by other bilateral donors.”
Canada’s 3 signature projects, the rehabilitation of the irrigation system flowing from the Dahla Dam, the construction of 50 schools & polio vaccination had mixed results.
More than 50 schools were actually built but it’s unclear how many are open & how many students are enrolled, while polio cases from Pakistan continue to infiltrate Afghanistan. The irrigation system repair achieved most of its objectives, but with no new money earmarked to continue the work, it is all at risk, the report found.
The emphasis on short-term implementation strategies may have seen projects completed faster, but came at the expense of ensuring sustainable long-term development results, the report said.
“However, a few years after the Canadian exit from Kandahar, there is limited evidence of positive outcomes in terms of more jobs, enhanced income opportunities or better quality of services outside of the health & education sectors,” the report said.
While the politics of the Afghan mission may be a thing of the past for Canadian parliamentarians, they reared their head for the evaluation team, who reported feeling some pressure to emphasize the positive results of the aid program in their report.
In the end, they drew 9 conclusions from their study & provided 5 recommendations. In its response to the report, the government acknowledged the program’s shortcomings & agreed with many of the evaluation’s conclusions.
Canada has committed to spending $227 million in Afghanistan between 2014 & 2017 but the report suggests Afghans are left wanting.
“There are still positive developments at the community level as a result of improved physical infrastructure & strengthened community organizations, but there are also clear signs of frustration & anger, despite the fact that some development activities are continuing,” the report said.
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