EFTA00828326.pdf

From: Gregory Brown To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bcc: [email protected] Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.. 5/01/2016 Date: Sun, 01 May 2016 07:03:10 +0000 Attachments: Dizzy_Gillespie_bio.docx Inline-Images: image.png; image(1).png; image(2).png; image(3).png; image(4).png; image(5).png; image(6).png; image(7).png; image(8).png; image(9).png; image(10).png; image(11).png; image(12).png; image(13).png; image(14).png DEAR FRIEND More Often Than One Would Think Trial and error: Report finds prosecutors rarely pay price for misconduct according to The Innocence Project, our justice system often looks the other way at attorneys who withhold evidence. Inline image 1 The Innocence Project released a report Tuesday alleging that prosecutors across the country are almost never punished when they withhold evidence or commit other forms of misconduct that land innocent people in prison. The Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal group that represents people seeking exoneration, examined records in Arizona, California, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania, and interviewed a wide assortment of defense lawyers, prosecutors and legal experts. EFTA00828326 In each state, researchers examined court rulings from 2004 through 2008 in which judges found that prosecutors had committed violations such as mischaracterizing evidence or suborning perjury. All told, the researchers discovered 66o findings of prosecutorial error or misconduct. In the overwhelming majority of cases, 527, judges upheld the convictions, finding that the prosecutorial lapse did not impact the fairness of the defendant's original trial. In 133 cases, convictions were thrown out. Only one prosecutor was disciplined by any oversight authorities, the report asserts. The report was issued on the anniversary of a controversial Supreme Court ruling for those trying to achieve justice in the wake of wrongful convictions. In a 5-4 decision in the case known as Connick v. Thompson, the court tossed out a $14-million dollar award by a Louisiana jury to John Thompson, a New Orleans man who served 18 years in prison for a murder and robbery he did not commit. The majority ruled that while the trial prosecutors had withheld critical evidence of Thompson's likely innocence — blood samples from the crime scene — the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office could not be found civilly liable for what the justices essentially determined was the mistake of a handful of employees. The decision hinged on a critical finding: that the District Attorney's office, and the legal profession in general, provides sufficient training and oversight for all prosecutors. The Innocence Project study echoes a 2013 ProPublica examination focused on New York City prosecutors. In 2013, ProPublica used a similar methodology to analyze more than a decade's worth of state and federal court rulings. We found more than two dozen instances in which judges explicitly concluded that city prosecutors had committed harmful misconduct. Several of the wrongfully convicted people in these cases successfully sued New York City. In recent years, New York City and state have doled out tens of million dollars in settlements stemming from such lawsuits. Former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes was voted out of office, in part because of wrongful convictions gained through misconduct on the part of his prosecutors or police detectives working with them. But only one New York City prosecutor, ProPublica's analysis found, was formally disciplined: Claude Stuart, a former low-level Queens Assistant District Attorney, lost his license. He was involved in three separate conviction reversals. Just as we found in New York, the Innocence Project's report found that appellate judges and others almost never report findings of misconduct to state panels and bar associations that are authorized to investigate them. "In the handful of situations where an investigation is launched," the report found, "The committees generallyfailed to properly discipline the prosecutor who committed the misconduct." The report concludes with several recommendations on how to improve accountability for prosecutors. It suggests, among other things, that judges ought to mandatorily report all findings of misconduct or error and that state legislatures pass laws requiring prosecutors to turn over all law enforcement material well before trial. But perhaps most powerful is the report's introduction, a 2011 letter to then-Attorney General Eric Holder and two national prosecutor associations. It was written in response to the Connick ruling and signed by 19 people whose wrongful convictions were secured in part by prosecutorial misconduct. EFTA00828327  "We, the undersigned and our families, have suffered profound harm at the hands of careless, overzealous and unethical prosecutors," the letter said. "Now that the wrongfully convicted have virtually no meaningful access to the courts to hold prosecutors liable for their misdeeds, we demand to know what you intend to do to put a check on the otherwise unchecked and enormous power that prosecutors wield over the justice system." According to the Innocence Project, the Justice Department never responded to the letter. ****** So True Inline image 1 ****** Russia Proposes Superhighway Linking New York And London EFTA00828328  Inline image 1 The Russian government has proposed a giant, 12,910 mile roadway to be connected, linking New York City and London and effectively uniting most of the countries of the world by land. Proposed by Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin, the roadway would contain some already built roads but would also consist of a large building project that could cost as much as $3 trillion. Despite the cost, the popularity and the connection Yakunin has with Vladimir Putin could make it a reality. The roads would be laid alongside the Trans-Siberian Railway — the longest railway in the world. I remember when the United States led the frontier of exploration and development. In the nineteenth century the United States led the development of railroad and in the twentieth century we led the world in developing the largest interstate highway system in the world. I remember when as a teenager in the mid-196os, AT&T had an ad campaign that said that the borough of Brooklyn had more telephones than the entire United Kingdom. And although in the 195os the United States were behind the Soviets in the space race, by 1969 we had landed a man on the moon. Today, if American astronauts want to spend time in outer-space, they have to book time on Russia's Space Station. Shanghai Maglev, also known as Shanghai Transrapid, is currently the fastest train in the world with a top speed of 43okm/h. CRH 38oA running between Beijing and Shanghai, was manufactured by CSR Qingdao Sifang Locomotive & Rolling Stock. While the AGV Italo, touted to be the most modern train in Europe, has a maximum operational speed of 36olunph. And Singapore's Changi International Airport, Singapore (SIN) is rated the #1 airport in the world, with the highest ranked is Tampa International Airport, USA (TPA) at #13. In my life-time, Americans invented the Credit Card, Transistor, Hand dryer, Cat Litter, Video game, Barcode, Artificial heart, Laser, Bubble Wrap, Integrated circuit, Communications satellite, Plasma display, Snowboarding, Personal computer, Video game console, Mobile phone, Hip Hop Music, Post- it note, Space shuttle, Internet and Social media, among thousands of other life-altering inventions. But since the end of the Space Shuttle the United States has almost been absent from large scale state- sponsored development — the kind that created the Tennessee Valley Authority, Erie Canal and Hoover Dam. EFTA00828329 We need to forget about tax cuts and instead concentrate on building things like the Superhighway and challenging ourselves to putting a man on Mars. Our political leaders are no longer ashamed that our public schools are second rate and there are still more than to million Americans without access to affordable healthcare. Some of these same political leaders deny Climate Change, when 98% of all scientist are warning that we are approaching the tipping point of no return. And until we are ready to sacrifice for future generations, the new normal will be that other countries are better educated, with superior infrastructure and doing the things that dreams are made of.... instead of us. When Corporations and the Rich Evade Taxes It Hurts Everyone Especially in Poor Countries and This Has to be Stop Inline image 2 Releases of secret documents, like the whopping 11.5 million Panama Papers, are designed to result in a cascade of scandals. Since their release, Iceland's prime minister has stepped down, and Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, admitted that he had profited from his father's offshore account. Leaders in Russia, China and other parts of the world have come forward to either claim the leak is a conspiracy, censor online speculation, or simply deny any illicit dealings or tax impropriety. As journalists take a fine comb through the 2.6 terabytes of data obtained from the servers of Mossack Fonseca, the world's fourth biggest "offshore law" firm, they are sure to uncover more and more of the web of dealings that tie politicians, business-people, celebrities and their kin to that tax haven and others. But what's so scandalous about the Panama Papers isn't just that there's a nexus of rich people, some elected, who make profits by evading taxes. It's that so much of the money moved through tax havens would otherwise be taxed by some of the world's poorest, most revenue-hungry governments. That tax evasion disproportionately affects the poor shouldn't come as a surprise, and it certainly isn't a secret. Angel Gurria, the secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, an economic organization consisting of the world's richest nations, once estimated that developing countries lose three times as much to tax evasion as they receive in foreign aid. The Tax Justice Network, pointing out that data on tax evasion is murky at best, says the real figure may be closer to to times. EFTA00828330  The Panama Papers consist of 11.5 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The papers apparently implicate a number of high-profile global figures in potentially illegal financial activities. Web Link: https://youtusbe/FX6-0FvwjF0 There's a vicious cycle at work here. Tax revenue is one of the strongest indicators of an economy's health. In many developing countries, with poor and/or rural populations, collecting tax is expensive for the government, and unaffordable for the majority of citizens, who may work in the "informal economy" anyway. Therefore, much of the tax revenue is expected to come from commercial transactions and foreign investment. But a report by ActionAid, released in 2013, shows how almost half of all investment in developing countries is funneled through tax havens. Here's an example of how it works: In 2007, Vodafone, one of the world's biggest telecom providers, moved to buy Hutchinson Essar Ltd, an Indian subsidiary of a Hong-Kong based company. But Hutchison Essar, despite only operating in India, was not based there -- rather, it was registered as a business in the Cayman and British Virgin Islands, tax havens in the Caribbean, and Mauritius, another, this time in the Indian Ocean. Vodafone bought the company through a subsidiary of its own -- registered in the Netherlands, also a tax haven. None of those places levy a capital gains tax, and so India was not able to claim the $2.2 billion it otherwise would've earned had tax havens not been an option for the companies. That sum is worth almost the entire annual budget for subsidized meals for school-going children in India. While Vodafone responded to questions from ActionAid, in part, by saying, "No tax was due on an offshore to offshore transaction." Here's one more, this time on a larger geographic scale, across the African continent: As of ActionAid's 2013 investigation, a company called Tullow Oil -- which now markets itself as "Africa's Leading Independent Oil Company" -- derived 84 percent of its sales revenues from Africa, yet just four of its 81 subsidiary companies were registered in African countries (and all of those in South Africa and Gabon, two of Africa's richest). On the other hand, 47 were registered in tax havens. Tullow Oil told ActionAid that it doesn't use tax havens for tax evasion, but later also announced that it was "considering the migration of the remaining haven companies to the UK." It is worth noting that in neither case were the companies acting in violation of laws at the time. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa estimates, in a recent report, that African governments lose between $30 billion and $60 billion per year to tax evasion, or other forms of what EFTA00828331 they call "illicitfinancialflows." But that figure doesn't account for examples like that of Tullow Oil above. Matt Salomon, chief economist at the Global Financial Integrity, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that he thinks the amount siphoned, mostly legally, from developing economies into tax havens is around $i trillion. That loss of tax revenue is a destabilizing force in poorer countries, as well as a challenge to their sovereignty. For most low-income countries, tax revenue represents less than 20 percent of their GDP, whereas the average among richer countries is above 30 percent. Without tax revenue, less savory options present themselves -- think foreign aid with strings attached, or resource extraction at the expense of people and the environment. When the United Nations Financing for Development conference was held in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa last July, African nations in particular pushed Western countries to close tax loopholes and shut tax havens. Many countries offered to forgo aid if their Western counterparts would oblige. Under heavy pressure from governments like David Cameron's in Britain, the major tax reform breakthrough of that conference was the Addis Tax Initiative, in which donor countries pledged to double their levels of aid, so as to strengthen tax systems in developing countries, without so much of a word about their own systems. But the truth is that this is just subterfuge to silence the potential anger should the depth of this deception is exposed, as well as pushing the can down the road so that the current benefactors can find another way. How Ridiculous Missouri Republicans spend more than $8 million to block less than $400,000 in federal funding for Planned Parenthood Inline image 1 EFTA00828332  Fiscal responsibility goes out the window when policing of women's healthcare access is concerned Missouri Republicans rejected $8.3 million in federal Medicaid funding the state was granted for women's health services because less than $400,000 of that funding would have gone to Planned Parenthood, the Associated Press reported over the weekend. After finally dropping their threat to hold the president of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri in contempt, a rare move that would have carried jail time, Missouri Republicans passed a budget that takes millions out of the state's general revenues to fund family planning, sexually transmitted disease testing and pelvic exams at county health departments, without funding facilities that perform abortions. Because the federal government does not allow states to simply strip Planned Parenthood out of larger Medicaid spending, in order to prevent the women's health care organization from receiving any tax payer dollars, Missouri had to reject all federal Medicaid funding for women's health services — a loss of $8.3 million. "If someone wants to go to Planned Parenthood, they're free to do that," How ridiculous. In Missouri today, job growth is lousy, personal income is flat and the state's overall economy is among the nation's weakest. Missouri State Senator Kurt Schaefer, chairman of the appropriations committee that crafted the budget, told the AP. "Taxpayers in Missouri just aren't going to pay for it anymore," he said, suggesting Medicaid patients go to county health departments instead. Schaefer, who is running for Missouri attorney general, is so ardently anti-abortion that he recently threatened to shut down a University of Missouri doctoral student's research on the impact the GOP's restrictive forced 72-hour waiting period for abortions. While the woes of Kansas have received far more deserved attention, the Show-Me State shares too many of its neighbor's economic problems. Equally as important, the problems of the Missouri economy demand better-focused leadership by business and political leaders across the state and in Jefferson City. Elected officials need to pump more money into infrastructure, especially the state's underfunded roads system, which may require a tax increase. And Missouri can't continue threatening financing for its higher education institutions. And yet ... Some Missouri Republican lawmakers are pushing a bad bill to speed up Kansas-style tax cuts in their state. Get past the empty rhetoric that this will "create more jobs" and see the reality in Kansas: It hasn't happened. Instead the cuts have created huge fiscal headaches that are damaging public services. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and the General Assembly haven't yet followed all of the mistakes of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and his Legislature, which have blown through budget reserves, diverted funds from highways, maxed out on borrowing and cut public services. Both Missouri and Kansas need to generate enough funds to invest in building stronger states. That especially requires funding first-class K-12 schools and higher education, plus providing safe roads and bridges. The alternative is a race to the bottom, a race both states are "winning" in too many ways. EFTA00828333 So why would Missouri Republicans spend more than $8 million to block less than $400,000 in federal funding for Planned Parenthood? Fiscal responsibility goes out the window when policing of women's healthcare access is concerned. This is as ridiculous as the transgender restroom kerfuffle because no one has a problem with who uses the toilet on an airplane. These cultural wars have to stop, especially when these same people who are so determined to keep a fetus alive, yet the moment the baby is born. As comedian George Carlin use to describe many of the people who are zealously against abortions. "They're all in favor of the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn. But once you're born, you're on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they don't want to know about you. They don't want to hear from you. No nothing. No neonatal care, no day care, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. If you're preborn, you're fine; if you're preschool, you're flicked. Conservatives don't give a shit about you until you reach "military age". Then they think you are just fine. Just what they've been looking for. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. Pro-life... pro-life..." Sounds familiar and this is the rant of the week.... WEEK's READINGS Here's how America's middle class stacks up against the rest of the world's 2 Inline image I The middle class may be the foundation upon which the United States was built, but a number of recent studies suggest the working class is being left in the dust. EFTA00828334 A study from the Pew Research Center in December showed that middle-class Americans are no longer in the majority. Whereas in 1971 middle class Americans totaled 8o million, and lower- and upper- income classes combined equated to 51.6 million, the 2015 data looks far different. As of last year, 120.8 million adults were in the middle class BB but this figure now takes a back seat to the 121.3 million combined lower- and upper-income households. Aggregate wealth for middle-class households is also shrinking according to Pew's research, from 62% of all wealth in 1970 to just 43% as of 2014. A number of other publications also concurred with the idea that the middle-class is in decline, including publications from Brookings, Fortune, and The New York Times. However, one report released last year highlighted a middle class statistics so shocking that you'll probably do a double- take. One chart every middle class American needs to see The 2015 Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report is now in its sixth year of examining and analyzing wealth across the world in order to get a better understanding of wealth creation, consumption, saving, and asset allocation. Every year Credit Suisse picks a specific wealth topic to focus on, and in 2015 it was the middle class. Having the largest GDP of any other country, it's not surprising to find that the middle class in the U.S. also has the highest total wealth in U.S. dollars at $16.85 trillion. The next- closest are Japan, China, and the U.K. at $9.72 trillion, $7.34 trillion, and $6.19 trillion, respectively. Now here's where things get interesting... Credit Suisse also looked at what percentage of wealth the middle-class comprised within a country. Of the 21 countries individually examined, here were the results: EFTA00828335  Inline image 2 No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. As a percentage of total country wealth, the U.S. middle class accounted for the lowest share of wealth among developed countries, such as Germany and France, as well as emerging markets like China, India, and Brazil. Why middle class wealth is withering away Why do U.S. households have so little net wealth relative to the total wealth of the country as a whole? It looks to be a number of factors at play. First, the housing bubble from late last decade really sapped the net worth out of middle-class households. Although home prices have recovered from their lows, some areas have recovered slower than others. The housing price collapse is still fresh in many Americans' minds, and many fear overreaching on home prices even in today's growing economy. Secondly, access to credit is arguably easier in the U.S. than in many other regions of the world. During the housing boom in the mid-woos, this was a great way for middle-class families to grow their wealth. However, the housing bubble, combined with high debt levels, have chipped away at middle-class household wealth. EFTA00828336 A third issue? Stagnant wage growth. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income has actually dropped by roughly $5,000 since 1999 to a median of $51,017 as of 2012. Pew Research pointed out that in spite of nominal wage growth of 727% between 1964 and 2014, in constant 2014 dollars (meaning when taldng inflation into account) real wage growth has totaled just 7.8% over 5o years. College tuition, medical care, and even fuel costs have risen at a faster pace, thus diminishing the buying power of the middle class. Fourth, there's quite an income gap between the richest Americans and the middle class in the United States. According to CNN, the U.S. has 42% of the world's millionaires, and basically half (49%) of all people with $5o million or more in assets. These super rich Americans certainly skew the results. Finally, near record-low lending rates aren't helping. The middle class, which was hammered by the stock market decline during the Great Recession, has few avenues of safety to turn to with CD and money market rates losing to an already reduced inflation rate. In short, our working class isn't in great shape — but not all hope is lost. How the middle class can take back its lost wealth Middle-class individuals and families looking to get back on track should have four main focuses: improving their savings rate, reducing debt, minimizing taxes paid, and investing more. The easiest way to boost your savings rate is by first understanding where your money is going. Ask working Americans how much they make and you're liable to get a precise answer. However, ask them where their money went once it was deposited into their bank accounts, and the shoulder shrugging begins. Formulating, and sticking to, a budget can help middle-class Americans and their families live within their means. By apportioning funds to specific spending categories you'll have a much better idea of what your cash flow actually looks like. This should allow you to set aside money that can be used to pay down existing debts or to invest for your future. Best of all, a budget can be adjusted as needed, since ultimately you're in control. Next up is reducing debt. Having a good grasp of your cash flow should allow you to set aside more money to pay down debt, as well as reduce what you're adding to debt on a monthly basis. Other keys include being responsible with the existing debt you have. Other than malting payments in a timely manner, and attempting to pay more than the minimum, consider consolidating your debt to a low- interest or o% APR credit card in order to really work down the principal. It also never hurts to consider asking your creditors for a lower interest rate, especially if you've been an exemplary customer who pays on time. Middle class Americans can also improve their wealth by minimizing what they give back to Uncle Sam. Ensuring that you're getting all applicable tax deductions is a must for middle-class families. For example, refinancing a home with points allows the homeowner to amortize those points over the life of the loan. Another oft-overlooked tax deduction can be taken when caring for a parent. The Dependent Care Credit allows for a deduction of up to $3,000 per person, and is dependent on how much you spend on care, as well as your income. Middle-class families may even qualify for Earned EFTA00828337 Income Tax Credits. A married couple with three or more qualifying children can earn up to $53,505 in adjusted gross income in 2016 and still receive a credit. The EITC remains one of the most overlooked tax credits out there. Finally, the middle class needs to invest, invest, invest! As we preach at The Motley Fool, buying high- quality stocks and holding them over the long-term is often a good strategy to build inflation-topping weath. However, there are additional strategies that can boost your income. For instance, opening and contributing to a Roth IRA allows your money to grow completely tax-free for life as long as you make no unqualified withdrawals. A Roth IRA could wind up saving you hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes come retirement. Employer-sponsored 401(k)s are smart plans as well, especially if you're receiving a partial match from your employer. Money invested in a 401(k) grows on a tax- deferred basis. The middle class may be in flux, but with careful planning it can thrive once more. Sean Williams — The Motley Fool — Mar. 20, 2016 ****** It's Here What Lab-Grown Human Hearts Could Mean For The Donor Crisis hinny imaus A partially "recellularized" human whole-heart cardiac scaffold, being cultured in a bioreactor. Scientists have successfully used stem cells to generate human heart muscle. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have taken a big first step toward growing human hearts in a lab, which could possibly put an end to the national organ donation crisis. The scientists' stripped EFTA00828338 donor hearts of any cells that might cause recipients to reject them and then used stem cells to rebuild the tissue. A study detailing the process sheds light on several key elements of bioengineering human heart muscle, said Dr. Harald C. Ott. He is an assistant professor in surgery at the hospital and a senior author of the study, which was published in the journal Circulation Research in the fall. "While limited in force, these were the first (tiny) beats of a newly formed, human stem cell derived heart, said Ott. Scientists still have a ways to go until they can bioengineer whole functional hearts for patients, he added. Ideally, however, they one day might be able to grow an entire organ using the donee's own cells and tissue. "As with many developments, time is a factor determined by funding, man and brain power," Ott said. "Our study shows that it is in theory possible, but much work remains to be done. As a first step, I do believe that parts of human hearts will become available sooner than whole heart grafts, and we are actively pursuing this option." Having that option would be life-saving, as there are 4,153 people across the U.S. who need a heart transplant — and last year, about 402 people died while on the waiting list for one, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. "Sometime in the future we will be able to grow hearts, or at least heart tissue to offset the bottleneck." Biologist Dr. Young-sup Yoon The study involved 73 human hearts that had been donated through the New England Organ Bank. They weren't suitable for transplantation but could be used for research purposes. The scientists used a detergent solution to strip away the hearts' incompatible cells, leaving behind cardiac "scaffolds." Next, they turned adult skin cells into pluripotent stem cells, which can be transformed into any other cell found in the human body. The researchers induced the pluripotent cells to become cardiac muscle cells and then repopulated the remaining "scaffolds" with the new cells. They mounted the hearts in an automated bioreactor system (see photo above) that added nutrients to the organs and applied certain stressors to them — conditions similar to those experienced by a real, living heart. After 14 days, the hearts resembled normal, immature organs and even responded to electrical stimulation. Dr. Jacques Guyette, a postdoctoral research fellow at the hospital and lead author of the study, said in a statement that the researchers are planning to improve their methods even more. "Regenerating a whole heart is most certainly a long-term goal that is several years away, so we are currently working on engineering a functional myocardial patch that could replace cardiac tissue damaged due to a heart attack or heart failure," he said. This technique is one of several being studied in hopes of someday providing patients with transplants that won't be rejected, Fast Company reported. It also validates the feasibility of using human EFTA00828339 pluripotent stem cells in the future, said Dr. Young-sup Yoon, director of stem cell biology at the Emory University School of Medicine. "This study certainly provides a direction which may lead to such a future. ... From this, we can identify that developing newer biomaterials would greatly enhance the viability of the approach, and needs further investigation." ****** The GOP's Eve Of Destruction Inline image 1 The setup is a novelist's dream, a party chair's nightmare — a mortally wounded presidential candidate reeling toward the nomination, guaranteed in November to drag the party and its candidates into an open grave. And this nightmare has a sequel: maddened by defeat, the party's factions scrape against each other to create a devastating political earthquake, shattering all hope of resurrection. Such is the all too real world of Reince Priebus. The protagonist of his sleepless nights is, of course, Donald Trump. By now, one need not catalog the ignorance, truculence, misogyny and racism which will doom Republicans in the fall. But these fatal flaws have given Trump a base of support among primary voters as obdurate as granite. He has become the bone in the GOP's throat which cannot be dislodged. Focus groups conducted by Peter Hart — the gold standard for this sort of thing — spell out why. Many of Trump's followers have misgivings about his excesses; others don't truly believe that he can build a wall or deport every illegal immigrant. Some don't even care that much. What cements them to Trump is deeper — a psychic bond too visceral to sunder. Central to this is a perception of "strength" - that Trump will stand up to the establishment which shuns them and terrorists who threaten them. Specifics do not matter. What counts is that Trump EFTA00828340 gives voice to their anger, frustration and fear, the soul-deep sense that America has betrayed them. Lodged within this is racial animus exacerbated by the election of Barack Obama. It is salient that Trump first surfaced riding the Trojan horse of birtherism, jam-packed with loathing of our first black president. That Trump rallies seethe with racial antagonism is no accident — he is the avatar for those who feel that whites, not minorities, are the victims of discrimination and disdain. Confronted with this disturbing phenomenon, the GOP establishment ran in both directions: some surrendered too soon; others went after Trump too late. After dithering for months, the donor classes have funded over $70 million in attack ads which have driven Trump's disapproval ratings sky high — two thirds of all Americans, and a substantial plurality of Republicans. The result is paradoxical: they have helped destroy him as a general election candidate while persuading his followers that they and Trump share a common enemy, cementing a base of support which will likely prove sufficient to secure the nomination. Worse yet, they have been thwarted by a broadcast media, desperate for ratings, which seized on Trump like oxygen in human form. Our screens are filled with Trump interviews; Trump rallies; Trump town halls; Trump tweets; Trump relatives. By now Trump has received well over $2 billion in free media, swamping his Republican rivals. To a remarkable degree, the television establishment has insulated Trump from the Republican establishment — and from the laws of political gravity. And so he staggers on, his unfitness ever more apparent, accumulating delegates as he tramples all hope of unity with the heedlessness of a drunk who cannot stop drinking. He castigates the party for its unfairness; decries its "rigged" selection of delegates; threatens riots in Cleveland; refuses to support any nominee by himself. He demands control over the convention so that he can infuse a "showbiz" quality, and muses aloud about firing Priebus. His ally, Roger Stone, has started a website calling for protests at the convention so that Trump supporters can "own the streets." The Cleveland police are investing in riot gear, and prominent Republican officeholders have decided to stay away. In the meanwhile, Trump daily dispels the fantasy that he can expand the GOP electorate, alienating suburbanites and women by the score. The advent of professionals within Trump's campaign increases his chances of winning in Cleveland without addressing the problem of Trump himself. His policy positions change from day to day, confirming his weightlessness as a potential president. And the barely credible suggestion that once nominated he will recalibrate his rhetoric and persona casts him as a self-absorbed shape shifter, whose sole reason for running is that, in whatever guise, he's " Trump." But within the party one can hear the rising murmur of resignation, including from Priebus himself. The squeamish hopes that some Republicans have invested in Ted Cruz are foundering on the narrowness of his appeal. Trump obliterated him in New York, dispelling the myth that Cruz can serve as a magnet for the stop-Trump movement. In truth, Cruz is a regional candidate, reduced in today's Northeastern primaries to fighting John ICasich for table scraps. When the results sink in, the sense of Trump's momentum could turn the anti-Trump firewall to rubble. EFTA00828341 Weeks ago, Trump destroyed the core of Cruz's strategy by piling up victories in the South. So why should anyone imagine that the Cruz agenda will mesmerize America? He opposes all gun control measures. He would force the victims of rape and incest to bear children. He denounces gay marriage and gay rights. He echoes Trump's calls for mass deportations and says that the neighborhoods of American Muslims should be "secured" by law enforcement. And then there is this — why would voters warm to a man his colleagues despise? They won't. Cruz is dead demagogue walking. A big chunk of his support comes from voters who simply don't like Trump. But Trump represents a bigger chunk of people who don't like Cruz, and support their man with a fervor Cruz will never match. As for the tenuous last-ditch agreement between Cruz and Kasich to divide up Indiana, New Mexico and Oregon, it seems doomed to failure. To start, it came way too late to make much difference — at this point it is less a compelling strategy than a measure of Cruz's desperation. It also assumes the unlikely: first, that the great majority of Cruz and Kasich voters will go along; second, that it will work despite the complex mechanisms for allocating delegates in the forthcoming primary states, often by awarding them proportionally or to the winner in demographically varied districts; third, that the erstwhile competitors can find a modus vivendi for the biggest prize, California. Worst of all, this calculating alliance between opposites will give Trump fresh evidence of a conspiracy against him, solidifying his followers' support while further alienating them from the party. Far more than arcane delegate rules, the two-headed monster of Cruz and Kasich personifies establishment perfidy. Where this goes is plain to see. Whether or not Trump clinches the nomination before Cleveland, he will have a commanding delegate lead over Cruz, for whom a first-ballot majority — or even anything close to that — is mathematically impossible. And any sane Republican insider will perceive reality soon enough — that Cruz's strategy for winning the nomination on the convention floor is electoral suicide. Like his pact with Kasich, the plan is blatantly Machiavellian and self-serving, the very essence of Ted Cruz: making up the yawning delegate gap by recruiting double agents — delegates who will abandon Trump for Cruz on the second ballot, nullifying the result of state primaries. For the party to somehow maneuver a Cruz nomination — let alone by transparent trickery — would be a poison pill, outraging Trump's supporters and repelling voters at large. As Peter Hart puts it, "Trump may be a disaster for their hopes in winning back the White House, but denying him may be an even bigger disaster for the party's hopes of retaining its majorities on Capitol Hill." This goes double for alternative saviors, whether Kasich or the second coming of Mitt Romney. Which is why Paul Ryan, no fool, ran in the opposite direction. But Trump is the tremor which presages an earthquake. For the fissures which will roil the convention will fracture the party for years to come. The most shattering is the fear and loathing between Trump's blue-collar base and the wealthy donors and ideological conservatives who have labeled them electoral lowlife. EFTA00828342 This poisonous contempt is the party's due bill for all the years of diversionary rhetoric designed to win votes from working-class Americans. But the establishment's true agenda — lower taxes, free trade, deregulation and fiscal discipline — did nothing to improve their lives. The role of free trade in alienating blue-collar voters is, by now, obvious — and rocket fuel for Trump. Less widely noted is that Republican legislators squelched programs to ameliorate its effects. As Steven Rattner pointed out in the New York Times, the Republican Congress killed Obama's proposals for larger tax credits for child care; investing in community colleges; helping make retirement plans portable; and giving tax relief to manufacturing communities. The same fate met programs to retrain workers; help them relocate when their jobs went overseas; or temporarily supplement their wages if they were compelled to take a lesser job. Ditto for payroll tax cuts and creating an infrastructure bank to fund thousands of construction jobs. The coup de grace was cutting back on food stamps. In sum, the GOP establishment — epitomized by Ryan — waged a class war against its base. The base noticed. Donald Trump is the expression of their anger, not the cause. They are through with drinking the GOP's Kool-Aid. Outraged, the dispensers of the Kool-Aid have turned on their erstwhile victims with the ferocity of a Rottweiler. Allow me to treat you to a few paragraphs of Kevin Williamson in the National Review, showing what happens when a "true conservative" feels spurned by lesser beings: It wasn't immigrants from Mexico... There wasn't some awful disaster. There wasn't a war or a famine or plague or a foreign occupation. Even the economic changes of the past few decades do very little to explain the dysfunction and negligence — and the incomprehensible malice — of poor white America... The truth about these dysfunctional downscale communities is that they deserved to die. Economically, they are negative assets. Morally, they are indefensible. Forget all your cheap theatrical Bruce Springsteen crap. Forget your sanctimony about struggling Rust Belt factory towns and your conspiracy theories about the wily Orientals stealing our jobs... The white American underclass is in thrall to a vicious, selfish culture whose main products are misery and used heroin needles. Donald Trump's speeches make them feel good. So does OxyContin. What they need isn't analgesics, literal or political. They need real opportunity, which means they need real change, which means that they need U-haul. To say the least, this marriage is unlikely to be saved. The Paul Ryans of the party are unrepentant; the GOP's hitherto most reliable followers have now identified the class enemy. The rise of Donald Trump is only the beginning. EFTA00828343 But less advantaged Republicans are at odds with another element of the party — the neocons who gave them the Iraq war. This epic foreign-policy disaster created an epidemic of the dead; the hideously wounded; the emotionally traumatized; the intellectually maimed; the alcoholic, drug addicted and suicidal. These soldiers were twice betrayed - first overseas, then by a Veterans Administration which treated them like cattle. The veterans who pay this terrible price are not the children of Republican donors, officeholders, or theoreticians — they are the sons and daughters of people the ideologues now scorn. Those who love them are done with the wars of armchair generals. But no schism is complete without religious conflict. Republicans have that, too. For years the GOP bought off white evangelicals by preaching that old-time religion — ban abortion, fight gay rights, and rail against the separation of church and state. For the Republican establishment, this was a cheap and easy way to gain votes for their economic program. But much of the the fundamentalist agenda has been routed — as the religious rank-and-file notices their paychecks shrinking, their failed leaders are doubling down. Hence efforts in Georgia, North Carolina and Mississippi to flail against gay rights — barring anti- discrimination laws and promoting the "religiousfreedom" of businesses to spurn gay customers. But at last the GOP's business leaders are objecting — not on moral grounds, but pragmatic ones: this kind of stuff is a loser among young people, and bad for business at that. In short order, business interests impressed this lesson on the Republican governor and legislators of North Carolina, severing their ties with the state, even as uneasy corporations are cutting back their funding for the GOP convention. Here, again, key elements of the party are pulling in opposite directions which cannot be reversed. Finally, the fight between Trump and Cruz will deepen all these fractures going forward. Both will lose in November; all that differs are the details of fragmentation. The defeat of Trump will lead to right- wing recriminations against both his followers and the party establishment, intensifying the internecine warfare which will further shrink the party's electorate. The defeat of Cruz will eviscerate the claim that the GOP can win the presidency by moving hard-right, aggravating the schism between the ideologues and everyone else. The center cannot hold. It is hard to kill off a major political party. The Republicans proved that between 1964 and 1968, rallying from the Goldwater debacle to win the presidency with Richard Nixon. But that was then, when the Democrats were riven by the war in Vietnam. Now the Democrats are having an honest fight — nasty, to be sure, but one whose premises are commonly understood: that a society does better when more of its citizens thrive, and that helping to ensure this is a legitimate concern of government. EFTA00828344 Not so the Republicans. They are structurally fragmented and ideologically incoherent, an agglomeration of sects with irreconcilable differences. Their only common denominator is that all are at war with the changing demographics which, at the presidential level, are doing the party in. In short, the GOP of 2016 is Humpty Dumpty. He has had a great fall, and cannot be put together again, at least as we have known him — not in 2020, or ever. Whatever takes his place will look so different that Humpty would not know it. No great loss. 'Richard North Patterson — Huffington Post — April 26, 2016 The 9 Foods You Should Never Ever Freeze Inline image I Your freezer is your friend, except when it ruins your food. Leave these in the fridge to stay fresh. 1. Eggs Whole eggs should be kept out of the freezer. The egg could expand and crack the shell, allowing bacteria to creep in. Even if the shell remains intact, the yolk will become syrupy and hard to blend with the egg whites, according to Ask Karen, the USDA's food safety information portal. Similarly, icings or sauces made with eggs can turn tough or rubbery in the freezer. Tip: If you have to freeze eggs, whisk yolk and egg whites and add 11/2 tablespoons of either sugar or corn syrup, or 1/2 teaspoon of salt to prevent graininess, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP).