EFTA02710712.pdf

From: Gregory Brown Sent: Sunday, December 7, 2014 9:16 AM To: undisclosed-recipients: Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 12/07/2014 Attachments: Untitled attachment 00253.docx; Untitled attachment 00256.docx; The Grateful Dead bio.docx; Untitled attachment 00259.docx; Untitled attachment 00262.docx; Untitled attachment 00265.docx; Untitled attachment 00268.docx DEAR FRIEND Michael Brown, and Now Eric Garner <=r> =br> At some point between the moment a Missouri g=and jury refused to indict a police officer who had shot and killed Michael Brown on a Fergu=on street and the moment a New York grand jury refused to indict a police offi=er who choked and killed Eric Garner on a Staten Island sidewalk — on =ideo, as he struggled to utter the words, "I can't breathe!" — a counter narrative to this nat=on's calls for change has taken shape. This narrative paints the police as under siege and unfairly maligned while it admonishes =E24›. and, in some cases, excoriates — those demanding changes in the wak= of the Ferguson shooting. The argument is that this is not a perfect case, because Brown — and, one would assume, =ow Garner — isn't a perfect victim and the protesters haven't all been =erfectly civil, so therefore any movement to counter black oppression that flows from the case=is inherently flawed. But this is ridiculous and reductive, because it fails to acknowledge that the whole sy=tem is imperfect and rife with flaws. We don't need to identify angels and demons to understand that inequit= is hell. The Mike-or-Eric-as-faces-of-black-oppression arguments swing too wide, and they miss. So does the protesters-as- movement-killers argument. The responses so far have only partly been specific to a particular case. Much of it is about something larger and more general: racial inequality and criminal justice. Peop=e want to be assured of equal application of justice and equal — and appropriate — use of police forc=, and to know that all lives are equally valued. The data suggests that, in the nation as a whole, that isn't so. Racia= profiling is real. Disparate treatment of black and brown men by police officers is real. Grotesquely disproportionate numbers of killings of black men by the police are real.4=pan> EFTA_R1_02123289 EFTA02710712 No one =enies that police officers have hard jobs, but they volunteer to enter that line of work. There is no draft. So these dis=arities cannot go unaddressed and uncorrected. To be held in high esteem you must also be held to a higher standard. And no one denies that high-crime neighborhoods disproportionately overlap with minority neighborhoods. But the intersections don't stop there. Concentrated poverty play= a consequential role. So does the school-to-prison pipeline. So do the scars of historical oppression. In fact, these and other factors intersect to such a degree that trying to separate any one 4k=94 most often, the racial one — from the rest is bound to render a flimsy a=gument based on the fallacy of discrete factors. =span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><=r> Yet people continue to make such argume=ts, which can usually be distilled to some variation of this: Black dysfunction is mostly or even solely the result of black pathology. This argument is racist at its =ore because it rests too heavily on choice and too lightly on context. If you scratc= it, what oozes out reeks of race-informed cultural decay or even genetic deficiency and predisposition,=as if America is not the progenitor — the great-grandmother — =f African-American violence. And yes, racist is the word that we must use. Racism doesn't require the presence of malice, only the presence of bias and ignorance, willful or otherwise. It doesn't even require more than one race. There are plenty of members of aggrieved groups who are part of the self-flagellation industria= complex. They make a name (and a profit) saying inflammatory t=ings about their own groups, things that are full of sting but lack context, thi=gs that others will say only behind tightly shut doors. These are often =eople who've "made it" and look down their =oses with be-more- like-me disdain at those who haven't, as if success were me=ely a result of a collection of choices and not also of a confluence of circumstances. Today, too many people are gun-shy about using the word racism, lest they themselves be called race-baiters. So we are witnes=ing an assault on the concept of racism, an attempt to erase legitimate discussion and grievance by degra=ing the language: Eliminate the word and you elude the charge. By endlessly claiming =hat the word is overused as an attack, the overuse, through rhetorical sleight of hand, is amplified in the dismis=al. The word is snatched from its serious scientific and sociological context and redefined simply as a weapon of argumentation, the hand grenade you toss under the table to blow things up =nd halt the conversation when things get too "honest" or "uncomfortable." But people will not fall f=r that chicanery. The language will survive. The concept will not be corrupted. Racism is a real thing, not because the "racial grievance industry" refuses to release it, but beca=se society has failed to eradicate it. Racism is interpersonal and structural; it is current=and historical; it is explicit and implicit; it is articulated and silent.Q=A0 Biases are pervasive, but can also be spectral: moving in and out of consideration with little or no notice, with=ut leaving a trace, even without our own awareness. Sometimes the only w=y to see bias is in the aggregate, to stop staring so hard at a data point and step back so that yo= can see the data set. Only then can you detect the trails in the dust. Only then can the data do battle with denial. I would love to live in a world where that wasn't the case. Eve= more, I would love my children to inherit a world where that wasn't the case, where the margin for error for =hem was the same as the margin for error for everyone else's children, where I =ould rest assured that police treatment would be unbiased. But I don't.=C2* Reality doesn't bend under the weight of wishes. Truth doesn't grow dim because we squint. 2 EFTA_R1_02123290 EFTA02710713 =p class="MsoNormal"> We mu=t acknowledge — with eyes and minds wide open — the world as it is if we want to change it. The activism that followed Ferguson and that is likely to be intensified by wha= happened in New York isn't about making a martyr of "Big=Mike" or "Big E" as much as it is about making the most of a moment, counter narratives notwithstanding. In this most trying of moments, black men, supported by the people who understand their plight and feel their pain, are saying to the police culture of America, "W= can't breathe!" =span style="font-size:9pt;line-height:107%"> Charles M. Blow — D=cember 3, 2014 — The Washington Post =eb Link: h=tp://www.hiaw.org/garner/ <http://www.hiaw.org/garner/> Video Web Link: http://youtu.be/EnSlinhM7Qo <http://youtu.be/EnSlinhM=Qo> </=> Who=are you going to believe me (the prosecutor & grand jury)? Or your ow= eyes? =span style="font-family:Georgia,serif"> Richard Pryor Perhaps the most su=prising thing about yesterday's announcement from the Staten Island grand jury is our own surprise at the outcome. After years of hearing of the killing of unarmed black men by police officers with no accountability and no widespre=d acknowledgement beyond particular communities that a problem even exists, t=e news that there would be no criminal liability for the death of a man at th= hands of a phalanx of police officers in the course of an "investig=tion" into the sale of loose cigarettes is just the latest installment in a sad, unending serial about the improper use of force by law enforcement against people of color. B=t this time seemed different because of the existence of a videotape that clearly showed the grotesque use of what turned out to be deadly force by a group of police officers the size of which would have been appropriate for the investigatio= of a serious, deadly offense rather than the most minor of nuisances. Su=ely, in the face of the shocking video, no grand jury could decline to initiate a criminal proceeding during which all=of the facts could be explored and presented in a public proceeding with all o= the due process protections which attach to those proceedings. But th=se 3 EFTA_R1_02123291 EFTA02710714 hopes turned out to be unrealistic. When the results were announced, I found myself thinking, improbably, of an old Richard Pryor comedy routine in whic= a man, caught in bed with his girlfriend by his wife, argues his innocence of=C24eclear infidelity by asking, "Who are you going to belie=e, me? Or your lying eyes?" <=span> President Obama's executive order on immigration coul= exempt from deportation more than five million undocumented immigrants -- almost h=lf of the total undocumented population in the country, which is about 11.5 million (depending on the DATA you're looking at). The population is va=t and diverse, coming from different countries and living in very different proportions in different states. We took a look at some of the demographic breakdowns of the group PULLED together b= the Pew Hispanic Trends Project and the Department of Homeland Security. Here is =hat we found: 1. Illegal immigrants make up 3.5 percent of the U.S. POPULATION The vast majority of th= POPULATION has roots in North America -- particularly Mexico and Central America. China, the Philippines, Korea a=d Vietnam are among the top 10 countries of origin for the Asian illegal immigrant population, which has remained stable at 1.3 million -- about 11percent of all undocumented immigrants. 2. DECLINING numbers from Mexico=/span> The POPULATION of unauthorized IMMIGRA=TS over the last 4 years has largely flat-lined, remaining stable. Yet the Mexican undocumente= POPULATION, which is 52 percent of the total, has consistently declined.40=A0 Partly it's the difficult economy, which hasn't FULLY recovered, and a more secure border. And President Obama, nicknamed the "deporter-in-chief" by some, has been aggres=ive at sending people back to their country of origin -- more than two million to =ate. 4 EFTA_R1_02123292 EFTA02710715 3. Unauthorized IMMIGRANTS are settling in the South President Obama began the public =ush for his executive order in Nevada, but while that state does have a high Latino population and the highest PERCENTAGE of illegal immigrants in the country, it doesn't mak= the top 10 of states as far as total undocumented population. (Roughly 21=,000 undocumented immigrants live in Nevada.) This list, which is mostly made of blue states, isn't exactly surprising. Georgia and North Caroli=a are part of a more widespread Latino population boom in the South. Relative to =he overall population, Latinos -- undocumented and otherwise -- make up a smal= share. But their growth is rapid, doubling in some states in recent years. <=pan style="font-size:12ptline-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serir> 4. Well over half of the illegal IMMIGRANT population arrived after 1995=/p> Obama's executive action will cover people wh= have citizen or legal permanent resident CHILDREN who have been here for at least five year=, meaning 2009 or before. His move will also expand the time frame use for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arriva=s (DACA) measure to include any children who were brought to this country illegally before 2010. 5. The population is very young Back in 2012= during a GOP presidential debate, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney sparred over deporting "grandmothers and grandfathers," zeroing in a demographic that is actually a ver= small part of the illegal-immigrant population. Some 80 PERCENT are 4= years old and under, meaning they have a number of working and childbearing years in front of th=m. This means an expanded tax base for those that get work permits, but also m=ans that in some instances people live "off the grid," while still utilizing SCHOOL systems and hospitals. Illegal immigrants make up a 5.1PERCENT of the workforce Because of that youth, illegal immigrants are over-repre=ented in the workforce -- 5.1 percent versus 3.5 percent of the overall populatio=. During his speech announcing his executive order, Obama made several references to illegal immigrants roles in the =orkforce. He talked about "workers who pick our fruit and make our beds" and "the determination of immigrant fath=rs who worked two or three JOBS without taking a dime from the government.&quo=; Dating back to 1995, as their population rose, illegal immigrants have steadily joined the workforce, peaking in 201=. The parents of lawful permanent residents and citizens who have been here for more than five years will be able to apply =or work permits and temporary relief from deportation. 7. 7 percent of k-12 STUDENTS have an undocumented PARENT Another are where the undocumented are over-repre=ented versus their share of the population is as parents. In fact, 7 percent of non-coll=ge students have at least one parent who is undocumented. Obama talked a=lot about students in his speech, acknowledging "the courage of students who, except for the circumstances of their birth, are as Americ=n as Malia or Sasha; students who bravely come out as undocumented in hopes t=ey could make a difference in the country they love." And it I-=;s no accident that he gave his first speech outside of the beltway at a SCHOOL IN Nevada, where 17.7 perce=t of school children have a parent who is an illegal immigrant. 5 EFTA_R1_02123293 EFTA02710716 Nia-Malika Henderson — November 21, 2014 — The Washington Post Falling apart: America's neglected infrastructure. <http://www.minnpost.com/sites/default/files/asset/5/522=53/522153.jpg> Not so long ago, America's infrastructure was the envy=of the world. The U.S., which used to have the finest infrastructure in the world, is now ranked 16th according to the World Econ=mic Forum, behind Iceland, Spain, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates. =ur nation's infrastructure is crumbling. Aging schools, roads, bridges, and power, water and sewer systems put the p=blic's health and safety at risk. The problem is well documented and grows more se=ere with each passing year. Nearly one of every four U.S. bridges is stru=turally deficient or functionally obsolete; 4,000 of the country's dams are=in need of repair; and insufficient freight rail infrastructure results in 39,000 additional truck trips to the Port of Los Angeles alone each day. I r=member the day that the Westside Highway collapsed in Manhattan due to lax=C2Qmaintenance because I remember as a young teenager a decade earlier, =peculating with my father that if might fall down if New York City officia=s kept cutting (deferring maintenance) funds. • Of the 84,000 dams in the U.S., 14,000 are considere= "high hazard" and 4,000 are deficient. It would cost $21 billion =o repair these aging dams. • 42% of the country's major urban=highways are considered congested, and 32% of major roads in the U.S. are in poor or mediocre condition. • Even though a third of Americans don't drive c=rs, 45% of households lack access to transit. • There are 240,000 water ma=n breaks in the U.S. each year, and many water mains and pipes are over 100 years old. • The Federa= Aviation Administration anticipates that the national cost of airport congestion and delays will nearly double from $34 billion in 2020 to $63 billion in 2040. • 90% of locks and dams=experienced an unscheduled delay or service interruption in 2009. Barges being stopped for hours can prolong transport of goods and drive up prices. • Congestion on rail li=es is costing the U.S. economy about $200 billion a year, or 1.6% of economic output • Although pub=ic school enrollment is gradually increasing, national spending on school construction declined to $10 billion in 2012, a=out half of what was spent before the recession. • National Park Se=vice facilities saw 279 million visits in 2011 and has a deferred maintenance backlog of $11 billion. • =font face="Georgia, serif">There are 14,000 miles of operating high-speed rail around the world and not one mile in=the United States • Public spend on has falling to its =owest level since 1947 6 EFTA_R1_02123294 EFTA02710717 Crumbl=ng infrastructure endangers the physical and economic well-being of all Americans. In 2007 the I.35W Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis, which had been categorized as structurally deficient, collapsed, resulting in the death of 13 people and =45 injured. Two years earlier, New Orleans' levees failed to hold back the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina, claiming =he lives of more than 1,800 people, and causing at least $125 billion in econo=ic damage. Both disasters illustrate the cost of neglecting the country's infrastructure. Moreover, infrastructure inv=stment holds the promise of accelerating the sluggish economic recovery. Infrastructure spending pumps money into local economies by creating work for private-sector companies an= good-paying construction jobs. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, found in 2011 that new=federal spending for infrastructure improvements to highways and public schools wou=d generate $1.44 of economic activity for each $1 spent. Richard Trumka= president of the AFL-CIO, estimates that every billion dollars spent on transportation infrastructure=creates 35,000 well-paying jobs. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office found that infrastructure investments had one o= the strongest economic[GB1] impacts of all the policies included in the American Reinvestment and Recov=ry Act. =span style="font-size:12ptline-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serif">R=building our crumbling infrastructure is a daunting, but achievable, goal. The nation needs an additional $129.2 billion per year investment to meet the current backlog o= infrastructure repairs and improvements, according to a report by American Progress's Donna Cooper, "Meeting the Infrastructure =mperative: An Affordable Plan to Put Americans Back to Work Rebuilding Our Nation*=99s Infrastructure." Center for American Progress Action Fund I =States at Work: Progressive State Policies to Rebuild the Middle Class This will requ=re states to raise and spend much more on infrastructure. And although f=nding is scarce due to the Great Recession and the slow economic recovery, states are using new and creative methods to fund infrastructure projects. Except that some states lag beh=nd. On average the federal government provides 20 percent of surface-transportation funding to state projects while state and local s=ending accounts for 50 percent and 30 percent, respectively. But in 17 state=, federal funds were the primary source of transportation dollars, as of 2006. Even with a hea=y reliance of federal dollars in some states and cities, a significant amount of federal money is going unused. Cooper's analysis for American Progress shows that based on the loan-matching requirements established by Congress,=at least $20 billion in private, state, local, or public authority capital cou=d be drawn into U.S. infrastructure projects if the federal loan and loan-gua=antee programs were fully tapped. As such this is an opportune time for state governments to catch up on our long backlog =f infrastructure priorities. Interest rates available to states are historically low and policymakers who act now=to finance their infrastructure can lock in inexpensive financing for many yea=s into the future. According to Bloomberg News, most states—regardless =f which political persuasion dominates them — are issuing less of the debt =hat ordinarily pays for roads, bridges, and airports. Municipal bond issu=nce was down 12 percent in 2013. More than half of the debt raised went toward renewing funding for existing obligations rather than financing new projects. Overall spending on infrastructure fell. Former Reagan economic advisor, Larry Summers argues tha= today's low interest-rate environment makes this an ideal time to invest in infrastructure. A j=st-released report from Standard 7 EFTA_R1_02123295 EFTA02710718 and Poor's (MHFI) explains why states are not doing this. Henry H=nderson, a director of public finance at Standard and Poor's, says borrowing for anything, including infr=structure projects, requires states to account for future interest payments in budget projections. Even with low interest rates, that's money they just don't want to spend. In=tead resources are going toward other services (such as schools), lowering taxes, and funding pension and health care. About 10 states are proposing tax cuts for 2015, but hardly any states are planning significant infrastructur= expansion. This is short-term thinking. Neglecting infrastruct=re now increases the cost of repairs in the future, both because there will be more damage and because the cost of borrowing money will probably rise. Interest ratesQ=A0are='t likely =o stay so low for long, and the federal government is considering res=ricting states' ability to issue tax-exempt bonds. Meanwhile= competing budget pressures will probably intensify. As of now, 74 percent of the liabilities that states owe are unfunded retirement benefits= according to the Standard and Poor's report. The ratings agency predicts that the private sector will eventually have to step in. The government has already teamed up with private entities to finance infrastructure projects in 33 states. These arrangements, called P3s (for public-private partnerships), are already popular abroad—espec=ally in emerging markets whose high borrowing costs and political corruption have stymied adequate infrastructure investment. Municipalities may find t=at P3s can serve a similar purpose in the U.S. Last week, Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes did a distressing segment — Falling a=art: America's neglected infrastructure. There are a lot of people in the United States right now who think the country is falling apart, and at least in one respect they're correct. Our roads and bridg=s are crumbling, our airports are out of date and the vast majority of our seapor=s are in danger of becoming obsolete. All the result of decades of neglect. N=ne of this is really in dispute. Business leaders, labor unions, governors, mayors, congressmen and presidents have complained about a lack of funding =or years, but aside from a one time cash infusion from the stimulus program, nothing much has changed. There is still no consensus on how to solve the problem or where to get the massive amounts of money needed to fix it, just another example of political paralysis in Washington. Tens of million= of American cross over bridges every day without giving it much thought, unless they hit a pothole= But the infrastructure problem goes much deeper than pavement. It goe= to crumbling concrete and corroded steel and the fact that nearly 70,000 bridg=s in America -- one out of every nine -- is now considered to be structurally deficient. Web Link: http://www.cbsnews.c=m/videos/falling-apart-americas-neglected-infrastructure <http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/falling-apar=-americas-neglected-infrastructure> Steve Kroft reported on why our roads, bridges, airport= and rail are outdated and need to be fixed. "You could go to any =ajor city in America and see roads, and bridges, and infrastructure that need to be fixe= today." Ray La Hood: Our infrastructure is on life support right now. That's what we'r= on. Few people are more aware of the situation than Ray LaHood, who was secretary of transportation during the first Obama administration, and before that a seven-term Republican congressman from Illinois. He is currently co-chairman of Building America's Future, a bipartisan coalition of current and former elec=ed officials that is urgently pushing for more spending on infrastructure.Q=A0 Steve Kroft: According to the government, there are 70,000 bridges that have been deemed structurally deficient...A0 Ray LaHood: It means that there are bridges that need to be really either replaced or repaired in a very dramatic way.=C2* 8 EFTA_R1_02123296 EFTA02710719 Steve Kroft: They're dangerous? Ray LaHood: I don't want to=say they're unsafe. But they're dangerous. I would agree with that. Steve Kro=t: If you were going to take me someplace, any place in the country, to illustrate the problem, where would=you take me? Ray LaHood: There is a lot of places we could go. You could go to any major city in America and see roads= and bridges, and infrastructure that need to be fixed today. They need to b= fixed today. Steve Kroft: We decided to start in Pittsburgh, which may have the most serious problem in the coun=ry. Our guide was Andy Herrmann, a past president of the American Society of=Civil Engineers. Steve Kroft: From up here you can see why they call it the city of bridges. Andy Herrmann: Yeah. Between the highway and the railroad bridges. There&4=9;s many of them. Steve Kroft: And most of them old. Andy Herr=ann: Most of them old. They're nearing the end of their useful lives, yeah. There are more than more than 4,000 bridges in metropolitan Pittsburgh and 20 percent of them are structurally deficient, including one of the cit='s main arteries. Steve Kroft: This is the Liberty Bridge ahead? An important bridge for Pittsburgh. Andy Herrma=n: A very important bridge for Pittsburgh. A connection from the south to the city itself, and then to the north. It was built in 1928 when cars and trucks were much lighter. It was designed to last 50 years -- that was 86 years ago. Every day in Pittsburgh five million people travel across bridges that either need to be replaced o= undergo major repairs. Andy Herrmann: One of these arch bridges actually has a structure built under it to catch falling deck. See that structure underneath it? They actually built that to catch any of the falling concrete so it wouldn't hit traffic underneath=it. Steve Kroft: That's amazing. Andy Herrmann: It all comes do=n to funding. Right now they can't keep up with it. Three hundred bridges become structurally defici=nt each year in the state of Pennsylvania. That's one percent added to the already 23 percent they already have. They just ca='t fix them fast enough. Pennsylvania is one of the worst states in country when it comes to the condition of its infrastructure, and Philadelphia isn't any better off than Pittsburgh.=C24> Nine million people a day travel over 900 bridges classified as structurally deficient, some of them on a heavily traveled section of I.95. Ed Rendell is a former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania. Steve Kroft: How critical is this stretch of I-95 to the country? Ed Rendell: It&=39;s a nation's number one highway. Twenty-two miles of it goes through the city of Philadelphia. There are 15 struc=urally deficient bridges in that 22-mile stretch. And to fix them would cost seven billion dollars -- t= fix all the roads and the structurally deficient bridges in that 22-mile stretch. Rendell says no one knows where the money is going to come from and this stretch of I.95 has already had on= brush with disaster. In 2008 two contractors from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation stopped to g=t a sausage sandwich, and parked their cars under this bridge. Ed Rendell= And fortunately they wanted that sausage sandwich because they saw one of these piers with an eight foot gas= in it about five inches wide. And oh, they knew automatically that this bridge=was in deep trouble. Politicians in Washington don't have the political courage to say, 'This is wha= we have to do.'" =1span> The section of I-95 was immediately shut d=wn and blocked off while construction crews buttressed the column with steel girders. It=was closed for three days, creating havoc in Philadelphia. But the city was luc=y. Ed Rendell: I mean, it was unbelievable. It's so fortuitous. Steve Kroft: And if they hadn't wanted a sausage sandwich? Ed Rendell: There's a 9 EFTA_R1_02123297 EFTA02710720 strong likelihood that bridge would have collapsed. =hese all are tragedies waiting to happen. The I-95 bridges were built in the early 1960s and are now more than 50 years o=d. The same vintage as the I-35 Bridge that collapsed in Minnesota back in 200=, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The antiquated Skagit River Bridge in Washington State that collapsed last May after a truck hit one of the truss=s was even older. And it's not just bridges. According to the American So=iety of Civil Engineers, 32 percent of the major roads in America are now in poor condition and in need of major repairs. Yet the major source of revenue -- =he federal Highway Trust Fund, which gets its money from the federal gas tax o= 18 cents a gallon -- is almost insolvent. Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says it will go broke by next spring unless something is done. And the pro=lems with transportation infrastructure go well beyond roads and bridges and the gas tax. There's aviation. A sho=tage of airports runways and gates along outmoded air traffic control systems have made U.S. air travel the most congested in the world. And then there are seaports: when a new generation =f big cargo ships begin going through an expanded Panama Canal in another yea= or so, only two of the 14 major ports on the East Coast will be dredged deep enough to accommodate them. There are more than 14,000 miles of high-speed rail operating around the world, but n=ne in the United States. In Chicago, it can take a freight train nearly as long to go across the city, as it would for =he same train to go from Chicago to Los Angeles. But perhaps the most gl=ring example of neglect and inaction may be this sad little railroad bridge over the Hacken=ack River in New Jersey. It was built 104 years ago and is, according to Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman, criti=al to the U.S. economy. =p class="MsoNormal">"This is the Achilles heel that we have on the Northeast Corridor",</=>"It's almost 500 trains a day. It's the busiest bridge in the Western Hemisph=re for train traffic, period." "It's safe , but it&#=9;s not reliable. And it's getting less reliable. It's old. Its systems are breaking down. There's an =nability to make it work on a regular, reliable basis." Boardman says the Portal Bridge is based on a design from the 1840s and was already obsolete shortly after it was completed in 1910. It'sra swing bridge that needs to be opened several times a week so barges can pass up and down the river. It takes abo=t a half an hour. The problem is it fails to lock back into place on a regular basis. Joe Boardman: It causes trains to stack up on both sides. And actually, when a train stacks up here, it can stack up all the way down to Washington=and all the way back up to Boston. This is a single point of failure. That's one of the biggest worries we have on this corridor is these single points of failure. Amtrak's president says the bridge has to be replaced, the design work has already been completed, and =he project, which would cost just under a billion dollars, is shovel ready.40=A0 Therefore, If Congress wants to do something now, build this bridge. It's ready to be done. It's been read= for two years. Build it. It's tangible evidence that they can r=ally get something done. a class="MsoNormal">The American Society of Civil Engineers says that to protect the =ealth, safety, and welfare of the public, the country needs to seriously need to improve the nation's public infrastructure. And to achieve that goal it estimates the country needs to invest $3.6 trillion by 2020. But none of this isn't going to happen until the countr= has the political will to make fixing the country's infrastructure a priority. And for a reminder one of the bridges that you will be crossing probably has a failing grade... The goal for any great civilization is to leav= more for the descendants. Obviously this is not the thinking of toda='s leadership.... Everyone knew that levies in New Orleans were = problem prior to Katrina, just like people in Sacramento, CA know th=t their levies could easily fail as well... Why then do we have to w=it until the disaster happens to address the problem? <=p> 10 EFTA_R1_02123298 EFTA02710721 nsns =ispan> Missouri Nat=onal Guard stand watch at the scene where a beauty salon was burned to the groun= in the riots following Monday's grand jury announcement, Wednesday, Nov. 2=, 2014. Lawlessness happens when the l=w breaks down. That sounds like a tautology. It's not. <=1)> The urban — and now, with Ferguson, suburb=n — riots of the past half-century have characteristically broken out only after the notion =hat we're all equal before the law has been mocked by judicial verdicts=or police practices that fairly scream that blacks are not the equals of whites 4)=804, indeed, that they're fair game for hyped-up, bigoted police. The Los Angele= riots of 1992, which I covered, didn't break out when the videotape of four =olicemen beating the prone Rodney King was aired. They erupted when the cops, all evidence to the contrary, were found not guilty. The fires of Ferguson, Mo.= blazed not when Michael Brown was killed but when a plainly biased county prosecutor announced that the grand jury he'd guided refused to ind=ct Brown's killer. The lawlessness of Ferguson began, then, with the lawlessness of its discriminatory police practices, just as the lawlessness of the Watt= riots of 1965 and the Rodney King riots of 1992 began with the discriminato=y practices of the Los Angeles Police Department — in those days, a p=ramilitary force feared and loathed throughout the city's black and Latino com=unities and beyond. In his classic "The Making of the President: 1960,=E244 Theodore White referred in passing to the department as "among the most efficie=t, if the most cruel, in the nation." But two decades after the 1992 ri=ts, the LAPD has been substantially transformed — statutorily, demographically and behavi=rally. Reforming the cops required federal monitoring, the constant pressure of ci=ic elites and community organizations and the transformation of Los Angeles it=elf into a majority-minority city in which the political base of support for ra=ist law enforcement was greatly diminished. Today, L.A. is a city where m=ny cops actually look like the people in the neighborhoods they patrol and, most of=the time, don't treat those people as enemy aliens. Those people genera=ly don't treat the cops as enemy aliens, either. Ferguson — a majority-black t=wn with a police force that is almost entirely white — is past due for such a transformation as we=l. As in L.A., the federal government will have to step in to help create a departme=t that understands what equal justice under the law means. As in L.A., =he city's minority voters will have to assert their majority status at the polls if they're to change their police department into a force that </=pan>doesn E-=3 threaten th=m. 11 EFTA_R1_02123299 EFTA02710722 No department has yet found a way to complete=y screen out those cops who actually like to pose such threats. Police work attracts idealists, but it also attracts thugs; in some places, police work can turn idealists into thugs. Psychological screening and ongoing monitoring can diminish police brutality; so can video cameras that record the copst>=99 encounters. In a democracy, the legal monopoly on violence we accord =he police requires the maximum possible accountability when the police employ violenc=. If we want the lawlessness of Ferguson to stop, we need to build a=Ferguson, and an America, where law is enforced uniformly and where being young and b=ack isn't g=ounds for a frisk, an arrest or a sudden death. To believe that Justice in America is colorbli=d is to be naive.... It is the grand jury's function not 'to enquire..... upon what foundation (the charge may be) denied,' or otherwise to t=y the suspect's defenses, but only to examine, 'upon what fou=dation (the charge) is made' by the prosecutor. ...Neither in this country nor in England has the suspect under investigation by the gran= jury ever been thought to have the right to testify or to have exculpatory evidence presented.... Justice Antonin Scalia 1992 Supreme Court case of United States v. Williams When Prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced that a grand jury had decided not to indict Darren Wilson, the officer who killed Michael Brown.=C2* The decision was the result of a process that turned the purpose of a grand jury on its head. In the text above Justice Antonin Scalia, in the 1992 Supreme Court case of United States v. Williams, explai=ed what the role of a grand jury has been for hundreds of years in the above t=xt. Neither in this country nor in England has the suspect under investigation by the grand jury ever been thought to have=a right to testify or have exculpatory evidence presented. class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">Web Link: http://youtu.be/bsTEJiR4FSc This passage was first highlighted by attorney la= Samuel, a former clerk to Justice Scalia. The Young Turks hosts John ladarola (TYT University), Steve Oh and Jimmy Dore (=he Jimmy Dore Show) break it down on the web link above. 12 EFTA_R1_02123300 EFTA02710723 One of the=biggest of Big Uglies in the United States is the explosion of homeless children...A0 The number of homeless children in America reached a staggering 2.5 million last year, an historic high, according to = new report released by the National Center on Family Homelessness. The report, titled &qu=t;America's Youngest Outcasts" and published Monday, concluded the current populati=n amounts to 1 child out of every 30 experiencing homelessness. From 20=2 to 2013, the number of homeless children jumped by 8 percent nationally, with 13 states and the District of Columbia seeing a spike of 10 percent or more, and the total number of home=ess children grew by 1 million since 2006. Children are homeless in every city, county, and state—every part of our cou=try =b>Web Link for the report: http://new.homelesschildrenamerica.org/me=iadocs/280.pdf <http://new.homelesschildrenamerica.oremed=adocs/280.pdf> Prevalence of Child Homelessness Based on a calcul=tion using the most recent U.S. Department of Education's count of homeless children in U.S. public schools an= on 2013 U.S. Census data: 2,483,539 ch=ldren experienced homelessness in the U.S. in 2013 (2.5 million). This represents one in every 30 child=en in the U.S. This is an historic high in the number of=homeless children in the U.S. From 2012 to 2013= the number of children experiencing homelessness annually in the U.S.: Increased by 8% nationally. Increased in 31states an= the District of Columbia. Increased by 10% or more in 1= states and the District of Columbia. Researchers behind the study cited several m=jor drivers behind the recent surge including high poverty levels, insufficient afforda=le housing across the country, and traumatic stress experienced by mothers. Different reports have cited 90 percent of homeless mothers have been assau=ted by their partners, with children overwhelmingly exposed to similar acts of violence. Causes of Child Homelessness 13 EFTA_R1_02123301 EFTA02710724  Major causes of home=essness for children in the U.S. include: (1) the nation's high poverty rate; (2) lack of affordable housing =cross the nation; (3) continuing impacts of the Great Recession; (4) racial dispariti=s; (5) the challenges of single parenting; and (6) the ways in which traumatic experiences, especially domestic violence, precede and prolong homelessness=for children and families. Impacts of Homelessness on Children Research sh=ws that homeless children are hungry and sick more often. They wonder if they will have a roof over their heads at night and what will happen to their families.40=A0 Many homeless children struggle in school, missing days, repeating grades, and drop out entirely. Up to 25% of h=meless pre-school children have mental health problems requiring clinical evaluation; this increases t= 40% among homeless school-age children. The impacts of homelessness on the childr=n, especially young children, may lead to changes in brain architecture that can interfere with learning, emotional self-regulation, cognitive skills, and social relationships. The unrelenting stress experienced by the parents may contribute to residential instability, unemployment, ineffective parenting, and poor health. Further research to identify evidence-based programs and services for children and families. "The same level of attention and resources has not bee= targeted to help families and children," co-author of the report a=d director of the center Carmela DeCandia told the Associated Press. =br> Children are resilient and can recover=from homelessness, but time is precious in their young lives. Services for children must be provid=d as soon as families enter emergency shelter or housing so that weeks and mo=ths critical to their development are not lost forever. Essential service= must follow children into their permanent housing. 1 in SO or (1,555,360) Children were homeless in the United States in 2006. A=d today that number has grown to 1 in 50 or (2,483,539) were homeless in the United States in 2013. <1=> The=federal government has made concerted efforts to reduce homelessness among chronically homeless individuals and veterans, and these efforts have shown significant progress. Children and families have n=t received the same attention—and their numbers are growing. Without decisiv= action and the allocation of sufficient resources, the nation will fail to reach the stated federal goal=of ending family homelessness by 2020, and child homelessness may result in a permanent Third World in America. Child homelessness should not be tolerated, especially in the richest country in =he world. The fact that it isn't a nation priority or even a major issue is beyond shameful and this is my rant or t=e week.... 14 EFTA_R1_02123302 EFTA02710725 WEEK'= READINGS 321,000=/span> U.S. employe=s added a whopping 321,000 jobs in November, the biggest burst of hiring in nearly three years and the latest sign that the United States is outperforming other economies throughout the developed wor=d. U.S. employers added a whopping 321,000 jobs in November, the biggest burst of hiring in nearly three years and the late=t sign that the United States is outperforming other economies throughout the developed world. The Labor Department also said Friday that 44,000 more jobs were added in September and October combined than the government had previously estimated. The unemployme=t rate for white men rose to 5.4% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which measures employment=in the US. The BLS added that the rates remained unchanged for other groups, including adult women at 5.3%, teenagers at 17.7%, blacks at 11.1% and Hispanics at 6.6% Job gains have averaged 241,000 a month this year, putting 2014 on track to be the stronge=t year for hiring since 1999. The unemployment rate remained at a six-year low of 5.8 percent last month.4)=A0 =span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serif">T=e robust job gains come after the economy expanded from April through September at its fastest pace in 11years. The addition=l jobs should support steady growth in coming months. Average hourly wages rose 9 cents to $24.66 last month, the biggest gain in 17 months.Q=A0 Yet in the past 12 months, hourly pay is up just 2.1 percent, barely ahead of the 1.7 percent inflation rate. The=job gains were fueled in part by strong hiring in retail, temporary services and transportation and warehousing.Q=A0 Those increases likely reflect seasonal hiring for the winter holidays. Shipping companies have announced ambitious plans: UPS has said it expects to add up=to 95,000 seasonal workers, up from 85,000 last year. FedEx plans to hire 50,0=0, up from 40,000. The improving U.S. job market contrasts with weakness elsewhere around the globe. Growth among the 18 European nations in the eur= alliance is barely positive, and the eurozone's unemployment rate is 11=5 percent. Japan is in recession. China's growth has slowed as it seeks to rein in excessive lending tied to real est=te development. Other large developing countries, including Russia and Brazil,=are also straining to grow. Most economists say the United States will likely continue to strengthen despite the sluggishness overseas. The U.S. economy is much less dependent on exports 15 EFTA_R1_02123303 EFTA02710726 than are Germany, China and Japan. U.S. growth is fueled more by its large domestic market and free-spending consum=rs, who account for about 70 percent of the economy. That trend helps support the ste=dy U.S. job growth. Most of the industries that have enjoyed the strongest job gains depend on the U.S. market rather than on overseas demand. Retailers, restaurants and hot=ls, and education and health care, for example, have been among the most consistent sources of health