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Ann O'Neill, CNN Video By Bryce Urbany, CNN

2016-08-22 12:04:35

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https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/22/us/danny-thompson-bonneville-speed-record/index.html

Going for broke at Bonneville with Speed King's son - CNN

I followed Danny Thompson to the salt flats of Utah to witness his day of reckoning in the vast shimmering flatness hot rod racers call the Great White Dyno.

us, Going for broke at Bonneville with Speed King's son - CNN

The taste of salt, the smell of nitro: Going for broke at Bonneville

Bonneville Speedway, Utah (CNN)"Wanna go for a ride?" The Speed King's son poses the question as the early dawn paints pastels along the horizon and sends light dancing on the vast shimmering flatness that hot rod racers call the Great White Dyno. His moment has arrived, at last. It took all of his 66 years and every penny he had to resurrect his father's old streamliner and race here at Speed Week. The annual event -- weather permitting -- sends some 500 hot rods, roadsters, motorcycles and their drivers ripping down a dried-up lake bed encrusted in salt. All in hot pursuit of national speed records. And that is why, while most eyes were on the Olympic Games and the feats of Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles, I followed Danny Thompson to the salt flats of Utah to witness his day of reckoning. It's not the Indianapolis 500 or NASCAR, but Bonneville has found its niche among purists who recall the day when cars ran on grease and testosterone. Each year a few thousand spectators and participants drive campers and trailers onto the salt and set up tents, tarps and lawn chairs. Most come every year. Flush regulars book digs in the casino hotels in two nearby towns along the Nevada state line. Read MoreThe beverage of choice is bottled water, which a person can chug all day long without needing a portable john. That's what salt, triple-digit temperatures, relentless sun and 14% humidity does to the human body. Nothing can survive long in the salt. A lone grasshopper spotted in a trash can clearly wasn't from around here and likely wouldn't make it. Cell phone service? Internet? Forget about it.The salt sucks the life out of everything. It gets in your eyes, under your nails, up your nostrils and on the back of your tongue. It coats your skin and stings. A small blister can blow up in a matter of minutes. The harsh environment is part of the draw. It's like going to a beach without a shoreline. Regulars line key sections of the course, even though the view from the sidelines offers little more than sound. Up close, high performance engines set your ears ringing but from a distance tend to hum like a hive of angry bees. By the time you hear the bees, a car going 400 mph has already passed. But if you anticipate the whine, use binoculars and look far down the course, you might see a blip -- followed by a plume of salt spun out by the back tires. Racers call it the rooster tail. And so, when Thompson invited me into the pit and asked if I wanted to come along as he drove the course, scouting the salt conditions a couple of hours before his run, it was a no-brainer. Wanna go for a ride? Yes, please. Danny Thompson has been waiting for decades to finish what his father started.Thompson, as it turns out, is the man to watch at the 68th running of Speed Week. Other drivers have a chance to go 400+ mph, but he's the one fans and other racers are cheering for. He's going for the record in memory of his dad, Mickey Thompson, the Speed King. Mickey is long gone, murdered by a hit man hired by a business partner enraged over something that no longer matters. But here they are, father and son, together again at Bonneville. And they are together. On the headrest behind the driver's seat of Challenger 2, Danny Thompson's speeding bullet of a car, the letters are carefully stitched: "Drivers: Mickey * Danny." Mickey may no longer be in the driver's seat, but he still gets top billing.The names of all the Thompsons -- Mickey; his dad, Marion, a cop; Danny; his mom, Judy; his wife, Valerie, and their son Travis -- are painted on the side of Challenger 2, proof that finishing the job Mickey started is, indeed, a family affair. Even 86-year-old Judy pitched in at the pit.Early this Saturday morning, Thompson sports the red cap given members of Bonneville's 200 mph club. He's hoping by Sunday afternoon to replace it with the black cap that designates an even more elite group -- the 400 mph club. How elite? Only 11 men have gone that fast at Bonneville. Thompson aims to become The Twelfth Man. Not everyone can go home with a land speed record, of course, but he is determined to settle some unfinished family business. He's here to go faster than anyone has gone before in a piston-engine car. That includes his father, who went 406.6 mph in 1960, the first American to top 400 mph. That feat brought Mickey Thompson fame, which he used to amass a fortune making high performance racing tires and putting on motocross shows. Challenger 2 is built on the chassis of the car Mickey Thompson assembled in 1968 but never got to race.At Bonneville you have to make the trip twice to enter the record books. You go straight out, foot to the floor, for 5 miles or more on the first day -- the down run. Then you do the same thing again on the next day: the return run. Your official time is the average of both speeds at the 5-mile mark. Mickey Thompson was never able to accomplish that. His car broke down on the return leg. He tried in 1968, but rain stopped him. He was going to try a third time in 1988, this time teaming up with Danny, when a bullet stopped him forever. Danny couldn't bear the thought of continuing the project alone, and so he put Challenger in storage. Half a century after his dad broke 400, he decided to go for the official recognition that comes with two successful runs. He spent nearly seven years working on the car, getting it just right. And so, on a clear, hot weekend in mid-August, Thompson and a team of two-dozen people -- many working for free because the money's run out -- descend on Bonneville to finish the job. It has become a labor of love -- and the hardest thing they've ever done.The Great White DynoAs the morning sun sends long shadows scooting across the salt, we climb into my rented SUV and set out along the 8-mile course. I wonder what the car rental people would think if they knew a second-generation hot-rodder was behind the wheel. Thompson doesn't just feel the need for speed; he feeds on it. In a couple of hours he will slide his wiry frame between two 2,500 horsepower engines crammed inside a blue aluminum tube -- one in front, one in back -- and hurtle across the flats, his backside just inches above the salt. He jokes that when he's driving the streamliner, he's the baloney in "a 5,000-horsepower sandwich."Challenger 2 was engineered and built by Thompson and his friends on the chassis of the hot rod his dad built in 1968 but never got the chance to race. This time, they built a Challenger so powerful they decided to add winglets. When he talks about what it's like to taste salt with a side of nitro fumes, Thompson goes to his happy place. "That's good stuff!" he exclaims, punctuating his speech with growls that mimic the sound made by a revving engine. He is prone to pump his fist and give up throaty "hoo-yahs!"Why do they call it the Great White Dyno? The Internet offers several explanations, but I like Thompson's: "Well, the great white is the whiteness of the salt, and a dynamometer is what you test engines on to see how much horsepower they have," he says. "You can test your engines all you want on a machine, but when you get to the Great White Dyno and test it on the surface, you're in the real deal now. This is the greatest testing facility in the world." Like the light at Bonneville, Mickey Thompson's legacy has cast a long shadow over his son's career.As he gives me a short version of Bonneville racing 101, the sun bounces off the white expanse, creating a mirror-like mirage that seems to lift the mountains off the Earth's surface. They say the course at Bonneville rises just 6 inches from start to finish; it's so flat drivers say they can see a slight curve in the Earth. Thompson didn't hotdog it as we made our way up the course. He drove slowly, deliberately, like a beat cop on patrol. He found the salt softer and wetter than he'd hoped. When it's in good shape, the salt casts a bluish shimmer. But this year, there was brown mixed in, a sign that mud lurked just under the surface -- particularly at the end of the course, where the salty crust appeared to be just an inch thick in spots. During the day, the hot sun draws the water to the surface, turning the salt to mush. When the surface hardens overnight, it becomes bumpy. The drivers call it "popcorn." The texture is similar to the "corn" snow skiers encounter in the spring.It was going to be hard to break any records under such "marginal" conditions, Thompson thought. He scouted out the spot where he'd veer ever so slightly off the course as his streamliner slowed so he could avoid the rough spots. He hoped he'd be able to get off the starting line early, while the salt was still cool and at its slickest. He was ready, more ready than he had ever been. But, he said with a shake of his head, "You can't control Mother Nature."A rivalry is born I met Danny Thompson in 2014, on the weekend he started both of Challenger 2's engines for the first time. Classic rock blasted on the speakers as I strolled into a warehouse in Huntington Beach, California, and found his office. I met the regulars -- crew chief Lou Anderson and fabricator Frank Hanrahan, who both stuck by Thompson even when he couldn't make payroll. (Mickey Thompson once fell short on payroll and made up the difference gambling at a hotel casino near Bonneville.) And I encountered photographer Holly Martin, a racer herself. She was in constant motion -- and she'd brought cookies. I didn't know it then, but she'd be our guide at Speed Week 2016, helping us zip from one end of the course to the other during Thompson's runs. Back then, at the beginning, none of us knew that Thompson's date with destiny would take so long. As I sat down with him for the first time in his office, I couldn't miss a unique, handmade, in-your-face paperweight. It was the F-word, carved into a polished block of wood. I laughed out loud, a reaction that met with his approval.I told him I was just happy not to see girlie calendars hanging on the walls.Thompson was still recovering from a mishap: He'd spent the previous night and about $1,300 at the emergency room after accidentally drinking from a water bottle filled with nitro, the fuel that powers Challenger 2. It's highly toxic; he'd heaved most of it into the bushes. But it burned, and it can blind. Thompson, pushing 64 at the time, is one tough bird. He thinks he's probably broken every bone in his body, so he didn't let a little poison spoil his big moment: He jumped into Challenger 2 wearing a gas mask, ready to start those engines. Two dozen people, many working for free because the money's run out, are helping Thompson finish the job.Of all the racers at his level at Bonneville, Thompson has probably made the fewest passes on the course, according to racing officials. But in Challenger 2, each run has flirted with the 400 mark. The car is a beast.Challenger 2 went 419 mph at Bonneville that summer but broke down on the return run. The following year, the rain came and the salt was in no condition for racing. Thompson packed up and hauled Challenger 2 home to Colorado. He continued to work out to stay in shape, getting up each morning at 3:30 and going to bed with the chickens. It's a schedule that softens the early mornings at the speedway. And so, as Speed Week 2016 began, Thompson was working on his car at the pit long before the sun came up. The desert air is sweet and cool at that hour, the salt in the best condition it will be all day. After our cruise of the course, he was ready for the starting line. Thompson didn't get the early time he'd hoped for. He'd be the last driver down the long course. The current overall record holder, George Poteet, would go first in his new, state-of-the-art, computerized Speed Demon II. Speed Demon II competes in a different class than Challenger 2 at Speed Week. Thompson's car is an AA fuel streamliner, while Poteet's is a blown fuel streamliner. It includes a supercharger that blows air into the engine when it burns fuel, giving it more horsepower. Speed Demon II and a handful of other blown fuel streamliners have topped 400 mph, and Poteet holds the fastest record at Bonneville for all piston-engine classes: 437.183 set in 2013. Poteet crashed the first Speed Demon at 370 mph in 2014. He thought about retiring. But, like Thompson, he found the pull of the salt too hard to resist. Thompson says he wouldn't mind having a supercharger, but there's no room for one. Challenger 2 is already packed tight, every millimeter spoken for. He compensates with two engines and four-wheel drive. It didn't take long to see that while Poteet had everybody's respect, Thompson was the sentimental favorite. While they race in different engine classes, Thompson and Poteet are both after the same thing. Each wants to be the fastest man on the salt. At the starting lineThe wait can be long as the cars move up to the starting line, a streak of orange liquid sprayed into the salt. Since it can be 140 degrees in the car, Thompson donned his fireproof racer's suit at the last minute. Wife Valerie applied tape over the earbuds that would connect him to his radio communications system. Crew members stood over Thompson, holding umbrellas and making last-minute tweaks to the car. Anderson, the crew chief, snapped Thompson's helmet on and strapped him in. The Challenger's hatch closed. There was no turning back.Go time. Final adjustments are made as Thompson prepares to take on the course.When I first wrote about Thompson and Bonneville, a colleague recommended I check out Rachel Kushner's "The Flamethrowers." The novel, which won the National Book Award, includes some great scenes of salt flat racing. One passage in particular resonates deeply, where she describes seeing the cars leave the starting line and take off down the salt: "One after another I watched the scream, the careen, the rooster tail, the float, and then the shimmer and wink off the edge of horizon, gone."Careen, rooster tail, float, gone."Careen, float, gone."Thompson is pushed to the line. The engine roars, and then he is gone. "Godspeed, DT," a crew member shouts. "Run! Go, go, go," photographer Martin yells as we scramble to our SUV and race along the course in pursuit of Thompson. She steers far to the outside of the salt, away from the track and the crowd, and opens it up. We carry CB radios and fire extinguishers, and our floor mats are wrapped in trash bags to keep out the salt. We are still barreling along when the radio crackles: Thompson was going 411 mph at the official 5-mile mark and 416 out the back door as he exited the course. With a speed faster than 392.5 -- the record set for his class in 2009 -- Thompson qualified for the return run. Even better, Challenger 2 was still in one piece. Thompson told us he'd had a good run but that the salt was not in great shape. And, in the two years since he'd first run Challenger 2 here, he'd forgotten about a quirk in the steering. He almost ran off course before moving his hands slightly to compensate. But he'd get to go again -- a first for him -- and he hoped to do better the next day. Challenger 2 headed off to impound with the other qualifying vehicles, where crews have four hours to get their cars in shape for the return run under the watchful eyes of racing officials. The down run had stressed the streamliner, and at impound the crew virtually took it apart and put it back together. They washed the salt and expended fuel off the aluminum body panels, tires, wheels -- even the engines -- with Windex and water. It made for a long day, but it meant they would get another chance to hit the salt before dawn and do it all again. Bonneville comes to life at first light, when the salt is at its slickest.As the sun comes up on Sunday, Thompson and Poteet's cars stand side by side as they're prepped. Again, Speed Demon II would go first and Challenger 2 would go last. Speed Demon II, a color somewhere between rust and brown, is tight, aerodynamic and even looks fast in the same mean way a wasp looks fast. It is a thing of beauty. The crew works on the car quietly and efficiency. They wear black T-shirts, projecting a tough image. There is a corporate air about them. Poteet, who operates out of Memphis, Tennessee, is nowhere to be seen, arriving to hop into Speed Demon II just before it is towed to the starting line. Thompson, on the other hand, is everywhere -- working on Challenger 2 himself in the pit, even pushing a broom to sweep the salt off the tarp that covers the ground. His car is a friendly royal blue, and his crew wears white T-shirts. Hollywood scriptwriters could have a field day with this scene, pitting the ragtag band of underdogs in white against the highly efficient men in black. They could shape it as a classic battle: old school, handcrafted racing from the heart vs. the best technology money can buy. Some kind of luckThompson is the crowd pleaser. A circle of spectators form around him while the Speed Demon team has their space pretty much to themselves.Sniffs one spectator, "George Poteet is a checkbook racer. Danny Thompson's the real racer. He's over there, working on his car, getting greasy. Where's George Poteet?" As Thompson's run time draws near, liquid can be seen dripping under the rear right side of Challenger 2. A crew member says it is likely just overflow, and Thompson decides to go anyway. He is out of time and out of money. This is his shot. Martin and I position ourselves at the 5-mile mark this time. We see a speck approach, then flash by. We can't see much of a rooster tail. By the time we hear the zoom, Thompson's already gone. Even the race officials in the timing tower are cheering him on. A video posted by an observer in the tower shows their reaction: "He's hauling ass," one official exclaims as the times are called out, mile by mile: 341.560 at the quarter mile, 356.170 at the two-mile mark, 385.963 at the three-mile mark. "Oh, baby, look at that rooster! C'mon, 400 baby, 400, 400, 400, 400." "Woo hoo!" The cheer erupts in the tower as the 5-mile time is called out: 402.348. "Good boy."Averaged with his official down run mark of 411.191, Thompson's speed is 406.767. He beat Mickey's time by a tenth of a second. And it's official. He set a national record for fuel streamliners.The record sheet tells the tale: Thompson's return speed broke 400 mph.Sitting with Martin, my neutral reporter's stance is toast. My throat tightens and my eyes tear up as we head to the finish line, and I don't know why. Perhaps I've become too invested in this mad dash and the people involved in it. But I needed them more than they needed me. Perhaps we all needed Danny Thompson -- and Michael Phelps and Simone Biles and all the others -- to remind us what it means to be an American during this ugly, violent, divisive summer of 2016. We needed to see what it means to work on cars and spend hours in gyms and pools and on tracks to push the envelope just a little further. We raced to the finish line, where we found Thompson already out of Challenger 2. Fire extinguishers were strewn around the salt, but they hadn't been needed. That liquid dripping under the rear right side? A fuel line had ruptured, and he'd been spewing a mist of fuel as he raced down the course. Thompson said he lost power in the rear engine at about the 4-mile mark. He recalled sending up a prayer: "Please God, just one more mile to go."The front engine pulled him across the finish line on its own. It was enough for the record.Poteet's run on Sunday also topped 400 mph, but a slow first run meant his average two-day speed didn't break 400. For 24 hours of Speed Week 2016, at least, Thompson was King of the Salt. As he packed up on Monday, though, Poteet raged down the course again, setting another record at 429 mph. But that was fine. Thompson may not have broken Poteet's overall record, but he'd accomplished what he'd come to do. He'd won his class and wrote the Thompson name into racing's record books. And, he joined Bonneville's elite 400 mph club. He's being called "The Twelfth Man" now. At the Indy 500, drivers kiss the bricks. In Bonneville, Thompson fell to his knees and kissed the salt. Thompson gives thanks to the salt flats of Bonneville.Back at the pit, he proudly donned the black "400" cap and sat down to sign a few autographs. He'd set things right for Mickey after all those years. His dad, he says, was probably talking in his ear the whole time he was flooring it, "standing on the gas," as Mickey used to say. Thompson joked that he's sure he wasn't listening, just as he didn't listen as a kid."We got lucky," he said. It's Danny Thompson's kind of luck -- the kind that saves you time and again. It might not bring riches. But it delivers just enough.A couple of years ago, when I first wrote about his quest, the headline raised this question: What drives Danny Thompson? On August 14, 2016, national record in hand, he finally had the answer:"What drives Danny Thompson? Insanity, I don't know," he said with a big laugh. "It's just being passionate about finishing the job. What drives me is getting that record, bringing that record to the Thompson family, finishing a legacy for my dad, and a legacy for Danny Thompson."The end of a long journey -- and the beginning of another challenge.He'll be back at Bonneville, salt permitting, for next month's Cook's Shootout, where world records are set. He knows Challenger 2 has the potential to go even faster, maybe 450 or even 470 mph. "It will be a shootout between Speed Demon and us," he says. "I can't quit. We call it salt fever. You just want to come back to Bonneville. You want to go faster."This time he'll be racing for his own legacy.

Moni Basu, CNN

2016-09-15 10:41:50

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https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/15/us/sikh-hate-crime-victims/index.html

After 9/11, turbans made Sikhs targets - CNN

Sikhs paid a price after 9/11 and many feel no safer 15 years later as terrorist incidents give rise to a climate of fear.

us, After 9/11, turbans made Sikhs targets - CNN

15 years after 9/11, Sikhs still victims of anti-Muslim hate crimes

Story highlightsThe first revenge killing after 9/11 was the murder of a Sikh man in ArizonaSince then, Sikhs in America have reported hundreds of hate crimesOften, attackers mistake Sikhs for Muslims because of their turbans (CNN)Earlier this month, Prabhjot Singh sat down with his 4-year-old son Hukam and tried for the first time to explain the horrific incident that altered the Manhattan family's life. "A few years ago, a few men hurt me because of what I looked like, because they thought I was bad," Singh said.Hukam stared back, confused. "Why?" he asked."Their hearts were asleep and they were not thinking about Papaji as a person," Singh said, using a Punjabi term of respect for father.On the night of September 21, 2013, Singh, a highly accomplished doctor and professor, was walking with a friend on 110th Street near Central Park. Both men are Sikhs and have long beards and wear turbans. Singh heard someone yell: "Terrorist, Osama, get him."Read MoreSingh ran but not fast enough. A group of boys and young men on bicycles taunted him using racial slurs. One pulled his beard and then the attackers punched and kicked him repeatedly. He lay on the ground, waiting for them to stop, when passers-by intervened. Singh ended up in the hospital with a broken jaw, dislodged teeth and other gruesome injuries.But Singh expressed gratitude. He understood it could have been so much worse.Fifteen years ago Thursday, an Indian Sikh immigrant was gunned down at the gas station he managed in Mesa, Arizona. It was the first revenge killing in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The assailant said he wanted to "go out and shoot some towel heads" for the actions of Osama bin Laden.Hate crimes against Muslims and those perceived as Muslims spiked after 9/11. Sikh men grow long beards and wear turbans as a commitment to their faith, and many Americans mistake them for Muslims.Sikhs under attackViolent attacks on Sikhs spiked after September 11, 2001. Read about some of the incidents reported as hate crimes.Reports of incidents in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and concerns that hate crimes would rise prompted the founding of the Sikh Coalition, which has grown into the largest Sikh advocacy and civil rights organization in America. In the first month after 9/11, the group documented more than 300 cases of violence and discrimination against Sikhs in America. In the years since, hundreds of hate crimes have been reported, many of them described by police as cases of mistaken identity, like the September 15, 2001, murder in Mesa. As America marks the 15th anniversary of 9/11 this month, many Sikhs say they feel no safer in this country. A climate of fear has prevailed since the Paris attacks in November; it has surfaced every time shootings and terrorist attacks are blamed on Muslims. Many feel the focus on immigrants in the 2016 presidential election has added to the hatemongering."I definitely feel the uptick of more hateful rhetoric in the country," says Singh.The irony of being attacked was not lost on Singh: He had written about the violence against Sikhs, including a New York Times piece after the 2012 mass shooting at a Milwaukee temple. A year later, he, too, had become a victim, finding himself in the uncomfortable position of having to explain to his young son why he was attacked simply because of the way he looks."Whatever I think the environment is around us, I know children absorb all the messages," he says. "How can we prepare them to meet the world that may not be prepared to meet them?"Why are we being attacked for being Sikh?" he says. "My tradition teaches me to ask what are we doing as a community to have a far more welcoming embrace of people who are different than us." Photos: American turbanFor Sikhs, the turban is not about culture, it's an article of faith that is mandatory for men. The turban is also a reason why Sikh men have been targeted and attacked in America, especially after 9/11. Turbans were featured in "The Sikh Project," a 2016 exhibition that celebrated the Sikh American experience. British photographers Amit and Naroop partnered with the Sikh Coalition for the show. This photo is of New York actor and designer Waris Singh Ahluwalia, who was kicked off an Aero Mexico flight in February after refusing to remove his turban at security. Hide Caption 1 of 10 Photos: American turbanHarpreet Kaur, a producer at Maryland Public Television, founded Sach Productions, a media organization that creates films focused on minority issues. She was the first Sikh reporter in Washington.Hide Caption 2 of 10 Photos: American turbanHarmandeep Singh, a high school senior in New York, arrived from India in 2014.Hide Caption 3 of 10 Photos: American turbanIshprit Kaur's mother is a nurse and inspired her daughter to become one, too. Kaur was also drawn to the medical field because her father is battling Parkinson's disease.Hide Caption 4 of 10 Photos: American turbanJapjee Singh, like many Sikh kids, was bullied for years in suburban Atlanta schools. In 2014, the Department of Justice settled a landmark case with the DeKalb County school system that paved the way for better protection from bullying.Hide Caption 5 of 10 Photos: American turbanMaj. Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi was born in India but grew up in New Jersey. He was the only Sikh child in his public school and became the first Sikh American to be granted a religious accommodation to serve in the military since a 1980s ban that prevents Sikhs from serving. Kalsi deployed to Afghanistan and now works to end religious discrimination in the military.Hide Caption 6 of 10 Photos: American turbanRetired engineer Lathan Dennis-Singh was born in Kingston, Jamaica, where he befriended reggae superstar Bob Marley. He converted to Sikhism 48 years ago at his college in Michigan and has been living in Fairfax, Virginia, for the last 30 years.Hide Caption 7 of 10 Photos: American turbanRaghuvinder Singh travels from his home in New Jersey to Oak Creek, Wisconsin, every week to see his father, Punjab Singh, who was shot in the face in the 2012 mass shooting there. Punjab Singh remains paralyzed and communicates through blinking his eyes.Hide Caption 8 of 10 Photos: American turbanSat Hari Singh reversed the New York train he was operating on 9/11 and helped save the lives of many people. He worked with the Sikh Coalition to sue the transportation authority over a policy against turbans and won. Hide Caption 9 of 10 Photos: American turbanMusician Sonny Singh is a member of the Brooklyn Bhangra band. In his other life, he's a community organizer who leads workshops on race, religion and social justice.Hide Caption 10 of 10Sikhism was founded in the 16th century by Guru Nanak in Punjab, an area that is now divided between India and Pakistan. Nanak rejected the rituals involved with other South Asian religions and stressed the importance of good deeds such as serving others and treating all people equally.The monotheistic religion has more than 25 million followers worldwide and about 500,000 in the United States. Yet a majority of Americans -- 60% -- admitted in a 2015 survey that they knew nothing at all about Sikhs. Lawyer and activist Valarie Kaur says the threat of violence seems to have become mainstreamed.Her grandfather settled in California a century ago, and she knows firsthand from her family that discrimination against Sikhs existed long before 2001. But 9/11, she says, was a paradigm shift, a turning point.She used to talk about living in the "shadow of 9/11." Then the shadow turned out to be long, and what seemed temporary became permanent."Bigotry on the fringe has been cemented," says Kaur, whose 2008 documentary, "Divided We Fall," explored Sikhs in the United States and what it meant to be American in a post-9/11 world."The threat of hate and racism has become a part of our daily lives," she says. Despite the current climate, both Singh and Kaur expressed optimism for the future. Both are vocal about their Sikh identities and talk about landmark changes they hope will make things better in America. They point to younger generations of Sikhs who are fiercely proud of their outward identities and to people like Rana Singh Sodhi, who lost two brothers within a matter of months and became a strong voice for his community.'He was killed simply because of the way he looked'On Thursday, Singh Sodhi will again gather with family and friends at the corner of 80th Street and University Drive in Mesa, Arizona. The Chevron station had been the pride of his older brother Balbir, who arrived in the United States in 1988 and worked hard to achieve the American dream. That dream shattered in 2001, and now a small marble-and-granite memorial bears these words etched in gold lettering: "He was killed simply because of the way he looked."This is ground zero for the Sodhi family.Balbir's killer, Frank Roque, told the police: "I'm a patriot and American. I'm American. I'm a damn American."   JUST WATCHEDLosing a father in a shootingReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHLosing a father in a shooting 01:40Balbir considered himself a patriot, too. An hour before he died, he had driven to a nearby Costco to purchase plants for new landscaping at the gas station. On his way out of the store, he emptied his wallet, donating $74 to the 9/11 victims' fund. Then he called Rana and asked him to bring a few American flags to display. Balbir was the eldest of eight siblings in a farming family from the Indian state of Punjab. He and his brothers resettled in America and felt indebted to the nation that gave them new opportunities.But 10 months after Balbir's murder, a second brother, Sukhpal, was also gunned down, while driving his cab in San Francisco. Police said it was not a hate crime, but Rana is certain that both his brothers were killed because of their Sikh identity."I understand that everyone has to leave this world but not because we wear a turban, wear a beard," he says. "America is the most diverse country in the world, but people have zero knowledge about who we are."Rana Singh Sodhi could easily have been consumed by anger or bitterness. Instead he took it upon himself to begin educating people at churches, schools and community events.He's saddened when he meets Sikh men who shave their beards and abandon their turbans out of fear."I don't want to live scared," he says. "This is America. I should be able to live the way I want to live."Tracking hate, expressing loveSikh Americans suffered their darkest moment on August 5, 2012, when white supremacist Wade Michael Page went on a shooting rampage at a Sikh gurdwara, or temple, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Page killed one woman and five men; all the men were wearing turbans.At the time, it was the worst hate crime committed in a house of faith since the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. Although the incident made national news, it did not get the same attention as other shooting incidents, says activist Kaur."It happened on Sunday. By the following Sunday, we were bumped," Kaur says. "The media did not think the American public had the attention or did not care enough to understand this community. They could imagine a movie theater or an elementary school or a black church. But not a gurdwara."JUST WATCHEDSikhism in AmericaReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSikhism in America 02:15Since then, Sikh Americans have made some important gains, Kaur says. That includes an announcement in 2015 that the FBI would begin tracking hate crimes against Sikhs. Sikh Americans had lobbied for years for such documentation, arguing it was a key step in combating such crimes.The first report will be released later this year. "It is not going to prevent an Oak Creek massacre, but it was a landmark civil rights victory," Kaur says.Ultimately, she says, the only way to prevent violence and discrimination is for people to get to know each other. Oneness and love, core foundations of the Sikh faith, are the only way to save the Sikh community, she says.Sikhism also embraces a concept called seva, which means selfless service. Kaur says Sikhs must go beyond education or lobbying and engage in seva in their neighborhoods to gain full acceptance in this country.Prabhjot Singh, the Manhattan doctor, agrees."I deeply believe in the Sikh spirit of seva," he says. "Working in our communities where we live is one of the more powerful things we can do."Shortly after I was attacked, I prepared to shift my work, to work in a community context, and learn how to be more rooted in the work of creating a more loving nation. It's not easy, and I'm no expert. But if anything, being attacked primed me to listen more carefully and feel the consequences of our choices more deeply."'Wake up their hearts'When he sat down with his son, Singh told him their lives were forever connected to the lives of his assailants. And that they would spend a long time thinking and talking about it, just like he asks Hukam to think about times he hurts his younger brother. One man was later arrested in connection with the attack and charged with aggravated harassment and committing a hate crime. No one else has been apprehended.After the beating, Singh knew it was important for the Sikh community that justice was done, but more important for him, he would like to meet the perpetrators. Perhaps, he says, he is naïve, but he believes that getting to know people who are different is the best way to create change. Singh would rather his attackers be taught than caught. He wants the streets of Harlem to be safe for his sons. More than anything, he wants that group of young men and boys to stop hating.Singh posed the question to his son. "What should I do to them if I meet them?" Hukam smiled. "You have to wake up their hearts."For Singh, that was the right answer.

Story by Jessica Ravitz, CNN Video by Anne Lagamayo, CNN

2016-12-01 16:54:22

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https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/01/us/canada-sweat-lodge/index.html

Back to the beginning: The sweat lodge ceremony, as intended - CNN

Three people died in self-help guru James Arthur Ray's sweat lodge. But in a real indigenous sweat, people get a second chance at life.

health, Back to the beginning: The sweat lodge ceremony, as intended - CNN

Back to the beginning: The sweat lodge ceremony, as intended

Sagkeeng First Nation, Manitoba (CNN)Smoke curls toward the sky as the sitting elder lifts the sacred pipe, lowers it to the ground and moves it around him. He's recognizing the Creator, honoring Mother Earth and calling on spirits to lend support. Ancient songs and drumbeats fill the simple dome-like structure. Constructed of gray willow branches and covered in black canvas, it sits low to the ground. The flap over the entry we crawled through has been closed, ushering in darkness. Medicinal water infused with juniper is poured over the red-hot rocks in a pit at the center. Fifteen of us sit on the ground, encircling this only source of heat.The temperature rises, and together we go back to the beginning.I've come to Canada to experience an authentic sweat lodge ceremony under the guidance of an internationally respected teacher. The sweat lodge, he says, represents a return to our mother's womb, and the rhythm of the drums is her heartbeat. The water and steam are meant to purify those who enter, allowing each of us to emerge reborn. On CNN TVWatch "Enlighten Us: The Rise and Fall of James Arthur Ray," Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.That is the basic intention of the sweat ceremony, an indigenous custom that's been preserved for thousands of years by Native Americans and Canada's First Nations people. The ancient practice is meant to birth new life. Read MoreThat may have been the objective when James Arthur Ray, then a self-help guru, led 55 people into a sweat lodge near Sedona, Arizona, in October 2009. Instead, three participants died after spending hours inside. Nineteen others were hospitalized. Ray, who was sentenced to two years in prison for felony negligent homicide, is now free and attempting to reinvent himself. His story is the subject of CNN Films' "Enlighten Us: The Rise and Fall of James Arthur Ray," which premieres Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.According to Native American and First Nations elders, Ray offered a gift that wasn't his to share. He put a price tag on that which shouldn't be sold, charging people nearly $10,000 for a four-day "spiritual warrior" retreat that culminated in the sweat lodge disaster."If you appropriate something that doesn't belong to you, there's a consequence," says elder Dave Courchene Jr., 66, who leads our sweat lodge ceremony. "I'm not opposed to having people, having anyone, experience the ceremony in the lodges that we do. I welcome that. But what I will not relinquish is the right of leadership."That right to lead ceremonies is one he earned only after years of learning and searching.Elder Dave Courchene Jr. says his first sweat ceremony, in his 20s, was the beginning of his spiritual journey.Finding who he wasCourchene grew up north of Winnipeg on the Sagkeeng First Nation reserve (the preferred term for "reservation" in Canada), at a time when the Canadian government prohibited the spiritual practices that defined his people. Missionaries imposed their own beliefs, and efforts at forced assimilation took a national toll. Even though he descends from a line of chiefs, he says, he, too, was robbed of the knowledge passed on by his ancestors. As a child, he didn't attend ceremonies, hear the drums or the ancient songs.As we drive along a nearby road, he points to where the local residential, or boarding, school once stood. Young First Nations children often were plucked from their families and their traditions. They faced punishment if they dared to speak their language. And accounts of sexual and physical abuse ran rampant.Residential schools like this one dotted the Canadian landscape, starting in the 1930s. They were funded by the government and run by churches. The last one closed in the mid-1990s. "The intent was to get rid of the Indian," Courchene explains. "To educate the Indian to think and be like the colonizer themselves." His father was feared by the churches, Courchene says, and managed to keep him out of the residential school. But Courchene grew up haunted by the stories others shared and wasn't immune to attempts at assimilation at the government-run day school he attended. He also experienced discrimination firsthand. He couldn't sit with the white kids in the local movie theater. If he was standing in line in a store and a white person showed up, he had to step aside. In hospitals, his people were relegated to a separate section.All this stoked a fury that simmered inside him, one that began to bubble up in the politicized environment of the 1970s, he says, when indigenous people began to find their voices. He had the foresight to turn to a grandmother -- the term used for elders who are women. She saw right through him."I'll never forget what she said to me," he says. "You have a lot of anger in you, and that is not the way to live. With anger, you will darken your heart, and you will poison your blood. We want you to have a free spirit, but that spirit has to be grounded with values that make you a good human being. So we will begin by taking you to the beginning."He was in his early 20s when he took his first step into a sweat lodge. "This was the beginning of my journey," Courchene says. "It was the beginning of knowing who I was."Grandmothers Florence Paynter, left, and Mary Maytwayashing offer prayers and song during a water ceremony.In the years that followed he would learn from countless elders, participate in a multitude of ceremonies and spend days at a time on vision quests, during which he'd fast and hope to discover his purpose. On one quest 35 years ago, he received the vision that became his life's work: to share ancient indigenous teachings.In 2002, with the help of donations and the sweat of volunteers, he built the Turtle Lodge, a rustic and secluded educational center. It sits on the Sagkeeng First Nation reserve, about a 90-mile drive from Winnipeg, in a region that's been home to the Anishinaabe people for longer than can be measured.Shaped like a turtle, the symbol of truth for First Nations people, the center smells of pine. Hand drums hang on poles, and sacred eagle feathers dangle from rafters. Symbolic artwork decorates the circular walls.Here, people young and old, indigenous and otherwise, from places near and far, have benefited from knowledge keepers. Anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 people pass through each year to attend ceremonies and learn from elders. They come to soak in teachings at no cost. It's the sort of safe space Courchene wished was available when he was growing up.Today, in the Anishinaabe language, he's known as Nii Gaani Aki Inini (Leading Earth Man). He has shared stages with the likes of the Dalai Lama, addressed the United Nations and spoken at international summits. He's traveled the globe leading ceremonies and sharing his people's wisdom.Lessons from ancestorsA totem pole stands at the entrance of the Turtle Lodge property. It was a gift from the Lummi Nation, a Native American tribe in Washington state. It arrived earlier this year after traveling across North America -- Turtle Island to native peoples -- to receive their stories. It even stopped at Standing Rock, the reservation where protesters (who call themselves "water protectors") have gathered to try to block the Dakota Access Pipeline. On a recent Friday morning, several hundred visitors stream past the totem pole and into the Turtle Lodge for a free one-day gathering hosted by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. The topic is climate change. Parked cars are scattered across the frozen muddy grounds, between the totem pole and portable toilets (there are no bathrooms inside). Tomorrow, when the visitors are gone, Courchene will head to a nearby health center to lead me and others in the sweat ceremony. But for now, he's preparing for this larger gathering. Guests gather at the sacred fire during a break at the Turtle Lodge gathering.Those who arrive have answered invitations, coming from cities as close as Winnipeg and as far as Ottawa, Canada's capital more than 2,000 miles away. They are judges and politicians in suits, and academics and environmental activists in jeans. They serve on energy boards, represent nonprofits and work for an oil pipeline company. They are students of all ages and persuasions, and they take their seats in peace and prayer. Young men from local First Nations communities sit in a circle, singing and beating on drums. They're bringing the session to order and, they trust, lifting its message to the universe. The crowd stands from their folding chairs in reverence as elders light their pipes to invoke the presence of ancestors. A sacred fire burns outside the lodge, providing a doorway to the spirits. Songs during a water ceremony honor that which is sacred and is life.Courchene and the others impart lessons from their ancestors, wisdom to help lead balanced lives and honor the land. Around them -- in sculptures, on drums or in artwork -- are reminders of the seven sacred laws or teachings, animals that represent what they hold most important. Among them are the turtle signifying truth, the buffalo for respect, an eagle for love, a bear for courage. The goal, according to the elders, isn't to impose beliefs on anyone but to be heard for what they have to offer. For too long their teachings were silenced, and here -- standing in their place of strength and not in the halls of a government building -- they can say their piece and speak up on behalf of Mother Earth."As the mother of life, Mother Earth gives birth, and gives us everything we need to live -- the food, the water, the medicines, the clothing, the shelter, and most of all, the love, kindness and teachings that a mother gives to her child," Courchene tells the gathering.He's reading from "The Great Binding Law," a statement of responsibility penned by Manitoba elders last year. It resulted from concerns about climate change, talks about an oil pipeline coming through the territory and other environmental issues. It also came in response to political leaders who sought their counsel. Today it is printed on scrolls and distributed, a gift to everyone in the room. "We are all in this together," Courchene continues. "Today we call on all nations of the world to join us in the spirit of our original instructions to care for Mother Earth together, and find true peace." Helping to manage today's gathering is Dr. Sabina Ijaz, 43, a family physician who offers volunteer administrative help at the Turtle Lodge. She grew up in Toronto and moved to the area in 2002 so she could be closer to the sort of teachings that saved her life more than 20 years ago.Dr. Sabina Ijaz shares a quote from the elders: "When you put good things in your circle, good returns to you multiplied."She'd just finished her first year of undergraduate studies in Hamilton, Ontario, when a car wreck nearly robbed her of her dreams. She was a back-seat passenger, on her way to a wedding, when the vehicle rolled nine times down an embankment east of Toronto. Rescue workers had to use the Jaws of Life to extract her. Ijaz was left with a brain injury. She suffered from seizures, had difficulty concentrating and trouble with her memory. She returned to school and tried her best to keep up, but she couldn't -- and dropped out. A friend who was in medical school was heading to a nearby reserve to take part in a workshop led by a traditional healer. Ijaz was intrigued and asked to come along. She grew enamored with what she saw and kept returning to learn more.She'd been raised by a Catholic mother and a Muslim father, and though she'd found meaning in both traditions as a child, she'd since put faith aside. The indigenous healer brought her back. "She said to me, 'It doesn't matter how you pray. There's only one Creator. He has many names and there are many ways to reach the Creator. The most important way to reach him is through your own heart.'" Ijaz began to pray again, and the depression that had weighed her down since the accident finally lifted. Then came the sweat lodge ceremony that changed everything.Two female healers in the sweat lodge worked on her, pouring sacred water on their hands and touching her head in the areas where she was having trouble. They prayed for her. They said the hot rocks represented grandfathers, and that their spirits had arrived to make her well. Afterward, she stood at the sacred fire outside and sprinkled tobacco into the flames, offering a prayer of gratitude to the Creator. Suddenly she could feel the wind blowing from the west. It rushed by and through her and, she says, took with it all that had ailed her."Standing outside the sweat lodge, my thoughts were like the wind," she recalls. "They were completely free."When she saw her doctors later, she says, scans showed that the areas of her brain that had been injured were healed. She returned to school and got straight As. For a year afterward, she'd wake up each morning at 4 a.m. and weep because she was so happy to have her life back. She went on to study medicine but never let go of what she'd experienced. Ijaz saw in the indigenous people a "highly evolved relationship with the natural world and the spiritual world," a connection with the sacredness of life that they've maintained, in spite of all their suffering. Elder Wally Swain brings ancient wisdom to the gathering about climate change.The part that was missingThat connection, however, is one that needs to be restored, especially for young indigenous people, Courchene and other elders say.Too many of their young people are city bound, walking on concrete instead of land. They are surrounded by violence, drugs and alcohol, not nature and animals. They spend more time looking at technology than they do the stars and the moon. They listen to loud music but not the wind. The struggles they face, including suicide rates that are five to seven times higher than nonindigenous Canadian youth, are seen as lasting repercussions from the residential schools, or what Courchene calls "one of the darkest periods in our history." Many First Nations people were robbed of their identities, which left them lost and caused intergenerational suffering. They didn't know how to love children, he says, because they hadn't been shown love themselves.The Turtle Lodge offers a place for young people to glean the wisdom of their ancestors and reclaim what rightfully belongs to them. It's a mission that speaks to Erica Daniels, a Cree whose family originated from the Peguis First Nation. She was born, raised and still lives in Winnipeg but makes frequent trips to the Turtle Lodge. The 25-year-old filmmaker is the force behind a youth cultural program called Mikinack Gi Na Ma Kawin, or Turtle Teachings, which provides an entrée for young people to connect with elders and stake a claim to their identities. "I grew up very disconnected from the culture, and I always felt like a big part of me was missing," she says. "It really affected me in my everyday life not knowing where I came from."She saw the poverty of indigenous people around her, the struggles with addiction, the rates of incarceration and suicide. She let the stereotypes of her people and their problems influence how she felt about herself. She was ashamed.But when she began to learn about her rich culture, she felt love and an enormous sense of pride. It was a revelation she needed to share. Through her cultural outreach program, started in 2012, she's arranged meetings with elders, picked medicinal plants with participants and taken them to a variety of ceremonies, including sweats -- "anything we can be a part of so we feel a connection to elders and these sacred lodges." So far more than 50 indigenous youth have come through Daniels' program. They only show up when they're ready, she says, and for that reason the door is always open. Erica Daniels knows from experience the power of reclaiming one's identity. Two young men who walked through that door join us in the sweat lodge ceremony. They each have stories of running with gangs, trying to find a sense of belonging. Now, instead, they share excitement about going on their first vision quest, maybe next summer. The sweat ceremony consists of four rounds, marked by four songs. In the first we offer prayers for all of humanity, the second for our respective races of people, the third for our families and the fourth for ourselves. Between rounds, Courchene shares pieces of wisdom. After the second round, he announces that the spirits came to offer one of the young men -- Donavan Sutherland, 16 -- a spiritual name. It's his first and one he's been waiting for. He is Pagamashi Kinew, or The Eagle Comes Flying Towards You.After the ceremony, Donavan gets in Daniels' car and heads back to the Turtle Lodge. As the car pulls onto the property, he spots a bird in a nearby tree. It's a bald eagle. Just as Donavan steps out of the car, the eagle flies toward him and swoops past -- leaving him, and those he's with, both awestruck and moved. "When do you ever see eagles?" the city boy says, still excited about an hour later. "There's a part of me I didn't know before." Finding that part of himself, with the help of an ancient sacred ceremony, is exactly what his ancestors would have wanted.

Moni Basu, CNN Photos by Lexey Swall for CNN

2015-11-16 12:48:34

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https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/16/us/campus-rape-survivor-faces-ghosts/index.html

Can a survivor find solace in return to scene of rape? - CNN

A woman who survived a brutal gang rape at Florida State University returns to campus nearly three decades later to make peace with the past.

rape, sexual assault, crime, colleges, students, campus, women, fraternities, athletes, universities, us, Can a survivor find solace in return to scene of rape? - CNN

Ghosts of rape past: Can a survivor find solace in return to the crime scene?

Tallahassee, Florida (CNN)On game day, 70,000 football fans pack Doak Campbell Stadium to watch Florida State roar to victory. I wait for the post-party quiet of the following morning to wander through campus with Maria, knowing that a return to this place could be risky.At the main entrance to the university, we run into two high school students from Tampa posing for a photo in garnet and gold Seminole jerseys. They want to enroll at FSU one day soon, they say, their cherubic faces lighting up. How this story was reportedThis narrative of a gang rape on the campus of Florida State University in 1988 was pieced together through hundreds of pages of documents and more than a dozen interviews.CNN reporter Moni Basu contacted the survivor of the rape through her former attorney, Dean LeBoeuf. Then Basu began a series of conversations with her that culminated in the survivor's return to the FSU campus in Tallahassee for the first time since the attack 27 years ago. Basu interviewed the district attorney who oversaw the case and an assistant district attorney who prosecuted it; the attorney for defendant Daniel Oltarsh, a Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity member who served time for the rape; FSU professors; the lead police investigator; and the victim's counselor. Basu requested an interview with Oltarsh but his lawyer did not respond to follow-up calls. She also reached out to a fraternity brother who cooperated with the police in exchange for immunity and to two other fraternity members who were indicted. The attempts to reach them were not successful.Basu also examined hundreds of pages of case files at the Leon County Courthouse in Tallahassee, including the grand jury report and the rape survivor's deposition, as well as archival material at FSU's Strozier Library.Maria was that way once: young and brimming with hope, excited to start the adult chapter of her life at a prominent state university bustling with students from all over the globe. In the fall of 1987, her mother dropped her off in this very spot, in front of the administrative offices housed in Westcott Building. But college turned out to be a dark adventure.Before she could finish her second semester, Maria was gang-raped on campus. Her assault made national headlines partly because the details read like sleazy fiction and partly because it involved one of the most prestigious fraternities on a football powerhouse campus. Read MoreIt was a case I became intimately aware of as a journalist in Tallahassee at the time and one that I sympathized with as a former FSU student and campus rape survivor.I expect the return to FSU to be a difficult journey -- for both Maria and me. It is the first trip back to campus for us since our departures from Tallahassee. In the years since, many things have changed at America's institutions of higher learning. Sadly, some have not. Rape on college campuses was a serious problem then and remains one now. One in five college women said they were sexually assaulted, according to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll released last June.It's a problem highlighted in the film "The Hunting Ground," which aired on CNN on November 22. The film delves into a connection between alcohol and sexual assault and explores a campus culture that protects perpetrators.It also focuses on the stories of survivors who became activists and took the issue all the way to the White House and prompted a federal investigation of the handling of sexual violence complaints on campuses.As the film demonstrates, the Internet and social media made it possible for rape survivors to connect with one another and find a modicum of comfort. Even power. When Maria and I were in college, that was not the case. We felt, and were, very much alone.We both chose to keep silent about what happened, except in Maria's case, the crime was so heinous that despite her unwillingness, the state pursued charges against her rapists.Maria felt a thousand eyes on her. She bore the brunt of unkind comments. She came back to her dorm room one day to find this message on the white board on her door: Whore. She withdrew, rarely spoke about the incident and even tried to kill herself. She survived through the years, but only barely. A couple of months ago, Maria and I watched "The Hunting Ground" together.We sat at a desktop computer in a sterile hotel lobby, sharing a pair of earbuds. I used the left one and she, the right. It was the first time I'd met Maria in person, though I had spoken with her once on the phone a few weeks after her rape.Amid Spanish moss-draped oaks on FSU's campus, Maria took stock of her painful history as a young student on this campusShe watched the movie intently. I could see tears gathering behind her glasses and her hands trembling. A few weeks later, she agreed to go back with me to the scene of her attack. After 27 years, she was ready, she said, to come to terms with the incident that altered her life's trajectory.I understood all too well the significance of her decision. I, too, had only recently gone public about my rape after a reporting trip to my native India to find a woman named Mathura, a rape survivor who was at the heart of a groundbreaking case. I regretted that the newspaper stories I edited about Maria's rape had never given her voice. Throughout her ordeal and the months of court proceedings, she chose to remain anonymous. She was never named publicly and granted only a handful of interviews. The court records were sealed to protect her identity.She agreed to speak with me on the condition that CNN not reveal her real name. She wanted to share her ordeal with other young women who have suffered rape or might be assaulted before they graduate. "Maybe my story can help them in some way," she said.On this Sunday morning in October, a warm sun illuminates her golden hair as we meander down asphalt paths that connect FSU's signature red brick buildings. I respect the courage it takes for her to stand with me on campus. A little after 9, her smartphone lights up with a text from her boyfriend: "You've got this. I love you."Maria sighs. She came here, she tells me, to face the ghosts that haunt her. She wants to take her 18-year-old self by the hand, lead her through the places that were dark and let her know: "It's going to be alright. You are safe."A slideshow of chilling imagesFrom the main entrance of the university, we walk to a campus hangout where both Maria and I spent hours studying, the Sweet Shop. We take a break on Landis Green, the Central Park of FSU. Maria sits on a bench before live oaks laden with lacy Spanish moss that falls from the branches like tears. She hides her eyes behind Jackie O. sunglasses and takes slow drags of her Marlboro Menthol 100; I sense her anxiety as memories flood her mind.We decide to retrace the steps Maria took on a damp spring night in 1988, past the blocks that once housed a newspaper office where I worked and a JR market that sold Texas taters and $1.99 six-packs of Schaefer beer. We stand before an all-new Dorman Hall, tonier than the version where Maria lived. From her room, she could see a row of sorority houses that included Chi Omega, where a few years before Maria arrived at FSU serial killer Ted Bundy murdered two young women.We look the other way down Jefferson Street and recognize a motel-style apartment building with jalousie windows and air-conditioning units overworked even this far into autumn. We laugh that the ugliest building of all survived the bulldozers.Around the corner is the place where Maria went on her last night of normal. The Pi Kappa Alpha mansion with the stately white columns is no longer there, but Maria can picture it clearly in her mind. She points to the spot where she was tossed like a piece of trash, badly bruised and unconscious, just one drink away from death.There's no clear storyline in her mind -- there wasn't then and there isn't now. She sees a slideshow of chilling images, blurry and yet so vivid at times that she can feel it all again.Wine, a blue room, cold tiles, running water, flesh. And force. So much force.Maria liked to drink and dance at an after-hours bottle club called the Late Night Library. On the evening of March 4, 1988, she was there with her friend Sandra. It was Friday, and the indie bar was hopping. Maria arrived at FSU shy and introverted. Her mother was an alcoholic, and Maria had started drinking in her senior year at a girls-only Catholic high school in Louisiana. At FSU, she rebelled. She thought alcohol helped her feel more comfortable, and she developed a penchant for partying and a reputation for being promiscuous. She had already had many beers by the time she ran into Daniel Oltarsh, a political science and economics major she'd met at a pig roast several months before. Oltarsh was handsome in a bookish way with blond curly locks and trendy round glasses that framed his blue eyes. Most of all, he was a Pike. At the time, Maria could not bear to look at the headlines about her rape. But friends saved newspaper clips for her to see later.Many of the men of Pi Kappa Alpha were well-heeled sons of prominent fathers. They wore starched Oxford shirts, double-breasted blue blazers and Rolex watches. Around campus, many considered them the kings of FSU's Greek system, admired and reviled all at once.Maria felt honored that someone like Oltarsh would talk to her. So when he invited her to a party that night at the Pike mansion, she was beside herself. She walked back to her dorm, changed into a three-quarter sleeve sweater and black pencil skirt and poured herself a tumbler of tequila. She took the drink with her on the short walk to the fraternity house at 218 S. Wildwood Drive. Oltarsh was waiting for her on the columned porch. They went upstairs to his room. He managed to get a bottle of white wine and Maria drank more. It was past 3 in the morning."Where is the party?" Maria asked.There was none.The details of what happened next are culled from court files, including police interviews with Pi Kappa Alpha members and a grand jury report indicting 23-year-old Oltarsh and two other fraternity members: Byron Stewart, then 21, and Jason McPharlin, 18, who was visiting from Auburn University.A fourth fraternity brother was given immunity in exchange for his cooperation with the investigation. The documents include his version of what happened as well as a statement from McPharlin. Maria was so drunk she could barely stand up. She told police Oltarsh got "aggressive" with her in his room and forced her to have sex. He then took her to the shared bathroom. He let other frat brothers know there was a girl available for sex. It was called "pulling a train." Smoking helps calm Maria, who is recovering from years of post-traumatic stress, eating disorders and alcoholism. The fraternity brother who was given immunity told police that Oltarsh was fondling Maria in the shower and that he joined them there. He and Oltarsh took turns having sex with her in the shower. At some point, McPharlin went into the shower. He told prosecutors that he took his boxers off, got in the shower with Maria but did not have sexual intercourse with her. He got up and left after he saw Stewart, who he was not acquainted with at the time, come into the bathroom. Fraternity brothers who spoke to police said Stewart, a former high school football player from Orlando, could not get an erection and bragged about using a Colgate toothpaste tube to violate Maria. They called her obscene names and repeatedly told her she was in a house belonging to Sigma Chi, a rival fraternity. When they were done, they took her back to Oltarsh's room and dressed her. Oltarsh used a ballpoint pen to write the words "Hatchet Wound," crude slang for a woman's genitals, on Maria's right thigh. On the other, he scrawled the Greek letters of another fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. Oltarsh and McPharlin carried her by the arms and legs to the Theta Chi fraternity house next door and left her limp body in the hallway, according to the fraternity brother who cooperated with the police. They left her there with her legs spread, her skirt pulled up and her underwear down.They then walked to the convenience store, the one that sold Texas taters, and Oltarsh used a pay phone to call the FSU police. He returned to his room on the third floor of the Pike house and watched from a window along with his accomplices as police officers and paramedics arrived at 5:30 in the morning. An ambulance sped Maria to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Her blood alcohol level was recorded at .349, three times the legal limit in Florida and one 4-ounce drink away from alcohol concentration that could have proved fatal.She spent most of the day in the hospital and was interviewed by a FSU police officer. Her recollection of her assault was not complete -- at some point, she blacked out from the alcohol. Medical examinations determined she had been sexually violated by more than one person. She had scratches and abrasions on her body.Later that day, she returned to Dorman Hall and stood in the shower, wanting desperately for the hot water to wash everything away.She just wanted to forget it ever happened. Only 20% of campus victims from the ages of 18 to 24 report their assaults to their institutions or law enforcement agencies, according to the Department of Justice.Maria did not want to press charges but District Attorney Willie Meggs did. The grand jury concluded Maria was physically helpless and was unable to resist and on May 18, 1988, Oltarsh and Stewart were indicted on a sexual battery charge. Oltarsh and McPharlin were charged with culpable negligence and kidnapping in connection with moving Maria. In addition, Oltarsh faced charges related to writing on Maria's thighs and giving her alcohol as a minor. McPharlin was charged with possession of alcohol by a minor. The three maintained their innocence, saying that Maria was a willing participant.But Meggs felt Pi Kappa Alpha was covering up a crime.The indictments were largely based on the testimony of the fraternity brother who was given immunity and not charged in exchange. It was believed to be the first time members of a fraternity on a major university campus faced prosecution in a gang rape. Meggs understood the concept of fraternal loyalty from his service in the Marine Corps and years spent pounding Tallahassee pavements in his first beat as a cop. But he despised how the Pikes closed ranks around their own and had to be subpoenaed to answer questions.Maria crossed this intersection on the south side of campus on her way to the Pi Kappa Alpha house in 1988. She thought she would be attending a party. She was wrong.Even after all these years, Meggs gets emotional talking about Maria's case. "Their conduct was so egregious," he tells me. "It was unconscionable.""I was really disappointed that there wasn't one red-blooded American in this fraternity who said: 'Stop it.' That not one young man asked: 'What if that was my sister?' "It didn't matter to Meggs, his assistant state attorneys who argued the case or the investigating police officers that Maria drank too much. Or that she was known as a party girl. She was not conscious enough to have consented that night. Even "a prostitute can be raped," he says, if the sex act is not consensual. And in Maria's case, he says, she "was in such a state that she could not say 'no.'"The state built its felony case against Oltarsh, who it determined was the instigator and ring leader. Photographs show the 23-year-old college junior appearing in court wearing jail garb and a smug smile. As the legal proceedings began, deep divisions surfaced on campus. I was editor of an independent newspaper called the Florida Flambeau that broke the news of Maria's rape and covered every turn of the story. I understood her need for privacy but was bothered that we never heard her version of events. Letters to the editor attacked Maria as a liar, or someone who deserved what she got. Some called her unpatriotic for smearing the reputations of FSU's upstanding young men.Maria couldn't bear to watch television or read the newspapers. The women in her dorm stopped talking to her. She was afraid to walk out the door. She couldn't wait until semester's end when she could return home to Louisiana to spend the summer with her grandmother. Maria found her hearty laugh as comforting as a good pot roast. Sometimes, her grandmother picked a gardenia from her garden and put it in a glass of water in Maria's room so she would wake up to the sweet smell. She was the only person in her family to whom Maria confided what had happened.In the fall of 1988, Maria returned to FSU. She had a nose job, dyed her hair and exchanged her black clothes for pastels so she wouldn't be instantly recognizable. She thought she could sit in her classes again as a sophomore. She thought she could reinvent herself. But when she came across the word "whore" scrawled on her memo board, everything went dark again. She popped over-the-counter sleeping pills, one after another. Luckily, she vomited them before they could kill her.Her parents arrived from Louisiana, packed up her belongings and took her home. She quit FSU and ended up in a halfway house in Texas, battling post-traumatic stress, depression, alcoholism and eating disorders -- typical of many college rape survivors. The rape set Maria on a downward spiral of shame, self-loathing, fear, anger. And more shame. In May 1990 Oltarsh's lawyer, Craig Stella, served her a subpoena to return to Tallahassee for a deposition before a widely publicized trial.Tallahassee attorney Dean LeBoeuf sought to protect Maria during the legal proceedings. The case was groundbreaking, he says; a judge ruled defense lawyers could not interrogate Maria about her sexual history."It was a very hostile environment," recalls Stella. "I had been practicing law for a while and it was one of the most difficult cases I had to defend. It was war."She sat in Room 314-E at the Leon County Courthouse, clutched a cushion to her chest and answered difficult questions. But prosecutors succeeded in persuading the judge to apply Florida's rape shield law, then fairly new, to her deposition. The judge ruled defense lawyers could not use Maria's sexual history against her.Attorney Dean LeBoeuf, who represented Maria throughout her ordeal, says as far as he knows, it was the first time the rape shield law was utilized in pre-trial testimony.Pi Kappa Alpha brothers in blue blazers packed the courtroom for Oltarsh's trial. On the other side of the aisle sat a group of women who had decided they would appear there every day to support Maria. They were professors, students and women who worked in rape crisis centers; they wore little red ribbons to show solidarity. Many had written letters to Maria on the eve of her deposition. Patricia Martin, a professor of social work at FSU, was one of them."We are here for you," Martin wrote. "I admire you -- only a person with strength and courage could hang in there, like you have done and are doing."The women's letters were Maria's "lifeline" and became rare treasures from that era. They were the closest thing she received to the kinds of messages of support women and girls can get these days when social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat are used for the good.Maria's therapist, who spoke to me with Maria's permission, feels certain that Maria would not have felt as ostracized had her rape happened today."We have advanced tremendously in the last 30 years," says Dr. Tina Goodin. "A lot of what was in the closet then is out today. And social media, when it is used well, changes things a lot. We see a sense of compassion and women asserting themselves."What rape survivors want, says Goodin, is to be validated in their experience; to know that what happened to them did not occur because they are crazy. In Maria's case, the only comfort came from those letters she received from Martin and others."I knew she did not have any support," Martin says. "Her so-called friends were siding with the boys."Martin is now retired but remains a researcher on campus rape. She published a widely-cited paper in 1989 on fraternities and sexual assault based on Maria's case. "I thought I was aware but I was so shocked by this case," Martin says. "It was so unsavory -- every last bit of it."Campus safety had become a hot topic in the 1980s, but Martin says attention to the problem waned in the 1990s. "Maybe we thought things were fixed."They aren't. "Alcohol, fraternities, an adoration for athletes," she says, "are all important factors."In the end, Maria was spared the experience of having to look Oltarsh in the eye. Facing a life prison sentence, he accepted an 11th-hour plea deal. McPharlin pleaded no contest, had the charges reduced and was placed on probation for a year. Stewart got five years probation on his no-contest plea to sexual battery. Both were spared felony records. Oltarsh received a tougher sentence of 364 days in jail and 20 years of probation. After his release, Oltarsh violated the terms of his probation by possessing a firearm and failing to tell his probation officer of a change in employment. He was found guilty of sexual battery against Maria and resentenced in August 1992 to eight years in jail. He was released in September 1995.After his initial sentencing, Oltarsh told reporters that he was convinced he would have been acquitted had all the evidence been laid out in court. He has never spoken publicly about Maria. Nor did he respond to a recent request for an interview made through Stella, his lawyer. Stella says his client took the plea deal unwillingly; Oltarsh does not believe he did anything wrong.District Attorney Willie Meggs pulled out boxes of files from the case against Daniel Oltarsh, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity member who faced life in prison in Maria's rape case. "I was charged with defending a young man who very much wanted to put this behind him (and not) risk spending 20 years of his life in a penitentiary," Stella says. "I do believe the facts of the case warranted a not guilty verdict. I thought that then and I believe that now."Was it incredibly poor taste?" Stella asks. "Yes, but not necessarily criminal." Oltarsh's probationary period ended this year. He lives in Fort Lauderdale and can be found on the Florida sex offender registry.'I felt robbed'Maria had never seen her deposition until I took her to the Leon County Courthouse to meet with Meggs. I'd caught up with him a few days earlier in his fourth-floor office, surrounded by boxes of files he had pulled for us from a documents warehouse. He told me he liked to reconnect with crime victims in cases he prosecuted. "I'm proud of you," he tells Maria. "You didn't want to go forward but we felt like we had to do this. I think you helped a lot of people in the long run. You were courageous."It is only in the last decade, after three failed marriages and the deaths of her mother and sister -- both alcohol related -- that Maria has begun to heal. She returned to college in Texas and in 2002 completed a master's degree in psychology."I went back to school because I felt robbed. Robbed of my education, robbed of my typical student life, robbed of my aspirations, robbed of success," she says. "Those guys took all that away from me. I showed them wrong."FSU took the significant step of suspending Pi Kappa Alpha as the investigation unfolded. The fraternity was banned from campus until its reinstatement in 2000. The Pikes own a new house about a mile east of their previous location. Last year, the fraternity was suspended again during another sexual battery investigation but the members were cleared.Maria knows she will never get an apology -- from her attackers or others who revictimized her with their actions. But she can get off the rollercoaster ride of recovery and relapses that has dominated her life. She has recovered from an anorexic weight of 91 pounds and has not touched alcohol in two years."For several years, I blocked it as though it happened to someone else just so I could move forward with my life," she says. "I was trying to make myself disappear."Her words resonate. They are the same words I heard on the other side of the world, when I arrived at a remote village in India to speak with Mathura, a woman who was raped as a teenager by two police officers. They are the same words I use to describe my actions after being raped by a classmate.At the courthouse, we obtain a copy of Maria's deposition and other case files. She gasps as she reads her own words all these years later.She tells me she is proud of 18-year-old Maria's fortitude.Maria walked through the FSU campus clutching an amethyst geode. She hoped to find a sense of peace after revisiting the scene of the crime.Rape is 'not the sum of me'For years, the old Pike house stood like an eye sore, boarded up and crumbling. For many, it was hard to drive by it without thinking about the rape.Maria and I stand on the street where the fraternity's mansion once soared. In its place are new dorms built to match the Old English style of most other buildings on campus and nestled amid trees. It's an idyllic setting, but Maria sees different images. They can't be unseen.Maria is 46 now and works as a manager in an agency that oversees programs for people with disabilities. She couldn't have stood again on this corner of the FSU campus any earlier in her life. She was not ready to face the past, she says, until now. She sees herself in all the young women who walk past us. It's a different world with smart phones and emergency blue lights every few feet. But in many ways, it feels the same."I feel nervous for them," she says. She acknowledges that in most of her life, she turned to alcohol to cope with conflict, to numb her pain. And that it has taken all this time for her to shed her shame and say out loud that what happened to her on this street was not her fault. "I didn't deserve it."We both feel drained after our day on campus. It's a good drained. "I bear the scars," she says, "but what happened to me here is not the sum of me."I look at Maria, her fingers wrapped around a Marlboro, and feel I have known her for a lifetime. I understand how the women in "The Hunting Ground" were able to connect in such profound ways. There is solace in shared experiences, I think to myself, even rape. It is as though I don't have to say my thoughts out loud.We climb into my Mini Cooper in silence and drive down Jefferson Street, away from campus. Maria, I know, is finally leaving FSU."The Hunting Ground" aired on CNN on Sunday, November 22, at 8 p.m. ET. The film was immediately followed by a special hosted by CNN's Alisyn Camerota. Subjects of the film and critics alike discussed the issues the documentary raised and controversy surrounding sexual abuse allegations on college campuses across America.On December 1, 2015, "The Hunting Ground" was shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. For a full list of shortlisted films please click this link. The documentary is currently available on VOD including iTunes.

Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor

2016-10-30 12:03:40

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/30/politics/clinton-faith-private/index.html

The public and private faith of Hillary Clinton - CNNPolitics

The conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton is reluctant to talk about religion, which is only half true. Her faith has both a public and a private face.

Hillary Clinton religion, Hillary Clinton faith, Hillary Clinton Methodist, politics, The public and private faith of Hillary Clinton - CNNPolitics

The public and private faith of Hillary Clinton

Editor's note: This is the second of two stories on the religious beliefs of the presidential nominees. Read about the faith of Donald Trump here. (CNN)At a Catholic charity event this month, Hillary Clinton, a onetime Sunday school teacher, made a small but telling theological slip-up. After trading jokes with her Republican rival, Donald Trump, at the Al Smith dinner in New York, Clinton got serious, praising her Catholic hosts and Pope Francis' fights against climate change and inequality. "I'm not Catholic. I'm a Methodist," Clinton said. "But one of the things that we share is the belief that in order to achieve salvation we need both faith and good works."That's only half-true. Neither the United Methodist Church nor the Catholic Church teach that believers can work their way into heaven. Good deeds are important, both churches agree, but God's grace is freely given -- and the only means of salvation. Clinton likely knows this. She's correctly stated the doctrine before, including at a church service in Washington last year. Read MoreMaybe her salvation stumble was the work of a sloppy speechwriter -- or perhaps, with apologies to Freud, it was a Pelagian slip. (Pelagius was a monk accused of teaching the heresy that humans could earn their own salvation.) Either way, Clinton's remark revealed a deep strain in her religious thought: There are no freeloaders in heaven. "She didn't believe it was how high you jumped for joy in church," said the Rev. Ed Matthews, Clinton's pastor when she lived in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the 1990s, "but what you did when you came down." The conventional Washington wisdom holds that Clinton is reluctant to talk about her faith, which is partly true. She doesn't often divulge details about her private piety, even while hinting that prayer and pastoral counseling have led her to consequential decisions, such as remaining with her husband, Bill, after the Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998. But during her three decades in politics, Clinton has been quite willing to talk about how her work has been inspired by her Methodist faith. She traces some of her political positions, particularly concerning children and the poor, directly to Christ's commandment to care for "the least of these." Speaking to an assembly of Methodist women in 2014, Clinton cited the Gospel story of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes to feed a hungry crowd. "He was teaching about the responsibility we all share, to step up and serve the community, especially to help those with the greatest need and the fewest resources," Clinton said. Since then, the Democratic nominee has adopted a Methodist mantra as her unofficial campaign slogan: "Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as you ever can." (The Clinton campaign did not respond to requests to interview the candidate.) Despite these public testimonies, less than 50% of Americans say Clinton is "very" or even "somewhat" religious, according to the Pew Research Center. A separate survey, by the Public Religion Research Institute, reveals stark religious and partisan divides in how Americans view the presidential nominees' faith. Nearly 80% of black Protestants, a traditional Democratic constituency, say Clinton has stronger religious beliefs than Trump; just 28% of white evangelicals, who lean heavily Republican, agree. Evangelicals' antipathy toward Clinton runs long and deep, said Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College in Illinois. Clinton's decades-long embrace of feminism and abortion rights clash with many conservative Christians' core beliefs. "Evangelicals see her as the personification of secular, progressive values, and that overshadows any of her self-identified religious practices."But many conservative Methodists, even those who disagree with Clinton politically, say her faith appears to be authentic. "Too often conservatives have been too dismissive of her religious beliefs, which are sincere," said Mark Tooley, a Methodist and president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a conservative think tank in Washington. "She was shaped by the church and is still committed to it, and you can't understand her political framework without understanding her Methodist background." The 'University of Life' Clinton's father, Hugh Rodham, wasn't a churchgoer, but he was a praying man. "I still remember my late father -- a gruff former Navy man -- on his knees praying by his bed every night," Clinton has said. "That made a big impression on me as a young girl, seeing him humble himself before God."If Clinton's father provided the model for private prayer, her mother demonstrated how to put that piety into public action. Dorothy Rodham was active at First United Methodist Church in Park Ridge, Illinois, a large congregation in a Chicago suburb. She taught Sunday school and regularly raised money for charity, inspiring her daughter's interest in social justice In 1961, when Clinton was a teenager, a youth pastor came blazing into Park Ridge behind the wheel of a red Chevy convertible. The Rev. Don Jones would inspire Clinton to see the world as her parish. Fresh from seminary after a stint in the Navy, Jones gathered the sheltered Methodist youth of Park Ridge and gave them crash courses in the "University of Life." He read them poems by e.e. cummings, introduced them to Christian intellectuals such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Paul Tillich, and asked them to interpret modernist paintings such as Picasso's "Guernica." "I think it's fair to say," Clinton said in 2009 while delivering a eulogy at Jones' funeral, "that next to my parents ... no adult had more influence on my life." His challenges were more than intellectual. Jones took his Christian charges into inner-city Chicago churches, where they mingled with black and Latino teens, creating connections with people they might not otherwise have met. Jones encouraged his youth group to babysit for the children of Latino migrant workers and to visit the elderly in nursing homes. Christians aren't supposed to sit quietly in church, hoping to get into heaven, Jones taught; they're supposed to build the kingdom of God on earth. That idea lies deep in the DNA of the Methodist movement, historians say. The early Methodists in 17th-century England earned their name because they were methodical and disciplined about their duties toward God and to their fellow man. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, preached that Christians should practice not only personal holiness but also a "social holiness." "Methodists have always had a strong sense of social purpose," said David Hempton, dean of Harvard Divinity School and an expert in early Methodist history. They advocated against slavery, corruption, public drinking, animal abuse, popular sports and ostentatious displays of wealth. They visited prisoners and the sick, educated children and gave their extra earnings to charity. Clinton has said that she spent a lot of time as a young person trying to "work out the balance between personal salvation and the social gospel."In 1962, Jones took Clinton and her youth group to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak in Chicago, where the civil rights leader delivered his famous sermon "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution." King's challenge struck Clinton like St. Paul on his horse. She left the room that night a changed person, she would later recall."His words, the power of his example, affected me deeply and added to the lessons of my minister to face the world as it is, not as we might want it to be," Clinton told a group of Baptists in September, "but to commit ourselves to turning it into what it should be."Bill Clinton credits King's speech with changing the trajectory of his wife's moral and political life. "It took my breath away when I realized 45 years ago that is really what motivates her," he said in Iowa this year. At the time, though, Clinton remained a "Goldwater girl," a rock-ribbed Republican like her father. At Wellesley College, she headed the college's Young Republicans Club. But a Methodist magazine, motive, flooded Clinton with progressive opinions -- rooted in liberal Christian theology -- on the Vietnam War and civil rights movement. "I wonder if it's possible to be a mental conservative and a heart liberal," she wrote in a letter to Jones, who'd become a lifelong mentor and confidant. By her senior year, Clinton appeared to have completed her political conversion to liberalism, writing her senior thesis on Saul Alinsky, the leftist community organizer. After college, Clinton says her Christian faith inspired her decision to do public service, rather than apply to white-shoe law firms. At the Children's Defense Fund, she says, she went undercover to expose systemic racism in the deep South and the plight of children with disabilities in New England. Around the same time, she met Bill Clinton at Yale Law School, and eventually followed him to Arkansas, where they married in 1975. Several years later, while raising their daughter, Chelsea, Hillary Clinton joined First United Methodist Church in Little Rock.While Bill attended a Baptist church down the road, Hillary became an active and "vital part" of the Methodist congregation, the local bishop later recalled. She volunteered to be the church's chancellor and taught adult Sunday school on the lawn of the Governor's Mansion. The Rev. Ed Matthews, former pastor of First United Methodist Church of Little Rock, recalls one of Clinton's lessons keenly. It was about forgiveness, and how it is not a human quality but rather a gift from God. When Clinton was first lady and facing her own crisis, Matthews said he went to the White House and reminded her of that lesson. The lion's den Soon after the Clintons arrived in Washington, they had dinner at the White House with a few pastors and their families, recalls the Rev. Tony Campolo. Hillary Clinton told the gathering that she reads Scripture daily, so the evangelical pastor asked what passages, in particular, interested her. "She said, the 'Book of Daniel,' which seemed strange to me," Campolo recalled recently. He asked her why. "She said because the Book of Daniel describes with care how political leaders handle situations under great pressure."In the Old Testament, the Book of Daniel is about a Jew exiled to Babylon, where he is tossed into the lion's den after his quick political ascent inspires jealousy. If the modern-day parallels aren't immediately obvious to others, they were evidently clear enough to the fresh-from-Arkansas Clintons. Clinton read more than Scripture while in the White House, according to friends and colleagues. She continued to subscribe to motive magazine, which is now out of print, as well as Christianity Today, the flagship magazine for evangelicals. She said she kept a copy of the Methodist "Book of Resolutions," the church's policy statements, in her private quarters of the White House, and regularly read books by Christian authors. She occasionally carried a small book filled with spiritual quotations and another of the Bible's Book of Psalms."She has always loved the Psalms," said Matthews, the Arkansas pastor. "I think she relates to their search for meaning, and how the psalmist can change moods, from lamenting how evil the world is, and how everyone is mistreating us, to showing gratitude to God for the beauty of the world." In Washington, the Clintons found a new church home on a snowy Sunday in January 1993. The family was feeling "stir crazy," Clinton recalls, so they trudged several blocks through the blizzard to Foundry United Methodist Church, where they surprised a pastor who had almost canceled services that morning. The Rev. J. Philip Wogaman, Foundry's former pastor, recalls the Clintons attending his church regularly for the next eight years, some 100 or so Sunday services in all. They sat three rows back on the right center aisle, he said, directly in his line of sight from the pulpit. Wogaman, a dignified man and Methodist scholar, said he tried not to preach politics overtly, though he thought carefully about the messages his sermons would send to the first family. He recalls only one overt political statement he made from the pulpit, asking Bill Clinton to carry the congregation's good wishes to the family of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Chelsea became a part of Foundry's youth group, as her mother had in Park Ridge, and Wogaman recalls the Clintons attending parents' meetings and helping to plan for mission trips to Appalachia. When a member of the congregation fell ill, the Clintons would call the hospital to check up on them, the pastor recalled. The first family walks outside Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington.At a service marking Foundry's 200th anniversary last year, Hillary Clinton said the church was a place where "we were, not 'the First Family' -- we were just our family." "This community -- because indeed that's what it is -- was a place where we could worship, study, contemplate, be of service, get some good pastoral advice, and step outside all the commotion of life in the White House and Washington. That was very, very precious to us."But as the pressures -- and the scandals -- mounted, the first lady also looked elsewhere for spiritual sustenance. Close friends say she keeps her own counsel. She is far more comfortable assuaging a friend's grief or regret than she is asking others for help. But in 1994, after her high-profile health-care reforms foundered and scandal swirled around the White House, the first family decided they needed help from outside Washington. They invited a number of New Age gurus and motivational speakers to Camp David in Maryland. One woman, Jean Houston, particularly intrigued Clinton. Houston describes herself as a "scholar, philosopher and researcher in Human Capacities." One of those capacities, apparently, was the ability to converse with the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt. In the Solarium of the White House, according to Washington journalist Bob Woodward, Houston encouraged Clinton to have brief "conversations" with Roosevelt and Gandhi, two revered figures for the first lady. Houston then asked Clinton to address Jesus, according to Woodward's account. That was too personal, Clinton said.Clinton was annoyed when the sessions -- media sensationalists called them "séances -- were revealed. Her friends and former colleagues say the incident was overblown; it was only an "imaginative exercise." "No doubt she admired Eleanor Roosevelt's courage and commitments, but to say that Hillary was having séances or communing with her is just crazy," said Melanne Verveer, Clinton's former chief of staff as first lady. The media reaction was reminiscent, Verveer said, of the brutal criticism of Clinton's "Politics of Meaning" speech in 1993. In the somewhat rambling address, Clinton did what she so rarely does in public: let her guard down and show her true feelings. Economic prosperity and political freedom aren't enough, Clinton said in the now-infamous speech. She encouraged Americans to dig deeper, to find the "core level meaning in our individual lives," to awaken from their "sleeping sickness of the soul." The press tore her apart. "Saint Hillary," The New York Times mocked. "Psychobabble," another newspaper said. Lissa Muscatine, Clinton's friend and former speechwriter, said the first lady felt blindsided and misunderstood. Her family had just taken Hugh Rodham, Clinton's father, off life support, a moment that stirred big questions in Clinton. "She was trying to be reflective and thoughtful in a personal way, and she got completely ridiculed. It was painful because she was really trying to say something. Her father was dying; if people are not allowed to be introspective in those moments, then we have no empathy whatsoever."Several months later, at a National Prayer Luncheon, Clinton said she was somewhat afraid to address religion again. "The last time I spoke in public about spirituality, around the time of my father's death, I was astonished to realize that there were many people for whom spirituality should be confined to events like this, and not brought out into the public arena." But whatever embarrassment Clinton felt, it would hardly compare with the public humiliation she would soon endure. Forgiveness At a White House prayer breakfast in 1998, President Bill Clinton apologized to the nation and to his family for conducting an affair with an intern, Monica Lewinsky. Couching his confession in Christian terms, the president said, "I don't think there's a fancy way to say that I have sinned."Hillary Clinton sat stoically through her husband's speech, recalled Matthews, the Arkansas pastor, who was sitting a few feet away. When the speech ended, he knelt beside her. "Are you all right, Hillary?" he asked. "I don't know what I'm going to do," Clinton whispered to him, Matthews said."Do you remember what you taught me about forgiveness and grace?" the pastor asked, reminding Clinton of her Sunday school lesson from years ago.Matthews says he doesn't even know if Clinton heard his question, she seemed so distraught and distracted. In her memoir "Living History," Clinton calls the Lewinsky scandal "the most devastating, shocking and hurtful experience of my life." "I would have to go deep inside myself and my faith to discover any remaining belief in our marriage," Clinton writes, "to find some path of understanding." During the scandal, three ministers, including Foundry's Wogaman and Campolo, the evangelical pastor, very publicly ministered to Bill Clinton. But Hillary took a more private tact."Where some people might go to a shrink, she goes to a minister," said a friend and former staffer of Clinton's. Clinton turned for counsel, as she often did, to her former youth pastor, Don Jones. Just as he had during the Park Ridge days, Jones pointed Clinton to classic liberal Christian theology, including a sermon by Paul Tillich that they had read together decades earlier. In "You Are Accepted," Clinton writes, Tillich teaches that "sin and grace exist in life in constant interplay; neither is possible without the other." The mystery -- and paradox -- of grace is that you cannot find it on your own; it finds you, often when you are most pained and restless. "Grace happens," Clinton wrote. Another spiritual classic offered lessons on forgiveness. Clinton says she first read "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Henri Nouwen, a Dutch Catholic priest, in 1994. Separately, two friends gave it to her, she writes in "Living History." The book became a "lifeline," she would later say. Nouwen, a well-known spiritual writer, analyzes Jesus' story about the prodigal son from several perspectives: the father who forgives his wayward son, the son who returns home after squandering his family fortune, and the dutiful other son who had remained home. Clinton has said the book's emphasis on the "daily discipline of gratitude" struck her with the force of epiphany. Even amid Washington's craziness and pitched partisan battles, she had much to be grateful for, said the former first lady. Nouwen was also eloquent on the theme of forgiveness: "Do I want to be not just the one who is being forgiven, but also the one who forgives; not just the one who is being welcomed home, but also the one who welcomes home ...?"Clinton has said she might not have made it through the Lewinsky scandal without her faith; Matthews said that without her faith she likely would not have forgiven her husband. "People say that it was because of money or power or political prestige, and maybe that was a part of it," the pastor said. "But it's her faith that makes her tick." DevotionsClinton is still a member of First United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Matthews says, but hasn't been back in years. Though she sometimes attends services at a Methodist church near her home in Chappaqua, New York, her duties as secretary of state and now the Democratic presidential nomination have kept her on the road, and away from regular Sunday worship.But the Rev. Bill Shillady, a Methodist minister in New York, said he has found a way to pastor to the peripatetic Clinton. Shillady met Clinton at a memorial for 9/11 victims in New York in 2002, when she was a senator. He invited her to his former church in Manhattan, and over time the families became close, sharing Easter breakfasts and meals at Christmastime. Shillady conducted Chelsea's wedding and a memorial service for Dorothy Rodham, Clinton's mother.Around Easter in 2015, Shillady offered to send Clinton daily email devotions, which he wakes early each morning to compose. The devotions, which arrive in Clinton's inbox by 5 a.m., include a snippet of Scripture, a brief commentary on the passage and a prayer. In recent months, Shillady has enlisted a team, including a group of young women pastors, to help write the devotions. (Burns Strider, Clinton's friend and faith adviser to her 2008 presidential campaign, also emails spiritual thoughts to the candidate.) Clinton has said she appreciates the efforts, especially during the pressure cooker of a presidential campaign. "It just gets me grounded," she told a town hall in February.Occasionally, Shillady says, Clinton will respond to the devotions. She particularly liked the introduction to "Lady Wisdom," a figure from the poetry in the Old Testament. In the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 8, wisdom is personified as a woman who raises her voice at the crossroads and before the gates to the city. In Eugene Peterson's colloquial translation of the Bible, Lady Wisdom stands at the busiest intersections, the "corner of First and Main.""So, my sister, use your wisdom that God has given you, to help others to know of God's grace, truth and light," Shillady wrote, "For if anyone is at the corner of First and Main, it is you."Loving thy enemiesThroughout her time in Washington, Clinton has surprised conservatives and her liberal allies by crossing the political aisle to participate in bipartisan prayer groups. As first lady, Clinton says, she became close to several members of The Fellowship, a secretive Christian network of Washington power brokers. While in Congress, she shocked some Republicans by joining the Senate Prayer Breakfast. On matters of Christian doctrine, Clinton shares core beliefs with conservatives. She has said she believes in the Holy Trinity, that Jesus' death atoned for human sins and that Christ's resurrection was a historical event. She prays regularly and is well-versed in Scripture, citing biblical passages accurately and with ease. And yet, many conservative Christians refuse to recognize Clinton as a fellow believer. Ben Carson has connected Clinton to Lucifer, and a new documentary asks whether she is "an illuminati or the anti-Christ."Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a historian at Calvin College in Michigan, said she was drawn to study Clinton's faith in part to understand why conservative Christians so vehemently deny it. "Among conservative Christians -- those who most care about bringing their faith to bear on politics -- there's such a long history of if not demonizing Hillary Clinton, then at the very least setting her against everything they hold dear." From the moment Clinton stepped on the political stage, she seemed to represent a rejection of conservative Christian values. She dismissed women who "stay home and bake cookies," insulting Christians who hold to "biblical" views of submissive women. She was shaped by a church that sees government as a partner -- sometimes to be criticized, but rarely feared as a threat to religious freedom. She participated in the anti-war movement and has affirmed liberal orthodoxies on abortion and other social issues. Last year, she said that "deep-seated" religious beliefs on abortion "have to be changed," a pledge that angered Christians who consider abortion the killing of innocent lives. Meanwhile, many conservative Christians have created their own subculture, said Du Mez, publishing anti-Clinton books, hosting anti-Clinton radio shows, writing anti-Clinton articles and consuming anti-Clinton TV reports. "They aren't often confronted with different ways to be Christian in America today. Thus, they assume Clinton must be lying about her faith. Or pandering," the historian said. Of course, Clinton is no mere figurehead. She has been a protagonist in some of the most protracted political scandals in recent history, from her husband's sexual infidelities to her own dissembling about the use of a private email server while secretary of state. According to surveys, many Americans do not think Clinton is trustworthy.Still, as Clinton has acknowledged, politics is a "rough and tumble" business, and it's hard to imagine any politician who hasn't found foes along the way. But at a Baptist convention in Kansas City, Missouri, Clinton said that she has been trying to follow Christ's commandment to love her enemies. It's a lesson she remembers well from teaching Sunday school in Arkansas, she said, but some days it's "really hard" to put the lesson into practice. It is just as hard, it seems, for Clinton's enemies to love her.

Jessica Ravitz, CNN

2016-02-26 17:24:16

health

health

https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/health/texas-abortion-access-desert/index.html

The abortion travel agent and other tales from Texas' new desert - CNN

The effects of a Texas law before the U.S. Supreme Court have already been felt: Clinics across the state have closed, leaving many women in an abortion desert.

health, The abortion travel agent and other tales from Texas' new desert - CNN

'I'm an abortion travel agent' and other tales from Texas' new desert

Story highlights2013 Texas law imposed new round of restrictions, forcing abortion clinics to closeSome women now must drive hundreds of miles to a clinic, prompting one group to provide abortion travel helpDoctors, activists tell of patients who sleep in laundromats or can barely afford bus fareAustin, Texas (CNN)Daytime turns to dusk as Natalie St. Clair's phone lights up with text messages. They come from clients across the vast Lone Star State. One needs a bus from Texarkana to Shreveport, Louisiana. Another traveling from Corpus Christi to San Antonio has to find a hotel room. A third must get to Fort Worth from a small town in the western part of the state. A fourth reaches out from Lubbock to say she missed her appointment in Dallas.To the stranger at a party who asks what she does, St. Clair keeps her answer vague: "Just feminist stuff." But the truth is blunt, bold and a sign of the times: "I'm an abortion travel agent." It's a job that emerged after Texas enacted House Bill 2 in 2013, imposing a new round of restrictions on abortion care and abortion providers. Two key parts of the law have been challenged all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which hears arguments in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt on Wednesday. It has been called the biggest abortion case to face the high court in more than two decades and could have far-reaching effects depending on how justices rule.Read MoreREAD: All eyes on Justice Kennedy as Supreme Court takes up abortion caseIn Texas, the effects of HB2 have already been felt. Unable or unwilling to meet new requirements, clinics across the state have shut their doors. Before HB2, the state had more than 40 abortion clinics; now there are 13, according to St. Clair's latest count. Among the new rules: Doctors must have hospital privileges, and clinics must function like outpatient surgery centers.In an enormous state that spans 270,000 square miles -- bigger than many countries -- some women are now living in an abortion desert. In Lubbock, for example, they have to travel nearly 300 miles to reach a provider. And the ripple effects don't stop there.JUST WATCHEDThe most important abortion case in decadesReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHThe most important abortion case in decades 01:27The farther a woman lives from a clinic, the more complicated it is to get there. Especially if she works more than one job, needs to secure child care or doesn't have a car or money for a hotel. Add to this the wait time to get an appointment, and another wait time after a legally required sonogram. In some clinics, it has taken as long as 23 days to get on the schedule since the passage of HB2, according to the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas.The longer the wait to get an abortion, the more expensive -- and potentially more complicated -- the procedure. What could have cost hundreds of dollars easily jumps into the thousands. And if a woman is more than 20 weeks pregnant, she has waited too long to get an abortion in Texas. Under HB2, it's illegal in most cases -- and she'll have to travel out of state. Enter Fund Texas Choice, where St. Clair, 23, works as the operations manager and is the organization's only full-time employee. While other funds have helped pay for abortions for decades, this one answers a different call necessitated by HB2. It's for anyone who doesn't have a vehicle or must drive two hours or more on their own to reach a clinic. Working out of an office in Austin, St. Clair often wires women gas money. (PayPal would be easier, but it requires a bank account, something many clients don't have.) In rural parts of Texas, just getting that wired money can require travel across multiple towns to reach a MoneyGram at Walmart. She books flights, taxis, bus tickets and hotel rooms. She regularly studies Greyhound routes and bookmarks airline schedules. Once she drove 3½ hours one-way to hand deliver last-minute financial help. She tells stories of women who offer to sleep in their cars. Hell will freeze over, she says, before she'll let that happen."By far these obstacles are greatest for low-income clients living in rural areas -- which are mostly populations of color," St. Clair says. And if they're not native English speakers, the hurdles are even higher. She talks about the people who have had to miss appointments because their babysitters flaked or their paychecks didn't clear, and then couldn't afford a later procedure. There was a woman who flew to Albuquerque, only to be blocked by protesters. By the time she got into the clinic, she'd missed her appointment and had to fly home. Another young woman stood on a rural West Texas road waiting for a Greyhound bus that never showed. St. Clair scrambled to find a way to get her to her appointment the next day. A taxi would have cost $500, so instead she paid one of the client's friends to do the driving. The two arrived at 3 a.m., five hours before the appointment, only to find out she was further along than expected and couldn't afford the procedure that was required. I heard similar stories from one of St. Clair's allies in this work.There was the woman with severe diabetes who knew it was unsafe for her to carry a baby. The first-generation American, the first in her family to go to college, who desperately wants kids someday -- but not now. The one whose abuser took off his condom and said, "Now you belong to me." St. Clair fields about 60 calls a month and manages about 20 abortion trips. While her focus is logistics, she's often a safe sounding board for clients. They thank her for not judging them. Some say they had no idea they could get pregnant. Others tell her about the men who hurt them. Then there are those who want to be reassured they're still Christian. Her hours are odd, usually at night, so she can be in touch with clients when they're off work. Most people like to text, in part so no one can hear their words. She works in a closed-down Whole Woman's Health clinic. Others who share the space are like-minded advocates: educators, counselors, spokeswomen. Down the hall from St. Clair, a reproductive rights policy wonk keeps a Kevlar vest on her bookshelf. It belonged to her late father, who was an abortion provider in South Texas. An FBI agent was assigned to him to monitor threats. The vest is her "talisman," she says, "a reminder of why I do what I do."The dangers in this work are real. Over the years and across the country, abortion providers have been killed and clinics bombed. One need only think back to November, when a shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic left three dead.Because of this reality, St. Clair's eyes open wide when -- at night -- someone shows up outside the building and incessantly rings the doorbell. The entrance is hidden, a dark hallway outside provides cover, and there's no telling what, if anything, might have been left outside the door.She reaches out to colleagues, who tell her to call the police immediately. She does. An hour and a half and four calls later, an officer shows up. On this night, she has a visitor and officer to escort her to her car. On all other nights, she walks out into the darkness alone, holding a phone to her ear. She keeps a friend on the line, just in case something happens. 'What do I do now?'Nearly 400 miles to the northwest, Angela Martinez stands in front of the place she once thought would employ her forever. She was the clinic director at the Planned Parenthood Women's Health Center in her hometown of Lubbock.Now empty and undergoing renovation for new tenants, the facility shut down in October 2013, a casualty of HB2."We became an example of the assault on clinics. I was devastated," she says of the closure, which left her depressed for months and led her to move back in with her parents. "I had this great job with amazing purpose, and it was gone."College students, addicts who don't believe they are fit to be mothers and women who already had children would pull into the parking lot. Martinez remembers them arriving in cabs, old jalopies and fancy SUVs — some even with McCain/Palin bumper stickers. Women who might rail against abortion in their social circles, she says, were happy to accept Planned Parenthood's services once they got pregnant.They would say things like, "I'm a good Christian or I don't believe in this, but my situation is different," Martinez says.She never judged. She says she was just glad her clinic could provide them a choice, and a safe legal option to do what they thought was best for themselves and their families.This overriding purpose drove her. Each week she'd pick up a doctor who flew in from out of town to perform procedures on Thursdays. He would arrive incognito, wearing a hat and sunglasses. He'd step into her car and fully recline his seat so no one could see him. Martinez could handle the anti-abortion activist who knocked on the door posing as a reporter and wrote down her license plate number. She dismissed the plea from one of her brothers that she get a license for a concealed handgun. She could tune out the screams: "Angela Martinez, you're killing babies!" When dozens of protesters gathered on the sidewalk and their shouts could be heard inside the clinic, she turned up a dinky radio to drown out the noise for patients -- and herself."My attitude was, 'I'm going to be fine.' I wanted my employees to be safe," she says. "And I'd rather have a protester yell at me than at a patient."She's now working on a graduate degree in social work at nearby Texas Tech University, but in many respects Martinez's heart remains in the past, and she still hopes she can one day return to her previous work.Also in the past, at times, is Dorothy Boyett.For two decades, every Thursday without fail, she stationed herself outside this Lubbock clinic. Starting at 6 a.m. and for the next eight hours -- rain or shine, snow, wind or heatwave -- she had a job to do.She says she quietly prayed and passed out Bible tracts and pamphlets about baby development. It was her ministry to offer another way. A London native, Boyett is sweet, genteel, her English accent charming. This born-again, 69-year-old grandmother of 15 sits at her kitchen table and says she still sometimes forgets on Wednesday nights that she has nowhere she has to be in the morning."We had worked for 20 years with that goal in mind," she says of the clinic's demise. "So when they did close, it was euphoric. And then you think, well, what do I do now?" It's not that she's not keeping busy. An orthopedic nurse, she still works at a hospital once a week. Between that, her grandchildren, her evangelism on Texas Tech's campus, her Tuesdays passing out fliers on a Lubbock street corner, there's plenty to do. But it's not the same as her mission outside that clinic, where she says she peacefully prayed for so many years.She didn't always play by the rules, though, and admits, "I've crossed the line from time to time" -- meaning, she says, the property line. She joined hands with Operation Rescue in Wichita, Kansas, where Dr. George Tiller -- later shot dead while in church -- was performing second trimester abortions. She helped block doors and says she's been arrested about a dozen times.From her large white Chevy van in her garage, she offers a brochure and hands over a tiny rubber baby, saying it represents what a baby looks like at 10 weeks in the womb. Leaning against the cargo van's inside wall: an oversized sign, featuring a gruesome image of an aborted fetus.A place next doorHalf of all pregnancies in the United States are unintentional, according to a report in the American Journal of Public Health. And of those unplanned pregnancies, four out of 10 end in abortion."Everyone knows someone who's had one, whether they know it or not," says Nan Little Kirkpatrick, the executive director of the Texas Equal Access Fund, which helps women pay for abortions. While there's no place in Lubbock to get an abortion these days, there are still plenty of places and groups dedicated to talking women out of abortions. The Nurturing Center, which advertises pregnancy support services and free sonograms, opened next to the now-shuttered abortion clinic by design. On top of ultrasounds, the center offers peer counseling, baby items, referrals to adoption agencies, limited financial assistance -- and lots and lots of warnings about abortions. "We believe in the sanctity of all life," explains Lawrence D'Souza, the 73-year-old executive director. "Cradle to grave and womb to tomb."His eyes tear up when he wonders how many scientists have died because they weren't allowed to be born. He reads aloud from a list of scenarios given to women who come to the clinic."It's the year 1955, a lady is pregnant with a baby out of wedlock, her family would disown her and so will her community. Should she abort?"He looks up, to make sure I'm listening, before he reads on: "You would have killed Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, and nobody would have an iPhone."The idea to open his center at this location came to him during a clinic protest years ago, after he saw abortion seekers mistakenly walk toward the entry of what was then a closed-down dental clinic. If D'Souza, then a steel company controller, set up shop in that old clinic and put up a sign in lights, there was no telling how many lives he could save.Sometimes, even though the abortion clinic has been closed for more than two years, women still show up at his center next door thinking they're at Planned Parenthood. "Women are choosing life maybe because they have no other option," says Elizabeth Trevino, the center's director of client services. She wears a purple T-shirt emblazoned with a cross and a reference to scripture. When she used to protest outside the clinic, she says she preferred to show love rather than scare off women. She passed out rosaries, baby booties and onesies. She beams after introducing two Texas Tech activists who are involved with the student-led organization Raiders Defending Life. For two years in a row, their school has been named the most politically active campus in the state at a Texas Right to Life student conference.Trevino describes the information she shares with women about the dangers of abortion. They're the very claims medical professionals dispute and include risks of severe psychological trauma. "I have yet to meet a woman who has not regretted her abortion," she says.That means Trevino hasn't met Anne, a Lubbock-area woman who was years beyond middle-of-the-night feedings when she found herself pregnant. A married professional in her late 40s and already the mother of three, including a teenager, this was a life twist she didn't see coming -- and didn't think was possible.The decision to have an abortion was easy for her and her husband. Never mind that they didn't want more kids, the thought of carrying a baby to term in her body, at this age, felt dangerous.She was lucky and had the resources to travel. Her husband was able to watch the kids. She could reschedule some meetings and didn't have to craft excuses for a boss or risk losing pay. She could afford to fly to Denver and not waste a day driving hundreds of miles. She was able to foot a hotel bill. The procedure the next morning took minutes and, she says, felt no different than a pap smear. But the $1,500 journey, which could have been a lunch-break appointment had Lubbock still had a clinic, felt at best ridiculous and at worst like a violation."It bothered me so much after I got back. This could have happened to someone else who doesn't have the means I have," says Anne, who asked that I not use her real name. "This is a real issue affecting real women, not just teenagers acting irresponsibly." A Texas educationHere in this abortion desert, though, it seems there's more than a lack of clinics. There's also a scarcity of knowledge -- the very kind needed to act responsibly. The Lubbock area is home to a number of colleges, including Lubbock Christian University, Wayland Baptist University and South Plains College. The largest, by far, is Texas Tech University, home of the Red Raiders.A group of Texas Tech undergrads, hailing from different parts of the state, tell me about the abstinence-only assemblies they were required to attend in public school and the pledges they felt pressured to sign at 13. "I signed because I wanted to fit in," says Catherine Ragsdale, 20, an officer in the school's Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance. "I didn't know what sex was." Another student, who learned she was pregnant over winter break, paints the picture of how Texas' anti-abortion culture colored her reaction. She didn't know who she could talk to at school and worried about being judged for scheduling an abortion (which she ended up canceling after she miscarried). One of her best friends had already dropped out of college to have her own baby. Everyone had tried to be happy: "Congrats!" they said. What would they now think of her?There was no mention of birth control in their Texas schools, or at least there wasn't supposed to be. One student sang the praises of a teacher who broke the law in seventh grade to tell students about safe sex. Health classes generally amounted to being bombarded with horrifying photos of STDs. It's no wonder, these young women say, that so many of their peers are clueless -- and that "Raider Rash," the school's signature sexually transmitted infection, is so widespread it has a name among students there. Faculty in the women's studies department offer additional commentary.Sara White teaches an introduction to women's studies course, which draws 40 students, equal parts men and women. When she asks students to list the forms of birth control they know about, she says, 9 out of 10 can only come up with abstinence and condoms. She talks about the young man who said he drank bleach believing it would keep him from impregnating a woman. One student who got pregnant wrote an email to White in a panic: "I didn't think his penis was big enough," as if size was linked to fertility. Other women have admitted douching with Mountain Dew to keep from conceiving. "They say it's something about carbonation," a student nearby explains. One young woman told her classmates to set a timer when having sex. She explained that guys only last seven minutes, so if you stop before then you're fine. "This method was flawed, though," White says. "The student had a child." White shows them what she calls "the birth control website." It's just the Planned Parenthood site, although she doesn't say the name out loud.In it for the long haulOutside a Dallas clinic, one of two in the city, the regular protesters assemble and scream. One protester arrives lugging a huge crucifix. Beside her are two small children.A clinic staffer rushing inside yells back with a broad smile, "I love my job! Free IUDs!"Since HB2 forced the closure of abortion clinics across Texas, this Dallas facility has nearly doubled in capacity. For a time, the waiting area was standing-room only. The wait for an appointment jumped from five days to about 20. The clinic had to acquire adjacent space, "a hemorrhoid center of all things," one physician says. The clinic sees about twice as many patients as before HB2; about 200 come through each week. Patients arrive from all over North Texas as well as Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.OBGYNs in private practice in Texas may perform abortions on occasion, but they certainly don't advertise this, says Heather Busby, the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. And if hospitals do elective abortions, they risk losing public and private funding. That makes clinics the overwhelming go-to place, which means women of all backgrounds, ages, races and socioeconomic status walk through these doors. Four physicians work here, some more days than others. Additional doctors are expected to pitch in soon. One doctor, who insists on not being identified, keeps what she does quiet for her and her family's protection. She doesn't touch social media and often wears sunglasses, even when there is no sun. When abortion providers in Texas meet with a new patient, they are legally required to read off a list of risks -- a list the doctor calls "ridiculous." Among the warnings: Abortion may cause breast cancer and infertility. The doctor says she explains to patients that while she has to say these things, science doesn't back up these statements. Yes, women who carry a baby to term are less likely to get breast cancer, but abortions do not cause breast cancer. And there's no evidence linking infertility to uncomplicated abortions, she says. Nearly 90% of abortions happen within the first term of pregnancy, when there's a less than 0.05% risk of major complications, according to the American Journal of Public Health. In fact, "the risk of death associated with abortion is about one-tenth that associated with childbirth," the Guttmacher Institute reports."It's really frustrating and tiresome to explain this to people over and over again," the doctor says. "They've already gone through so much to get here."She remembers the young college woman from Lubbock who took a bus for eight hours by herself to get here. She'd been afraid to visit a crisis pregnancy center in Lubbock like the Nurturing Center for fear she'd be judged and shamed for wanting an abortion. The doctor began the exam, only to find that the student had a growing ectopic, or tubal, pregnancy -- a condition that can be life threatening."It was extremely dangerous. It could have burst on her bus ride," the doctor says. "She literally could have died." She told the young woman that she would need to go to the hospital immediately and would likely need surgery. The patient, who was in Dallas all alone and scared, insisted that she needed to first go to the bus station to change her ticket, or else she'd lose her fare back to school. "My heart just sank," the doctor says. Another doctor, who also won't be named, walks in mocking what she's wearing. She's in a whole surgical getup -- scrubs, a gown, a bonnet, her booties had just been pulled off -- new requirements since the passage of HB2. The Texas abortion law says physicians must have hospital admitting privileges and clinics must meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers, or ASCs. This language may not sound like a big deal, but these are the matters that will be taken up in front of the nation's highest court on Wednesday. Texas abortion clinics like this one face new restrictions under a law being challenged at the Supreme Court. Hospitals that don't provide abortions themselves and are state-funded, faith-based or otherwise politically hogtied won't give admitting privileges to an abortion provider. Then there are the standards of ASCs -- which include building codes like specified door heights, room sizes and hallway widths to accommodate gurneys abortion clinics don't use -- which amount to construction costs most facilities can't swing.If the U.S. Supreme Court upholds this Texas law, more clinics may close, and not just in Texas. Some states already have similar laws in place; others are watching with their own versions poised and ready to drop. Another ASC standard is what has this doctor dressed as if she's about to perform heart surgery. All this for a procedure she usually completes in about five minutes. Not because she rushes, she says, but because she's good and the procedure is simple. This doctor flies in once a week from New Mexico to work in this Dallas clinic. She hates that she, too, hides who she is and what she does, but in today's climate she feels she has no choice. She also remembers a woman who'd traveled by bus from afar. She arrived amid heavy rains. A power outage had closed the clinic. Unable to afford a hotel room, the woman roamed the streets over the weekend and spent her nights in a round-the-clock laundromat. When the clinic finally reopened and she got in, she was required by Texas law to wait another 24 hours after her sonogram before having one of the doctor's five-minute abortions. The clinic got her a hotel room so she could at least clean up, sleep and stay warm. Both these doctors were trained in other fields -- one as a family physician, the other as an OBGYN -- before completing fellowships in family planning. For 43 years, since the passage of Roe v. Wade, women have been entitled to abortions under the law in this country. And no matter the challenges, these doctors insist they're in it for the long haul. There's still plenty of misinformation in their way, however.After the passage of HB2, callers to a fund that helps cover abortion costs proved this. They were confused and especially scared, the fund's director tells me. They wanted to know if they'd be arrested for getting an abortion. So the fund changed its outgoing voice mail message to remind women: "Abortion is still legal in Texas."

John Blake, CNN

2016-03-18 12:46:07

health

health

https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/18/health/obamacare-kid-transgender/index.html

Transgender teen: 'I'm not the Obamacare kid anymore' - CNN

In 2010, Marcelas Owens was photographed standing next to the President as he signed Obamacare into law. Now Marcelas is 17 and marking another rite of passage -- as a transgender teen.

health, Transgender teen: 'I'm not the Obamacare kid anymore' - CNN

'I'm not the Obamacare kid anymore'

Story highlightsSix years ago, 11-year-old Marcelas Owens was photographed standing next to the president as he signed Obamacare into lawNow Marcelas is 17 and marking another rite of passage -- as a transgender teen (CNN)Sometimes it's hard to be what you want to be when people only know you for what you used to be.This is the challenge facing Marcelas Owens, who just turned 17. For much of life, people have only known Marcelas as the "Obamacare kid."He was the chubby 11-year-old African-American boy who stood next to President Barack Obama as he signed Obamacare into law at a White House ceremony on March 23, 2010. He was the miniature health care activist in the black vest dwarfed by powerful lawmakers in a famous photo of that moment. He was a modern-day Peter Pan, perpetually frozen in childhood even as the news cycle moved on.But so has Marcelas. As supporters prepare to mark the sixth anniversary of Obamacare's signing, Marcelas is marking another rite of passage -- as a transgender teen. After years of questions, she is starting to tell family and friends what she has long known: Though born male, she's long identified as a female. "I'm going through a reinvention process," she says. "I'm growing into adulthood. I'm not the Obamacare kid anymore."Read MoreWill they still like me?Marcelas doesn't look like a kid anymore. The chipmunk cheeks are gone. So is the baby fat. And the voice is deepened. She's a teenager now. She listens to hip-hop artist Drake and Michael Jackson. Hangs out at the mall with friends. Even writes songs to express what she struggles to say to others in conversations.Each March, Marcelas goes through a ritual. She gets calls from the media to talk about her front row seat at a historic moment. She's proud of her role in Obamacare. And she understands why people would be curious about that kid in the White House picture."If I wasn't me, I would like to know, where did he go?" Marcelas says.She wonders, though, how people will react to her answer. Will they still like her now or do they prefer the kid in the photograph?Marcelas Owens keeps a reminder of the "old Marcelas" in her family's living room. President Obama signed the picture, "To Marcelas. You helped make history at an early age. Barack Obama. " She calls that kid the old Marcelas, understands the world saw her as a boy and is OK with using male pronouns for that period of her life."I like it that I can be called the Obamacare kid, but in some ways I wish I could look past the Obamacare kid and become Marcelas and people would have the same reaction to me that they had with the Obamacare kid."Marcelas lives in a townhome in Seattle with two younger sisters, Myanna, 12, and Monique, 13, and their grandmother, Gina Owens. On March 10, Marcelas celebrated her 17th birthday with her family by eating beef tacos with cheese and a birthday cake topped with white frosting.The first person she told about being transgender was her grandmother, who took over raising the three siblings after their mother, Tiffany, died at 27 from pulmonary hypertension. Transgender people identify with a gender different from the sex assigned on their birth certificate. Owens shared her reaction to Marcelas' announcement in a Facebook post last week. It was addressed to "My first born grandchild." Owens wrote:"On this day [March 10] you were born to the world as your mother's 1st child. You are 17 now, and have in so, so many ways, made your mom & me very proud. We both have watched you grow & become the person you are today."So today, on your 17th birthday; I tell you AND the world; My grandson is on a new journey in life... I am so happy that SHE has trusted our relationship enough where SHE felt more comfortable sharing with me first; BEFORE the rest of the world... I give my heart & blessing to HER. I LOVE YOU AND YOUR COURAGE IN LIFE, MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW. Walk your journey in love & light." Owens says, though, that it wasn't easy at first to hear the news from Marcelas."I didn't like the idea," she says. "For me he was born into the world as Marcelas Owens, the boy his mom created. That's how I wish he would stay. But I also told Marcelas that he's always had the ability to think through things himself. And he's always had the foresight to talk to me."Marcelas may have some difficult days ahead, but she's had them before. The world may only know Marcelas as the cute kid who stood next to Obama, but few know about the pain Marcelas had to endure to get there. 'You can't let anybody die like my mom did'The year is 2007. Marcelas is on the verge of tears. He is just 7. He is at a Seattle hospital with his grandmother and his sisters when he hears the news. His mother has died.Marcelas' grandmother reaches out and gives him a hug."It's time to go home, Marcelas," she says."We don't have a home anymore," Marcelas says, his eyes welling. "Momma's gone."Marcelas was too young to understand that his grandmother would now be his caretaker. His father was never part of his life, according to his grandmother."When my mother passed away, I really thought me and my sisters were going to have to live on our own. I thought I was going to have to start getting a job and start to pay bills," Marcelas says now.Marcelas' mother died because she didn't have health insurance, Owens says. She was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension in 2006. Her illness caused her to miss days at work, which led to her losing her job. She was denied Medicaid because she had earned too much money working the previous year.Marcelas Owens checks her makeup before attending school. Most of her classmates have been supportive, but some became angry when she told them about her transition.Marcelas' loss led to him becoming a child activist in one of the most vicious political fights in American history. He comes from a family of activists, though. His mother and grandmother were volunteers in the Washington Community Action Network, a Seattle group formed to fight for economic and social justice. Washington CAN!, as it's known, became involved in the fight for Obamacare.And so did Marcelas' family. He would attend Obamacare rallies staged by Washington CAN! with his mother and grandmother. After his mother died, he started sharing his hurt and anger at events. Organizers saw a natural spokesman, a vulnerable kid who could give a human face to an abstract political issue.Marcelas stepped into a new role. While other kids his age could barely mumble while speaking before a class, he was speaking to crowds of up to 6,000 people at rallies. At one rally in Seattle, he met U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from the state of Washington. Murray later told a Huffington Post reporter about that meeting."I went to that rally and, after I spoke, I turned around and there was this little boy looking right straight up at me with his big brown eyes," she said. "And he said to me, 'You can't let anybody die like my mom did.' "Marcelas made a powerful friend in Washington. And when the Affordable Care Act was passed, he was invited to the White House signing ceremony. He still talks about the experience with a sense of awe.It was a blur. The memories from that day are now just fragments: rushing to Nordstrom with his family to buy a vest and tie that he could wear to the ceremony; having a nightmare the night before that he might do something embarrassing; being struck by how small the White House looked from inside.He couldn't believe that a kid from Seattle was helping make history."The whole thing felt like a dream," Marcelas says. "It all went fast. I was doubting myself. How did I do this?"And then he saw Obama. The President was talking to some lawmakers when he saw Marcelas, stopped and walked over with an outstretched hand. Marcelas noticed that he just happened to be wearing the same color tie as Obama."Oh, you're Marcelas," Obama said, shaking his hand.Marcelas doesn't remember what he said in response, only what he felt."I was scared I was going to say something to embarrass myself."Then came the signing ceremony. All the lawmakers angling for a place in front of the cameras bolted in front of him; all Marcelas could see were their backs. Then he heard someone tell a grinning man to move and make way for the kid. It was Sen. Harry Reid from Nevada telling Vice President Joe Biden to make way for Marcelas.As Biden moved behind him, Marcelas says, the vice president told him to count the number of pens Obama used as they passed by. After Obama signed the bill, the President turned to Marcelas and said, "I'm proud of you."Then he gave Marcelas a parting gift."I got a high five and fist bump from Barack Obama," Marcelas says.When he returned home, he slowly realized that he had become a mini-celebrity. Someone in Africa sent his family a newspaper clip of Marcelas standing next to Obama. People would stop and stare at him in the streets of Seattle, then approach him to ask, "Excuse me, are you that Obamacare kid?" The photo he took with Obama became one of the most widely distributed images from the whole battle over Obamacare.There was one group, though, that wasn't impressed. When he returned to his elementary school in Seattle, his classmates shrugged at the pictures of him with Obama."They thought it was boring," Marcelas says. "They were like, 'So everybody meets the President.'"Another group gave him an even worse review. They said he was exploited by politicians and was too young to know what he was talking about. They were members of the conservative media. Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said that Marcelas' mother would have died anyway because Obamacare didn't kick in until 2014. And conservative columnist Michelle Malkin said Democrats used Marcelas as a "human kiddie shield." And then, of course, large swaths of the country had already mobilized to destroy Obamacare.Angry politicians said Obamacare would doom America; wide-eyed protesters at town hall meetings looked as if they were going to explode. When a reporter asked Marcelas about all the outrage over Obamacare and the criticism he was receiving, he shrugged.Marcelas Owens finds refuge in the music she listens to at home. She wants to be a surgeon one day, but she also dabbles in writing songs."I don't have any bad comments," he said at the time. "I just know my mom and grandmother told me that people are going to have their own opinions but that doesn't always make what they say right."Today, Marcelas says she wasn't a puppet manipulated by adults."I don't think I was too young,'' she says. "No kid should have to see their parents struggle without health care and not be able to get care just because they're sick and missing workdays."Another drama awaited Marcelas, but this time the struggle would take place within.Telling the one you love Even as just a boy, Marcelas had these questions: Why was he never interested in playing the games other boys played? Why did he like trying on his sister's clothes? Why did he feel he was born in the wrong body?He started searching for answers. He went online and learned about transgender people. When he was in the fifth grade, he chose to write a class paper on a transgender woman."She was saying that when she was little she always identified more with girls," Marcelas says of the woman. "I started realizing that I did the same."While gays and lesbians have moved to mainstream acceptance, transgender people are still often looked at with suspicion and are frequently victims of hate crimes. Former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner, author Janet Mock and actress Laverne Cox are making people more aware of transgender people, but transgender people of color have only recently become prominent in popular culture.Marcelas didn't know it at the time, but he was moving from being involved in one explosive political issue to another -- all before reaching adolescence.On the surface, though, Marcelas remained the Obamacare kid. He became an honor roll student, graduating from middle school magna cum laude with a 3.8 GPA. He got awards for being a community activist. He dutifully gave interviews each year when Obamacare's anniversary came around, once even wearing the same blue tie and vest he wore at the White House signing for a television interview.But in private, he continued to dress in his sisters' clothes, buy girl's clothes on the side and hurriedly wipe off the makeup on his face when his grandmother returned home. "I kept it to myself for a long time," she says now.Marcelas, though, outgrew the just-an-average-boy facade she had maintained, just as she outgrew the black suit she wore at the White House signing. At 16, she decided she wasn't going to wipe the makeup off her face anymore. She was going to tell the person she loved the most. It was an autumn evening near dark and her grandmother was downstairs watching television. Marcelas put on a black wig, a red-and-white striped skirt and pink lipstick.Then she walked downstairs and stood before her grandmother. Owens didn't bat an eye, Marcelas recalls."Grandma, if I wanted to be a girl, what would you tell me that I should do?"Owens thought Marcelas was joking at first. Then she realized her grandchild was serious. She told Marcelas that if she wanted her honest opinion, she preferred that she would stay a boy."But I would respect you if you decided to change and be somebody else," she said.She hugged Marcelas, who returned upstairs -- where her sisters gave her tips on wearing makeup the right way.Marcelas says she didn't wear a skirt and makeup to shock her grandmother. She just wanted to get it all out at once."I wanted to tell her how I felt but also show her how I felt."Her grandmother's acceptance came as a relief."Even though she preferred me as a boy she respected my choice to choose," Marcelas says. "That gave me a sort of blessing." How did Owens, though, do in a moment what some people struggle a lifetime to do -- accept someone they love as transgender?"I already had in my mind an inkling, so I really wasn't shocked," she says.Before she could ask others to accept her, Marcelas Owens had to learn how to accept herself. She sums up her attitude toward life now with one word: "fearless."When Marcelas turned 6, Owens asked him what he wanted for his birthday. He said a bouquet of flowers. And when she gave Marcelas the flowers, he paraded them before his friend as if it was a prize. When he was asked the same question for his birthday two years later, Marcelas asked for a pink dress shirt.Yet another reason Owens was so accepting was because of her own struggles. She had learned to accept what she could not control.She had lost her daughter, gone through a divorce, became disabled after a car accident and at one point became homeless when she lost a job. There is a steeliness about Owens. She talks in a calm, measured voice as if nothing can shake her anymore. On her Facebook page, she doesn't display her photo; she instead identifies herself with a graphic of a can with the caption, "WHUP ASS.""You learn how to be accepting of what comes next," she says, citing her struggles. "You learn how to see things with an open eye and an open ear and not be judgmental."'I can't let that stop me'Marcelas hopes others feel the same way. She is starting to find out.On March 9, the day before her 17th birthday, she wrote on Facebook:"I've been learning about self-love. Finding myself may equal losing those I was once close to, I continue to search. Closed minds equal closed hearts, I remain forever open."She's starting to give other glimpses of her transition to the outside world. She recently posted a Facebook selfie wearing makeup and lipstick.One male commentator wrote back: "Bro males don't put on makeup unless their feminine"Marcelas responded that there are other reasons for wearing makeup besides being gay.Marcelas is also starting to consider hormone therapy and other options. Obamacare prohibits insurers from denying coverage to transgender people on the basis of their identity. The Obama administration ended a 33-year ban on Medicare coverage for gender reassignment surgery in 2014.When Marcelas began telling friends and classmates, the reaction was mixed. "At first they thought I was joking," she says. "Once they saw I was serious, they were confused, and then they got mad." Others, however, went online to support her. One Asian-American friend wrote:"It's all good. I come from an Asian community and family and everybody freaking expects me to be some freaking sort of scholar and go to a 4 year university big college, but nope I ain't going cause' I love myself and my path." Another told Marcelas: "Fully support you in this major transformational time. Be you. There's only one of you. Do it your way, with love."But then again, there was another Marcelas -- the one in the photos standing next to Obama. For a long time, she couldn't be what she wanted because of what that photo represented to people."When I was thinking of coming out, I was thinking a lot of the Obamacare kid thing," she says. "I was like, I'm the Obamacare kid and I have to live as the Obamacare kid. That was kind of my reason for not identifying as who I was."Then she realized that her experience as a kid didn't have to be a burden; it could be a blessing.If she could help others in one struggle, why not another? Transgender teens, especially those of color, have few people to look up to. Maybe she could lead the way. If she could deal with Rush Limbaugh's scorn at 11, maybe she could handle being out in front of another divisive issue."This would be kind of a new thing," she says. "I would help advance another issue. It'll be good for me." Marcelas not only looks different now; the world looks different as well."With me being able to express myself, I feel like everything has got a lot brighter," Marcelas says. "When I was dressing in boy's clothes, that was something that felt unnatural. People are going to get to know the real me."When someone on Facebook posted the photo of Marcelas standing next to Obama, he commented that Marcelas looked so cute as a chubby little kid.Marcelas jumped on the comment thread with a message:She's not the Obamacare kid anymore."The past is the past. We gotta' make new memories so when we look back it will be worth looking back on. I actually like me in the present better anyway."

John Blake, CNN

2016-05-27 19:09:45

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/27/us/brown-hudner-devotion-korean-war/index.html

A war hero who was a stranger in his own land - CNN

Jesse Brown battled poverty and racism to become the Navy's first black pilot. Two of his biggest allies were white men. What about Brown inspired such loyalty?

us, A war hero who was a stranger in his own land - CNN

A war hero who was a stranger in his own land

Thomas J. Hudner Jr., a former Navy pilot who won the Medal of Honor for attempting to rescue a fellow pilot during the Korean War, died Monday. He was 93. Hudner talked with CNN last year about his remarkable friendship with the pilot, Jesse Leroy Brown, who was the Navy's first black aviator. This story contains language that may be offensive to some readers. (CNN)Jesse Leroy Brown was hurtling over the North Korean countryside in his Corsair fighter 17 miles behind enemy lines when he discovered that he was in trouble. "Jesse, something's wrong," one of the men in his squadron radioed him. "You're bleeding fuel." It was the beginning of the Korean War, but Brown was already battle-tested. For years, his own people had tried to destroy him. Now he was in another conflict, part of a six-man squadron dispatched to defend a U.S. Marine division encircled by 100,000 Chinese troops at the Chosin Reservoir. The Marines appeared so doomed that newspapers back home dubbed them the "Lost Legion." Brown had been flying low over a remote hillside looking for targets when ground fire ruptured his fuel line. He scanned the icy slopes for a place to crash land because he was too low to bail out."Losing power," Brown calmly radioed to his squadron. "My engine is seizing up."Read More He spotted a small mountain clearing and took his plane in. The impact of the landing raised a cloud of snow and crumpled his Corsair. He tried to climb out of the cockpit but he was pinned inside -- and flames were starting to rise from the fuselage. The sun was setting, and swarms of Chinese troops were likely headed his way. That's when his wingman, Lt. Tom Hudner, who watched the scene unfold from above, decided to do something risky: He was going to crash land into the same mountain clearing to rescue Brown. "I'm going in," he said over the radio as his plane dived toward Brown's smoking Corsair. Jesse Leory Brown in an F8F Bearcat a year before deploying to Korea. Forgotten war, forgotten man What would happen over the next 45 minutes would turn Brown and Hudner into unconventional heroes -- honored as much for what they did off the battlefield as on it. One would win the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, the other the Distinguished Flying Cross. A Navy ship would be christened in honor of one man, a statue erected in honor of the other. Two American presidents -- Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan -- would publicly praise both. Brown's name eventually faded from history, a forgotten man from a forgotten war. But he was more than a pilot, he was a racial pioneer: the U.S. Navy's first African-American pilot. Brown went from steering a mule in a cotton field to steering seven-ton fighter planes onto aircraft carriers. And while many know of the Tuskegee Airmen, who broke the color barrier among Army aviators in World War II, few know of Brown, who broke the same barrier in the Navy -- alone. That could be changing, though. A recently published book entitled "Devotion" examines the unlikely relationship between Brown and Hudner, one the product of an affluent New England family, the other the son in a family of sharecroppers who lived in a shack with no electricity or central heating. The book's author, Adam Makos, says Brown and Hudner were able to forge a friendship across racial lines in an America that was even more divided by race than today."They were men ahead of their time," Makos says. "If they could do it in their time, why can't we do it in 2016?" Brown's story, though, goes deeper than racial inspiration. It's also about the importance of being able to see yourself in someone who doesn't look like you. Two of Brown's biggest allies were white men who had little or no exposure to black people. One was willing to crash-land onto a mountain for him, another defended him on a different proving ground. What was it about Brown that inspired such loyalty? Brown's 1944 high school graduation photo. He was such a brilliant student that one of his instructors let him teach when she was busy with other work.The boy wonder in MississippiBrown stands on a Tennessee hillside on a radiant winter day a year before his deployment to North Korea. He's wearing aviator shades, and his wiry, 5-foot-10, 150-pound frame is tightly wrapped by a brown leather jacket. With his square jaw, neat faded Afro and brooding gaze, he looks like a vintage Ebony magazine model. That image of Brown comes from the camera of his wife, Daisy. She took it just months after their daughter, Pamela, was born, and the determined look in Brown's face gives a clue as to what made him special. Brown grew up in a state where a black man could get killed if he looked at a white person the wrong way. Mississippi had a reputation as the most violently racist state in the South during segregation. But the Brown who stares out from photos taken of him during that era invariably looks resolute. He had reason to -- he was a childhood prodigy. Even before he flew, Brown was rising above his circumstances. By the time he was in high school, he spoke fluent French, was such a brilliant student that he discovered a mistake in a math textbook, and had such a gifted mind that he designed an irrigation pump for an engineering company. He was also a prankster, as well as a dancer who specialized in the jitterbug and the slow-drag. He loved to write playful and sometimes poetic letters to his friends and family, often signing off with the expression, "Your Ace Coon Buddy, Jesse Leroy Brown." Most whites, though, didn't see a prodigy. They saw a "boy" -- or used other names they reserved for black people, says his youngest brother, Fletcher Brown. It was a way of destroying black people's self-belief and erasing their humanity. "Your name was 'Sunshine,' 'Stovetop,' 'Nigger' -- they didn't call him by his name," his brother says. Sometimes they did worse. Once a group of white police officers savagely beat Brown in downtown Hattiesburg, saying he was trying to be "one of them smart niggers" when they heard he was attending a white college, Fletcher Brown says. Another brother, Lura Brown, says that when some professors at a nearby university heard of Jesse's intellect, they summoned him to their college to take photos of his skull. When the study was concluded, the professors told Brown that due to the shape of his skull, he was supposed to be a moron. "He didn't worry too much about what they said," Lura Brown says. "It's like water off a duck's back." Jesse Brown thought he was supposed to be something else: a pilot. He was 6 when his father took him to an air show. He was enthralled by wing-walkers and stunt fliers. He started sneaking off to a nearby dirt airstrip to watch planes take off. And when he was a teenager, he wrote President Franklin D. Roosevelt and asked why there weren't any black men flying in the military. He got a form letter back from Roosevelt six weeks later assuring him that would change one day. Brown decided that change would begin with him. Family members say he got his confidence from his mother, Julia, a former schoolteacher who relentlessly drove him as a student and wouldn't allow him to call their family poor. By the time he was a teenager, when he would hear a small plane circling above the fields where he was picking cotton, he would announce, "I'm going to fly one of those one day." His friends would laugh and shake their heads. Then one day Brown got his chance. He was encouraged to attend a historically black college but told his high school counselor that a white college would be more challenging. He wanted to attend Ohio State University -- the college of his childhood hero, Olympic sprinter Jesse Owens. Using money he saved from work and funds people raised, Brown enrolled at Ohio State. It had virtually no black students at the time, but the university did have a U.S. Navy program designed to recruit college students to become pilots. Brown heard about it and decided to take the entrance exam. Despite instructors who warned him the Navy would never accept a black pilot, he passed the program and headed to naval flight officer training in Glenview, Illinois. At Glenview, he would meet an unlikely ally.Brown was sworn in as an officer in April 1949.'I ain't got nobody' His name was Roland Christensen, but everyone called him Chris. He was of Danish descent and had a kind, open face. He was a flight instructor at Glenview Naval Air Station in 1947, and he held the careers of many would-be Navy pilots in his hands. An average of 10 pilots per day washed out of Glenview. On March 17, 1947, Christensen and other flight instructors had gathered on the upper level of a hangar to begin another day of weeding out would-be pilots. The nervous trainees were milling about below, checking the flight boards to see which instructor they would be assigned to. He glanced below and noticed a slim black man standing alone, looking anxious and bewildered in a sea of white faces. Christensen's first meeting with Brown is recorded in "The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown," a 1998 book written by Theodore Taylor."I'd like to teach the Negro fella if it's alright with you," Christensen said to his flight commander. The commander responded with a sarcastic chuckle. No one wanted anything to do with Brown, he told him. Christensen approached Brown with an outstretched hand. "You'll be flying with me today," Christensen said. Brown snapped to attention with a hearty, "Yessir." In the days ahead, Christensen calmed Brown's anxiety by building a personal rapport with him. Christensen had grown up on a farm in Nebraska and talked with Brown about farming. He kept teaching Brown even though fellow flight instructors ostracized him and teased him about "flying with an oil slick." At a time when the military was still officially segregated, Christensen openly befriended Brown. Brown was so grateful to Christensen that he would write letters to him in the years that followed, letters that Christensen would keep in a cedar chest in his home for over 60 years. An excerpt of a letter from Jesse L. Brown to Roland Christensen. Read the letters. <img alt="" class="media__image" src="//i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160526152418-navy-pilot-quote-graphic-christensen-photo"> Christensen's decision to stand up for Brown was a mystery to many. He didn't seem to have much in common with Brown. Christensen didn't even know any black people growing up in Nebraska. But something happened to Christensen in his childhood that made him empathize with his student. When he was a kid, Christensen's family lost their farm during the Great Depression and had to move into the city. He never forgot how alone and isolated he felt as a poor kid with cardboard soles in his shoes trying to fit in with the fancy big-city kids. He saw himself in Brown. "When I saw Jesse he looked a little bewildered, a little lost," Christensen said years later. "I had that feeling when I moved into town myself. I thought he needed a friend, someone who could bring him through this thing." He saw something else in Brown, too -- he had heart.Christensen's daughter, Nancy King, remembers her father's fondness for Brown. "He said that kid wanted it -- he wanted it so badly, to get his wings and fly," King says. Brown displayed an intensity that caught the attention of others, including his flight instructor.But he enjoyed a cameraderie aboard the USS Leyte that was missing in flight training. Other flight instructors saw Brown as an intruder. One whispered to him, "Nigger go home," as they passed in a hallway. Another warned him that "a nigger will never sit his ass in a Navy plane." Others rode him mercilessly when they took to the sky, calling him a "dumb nigger" if he made the smallest mistake. The flight instructors could get away with it because racial discrimination was still official policy in the U.S. armed forces. It was still a year before President Harry Truman would issue an executive order desegregating the military. Brown wasn't even accepted by other blacks at Glenview -- the cooks. They resented his ambition, glaring at him and serving him half portions in the cafeteria. Brown wrote home to Daisy, saying he felt like an "earthbound crow." "Even the mouths of the brother food handlers dropped when I showed up," he wrote. On the surface, Brown was stoic. But there were times the pressure got to him. One Saturday morning, on a visit home, he grabbed his younger brother Lura, who was a teenager at the time. "C'mon boy," he said as they walked to the side of a barn away from others. He then started to cry. "I ain't got nobody I can laugh with and talk with," he told his little brother. "You can't quit," Lura told him. Christensen gave him the same message. When Brown was getting treated roughly by other flight instructors, Christensen would tell him, "Ride with it, Jesse." Brown eventually found one other person at Glenview who could relate to him. It was another black man, Albert Troy Demps. Demps was his steward, the man who cleaned officers' rooms and shined their shoes. All the stewards were black in those days.When Demps first went to shine Brown's shoes, Brown stopped him: "Don't," he said. "I shine my own shoes." When they were around other officers, all of whom were white, Brown and Demps addressed each other by their titles. But alone after hours, the two men would huddle to talk and would call each other by their names. Now 90, Demps still remembers the conversations. Brown told him that if the human race was going to survive, people had to stop seeing each other as separate races. God didn't see race, he told Demps, so why should people? "Demps," he'd say, "when people realize that we're created as one human race, then we'll be better off as a people." Brown stuck it out. He eventually completed naval flight officer training at Glenview, and in 1948 he became the first African-American to be awarded the golden wings of a Naval Aviator Badge. His accomplishment attracted some attention. After he was assigned to the USS Leyte, Life magazine asked the Navy to take pictures of its first black pilot for a story the publication was planning. When war broke out two years later, the Leyte would be deployed to Korea with Brown's squadron on board. Demps still remembers what Brown once told him while they were talking alone one night at Glenview. "If I become a pilot, every black man can become anything he wants to be in the Navy. "I'm the beginning of things to come."Brown with his squadron mates aboard the USS Leyte, where he'd finally won acceptance because of his skill as a pilot.On a Korean hillside After Brown crash-landed his Corsair in the North Korean mountain clearing, his wingman radioed that he was going in. Hudner's plane slammed into the snowy hillside and screeched to a halt, 100 yards away from Brown. Hudner bolted from his cockpit and ran toward Brown, slipping and sliding in the snow as he went. When he got to the plane, he hopped onto the wing and saw Brown inside. He was conscious, but his legs were trapped under the twisted fuselage and smoke was rising. "Tom, I'm pinned," Brown said. Brown's helmet was gone, and he had taken off his gloves in the subzero temperatures in an attempt to free himself. Hudner placed his scarf around Brown's hands, pulled out a wool cap and slipped it over Brown's head. Hudner was more than Brown's comrade, he was his friend. Hudner was a member of a prosperous Massachusetts family. His father owned a grocery store chain, and Hudner had attended the prestigious prep school Phillips Academy Andover. He had admired Brown's professionalism, his sense of humor and the way he'd stood up to racial abuse at Glenview. To Hudner, Brown was like family. "I had no qualms about becoming friends with a man of a different color," Hudner says today. "From an early age, my father had taught me: 'A man will reveal his character through his actions, not his skin color.'" Hudner ran back to his plane and radioed for a rescue helicopter, telling the pilot to bring an ax. When the helicopter came, Hudner and the rescue pilot tried to free Brown from the wreckage for 45 minutes, but the ax couldn't make a dent. During the entire time, Brown never complained or cried out in pain. As the light faded, Hudner kept trying to free his friend while their squadron circled above, looking out for enemy troops. Brown's ability to silently take the pain astounded Hudner. "He's got all the heart in the world," Hudner yelled into his radio to their friends circling above. But that heart was fading, and so was the day. Brown was now slipping in and out of consciousness. Hudner heard Brown weakly call out: "Tom." "Yeah Jesse?""Just tell Daisy how much I love her." Brown's head then slumped against his chest. His breathing grew shallow. The horizon was getting darker. The helicopter pilot beckoned to Hudner. He said they had to go, that he didn't have instruments for night flying. Hudner didn't want to leave Brown behind. He looked at the helicopter pilot, then back at Brown. Brown didn't appear to be breathing anymore. "Decide quickly," the helicopter pilot said. "But remember, you stay here, you freeze to death." Hudner ran to the helicopter. As they flew back to the USS Leyte, he was in despair. "If it wasn't Jesse down there, I don't know if I'd have taken the chance I did," he says today. "If it had been me down there on the ground, Jesse would have done the same thing."Brown's widow, Daisy, meets Hudner at his Medal of Honor ceremony. They would remain friends for years.A new group of wingmen News of Brown's death spread quickly through the Leyte. Hudner could have been court-martialed for deliberately crash-landing next to Brown. Instead the commander of the Leyte nominated him for a Medal of Honor. Hudner and his shipmates took up a collection for Jesse's daughter, then almost 2, raising today's equivalent of $24,000 for her college fund. The ship's black crew members, who Brown used to wave to when he landed, openly wept. One member of his squadron went to Brown's bunk to sort his belongings for a shipment back home. He gathered a photo of Daisy and their daughter, Pamela; a dog-eared Bible; "My Own Story" by Jackie Robinson; and "Five Great Dialogues" by Plato. A bugler on the Leyte played taps and Marines fired rifle volleys over the ship's stern in honor of their comrade. Brown was 24 when he died. That could have been the ending of the story, but it was a new beginning. President Truman invited Hudner and Brown's widow to the White House the next spring to personally award Hudner his Medal of Honor. The friendship between Hudner and Brown was a validation of Truman's controversial decision to desegregate the nation's armed forces two years earlier.Watch Truman present Hudner with his Medal of Honor as Brown's widow looks on. Note: Video is silent. Newsreel footage of the ceremony shows the first meeting between Hudner and Daisy. He looks nervous and conflicted as a beaming Truman drapes the medal around his neck. Daisy stands next to him shyly smiling as she holds flowers. When she looks at Hunder, her face lights up with warmth and gratitude. Hudner would return that gratitude. His hometown would throw him a hero's parade and present him with a check that would be the equivalent of $9,000 today. He promptly signed it over to Daisy for her own college education. He heard Brown say he wanted his wife to go to college because he never wanted her to end up working in some white person's kitchen. As the years followed, Brown would draw a second set of wingmen -- and women. They kept his memory alive by naming streets and buildings and erecting statues in his honor. In 1973, the Navy christened a frigate the USS Jesse L. Brown. Valada Parker Flewellyn, a poet and storyteller, organized a museum exhibit entitled, "A Pilot Lights the Way," and Anthony B. Major, a filmmaker, produced a documentary that included an extensive interview with Daisy. And in 1987, Ronald Reagan became the second U.S. president to publicly honor Brown. At a ceremony at the historically black Tuskegee University in Alabama, he said: "Jesse didn't consider the race of those he sought to protect. And when his fellow pilots saw him in danger, they did not think of the color of his skin. They only knew that Americans were in trouble." Others, though, see Brown as a hero precisely because of his skin color. They say he should be added to the canon of African-American racial pioneers such as Owens, the Olympic sprinter, and Robinson, the baseball star. Alzo Reddick, who once taught a college course on African-American history, says Brown died for a country that didn't recognize his humanity. "He was a stranger in the land of his own birth," says Reddick, who helped produce the documentary on Brown. "When he was born in Hattiesburg [Mississippi], he was treated as if he might have been from Mars." More than a pioneer He was a stranger to his own daughter as well.Pamela Brown Knight has no memory of her dad. She was almost 2 when she lost her father. In the weeks after his death, she would run to a window whenever she'd hear an airplane, shouting, "Daddy! Daddy!" She used the money raised by the Leyte crew to earn a master's degree in social science. Her mother, Daisy, also fulfilled Brown's wish to graduate from college, becoming an educator. She died in 2014. Knight says she tried to talk about her father with Hudner and her uncles. But the memories seemed too painful for them, so she stopped asking questions. She found some answers for her pain, though, when she started reading the long, poetic love letters her father mailed to her mother. "The biggest thing that I learned is the depth of the love my father had for my mother," she says. "That was awe inspiring."JUST WATCHEDPamela Brown Knight reads her father's last love letter to her mother, written on the eve of his final missionReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHPamela Brown Knight reads her father's last love letter to her mother, written on the eve of his final mission 02:29 Many of Brown's squadron mates are still alive. Some are pushing 90, but their memories are sharp, their attention to detail telling, their language concise. They're still aviators. They talk about what Brown could have been had he survived. The Navy's first black admiral? An architect? A commercial airline pilot living the good life? Or maybe a politician? He died just as life was opening up for blacks in America. Brown's death, though, hits hardest for his brothers. Their mother died of a stroke just a month after hearing her son was killed in action. Fletcher Brown, now 84, lives in Los Angeles. Listen to his chuckle and slow Mississippi drawl and it's easy to imagine that's how Brown might have sounded. "I loved all of my brothers, but he was my favorite. I wanted to do everything Jesse did," Brown says. "I have not gotten over it yet and I don't know if I ever will." The two men who risked so much to help Brown never got over his death either. Hudner, now 91 and a retired captain, returned to North Korea in 2013 to try to find and retrieve the wreckage and remains of his wing mate. His efforts were unsuccessful, but he keeps honoring Brown in other ways. When the Navy recently informed him it wanted to name a ship after him, he wrote back requesting that they name it after Brown, since the ship originally named for him had been decommissioned.Every time he drapes the Medal of Honor around his neck for a public event, Hudner thinks of his wing mate. "I wear it for him," he says. "If Jesse had survived, I think we would have been friends for the rest of our lives." Christensen, the flight instructor who took Brown under his wing, was so torn up when he heard how Brown died that he decided to become a helicopter rescue pilot. He saved the lives of six pilots during the Korean War, but his daughter said he kept thinking of the one he couldn't save: "He told me that there wasn't a single week that had gone by since 1950 that he didn't think about Jesse Brown. He said, "I dream about it.' " JUST WATCHEDCapt. Tom Hudner returns to North KoreaReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCapt. Tom Hudner returns to North Korea 02:21 At one extraordinary gathering a year before his death in 2014, Christensen met Hudner. They were in Washington for a panel discussion on Brown's legacy and sat next to one another on stage. Christensen told the audience that he had been on that snowy hillside with Brown "100 times" over the years trying to figure out what he could have done. He then turned to Hudner, who was leaning forward listening intently, the sky-blue ribbon of the Medal of Honor draped around his neck. "I appreciate all you did Tom," he said. "I know you did your best." Then he turned to the audience, which included Brown's family, and said he was proud to know Brown as a friend. "A man's greatness is not measured by the years he's had here but the way he lived his life," Christensen said. "Jesse did a lot." When Brown was a kid predicting he would fly planes, people laughed. But he was right. And when he said, "I'm the beginning of things to come," he was right again. The U.S. military is arguably the most integrated institution in America. But Brown was wrong in one small way. He may have been the beginning of something, but he was also the last -- because no one who followed Jesse Leroy Brown had to travel the distance he did to fly. He was more than a racial pioneer. He was a man -- not a boy -- who had all the heart in the world.

Ann O'Neill, Ed Lavandera and Jason Morris, CNN

2016-05-15 11:42:30

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https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/15/us/waco-texas-biker-brawl-shootout-anniversary/index.html

Waco biker shootout: Did nine bikers die over a patch? - CNN

Accounts vary over what got the fists -- and the bullets -- flying on a Sunday afternoon that would mark the most violent day in Texas biker history.

waco shootout, bandidos, cossacks, us, Waco biker shootout: Did nine bikers die over a patch? - CNN

'Outlaw bikers' open up about clubs, culture and deadly Waco shootout

Dallas (CNN)From the time he was big enough to climb onto the back of his dad's Harley, Jake Carrizal felt the pull of the open road. The summer he was 9, he rode on the back of his dad's bike to Mount Rushmore and then on to Sturgis, the annual Super Bowl of biker rallies, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. "He was on the back holding on tight. People would point and say 'Oh, look how cute!'" recalled his dad, Chris Carrizal.Along the way, Jake got his first look at the biggest, baddest bikers in all of Texas, the Bandidos: "Just seeing them riding down the road," Jake said, "you knew: You don't mess with these guys." Jake and his dad both became Bandidos. Chris Carrizal earned his patch in 2005, and Jake, 34 and a father of two, joined seven years later. He rose quickly to become vice president of the Dallas chapter, second in command to his uncle.Read MoreChris and Jake Carrizal at the Sturgis motorcycle rally in 1990.Jake was at a barbecue at his uncle's when he got his Bandidos patch -- a "fat Mexican," they call it: a round-bellied, grinning caricature with a handlebar mustache and sombrero, wielding a pistol in one hand and a machete in the other (bikers are not known for political correctness). Jake was so moved he cried that night as he stitched the patch onto his jacket under the glow of a flashlight in the backyard. "There's a brotherhood, you know," he said, explaining why he chose the life of a Bandidos biker. "It's a good group of guys, and we like to do a lot of the same things -- ride motorcycles and have fun."It's been a year since Jake and his dad last rode together as Bandidos. May 17, 2015. Destination: Waco. They were supposed to attend a regular meeting of a statewide umbrella organization called the Confederation of Clubs. The location was Twin Peaks, a biker-friendly, Hooters-style restaurant where cold beer is served by women in skimpy cutoff shorts. When the first Bandidos arrived from the Dallas chapter, they found about 60 members of a smaller biker club -- the Cossacks -- waiting. The Cossacks aren't confederation members, and as far as the Bandidos from Dallas were concerned, they hadn't been invited. Accounts vary over what got the fists -- and the bullets -- flying on a Sunday afternoon that would mark the most violent day in Texas biker history. Police suspected something was up; they'd installed cameras and stationed about 20 cops around the parking lot. But they stood back, keeping a low profile. The "fat Mexican" patch of the Bandidos, one of the largest motorcycle clubs.Was the beef over what patches the Cossacks could wear, as police had theorized? Did somebody at Twin Peaks run over a Cossack prospect's foot, as some witnesses suggest? Was it over who owed dues to whom? Or was it just a dumb beef about parking spots? Words were exchanged at first, then pushes, and then punches. Witnesses said somebody fired three shots. Other people pulled guns and all hell broke loose. It lasted less than two minutes and when it was over, nine bikers had been fatally shot and 18 were wounded, including Chris, who took a bullet in the shoulder.Jake said he had been backing his midnight blue Harley into a parking space when the brawl blew up around him. Father and son lost each other in the confusion, and for a time each believed the other had been killed.Nearly a year after the deadly melee, the Carrizals and half a dozen other bikers -- both Bandidos and Cossacks -- are speaking out. They agreed to appear on camera and talk for the first time about their clubs, their culture and the events in Waco. Bandidos leader Jeff Pike, known as "El Presidente," also broke his long silence. He said he likes things quiet and never had a reason to speak out before Waco. JUST WATCHEDWaco biker shootout caught on cameraReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWaco biker shootout caught on camera 05:20After 177 bikers were arrested, bail initially was set at $1 million each. Jake spent 23 days behind bars before his bail was lowered enough that he could post bond. He sold one of his bikes to come up with the required 10% in cash.A local grand jury later indicted 154 bikers -- including the Carrizals -- on a single, generic count of engaging in organized criminal activity. A conviction carries a stiff penalty: from five years to life in prison. But nobody seems to be able to pin down the specific crimes alleged, or to even get a trial date. Local officials aren't talking. The bikers say they're eager for the chance to defend themselves. They say the man who fired the first shots is dead and everyone else was acting in self-defense. Both Cossacks and Bandidos see themselves as crime victims. But this wasn't just a matter for the local police. The feds had been building a case against the Bandidos unrelated to the Waco shootout and showed their hand in January, when an indictment was unsealed in San Antonio. It names three Bandidos leaders, including Pike, as masterminds of a racketeering conspiracy and methamphetamine distribution ring. The indictment alleges the club masks a criminal empire that rules through extortion, intimidation and murder. All three have pleaded not guilty. The feds allege they found "a closed society" in which loyalty "to this organization and their fellow brothers is valued above all else." Bandidos, according to the indictment, "do not fear authority and have a complete disdain for the rules of society."'People our parents warned us about'Bandidos refer to nonbikers as "polite society" and the club motto says it all: "We are the people our parents warned us about." JUST WATCHEDCNN Special Report: Biker Brawl: Inside the Texas ShootoutReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCNN Special Report: Biker Brawl: Inside the Texas Shootout 00:30They are in the biker big leagues, one of four major motorcycle clubs. The other three are the Hells Angels, the Pagans and the Outlaws. Members of those clubs as well as some others are known as "outlaw bikers" or "one-percenters."Make no mistake: To Bandidos, the label "outlaw biker" is a point of pride. To be a one-percenter means the rules for 99% of the riders on the road don't apply to you. "To us it's a family thing, it's not a criminal organization," Chris Carrizal said. "We love each other and we love to ride and we're proud to wear that fat Mexican on our back. For people who don't understand, being in the Bandidos means you've reached the top, you're like the CEO." To both father and son, being a one-percenter is a commitment. "I'm a Bandido 24/7," Chris said. "I'm not a poser. I'm not a yuppie, a wannabe. I live the life of a professional motorcyclist. I am a one-percenter." Until Waco, the Bandidos didn't take the Cossacks seriously. At best, they were "an aspirational club," in the words of Donald Charles Davis, a Vietnam vet, biker and former newspaper reporter who writes The Aging Rebel, a blog followed religiously by bikers. He's working on a book about the Waco shootout. The Cossacks motto: "We take care of our own." Owen Reeves is a leader of the Cossacks, a smaller Texas-based club."We're working guys, man, and that's the whole problem," said Owen Reeves, a national Cossacks leader. "We're working guys, and if you try to take something from a working guy, then you're gonna have hell doing it. "You know, them guys, they wanna control everything and make you pay this, pay that, and we're not gonna do it," he said of the Bandidos. "We're grown men, and last time I checked, we live in America." Both the Bandidos and the Cossacks were founded in Texas during the 1960s -- the Bandidos in 1966 in Houston and the Cossacks three years later in Tyler, in east Texas. There has never been any love lost between them.At the time the two clubs started, disillusioned Vietnam veterans were returning from an unpopular war to an unwelcoming society. They no longer fit in at home and felt most comfortable in a structured hierarchy of men with the shared experiences of war, their brothers in arms. Motorcycle clubs offered that sense of camaraderie, Davis said. The Cossacks might have been ambitious, he added, but before Waco the Bandidos viewed them as little more than a nuisance."They're in their own little world. I have no respect for them," said Chris Carrizal. Sprinkling his speech with F-bombs, he added that Cossacks "have no idea what it's like to be a one-percenter or what it is to be in a real club." As for what happened at Waco, he said, "they showed their true colors that day." Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime scene Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneOn May 17, 2015, a fight broke out between two rival biker clubs in Waco, Texas. CNN has obtained video and images of the chaos during and after the brawl. This surveillance footage shows a biker running inside the Twin Peaks restaurant where the deadly fight took place. Authorities have classified both the Bandidos and the Cossacks as gangs.Hide Caption 1 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneHide Caption 2 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneBy the time the melee was over, nine people were dead and 177 people were arrested.Hide Caption 3 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThe body of a biker is seen in the parking lot. (His tattoos have been obscured in this photo.) The biker club members who began beating, stabbing and shooting each other in a Texas Twin Peaks restaurant knew the police were outside, and they just didn't care, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton told CNN at the time.Hide Caption 4 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA Bandidos vest and hat are left behind in a pool of blood. The Bandidos boast a membership of 2,000 to 2,500 across not just the United States, but also 13 other countries, the Department of Justice says.Hide Caption 5 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneLaw enforcement agents received information that a regular scheduled meeting of the United Coalition of Clubs was to be held at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17. Due to the known growing tension between the Bandidos and the Cossacks, the Waco Police Department coordinated a surveillance and intelligence-gathering operation for this meeting, according to documents from the Waco Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Hide Caption 6 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneAnother body lies next to a tipped-over bike. Police officers fired 12 rounds during the deadly shootout, according to the Waco Police Department, which said it had 16 uniformed officers in their vehicles at the time the suspects began shooting. Hide Caption 7 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThis violent encounter wasn't the first between the Cossacks and the Bandidos, according to a Waco PD investigator's sworn statement. Members of both motorcycle clubs had previous violent altercations throughout Texas in 2013 and 2015. Several of those involved were arrested at the Waco brawl.Hide Caption 8 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneAccording to a Waco PD investigator's sworn statement, Waco police witnessed the violence erupt that day "swiftly" and law enforcement officers on the scene were fired upon by "individuals involved in the violent altercation" until officers were able to control the scene.Hide Caption 9 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneAccording to witness statements given to Waco Police by a Twin Peaks patron: "Just as we had finished eating I heard 5, 6, or 7 shots from outside of the restaurant. Someone yelled hit the floor, there was constant shots being fired. It sounded like the gunfight at the OK Corral. " Hide Caption 10 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneWeapons were found all over the scene, including this gun in the bathroom.Hide Caption 11 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThe Waco PD says about 480 weapons were found that day.Hide Caption 12 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime scenePolice also recovered an ax, bats, batons, brass knuckles, a chain, clubs, a hatchet, knives, a machete, pepper spray, a pipe, stun guns, tomahawks and weighted weapons. Hide Caption 13 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime scenePolice recovered many knives from the scene.Hide Caption 14 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneTwelve long guns and 133 handguns were recovered.Hide Caption 15 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA gun is seen in the passenger seat of a car. Hide Caption 16 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneWaco PD said that 44 shell casings were recovered from the scene and that 12 of those casings came from the .223-caliber rifles of three SWAT officers, who were in adjacent parking lots. Hide Caption 17 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThis is one of the many weapons recovered.Hide Caption 18 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA gun is inside a motorcycle saddlebag, along with prescription medicine and a water bottle.Hide Caption 19 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneHide Caption 20 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneTensions between the Cossacks and Bandidos had been on the rise for a while.Hide Caption 21 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneAccording to witness statements given to police, a Twin Peaks employee said that prior to the fight that led to the shooting, the Cossacks were attempting to keep their conversation private. "Every time a Twin Peaks girl would go outside they (Cossacks) would get extremely quiet and when we would go back inside they would continue to talk."Hide Caption 22 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThe fight broke out at the Twin Peaks restaurant and spilled into the parking lot. The weapons being used quickly escalated from hands and feet to guns.Hide Caption 23 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneWeapons are piled up by a barrier in the parking lot. According to one of the first Waco police officers on the scene, it appeared that nearly everybody in the crowd had a gun.Hide Caption 24 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneSixteen uniformed Waco Police Department officers, including members of their SWAT team, witnessed and responded to the melee from the parking lots surrounding Twin Peaks. Police say they responded within 30 to 45 seconds and were fired at by bikers.Hide Caption 25 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneJewelry lies on the asphalt in the Twin Peaks parking lot. The label is derived from a quote that may be apocryphal but is part of biker lore that dates to the 1960s: Someone supposedly said that 99% of bikers are law-abiding citizens, leaving the mayhem to the other 1%.Hide Caption 26 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneSeven of the nine bikers who were killed at Twin Peaks were members of the Cossacks. The Cossacks claim around 200 members, mostly in small towns in Texas. According to law enforcement officials, they are one of the biggest outlaw biker clubs in Texas. Hide Caption 27 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThis is one of the Bandidos patches from the thousands of evidence photos taken from Twin Peaks. The Bandidos are the biggest motorcycle clubs in Texas, with around 400 members. Hide Caption 28 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneAn officer from the Waco Police Department discovered blood smeared across the Twin Peaks bathroom floor. Hide Caption 29 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneOne of the 151 guns found by investigators was in the grass outside Twin Peaks after the fight. Police recovered a staggering 480 weapons from Twin Peaks: 151 guns, numerous knives, brass knuckles, chains, clubs, batons, hammers, tomahawks and a machete.Hide Caption 30 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA Cossacks jacket, along with knives and a gun, litter the grass outside Twin Peaks after the melee. There were 154 bikers indicted by a Waco grand jury, and they could face life in prison on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity. Hide Caption 31 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA bloody bandana lies on the sidewalk outside of Twin Peaks. Both clubs, the Bandidos and the Cossacks, say they're done fighting. Hide Caption 32 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA Waco police officer snapped this photo after he discovered blood spilling out onto the sink and floor in the Twin Peaks bathroom. Hide Caption 33 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThese are some of the bullets found on the scene by investigators. According to the Waco Police Department, 44 shell casings recovered from the Twin Peaks scene were fired by law enforcement weapons. Hide Caption 34 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA duffel bag is filled with patches of the Confederation Of Clubs & Coalition of Independent Riders. COCs are biker networks that exist in nearly every U.S. state and meet every couple of months or so to discuss motorcycle issues and legislation. A 1 p.m. COC meeting was scheduled to take place at Twin Peaks on May 17. Hide Caption 35 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneKnives and weapons are thrown across the dirt and weeds in the Twin Peaks parking lot.Hide Caption 36 of 36Most people learned about outlaw bikers through popular culture. The two best examples are "The Wild One," the 1953 movie starring Marlon Brando, and gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson's 1966 account of the time he spent with the Oakland, California, chapter of the Hell's Angels.More recently, Kurt Sutter's FX series, "Sons of Anarchy," romanticized the biker life, although Davis and other bikers say it took some poetic license.Although motorcycle clubs now can be found around the world, there's something uniquely American about the one-percenters who live outside the restrictions imposed by "polite society." They live by their own rules, which as any biker will tell you, might make them outlaws, but doesn't mean they're criminals. Davis compares them to the cowboys who won the West, sprinkling his anecdotes with classical literary and cultural references. "The motorcycle outlaw world is the last manifestation of the American frontier," he said. They are bad boys, and who doesn't like a colorful bad boy? 'Big dogs and little dogs' Cops and federal agents might view outlaw bikers as criminals, said Davis, but he understands the draw the outlaw biker holds for others in 2016. He sees it as a response to the discontent and perceived unfairness that recently hung like a pall over American society. He compares the renewed interest in outlaw biker clubs to the rise of the tea party and Occupy Wall Street, movements that themselves now seem dated. Davis hasn't just studied everything academics have to say about biker clubs. His education also comes from the streets. He used to belong to a club but won't say which one, except that today it would be considered a "one-percent" club. How this story was reportedBikers who might never have considered talking to outsiders before Waco recently spoke with CNN. Some were in the thick of the violence, others were hundreds of miles away. Most face serious prison time. CNN also obtained voluminous documentation, including witness statements, and hours of video evidence from Waco police dash cams, as well as a cameras police set up in the restaurant parking lot. CNN also obtained and reviewed videos from the Twin Peaks surveillance cameras. That evidence, along with interviews with experts and bikers from both clubs, form the basis of the documentary, "Biker Brawl: Inside the Texas Shootout," which airs for the first time on Monday at 9 p.m. on CNN.Besides ongoing conversations with bikers from around the world, he reads everything he can get his hands on, from court documents to doctoral dissertations. "Bikers are predominantly libertarian," he said. They aren't much different from men who, in another era, "needed elbow room from society and so they ran off to Kentucky, to Texas, to California, to Alaska. ..." It's a cultural note that resonates in the Lone Star State. Texans are famously fond of cowboys, and they can't resist an outlaw with a good mustache and some panache. Terry Katz, a Baltimore-based state police investigator, has been following biker gangs since the 1980s. Katz is vice president of a 600-member group called the International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association. He said the Bandidos, being the dominant club, saw little choice but to stand up to a challenge from the Cossacks. "These guys aren't going to put up with anybody disrespecting them," Katz said. As bikers see it, Waco shows "they were just taking care of business." Davis agreed that Waco was all about respect. The club on top demanded it, and the ambitious challengers grew weary of bowing down. "At the end of the day, the Bandidos are the big dogs," said Katz, "and you can't stay a big dog if you let a little dog intimidate you."Regardless of what started the gunfight at Waco -- whether it was over a patch or a parking space -- it's "irrelevant to everybody else," Katz said. But respect matters to a biker. Respect for your club is worth dying for. "These guys are not going to put up with anybody disrespecting them," Katz said. "If you put nitro and glycerin together, eventually you're going to have an explosion." The "Texas bottom rocker" patch, which may have set off the feud.Could the bad blood and resulting violence really have been over a patch, as police said? In addition to wearing the "fat Mexican," the Bandidos and some of their support clubs -- smaller biker groups loyal to the dominant club -- also sport what's known as a "Texas bottom rocker." It's a curved patch sewn onto the lower back of a biker's vest that announces his territory. Bandidos also ask their support clubs to wear the round Bandidos "support cookie" patch.Cossacks started wearing the large Texas bottom rocker panel on the back of their vests in 2013, according to the indictment. They didn't ask anyone for permission. The Bandidos responded by letting everyone, even their smallest support clubs, wear the Texas rocker, diluting its prestige, Jake and other members said. Bandidos president Pike said the Cossacks even thanked them on social media.But the dispute over the Texas rocker brought up another sticking point. The support clubs pay dues of $50 a month, but the Cossacks were refusing to pay for what one Cossack described to CNN as "the privilege of riding my motorcycle in Texas." Reeves, the national Cossacks leader, acknowledged to police that "there's a lot of residual hatred" that "needs to be over." Cossacks were tired of being hassled over wearing the Texas rocker patch. That simple fact, he added, accounted for "80%" of their issues with the Bandidos. "We're a motorcycle club. We want to be left alone. We just want to ride, and to ride in Texas," said another Cossack who spoke with CNN under a pseudonym, "Dean." The Cossacks patch features a caricature of a wild-eyed, sneering cossack with scimitar poised to strike.Paying dues to someone else is an obvious irritant, said Dean, who was at Waco: "Why am I going to pay dues if I'm a part of myself? It doesn't make sense why I'm going to pay someone to be able to ride my motorcycle in the state of Texas." Pike said all this Cossacks resentment is a recent development. "We talked about it and said 'Where did this hatred come from?' It just popped up," the Bandidos president said. "Those guys have been around as long as we have almost, and we never hung out together or anything, but we never bothered each other, either. And in the past two years, it's just gone crazy."'We are at war'There are almost as many versions of what caused the tension between the Bandidos and Cossacks as there are Bandidos and Cossacks. But the federal indictment is as good a place as any to start. It lays out a series of skirmishes between the clubs during the months leading up to Waco. Pike and the other two Bandidos leaders named in the indictment were nowhere near Waco on the day of the shootout. (All three have pleaded not guilty.) And, indeed, it makes no mention of Waco. But it does provide a brief, official version of the bad blood building between the two clubs. The Bandidos are a huge, international club with 175 chapters -- 42 of them in Texas. The Cossacks also are a Texas club, and much smaller, with maybe 200 members across the state. But they are ambitious. They'd been on a recruiting spree, and as 2015 began, they were standing up to the Bandidos again. Jeff Pike is the Bandidos president; he was arrested at his home in January.By February 2015, Pike was stepping aside as national president of the Bandidos and taking a health leave. Pike handed responsibility over to his number two, vice president John Xavier Portillo. It was Portillo who informed club members that they were at war with the Cossacks, according to the indictment. The first clash came in November 2013, when 10 Bandidos confronted a group of Cossacks in Abilene. A knife fight broke out, and four Cossacks were seriously hurt. "This is our town. If you come back, I will kill you," the president of the Bandidos' Abilene chapter allegedly warned, according to the indictment, which didn't name him. About a year later, Portillo again told club members about the ongoing war. A group of Bandidos crashed a sports bar during a meeting between the Cossacks and their support clubs. A member of a support club called the Ghost Riders was shot and killed. As they left, the Bandidos slapped one of their club stickers on the bar door. In March 2015, the indictment states, Portillo told Pike to "turn his back from what I'm gonna do" in what prosecutors claim was an attempt "to shield Pike from criminal responsibility" regarding the war with the Cossacks. He allegedly repeated on March 3 that the Bandidos were "at war" with the Cossacks, stating that he "wants that Texas rocker back," referring to the patch. Later, on March 20 and 21, the Bandidos went on a "birthday run" to celebrate the anniversary of their Tyler, Texas, chapter. Tyler, of course, was the birthplace of the Cossacks. Portillo, according to the indictment, urged four Bandidos to "shake up (expletive)" and "get a little aggressive" with the Cossacks. Then, on March 22, about 20 Bandidos swarmed a Cossack pumping gas in Palo Pinto County. They demanded his vest, which included the Texas rocker, and beat him with a claw hammer, according to the indictment. On May 1, the Texas Joint Crime Information Center issued a bulletin warning of "escalating conflict" between the Bandidos and Cossacks. It listed additional confrontations -- including a March 22 assault of a lone Cossack by about 10 Bandidos in Lorena, a plan in which 100 Bandidos would ride to Odessa on April 11 to start a "war" with the Cossacks, and reports of three confrontations between Bandidos and Cossacks in east Texas on April 24.As the bulletin stated: "This conflict may stem from Cossacks members refusing to pay the Bandidos dues for operating in Texas and for claiming Texas as their territory by wearing the Texas bottom rocker on their vests."'Cossacks all over me' The Cossacks said they came to Twin Peaks to talk about a truce. The Bandidos say they rolled up on an ambush. By noon, about 60 or 70 Cossacks had already lined up their bikes in the best parking spots at Twin Peaks. They had the run of the patio, too, when Jake and the others from Dallas pulled up. The Bandidos had wanted to get there early to stake out a good table. They said they hadn't counted on seeing any Cossacks there. Jake Carrizal was among the first of the Bandidos to pull into the parking lot at Twin Peaks.Jake spotted an empty section along the row of parked bikes and started to back his Harley into the spot on the end. "As I'm backing in, I see that whole patio where the Cossacks were -- they all cleared out and came to the parking lot," he said. He spotted batons, brass knuckles and clubs and immediately knew: "They weren't there to chit-chat. They were on a mission. They were there to confront us." He was surrounded. That saying about your whole life flashing before your eyes? It's true, Jake said."All I can think about was my kids, and my girlfriend, and my whole life, you know? And just seeing them with brass knuckles. Who does that, you know?"When he saw the first punch thrown, he knew it was on."They were attacking us. And I was fighting for my life," he recalled. "I had guys all over me -- Cossacks all over me," Jake said.The Bandidos behind Jake didn't have time to shut off their bikes before the Cossacks were all over them, too, Jake and his father said."One of these punks, he comes out shooting like Rambo," Chris Carrizal said. "It was planned out, man, it was planned. They were waiting for us. They were waiting to kill as many of us as possible. There's no doubt in my mind. We weren't there to murder anybody, we weren't there to hurt anybody."Where things stand:The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas has indicted the highest-ranking members of the Bandidos organization, charging them with racketeering acts including murder, attempted murder, assault, intimidation, extortion, and drug trafficking. Jeffrey Fay Pike, the group's national president; John Xavier Portillo, the group's national vice president; and Justin Cole Forster, the group's national sergeant at arms, were arrested on January 6. 2016. Portillo and Forster have both entered not guilty pleas, and remain in federal custody. Pike has also pleaded not guilty and has been out on bond since mid-January. Jury selection and trial is scheduled for all three defendants on October 11, 2016, before U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra in San Antonio. May 17, 2016, marks one year since a deadly brawl at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, between members of the Bandidos and Cossacks motorcycle clubs. Nine bikers died in the shootout, and 18 others were injured.154 of the 177 bikers arrested have been indicted by a Waco grand jury on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity, which comes with a maximum sentence of life in prison. All the bikers are out of jail on bond, awaiting trial dates. According to Waco police, 44 shell casings fired by law enforcement were recovered from the scene.Lying on the ground, Jake pulled one of his assailants close, using him as a shield. "And the whole time, I'm hearing gunshots go off. I hear the shots going off, whizzing by me. And you know, my dad's there, my uncle's there, I'm there and my brothers are there," Jake said. "If I'm not getting hit, someone's getting hit." And it's just a bad feeling. Horrible feeling. Scary feeling. "I've never been that scared in my life."Somebody pulled the people off Jake, and he crawled under a truck for cover. He saw a biker lying on the ground and wondered, Was it Dad? "That's when it hit me," Jake said. "(The biker) wasn't moving, he was laying on his back, and without a doubt he was killed. It was hard to see. It was hard to comprehend, and I remember yelling for my dad, because I knew he was somewhere there." Then he saw his father appear around a corner, helped along by two police officers. He was a bloody mess, but he was walking. "That was an awesome feeling," Jake said. "He got shot in the back, in the shoulder, and as bad as that image was seeing my dad full of blood, it was awesome seeing him, knowing that he was alive."Chris Carrizal had wondered if he was a goner at 52. "When I first fell and hit the ground, I could feel the blood coming out of my shoulder, and I was thinking, 'That's it. That's it, you know, I'm going to die right here today and there's nothing I can do about it,'" he recalled. He thought he'd seen his son's body, too. The dead biker he spotted wore square-toed boots, just like Jake does. "I said, 'Man, Jake's dead, he's laying there dead. ...'" His voiced trailed off as he fought back tears. "It was tough, man, but luckily it wasn't him."Someone brought Chris to Jake. He laid his dad down on a grassy strip by the parking lot, resting his father's head on his lap. "He was on blood thinners," Jake recalled, "and he was telling me, 'You take care of the boys, and you take care of Mom.'" Jake didn't want to hear that. He urged his father, "Be strong, you'll make it." Only later would he find out how lucky his dad had been. A few millimeters to the left and the bullet would have killed him. A little to the right, and he would have been paralyzed. Ambush or not, the simple truth is the Cossacks got the worst of it. When the guns finally fell silent, seven Cossacks lay dead -- guys with road names like Rattle Can, Side Track, Diesel, Trainer, Chain, Bear and Dog. Just one of the Bandidos -- "Candyman" -- was killed, along with an unaffiliated biker, a 65-year-old Vietnam vet with Bandidos friends. Afterward, police recovered more than 470 weapons, including 151 firearms. Operation Texas Rocker The feds came for El Presidente before dawn on the first Wednesday in January. Nearly eight months had passed since the fight in Waco, but Bandidos leader Pike hadn't been there for that. He was waking up after colon surgery when his wife told him about the shootout with the Cossacks. Through the haze, it seemed surreal. Still does. JUST WATCHEDExclusive look inside motorcycle club president's homeReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHExclusive look inside motorcycle club president's home 02:25Pike might not have been at Twin Peaks, but the feds see him as the shot-caller, which is why they'd come calling. They had an indictment naming Pike as the head of a 2,000-member gang that murders and beats rivals, deals methamphetamine, engages in extortion, wages war with its enemies and terrorizes witnesses.Pike is confident the government will be unable to directly link him to illegal activity. The indictment does not accuse Pike of specific crimes; instead, it places him at the top of the Bandidos and alleges he benefited from the crimes of others. In announcing the indictment hours after Pike's arrest, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Joseph M. Arabit said their investigation -- dubbed "Operation Texas Rocker" -- had "inflicted a debilitating blow to the leadership hierarchy and violent perpetrators of the Bandidos Outlaw Motorcycle Gang." "This 23-month operation highlights a deliberate and strategic effort to cut off and shut down the supply of methamphetamine trafficked by the Bandidos as well as other related criminal activity," said Arabit, who heads the DEA's Houston office.Armed agents circled Jeff Pike's home in January. On that early morning in January, armed agents quietly circled Pike's house, set on five acres in Conroe, a straight 45-mile shot north of Houston on I-45. Over a loudspeaker, they ordered Pike to surrender. Nobody was more surprised to see that SWAT team than Pike, who at age 60 has been with the Bandidos for 36 years and presidente for the last 11. He'd been investigated a few times before but never arrested, which made him a standout among Bandidos leaders. His four predecessors had all gone to prison for various acts of mayhem. Bandidos founder Donald Chambers and two others were convicted of murder for killing two drug dealers after making them dig their own graves. Pike said he likes things quiet. He insisted he's boring. He staggered sleepily out of the house in bare feet, his hands in the air. He recognized one of the agents. And then he saw the armored vehicle. He knew this was serious. "There's an Army tank-looking thing with red and blue lights on it in my driveway," he said. "But they said, 'Come on out, keep your hands up.' And I walked out, and it was very cordial." He said he's grateful agents didn't trash his house. "They didn't wreck my gate, they didn't even drive on the grass. I made sure my dog didn't get out. I was very appreciative of the way they arrested me." And then he read the indictment and didn't see anything to worry about. "There's nothing in that indictment that says I did anything," he said. "But the cops got an old saying: 'You might beat the rap, but you're not going to beat the ride.' So I'm just going to have to play along here for a while."He said the feds have 800 hours of taped conversations. He is like a ghost in them, he said, except for a brief mention in a single phone call. If he's a shot-caller, he appears to be a very well-insulated one. "Somebody mentioned my name in a telephone call," Pike said. "That's why I got arrested. I mean that's ridiculous."He wonders aloud what the point of all this might be. What do the feds want? "Are they out to just destroy us, or do you want to make good citizens out of us?"Like the local police, the feds aren't talking. Legal observers expect more federal indictments to come, naming more Bandidos as participants in the alleged conspiracy. Waco could prove to be fertile ground, supplying future federal witnesses -- and defendants. There are also signs that federal investigators' interest expanded after Waco to include the Cossacks. They seem to have caught the eye of the DEA, in particular, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN. "I don't think they're gonna try anybody in Waco," said Houston lawyer Paul Looney, who represents an arrested Cossack and a couple caught up in the melee. "I think the entire detention in Waco is a babysitting exercise while the feds complete their investigation. There'll be a superseding federal indictment out of San Antonio in which a lot of the people that were arrested in Waco go into that indictment, and the Waco prosecutions will just go by the by." 'He had a real fighting heart' A year later, Bandidos and Cossacks look back on Waco and shake their heads at the violence they witnessed. Nearly everyone says it caught them by surprise. Some of the older guys say it reminded them of combat. Many still struggle with having been forced to leave bleeding "brothers" behind. Reeves, the Cossacks leader, was shot -- and so was his son. "I was on the ground," he told police, according to his statement, which CNN obtained. "I can't see anybody pull the trigger but I heard a s--- ton of bullets flying. It was pop-pop, nonstop. And I didn't wanna get up. I didn't even wanna turn my head and see where it was coming from. I was trying to be still so they didn't pop me, thinking I was still alive. Being honest man, I, I was f---ing scared."When the shooting stopped, Reeves said, he looked up and saw a fellow biker "with a hole in his head." And then he saw his son, dying. "He got clipped in the head. My son got shot in the head, and started bleeding out next to me. And I started trying to deal with him," Reeves told police. "The other guys were trying to resuscitate him, and he had a real fighting heart, but (police) made us leave, and he just got left." Another Cossack said he, too, was troubled by the wounded bikers left behind in the mayhem. He believes more might have survived if they'd received prompt medical attention. "Would I take a bullet for a brother? I have, even though I was unarmed. I was there," said Dean, the Cossack who spoke with CNN on the condition his identity not be revealed. "I still remember the blood coming out of me, the pain, the people around me being shot," Dean said. "It just seems like it happened so fast, but it took forever for it to end."He said nobody meant for Waco to happen, and he struggles to understand why it did. He's asked the question that has been on everyone's mind: What did all those people die for? "It almost looks like stupidity," he said, pausing and searching for a better reason. He seems relieved when one comes to mind. "They died protecting other people," Dean said. "They were the ones who took the hits. They were the ones who stopped the bullets from hitting other people."It sounds so much more noble. Because, as the Cossacks and Bandidos kept telling us, dying over a patch would be stupid.

Moni Basu, CNN

2015-06-12 16:03:19

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https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/12/us/most-diverse-place-in-america/index.html

Most diverse place in America is not where you think - CNN

A neighborhood in Anchorage lies in the most diverse census tract in America and life there is far from the stereotype of Alaska.

us, Most diverse place in America is not where you think - CNN

Most diverse place in America? It's not where you think

Story highlightsThe Mountain View neighborhood in Anchorage scores high on diversityAffordable housing once used by oil pipeline workers now shelters all sorts of newcomersThe area is hardly the stereotype lower 48 Americans have of AlaskaFollow @MbasuCNN Anchorage, Alaska (CNN)The shelves at the Red Apple Market are a giveaway. Dried squid. Sambal Olek chili paste. Corned Australian mutton. Canned grass jelly.Another clue: Ride the crowded No. 45 bus, which meanders down Mountain View Drive, and you hear chatter in seven languages -- none, English.That these markers of diversity are in a neighborhood in Anchorage may surprise folks from the Lower 48 who picture Alaska as a largely homogenous and snowy American extremity. But Alaskans are quite proud of their distinctive demographics.Remember Sarah Palin's much-parodied 2008 interview with Katie Couric? One segment ended with this line: "Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America."Palin was taken to task for her claim because Alaska's black and Latino populations are lower than the national average. Read MoreAnd yet ...Mountain View, a northeast Anchorage neighborhood, boasts the most diverse census tract in all of America. That's according to University of Alaska sociology professor Chad Farrell, who analyzed the census data. In fact, Farrell says the country's three most diverse census tracts are all in Anchorage, followed by a handful in Queens, as in New York, which usually tops everyone's diversity guess list.Mao Tosi, an American Samoan and former NFL defensive end, returned to Mountain View after his career with the Arizona Cardinals ended. He wanted to be a part of this rapid change and help the Samoan community assimilate."This place is a snapshot into America's future," says Tosi, his 6-foot-6 frame casting an imposing shadow in the Northway Mall that he operates. He speaks of a future in which America will no longer be majority white. Most predictions say that will happen by the middle of this century, and Tosi thinks the nation can take a cue or two from Mountain View."Kids are growing up here without knowing the color of their skin," he says. "They are more influenced by what their neighbor is doing."How did Mountain View get there?So how exactly did Mountain View score so high in diversity?The Red Apple grocery shelves are full of international items.Farrell explains the index he used to measure diversity: He looked at the number of ethnic and racial groups, but more importantly, he studied their size relative to one another.Farrell found that two things boosted Mountain View to the top. First, there is a sizable white population left. In many other places, neighborhoods that have increased in diversity have also seen white flight. Not so in Mountain View.Mountain View also has a significant Alaska Native population, which other cities in America lack. Alaska's diversity has spiked in recent years for a host of reasons. Among them are its economy, which prospered when other states were reeling from recession, because it is driven by fishing and oil. The state is also home to nine military bases, and Mountain View butts up to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Hawaiian businessman William Hoopai recently opened a new restaurant on the main drag called West Berlin. Yup. Schnitzels and sauerkraut attract a lot of uniformed men and women who have spent time in Germany.And there has been new immigration to Alaska -- including refugees from troubled nations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Cuba, Iran and Bhutan. Many have resettled here in Mountain View. Omima Adam, a civil engineer from Sudan, arrived in 2010."I was so shocked when I saw all that snow," she says from the window of her food truck, Sultan Shawarma, parked between a Dominican place and an espresso stand."But I'd rather be cold than dead," she says of the bloodshed in her native Darfur.She learned English and puts her heart and soul into her kibbes, shawarmas and falafel. She wants to turn the business into a full-fledged restaurant and return to college to earn an engineering degree that the United States will recognize.Mountain View was her new beginning. 'A better shot at life'It's obvious this is not a wealthy place. Alice Lawrence chats with Mountain View residents at her house, where she hands put food discarded by grocery stores to people in need.Between the colorful new houses built by Cook Inlet Housing Authority lie scarred and tattered structures with molting paint and boarded windows. Mountain View Boulevard is lined with stores such as Price Busters and Cash America Pawn. The big anchor stores all abandoned Northway Mall, Alaska's first enclosed one. The last census counted 39% of households as earning less than $25,000; 19% fall below the poverty line. That explains why Alice "Mother" Lawrence's house is full every afternoon. The 79-year-old runs a nonprofit that collects foods that have exhausted their shelf lives in local groceries and distributes them to the hungry. Bread, pastries, fruits, vegetables, snacks, soft drinks.She landed here in 1967 as a military wife. She had a lot of kids and after her first husband left her, she learned how to get tough. "No one helped me here," she says. "They wouldn't give me a penny."That's when she found the Lord and her calling in life: to help the needy. She acquired a Casio keyboard and lined up seven church pews in her living room to minister to the poor. Her son, Randy Lawrence, says people he knows in other states say: "What? There are black people in Alaska?" Mountain View's census tract is 13.1% African-American, which is about the national average.Lawrence, 49, describes Anchorage as a wannabe bad-ass city. "It's not," he laughs as he unloads boxes of day-old cinnamon buns. "As for Mountain View? It's the 'hood. This is as bad as it gets around here."Yeah, there's gangs and drugs and other kinds of crime that's inextricably linked to poverty. But he likes living in a smaller place that is so racially mixed. "As a black man, I have to say you got a better shot at life here," he said, comparing it with New Jersey, where he was born.Carnard Davis, 44, agrees. He moved here from the now-demolished Bowen Homes housing project in southwest Atlanta and works at the Boys and Girls Club, where he's simply known as Mr. C. "I came here on vacation and saw how smooth and easy it was here," he says. "And I wanted a change."The club is full on this cold afternoon with kids from at least a dozen places. They don't all speak English well, but Davis says it doesn't matter. On the wall is a poster board with the question: "What does this place mean to you?" Many of the answers say, "family." One says: "This is a place I can be me."Living together: 'Even white people like me'Mountain View wasn't always a global petri dish.Mountain View attracts a wide array of people.It grew up as a first-ring suburb that was annexed by Anchorage in the 1950s. It boomed as the place that accommodated transient oil workers who came for jobs on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The history is reflected in Mountain View's housing, a low-cost stock that consists of numerous duplexes and apartment complexes, which in turn attracted people looking for low-rent places in a state where high construction costs make decent housing expensive.After the pipeline was finished, Mountain View fell into decline. Crime soared in the 1980s and 1990s and the neighborhood got a bad rap.Architectural designer Clark Yerrington moved here in 1999 and recalls how his friends were shocked. It was common to hear people in Anchorage at that time say: "Never move into a neighborhood that ends with 'view.' "Mountain View and Fairview, named for their proximity to the Chugach Mountains, had become unsafe. In the height of the crack cocaine era, the blocks around Yerrington's house were "switched on all night.""It was sketchy," says Yerrington, who is white. "I moved here because it was affordable. I did not expect to be here long."His friends refused to visit him. But he's glad he stayed. Mountain View has been bouncing back in recent years, says Kirk Rose, executive director of the Anchorage Community Land Trust, which has purchased and rehabilitated properties and encourages revitalization. A credit union converted an eyesore gas station and opened the first financial institution around these parts. Before that, there were only pawn shops that charged 20% for cashing a check, Rose says."The credit union has added 3,000 new accounts," he says.And growth around Mountain View has helped. Olive Garden opened last year (a big deal), and now clothing giant H&M has announced it's coming to Anchorage (an even bigger deal). That's the buzz on the street.Key to Mountain View is its strong housing authority, which has shepherded construction of affordable homes. One reason the homes are cheaper is because buyers only pay for the house. The housing authority owns the land. The better housing has helped change the neighborhood from being largely transient to one where people want to stay, Rose says. "And that is so important for the health of a community."Yerrington proudly displays a collection of photos on his dining room wall. They are of houses in Mountain View, each a representation of a place he finds unique. There's no white part of town. No Aleut village. Or Chinatown. There are no set patterns."We all live together. Even white people like me. Think how it would be if the whole country had been organized like this. It does people good to break out of their comfort zone and mix with neighbors who are different."And there's one more thing. It's Alaska. Yerrington's home is surrounded by wilderness and wildlife. Mountains and moose. He can't think of another place in America quite like this.

Ann O'Neill, CNN

2015-07-17 20:29:33

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https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/17/us/billionaires-beach-malibu-public-access/index.html

Billionaire's Beach just got a lot less exclusive - CNN

With a ribbon cutting and speeches, a path between two Malibu mansions was opened and Billionaire's Beach was turned over to John and Jane Q. Public.

us, Billionaire's Beach just got a lot less exclusive - CNN

Billionaire's Beach just got a lot less exclusive

Malibu, California (CNN)It wasn't a particularly good beach day, but that was beside the point. This event was all about going where the rich folks didn't want us to go. And so, on a gray morning in early July, a small group of conservationists gathered on Billionaire's Beach, once one of California's hardest to reach. They had a beach party of sorts, simply because they could. It felt good, in the way that off-limits things often do.They nibbled on cookies shaped like flip-flops and gossiped about the creative measures some of the 70-plus homeowners have taken to keep the riff-raff off the sand. Giant scissors sliced through blue ribbon while flowery words were spoken about how this was a big, important day for California's beaches. With that, the Carbon Beach West coastal access way -- a 10-foot-wide concrete walkway slicing between two fenced Malibu mansions -- was dedicated and opened.Read MoreBillionaire's Beach was turned over to John and Jane Q. Public. Californians are passionate about their beaches, and Malibu has some of the most famous in the world. Many actors, rock stars and power players in the entertainment industry maintain Malibu beach houses or sprawling estates in the hills overlooking the Pacific. Blue signs now point the way to a 10-foot-wide concrete sluice running between the busy Pacific Coast Highway and the beach.In California, the area between the water line and the mean high tide line is public land by law. More simply put, wet sand means public beach. In theory, anyone could walk the length of California's coast -- some 1,100 miles -- and never set foot on private property. But getting to the wet sand can be problematic. In some places, rocks and cliffs block the way. In others, wealthy homeowners have proved resourceful in mounting impediments. Consider: Fake garage doors. Fake "No Parking" signs. Fake red-painted curbs. Rent-a-cops with real guns. Really? Carbon Beach is the official name for the crescent of sand that stretches for about a mile and a half from the Malibu Pier toward Santa Monica. But everyone knows it as Billionaire's Beach. It has been one of the most hotly disputed slices of sand in California.Up by the pier, the original public path has been open since 1981. It became known as the Zonker Harris beach access after "Doonesbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau poked fun at entertainment mogul David Geffen's attempts a decade ago to block public access near his compound at the other end of Billionaire's Beach. Geffen eventually lost his court fight and in 2007 turned over keys to an access gate. Some refer to it as the "Hooray for Hollywood Moguls beach access," but most people call it the Geffen gate. Geffen, meanwhile, is said to be quietly soliciting offers for his Malibu compound. The asking price? $100 million. The new Carbon Beach West access point lies halfway between Zonker Harris and David Geffen, running alongside a white, glassy mansion with pool and tennis court, designed by starchitect Richard Meier and built in the mid-1980s by Norm and Lisette Ackerberg. Make no mistake: This is beach heaven. There are no parking meters, no souvenir stands, no other honky-tonk distractions. The view is spectacular -- mountains on one side, ocean on the other. Simple beach houses and glassy mega-mansions sit cheek by jowl, which made it extremely difficult for the public to reach a beach that long served as the private backyard for the richest of the rich. People like Geffen and Rob Reiner and Dr. Dre and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Larry Ellison. The four-dozen nonbillionaires who turned out for the beach access festivities pretty much had the sand to themselves. There were gray ponytails, hippie tie-dyes and Hawaiian shirts aplenty, and some of these folks had been part of the battle over this beach for more than 30 years. The last decade-plus was spent in and out of court. The latest case, which involved the Ackerbergs, came on the heels of Geffen's. It weighed the right of the wealthy to sequester themselves with some expectation of privacy in multimillion-dollar oceanfront mansions against the right of the public to use beaches that, by California law, are theirs. Once again the hoi polloi prevailed, hands down; the beach is open to everyone "as a matter of public policy," the California Court of Appeals said. The new beach access runs alongside the Ackerberg home, designed by architect Richard Meier and built in the 1980s.The Carbon Beach access issue predates the Ackerbergs' purchase of the beachfront property. The previous owner, Ralph Trueblood, applied to build a retaining wall to control beach erosion, and in 1983 he signed off on providing an easement for public beach access. A year later, the Ackerbergs bought the place. Trueblood's house was a teardown, and the couple applied for permits to build a house four times larger, along with a tennis court. The California Coastal Commission, which regulates beach development, agreed, as long as the easement was provided. The Ackerbergs wasted no time, recording the easement with local officials four months after getting their permits. It just took them the next 40 years to act on it. Norm Ackerberg was one of the founders of the environmental group Santa Monica Baykeeper, leaving observers wondering why he wouldn't want to provide beach access. After he died in 2004, his widow, now 78, delayed putting in the access way, believing she and her husband had agreed to provide a path to the beach only as an alternative to a nearby access point the county designated but never built. The Ackerbergs reached that settlement with Access for All, a now-defunct coastal conservation group. But the Coastal Commission never signed off on the deal, and it was scuttled when the courts found out the state panel had not been kept in the loop.The commission accused the group of selling out and vowed to keep fighting. In July 2009, the commission voted to compel Lisette Ackerberg to remove landscaping and concrete from the easement area. As the commission's former executive director, Peter Douglas, stated in a 2009 email: "There is a major public asset and value at stake here. I do not see any basis for giving away or abandoning such a precious public resource." Ackerberg's response was to file a lawsuit. After losing in state courts in 2012 and 2013, Ackerberg finally agreed to a settlement that required her to take down a 9-foot wall and move some eucalyptus trees and a generator. She also took things a step further, making the pathway by her home wheelchair accessible. And she ponied up $1.1 million to be used for maintenance into perpetuity.Steve Kinsey waves and Aaron McClendon and Charles Lester, right, wield giant scissors as the Coastal Commission officials formally open the path."I am especially proud to give people with disabilities a safe and efficient way to access and enjoy the magnificent beauty of Malibu," Ackerberg said in a statement given by her attorney, Diane Abbitt. No hard feelings. Blue signs now point the way to a 10-foot-wide concrete sluice running between the busy Pacific Coast Highway and the beach. On the day of the oceanside party, someone had set up folding chairs, which sank into the sand. The tide was moving up the beach, toward the cables laid down by the TV crews. It was time to make some speeches and cut some ribbon. "The access is now open. It is your coast. It's a coast for everybody," proclaimed Charles Lester, executive director of the California Coastal Commission. He pointed out that his agency, now the model for conservationists elsewhere, was formed some 40 years ago in response to Californians' concerns about unchecked coastal development. "People come from around the world to visit our coast," Lester said, "and they do that because we decided in 1972 to protect our coast." Proposition 20, the "Save Our Coast" voter initiative, was placed on the ballot and passed by overwhelming numbers in 1972, launching one of the most ambitious coastal preservation efforts in the nation. The initiative expressly stated: "It is the policy of the state to preserve, protect and where possible, to restore the resources of the coastal zone for the enjoyment of the current and succeeding generations." The Coastal Commission was created in 1976 as the result of the legislature's California Coastal Act. The 12-member commission, made up of appointees and elected officials, works with local governments to plan and regulate coastal development. It also protects public beach access, wetlands and wildlife.The California coast contributes about $40 billion a year to the state's economy, Lester said. "If there's anything this program stands for, it shows you can have a tough regulatory program and economic success. One of the values we try to uphold everywhere is the coast really is for everyone." After that, the only thing left to do was strip off your shoes and lay footprints along the water line.Brothers Gavin and Garrett Anderson were among the first to enjoy the new beach access.The first tourists were accidental. Robert Anderson and his sons, Gavin and Garrett, had just dropped off a sister at camp on the Pepperdine University campus a mile or two up the highway. The boys, more accustomed to the mountains of their hometown in Mammoth, ran into the surf, shrieking with joy. Don't get wet, cautioned Dad to no avail. Before long, 9-year-old Garrett was sprawled in the surf, soaked head to toe. Brother Gavin, 12, was content to laugh and toss sand at him. Resident Leah Fox strolled by, amused by all the activity on a beach she normally has to herself on weekdays. Originally from Dallas, Fox worked for Frito-Lay for 37 years. She saved, and she sought the advice of a financial adviser because she had always dreamed of retiring to Malibu. Two years ago, she settled into an oceanfront condo. She says she can wave to Dr. Dre from her balcony. She favors beach access, even if it means 2,000 people cramming onto her beach on Sundays. Sharing the beach is a small price to pay. "On weekdays, it's not going to be crowded," she predicted. She added that she has no problem with public beach access "as long as everybody cleans up after themselves and respects the high tide line." Public access has been a big issue for Jenny Price -- so much so that she developed an app showing all the secret, hidden beaches of Malibu. So far, "Our Malibu Beaches" has been downloaded 51,000 times. "I can tell you, people are eager to use the beaches," said Price, who joined the ribbon cutting. "They don't care about celebrities. They don't care about rich people." They care about the beach in Malibu, all 20 miles of it. It's theirs, after all.

John Blake, CNN

2017-08-04 04:23:24

health

health

https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/04/health/exorcism-doctor/index.html

A man of science confronts demonic possession - CNN

He is an Ivy League-educated "man of science." He's also the man exorcists call for help. Here's how one psychiatrist became a believer in demonic possession.

health, A man of science confronts demonic possession - CNN

When exorcists need help, they call him

(CNN)A small group of nuns and priests met the woman in the chapel of a house one June evening. Though it was warm outside, a palpable chill settled over the room.As the priests began to pray, the woman slipped into a trance -- and then snapped to life. She spoke in multiple voices: One was deep, guttural and masculine; another was high-pitched; a third spouted only Latin. When someone secretly sprinkled ordinary water on her, she didn't react. But when holy water was used, she screamed in pain. "Leave her alone, you f***ing priests," the guttural voice shouted. "Stop, you whores. ... You'll be sorry."You've probably seen this before: a soul corrupted by Satan, a priest waving a crucifix at a snarling woman. Movies and books have mimicked exorcisms so often, they've become clichés. The 1973 film "The Exorcist" shaped how many see demonic possession. But this was an actual exorcism -- and included a character not normally seen in the traditional drive-out-the-devil script.Read MoreDr. Richard Gallagher is an Ivy League-educated, board-certified psychiatrist who teaches at Columbia University and New York Medical College. He was part of the team that tried to help the woman. Fighting Satan's minions wasn't part of Gallagher's career plan while he was studying medicine at Yale. He knew about biblical accounts of demonic possession but thought they were an ancient culture's attempt to grapple with mental disorders like epilepsy. He proudly calls himself a "man of science." Yet today, Gallagher has become something else: the go-to guy for a sprawling network of exorcists in the United States. He says demonic possession is real. He's seen the evidence: victims suddenly speaking perfect Latin; sacred objects flying off shelves; people displaying "hidden knowledge" or secrets about people that they could not have possibly have known."There was one woman who was like 90 pounds soaking wet. She threw a Lutheran deacon who was about 200 pounds across the room," he says. "That's not psychiatry. That's beyond psychiatry."Gallagher calls himself a "consultant" on demonic possessions. For the past 25 years, he has helped clergy distinguish between mental illness and what he calls "the real thing." He estimates that he's seen more cases of possession than any other physician in the world.There was one woman who was like 90 pounds soaking wet. She threw a Lutheran deacon who was about 200 pounds across the room. That's not psychiatry. That's beyond psychiatry. Dr. Richard Gallagher, psychiatrist, professor and demonic possession "consultant""Whenever I need help, I call on him," says the Rev. Gary Thomas, one of the most famous exorcists in the United States. The movie "The Rite" was based on Thomas' work."He's so respected in the field," Thomas says. "He's not like most therapists, who are either atheists or agnostics."Gallagher is a big man -- 6-foot-5 -- who once played semipro basketball in Europe. He has a gruff, no-nonsense demeanor. When he talks about possession, it sounds as if he's describing the growth of algae; his tone is dry, clinical, matter-of-fact.Possession, he says, is rare -- but real."I spend more time convincing people that they're not possessed than they are," he wrote in an essay for The Washington Post. Some critics, though, say Gallagher has become possessed by his own delusions. They say all he's witnessed are cheap parlor tricks by people who might need therapy but certainly not exorcism. And, they argue, there's no empirical evidence that proves possession is real. Still, one of the biggest mysteries about Gallagher's work isn't what he's seen. It's how he's evolved.How does a "man of science" get pulled into the world of demonic possession?His short answer: He met a queen of Satan. A 'creepy' encounter with evilShe was a middle-age woman who wore flowing dark clothes and black eye shadow. She could be charming and engaging. She was also part of a satanic cult.She called herself the queen of the cult, but Gallagher would refer to her as "Julia," the pseudonym he gave her. The woman had approached her local priest, convinced she was being attacked by a demon. The priest referred her to an exorcist, who reached out to Gallagher for a mental health evaluation.Why, though, would a devil worshipper want to be free of the devil?"She was conflicted," Gallagher says. "There was a part of her that wanted to be relieved of the possession."She ended up relieving Gallagher of his doubts. It was one of the first cases he took, and it changed him. Gallagher helped assemble an exorcism team that met Julia in the chapel of a house.Objects would fly off shelves around her. She somehow knew personal details about Gallagher's life: how his mother had died of ovarian cancer; the fact that two cats in his house went berserk fighting each other the night before one of her sessions.Julia found a way to reach him even when she wasn't with him, he says.He was talking on the phone with Julia's priest one night, he says, when both men heard one of the demonic voices that came from Julia during her trances -- even though she was nowhere near a phone and thousands of miles away.He says he was never afraid."It's creepy," he says. "But I believe I'm on the winning side."How a scientist believes in demonsHe also insists that he's on the side of science. He says he's a stickler for the scientific method, that it teaches people to follow the facts wherever they may lead. Growing up in a large Irish Catholic family in Long Island, he didn't think much about stories of possession. But when he kept seeing cases like Julia's as a professional, he says, his views had to evolve. Some priests say those who dabble in the occult are opening doorways to the demonic."I don't believe in this stuff because I'm Catholic," he says. "I try to follow the evidence."Being Catholic, though, may help.Gallagher grew up in a home where faith was taken seriously. His younger brother, Mark, says Gallagher was an academic prodigy with a photographic memory who wanted to use his faith to help people."We had a sensational childhood," Mark Gallagher says. "My mother and father were great about always helping neighbors or relatives out." Their mother was a homemaker, and their father was a lawyer who'd fought in World War II. "My father used to walk us proudly into church. He taught us to give back."Gallagher's two ways of giving back -- helping the mentally ill as well as the possessed -- may seem at odds. But not necessarily for those in the Catholic Church. Contemporary Catholicism doesn't see faith and science as contradictory. Its leaders insist that possession, miracles and angels exist. But global warming is real, so is evolution, and miracles must be documented with scientific rigor. More from 'The Other Side'Some stories blur the lines between science, spirituality and the supernatural. These stories are from "The Other Side."Where do coincidences come from?Synchronicity is familiar to many people, yet few understand how it works. Are our lives are shaped by unseen hands? Or are we victims of psychological narcissm?Beyond GoodbyeSome people not only share their life but their moment of death with loved ones. Are these "shared-death experiences" real or a mirage?Why Bigfoot is getting nervousMonster stories have been around for millennia. Now hunters are hot on the trail, armed with cameras, drones and night-vision goggles. Can they catch one?Ghost hunters haunted by competitionWe've heard of ghosts that harass the living. Now people are starting to harass the ghosts. Across America, teams are creeping through people's homes, trying to get rid of their paranormal pests.Heaven popular, except with the churchPopular culture is filled with accounts from people who claim to have near-death experiences. So why doesn't the church talk about heaven anymore?Bidding farewell from beyond the grave?Although visits by the spirits of the recently departed can be chilling, they are also comforting, say those who've seen these "crisis apparitions." Can bonds between loved ones defy death?One of Gallagher's favorite sources of inspiration is Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Fides et Ratio" ("On Faith and Reason"). The Pope writes that "there can never be a true divergence between faith and reason, since the same God who reveals the mysteries and bestows the gift of faith has also placed in the human spirit the light of reason."The church's emphasis on faith and reason can even been seen in the birth of its exorcism ritual. The Rite of Exorcism was first published in 1614 by Pope Paul V to quell a trend of laypeople and priests hastily performing exorcisms on people they presumed were possessed, such as victims of the bubonic plague, says the Rev. Mike Driscoll, author of "Demons, Deliverance, Discernment: Separating Fact from Fiction about the Spirit World.""A line (in the rite) said that the exorcist should be careful to distinguish between demon possession and melancholy, which was a catchall for mental illness," Driscoll says. "The church knew back then that there were mental problems. It said the exorcist should not have anything to do with medicine. Leave that to the doctors."Learn about the true story that inspired the movie "The Exorcist"Doctors, perhaps, like Gallagher.Gallagher says the concept of possession by spirit isn't limited to Catholicism. Muslim, Jewish and other Christian traditions regard possession by spirits -- holy or benign -- as possible."This is not quite as esoteric as some people make it out to be," Gallagher says. "I know quite a few psychiatrists and mental health professionals who believe in this stuff."Dr. Mark Albanese is among them. A friend of Gallagher's, Albanese studied medicine at Cornell and has been practicing psychiatry for decades. In a letter to the New Oxford Review, a Catholic magazine, he defended Gallagher's belief in possession. He also says there is a growing belief among health professionals that a patient's spiritual dimension should be accounted for in treatment, whether their provider agrees with those beliefs or not. Some psychiatrists have even talked of adding a "trance and possession disorder" diagnosis to the DSM, the premier diagnostic manual of disorders used by mental health professionals in the US. There's still so much about the human mind that psychiatrists don't know, Albanese says. Doctors used to be widely skeptical of people who claimed to suffer from multiple personalities, but now it's a legitimate disorder (dissociative identity disorder). Many are still dumbfounded by the power of placebos, a harmless pill or medical procedure that produces healing in some cases."There's a certain openness to experiences that are happening that are beyond what we can explain by MRI scans, neurobiology or even psychological theories," Albanese says.Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, a psychiatrist who specializes in schizophrenia, arrived at a similar conclusion after he had an unnerving experience with a patient.Lieberman was asked to examine the videotape of an exorcism that he subsequently dismissed as unconvincing.Then he met a woman who, he said, "freaked me out." Lieberman, director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, says he and a family therapist were asked to examine a young woman who some thought was possessed. He and his colleague tried to treat the woman for several months but gave up because they had no success.The film "The Rite" is based on the life of the Rev. Gary Thomas, one of the leading exorcists in the US.Something happened during the treatment, though, that he still can't explain. After sessions with the woman, he says, he'd go home in the evenings, and the lights in his house would go off by themselves, photographs and artwork would fall or slide off shelves, and he'd experience a piercing headache.When he mentioned to this to his colleague one day, her response stunned him: She'd been having the exact same experiences."I had to sort of admit that I didn't really know what was going on," Lieberman says. "Because of the bizarre things that occurred, I wouldn't say that (demonic possession) is impossible or categorically rule it out ... although I have very limited empirical evidence to verify its existence."The tragic case of the real 'Emily Rose'If you want to know why so many scientists and doctors like Lieberman are cautious about legitimizing demonic possession, consider one name: Anneliese Michel. Michel was a victim in one of the most notorious cases of contemporary exorcism. If you have the stomach for it, go online and listen to audiotapes and watch videos of her exorcisms. The images and sounds will burn themselves into your brain. It sounds like somebody dropped a microphone into hell.Michel was a German Catholic woman who died of starvation in 1976 after 67 exorcisms over a period of nine months. She was diagnosed with epilepsy but believed she was possessed. So did her devout Roman Catholic parents. She reportedly displayed some of the classic signs of possession: abnormal strength, aversion to sacred objects, speaking different languages.Learn about Anneliese MichelBut authorities later determined that it was Michel's parents and two priests who were responsible for her death. German authorities put them on trial for murder, and they were found guilty of negligent homicide. The 2005 film "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" was based on Michel's ordeal and the subsequent trial.The worst thing you can do to a patient who is delusional is to confirm their delusions. Telling a patient who is struggling that maybe they're possessed by a demon is the worst thing you can do.Steven Novella, a neurologist and professor at Yale School of MedicineOne of the leading skeptics of exorcism -- and one of Gallagher's chief critics -- is Steven Novella, a neurologist and professor at Yale School of Medicine. He wrote a lengthy blog post dissecting Gallagher's experience with Julia, the satanic priestess. It could be read as a takedown of exorcisms everywhere. He says Julia probably performed a "cold reading" on Gallagher. It's an old trick of fortune tellers and mediums in which they use vague, probing statements to make canny guesses about someone. (Fortune teller: "I see a recent tragedy in your family." Client: "You mean my sister who got hurt in a car accident? How did you know?")Or take the case of a person speaking an unfamiliar language like Latin during a possession."A patient might memorize Latin phrases to throw out during one of their possessions," Novella wrote. "Were they having a conversation in Latin? Did they understand Latin spoken to them? Or did they just speak Latin?"Learn why Novella thinks exorcisms are fake Novella says it's noteworthy that no one has filmed any paranormal event such as levitation or sacred objects flying across the room during an exorcism. He's seen exorcism tapes posted online and in documentaries and says they're not scary."They're boring," he says. "Nothing exciting happens. The most you get is some really bad play-acting by the person who is being exorcised." In an interview, Novella went further and criticized any therapist who believes his patient's delusions. "The worst thing you can do to a patient who is delusional is to confirm their delusions," says Novella, who founded the New England Skeptical Society. "The primary goal of therapy is to reorient them to reality. Telling a patient who is struggling that maybe they're possessed by a demon is the worst thing you can do. It's only distracting them from addressing what the real problem is."The 2005 horror film "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" was loosely based on the death of Anneliese Michel.Driscoll, the Catholic priest who wrote a book about possession, is not a skeptic like Novella. Still, he says, it's not unusual for people on drugs or during psychotic episodes to display abnormal strength. "I have seen it take four grown guys to hold one small woman down," says Driscoll, a chaplain at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa, Illinois. "When a person has no fear and is not in their right mind and they don't care about hurting themselves or hurting others, you can see heartbreaking things."That doesn't mean he thinks possession isn't real. He says the New Testament is full of accounts of Jesus confronting demons."Do I still believe it happens? Yes, I do," he says. "It happened then. I don't know why it would be totally eradicated now."Gallagher agrees and has answers for skeptics like Novella.He says demons won't submit to lab studies or allow themselves to be easily recorded by video equipment. They want to sow doubt, not confirm their existence, he says. Nor will the church compromise the privacy of a person suffering from possession just to provide film to skeptics. Gallagher says he sees his work with the possessed as an extension of his responsibilities as a doctor. In a passage from a book he is working on about demonic possession in America, he says that it is the duty of a physician to help people in great distress "without concern whether they have debatable or controversial conditions."Gallagher isn't the first psychiatrist to feel such duty. Dr. M. Scott Peck, the late author of "The Road Less Traveled," conducted two exorcisms himself -- something Gallagher considers unwise and dangerous for any psychiatrist. "I didn't go volunteering for this," he says. "I went into this because different people over the last few decades realized that I was open to this sort of thing. The referrals are almost invariably from priests. It's not like someone is walking into my office and I say, 'You must be possessed.' " What happened to Satan's queen He may not have asked to join the "hidden" world of exorcism, but he is an integral part of that community today. He's been featured in stories and documentaries about exorcism and is on the governing board of the Rome-based International Association of Exorcists. "It's deepened my faith," he says of the exorcisms he's witnessed. "It didn't radically change it, but it validated my faith."He says he's received thanks from many people he's helped over the years. Some wept, grateful to him for not dismissing them as delusional. As for letting a journalist talk to any of these people, Gallagher says he zealously guards their privacy.Belief in possession exists in many religious traditions. Here, a man enters a state of possession during an African voodoo ceremony.Julia, though, gave him permission to tell her story. But it didn't have a happy ending.He and a team of exorcists continued to see her, but eventually, she called a halt to the sessions. She was too ambivalent. She relished some of the abilities she displayed during her trances. She was "playing both sides.""Exorcism is not some kind of magical incantation," Gallagher says. "Normally, a person has to make their own sincere spiritual efforts, too."About a year after she dropped out, Gallagher says, he heard Julia's voice on the phone again. This time, she had called to tell him she was dying of cancer.Gallagher says he offered to try to help her with a team of priests while she was still physically able, but her response was terse:"Well, I'll give it some thought."He says he never heard from her again.Inevitably, there will be others. His phone will ring. A priest will tell him a story. A team of clergy and nuns will be summoned. And the man of science will enter the hidden world of exorcism again.Join the conversationSee the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.The critics, the souls that aren't saved, the creepy encounters -- they don't seem to deter him."Truly informed exorcists don't tend to get discouraged," he says, "because they know it is our Lord who delivers the person, not themselves."Is Gallagher doing God's work, or does he need deliverance from his own delusions?Perhaps only God -- and Satan -- knows for sure.

John Blake, CNN

2015-12-29 16:33:37

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/29/us/odd-coincidences-synchronicity-the-other-side/index.html

Coincidences: What causes them? - CNN

Are coincidences part of some cosmic drama shaped by unseen hands? Or are they the result of a person's desperate need to find meaning in odd connections?

us, Coincidences: What causes them? - CNN

The Other Side: Where do coincidences come from?

(CNN)Royce Burton was teaching history at a New Jersey university when he decided to tell his class about a frightening experience he had as a young man.He was a Texas Ranger, patrolling the Rio Grande in 1940, when he got lost in a canyon after dark. He tried to climb out but lost his balance just as he neared the top of a cliff. Suddenly Joe, a fellow Ranger, appeared and hoisted him up to safety with his rifle strap. Burton thanked Joe for saving his life but lost contact with him after both men enlisted in the military during World War II.Burton was in the middle of sharing his story when an elderly man appeared in the doorway. It was Joe, the fellow Ranger. He had tracked Burton down 25 years later and walked into his classroom at precisely the moment Burton was recounting his rescue."I'll have Joe finish the rest of the story," Burton said, without missing a beat as the astonished classroom witnessed the two men's reunion.You could call Burton's story an amazing coincidence, but James Hollis calls it something else: "synchronicity" -- a meaningful coincidence.Read MoreAbout this seriesSome stories blur the lines between science, spirituality and the supernatural. These are stories from "The Other Side."Synchronicity is a term coined by Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and mystic. It is the occurrence of two events that have no apparent cause and effect relation but are nonetheless connected by meaning, often in profound ways.Synchronicity is an odd term, but it's a familiar experience to many people. Someone dreams of a childhood friend he hasn't heard from in years and gets a phone call from that friend the next day. Another person loses his mother and hears her favorite song on the radio on the day of her funeral. Someone facing a terrible personal crisis is the accidental recipient of a book that seems written just for him or her. "Everybody has stories like that," says Hollis, a Jungian analyst and author who knew Burton and shares his story in the book "Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Run Our Lives." "We live in a haunted world where invisible energies are constantly at work."Yet few people understand how synchronicities work. Why do they happen, where do they come from, and does their existence suggest that everyone's life is somehow part of some cosmic drama shaped by unseen hands?Or, as critics insist, is synchronicity simply psychological narcissism, the result of a person's desperate need to find meaning in odd connections that anyone would notice if he paid attention.Those are the kind of questions that scientists, skeptics and psychologists have long asked about striking coincidences. The concept of synchronicity, though, is moving mainstream. Google the term and 5.4 million references pop up. Facebook has a page devoted to synchronicity. And there are people who collect synchronicity stories like kids used to collect baseball cards. They catalog them in pieces such as "29 Mind-Blowing Coincidences You Won't Believe Happened" or "20 Amazing Coincidences."Even those who have never heard of synchronicity are influenced by it, some say. If you flip open the Bible and randomly pick out the first Scripture you see for guidance, or you pay attention to premonitions or astrology, you are relying to some degree on the principles of synchronicity."The interest in synchronicity is exploding," says Gibbs A. Williams, a psychoanalyst and author of the book "Demystifying Meaningful Coincidences.""Many synchronicity disciples get off on this stuff as if they were junkies craving their next fix." Of plum pudding and golden beetlesSynchronicity groupies have their favorite stories. Some have been cited so much it's difficult to know if they're true or apocryphal -- or a combination of both.Consider the infamous tale of Emile Deschamps and his plum pudding.In 1805, Deschamps, a French poet, was treated to plum pudding by Monsieur de Fortgibu, a stranger he met in a restaurant. A decade later, Deschamps goes to a Paris restaurant and orders plum pudding again. The waiter tells him the last dish has been served to someone else -- a Monsieur de Fortgibu.The story gets odder. In 1832, Deschamps goes to a diner where someone offers him plum pudding. He jokingly tells his friends that the only thing missing is de Fortgibu -- and de Fortgibu, now an elderly man, promptly wobbles into the diner.No wonder Jung was drawn to such stories of synchronicity. He was fascinated by strange experiences. He was a lifelong believer in the occult and claimed to have personal encounters with the paranormal. Monster stories have been around for millennia. Now sleuths are hot on the trail. Can they catch one?Jung's belief in synchronicity was, in fact, reinforced by a synchronistic encounter that was as eerie as Deschamps' plum pudding story.Jung was treating a highly educated young woman who he thought relied too much on her intellect. He said she was "psychologically inaccessible" and concluded that a breakthrough could only come if something unexpected and irrational turned up during their sessions.One day the woman told Jung she had a strange dream the night before in which someone had handed her an expensive piece of jewelry, a "golden scarab" shaped like a beetle. While the woman was sharing the dream, Jung heard a gentle tapping on an office window behind him. It was a large insect trying to get into the darkened office.Jung opened the window and caught the insect when it flew in. It was a golden scarabaeid beetle, whose gold-green color resembled the color of the golden scarab jewelry. "Here is your scarab," Jung said, handing it to the stunned woman.The moment proved to be a breakthrough for the woman, Jung claimed. His decision to use the synchronistic moment to forge a breakthrough with his patient would become a model for other Jungian therapists. Their message: Synchronistic moments don't happen just to inspire wonder; they arrive to force people to reconsider their values.Why synchronicity happensWhenever an improbable coincidence occurs, says Hollis, the Jungian analyst, people should look for the possible message in that moment."We should ask if there is another dimension to it (the striking coincidence) that would ask of me, what change of attitude and what insight I might draw from this," he says. "Is there a task there that is corrective to my way of looking at things?"In his book "Hauntings," Hollis explained the message behind the former Texas Ranger's improbable reunion. Hollis befriended him when both taught at the same university."For my colleague, who is a sensate 'facts are facts kind of guy,' the incident helped expand his psychic life by bringing a bit of mystery into it," Hollis wrote. "After his sensibility enlarged, he was even more aware of the presence of invisible energies amid his tangible world."Some believe that people can train themselves to summon synchronistic moments.Alex Marcoux, author of "Lifesigns: Tapping the Power of Synchronicity, Serendipity and Miracles," says that the "Universe" sends synchronistic signs to help people live more fulfilling lives. Marcoux, who insists that Universe be capitalized because of her spiritual beliefs, offers a five-step process on how to recognize and learn from synchronicity: Ask with intention, sense life's experiences, unravel the Universe's clues, validate the answer and express gratitude.Marcoux says she's relied on synchronistic moments to help her make decisions on everything from the plotlines of her novels to her finances and relationships.When asked how she can discern if a coincidence is a message or just a random moment, she says there are three indicators: The event is meaningful, improbable and she's hit with a sudden realization. The moment feels like an epiphany."The hair goes up on the back of your neck," she says.Jung introduced the concept of synchronicity to Western audiences with the publication of his book "Synchronicity -- An Acausal Connecting Principle." But the concept predates him by thousands of years. As Jung pointed out, the concept forms the foundation for an ancient Chinese text used for divination called the I Ching, or the Book of Changes. Jungians say advances in quantum physics and chaos theory also reinforced the principles of synchronicity. Why synchronicity could be a hoaxSome critics say synchronicity is not the result of an otherworldly influence. It's self-generated -- it's produced by people looking for answers to personal problems, says Williams, author of "Demystifying Meaningful Coincidences."Williams says synchronicities are neither random events nor coded messages from a transcendent divinity. Striking coincidences often occur when people are experiencing a psychological gridlock in their life.A person who swears off drinking, for example, may turn on the television set the same day of their resolution and see a movie about Alcoholics Anonymous. When one resolves to solve a personal problem, one will often see a "resonant message" embedded in a moment, he says."You're looking for patterns. It's like you're on your own psychological scavenger hunt. You look for pieces to fit the puzzle. The completed pattern is experienced as a synchronicity." Some not only share their life but moment of death with loved ones. Are these 'shared-death experiences' real?Some critics of synchronicity deny these events occur at all.Skeptics cite one of the most frequently touted examples of synchronicity: the strange parallels between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.Both presidents had seven letters in their last names and were elected to office 100 years apart -- 1860 and 1960. Both were assassinated on a Friday in the presence of their wives, Lincoln in Ford's Theatre and Kennedy in an automobile made by Ford. Both were felled by assassins who went by three names, John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald. And both were succeeded by vice presidents who were Southern Democrats with the last name Johnson.What does it mean?Absolutely nothing, wrote Bruce Martin in an essay for Skeptical Inquirer magazine. Mathematical probability ensures that some coincidences will occur, but people assign less probability to coincidences than they deserve. Probability ensures that in a random selection of 23 people, he says, there is a 50% chance that at least two of those people celebrate the same birth date.Synchronicity supporters also ignore facts that challenge the meaning of their coincidences, he says. Take Lincoln and Kennedy: They shared similarities, but they were also born and died in different months, states and at different ages. What about those differences?"For any two people with reasonably eventful lives it is possible to find coincidences between them," Martin wrote in the essay "Coincidences: Remarkable or Random?""Two people meeting at a party often find some striking coincidence between them, but what it is -- birthdate, hometown, etc. -- is not predicted in advance."Hollis, the Jungian analyst, readily concedes some coincidences exist apart from synchronicity. But he says there are other odd coincidences that go beyond mathematical possibility. You just can't explain them away. He says these strange stories reveal "the spectral presence" of some kind of energy that deliberately infiltrates people's daily lives.Consider one of the strangest synchronicity stories ever told:In 1938, Joseph Figlock, a street sweeper, was cleaning an alley in Detroit when a baby fell from an open, fourth-floor window. The baby hit Figlock in the head, the impact saving the child's life. A year later, Figlock was sweeping another alley when another baby fell from a fourth-floor window -- onto Figlock. Same fate. Both Figlock and the baby were unharmed.What does one make of such a story?Time magazine matter-of-factly reported Figlock's story under the headline, "Coincidence in Detroit." It did not include any interviews -- and the story is one the Internet loves to debate as truth or fiction. This much appears to be sure: No one ever caught up with Figlock or either of the babies to see how their lives were shaped by those amazing moments.Try to explain why these coincidences occur, and few agree. Even Jung struggled to grasp the implication of synchronicity -- some say he had at least three different definitions of it, and his followers disagreed about its meaning.Says Williams, the disbeliever: "I don't think anyone has had a bead on the absolute truth."So what are we left with? Puzzling stories of falling babies, plum pudding and odd coincidences that can shape people's lives -- and even haunt them.

Ann O'Neill, CNN

2014-12-19 11:48:47

entertainment

entertainment

https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/19/showbiz/foxcatcher-steve-carell-du-pont/index.html

'Foxcatcher': The crazy du Pont next door - CNN

With a buzzworthy performance, Steve Carell brings the Boo Radley of a CNN reporter's childhood back to life in "Foxcatcher."

entertainment, 'Foxcatcher': The crazy du Pont next door - CNN

'Foxcatcher': The crazy du Pont next door

Story highlights"Foxcatcher," based on a true story, is getting big awards season buzz Steve Carell plays murdering millionaire sports benefactor John du Pont Writer Ann O'Neill remembers growing up next to the du Pont estateDu Pont died in prison, convicted of killing Olympic wrestler David Schultz (CNN)He was the local loon. We didn't call him that, of course. He had buckets of money, and he was our neighbor, so we were polite. He was simply "odd." He bought a replica police car, put on a uniform, flashed his auxiliary badge and made traffic stops outside the gates of his estate. He wrote official-looking citations and warnings, scolding everyone that they were driving too fast. He let my swim team train during the winter in his Olympic-sized indoor pool. If you had an AAU ranking, you were invited to wear blue and gold T-shirts and warm-ups emblazoned with "Foxcatcher," the title he'd give his estate. John E. du Pont was his name. He was a direct descendant of E. I. du Pont, who founded a gunpowder mill that grew into the huge chemical company that gave the world nylon and Teflon. His father was known as "Stinky Willie" because of his aversion to personal grooming.John du Pont was awkward and pedantic, the eccentric millionaire next door. He collected seashells and stuffed birds and referred to himself as "America's golden eagle."Read MoreHe called his more prominent relatives "the lesser du Ponts," but the title probably fit him better. He was worth as much as $200 million, according to one Forbes estimate, and spent lavishly on his passion: amateur freestyle wrestling. He gave more than $3 million to the sport's governing body, USA Wrestling. Then he shot and killed one of wrestling's Olympic stars on the grounds of his estate. He was convicted and sent to prison, where he died four years ago.Said the man who won a murder conviction against du Pont: "He was just a crackpot, a real crackpot." From real life to the silver screenNow actor Steve Carell has brought the crackpot back to life. There's Oscar buzz already for "Foxcatcher." And while wrestling movies aren't my thing, I simply had to go see the 40-Year-Old Virgin play the Boo Radley of my childhood. Carell, a "Daily Show" alum beloved for playing Michael Scott in the popular sitcom "The Office," deserves every bit of the serious-actor praise he's getting. He could very well follow Nicole Kidman on the path to Oscar glory -- a journey that seems to require wearing a prosthetic nose and playing someone awful and tragic. "Foxcatcher" is a dark movie, and Carell captures this entitled, homicidal nut so well that I completely forgot I was watching a guy who plays it for laughs in Judd Apatow comedies.The movie is based on the story told by Mark Schultz, the brother of the man du Pont killed in 1996. David Schultz, an Olympic gold-medal winner, trained and coached at the athletic compound du Pont built on his sprawling estate in my hometown. Mark Schultz, an intense pit bull of a man, also wrestled and trained with du Pont. He has a book out, also called "Foxcatcher," and he's an executive producer of the movie. Both book and movie frankly depict the compromises athletes made to maintain the support of a wealthy but unhinged and controlling benefactor. My family was hardly rich, but we lived in a nice neighborhood called Echo Valley, which was built in the 1960s next to the du Pont estate in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. John and his mother, Jean Liseter Austin du Pont, were always the talk of the township.John's mother raised show beagles and Welsh ponies that dominated the competitions at the annual Devon Horse Show for more than half a century. She was a member of the Radnor Hunt Club. She loved chasing foxes with her society friends.That meant dogs, horses and wealthy people in red coats and high black boots could come tearing across the back yard as you polished off a bowl of Cheerios on Saturday mornings.The du Ponts' relationship with the neighbors certainly wasn't a two-way street. Their 800-acre property was posted with "No Trespassing" signs. As kids, we squirmed under the barbed wire fence to hunt for leopard frogs in the estate's many ponds. Lucky for us, this was a few years before he started patrolling the grounds in a tank. Later I learned why the place was off limits. The kidnapping of San Francisco heiress Patty Hearst apparently terrified the du Ponts. This fear eventually grew into full-fledged paranoia.Dreams of athletic gloryJohn trained as a swimmer for a while with the famed Santa Clara Swim Club in northern California, but he was probably the slowest guy in the pool. He had his own 50-meter pool built on the estate in the late 1960s, but it was painfully obvious that he'd never set any records, no matter how hard he trained. So he tried his hand at the pentathlon, which adds fencing, show jumping, pistol shooting and a cross-country run to the swim. This made him a bit of a local hero. He's training for the Olympics, the neighbors would boast. But the truth was, no matter how much time or money he spent training, he was never going to be good enough to make the Olympic team. I had an opportunity to interview du Pont by telephone long ago for The County Leader, Newtown Square's weekly newspaper. It was my first reporting job out of college. He had used his helicopter to airlift a woman in labor to a hospital during a snowstorm. He was charming enough and clearly loved the attention. But he was far from a socialite. He said during a magazine interview that he avoided social occasions, fearing all those marriage-minded mothers intent on foisting their daughters on him. He met the woman who would become his wife at a hospital after injuring his hand. She was not of his class, but he walked down the aisle, the neighbors gossiped, because taking a wife was a condition of his inheritance. The marriage lasted less than a year; she left him, saying in a lawsuit that he drank heavily, pushed her into a fireplace, pointed a gun at her head and called her a Russian spy. She asked for $5 million, but the case was settled and the terms never disclosed. When I was a kid, the du Pont estate was still known as Liseter Hall Farms, the name John's mother had given it. It had been part of William Penn's original charter for Newtown Township and was a wedding gift from her father. She held onto the place after her husband, Stinky Willie, departed in 1940. The white-columned mansion was a replica of President James Madison's Montpelier, a Virginia estate that was occupied for a time by some of those so-called "lesser du Ponts." She painted the house and outbuildings white and the shutters green.She never remarried and raised her youngest son alone, alongside her prized beagles and ponies. The four-legged creatures seemed more skilled at pleasing her by winning medals and ribbons than the boy did. His mother looked down on wrestling, saying it was the sport of "ruffians." And I don't think John was particularly fond of the dogs and ponies that commanded her attention. In one scene in the movie, he chases the horses from the barn after his mother dies.Burned into my memory That scene reminded me why the sight of that barn always scared me. It burned to the ground when I was about 8. I was watching my favorite show, "Batman," on the big, new color TV in the family room when an eerie, orange glow lit up the night sky.For days afterward, Echo Valley smelled like steak night at summer camp. Some 30 horses perished in the fire. It was terrifying to pass the barn's burned-out hulk on the school bus. I'd cry at the thought of all those charred ponies and thoroughbreds.The neighborhood gossip mill had a field day when John bought the replica police car and started writing warnings. Officer John, we called him. He seemed to particularly enjoy stopping a neighbor who drove a sporty red Alfa Romeo convertible. Du Pont let local police departments use his shooting range for weapons training. Officers rented houses on the estate on the cheap. He played the role of eccentric benefactor perfectly. He had enough money and enough land to insulate his mental illness until it exploded in violence. The 1988 death of his mother was a turning point in John's life. He changed the name of the estate to Foxcatcher Farm. And he really started going off the rails. The movie dishes up plenty of crazy. Carell/du Pont drives a tank, flies a helicopter, shoots off guns and cannons, has postage stamps made in his likeness, crashes a couple of Lincoln town cars into the frog pond, drinks like a fish, calls himself the Dalai Lama and gets grabby with the wrestlers. He claimed ghosts lived in the walls of his mansion and rigged them with razor wire. He saw bugs crawling in the patterns on the Oriental rugs and felt them under his skin. He grew increasingly paranoid and menacing. His final descentDu Pont's entry into the annals of true crime came on January 26, 1996. His silver Lincoln slowly cruised up Dave Schultz's driveway on the DuPont compound. John rolled down the window and asked, "You got a problem with me?" He fired a .44-caliber Magnum revolver twice. Schultz's wife, Nancy, stepped onto the porch as du Pont fired a third shot into the dying man's back as he lay sprawled on the ground. The shooter retreated to his mansion, where for two days he held off 75 cops, including 30 SWAT team members, many of whom had practiced on his firing range. Neighbors gathered at the gate and traded "Officer John" stories as police shined bright lights on the mansion and shut off the utilities. Du Pont was arrested when he emerged from his mansion to check on a boiler in the gatehouse. There were strong suggestions in the movie that du Pont's interest in his wrestlers might have been more than that of a mentor. The movie played it with a heavy hand. Back in the real world, there were troubling allegations at the courthouse. A wrestling coach at Villanova University, which du Pont also lavished with his millions, sued for wrongful termination. He claimed he was fired after spurning du Pont's advances. Villanova eventually discontinued the wrestling program. And, after du Pont was arrested on the murder charge, Villanova took his name off its sports pavilion. Wrestlers were quoted in court depositions describing duPont's custom grappling move. Called "the Foxcatcher Five," it involved grabbing an opponent at his most vulnerable spot -- between the legs. In his book, Mark Schultz says he believes du Pont faked insanity during his murder trial. He cited a single anecdote that left him feeling a little sorry for his brother's killer: He said Du Pont confided in him about a riding accident he had when he was a boy. John was caught on a fence, and his injured testicles became infected. They were removed and replaced with prosthetics. Du Pont was probably the richest man in the United States to stand trial for murder, says co-prosecutor Dennis McAndrews. He worked on the case with prosecutor Joseph McGettigan, who later sent former Penn State assistant football coach and serial child molester Jerry Sandusky to prison. I covered Sandusky's trial in 2012, and ran into McAndrews. I had covered some of his cases as a cub reporter and there he was, advising McGettigan from the peanut gallery. The two now practice law together on Philadelphia's Main Line. Du Pont went on trial a year or two after O.J. Simpson's wealth funded a legal dream team that won his acquittal in the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole, and waiter Ron Goldman. Du Pont's prosecutors anticipated another dream team defense designed to convince the jury that he was legally insane. So they portrayed him the way they saw him, as "a self-absorbed, entitled rich guy," as McAndrews put it. Asked his view of du Pont, McGettigan did not mince words. Du Pont wasn't crazy; he was a jerk. "Some people are just basically jerks," he says. "Whether he was born a jerk or was made a jerk, he was a jerk. He was a mean guy. Money was inconsequential to him. When you have years and years of enabling by scores of people because of your incredible wealth, it can veer into tragic circumstances." Experts testified that du Pont was a paranoid schizophrenic. The defense made liberal use of brain scans, considered at the time to be a huge technical and evidentiary advance. Prosecutors didn't deny he had issues but argued that they didn't meet the legal standard for insanity. By holing up in his mansion for two days, du Pont was acknowledging that he knew what he did was wrong, they argued. During his trial, du Pont wore blue and gold Team Foxcatcher warm-ups to court. He had done all the crazy things people talked about, but there usually was some grain of truth or ironic twist of logic behind it, McAndrews said. Yes, du Pont hired people to scour the estate for tunnels, but tunnels really did run under the mansion. Yes, he installed razor wire between the mansion walls, McAndrews said, but the wrestlers used to hide in those walls and jump out and startle du Pont.The jury decided that du Pont was mentally ill but guilty of third-degree murder. They were convinced he acted with malice when he shot Schultz but did not plan in advance to kill him. As Judge Patricia Jenkins put it: He was mad, and he was bad. End of the journey: prisonDu Pont was sentenced to 13 to 30 years in prison, where he died in December 2010 at the age of 72. He spent what should have been his golden years behind bars. While he was locked up, du Pont ordered the sign at the estate's gate changed to read, "Foxcatcher Prison Farm." On his orders, employees painted the buildings black, including the crime scene, a stone house along Goshen Road. Was he was trying to erase everything that happened there? Or was he signaling that he, too, was in mourning? People in my old neighborhood had hoped the du Pont place would be maintained as public open space. But it became an eyesore as the weeds sprouted, the horses roamed and the stately Georgian mansion started to fade after standing empty for more than a decade. It sold shortly before du Pont's death for $28.5 million. About 125 acres already had gone to Episcopal Academy, a prestigious Main Line prep school that built a new campus there in 2008. A few more acres were turned into a park. And the rest is being developed. It would have cost too much to restore the mansion to its former glory. So, the Montpelier replica was torn down to make room for upscale suburban houses that sell for upwards of $2 million apiece.John du Pont is buried at an undisclosed location. Under the terms of his will, he was laid to rest in his Foxcatcher wrestling singlet.

Jessica Ravitz, CNN

2016-06-16 12:41:31

health

health

https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/16/health/1973-new-orleans-gay-bar-arson-attack/index.html

Before Orlando: The (former) deadliest LGBT attack in U.S. history - CNN

Until the mass shooting in Orlando, the deadliest attack on LGBT people in the U.S. belonged to New Orleans. A 1973 gay bar arson attack killed 32.

Arson, LGBT, gay, murder, mass murder, New Orleans, 1973, Up Stairs Lounge, French Quarter, Upstairs Inferno, health, Before Orlando: The (former) deadliest LGBT attack in U.S. history - CNN

Before Orlando: The (former) deadliest LGBT attack in U.S. history

Story highlightsUntil Orlando, the worst mass murder of LGBT people in U.S. history belonged to New OrleansA June 24, 1973, arson attack on the Up Stairs Lounge, a gay bar, killed 32 (CNN)There are some distinctions nobody wants to see passed on. The site of the deadliest attack on the LGBT community in U.S. history is one of them. For nearly 43 years, up until Sunday's mass shooting in Orlando, that horrible title belonged to New Orleans. A fire determined to be arson tore through the Up Stairs Lounge, a gay bar in the French Quarter, killing 32 people. Three victims were never identified. Several bodies were never claimed because the victims' families were too ashamed. The story of the Up Stairs Lounge fire did not draw an outpouring of attention and sympathy. No massive vigils sprouted up across the country. Banners offering solidarity with New Orleans were inconceivable. National leaders weren't moved to condemn the attack or issue condolences. Even local officials -- including the mayor, governor and archbishop -- stayed mum. (Never mind, say experts on the attack, that twice earlier in the year these leaders issued statements, even declared a day of mourning, after fires that were far less lethal.) Somewhere between the police raid of the Stonewall Inn in 1969 and the assassination of Harvey Milk in 1978, this tragic chapter in LGBT history went largely overlooked and unwritten. It was certainly news to filmmaker Robert Camina when he first heard about the fire three years ago.Read MoreThat's one reason he created "Upstairs Inferno," a feature-length documentary released last June."It was so incredibly painful that people did not want to talk about it," Camina said Monday, as he still struggled to absorb the deaths of 49 at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. "I can only imagine the flashbacks and the horror that surged in the wake of this news. ... Everyone was emotionally scarred." Keeping the faith Over the phone from his home in Los Angeles, the Rev. Elder Troy Perry fights back tears, with limited success. He weeps for the past and the present.He wasn't there at the Up Stairs Lounge on June 24, 1973, when ignited lighter fluid in a stairwell unleashed hell on New Orleans' gay community. But he flew across the country to be there right after. Photos: Forgotten victims of 1973 gay bar arson attackOn June 24, 1973, an arson fire ripped through the Up Stairs Lounge, a gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It killed 32 people and, until the Orlando nightclub shooting, it was the deadliest attack on the LGBT community in U.S. history. Hide Caption 1 of 5 Photos: Forgotten victims of 1973 gay bar arson attackSome patrons were able to escape through a little-known back exit, but most of the victims in the second-floor establishment died crowded near windows blocked by security bars.Hide Caption 2 of 5 Photos: Forgotten victims of 1973 gay bar arson attackA rescue worker leans against a blackened window frame through which he helped remove charred bodies after the fire. Three victims were never identified; two others were never claimed by families. Hide Caption 3 of 5 Photos: Forgotten victims of 1973 gay bar arson attackOne man who escaped weeps as he is helped by New Orleans firefighters. He was with a group that was singing around the piano when the fire tore through the bar. Hide Caption 4 of 5 Photos: Forgotten victims of 1973 gay bar arson attackFirefighters offer aid to survivors outside the French Quarter bar at the corner of Chartres and Iberville Streets. It would be 30 years before a memorial plaque was placed to honor those who were killed that evening. Hide Caption 5 of 5The second-floor bar, at the corner of Chartres and Iberville streets, was a gathering place. It was a venue where community members could feel safe, at home and free to be themselves. One patron featured in Camina's film said those in the bar became his family; he no longer felt comfortable with his own because he was gay. Another recalled how he used to bring along his dog, a shaggy "bar hound" who'd enjoy his own bowl of milk and vodka.The patrons would listen to music played by a man they all called Piano Dave and gather in a circle at the end of the night to sing, "United we stand, divided we fall." (Pianist David Stuart Gary died in the blaze.)Perry, 75, was the founder of the international movement of Metropolitan Community Churches. Launched in 1968, it was the world's first Christian church to offer an inclusive ministry to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Today, there are hundreds of congregations in dozens of countries. For a time, New Orleans' MCC met in a theater at the Up Stairs Lounge. They'd found another home by the time of the fire, but church members still frequented the bar. Perry has been out and proud for nearly half a century. He and his now-husband were two of the four plaintiffs in the first lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of California's ban on same-sex marriages. Three years before the Up Stairs Lounge arson attack, Perry helped plan the first Gay Pride Parade in Los Angeles. He'd just returned home from celebrating the third annual parade when he got the call about the New Orleans fire. Twelve members of his church died that night, including the local MCC pastor, the Rev. William "Bill" Larson, whose body was found trying to squeeze out a window, past security bars. Most of the victims were piled near that wall, all aiming to get out windows. An associate pastor, Duane "Mitch" Mitchell, escaped through a little-known back exit but returned to try to save his boyfriend, Horace Broussard. Their bones were found entangled and seared to the floor, Perry said.Mitchell's son, Duane, recalls sitting at a movie theater with his younger brother waiting for his father to pick them up. It would be a week before anyone would tell him his daddy was dead, he told filmmakers. No one bothered to say they were sorry for his loss.Others in the film talk of nervous breakdowns, years of drinking and nightmares. The love of one survivor's life was lost. Another talked about his anger at God. Perry didn't lose faith, but not for lack of being tested. Two MCC churches -- one in Nashville, another in Los Angeles -- had been torched in the months leading up to the New Orleans fire, he said. The Up Stairs inferno only strengthened his determination not to back down.A history of attacksThe Pulse nightclub mass shooting and the Up Stairs Lounge arson are bookends in a line of attacks that have specifically targeted LGBT clubs and bars. On December 31, 2013, an attempted arson attack at a Seattle gay nightclub threatened to burn 750 people alive. The fire was extinguished quickly and no one was hurt.Three men threw chunks of concrete into a gay bar in Galveston, Texas, in March 2009. One patron who was hit required 12 staples in his head. A man opened fire in a Roanoke, Virginia, gay bar in September 2000, killing one and injuring six. Eric Rudolph, the infamous Olympic Park bomber, was behind a February 1997 bombing of a gay and lesbian nightclub in Atlanta. Five clubgoers were wounded, one seriously. These are just some of the attacks that have been reported. Many are not, making hate crime statistics notoriously unreliable, said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center.A leading expert on extremism, Potok set out to analyze such trends by studying 14 years of hate crimes compiled by the FBI.Looking through more than 88,000 reported hate crimes from 1995 through 2008, Potok found that more than 17% targeted the LGBT community -- and that it was disproportionately affected compared to other groups. Among his findings:LGBT people were more than twice as likely to experience a violent hate crime attack than Jews or blacks, more than four times as likely as Muslims, nearly 14 times as likely as Latinos, and about 42 times as likely as whites. Looking at figures from 2014, the most recent year available, he said there were nearly 1,100 anti-LGBT hate crimes -- about the same as the annual average for the 14 years he studied. "The country is moving forward in very dramatic ways in terms of tolerance. Fifteen years ago, it was unimaginable that same-sex marriage would be legal in 50 states," Potok said. "But at the same time, there's an incredibly angry minority of people who see [members of the LGBT community] as destroyers of America." Honoring the forgottenAfter Perry arrived in New Orleans in June 1973, he fought to bring honor to the lives that were lost at the Up Stairs Lounge. He grimaced at the sick jokes he heard around town -- like the one from a radio host who asked, "What do we bury them in? Fruit jars." He struggled to find a large enough site to hold a memorial service. Many churches he called wouldn't have it and hung up on him. Eventually he found one that was willing.A journalist featured in Camina's film remembered overhearing a photographer refer to the attack as the "Fruit Fry." People who'd lost friends and loved ones had to go to work and not mention the fire or show any grief, for fear of outing themselves. Camina said the lack of support after the fire prompted some friends of victims to retreat deeper into closets. Even in their 80s, he said, some still have not come out.No charges were ever filed after the Up Stairs Lounge attack. Police closed their case just two months later. But there was a presumed culprit, based on a threat made in the bar that night and subsequent interviews conducted by the state fire marshal. This suspect, though, committed suicide the following year.Like the shooter in Orlando, this man, too, had exhibited worrisome behavior and shown signs of being conflicted about who he was, according to the documentary. He matched the description of a man who'd bought lighter fluid near the lounge just before the fire. He'd confessed to the crime while drunk, a handful of times, the film says. And the woman he married soon after the attack later told the fire marshal their relationship had never been consummated and that he'd admitted he was gay. The Rev. Elder Troy Perry weeps in a 2015 documentary, "Upstairs Inferno," which tells the largely overlooked story of the 1973 New Orleans arson attack.No matter the suspect's intentions, Perry said in the documentary, this man was the fire's 33rd victim.Camina, the filmmaker, says after the massacre in Orlando he'll never be able to watch "Upstairs Inferno" the same way. Especially the ending, where he now views Perry's closing words as "chilling and prophetic."With tears in his eyes, the church leader sat in front of the camera and talked of the New Orleans fire:It is one of those things that happened that I hope will never be repeated again. I hope nobody ever has to live through what we did and what we saw when we went to New Orleans, Louisiana. Never again will I face that kind of stuff. I hope not. I pray not. But if it does happen, don't give up the struggle and the fight, is what I tell people. Go and bury our dead, hold a service and get ready to still make a difference in this world.Now, mourning the 49 killed at the Pulse nightclub, he's forced to revisit this sentiment: "I hope to God that I never live to see something like this again."Forty-six years after the first pride parade in his city, a parade he helped make happen, Perry opted out of the most recent one this past Sunday. He was able to blame a twisted ankle and bad back for his need to stay home, but the truth, he says, is he couldn't emotionally budge."I asked my neighbors in my community to pray," he said, "because I couldn't do anything but cry." The images on television, the outpouring of support, do give him hope. He marvels at how far this country has come. It's a different nation than it was in 1973.But still, in the comfort of his home in Los Angeles, Perry is grieving and searching for strength.

CNN's Bryony Jones in Paris and Jessica Ravitz in Atlanta

2015-11-20 23:05:24

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world

https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/20/world/paris-survivor-stories/index.html

Paris survivor stories: Friday night interrupted - CNN

The terrorist attacks in Paris killed 130, injured hundreds more and left thousands reeling -- their minds scarred by indelible images and grief.

Paris survivor stories, world, Paris survivor stories: Friday night interrupted - CNN

Survivors of the carnage in Paris: What they saw, what they felt, and what they carry

Paris (CNN)One woman curled into a fetal position and held her breath as bullets flew. Another took the hand of a stranger dying in a pool of blood. A man pulled a blanket up to warm a young girl's feet, only to see the fatal wound on her side.The terrorist assault on Paris killed 130 and injured hundreds more -- most at a rock concert at the Bataclan, others while unwinding at restaurants, cafés and a bar. The attacks also left thousands reeling -- their minds scarred by indelible images and grief. Here are their stories, in their own words, of a Friday night interrupted.'Terrorists are shooting, please come!' Denys Plaud The BataclanDenys Plaud was inside the concert hall to hear his favorite rock 'n' roll music when the shooting started.Read More"I heard the sound of firecrackers mixed with screams and I realized something scary was happening."I ran up the stairs to the third floor and found a small room up there; I was followed by others who were also trying to hide, so it quickly became full."We closed the door and put a fridge that was in the room up against the door to make it difficult for the terrorists to open it. Then we called the police and said, 'There's an emergency, terrorists are shooting, please come!'"They told us to stay in the room and not to come out until the emergency response team arrived, so we turned off the lights and our phones.Denys Plaud says his love of dancing saved his life."We were in there for an hour and a half; there was shooting and then silence, shooting, then silence."Eventually we heard the terrorists shooting very close to the room where we were. Bullets hit the wall that I was next to, and I felt the impact. I kept thinking, 'I hope the wall will stand.'"One of the bullets hit a pipe or something so there was water pouring down, and one of the girls in the room was wounded; it was very, very long and difficult, and even in the last hour when there was no shooting we followed our instructions and waited in the darkness."When the police, the emergency team, finally came they said, 'Don't look around, keep straight.'"They told us not to look around, but [it] was a bloody mess, there was blood everywhere -- even people alive were covered with blood."I saw dead corpses all over the place -- it was like a battlefield, a bloody battlefield.Eagles of Death Metal perform at the Bataclan moments before the attack."The police made us walk close to the wall in case there were other terrorists around, and they led us into a courtyard nearby."The inhabitants of one of the homes around the courtyard were very kind. They provided me with clothes because I had been dancing with a bare torso -- it was very warm inside -- and I left everything behind."I love to dance while listening to rock 'n' roll music. That's probably what saved my life. I had thought to myself, 'Let's go up to the balcony, there's space up there, you'll be able to dance,' and it meant I was not in the direct line of fire from the terrorists' machine guns."I love to dance, and that saved my life." 'OK, this is the end ... I'm ready to die' Jerome Lorenzi The Bataclan "I was with my ... friends and I said, 'Lay down. And don't move. Don't touch. We need to stay calm, as calm as we can.'"In seconds, one of the gunmen was behind him. Jerome Lorenzi says he asks himself, "I'm alive ... Why me?""He was a normal person, like you and me. You cannot imagine the guy wanted to kill so [many] people. "This is scary, because he could have been your neighbor. He was reloading his weapon and shooting. ... They did [this] about three, four times."One of my friends on my left was saying, 'I need to see my daughter and my wife. I cannot die. It's important to stay alive for them.'"I don't have any children. And I was just telling myself, 'OK, this is the end. So just how you are going to go away from this world to death. Do you want to be in stress, or do you want to be like calm and having a kind of serenity?"I closed my eyes and spoke to my father, who died three years ago. And then I said, 'OK, I'm ready to die.'"The guy shot my two friends on the right side and he missed us, and he [shot] between my friend on my left side and myself."Lorenzi said two things will stick with him always: the smell of the gunpowder and the sounds of the Kalashnikovs."It's in my mind, turning, turning, turning in circles. And saying, 'Wow, I'm alive. ... Why me? Why me instead of another person?'"'You need to think about Syria' John and Oscar Leader The BataclanJohn Leader and his son OscarJohn Leader was at the concert hall with his 12-year-old son, Oscar.John: "We heard this bang, bang, bang, and like everybody else, we thought it was fireworks or part of the show. And then I felt something go past my ear. ... Was it a bullet or something? I didn't know what it was."Everybody threw themselves on the ground. Because I stuck my head up ... to see what was going on, I saw two shooters. One was changing his magazine. He had a whole lot of magazines in front of him. He had a big vest on."Oscar: "He said, 'You need to think about Syria,' but in French. Like there wasn't any accent or anything."John: "These guys were organized. One guy was covering the crowd. The other doing the shooting."'It felt like the worst horror film' Isobel Bowdery The BataclanIsobel Bowdery, 22, dropped to the ground on the main floor of the concert hall and curled into a fetal ball. A wounded man nearby shielded her body. "Don't run," he told her. "Just stay."Isobel Bowdery said when you're close to death, you just want to be with family."Those words saved my life," she said. She played dead among the bodies of dozens of other concert-goers."Holding my breath, trying not to move, not cry, not giving those men the fear they longed to see. I was incredibly lucky to survive but so many didn't."I couldn't believe this was happening. It felt like the worst horror film. You don't move. You pretend like you're already shot. You pretend like you're already dead. That's what I did. I was so worried. "The fact that I didn't cry is shocking given how scared I was. It was important not to -- not to move, not to flinch, not to do anything to alert them that I was still alive."Minutes before the attack, everyone was dancing, everyone was smiling. People were happy."And then, when the gunmen came in, it all changed. But the people didn't."She heard a wounded couple tell each other they loved each other. She thought of her family and friends -- everyone she's ever loved. "It's what you do when you're so close to death. It's all you want to be -- you want to be with your family. You want to tell them that you love them. And you don't want them to think of the pain you're going through. You don't."This is the only thing I did. I said out loud: 'I love you.' I pictured their faces and whispered."It was important that if I was going to die -- if the next bullet was for me -- that I left saying, 'I love you.'"'Run baby, run!' Maria Moore The BataclanMaria Moore, 50, is a housewife and mother of two from Southampton, southern England. She was with her husband, Pat, 49, and a group of French and English friends who meet up at gigs all over the world because of their shared love of Eagles of Death Metal and other bands."We were stood off to the one side, watching, and about five songs in they did 'Save a Prayer,' their new Duran Duran cover. I don't like that song, so I took the opportunity to go to the toilet, which was up at the back."Afterwards, I walked past the merchandise stand and wormed my way through the crowd to where we were standing. Two minutes later, the shooting started. If I'd been in the bathroom two minutes later, I'd still have been at the back where it all started.Maria Moore, second from right, with friends including Mark Backwell, far left."When it started we thought it was fireworks; I thought 'Oh, is this a new part of the show? They've never done this before.' The back of the auditorium was all lit up by it, then I looked back at the stage and noticed that some of the band members were moving away."By about the third round, everybody was on the floor, they'd dived down, and I thought, 'Is this what French people do when they hear fireworks?' Then my husband grabbed me and pushed me towards the door -- we always stand in the same spot at gigs, and we're fortunate that that meant we were really close to the exit at this venue."We got out but realized our friend Brian Sanders wasn't with us, so we turned back to find him."He'd been caught in the crush and trodden on, and his shoulder was broken, his collar bone snapped. He was in so much pain that he thought, 'I'm done for,' but he managed to grab hold of a bar above him and haul himself up, and he got to the door just as we got back to get him."He was screaming in pain, and as soon as we were outside he wanted to sit down, but we said 'Oh no you don't!' and got each side of him and forced him to run up the street. We had to do it -- he still owed us for tickets for another gig!"As we were going up the street, I saw the singer [Jesse Hughes] and his girlfriend shoot past us, and he was saying 'Run baby, run!' I thought, 'If Jesse's going, there must be something wrong!' -- that's the point where I was really, really scared."We ran up the main road at the back of the Bataclan; there were already lots of police and ambulances there, and there were six or eight people on the curbside who had been shot."Eventually an ambulance man suggested we walk to the nearest hospital; it took us about 20 minutes to get to St. Antoine. We were there about four hours while Brian had X-rays and was prescribed painkillers, and all the time they were bringing in people who had been shot. There was even a special forces guy who kept his balaclava on while he was being treated."People wearing survival blankets walk from the Bataclan. Moore said four of her friends were shot, including Mark Backwell, who was hit with two bullets. But all of them are "doing OK," she said."They've all got such a lovely positive attitude -- we've even nicknamed Mark 'Two Bullets Backwell.' We've had so much support, there's been an overwhelming amount of love, and even laughs, in the past few days."Moore said the event that brought the group "really close together" was another terrorist attack in a European capital 10 years ago. "Queens of the Stone Age were due to play Somerset House in London on the day of the London bombings, and so we spent hours desperately trying to find each other and make sure everyone was OK. Over the 10 years, a really intense friendship has brought us ever closer together."The main reason we were all at the Paris gig was that another friend from the group, Lorene Lenoir, a rock photographer and journalist, committed suicide last year, and so we said that next time the band was in Paris we'd all get together. "We think she was looking after us all in there, because even though four were shot, we all made it out. I don't know if I believe in that stuff, but it's a comforting thought."Moore says their experience hasn't put them off Paris -- "not at all, we'll go back the first chance we get" -- or rock gigs: "We're going to another at the end of the month in London."We're going to keep doing what we love -- the camaraderie in this group is too strong and precious to lose."'We rushed to the roof' Frederic Nowak The Bataclan"We heard the noise like firecrackers. We turned around and saw two young guys. They were pretty far away, but they were two guys with rifles shouting at the crowd."We laid down on the floor. There were panic and screams. They kept shouting again and again.Frederic Nowak and others found safety on the roof."On the right side of the stage, one door was opened. We all tried to rush in. There was a staircase. ... Up there, we saw some doors that people tried to force open. Those doors just entered into some dressing rooms. Someone managed to finally open the access for the roof, and then we rushed to the roof."A man who had his apartment facing the roof opened his window and let us crawl through. We stayed in there in the dark, waiting for things to pass. We could keep on hearing the noise of explosions, shouting, guns, and screaming without really knowing what was going on."'The concert hall floor was covered in bodies' Pierre The Bataclan Pierre, 35, took refuge from the shooting in a bathroom, where he and three others hid for more than two hours. Before the siege ended, he could see the terrorists' feet through the bottom of the bathroom door and hear them talking about hostages and preparing a bomb. He lost two friends in the attack.Pierre said when police arrived, they put a gun to his forehead."Those guns, like ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta, and you just see all the people just falling to the floor with all the blood. They are just like 17 years old or 20 years old. Just so young. ... Arabic ones, black ones, white ones."When the SWAT team launched the raid, they started shooting at the door. They started shooting at everyone. The terrorists responded by shooting back and they blew themselves up and everything exploded. The lights went down. There was smoke everywhere."Then we understood it was the police, so we opened the door and they put the gun to my forehead. ... The concert hall floor was covered in bodies, blood. Blood on the walls. Blood everywhere. Bits of fabric, bags. It's the apocalypse."As to the future, Pierre says: "We have to love everybody. We have to love the differences. We have to smile. That's our fight against the terrorists."'They were shooting at us like we were birds' Julien Pearce The BataclanJulien Pearce, a radio reporter, was near the stage when the shooting started."It was a huge panic. The terrorists shot at us for like 10 or 15 minutes. It was a bloodbath.Officials investigate the scene outside the concert hall where dozens were killed."They were just standing at the back of the concert room and shooting at us like if we were birds. "It was overcrowded ... so it was easy for them."I've seen one of the guys, very young, he was like 18 years old, 19 years old, 20 maximum, and he was executing people on the floor."I said to the people around me just to calm down and play dead basically. And we waited."They shot at us and they reloaded again several times, multiple times. ... I escaped because they reloaded. I just waited for the time they reloaded to run."Pearce said he and others dashed into a small room and hid for five minutes. When the gunmen reloaded again, they ran for an exit."It's when I found an exit that I discovered a young girl that was shot twice in the leg. She was bleeding very badly, and I grabbed her and I put her on my back and we ran together in the streets for 200 or 300 meters. And I found a cab, and I stopped the cab, and I said to the taxi driver, 'Go to the hospital with her.' "But she was bleeding so badly. ... I don't know if she's still alive."'The grief is here and we keep it as a treasure' Antoine Leiris The BataclanAntoine Leiris, a radio journalist from Paris, lost his wife, Hélène Muyal, in the attack. Muyal, 35, was at the concert with the couple's mutual friend Nicolas Strohl, who was shot but survived. Leiris' Facebook tribute to his wife and message to the terrorists has since gone viral."Friday night you took away the life of an exceptional human being, the love of my life, the mother of my son," Leiris wrote, "but you will not have my hatred." Antoine Leiris, left, and Nicolas StrohlLeiris told CNN how events unfolded for him:"Her sister sent me a message [Friday night] to say 'How are you?' like she wasn't worried about anything, but just in case, so I turned on the TV and learned the awful truth."I was floored, I kept thinking 'Anything is possible.' But it also crossed my mind that she could have been killed."I spent the night on the road with my brother to see every hospital in Paris, and in the suburbs."I learned of her death on the Saturday evening when the medical examiner's office called me to tell me they had my wife's body."I went to the M.E.'s office that night and tried to force the doors, but it was closed and I couldn't get in."I felt really bad to have left her alone for two nights -- that she could have lived through this and I wasn't even there. Dead or alive, that was not the point, I just wanted to be with her."I was finally able to see her on Monday morning."I saw her and I felt I had to force myself to write what I wrote -- I didn't have a choice if I wanted my son to grow up as a human being who is open to the world around him, like his mother, to grow up as a person who will love what she loved: literature, culture, music, cinema, pictures.A police officer stands guard outside the concert hall days after the attacks."If I had given in to hatred, he might grow up to do the same, and then I would have brought up a person who was just like the terrorists."My son is only 17 months old, but he feels everything, he knows everything. We talked about it and he cried because he missed his mother."When you know your baby, you recognize when he is crying because he is hurt, or hungry or just complaining. He cried out of sadness, out of grief."So I took my phone and put some music on that he was listening to with his mother, and we looked at photos. He showed me, 'This is my mother -- Maman,' and then we cried together."The grief is here and we keep it as a treasure -- it is a souvenir of her; we don't pretend we're not sad, that we're not devastated. No. We are, but we're still standing."Hélène was the same with everyone, she made everyone feel better."They [the terrorists] can have all the Kalashnikovs, all the oil. If we stand free, if we stand here with a zest for life, with happiness ... then they don't win."They want us to be angry, they want us to view our fellow citizens with suspicion, but no."Since Friday night, I am not in control of my life -- life decides for me. I just want to do the best I can. Day after day, I will see."'She died in my arms' Nicolas Strohl The BataclanNicolas Strohl was at the concert with one of his closest friends, Hélène Muyal. Her husband, Antoine Leiris, was at home with their son."Hélène and I were both shot; I pretended to be dead so I wouldn't be shot more, because they were firing at anyone who moved."We were stuck there for two hours.Leiris' wife and Strohl's friend, Hélène Muyal, was killed in the attacks."Hélène was next to me -- she died in my arms. I protected her right until the end, that was all I could do."I was shot in the back of the thigh and was operated on over the weekend; I was released from hospital on Sunday."I could not tell Antoine she was dead -- I kept thinking maybe there was hope; I just said she was seriously injured."Hélène was my childhood friend; we met in school when I was 10 or 12. I met Antoine when I was 15 or 16. They were my two best friends, and I thought it would be a good idea to hook them up -- it was, and it still is."'It was all around, in every direction' Shane Thomas McMillan The BataclanShane Thomas McMillan is a documentary photographer and studio manager from Montana now based in Berlin. Shane Thomas McMillan captured this moment in the attack's aftermath."That evening I was at my friend's apartment studio [in Paris]; we were editing some photographs when we heard what we thought were firecrackers. Then when the noise went on for a little too long we realized that it wasn't. It went on for a very long time, about 45 minutes or so."When the gunfire had slowed down, me and my friend went down to the street and right at that moment they were bringing people out of the Bataclan, bringing them around the buildings at the back, and they were putting them into the courtyards."They were using the courtyards and hallways of the buildings as triage."It was all around, in every direction. ... They were pretty serious injuries."I don't think they wanted to do the treatment out on the streets -- I got the feeling they were afraid there could be other attackers coming, and they didn't want people looking down from the apartments, so they were trying to do it in a somewhat sheltered space.Inside the Bataclan: A night of terror, a tale of love"They would take them into the courtyards, get them stabilized and bring them out as the ambulances would come down the street -- they didn't want people lying all over the sidewalks and streets, they wanted to keep the ambulances moving; it was a lot of people and a lot of injuries."In the moment, my first instinct was to shoot photographs -- as a trained photojournalist, that's what I went to school for -- so I shot a few, but these people were in a terrible situation and it felt a bit exploitative, but on the other hand it was also important."The next day, I started photographing more, to help me deal with it -- that's how I deal with things after 15 years as a photographer, but it was difficult to watch people going through such a life-changing moment."It has definitely changed me -- I don't think you can experience something like that without it changing something inside you."Dozens of people were killed in a series of attacks on restaurants, cafés and a bar within about a mile radius of the Bataclan. Among those hit were Le Petit Cambodge in the 10th Arrondissement, La Belle Equipe in the 11th Arrondissement, and Café Bonne Bière and Casa Nostra, also in the 11th. 'We just all ducked down' Chloe Wilk-Martin The RestaurantsChloe Wilk-Martin was with her husband and a friend in an Uber car when they saw the attack at Café Bonne Bière. Chloe Wilk-Martin said a bullet went through their Uber car."Our Uber stopped at the red light. ... We started seeing smoke and thought it was fireworks. Our Uber driver pulled out his phone and wanted to film it. As soon as I saw an individual across the street get gunned down and blood being splattered all over the place, we all screamed."There was so much smoke and noise and people screaming. ... The panic and the fear started kicking in. We just all ducked down."We felt something hit our car which ended up being a bullet on the passenger side that went in the car, out of the car and just over my husband's head.A crowd gathers outside Café Bonne Bière as a man lies on the pavement."I grabbed [the driver] and told him to reverse. ... It was just so terrifying. We didn't know what was going on. ... He spun the car around until we got to Place de la République, and we fled the car and started warning people getting out of the Metro."I'm half French, so I'm proud to call myself a French citizen. ... It's great to show that we're fearless and we won't back down and that we won't give in to this kind of terrorism and brutality. But what's next?" 'People were crying, people were shouting' Wasim Akaram The Restaurants Wasim Akaram is the owner of the T for Tattoo shop around the corner from Café Bonne Bière. Originally from Pakistan, he came to France 20 years ago."I was in the kebab shop across the street when I heard the noise.Wasim Akaram, left, and Rubal Singh at their tattoo shop."There were two people. ... they stopped the car and began shooting."My friend, the boss of the restaurant, thought it was fireworks, but then people ran in, desperate to save themselves, and we understood it was an attack."People were crying, people were shouting. We were scared, so they closed the door and everybody lay on the floor or under tables to hide, then we went down into the basement. "The police came and attacked the terrorists, killed them, and then said it was safe to come out and go home; we could see bodies in the street, but only from a distance, the police wouldn't let us go near."Akaram said he's been a frequent guest of the café."We go to the café for coffee, we see the people who run it every day -- they are our friends. This is very sad for the area."Bullet holes in the Café Bonne Bière storefront are a reminder of the carnage.Since the attacks, business has been slow to return."Nobody's coming in the shop. ... On the Saturday the whole area was sealed off, but on the Sunday we were allowed in, so we opened, but nobody came."His tattoo artist, Rubal Singh, had left the shop 15 minutes before the attack. Originally from India, he's been living in Paris for five months. "I had one customer who came in to get a tattoo of the Paris peace symbol, with the Eiffel Tower, and a heart with the French flag on it," Singh said. Akaram said he fears further attacks unless Western governments strengthen their resolve."I think it will happen again, because the French, the British, the Americans, they do something against terrorism, but they don't complete it -- look at Afghanistan or Syria. When we start something, we have to finish it"It is time to think of a real solution, to come together and finish this; we have to stop selling guns and instead bring peace everywhere."He said that he does not believe the attackers were acting in the name of his religion."I am a Muslim, but these people, they don't understand Islam. They are young and easily manipulated -- someone shows them videos of terrible things happening in Kashmir or Syria, and they are brainwashed."'Save yourself!' Nihat Tasdemir The Restaurants Nihat Tasdemir hid at first, then took customers into his cellar.Nihat Tasdemir runs the kebab shop across the street from Café Bonne Bière. Bullet holes still puncture the signs outside his shop. Originally from Turkey, he came to live in France 17 years ago."My colleague and I were both working at the front counter. ... I looked across the road and saw people on the cafe terrace falling over."I told my colleague 'Save yourself!' but he'd already made a run for it. I hid under the counter, then a bit later I got the customers out the back and down the stairs to the cellar."I came back up to see what was going on; there were injured people lying in the street for what seemed like ages -- it could have been 40 minutes, or it could have been shorter, my mind could have been playing tricks on me."I kept the people downstairs, safe, until ... the police said it was safe to leave. "I know the people who run the café well; they are OK, it was their customers who were injured and killed."'We froze completely' Mark Colclough The Restaurants Danish psychotherapist Mark Colclough was outside Café Bonne Bière when the attack began."It was a single gunman. The way he was dressed, it looked like he was dressed in military attire. Dressed in black, black boots, black trousers, black sweater, rifle up to his left shoulder. "The way he was shooting was a very professional stance. He was shooting short bursts, short controlled bursts, so I thought he was either military or a special part of the police, something like that. "We didn't hear him say anything, and we also didn't see his face. We saw his build and we saw the way he was moving, but we couldn't see any clear facial details at all."When he moved inside the café, after he had killed the three individuals outdoors and the one or maybe two in the white car, when he moved in the cafe and began shooting inside the café, that's when I knew this could neither be SWAT team or anything legal. "My travel companion and I, we froze completely. ... It wasn't until we saw him opening fire inside the restaurant or the café that we knew this was an attack on civilians and our stunned silence broke and we ran in the opposite direction and sought cover."I think both my travel companion and I are going thru a period of shock, delayed shock. So I'm trying to arrange for us to go home and get some counseling or some therapy or some crisis intervention of some kind."'It all comes down to chance' Bennie Tucker The Restaurants Bennie Tucker, 21, originally from Winchester in southern England, works in the film industry in Paris. He lives three doors away from the Casa Nostra pizzeria, across from Café Bonne Bière, and had walked past it shortly before it was attacked. He and a friend were in a neighborhood bar when they saw police and began hearing about the attack.Bennie Tucker lives near Casa Nostra and passed it before the attack."Everyone started checking their phones and the news started coming through; we decided we should leave, but every taxi going past was full so we stayed where we were."The barman went outside and put up the tables and closed the doors, then came in and took down all the Brazilian flags. ... At one point he even tried to barricade the doors with a broom."The couple next to us had ordered dinner but got up and left without eating it -- they just drank their wine and went."In the end we walked to the Metro. My friend lives in the south of Paris and we decided it was safer to go there.Bloodstains remain on windows in Paris' 11th Arrondissement. "The streets were tense -- nobody was sobbing, but everyone was shaken. It was a bit weird, almost surreal though, because there were also a lot of slightly drunk people who were just out for the evening and hadn't realized anything was wrong."The next day I tried to go home but couldn't get in [to my neighborhood]. ... When I was finally able to go back, there were two old guys playing jazz music down in the street next to all the tributes, which was great, and there are people giving out 'free hugs' in Place de la République."The city has calmed down a lot. If someone set off firecrackers now, people probably wouldn't pay attention; they are determined not to be afraid."This was one horrific event, but the place hasn't become a war zone, people have to get back to their lives. There's a good sign in Place de la République that says 'La vie continue' ['Life goes on']."It is just chance that it happened close to where I live, a few minutes after I left -- it all comes down to chance."'There was blood all around her' Charlotte Brehaut The RestaurantsCharlotte Brehaut was dining with a friend at Le Petit Cambodge when the 10th Arrondissement restaurant came under fire.Charlotte Brehaut held the hand of a woman who'd been shot in the chest."All of a sudden, we heard huge gunshots and lots of glass coming through the window. So we ducked onto the floor with all the other diners. And we heard numerous more gunshots coming through the window and shards of glass were hitting people lying down on the floor."I didn't see any shooters. I believe there was more than one. It sounded like there would be more than one, and it also sounded as if they had stopped to reload and then they reloaded again. And then more gunshots fired the second time around. ... I think it was maybe 2 or 3 minutes maximum. It felt like longer."I was holding a woman's arm next to me, and when I suddenly started to process what was happening ... I realized that she had been fatally wounded. She had been shot in the chest and there was blood all around her."I was holding her hand and somebody asked me if she was breathing. And I looked at her, and I saw a pool of blood next to her, and I couldn't tell. I thought maybe she'd been conscious, but to be honest, it happened so quickly. ... People were just sort of frozen in shock."Medics carry wounded to ambulances near Le Petit Cambodge.When the shooting stopped, "people waited for a couple minutes because we weren't sure whether or not someone would come back into the restaurant.""Once we thought the coast was clear ... we ran out onto the street."[We] sat right at the window where the shots came through, and they missed both of us. ... It was strange and extremely lucky that we both came out of it OK." 'A scene from an action movie' Seth Porges The RestaurantsSeth Porges is a freelance journalist who stepped out of his apartment building in the 10th Arrondissement and into chaos."I come outside, and there's a large gathering of people."Then more and more people started coming as if attracted by the activity and the gunfire, and then a large number -- and I mean dozens -- of police officers and dozens of firefighters come around scurrying, closing off the roads. "Police running around, hiding behind vans with guns drawn. ... My first thought, honestly, was a scene from an action movie or a video game. I'd never seen anything like it."'As I saw him lift the gun, I jumped to the floor' Jean-Luc Perez The RestaurantsJean-Luc Perez runs Les Caprices beauty salon across the street from La Belle Equipe, where gunmen opened fire on a birthday party on the terrace, killing 19.Jean-Luc Perez said police asked him how he survived."This area is like a village, everyone knows each other, has meals together -- it's a tight-knit community. The bar was very popular, always full."I was cleaning up in the salon, getting the place ready for Saturday, washing towels, that sort of thing, when a car stopped outside."Two men got out with Kalashnikovs and started shooting at the terrace. When they ran out of bullets, they stopped to reload and shot again."They got back into the car and went to drive off. The salon was dark, so they hadn't spotted me, but as they got to the traffic light they saw me."One of the men got his Kalashnikov back out and shot four times at the salon." Three of the bullets tore holes in the plate glass window. "Later, the police asked, 'How did you survive?' I told them, 'As I saw him lift the gun, I jumped to the floor.' It was frightening, really frightening."They drove off, and I ran over the road to the café to try to help the people who were injured and dying before the police got there, then they took over."It's an image I will never forget. ... I knew practically all of them. I've had the salon here for 10 years."There were clients from the salon who'd been here that afternoon for appointments before going there to eat in the evening, and now they're dead. I was supposed to be there -- they'd called over and I said, 'I'm coming, I'm coming, after I've finished cleaning up.'"We reopened today for the first time. We want to beat the terrorists, and to do that we have to get back to life, back to normal, we have to open the salon and get back to work."'We locked ourselves in' Virgile Grunberg The RestaurantsVirgile Grunberg is the manager of the Café des Anges in Paris' 11th Arrondissement. Many of his employees and customers were gathering at nearby La Belle Equipe to celebrate the birthday of waitress Hodda Saadi when the gunmen struck."We lost colleagues, I lost employees, we lost customers who have been coming to the café for years, family of colleagues and friends, dear friends ... 11 of them are dead now.People tend to victims outside Café Bonne Bière."It took some time to get all of the details; of course we knew right away what was happening -- we weren't sure what it was exactly, but we heard of the shooting minutes after it occurred."We locked ourselves in [our] café, and we received phone calls all night long to tell us who was shot, who was gone."What we really want is to get past the grief, to act for the families."Especially, I think of my barmaid [Lacrimioava Pop], who was shot with her husband [Ciprian Calciu] there -- they leave two orphans now, so we are trying to organize fundraisers, for the funerals and everything, but mainly we want their children to be taken care of." His cafe has set up a GoFundMe page for the orphans."For now they are staying with their grandmother, who is from Romania. She does not speak French, she doesn't have any money, and she's completely lost."It is really important for us that their life can go on in the best way possible."Now we want to focus on those who are left with us. We want them to have a chance in life."'Like something from a war' Francois Didelot The Restaurants Francois Didelot runs the Mamie Tevennec creperie a few doors down from La Belle Equipe."I was here working when I heard the noise -- it was really loud. I went outside to see what was going on ... but I met a woman coming the other way and she told me to get back inside.Francois Didelot hid his customers in the kitchen during the shooting."I came in, turned off all the lights and hid all my customers in the kitchen while the shooting was going on -- it wasn't long, maybe three or four minutes."When it had finished I went out to find out what had happened -- I saw that it was awful and came back."It was horrible, just terrible. People were so badly wounded, it was like something from a war."It's been very quiet since, for all the businesses around here, but we have to go on living."'It was hell, there was blood everywhere' Romain Ranouil The RestaurantsRomain Ranouil lives across the street from La Belle Equipe. "I was coming back from my grocery store, and when I heard some sounds I thought it was the scaffolding falling down because it was so noisy. Romain Ranouil tried to cover a girl with a blanket before she died."I rushed outside. The [gunmen] had already gone and it was chaos. There were some cops coming in ... and the medics started to bring some really badly injured people. Actually, these were the people they could not do anything for."I saw a young girl. She was lying on the floor under a blanket. I just pulled the blanket to cover her feet. Then I saw she had like a gaping hole on the side. She died a few seconds later. I'm not even sure she was conscious when I saw her because she was staring at nowhere."It was really hell, and there was blood everywhere. And then we removed the tables inside the restaurant to make some space. ... Medics were performing CPR. ... There was blood splattered everywhere. And then they died. And they were lining up the corpses outside. So many people."They were having a birthday party, so I saw a guy who lost his two sisters. They were working in the restaurant. I knew a waitress, a nice Mexican girl. And she was not supposed to be here because she found a new job in another restaurant that belongs to the same owner. She came back for the birthday party and she was shot and she died. They all died.Bullets holes are seen through the glass door of a cafe near Casa Nostra."What I've seen goes far beyond imagination, and I still cannot really focus on anything more than a couple of minutes without seeing these faces. These people were 20, and I've seen them die."I'm not frightened. This is my home. What can I do? I have nowhere else to go. The only thing I've decided is not to hate anybody because that's what they want. And I'll never give them hate."I have some Muslim friends, and they're not like them. The guys that did this are not even human to me. They belong to another planet. ... They're just like cockroaches."We are on our knees. Paris is crying. But then we're going to stand up, and we're going to live."'She died very softly' Dr. Michel Bonnot The RestaurantsDr. Michel Bonnot tried to save American Nohemi Gonzales.Dr. Michel Bonnot lives near La Belle Equipe and ran from his apartment to help. For 20 minutes he tried to save Nohemi Gonzalez, but the American woman died in his arms."I look at eyes, you know, for this lady to see if she was alive or not. ... She was very white. She was not scared or afraid. She was very cold indeed. She died very softly."I was not so much shocked by what I saw. I felt so depressed. It was so horrific for me because it's my job, and I was unable to do it."'It could have been any of us' Clark Winter The RestaurantsClark Winter is an American in Paris. He'd just taken a seat at a restaurant about 10 blocks from the Bataclan when the café next door came under fire.Clark Winter was locked down in a restaurant until 4 a.m."We walked right past where the shooting took place moments later. ... It's an open air café. It was a beautiful night in Paris. Everybody was out on the street. ... It could have been any of us."Minutes later, we heard this incredible gunfire. We went out to see what happened."There were six people lying on the ground in front of the restaurants and many more inside. Everybody was trying to help. There was a rumor there was a sniper upstairs in the restaurant, so we all took cover again and tried to take care of these people."The police came and blockaded the street. We were locked down in the restaurant until 4 a.m. ... By then, we all knew ... the extent of what happened."'Our time of innocence is over' Adam El Daly The RestaurantsAdam El Daly, 28, is a tour guide at the Eiffel Tower. He was enjoying a meal with friends in Paris' 11th Arrondissement, close to Rue de Charonne, when terrorists launched a series of attacks nearby. Since then, his work has been quiet. One recent tour had 17 bookings, but only two people -- a couple from Las Vegas -- showed up.Adam El Daly holed up in a restaurant until the shooting stopped."I was with three friends, a guy and two girls, having dinner at a Sicilian restaurant; we were talking about work and holiday plans when my phone vibrated in my pocket."I was supposed to work on the Saturday, so I thought it was my boss sending me a message ... but it was a notification from Le Monde newspaper saying that gunshots had been reported in multiple parts of Paris."The restaurant was busy -- it was a typical Friday night -- with lots of couples on dates, and groups of friends eating together, but suddenly people started looking agitated, checking their phones, getting calls -- their faces became wary and anxious."I called my mom and asked her to turn on the TV and see what had happened; she told me that guys had used suicide vests in Saint-Denis near the stadium."Then she said there had also been gunshots reported in the 10th and 11th Arrondissements. I said, 'We're in the 11th. Where?' and she said, 'near Charonne.' I said, 'That's 300 meters away.'"The two girls we were with started freaking out, so we tried to calm them down, and the owner of the restaurant closed the doors and pulled the shutters down so nobody could get in."My mom comforted me and said, 'Stay where you are, keep checking your phone, stay until the police say it's safe.'The interior of Casa Nostra cafe the day after the attacks."We stayed like that for an hour and a half -- we'd been about to leave the restaurant at 10 p.m. -- and ended up being there until midnight; all that time we were getting messages and calls, from my dad in the U.S., from my brother."Periodically, the restaurant owner would lift the shutters a little to see if there was anybody outside who needed shelter."When we heard that the shooting was over and the terrorists had been killed, we left and started walking."There was nobody on the street."We got the girls a taxi and sent them off safely, and we started walking really, really quickly -- getting a bit paranoid when we saw a car with tinted windows or anything."Eventually we got a taxi; we went through Bastille and I've never seen anything like it in France -- the place was full of police with Kevlar armor and semi-automatic rifles."I'm used to seeing soldiers at the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and at train stations, but these were in full gear, with assault rifles, controlling who was entering and leaving the square."We were in shock. We weren't that near the shots, we weren't shot at ourselves, but it really scared me that here were people, our own citizens, running through the streets [in panic]."When the Charlie Hebdo attack happened, I was very shocked, but it was picked because it was a symbol, they were journalists targeted for their work."This time it was indiscriminate -- the victims could have been you or me -- and that's what's freaking people out, this feeling of not having control of our environment."On the subway, people aren't comfortable, everyone is eyeing each other with suspicion. These are not good times for us."The city will recover, we will stand on our feet again -- we have to, from a moral point of view, because we can't let the fearmongers and terrorists rule our lives, and also as a sign of respect for those who lost their lives."But we have to be better prepared. This has made me realize that our time of innocence is over."'War wounds' Patrick Pelloux The RestaurantsPatrick Pelloux is a former Charlie Hebdo columnist who was working as a doctor at an emergency call center the night of the attacks. "We coordinated the whole system, and afterwards we sent the maximum number of doctors and first aiders to the scene. "We took the victims and sent them as quick as possible to the hospitals. We succeeded in opening 60 operating theaters between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. to try and save the maximum number of people."Patrick Pelloux helped dispatch doctors and first responders.There were "wounds by bullets, by bullets of automatic gunfire. Wounds from explosions of bombs, from explosive belts where they had put, in addition, nuts and bolts and metal parts inside. ... There was one woman who had nine bullet holes on her sides, but I am not sure if she is still alive. ... I believe that she died." Pelloux described them as "war wounds," and he called Parisians returning to sidewalk cafes "the resistance.""That's why the president of the republic said, 'We are at war.'"Asked about seeing such carnage just 10 months after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Pelloux responded:"That's not very important, in fact. What I saw at Charlie Hebdo and what I saw here are two different things. I did my job to serve the country ... to serve the victims as best as possible. ... I have forgotten my own feelings so as to serve." 'We didn't know it was a bomb' Lasse Hope The StadiumLasse Hope, 16, from Paris, was watching the France-Germany soccer match at the Stade de France with friends from Israel when three terrorists armed with suicide vests blew themselves up outside the stadium. "When you hear a noise like that, you don't think 'bomb,' you assume it's something more ordinary."We didn't know it was a bomb until right at the end of the match when my dad texted me, so it was only in the last few minutes we realized something had gone wrong.Spectators invade the Stade de France field after the match."We got out when the whistle blew -- we didn't want to hang around -- so we weren't part of the group that was held inside for hours."I wasn't scared at that point, but on the way out I started getting lots of calls from family and friends asking if I was OK -- a constant stream of phone calls and texts."I asked what was going on and they told me, 'Oh, there's been bombs and shootings' -- it was then that it hit me that something serious was happening."There were hundreds of police in full bomb gear outside the stadium."We got the Metro home, and my friends started getting calls to see if they were OK, but they didn't panic -- they were just surprised that something so big had happened here."I think my parents were panicking more than we were."'Everything was blown to bits' Sylvestre The StadiumSylvestre said talking on his cell phone saved his life.A man who only gave his name as Sylvestre told reporters he was talking to someone on his cell phone outside the stadium when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives. "I was crossing the street and straightaway, boom, it exploded right in front of me. "Everything was blown to bits and I felt stuff flying around and I left, I fell and then I got back up. "This is the cell phone that took the hit, it's what saved me," he said as he showed reporters his shattered device. "Otherwise my head would have been blown to bits."'Stay safe, don't do anything' Ryu Voelkel The StadiumRyu Voelkel, a freelance photographer based in Berlin, was shooting the soccer game between France and Germany when he heard the attacks."It was one of those sounds that was a bit strange to be fireworks. ... I could hear it was outside. I didn't really take much notice of it at that point.Fans climb down the seats of the Stade de France after the match."And then second half, I was on the other side of the stadium and I heard it a bit more faintly the sound. And also I didn't take note that much because I was working."I got a crazy text message from my wife saying, 'Are you all right? There was an attack in Paris.' And I couldn't text her back because when you are in the stadium, so many people using the phones at the same time, the signals get jammed. So I think she got really worried because I wasn't texting her back."And I got this, you know, eight more text messages, 'Stay safe, don't do anything, just don't get out. I heard there was a bomb at the stadium.' ... I think she was probably on pins and needles until she got a call from me later on."After the game, Voelkel found himself stranded, so he took to social media. "People were using the hashtag on Twitter #porteouverte, which is 'open door' in French. And people were offering free places to stay for people who kind of got stuck somewhere because the transport was shut down. ... I ended up at a couple's place about 10 minutes walk from the stadium." 'We saw body parts' Kevin Tulga The StadiumKen Tulga, who came to France as a Kurdish refugee, had just entered the Stade de France with his 10-year-old son when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives behind them. Kevin Tulga said his son can't sleep after the suicide bombing."We saw body parts. I didn't want my son to see any of this. ... We had no idea what was happening. So I covered his eyes, took his arm and just ran." His son can't sleep after what he witnessed."When he realized the extent of what happened, he told me, 'Don't ever bring me to a game again.'" 'I thought first of my children' Simon Kuper The StadiumSimon Kuper, who lives in Paris, is a journalist for The Financial Times. He lives near the Bataclan and was inside the Stade de France when he heard the explosions. "I thought, 'This is too loud to be fireworks.' ... It was quite a boom. And then three or four minutes later, there was a second boom, and the ground shook a bit. I thought, 'There is something wrong here.' But we didn't know. We had no information. ... Most of the stadium seemed unaware. Play continued.Simon Kuper said Paris is defiant, but also confused and scared."I had my laptop on, had the Internet on. ... The first news we heard was that [French President François] Hollande had left the stadium. And so clearly something bad was up. ... Everyone else was kept in the stadium. "I think authorities thought it would be a disaster to release 80,000 people on to the streets. ... I think the attackers didn't want to explode the bombs 20 minutes into the game when people were safely into the stadium. They wanted to attack the crowd arriving at the stadium. "Like any parent, I thought first of my children [who were home with a babysitter], and I'm thinking now of my children. My children live in a neighborhood that, in 10 months, has had two major terrorist attacks. Charlie Hebdo is around the corner. How do you raise children in that kind of situation? It's a question I'm asking myself. And we're dealing with it every day."Paris is a miracle. It's the most beautiful city in the world. It works really well. ... On a day-to-day level you deal with people of all ethnicities and it works."People are talking about Paris being defiant. Paris is defiant. Paris is also confused and scared and human. This is a place of human beings."Police work outside the Stade de France after the explosions. Contributions by CNN's Christiane Amanpour, John Berman, Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo, Wayne Drash, Hala Gorani, Poppy Harlow, Don Lemon, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Fred Pleitgen, Atika Shubert, Jake Tapper and Clarissa WardDesign by Michael HogenmillerDevelopment by Sean O'Key

Ann O'Neill, CNN

2015-01-02 22:18:22

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https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/02/us/skid-row-cop/index.html

On patrol with Skid Row's 'angel cop' - CNN

It's been his beat for 17 years. Now Deon Joseph sees an interest in Skid Row that didn't exist when downtown Los Angeles was a shell no one visited.

us, On patrol with Skid Row's 'angel cop' - CNN

On patrol with Skid Row's 'angel cop'

Story highlightsOfficer Deon Joseph has patrolled the streets of L.A.'s Skid Row for 17 yearsHe estimates as many as 2,000 people sleep outdoors at night on Skid Row Downtown development has brought 50,000 new neighbors to witness the problem Los Angeles (CNN)Somebody else might walk by without looking at the painfully thin crackhead curled on the sidewalk in the fetal position. Or nudge her with a foot. Not Deon Joseph.This muscular black man with arms thick as hams leans over and gently shakes the woman's bony shoulder. He wants to make contact, ensure that she is still breathing."How you doing today?"She curses him, still very much alive.Read More"Have a good day, ma'am," he replies, moving on down the line of dazed people and overstuffed shopping carts outside the Union Rescue Mission.It's just another day in the life of a man shopkeepers and residents of the nation's last true Skid Row call the "Sheriff of Skidberry."Joseph is senior lead officer for the Los Angeles Police Department, and Skid Row has been his beat for the past 17 years. He prefers foot patrol; it is more intimate. Despite the open drug dealing, piles of trash and omnipresent aroma of urine, feces and burning crack and weed, he has found a community here. These are his people.He used to make a lot of arrests, but these days he spends most of his time just talking to people and handing out donated hygiene kits -- toothpaste, soap, deodorant, lotion and shaving cream -- and fliers that explain how to apply for housing vouchers. He leads self-defense classes for homeless women, events he calls "Ladies' Night." He tweets crime prevention tips and offers up anecdotes on Facebook.He gives out his email address and cell phone number. And then he returns the calls.And so, he knows nearly everybody -- The Hurricane, Bow Leg, Slow Bucket, Thick 'n' Juicy -- and they know him, too. Some like him, some don't. Most respect him. Some say he's their angel watching over them. Nearly two decades on some of the nation's poorest, nastiest streets haven't stripped this beat cop of his humanity. He sports a shiny bald pate and kind, expressive eyes. But should the situation call for it, he can turn fierce and scary-looking in a heartbeat.He is not jaded or cynical, and he doesn't view the world as LAPD blue against everybody else. He is a man of deep, abiding Christian faith, and he considers Skid Row his mission in life. He says he wouldn't dream of working anywhere else.These are tense times for police and the policed. Everybody's talking about white cops shooting black kids; hundreds show up in small towns and big cities for "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" protests. Joseph has never fired his gun and hopes he never has to.In the one-square mile marked by a mural that announces "Skid Row, pop. Too Many," he is a walking, talking public service announcement for the upside of community-based policing. When homeless addicts call him by his first name, Officer Joseph doesn't feel dissed. He's honored."I feel respect when they call me by my first name," he explains, "and I show them respect by calling them sir or ma'am."In this neighborhood, 2,000 people sleep on the streets at night, by Joseph's estimate. He's seeing a lot of new faces lately as it gets harder legally to commit somebody to mental health facilities, while the prisons and jails are letting inmates out early to ease overcrowding. With nowhere else to go, many head to Skid Row, he says.Officer Deon Joseph nudged the woman on the left to make sure she was alive. Not long ago, Skid Row was easy to ignore, a pocket of misery on the outskirts of a crumbling city shell nobody visited. But after two decades of downtown development, there are finally neighbors to bear witness. What happens when 50,000 people move next door to Skid Row? The dumping ground becomes hot property. And solving homelessness becomes a priority.The next few years could bring big changes. But Joseph and others say Skid Row doesn't need any more handouts. It has plenty of food and clothing. What Skid Row needs, they say, is affordable housing -- and lots of it. As much as they'd like to, city leaders can't undo a century of bad urban policy overnight. But there are calls from Mayor Eric Garcetti and other leaders to end homelessness, especially on Skid Row, by 2015. These are the same words Joseph heard from their predecessors a decade ago. Little happened then, and even as 2015 begins, the deadline has been officially pushed back to 2016. Joseph believes it's time to stop playing politics with Skid Row. The stakes -- literally life and death -- are too high. "I believe the extremes of both ideologies are what created Skid Row," Joseph says. "By that, I mean the extreme right believes in NIMBYism -- not in my back yard. We'll shove all our problems into downtown LA and come down once a month and throw food and clothes at them and feel good about ourselves. "And then the extreme left truly believes that because they're poor, black, Hispanic, whatever, because they're of poorer socioeconomic status, that we as law enforcement should just leave them alone. They really believe we should be hands off. And those two ideologies created what we're dealing with on Skid Row."Seventeen years have shown him that Skid Row isn't going anywhere. "But don't build another one."Sliding down The Nickel L.A.'s Skid Row is the undisputed Homeless Capital of the United States and just a short stroll from the power chambers of City Hall and the city's gleaming office towers, trendy bistros and overpriced residential lofts.To get from the halls of glitz to the corner of grit and despair, just follow Fifth Street. Start at the fancy Biltmore Hotel, scene of many a political victory speech. Cross the park over to Broadway, which is getting a facelift of planters and lights; and then past Spring, which is clogged with hipsters. Once you hit Los Angeles Street, you've arrived in Skid Row. The trek is known as "sliding down The Nickel." On foot, it takes 15 minutes, tops. But if you use the term metaphorically, the slide can consume a lifetime and land you in a pauper's grave.I asked Joseph to show me his Skid Row and accompanied him on patrol in mid-September. I shadowed him on a Saturday, a weekday and the following Saturday night. Each tour had a different vibe. The day shifts seemed more like a Fellini street festival. But Skid Row turns scary after dark. It was not a good place to be a stranger, especially a well-dressed, well-fed, blond female stranger.Joseph's beat includes some of Skid Row's meanest streets.People lurch down the streets like zombies. They are half-dressed with hair uncombed and matted, missing eyes and teeth, feet bare, their soles blackened. It's a sea of sunken faces with eyes gleaming with insanity, drugs or both.Those who are missing limbs get around on wheelchairs and jerry-rigged devices made from wagons, tricycles and carts. While I watched, a woman sitting on the pavement shot heroin between her toes and then slathered her feet with moisturizer from a donated hygiene kit. She was oblivious to my presence and pretty much everything else. Skid Row appears on no official city map. The boundaries were plotted in a 2006 court decision: Third Street on the north, Seventh Street on the south, Alameda Street to the east and Main Street to the west. Joseph's beat includes two of Skid Row's worst blocks: San Pedro and San Julian streets, between Fifth and Sixth, where the concentration of missions and other services draws the most desperate."You cannot separate the blight and crap that's out here from death," Joseph says as we walk past one homeless person after another, huddled in mounds of donated clothes piled into shopping carts.Some find a measure of privacy in tents they construct by draping tarps over shopping carts. Once under cover, a person can drink, drug, sleep, have sex and even die in peace."One time I saw a guy sitting on a pile of trash and I saw a hand, a white hand. I thought it was a mannequin," Joseph recalls. "It wasn't a mannequin. It was a dead woman. He didn't realize he was sitting on top of a dead woman, eating donated food."I think about this story on another day, while we're on patrol in his car. A hand rises up from under one of those ubiquitous blue tarps. It's more of a salute than a wave. A woman, recognizing Joseph, is sending up a signal: "It's all good."It isn't always. Joseph tells the story of a 6-foot-4 addict who arrived on Skid Row 275 pounds. A year or so later, Joseph barely recognized the man when he nearly tripped over him on the sidewalk. He was down to 85 pounds."I thought he was dead," Joseph said. "I pulled his sleeve and maggots and flies came out. He'd been lying there for a while. There were dozens of people around and nobody called an ambulance for him, nobody."I looked at this guy and I said, 'Hey, are you OK?' And he says, 'Joseph, just leave me be. Let me die. I got two days left on this Earth, so just let me die right here.'"And I said 'Uh-uh, you're not dying on my block.' I called an ambulance for him. They took him to the hospital. He died five days later, but at least he died with some damn dignity."It's hard to tell what's trash here and what isn't, who's living and who's dying. Joseph points to what looks like mounds of dirty laundry, piled up on the sidewalk."This is where people's good intentions go in Skid Row," he says. "People donate clothes, and they're thrown in the street. People urinate, defecate in the street. Nobody cleans it up."It creates a really toxic environment. Now when I say 'toxic,' we have staph, we have MRSA, we have HIV, we have tuberculosis, we have all these things. It's like a giant petri dish."I stop to feed the parking meter with a credit card. A breeze is blowing, and I brush my hair back from my face."See what you did there?" says Joseph's partner, Danny Reedy. "You just touched your face. We don't do that after we touch things here."Joseph's partner, Danny Reedy, warned a reporter about the unsanitary conditions on Skid Row.'A golden moment'L.A.'s is essentially the last true Skid Row in the nation. It has the highest concentration of homeless in the country, according to a recent report by an ad hoc committee calling itself Plan for Hope. San Francisco has the Tenderloin District, but it is tiny by comparison. As mayor, Gavin Newsom led an aggressive campaign to find subsidized housing and reunite homeless residents with their families. Seattle's homeless have been pushed to the grassy hills overlooking Interstate 5; its former Skid Row streets are dotted with trendy bistros and galleries. And in New York, The Bowery has become so gentrified that it now boasts a Whole Foods Market."Gentrification" is a dirty word along Skid Row. But it's inevitable. It's already happening in the blocks nearby, pushing back on Skid Row's Main Street boundary. Skid Row has its own economic engine -- and it's not crack cocaine or the handmade soy soaps sold in the gift shop of the Downtown Women's Center. Some $54 million is pumped each year into Skid Row's 107 charities that provide services to the homeless, according to a report released in September by Plan for Hope.By comparison, the city of Los Angeles earmarked the same amount -- $54 million -- for the arts in its 2014 budget.Developer Tom Gilmore, who converted old bank and office buildings into residential lofts, sparking the downtown development renaissance, says Los Angeles is "the last city in America to develop its urban center." It has taken two decades to reverse the exodus to the suburbs and bring people back downtown.Skid Row didn't spring up by accident, he adds. It's the result of a century of neglect and poor urban policy. A decision in the 1970s to centralize services for the poor on Skid Row turned it into a dumping ground for every social ill imaginable. Gilmore thinks the city has arrived at "a golden moment" to do something about homelessness. "There's a new consciousness that is extremely sensitive to the needs of the homeless," Gilmore said. "Does that mean they accept the notion of Skid Row? No, no, no because Skid Row is a travesty as a construct. It's a toxic environment for the homeless.""Nobody is going to raise up from there," he says with a shake of his head. "It has to be unwound because it's this Gordian knot of social neglect."As someone who works Skid Row's streets every weekend, Joseph agrees."Skid Row is a toxic petri dish that thwarts any form of recovery," he says. "We have beer barons selling singles for $2, right outside AA meetings." He has arrested one of the more notorious beer barons several times, but the man usually returns after spending just a few hours in jail. Even an injunction didn't stop him, and now he's threatening to sue Joseph, alleging "police harassment." Follow any conversation about Skid Row long enough, and it always comes down to the need for more affordable housing. This is especially difficult in Los Angeles, which is among the most expensive housing markets in the nation. It is not unusual for working people to spend half their income putting a roof over their heads.Skid Row is just a few short blocks from the gleaming office towers of downtown Los Angeles. Next year's $1.1 trillion federal spending bill includes more than $2 billion for subsidized housing, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The question, of course, is how much of that will reach Los Angeles, or Skid Row?Meanwhile, private, for-profit development of Skid Row is inevitable, Gilmore says. But he is quick to add that the homeless population isn't going anywhere -- not as long as the missions and other services for the poor are located there.It's a big point on which the developer and the beat cop can agree. The services can't be dismantled, but they can and should be decentralized. Other parts of the city, they say, need to step up and share responsibility.Nationally, chronic homelessness is down slightly more than 20%. But not on Skid Row. Here, the numbers are going up. How much? The answer should come soon. The last official headcount cited in the Plan for Hope report found about 1,300 people living outdoors in the 50-block area designated as Skid Row. Estimates last summer ranged around 1,500. By December, Joseph's best guess -- and the LAPD's -- was 1,900 to 2,000. He had just finished a weeklong outreach program under the banner of Operation Healthy Streets. The program has replaced the harsher tactics that included criminalizing outdoor camping and arresting everyone in sight during massive sweeps. Now police work in small groups that include county mental health workers and volunteers. They ask the homeless what they need and refer them to programs and places that can help.Four times a year, they pressure-wash the sidewalks and haul away the trash -- 3.5 tons of it during a weeklong sweep in the fall. That included 184 needles and syringes, 63 razor blades and seven knives. Sanitation workers hosed urine and feces from hundreds of curbs, corners and building fronts. Eighty homeless people were treated for scabies, open wounds and other maladies. Twenty-seven were referred to county mental health services. Four were sent to detox. It is more hands-on than tossing loaves of stale bread and discarded Hello Kitty T-shirts at the homeless. Downtown loft dweller Betsy Starman is now among the volunteers. Her involvement began in the summer, when she posted to a Facebook group called DTLA about a woman squatting at Fifth and Hill streets.The woman muttered and clawed at herself, and her skin was covered with sores. She had fashioned a diaper from newspapers. She didn't want anyone's help.Joseph saw Starman's post and approached the woman with a box of adult diapers. But she didn't want his help, either. There was little he could do for her. But he and Starman started talking, and she attended a 10-week Citizens Police Academy, graduating in November. Operation Healthy Streets reflected a big change in direction. Finally, the city, the county and some of downtown L.A.'s 50,000 new residents are working together. "Deon Joseph was the only one talking about the homeless, the mentally ill, and the addicted that I could hear," Starman said. "We have many who pontificate and pretend they do things and have their photo ops, but Officer Joseph is not like that."He's real," she added. "It gave hope to me, and it gave hope to the entire city. It started a movement, and it is still moving. Many of us could not have become involved or had any hope whatsoever without him."Joseph used to make more arrests: now he also hands out hygeine kits and housing information. 'Swagger! Swagger! Swagger!'On the second day I shadowed him, Joseph had a trunk-load of hygiene kits in his patrol car. He drove to Gladys Street Park, where people crowded around him, hands outstretched, clamoring for "Swagger!"It's an especially potent deodorant and body spray by Right Guard. But Swagger can only cover up the inevitable truth for so long. The place smells like old tennis shoes that have been urinated on by 1,000 people with body odor. Since it hardly ever rains, the pungent aroma of urine and excrement never really washes away. It takes a while to scrub Eau d'Skid Row from your clothes, your hair and your nostrils. Somehow Joseph has gotten used to it. He wears black rubber gloves everywhere and chews a lot of gum. He grew up in Long Beach during the Rodney King era, when distrust of the LAPD fueled racial tensions and devastating riots. Like his friends, he was no fan of the po-po. So nobody was more surprised than Joseph himself when he signed up for the Los Angeles Police Academy."I needed a job," he says.As a rookie, Joseph prayed he wouldn't be assigned here. He liked the hip, beachy vibe of Venice, where he trained. But when the permanent postings came out, Joseph wondered whether he had prayed hard enough. Driving to Skid Row on his first day of work, Joseph cruised up the 110 freeway, glimpsed the gleaming skyline and thought, "Look at that pretty picture. This can't be all bad." He took the downtown exit, relieved to see people on the sidewalks in suits and ties. And then he crossed Spring Street."It was if I tripped and fell into Dante's Inferno. And I couldn't believe how fast it happened. I wasn't prepared for it."He drove another block. It only got worse. "The smell, it hits you as soon as you cross Los Angeles Street. I felt nauseous." Maybe a police station would serve as an anchor of sanity in the middle of this freak show? "As soon as I got closer to the station, I saw half-naked women running around urinating on the sidewalk, guys urinating on the sidewalk, people smoking crack. I saw a patrol car and two feet away a guy was injecting himself with heroin. Another person was smoking crack and a fight broke out. An officer couldn't stop it."And I'm going, 'Oh my God, I've got to get out off these streets and into the station.' In there, it was worse because on the bench we had addicts and dealers and mentally ill individuals. And the mentally ill individuals were yelling all sorts of things."He had one thing on his mind: "Oh man, I surely gotta escape."Long before the sun sets, people start lining up outside Skid Row's missions. After a while, though, "my DNA kicked in." That DNA includes regular church attendance and parents who raised 41 foster kids -- 17 of them while he was living at home. "My mom had a special love for children. I saw her heal those kids," he said. His parents grew up poor in Louisiana during the Jim Crow era in the South. His great-grandfather was killed by a 16-year-old white kid, Joseph said, simply because he wouldn't get out of the street. The shooter went on to become the sheriff. Joseph's father was bitter about the injustice and seemed destined to a life of crime. But a man he tried to rob turned out to be a preacher, Joseph recounted."Put that gun down, boy," the man said. "You're not going to jail today, but I want to see you in church."It changed his life. He moved to California, supported his family at first by collecting and recycling cans. He started a construction company and found success. He hired ex-convicts and veterans and treated them well. His mother fed the homeless. They taught their children to help others rather than judge them, and to love and embrace their color and their culture.Joseph has experienced racism in his lifetime, but not in the same way his father did. When he was younger, a white kid at a burger joint put staples in his meal. Fliers distributed around Skid Row attacked him as an "Uncle Tom."But when a colleague filed a racial discrimination suit against his sergeant and the LAPD, Joseph took the witness stand and said it wasn't true. "This is what I have to do," he says of his career on Skid Row. "I can go anywhere in this department. There are 17 divisions. I can go back to Venice, sip on lattes, chase celebrities in Hollywood. I can go anywhere. I can leave at any time. I choose to be here. I want to help these people. It's in my heart to help these people."Taking inventory"Helping these people' has gotten complicated, as I learned on my final ride with Deon Joseph. Years of court battles have determined what cops can and can't do on Skid Row. The days of declaring street camping illegal and making mass arrests are over. No more hook 'em and book 'em. Police can no longer just sweep what looks like junk off the streets. That junk might be somebody's only possessions in the world, the courts have ruled. It is harder than ever to obtain an involuntary commitment against someone who might be dangerous.Joseph vented his frustration this past summer in an open letter published in the Downtown News. It's how he caught my eye. Here was an LAPD cop calling out the city for ignoring Skid Row. That was unusual enough. But then he didn't get in trouble with the brass. That was extraordinary. He called Skid Row "an open air mental asylum." He said the city was on the brink of an epic meltdown, and there wasn't much he, or the LAPD, could do about it. "When it comes to policing Skid Row, it seems as if my fellow officers and I are keeping our fingers in the cracks of a dam to keep it from breaking," he wrote. "Though many people may not realize it, we are in the throes of a mental health state of emergency."He said police have to wait until something bad happens before they can do anything. Donated food and clothes add to the filth and clutter on Skid Row's streets, Joseph says. "Though many times this is understandable from a legal and public safety standpoint," he wrote, "it remains in my opinion one of the great wrongs in our society." Joseph has appeared in several documentaries and starred in a handful of YouTube videos. In the most controversial, he pleads with do-gooders not to simply hand out food and clothes on Skid Row.It's not that he's anti-charity. Far from it. But bottomless freebies keep people out of the missions and away from services that can actually help them. By donating, well-intended people become part of an enabler economy based on the hustle. "Nobody ever goes hungry on Skid Row," Joseph says, and it's true, only the deeply addicted get scary-thin. Many of the others could even stand to lose a few pounds. Yet somehow Joseph's message was twisted into "Don't give to the homeless," which is not at all what he meant. He has an uncanny ability to strike a nerve. He gets into his share of controversies. But he's hard to ignore.Among his critics is General Jeff Page, with the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a homeless advocacy group. General Jeff, as he's known around Skid Row, is a hip-hop impresario who runs a three-way basketball league in one of Skid Row's parks. He and Joseph used to be friends.Neither will say what caused the falling out. General Jeff says Joseph is a media hound who steals his group's ideas and takes credit for them. He calls him a phony and points out that the streets on Joseph's foot beat are among the city's messiest. Joseph refers to his critics as "my detractors" and won't get in a tit-for-tat with them. It all sounds like a high school sandlot beef. Also on his personal list of "detractors" is the ACLU. The civil rights lawyers objected in court to how the LAPD was handling Skid Row with massive sweeps and arrests.Although no longer a fan of the tactic, Joseph says it got results. "We used small laws to stop bigger things from happening," he said. "It worked. The tents came down. They were allowed to sleep until 9 o'clock. There wasn't a lot of garbage on the sidewalk. They didn't have a lot of shopping carts to hide behind. They couldn't sit on the sidewalk and get comfortable in their own destruction."He says the numbers back him up. When the city was carrying out sweeps and arresting people, crime on Skid Row dropped 40%. In 2005, 93 people died in Skid Row's shelters, and 18 on the streets. But by 2009, only five of the 63 deaths occurred on the streets.The ACLU won a second decision in 2011 that set further limits on what police could do. The suit alleged that the LAPD was harassing the people of Skid Row by seizing their tents and other property."They were able to sell that we were hassling people," Joseph says. "If I wasn't a cop, I would have believed it, too." The courts have ruled that on Skid Row, a tent is a homeless person's castle; what might appear to be trash is actually personal property.It's what cut short our final tour of Skid Row. Each time he makes an arrest, Joseph has to consider whether it's worth the time it takes him off the street. "It's getting thick out there," Joseph advised at roll call as the swing shift began at Central Station. It was Saturday night, and the locals seemed primed for fighting. Yet we didn't last half an hour on the streets. Joseph had to weigh whether to make an arrest or keep going. An arrest entails paperwork and hours of inventory. If nobody is bleeding, is it really worth it? A thin black man with droopy jeans was spreading perfume bottles, combs, mirrors and makeup on a blanket on the sidewalk. It's considered illegal vending. He had several cartons with him, and two overflowing shopping carts.The crime might seem petty to an outsider, Joseph explained, but the guy keeps coming back, each time with more trinkets. It's like he's laying down a challenge, seeing how far he can take it. Joseph decided he'd seen enough.He ran the man's name through the computer in his patrol car and found two arrest warrants out of Long Beach. The man was wanted for assault. Bingo! He placed the man under arrest, and Joseph and two other officers hauled his trinkets back to the station and spent the next four hours cataloging the man's personal possessions -- putting labels and tags on each perfume bottle, hair clip and tube of mascara.Joseph's shift came to a close before he could return to the streets. He gathered up his gym bag and walked to his car, parked in a lot behind the station. On the way out, he spotted an inebriated man lurching along Wall Street. The man stopped, unzipped and proceeded to relieve himself. "Please sir," Joseph says, "do not urinate on my police station."Where the daily battle is so huge, it's the little things that matter.

Jessica Ravitz, CNN

2013-10-04 08:51:48

business

tech

https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/tech/mobile/bennett-siri-iphone-voice/index.html

'I'm the original voice of Siri' - CNN

Susan Bennett of suburban Atlanta says she is the voice of the original U.S. version of Siri on Apple's iPhone.

tech, 'I'm the original voice of Siri' - CNN

'I'm the original voice of Siri'

Story highlightsSusan Bennett says she is the voice of the original U.S. version of Siri on Apple's iPhoneApple won't comment, but other sources -- including an audio forensic expert -- confirm this Recordings from 2005 were used for Siri; hearing herself six years later was a surpriseHow CNN's Jessica Ravitz, who had never used Siri, found Bennett is also shockingSandy Springs, Georgia (CNN)For the past two years, she's been a pocket and purse accessory to millions of Americans. She's starred alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel. She's provided weather forecasts and restaurant tips, been mocked as useless and answered absurd questions about what she's wearing. She is Siri, Apple's voice-activated virtual "assistant" introduced to the masses with the iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011.Behind this groundbreaking technology there is a real woman. While the ever-secretive Apple has never identified her, all signs indicate that the original voice of Siri in the United States is a voiceover actor who laid down recordings for a client eight years ago. She had no idea she'd someday be speaking to more than 100 million people through a not-yet-invented phone.Her name is Susan Bennett and she lives in suburban Atlanta.Apple won't confirm it. But Bennett says she is Siri. Professionals who know her voice, have worked with her and represent her legally say she is Siri. And an audio-forensics expert with 30 years of experience has studied both voices and says he is "100%" certain the two are the same.Read MoreJUST WATCHEDMeet the woman behind Siri's voiceReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHMeet the woman behind Siri's voice 02:33JUST WATCHED'Siri' gets flood of interview requestsReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH'Siri' gets flood of interview requests 02:14JUST WATCHEDDistraction: Baby talks to SiriReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHDistraction: Baby talks to Siri 01:02JUST WATCHEDSiri 'crushes it' with comedy routineReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSiri 'crushes it' with comedy routine 02:05Bennett, who won't divulge her age, fell into voice work by accident in the 1970s. Today, she can be heard worldwide. She speaks up in commercials and on countless phone systems. She spells out directions from GPS devices and addresses travelers in Delta airport terminals. Until now, it's been a career that's afforded her anonymity. But a new Apple mobile operating system, iOS 7, with new Siri voices means that Bennett's reign as the American Siri is slowly coming to an end. At the same time, tech-news site The Verge posted a video last month, "How Siri found its voice," that led some viewers to believe that Allison Dufty, the featured voiceover talent, was Siri. A horrified Dufty scrambled in response, writing on her website that she is "absolutely, positively NOT the voice of Siri," but not before some bloggers had bought into the hype.And there sat Bennett, holding onto her secret, laughing and watching it all. For so long she'd been goaded by others, including her son and husband, to come forward. Her Siri counterparts in the UK and Australia had revealed their identities, after all. Everyone was clamoring to find out who the real voice behind Siri is, and so I thought ... what the heck? This is the time.Susan BennettSo why not her? It was her question to wrestle with, and finally she found her answer."I really had to weigh the importance of it for me personally. I wasn't sure that I wanted that notoriety, and I also wasn't sure where I stood legally. And so, consequently, I was very conservative about it for a long time," she said. "And then this Verge video came out ... And it seemed like everyone was clamoring to find out who the real voice behind Siri is, and so I thought, well, you know, what the heck? This is the time." The Siri surpriseThe story of how Bennett became this iconic voice began in 2005. ScanSoft, a software company, was looking for a voice for a new project. It reached out to GM Voices, a suburban Atlanta company that had established a niche recording voices for automated voice technologies. Bennett, a trusted talent who had done lots of work with GM Voices, was one of the options presented. ScanSoft liked what it heard, and in June 2005 Bennett signed a contract offering her voice for recordings that would be used in a database to construct speech. For four hours a day, every day, in July 2005, Bennett holed up in her home recording booth. Hour after hour, she read nonsensical phrases and sentences so that the "ubergeeks" -- as she affectionately calls them; they leave her awestruck -- could work their magic by pulling out vowels, consonants, syllables and diphthongs, and playing with her pitch and speed.These snippets were then synthesized in a process called concatenation that builds words, sentences, paragraphs. And that is how voices like hers find their way into GPS and telephone systems. "There are some people that just can read hour upon hour upon hour, and it's not a problem. For me, I get extremely bored ... So I just take breaks. That's one of the reasons why Siri might sometimes sound like she has a bit of an attitude," Bennett said with a laugh. "Those sounds might have been recorded the last 15 minutes of those four hours." But Bennett never knew exactly how her voice would be used. She assumed it would be employed in company phone systems, but beyond that didn't think much about it. She was paid by the hour -- she won't say how much -- and moved on to the next gig.The surprise came in October 2011 after Apple released its iPhone 4S, the first to feature Siri. Bennett didn't have the phone herself, but people who knew her voice did. "A colleague e-mailed me [about Siri] and said, 'Hey, we've been playing around with this new Apple phone. Isn't this you?'"JUST WATCHEDTips for using Siri ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHTips for using Siri 04:32 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokes Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesSiri, you must be kidding – The developers at Apple have baked some wit into Siri's otherwise robotic responses. Here are 15 of her most clever, and cringeworthy, jokes.Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: 15 of Siri's best jokesHide Caption 15 of 15Bennett went to her computer, pulled up Apple's site and listened to video clips announcing Siri. The voice was unmistakably hers. "Oh, I knew," she said. "It's obviously me. It's my voice."Seeking proofIt certainly does sound like Bennett. But proving who supplied the voice of Siri isn't easy. It's not like Steve Jobs sent Bennett a thank-you note, or a certificate to hang on her wall. There are others who vouch for her. But the tech world -- and specifically the text-to-speech, or TTS, space -- is a complicated business, one that's shrouded in secrecy and entangled in a web of nondisclosure agreements. Bennett is not bound by such restrictions, which is why she's talking. But the industry has a vested interest in keeping their voices anonymous."The companies are competing to create the best-sounding and functioning systems. Their concern is driving revenues," said Marcus Graham, CEO of GM Voices. "Talking about the voice talent, from their perspective, is likely seen as a distraction."Bennett's attorney, Steve Sidman, can't breach attorney-client privilege to share documents and contracts, but since he began representing Bennett in 2012 he's been intensely aware of her connection to Siri."I've engaged in substantial negotiations -- multiple, months-long negotiations -- with parties along the economic food chain, so to speak, that involved her rendering services as the voice of Siri," he told CNN. "It's as simple as that." And then there's Graham, of GM Voices, a man who has built a career around providing voiceover talent for interactive voice technologies. I understand the importance of accuracy. Rest assured: It's 100% Susan.Ed PrimeauGraham won't divulge details about any deals he made back in 2005. But he has worked with Bennett for 25 years, has recorded "literally millions of words with Susan" and has installed her voice with clients across the globe. He knows her voice as well as anyone, and he doesn't hesitate when asked if she and Siri are the same. "Most female voices are kind of thin, but she's got a rich, full voice," he said. "Yes, she's the voice of Siri. ... She's definitely the voice." A '100% match'In October 2005, a few months after Bennett made those recordings, ScanSoft bought and took on the name of Nuance Communications. Nuance is the company widely accepted to have provided to Apple the technology behind Siri. When CNN contacted Nuance to try and confirm Bennett's identity as a voice of Siri, a Nuance spokeswoman said, "As a company, we don't comment on Apple." Apple, too, declined to comment. So CNN took the investigation one step further by hiring an audio forensics expert to compare Bennett's voice with Siri's.Ed Primeau, of Rochester Hills, Michigan, has been doing this work for three decades. He's testified in courts, analyzed "hundreds, if not thousands" of recordings and is a member of the American Board of Recorded Evidence. He spent four hours studying our "known voice" -- in this case Siri -- with the unknown voice of Bennett."I believe, and I've lived this for 30 years, no two voices are the same," he said, after finishing his analysis of the Siri voice and Bennett's. "They are identical -- a 100% match."To reach his conclusion Primeau created back-to-back comparison files, lifted and listened to consonants and reviewed deliveries. He took the hiss off the Siri sound, created in recording from a phone, and dropped it into Bennett's file. After studying Bennett's normal speaking voice, he was about 70% certain of the match. But once he had audio of her saying the same words as Siri, he knew his work was done. Even so, he said he asked a colleague for a second opinion."I understand the importance of accuracy," Primeau said. "Rest assured: It's 100% Susan."How CNN got this storyThis isn't the sort of story I'd naturally go after. Technology is far from my beat. In fact, the first time I ever spoke to Siri was on my work phone -- the kind that's plugged into a wall jack and has a tangled cord attached to the handset. JUST WATCHEDTracking down the voice of SiriReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHTracking down the voice of Siri 02:17Bennett was a voiceover artist I was interviewing for a CNN special project on the world's busiest airport -- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International -- scheduled to come out next month. I was tracking down the airport's voices, and she, a voice of Delta terminals, was one of them. In the course of our phone conversation, I asked her to rattle off some jobs she's had over the years. She gave me a quick and general rundown and then added that she's done a lot of IVR work."IVR?" I asked. "Interactive voice response," she answered. "The sort of thing you hear on a company's phone system."For reasons I can't explain -- I was still struggling to understand my first iPhone -- I blurted out, "Hey, are you Siri?" She gasped. And then I gasped. "Oh my God," I said. "You're totally Siri, aren't you?" What followed was a short, panicked flurry of non-denials and non-confirmations, and a promise from me that I wouldn't do or say a thing. That was months ago. About two weeks ago, after the confusion over the Verge video, Bennett reached out to me. She was ready to speak as herself and set the record straight. 'My career as a machine'As a child, Bennett's favorite toy was a play phone-operator system, a big red block with a receiver and lines she could patch in to help imaginary callers make their connections. Her voice has been everywhere throughout my life. I'd call my bank while I was in college ... and it was my mom telling me I had $4.Cameron BennettYears later, while singing jingles, she was tapped to be the radio and TV voice of First National Bank's "Tillie the All-Time Teller," the first ATM machine. Though that was about 40 years ago, she can -- and does -- still break seamlessly into the high-pitched song. "I began my career as a machine many years ago," Bennett said. "I'm sure that you hear my voice at some point every day." But the way she is heard was a surprise even to her.Music and singing had always been a part of Bennett's life. At Brown University, she sang in a jazz band and also with another group at the Berklee School of Music. After graduating, she toured as a backup singer with Burt Bacharach and Roy Orbison. Today, she and husband Rick Hinkle -- a guitarist, composer and sound engineer -- still play in a band, mostly at private events. She fell into voiceover work by chance in the 1970s when she walked into Atlanta's Doppler Studios for a jingle job and the voiceover talent was a no-show. The studio owner looked around and said, "Susan, come over here. You don't have an accent. Go ahead and read this." She did, and a new career path was born.Bennett wasn't always accent-free, though. She was born in Vermont and grew up all over New England. Her voice -- dropped Rs and all -- was "SNL"-skit ready. Can she imagine Siri as a New Englander? "Neva! Neva!" A stint in upstate New York helped her lose the accent. By the time she arrived in Atlanta in 1972, with her first husband, former NHL player Curt Bennett of the Atlanta Flames, she was ready to fight off the Southern twang. She fell in love with Atlanta and, after that marriage ended, stayed. Even though her voice can be heard everywhere, she's enjoyed being out of the spotlight. "You have a certain anonymity which can be very advantageous," she said. "People don't judge you by how you look ... That's been kind of freeing in a lot of ways." 'Part of history'Bennett works in a sound-proof recording booth in her home, a tin of lozenges at the ready. Her voice is transmitted to the world, while she -- if she so chooses -- sits in her jammies, or more likely her Zumba clothes. Auditions are done by e-mail. She can grocery shop and go unrecognized. It's not as though her natural speaking voice, heard out of context in the produce aisle, sparks reactions. So the idea of coming out as the voice of Siri was one she pushed aside. It probably wouldn't have even occurred to her if not for the goading of others, including her 36-year-old son -- whom she, and he, jokingly refers to as "Son of Siri." "Her voice has been everywhere throughout my life. I'd call my bank while I was in college in Colorado, and it was my mom telling me I had $4," said Cameron Bennett, a photographer in Los Angeles.He first found out she was the voice of Siri while watching an iPhone 4S commercial on TV. There, on the screen, was director Martin Scorsese talking to his mother. When Cameron bought the phone himself, she began barking at him through its GPS feature, prompting him to yell, "Mom, stop!""She's part of history," he said. "It was funny trying to explain to her how big it was. She uses her cell phone for 8% of what it can do." When Bennett upgraded her phone and first talked to ... well, herself, she says she was a little horrified. It was weird, to say the least. But she was blown away, she said, to play a part in such a technological feat. Being the voice of Siri, though, doesn't mean she's immune to the sorts of frustrations others sometimes have with the technology. "But I never yell at her -- very bad karma," Bennett said. That said, she knows not everyone is as gracious: "Yes, I worry about how many times I get cursed every day." Now, though, with iOS 7 she is passing the telephonic torch to a new Siri. Bennett would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit disappointed, but in her field of work she's learned to expect evolution -- and even revolution.As technology improves, and the concatenation process becomes less robotic and more human, Bennett thinks anything will be possible."I really see a time when you'll probably be able to put your own voice on your phone and have your own voice talk back to you," she said. "Which I'm used to, but maybe you aren't."

Story by Ann O'Neill, CNN Video by Jason Kravarik, CNN

2016-02-25 17:47:31

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/25/us/jessop-flds-warren-jeffs-short-creek/index.html

The FLDS bodyguard who turned on his 'prophet' - CNN

Willie Jessop, once the feared head of imprisoned polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs' security team, has switched sides. He's testifying for the federal government.

FLDS Church, Warren Jeffs, us, The FLDS bodyguard who turned on his 'prophet' - CNN

The turncoat: 'Thug Willie' spills secrets of FLDS and its 'prophet'

Phoenix, Arizona (CNN)As "Thug Willie," he defended his prophet with pit-bull ferocity. But by the time we meet in a fourth-floor hallway at the Sandra Day O'Connor federal courthouse, Willie Jessop has changed sides. He's the star government witness, testifying on behalf of outsiders he once considered his enemies.He carries himself like a man determined to unburden his conscience even if it means turning against everyone and everything he once believed in.Burly and middle-aged with a mop of brown hair, Jessop spent more than a decade as security chief and spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous sect that split from the mainstream Mormon church at the turn of the last century. He was perhaps the highest profile FLDS member -- with the exception of its prophet, Warren Jeffs.For a while Jeffs occupied the same row as Osama bin Laden and Whitey Bulger on the FBI's Most Wanted list. Jessop admits on the witness stand that he once helped the fugitive prophet run from authorities. He describes one scheme in which the prophet's brother, Bishop Lyle Jeffs dodged an FBI raid on the FLDS meeting house: While others rode out on four-wheelers as decoys, Jeffs and Jessop rode out in another direction on Honda Goldwing motorcycles packed with cash and fake IDs. They raced up a dry creek bed to the airport.At the civil trial, expected to go to the jury next week, the government is alleging that the FLDS runs Jessop's hometown like a theocracy, controlling virtually every aspect of life in Hildale, Utah, and its neighbor, Colorado City, Arizona. The cities and their shared police force discriminate against anyone who isn't FLDS, attorneys from the Justice Department's civil rights division contend.Read MoreBut the cities say the federal government is discriminating against them -- and the FLDS -- because they practice a religion others don't like. Only the cities are on trial; Jeffs and the FLDS are not named as defendants. Jessop has been on the stand for most of the day when a government prosecutor finally poses the question everybody wants answered: Why did you switch sides?Spectators lean forward in their seats only to be taken aback by the blunt response: Willie Jessop was FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs' loyal enforcer. But no longer."Those sons of bitches were raping little girls down in Texas. I knew it and they knew I knew it, and this battle rages on today."Under cross-examination by the city's lawyers, Jessop shoots back, "I'm fully aware that your clients have all taken the Fifth Amendment." And then he announces his intention to sue them. Getting the FLDS side of the story is never easy. Church members are strongly discouraged from talking to outsiders and anyone who disobeys could be excommunicated and face losing their homes and families. Jessop's split from his church began in 2011 when authorities in Texas slipped him an audiotape of Jeffs sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in an FLDS temple.The tape brought Jessop's world crashing down. He could no longer brush aside the investigations and sex charges as evidence of the government's religious persecution. He couldn't heed or protect a spiritual leader he considers a pervert. So he spoke out.Other church leaders didn't want to hear it.These days, Jessop is no longer welcome within FLDS walls. He is considered an "apostate," someone who turned his back on his prophet and the priesthood. But he sees it differently."I didn't leave the church," he says. "I believe their conduct left the church. We were creating the perfect storm for Mr. Jeffs to commit this act."For Jessop, there was no turning back after FLDS security raided his Hildale excavation business in September 2013 as the town marshals stood by. They tore his offices apart searching for copies of the sex tape and another, older, tape in which, he testified, Jeffs acknowledges that he molested his sisters and is not the true prophet.Church security hauled out computers, hard drives and filing cabinets. When they moved on to a friend's house, Jessop says he stayed outside in his truck, with his weapons holstered."Why did you just sit there in your truck?" he is asked in court. "Why didn't you stop it?"He was afraid of what might happen if anyone saw he was armed. "They would have killed me," he replies. "They would have killed me on the spot."Ostracized and under attack from his own people, Jessop turned to outsiders. "So now I had to go to the very people I had been demonizing for attacking my religion and ask them for help in protecting my family," he says on the witness stand. It was "very awkward."He'd helped create a rogue prophet, he says, and he believes he must be part of the solution. "There's a sense of 'how did we get here?' and 'didn't I help create it?' But if we did it innocently, don't we have a moral obligation to correct it?"For Jessop, a day in court, a public school and a new basketball court are a start.'A society in implosion'Willie Jessop can be found most days ensconced at a corner table at the Merry Wives Cafe on the main highway leading into his hometown of Hildale. The spot is a favorite among the apostate set. Nobody FLDS would dream of setting foot in the place.It's a few days after his turn on the witness stand, and Jessop has agreed to give a tour of the two FLDS towns at the center of the federal case. Together, they make up Short Creek, where people practicing plural marriage first sought refuge more than a century ago. Locals call the area "The Crick" and refer to themselves as "Crickers."More than a dozen years have passed since stories about child brides and a fugitive polygamist prophet brought news trucks rumbling onto The Crick's dusty, rutted streets to capture images of boys riding off on horseback and women and girls in prairie dresses.Warren Jeffs is in prison in Texas for sexually assaulting two girls he considered "spiritual wives."Jeffs is serving a life sentence in a Texas jail; he was convicted in August 2011 of sexually assaulting two girls he considered "spiritual wives." One was the 12-year-old on the tape Jessop was given. He says she is his niece. Jessop climbs into his oversized black Chevy pickup, pulls out of the cafe parking lot and heads down Utah Avenue."What you see is a society in implosion," he says. Families are splintered and scattered. Businesses are shutting down. And walls are going up.A decade has passed since the prophet performed Short Creek's last weddings, he notes."We have people here who are 30 years old and aren't married. They haven't even gone out on a date. How sad is that?"But the FLDS allegedly has found a way to keep the next generation coming. A select group of particularly pious men, called Seed Bearers, are tasked with impregnating the women of Short Creek. With 20/20 hindsight, Jessop says, it's easy to see how "this mess" unfolded."It wasn't overnight. It was over years and years of indoctrination, loyalty training and the idea that you can only be married by what God sanctions through the prophet."Now some who have left the FLDS question their own marriages."People feel betrayed that their marriage was based on a fraud," Jessop says. "Here is somebody who says he speaks for God, and you find out he didn't. How do you deal with that?"Many people leave with a heavy feeling of betrayal, Jessop says. "They're asking, 'Why did God let this guy do this to us? We trusted God.' Well, no we didn't. We trusted Warren."Over the years, as men left or were driven off, women and children routinely were shuffled around. "They've lost their identity; Warren Jeffs took away even their identity," Jessop says. "Do you go by your mother's name, your father's name, your church name? Who are you?"Jessop won't discuss his own family or say how many wives or children he has. He does say he gave his wives a choice when he left the FLDS, and that all of them followed him out.He says he continues to practice his faith but insists he no longer heeds or defends Warren Jeffs.As Jessop drives, it's hard to miss the jaw-dropping beauty of the mountains and red-rock cliffs in the distance. But up close, an anxious, eerie emptiness has Short Creek in its hold. It seems like everybody is waiting for something big. A flood, and a raidSurveillance cameras perch on rooftops of businesses -- many now shuttered -- and atop the walls surrounding the block-square Jeffs compound where the prophet once received his revelations. The walls are posted with "No Trespassing" signs.Another imposing wall recently went up around the Leroy S. Johnson meeting house, Jessop says. And there are new walls around the church-run bishop's storehouses, where faithful FLDS members pick up food, clothes and other staples.As the civil trial continued, Short Creek was rocked this week by federal criminal indictments and raids. Church leaders, including two of Jeffs' brothers, are among 11 FLDS members charged in a two-count indictment alleging food-stamp fraud and conspiracy to launder money. Lyle Jeffs, who has run the daily affairs of the FLDS while his prophet brother is in prison, was taken into custody in Salt Lake City. Seth Jeffs was arrested at the FLDS compound near Pringle, South Dakota. "This indictment is not about religion," said U.S. Attorney John Huber in Salt Lake. "This indictment is about fraud."Lyle Jeffs pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday. His attorneys had no comment as they left the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City. A detention hearing is scheduled for March 7, and the government wants to keep him behind bars as he awaits trial. Many FLDS families receive public assistance and millions of dollars flow into Short Creek each year, federal prosecutors say. The charges stem from the church's practice of collecting and pooling goods from FLDS members at the bishop's storehouse, then redistributing them. Members of the elite United Order, considered to be the most pious, get the best of the communal supplies.Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, are nestled at the foot of breathtaking red rock cliffs.United Order members also live in the biggest houses. During CNN's visit, young girls in pastel-colored prairie dresses jump up and down in the bed of a white pickup parked in the driveway of a big house. Elsewhere, men in shirts tightly buttoned at the neck and wrists build fences; women with tightly braided hair and skirts to their ankles rake yards and sweep sidewalks.It isn't difficult to see who heeds the prophet here. FLDS homes have large, lettered "Zion" signs hanging over their doors. FLDS homes have fences.But this is a city with little infrastructure. There are no curbs, no storm drains.In September, a flash flood from a fluke storm carried off two vehicles with three FLDS sisters and their children inside. The women and nine children drowned; three survived. A 6-year-old boy remains missing.For a moment, religious tensions were forgotten as FLDS members, apostates and outsiders searched side by side for survivors.A memorial was held at a city park near the place where they were swept away. Some of the dead and missing were Jessops. Cousins, Willie Jessop says.But they might as well have lived in another world.'Time for a reset'Like many new apostates, Jessop says he isn't leaving The Crick. And these days, it's harder for the FLDS to run people out of town. In 2006, the state of Utah took control of the trust that controls FLDS property in Short Creek. So it is now possible for apostates to get their old houses back. All they have to do is prove they put sweat equity into the place and make sure the taxes and occupancy fees are paid."I don't have to forfeit my town, I don't need to forfeit my relationship with my Heavenly Father, I just have to have some time to do a moral reset, a spiritual reset, a financial reset, a friendship reset," Jessop says, quickly adding, "And give everyone else the time to do that."Testifying on behalf of the government at the trial in Phoenix is part of Jessop's moral reset, and it is strange to watch the holder of so many secrets spill them at last in a public courtroom.It is even stranger to see Short Creek's civic and church leaders refuse to testify, invoking their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. That means the inside view of life in the FLDS comes from those who left it. Jessop and other witnesses have testified that church leaders -- and especially the prophet -- decide who will serve in City Hall and on the water and utilities boards, which young men will attend the police academy and go on to work on the shared local police force, the Colorado City Marshal's Office. They say the church also decides who will receive water hookups and other services -- and who will be ignored or evicted.Former FLDS members also have described a place where the church controls where members live, what they wear and eat, whom they marry and who is family. If a man displeases his prophet or church elders, he faces banishment and is told to "repent from afar." His wives and children are reassigned to others.The feds say the cities routinely discriminate against non-FLDS members, which is vehemently denied by the few city leaders who have testified; most have invoked not only the Fifth Amendment but also their First Amendment right to practice their religion without government interference. David Darger, the Colorado City manager, pushed back on the stand, accusing the government of having a political agenda and trampling on his rights as an American. A police officer mentioned by others as also being a member of FLDS church security testifies he left the church a while ago but has stayed on the force. He denies he was ever involved in church security, or that FLDS members get favored treatment from police."I run just as fast for non-FLDS as FLDS," said Daniel Musser of the Colorado City Marshal's department. If the Justice Department prevails and is able to prove the FLDS church and its rogue prophet corrupted the city governments in Short Creek, they could be decertified and placed into receivership. That means outsiders would run Hildale and Colorado City, and sheriff's deputies from Washington and Mohave counties would keep the peace."We've got to get some adult supervision up here," Jessop says. "Our police department isn't interested in the civic well-being of anything." 'I'll be lifted up'The prophet sees big changes coming to Short Creek, too. He is said to have had another revelation: The Lord is coming to "raise up" the faithful in April.Jeffs made the same prediction at the end of 1999, when members of his inner circle were told to report to Short Creek's community garden to be "raised up" to heaven. When the Lord was a no-show, Jeffs said his followers hadn't proven themselves worthy. Now, the prophet reportedly has explained that he got the math wrong, that he overlooked a 16-year difference between God's calendar and man's.Although Jessop dismisses talk of Jeffs' end times revelations as nonsense circulated by FLDS enemies, others insist that he made them. Short Creek is now an eclectic mix of FLDS families and those who have left the fold.Sam Brower, a private investigator and author who has helped people leave the church, says a client is trying to persuade his children to abandon the sect. But his teenage son won't go."The son, who's about 17, is begging his dad, 'Don't take me. Don't take me back. I have to stay in because they're going to make me a priesthood holder,'" Brower says. "'And if I'm a priesthood holder, I'll be lifted up.'"Roy Jeffs: Why I left my father's churchBrower, author of The New York Times best-seller "Prophet's Prey," is convinced the talk of the prophet's end times revelation is "better than a rumor." He notes that April 6 is an important date in Mormon history, and in the history of the FLDS. So important that the massive white temple at the Yearning for Zion ranch in Texas opened on April 6. Is the big thing everybody in Short Creek seems to waiting for an intervention from the federal government -- or God? 'Answer them nothing'Jessop sued the FLDS and the Jeffs brothers over the illegal raid that cost him his business. He also alleged that his family was harassed by others using the same tactics he once employed to purge Short Creek of undesirables. I've heard the stories about FLDS boys tossing rocks at strangers and apostates and wonder if that explains the huge crack across Jessop's windshield. He won't say.When church leaders fell back on the standard FLDS legal tactic -- "answer them nothing" -- Jessop won a default judgment upward of $30 million.Excommunicated FLDS members are returning to Short Creek to claim their old homes.He began buying FLDS properties at auction, at a deep discount negotiated with the United Effort Plan, the trust that oversees church holdings in Short Creek; the UEP has been in state receivership since 2006. His acquisitions included the old school building, the bishop's storehouse across the street and a massive walled compound that church members built for Jeffs after he had a revelation that he would be freed from prison by the end of 2010 if they built him a new house. Jessop sold the school and storehouse properties back to the county, which built a gym with a competition-sized basketball court in the storehouse. He opened a hotel -- The America's Most Wanted Bed & Breakfast -- in the compound Jeffs ordered built but never lived in.A billboard along the only highway leading into Hildale advertises the "luxury" hotel, but it is empty on the day Jessop shows it off. Even though the building is newer, the décor invokes the 1980s. Inside, the rooms and corridors are decorated with a thick, ice-blue carpet that Jeffs ordered. It wouldn't have been Jessop's choice, but it's quality carpet, so he doesn't want to waste it. Jessop also asked the county to help tear down the high concrete walls surrounding the school and gym, opening them up to everyone. He talked the county into sending in teachers because no one in Hildale or Colorado City had teaching credentials.Now, for the first time in a generation, there's a public school, with more than 300 students, and kids from other schools are coming into Hildale on buses for league basketball and volleyball games.Through the school, basketball and courtroom testimony, Jessop is seeking to redeem himself."All of our focus was on protecting Warren, protecting him legally, physically, financially -- any way we could find to protect him," Jessop says. "And he was using that to be a terrible monster."A debt has come due, as Jessop sees it."I owe it to every child I can find to get them in school," he says. "I owe every mother that needs help. I owe her that. And every father that's trying to find his kids, I owe him that." 'These kids have had the rug pulled out'Not long after the walls came down, Jessop says he insisted that the mass baptismal font in the school lobby had to go. It gave him the creeps.Where kids line up for recess, adults once stood and waited to turn their earthly possessions over to the FLDS for "consecration." They were grilled, answering questions designed to test their loyalty and obedience. If deemed worthy, they were re-baptized en masse. And then they were sent across the street to the bishop's storehouse to collect whatever possessions church leaders decided they deserved.In 2010, the faithful were divided into two castes: An elite group of the most pious and obedient men and their families emerged at the United Order. They lived in the biggest homes and shopped in a fancier storehouse. The ones deemed less worthy lived in shacks and trailers and their storehouse rations were comparatively paltry.Jessop shudders, damning the storehouse ritual as "sick." He says it was designed to keep followers dependent on their church -- and obedient.The place where some people lost everything six years ago has become a place of aspiration and a symbol of Short Creek's future.For now, it's just another noisy school hallway lined with lockers and cheery balloons and posters. Everything about Water Canyon School seems so normal, and that is what makes it truly remarkable. Because nothing about what happened here before comes close to being what most people would consider "normal."Alvin Barlow, a member of the old school board, remembers when 1,500 children went to public school in Short Creek. But as soon as Warren Jeffs ascended as prophet in 2002, he ordered all FLDS children home-schooled.Barlow says the FLDS gave families a choice: Did they want to go to heaven or hell? Sending kids to public school was seen as a one-way ticket to hell.And so, what then was known as Phelps Elementary School closed its doors.According to those who have left the FLDS, Short Creek became a joyless theocracy where children grew up without Christmas, toys, games or pets. They were told that the world beyond The Crick was scary and brimming with evil.Jessop realizes now that a lot of evil came from within the FLDS. In fact, he says, it came from the top. Teen-age boys were cast out so church elders could get their pick of young brides. And girls as young as 12 were forced into polygamous unions with older men. Water Canyon School is the first to open in Short Creek in a dozen years.That's why opening a public school for the first time in more than a dozen years is such a big deal. Growing by leaps and bounds as it completes its second year, the school is both an oasis and a microcosm of the changes sweeping across Short Creek.Lolene Gifford, a reading specialist, says she jumped at the chance to teach again in Short Creek after so many years. She said introducing traumatized and culturally isolated children to the classroom has been one of the toughest, and most rewarding, challenges of her career."These kids have had the rug pulled out from under them numerous ways," Gifford says. They've been -- I hate to say this, but I'm going to -- they've been lied to by the adults in their lives. They've had their home life shattered, they've been taken away -- some of them -- from their moms, their dads, their biological parents, and reassigned to other parents or relatives."There are educational challenges, too. Kids tell her they've never read novels. They say they've been taught at home that man never walked on the moon. They believe it was a media hoax.Some of the children are angry. Some feel betrayed and don't trust adults, she says. But almost all of them are enjoying their new adventure."They want to try everything that they were denied for so long."One look around the playground shows that this is very much a place in transition. A little girl in a prairie dress holds a limp rope in her hands and watches a laughing group of girls skipping over their ropes. These girls are dressed in jeans and T-shirts, and they are having a ball as the newcomer tries to figure out a skill most people don't remember having to learn. A boy wearing a dark suit, crisp white shirt and tie, chases a ball. Across the street, a row of FLDS home-schooled children sit atop a high wall, watching the others play.The line between believers and nonbelievers is clearly drawn. And perhaps never before has being a nonbeliever looked so good to the children of Hildale."Now," says teacher Gifford, "they're realizing that we are friends, that we have their best interests at heart. We really care about them, and we're not disrespectful of the culture they've had." 'Sound of Silence'When somebody changes sides as completely as Willie Jessop does, others are bound to suspect his motives. It goes with the territory, and Short Creek is a place where the truth can be slippery.Jessop is a talker. But when he doesn't want to answer a question, he has a habit of sliding the conversation in another direction, in the slick manner of a seasoned politician. He says he has no political ambition and just wants to hang out at his ranch outside town and "chase cows."Some people who have known Jessop for a long time think he is just working his latest angle, playing the feds against the FLDS for his own advantage. The fact he is buying up large parcels of land around Short Creek has raised eyebrows. Others fighting to get their homes and businesses back are still tied up in red tape.Brower, the private investigator who has helped so many escape the FLDS, warns against painting too rosy a picture of Jessop. He hurt many people during his "Thug Willie" days, and not everyone is willing to forgive and forget, Brower says. For them, Jessop's motives always will be suspect."I think we all look for some kind of redemption," the private detective says. "I believe Willie is looking for some type of redemption, but I also believe Willie is very self-absorbed. I hope some day that I'm proven wrong and he does have a real change of heart."Others are more blunt."Willie Jessop is a modern-day carpetbagger," says Ron Rohbock, who preceded him as the FLDS church security chief. Rohbock was the first man Warren Jeffs cast out of the FLDS when he became prophet. The house Rohbock built with his own hands was taken from him, and his seven wives and 50 children were turned over to other men.He is back to reclaim the big house he built, but he plans to sell it someday and move on with his wife, Geri, a marriage and family counselor from Las Vegas. So far, Rohbock has kept a low profile, except for the ticket he got last year for blaring forbidden Christmas music. It was Bing Crosby's "White Christmas," as he recalls."We've gone through a lot in the past 2½ years," he says. "These people have swept so much under the carpet. They did everything in the name of God."At the end of two days in Short Creek, I'm not sure what to make of Willie Jessop -- or anybody else. He tells a compelling story, and he seems sincere, which makes him all the more dangerous in the eyes of his many critics.He was an enthusiastic tour guide, but he appeared to hold back when CNN's cameras were rolling. He was self-conscious, measuring every word. Seated on a chair in the center of a conference room at America's Most Wanted Bed & Breakfast, watching the crew pack up, he seemed to be winding down, until he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone."Want me to ruin a song for you?" he asks. "Listen to this."He starts to play Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence.""What do you think of this in light of Warren Jeffs?" Suddenly, every lyric has meaning. Could Jessop's eyes be misting up just a little?"Hello darkness, my old friendI've come to talk with you againJessop repeats each line for emphasis."And in the naked light I sawTen thousand people maybe more ..."Warren Jeffs is said to have 10,000 followers, he points out."Fools, said I, you do not knowSilence like a cancer growsHear my words that I might teach youTake my arms that I might reach youBut my words like silent raindrops fell And echoed in the sounds of silence.""All those people who tried to help," he says, shaking his head."And the people bowed and prayedTo the neon god they made ... "To a neon god they made," he says. "That's sick. Warren Jeffs was arrested in Las Vegas." The words of the prophet are written on the subway wallsAnd tenement hallsAnd whispered in the sound of silence." "The sounds of silence," Jessop says. "Do you get it? We should have known he was a perv. Didn't see it. How do you miss this? It was written on the subway walls. But the silence like a cancer grew."Later on, Jessop seems to finally let his guard down. "I'm just so ashamed by all of this," he says.It was perhaps the most unfiltered moment of our time together in Short Creek, where he wasn't sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Wayne Drash, CNN

2015-10-07 14:04:58

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/07/us/jamaica-lottery-scam-suicide/index.html

Driven to death by phone scammers - CNN

Jamaican lottery scams target nearly 300,000 Americans a year, costing them $300 million annually -- and leading to suicides among the most vulnerable victims.

us, Driven to death by phone scammers - CNN

Driven to death by phone scammers

(CNN)The phone calls wouldn't stop. The man on the other end of the line made promises of a big payoff: millions of dollars in prize money. But first the IRS needed $1,500 in taxes, he insisted, then the jackpot would arrive at the family home, a camera crew ready to capture the excitement.The calls came a couple of times a day; other times, nearly 50.Mr. Albert, we need the money to be sent today ...Don't hang up the phone, Mr. Albert ...Read MoreMr. Albert, don't tell your wife about this ...Albert Poland Jr. had worked 45 years for the Burlington hosiery factory in Harriman, Tennessee, starting off as a mechanic before rising to become a quality-control manager.He and his wife, Virginia, were living a humble life in the Appalachian foothills near Knoxville, having raised a son and daughter in their 62 years of marriage. The family patriarch was known simply as Daddy.At age 81, his mind was faltering. He suffered from Alzheimer's and dementia. And the caller -- a man in Jamaica -- preyed on that vulnerability.Poland's lucidity fluctuated. In February, he went to the local police station and asked whether they could make the phone calls from the 876 area code stop. Another time, he went to the post office to send money to his caller. The teller stopped him, talked with him and handed him a brochure on Jamaican lottery scams. He thanked her.His family tried to intervene numerous times. On one of his good days, he told his wife simply, "I'm in too deep."The Polands in younger days.On March 21, the caller asked for $1,500. Poland withdrew the maximum $400 from his ATM and sent it via Western Union. He was sure he was going to win more than $2 million. He hoped to pay off his son's mortgage and help his family for years to come. His son, Chris Poland, was livid when his mother told him his father was talking with the caller again. Chris, 53, had had the same conversation for months with his dad; his father had sent more than $5,000 to the caller. Chris spoke with his father like most any son would. "Daddy, you taught me the value of the dollar. Why are you giving money away?" As father and son talked by cell phone, the Jamaican called back on Poland's land line. Mr. Albert ... The next morning, a Sunday, was like a repeat record. More calls and another tense phone conversation between father and son. Virginia got dressed for church. Her husband decided to stay home. It was a beautiful spring morning, with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees and the trees a lush green. Poland strolled around his yard. A neighbor waved: "Looks like we're gonna have to start mowing soon.""Yeah, looks like it," Poland said.He walked to the basement of the family home. He carried with him a snub-nose .38 revolver. In his suicide note, Poland told his family not to spend much on his funeral and said he hoped that when more than $2 million arrived tomorrow, it would vindicate him.Virginia and Albert Poland were married for 62 years. "He was my best friend. He was my buddy," she says.'Truly heartbreaking'Albert Poland was in the grips of a Jamaican lottery scammer -- part of a cottage industry that targets nearly 300,000 Americans a year, most of them elderly, and has enticed them to send an estimated $300 million annually to the Caribbean island nation. AARP has run campaigns warning about the scams originating from the Jamaican 876 area code. The U.S. Postal Service has published pamphlets and distributed them across the country. The Senate Special Committee on Aging held hearings two years ago about the magnitude of the problem and urged U.S. and Jamaican authorities to do more."The Jamaican lottery scam is a cruel, persistent and sophisticated scam that has victimized seniors throughout the nation," said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the committee's chairwoman. "It is truly heartbreaking that this scam has robbed seniors of hundreds of millions of dollars." It's such a huge problem in Jamaica that the scams have been dubbed the highest-level Tier 1 threat: a "clear and present danger" to national security, says Peter Bunting, Jamaica's national security minister.From children to the nation's most tech-savvy 20-somethings, from a former deputy mayor of Montego Bay to the most vicious gang members, lottery scams have left few segments of the island nation untouched."It is extremely corrosive to the fabric of society," Bunting says. "We have seen where it has corrupted police officers. It has corrupted legitimate businesspersons who end up playing some role in laundering money."The Poland family first spoke to CNN in April. Investigators are looking into Albert Poland's case and hope to provide some solace to the family soon; for now, his scammer remains at large. From there, CNN followed the money, traveling to ground zero of the scams, Montego Bay, where we witnessed a police raid of a suspect's house.In Jamaica, more than 200 deaths a year have been tied to the scams. And in the United States, the scams have cost people their lives -- and their life savings. Trial marks U.S. firstEdna Schmeets looks like she's straight out of "The Golden Girls" central casting: a grandma with curly gray hair and a 5-foot-2 frame. At 86, she's soft-spoken, yet opinionated.Just a month after Albert Poland took his life in Tennessee, Schmeets faced down her scammer in federal court in Bismarck, North Dakota. Sanjay Ashani Williams started off as a scammer around 2008, making calls to elderly Americans. He eventually graduated to buying and selling caller lists -- reams of information containing the names and numbers of tens of thousands of potential victims. Williams made more than $5 million on his operation, the government said. His case marked the first U.S. trial of what officials call a "lead list scammer."In addition to dealing in lists, Williams continued making calls himself, including to Schmeets. "He said I had won this $19 million from American Cash Awards and that I would have to, you know, pay taxes on this money before they would release it," Schmeets testified, according to trial transcripts. "And they kept calling about sending another check and another check and another check. I mean, it just kept on and on until I had both my life insurances gone, all my savings. Everything.How the scams workGetting hold of a caller list is gold in the scamming world. Originating from legitimate calling centers, such lists contain the names, addresses and phone numbers of thousands of Americans and can be purchased online in the black market. Scammers begin by congratulating their prey for winning a lottery or a Mercedes. Victims are then directed to pay "taxes" up front, typically $1,500 to $3,000 through Western Union or Moneygram. The winnings never surface.Sometimes scammers send checks for thousands of dollars to lure people in; the checks bounce, but by then the victims have paid their "taxes."Scammers hook the most vulnerable, often tricking them into sending cash again and again. They sense a lonely person, flatter them and convince them they're friends. Sometimes, victims get coerced into sending TVs and appliances to Jamaica. A rare few have flown to Jamaica and married their scammers.When victims try to back out, scammers use Google Earth to zoom in on their homes, describe the neighborhood and threaten to kill or rape family members. One elderly American has been duped of more than $1.5 million, authorities say. Another taped 99 $100 bills to the pages of Better Homes and Gardens and sent it to her scammer.Three years ago, a 70-year-old engineer sent hundreds of thousands to his scammers. At one point, he received a letter purportedly from the U.S. ambassador to Jamaica asking him to take part in a sting. The man flew to Jamaica, but authorities -- who'd gotten wind of the plan -- met the man at a bank before he wired $50,000 to his scammers' account. The scammers' had planned to kill him shortly after the transfer.Some of the more sophisticated scammers send mass mailings to tens of thousands of Americans, asking them to fill out a form and send it back if they want to participate in a sweepstakes. The mailings often appear legitimate. The scammers will look at the handwriting of respondents and focus on ones who appear to be elderly. "I just had lost everything."She sent checks for $65,000, $57,000 and $20,000 over the course of the next nine months. How much did she lose total?"Oh, my goodness," she testified. "When I figured it out, it was about $297,000."Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Hochhalter probed, "Did you become suspicious after you kept sending money and you didn't get your prize?""Yes, I did," Schmeets replied.But she said she was told not to tell anyone "about this until you get your winnings, your $19 million. Then, you can tell everybody."Why keep sending money? Because, Schmeets testified, she was told she would get "all your money back, plus the $19 million."Schmeets and her husband, Lawrence, had been married 62 years. They lived on a small cattle farm. Her husband worked in the railroad industry; she clerked at a grocery store to bring in extra cash. They raised five children: four boys and one girl. The family had endured tragedy years ago when one of their sons died at age 31. Her husband died in 2010. Phone calls congratulating her on winning a lottery began in fall 2011 and continued through June 2012. Her motivations for wanting the money were simple: "I was going to just give it to my children."Instead, all that she and her husband had worked for was gone.She glanced occasionally across the room at Williams. He never returned her gaze. Instead, she said, he rifled through a garbage bag containing hundreds of pages of court documents. He was dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, with a bushy beard and braids piled on top of his head.She thought about how different he was than the person she had envisioned. "He seemed like such a nice guy on the phone," Schmeets would say later. Williams operated out of Montego Bay and established an intricate network of runners based in Charlotte, North Carolina, to pick up money and send it to him. His website, gamblerslead.com, was a gold mine for scammers seeking phone numbers for elderly Americans. Authorities studied more than 500,000 emails connected to the site, an FBI agent testified. Authorities discovered that Williams was buying lists at wholesale on the black market, where they can go for up to $5,000 and contain tens of thousands of names. He carved up the lists and sold names and numbers to callers for $5.50 apiece. Thirty-two people in the United States and Jamaica were indicted in the scheme. Eleven pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, seven are awaiting trial, and 14 are awaiting extradition. According to authorities, many pretended to be FBI agents, bank personnel and IRS workers to convince people that their lottery winnings were real.Seventy-two Americans, all older than 55, were identified as losing money in Williams' operation. William Porter, 94, was a fighter pilot in World War II in the Pacific theater. He lost $250,000. Charlotte Davis, 64, was also targeted. She testified that she was told by her scammer that if she didn't send the money, he'd rape her daughters and kill her son.A 72-year-old victim from Odessa, Texas, committed suicide. Prosecutor Hochhalter told CNN that it was too difficult legally to bring homicide charges in the case. "But we believe we have the factual evidence to suggest that this offense involved conduct that created a risk of serious bodily injury or death," Hochhalter said. "And that's evidenced by the fact that at least one person did commit suicide." Williams was combative at the defense table through much of the trial. He said his rights were violated when he was arrested on a trip in North Carolina, and he threw fits that annoyed even his own lawyer. He refused the judge's recommendation to wear nice clothes in court, instead opting for his prison outfit. He had the same reaction when the judge suggested he might want to consider a plea deal that would result in three to five years in prison. Instead, Williams placed his fate in the hands of a jury. His attorney, Charles Stock, tried to make the case that hotels, credit card companies, casinos and other companies buy and sell Americans' personal information all the time -- and that it's perfectly legal. This is true, the prosecution countered, but it becomes illegal when you knowingly use the information for a crime.Williams was convicted on an array of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering charges. He faces up to 40 years in prison. "That was a big relief," Schmeets said, "to know that he's going to prison." During the trial, an expert from Jamaica's equivalent of the FBI gave an assessment of just how endemic the scamming has become.Kevin Watson, a corporal with Jamaica's Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency, told the court that many Jamaicans see scamming as "the only source of income for them.""In small pockets of communities," Watson said, "you will find many persons involved in this activity. You will also find children who grew up ... to believe that this is OK -- it's OK to get involved in lottery scamming."Deadly competitionThe turquoise water off the coast of Montego Bay serves as a majestic paradise for millions of tourists.But outside the walls of the resorts, the victims of lottery scams are counted not by sums of money lost but by an ever-growing tally of bodies.The expansive four-lane highway along Montego Bay's Resort Row gives way to winding, pothole-filled roads where corrugated-tin homes press up against the cracked pavement. Goats straddle the sides of roads barely wide enough for two cars. It is here in the ghettos that competition for calling lists has turned deadly. The Granville neighborhood in Montego Bay is credited as the birthplace of Jamaican lottery scams.More than 200 Jamaicans a year are killed in connection with lottery scams -- a fifth of the killings in the island nation, which has the dubious distinction of being among the most violent countries per capita in the world. Scammers who sell names and numbers to callers expect a cut of their profits; if they find out they're being cheated, they'll hunt down and kill the caller or a member of his family. Other killings occur when rival gang members steal caller lists."It's a cancer in the society," says Luis Moreno, the U.S ambassador to Jamaica. "Gangs escalate armed competition with each other over who is going to control these lists and who is going to get the best scammers, the best phone numbers, the best phone guys. Even children as young as 10, 12 years old are tied in as couriers."In June, a 14-year-old was dragged out of his home and machine-gunned by gang members connected to the scams. The same fate befell a 62-year-old grandmother in July. Two American women were wounded in August at a nightclub when a gang member opened fire on a rival who owed him money. The rival was killed."These gangs are often indiscriminate," says Bunting, the national security minister. "When they come looking for their target, if they don't find him, they will shoot members of his family to essentially send a message." Luis Moreno, the U.S ambassador to Jamaica, says the scams are a cancer to society.The average Jamaican makes about $300 a month. The top lottery scammers boast of bringing in $100,000 a week. They share videos of washing cars with champagne and show off by setting fire to thousands of dollars in cash. Scammers justify their actions by calling it reparations for slavery, authorities say.We're robbing the rich to pay the poor, scammers think. If someone is stupid enough to send us money, that's their fault. "You're not stealing from the rich to give to the poor," Moreno says. "In fact, you're victimizing the most vulnerable people of a society -- Jamaican as well as the U.S."Lottery scamming sprang up between 1998 and 1999 when legitimate American and Canadian call centers set up operations in Montego Bay. Young Jamaicans were trained on how to empathize with customers. No one could have known how those skills would result in today's flourishing scam business. Kenrick Stephenson, known simply as Bebe, is credited with being the country's first lottery scammer. His hub sprang out of Granville, one of Montego Bay's poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods. Bebe trained, recruited and cultivated young scammers. Mansions popped up, taking over land where squatters dwelled. Expensive cars cruised the streets. Scammers flashed their bling. At the gates of call centers, scammers lurked, offering money to anyone who would provide lead lists.But even the godfather of lottery scams wasn't immune to the spiraling violence. Bebe's life was snubbed out gangland-style at the gates of his mansion in the plush Ironshore neighborhood of Montego Bay in May 2014. Jamaica National Security Minister Peter Bunting says the scams have scarred the fabric of his country.Showing how intricately tied scammers are within Jamaican society, Bebe was a prominent gay activist and powerful figure within the ruling People's National Party. When he was killed, a party member said he would be "sadly missed." His casket was said to be made of gold. Top officials know that the stakes are great. If the violence moves closer to the resorts and scares off visitors, the nation's economy would crumble. Its multibillion-dollar tourism industry counts for about 90% of the economy. "We have to have a zero-tolerance approach," Bunting says. "We need to establish that this is as much a crime as drug trafficking, as much a crime as if you held up somebody with a gun. It is in some ways even more cruel because of the age and the vulnerability of the victims."A Jamaican raidThe sign at the entrance to Rosemount Gardens, a middle- to upper-class neighborhood in Montego Bay, reads: "The law is active here. Take no chances."Today, the law is active. Wham. Wham. Wham. Two agents pound on the front door of a house. The sound echoes around the neighborhood. A dog barks from a nearby house.One of the agents has a 9 mm machine gun. The other is armed with a Glock handgun. More are standing back. They've gotten intelligence that a man inside has earned maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars from scamming.The house, once a one-room concrete shack, is undergoing extensive renovations, including a new wing and a front porch with intricate floor-to-ceiling grill work -- fancy burglar bars to keep intruders out. A mound of sand sits next to the porch. A stucco front wall remains unfinished. Inside, the suspect grabs a hammer and drives a nail into his laptop, piercing the hard drive. He runs to his bathroom and throws the laptop in a bucket of water in his shower. He begins eating pieces of notebook paper.The agent with the machine gun kicks open the door and rushes inside. Other agents follow, their Glocks drawn, and go through the house room-to-room. In seconds, they spot the suspect in a back bedroom. Wearing only gray briefs, he holds his hands in the air and falls down on his bed. "You get out of bed!" an agent screams.The suspect moans, a mortified look across his face."Right now! Right now! Downnnnnnnn!" He lies on his stomach on the bedroom floor. An agent handcuffs him. That's when authorities realize he's chewing on something. "Spit it out! Spit out everything!"An agent pulls out a machete and stands over the suspect, the blade looming over his head. He coughs up pieces of paper with names and numbers. Photos: Inside a Jamaican lottery raid Photos: Inside a Jamaican lottery raidKevin Watson, a corporal with MOCA, Jamaica's Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency, led a raid on a Montego Bay house after receiving intelligence the man inside may have made hundreds of thousands of dollars off lottery scamming. Authorities allowed CNN to film the raid. Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Inside a Jamaican lottery raidWhen authorities knocked on the door, the suspect drove a nail through his laptop, piercing the hard drive, authorities said. He also began chewing pieces of paper containing Americans' names and numbers.Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Inside a Jamaican lottery raidAuthorities bagged all items seized during the raid. They said they found a treasure trove of information indicating the suspect was participating in scamming. He declined comment to CNN.Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Inside a Jamaican lottery raidThis refrigerator sat in the suspect's newly renovated kitchen. Authorities said scammers often talk their victims into sending new appliances to them. They planned to track the origins of this fridge. Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Inside a Jamaican lottery raidThe home had floor-to-ceiling ironwork on the front porch and out back. It appeared to serve as fancy burglar bars to keep intruders out.Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Inside a Jamaican lottery raidThe neighborhood where the suspect lived is called Rosemount Gardens, a middle- to upper-class area of Montego Bay. Authorities say they have seen an influx of scammers try to blend in with society.Hide Caption 6 of 6Authorities allowed CNN to film the raid. Kevin Watson, the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption official who testified at the North Dakota trial, oversees the raid on this August day. Watson is a made-for-Hollywood cop, with slick-backed hair, a million-dollar smile and effusive pride in law enforcement. Watson stands in the bedroom, the handcuffed suspect next to him. Authorities have found a treasure trove: the laptop, the chewed-up paper, cell phones and a notebook with dozens of names and numbers. Watson holds up a flip phone and scrolls through the call log. Scammers prefer to use flip phones instead of smartphones to limit their digital footprint. Calls to America were made at 10:42 a.m., 10:43, 10:46, 10:47. Each call went to a different area code. "It's quite unlikely that you know someone from all these states," Watson says. He turns to the suspect. "How long have you been involved in lottery scamming?" Watson asks. "I don't want you to tell me that you're not involved, because we didn't come here by chance. If you understand how MOCA works, you understand that we came here because we know what you're up to. All right. So how long have you been involved in lottery scamming?"The suspect says he wishes not to speak. Under further questioning, he acknowledges that he defrauded people a "few years ago.""Like how many years?" Watson asks."I don't want to respond," the suspect says."You do understand that we can get all of that information, right? So it would be prudent for you to be honest with us," Watson replies. Silence.In the suspect's wallet is the name, address and Social Security number of a 69-year-old man in Wisconsin. The suspect admits he's never been to Wisconsin. Investigators log all items seized and bag them. They take away the suspect to be booked and jailed. He has been charged with "knowingly possessing identity information of other persons with intention to commit an offense," Watson says.Four years ago, Watson scrapped his IT job for the opportunity to conduct raids like these. At 37, the father of two young children has made targeting lottery scams one of his primary aims. When he spoke at an elementary school this year, a teacher pulled him aside and told him that 17 of the 35 students in her class wanted to be lottery scammers. He spoke with two boys, ages 7 and 9, who told him they hoped to become scammers so they could drive fancy cars and live in big houses. Watson's heart sank. "I was very broken by what I heard," he recalls. "What lottery scamming is doing is making it look like only thieves live in Jamaica."As he leaves the scene of the raid this day, he walks out the broken front door and gives a thumbs up. "We're successful with this one," he says.Plugging the leaksWatson and his Jamaican colleagues have begun making headway in the fight, although they admit it will be a long battle.Law enforcement personnel have met with priests and preachers, business leaders and teachers to talk about the need to stop the scams. Just this year, police have spoken to more than 10,000 children and teens at schools across Montego Bay. Their message: There's nothing glamorous about stealing from old people or getting executed. Jamaican authorities and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched a joint task force in 2009, called JOLT, to focus on the scams. But there was little the Jamaican Operations Linked to Telemarketing task force could do, because the scammers were essentially untouchable. There was little political will to prosecute the scammers and few laws to hold them accountable.And so, they flourished. One prominent rapper glorified scamming in a song. People could walk down the streets of Montego Bay and hear scammers operating in the open, Watson says. That changed in 2013, when Jamaican lawmakers passed what has become known as the Lottery Scam Law, giving authorities the tools they need to conduct sweeping raids and keep suspects locked up. More than 500 arrests have been made since then.Western Union and Moneygram now closely monitor transactions, especially around Montego Bay. Scammers have begun shifting tactics, using money mules to carry cash directly to them. Sometimes, they talk their victims into sending appliances with cash hidden inside. Call centers have tightened their operations. Employees get searched before and after their shifts. Cell phones, pens, notepads, CDs, flash drives -- everything -- gets stored in lockers while they work. Their Internet access at work is strictly controlled. Workers also undergo lie detector tests once a quarter, get fingerprinted and are warned of the likelihood of jail time if caught working with lottery scams.Those measures have "completely locked down the leakage of information," says Yoni Epstein, who heads a trade group representing more than two dozen call centers in Jamaica.The centers provide tech support, customer relations and other services for companies like Xerox and Amazon. They employ 17,000 Jamaicans. Scammers no longer wait outside their gates. Still, caller lists are available online through black markets, authorities say. Leaks can come from disgruntled workers -- if not in Jamaica, then in other countries -- or from hackers or other criminal enterprises. History was made this year when a Jamaican was extradited to the United States for the first time on lottery scam charges. Damion Bryan Barrett, 29, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced in June to 46 months in prison. "Before all this, I was just going through a very difficult time. Smoking, drinking, just living," Barrett told the judge in federal court in Fort Lauderdale. "I just want to go home to my son -- be a better person for him, so this won't happen to him."Moreno, the U.S. ambassador, says Barrett's extradition "sends the message that there's no way that you can really get away with this." Jamaica's minister of national security agrees. Bunting says Jamaican officials want more suspects extradited because no Jamaican wants to end up in a U.S. prison. When top drug traffickers from Jamaica were extradited to the United States, Bunting says, it cut down tremendously on his nation's drug trade."If we could get maybe a few dozen scammers extradited," he says, "then it could have a similar chilling effect."Authorities pledge that more extraditions are on their way. The calls keep comingThe day after Albert Poland killed himself in Tennessee, neighbors brought casserole dishes and reflected on the man who taught Sunday school for more than 45 years. The phone rang. Caller ID showed that it was from the 876 area code. Then it rang again. And again. And again. More than 40 calls from Jamaica. Poland wasn't even in the ground yet. Chris Poland could hardly contain his rage. The son decided to do something. He picked up his father's phone, placed it on speaker and hit the record button on his cell phone. He pretended to be his father. Chris and Virginia Poland wanted to tell their family's story so others would not fall victim to scams. The man on the other end said he hoped to deliver millions today. He said he'd received the $400 from Saturday but needed another $1,500. "Where is your wife right now?""She's at the store," Chris responded."Ah, OK, OK, OK. What I need you to do now, Mr. Albert, is I need you to get your bank card and your identification card and go in the car right now. I'm not going to hang up. OK?""But I don't have a car. She's in the car," Chris said."Ah, and that's the car you'd have to use to go to the Western Union and your bank. Right?"Yes, Chris told him, adding that maybe he could catch a cab. "That would be more better, because we don't want your bank to close today and we need to deliver this money," the man said. "We want to deliver your $2.5 million to you before your bank closes, so you can put it in a safe place. OK?""OK," Chris responded."So go outside right now and get a cab. I'm not going to hang up ...""OK," Chris said. "Where will I get the money, the $2.5 million?""Remember that we took your address from you on Saturday. It's going to be delivered directly to your doorstep. OK?"Chris said he needs to hail a cab; the caller promised to call back in 10 minutes. The two hang up.More than three months after Poland's death, the calls have not ceased. Sometimes, Virginia Poland picks up the phone. She found her husband's suicide note next to his computer. "He was my best friend. He was my buddy. He was just good to me," she says softly, dabbing tears with a tissue. "When they took him, they took my life, too."Once, she told her husband's scammer that her husband killed himself. The man laughed. She told him to call the funeral home.CNN's Drew Griffin and David Fitzpatrick contributed to this story.

Moni Basu, CNN

2015-05-08 20:42:58

news

world

https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/08/world/nepal-forgotten-sherpas-remote-village-everest/index.html

After Nepal quake: Heaven, dotted with pockets of hell - CNN

In the shadow of Everest, the villagers who make Nepal's tourism business possible see virtually no sign of help. Until a native son arrives.

world, After Nepal quake: Heaven, dotted with pockets of hell - CNN

Heaven, dotted with pockets of hell

CNN's Moni Basu reported this story last week from the region where the epicenter of Tuesday's earthquake was located. Lukla, Nepal (CNN)The Goma Air flight makes a swift turn over jagged white peaks and lush Himalayan farmlands before a herky-jerky landing in what's been called the world's most dangerous airport.Phurba Sherpa hurtles off the prop plane that on this day has carried four adults, two children and 16 gray bags that each weigh 53 pounds. Inside are industrial-strength, family-size tents donated by the German Red Cross.In the aftermath of the enormous earthquake that shook Nepal, Phurba, a 49-year-old Kathmandu entrepreneur, has made it his business to get relief to his people. By that he means the Sherpas, the ethnic minorities who inhabit the towns and villages in the shadow of Mount Everest and are known worldwide as expert climbers.The Sherpas prop up Nepal's lucrative trekking and tourism business, but the government, Phurba says, has never looked out for them. Isolated in remote mountainous villages, they have been a forgotten people in Nepal and now, after the earthquake, they fear being forgotten again.For Phurba, the journey from the Kathmandu Valley up to the soaring peaks is not just a humanitarian mission to help thousands of people living in quake-affected villages. Read MoreIt's personal."It is my duty," he says of the responsibility he feels to give back to the majestic land and people who shaped him as a man. Phurba has no time to lose. Namche Bazaar is usually bustling at this time of year in Nepal with mountaineers on their way to Everest Base Camp. Now, the town is dotted with tents filled with displaced people.Few others are here to help. There's no Nepalese government presence. Nor do I see any of the hordes of international aid workers and members of the media who descended on Kathmandu within days of the earthquake.Granted, the villages and towns that dot the hills and mountains under Everest are not as badly affected as other areas closer to the earthquake's epicenter. People here are not lacking for food and water at the moment. This is a region in eastern Nepal where the tourism industry has helped people fare better moneywise. But Nepal is not just a poor nation; it is one of the poorest. And now, the tourist season has abruptly ended for two years in a row. Last year, a giant block of ice broke free and crashed down into the Khumbu Icefall just above Everest Base Camp, killing 16 Sherpas. The people here worry if they will ever be able to recover from tragedy. They wonder if tourists and trekkers will even consider returning to a place of such risk and sorrow.Their villages are also places that can be extremely difficult to access -- there are no roads and the only way to travel is on foot. Some say it's hard to get aid delivered. But Phurba says there are ways -- donkeys are a popular means of transporting goods. "If we wait for the government, it will take a lot of time," he says, blaming red tape and a lack of will.I watch him make arrangements in his orange puffy down jacket, standing against the Himalayan vistas that tourists pay a lot of money to experience. I see a man who is determined amid a crisis of gigantic proportions.I'd met Phurba in Kathmandu a few days earlier when I wrote about American mountaineer and filmmaker Tom Taplin, one of 19 known to have died on Everest. Phurba, who owns his own Himalayan tourism company, helped make all the arrangements for Taplin's body to be brought back down the mountain.Phurba lamented to me then about the plight of his people. The attention, he said, has been cast on foreigners who were killed, injured or trapped, but not the Sherpas without whom Nepal's bustling trekking industry would not be possible. He told me a young man from his village was killed at the base camp and that the family is in mourning.I asked if I could accompany him on his whirlwind trip to Solukumbhu District, thousands of feet above sea level. Two days later, I find myself racing to keep up with him.Phurba Sherpa, center, discusses the earthquake's toll with Bal Bahadur KC, left, a member of Nepal's Parliament who represents the district in which most of the affected Sherpa villages fall.'Please help us'At the Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, the town where thousands of trekkers fly in to begin their journeys toward the skies, Phurba oversees the unloading of the Red Cross tents. Then he hops into a Fishtail helicopter that whisks him away to Phakding, where the lawmaker who represents this district is waiting.Phurba invited Bal Bahadur KC on this assessment tour because he wanted someone from the government to see the earthquake's devastation in this part of country. Maybe then, Phurba thought, someone in Kathmandu would pay attention to the needs of his people.We land in Phakding and find Bal Bahadur with his right arm in a sling. He has trouble getting onto the chopper. I ask him if he was injured in the earthquake. "No," he laughs. "I hurt it before then. But now I know what it feels like to have a broken arm."The helicopter has no seats -- they were taken out to bring down the bodies of the dead from Everest Base Camp. Pilot Mauritzio Folini tells me he used to love flying here -- joy rides in the sky in a place that arguably has the most fantastic views on Earth. The Nepalese name for Everest is Sagarmatha. Sagar means sky in Nepalese and matha, head. I am in a land that touches the heavens. From the helicopter, it's plain to see why that name is appropriate. Photos: Powerful earthquake hits Nepal Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalNepalese police officers clear debris from Durbar Square in Kathmandu on Sunday, May 3. A magnitude-7.8 earthquake centered less than 50 miles from Kathmandu rocked Nepal with devastating force Saturday, April 25. The earthquake and its aftershocks have turned one of the world's most scenic regions into a panorama of devastation, killing and injuring thousands.Hide Caption 1 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalAn injured Nepalese woman is carried by villagers toward an Indian army helicopter to be airlifted from Philim village in Gorkha district in Nepal on May 3.Hide Caption 2 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalMembers of the Tsayana family warm themselves next to a fire outside their damaged house on May 3 in Bhaktapur, Nepal.Hide Caption 3 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA woman receives comfort during the funeral of her mother, a victim of Nepal's deadly earthquake, on Friday, May 1, in Kathmandu. Hide Caption 4 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalHindu priests perform rituals during the cremations of victims at the Pashupatinath Temple on the banks of the Bagmati River in Kathmandu on May 1.Hide Caption 5 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople await aid from an Indian army helicopter in front of damaged homes in Kulgaun, Nepal, on May 1.Hide Caption 6 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalAn injured woman gets carried on a stretcher at Kathmandu's airport after being evacuated from Melamchi, Nepal, on May 1.Hide Caption 7 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department guides his sniffing dog through a collapsed building in Kathmandu on Thursday, April 30.Hide Caption 8 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA teenage boy gets rushed to a hospital April 30 after being rescued from the debris of a building in Kathmandu days after the earthquake.Hide Caption 9 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA man is freed from the ruins of a hotel by French rescuers in the Gangabu area of Kathmandu on Tuesday, April 28. Reuters identified the man as Rishi Khanal.Hide Caption 10 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalNepalese military police search through rubble outside Kathmandu on April 28.Hide Caption 11 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople rest April 28 in a temporary housing camp in Kathmandu. Large encampments of tents have sprung up in open areas, including a wide space belonging to the military in the center of the capital. Hide Caption 12 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA family collects belongings from their home in Bhaktapur, Nepal, on Monday, April 27. Hide Caption 13 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalDamaged buildings lean to the side in Kathmandu on April 27.Hide Caption 14 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalHide Caption 15 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalMembers of the Nepalese army retrieve bodies from a collapsed building in Bhaktapur near Kathmandu on April 27.Hide Caption 16 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalNepalese soldiers carry a wounded woman to a helicopter as they evacuate people from Trishuli Bazar, Nepal, on April 27.Hide Caption 17 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople charge their cell phones in an open area in Kathmandu on April 27.Hide Caption 18 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalEmergency personnel evacuate an injured man to a waiting helicopter in Trishuli Bazar on April 27.Hide Caption 19 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalAn aerial view of the devastation in Kathmandu on April 27. The destruction in Nepal's capital is stark: revered temples reduced to rubble, people buried in the wreckage of their homes, hospitals short on medical supplies overflowing with patients.Hide Caption 20 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalResidents rescue items from the debris of houses damaged in the quake in Kathmandu on April 27.Hide Caption 21 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalAn aervial view shows ruined buildings in Trishuli Bazar on April 27.Hide Caption 22 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA woman prays at a ruined temple in Kathmandu on April 27.Hide Caption 23 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople rest in temporary shelters in Kathmandu on April 27.Hide Caption 24 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalResidents cycle over damaged roads on the outskirts of Kathmandu on Sunday, April 26.Hide Caption 25 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalFour-month-old Sonit Awal is held up by Nepalese army soldiers after being rescued from the rubble of his house in Bhaktapur, Nepal, on April 26.Hide Caption 26 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalThe newspaper that provided photographs of the baby's rescue says the Nepalese army initially left the site, thinking the baby had not survived. Hours later when the infant's cries were heard, soldiers came back and rescued him.Hide Caption 27 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalThe newspaper adds the Nepalese Army had initially failed to rescue the baby and left the site thinking the baby had not survived. Hours later when the baby's cries were heard the army came back and rescued him.Hide Caption 28 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA woman cries after identifying the body of a relative in Bhaktapur on April 26.Hide Caption 29 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalMen clear debris in Bhaktapur on April 26.Hide Caption 30 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA truck evacuates residents from Kathmandu on April 26. Hide Caption 31 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA Buddha statue is surrounded by debris on April 26 from a collapsed temple in the UNESCO world heritage site of Bhaktapur.Hide Caption 32 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalAn elderly woman is helped to her home after being treated for her injuries in Bhaktapur on April 26. Hide Caption 33 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalFamily members break down on April 26 during the cremation of a loved one killed in Bhaktapur. Hide Caption 34 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalSmoke from funeral pyres fills the air at the Pashupatinath temple on the banks of Bagmati River in Kathmandu on April 26.Hide Caption 35 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalMembers of India's National Disaster Response Force look for survivors in Kathmandu on April 26. Hide Caption 36 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalRescue workers remove debris on April 26 as they search for victims in Bhaktapur.Hide Caption 37 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople look at the debris of one of the oldest temples in Kathmandu on April 26.Hide Caption 38 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople sleep on a street in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Saturday, April 25. A seemingly endless series of aftershocks continued to roil the area, further traumatizing survivors. Hide Caption 39 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalCivilian rescuers carry a person on a stretcher in Kathmandu on April 25.Hide Caption 40 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople try to free a man from the rubble in Kathmandu on April 25. Cheers rose from the piles when people were found alive -- but mostly bodies turned up. Hide Caption 41 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPedestrians walk past collapsed buildings in Kathmandu on April 25.Hide Caption 42 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalAzim Afif, of the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia climbing team, provided this photo of their Mount Everest base camp after it was ravaged by an avalanche triggered by the earthquake on April 25. All of Afif's five-member team survived.Hide Caption 43 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalRescuers clear rubble in Kathmandu's Basantapur Durbar Square on April 25.Hide Caption 44 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA temple on Hanumandhoka Durbar Square lies in ruins after an earthquake in Kathmandu on April 25. Hide Caption 45 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalDharahara, a tower dating back to 1832 that rose more than 60 meters (200 feet) and provided breathtaking views of Kathmandu and the surrounding Himalayas, collapsed in the earthquake on April 25.Hide Caption 46 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalThe hand of a statue is seen under debris in Basantapur Durbar Square in Kathmandu.Hide Caption 47 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA Nepalese man and woman hold each other in Kathmandu's Basantapur Durbar Square on April 25.Hide Caption 48 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA victim of Nepal's earthquake lies in the debris of Dharahara after it collapsed on April 25 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Hide Caption 49 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalRescuers look for victims under a collapsed building in Kathmandu on April 25. Hide Caption 50 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalVolunteers carry a body recovered from the debris of a collapsed building in Kathmandu.Hide Caption 51 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA victim's body is seen in the debris of the collapsed Dharahara on April 25. Hide Caption 52 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalEmergency rescue workers carry a victim from Dharahara after the tower in Kathmandu collapsed on April 25. Hide Caption 53 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople free a man from the rubble of a destroyed building in Kathmandu.Hide Caption 54 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalA man walks past a collapsed temple at Basantapur Durbar Square.Hide Caption 55 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalRescue workers clear debris in Kathmandu while searching for survivors.Hide Caption 56 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople huddle together outside a hospital in Kathmandu. Eyewitnesses said residents were scared and waiting for aftershocks to end.Hide Caption 57 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople search for survivors stuck under the rubble of a destroyed building in Kathmandu.Hide Caption 58 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalInjured people receive treatment in Kathmandu. A CNN reporter said medics were focused on treating the most severely injured.Hide Caption 59 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalEmergency rescue workers search for survivors in the debris of Dharahara on April 25.Hide Caption 60 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalAn injured child lies on the ground outside a hospital in Kathmandu on April 25.Hide Caption 61 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalPeople help with rescue efforts at the site of a collapsed building in Kathmandu.Hide Caption 62 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalAn injured child receives treatment outside Medicare Hospital in Kathmandu on April 25. Residents, after a relentless series of aftershocks, have been remaining outdoors.Hide Caption 63 of 64 Photos: Powerful earthquake hits NepalThe rubble of collapsed walls fills a street in Lalitpur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, on April 25.Hide Caption 64 of 64Only now, after the earthquake, this land is dotted with pockets of hell. In the last few days, maneuvering the light helicopter around the peaks and through deep canyons has turned into a gruesome chore as Folini has made countless rescue flights up and down to Everest Base Camp. "I am a climber myself. I love my job," Folini says. "But now ... it's a tragedy."We land at a gravel heliport in front of the police station in Khunde, 13,000 feet above sea level, and walk down narrow dirt lanes that snake around clusters of stone, cement and wooden houses. The landscape has a recent addition: hundreds of colorful tents made by North Face, Marmot and Mountain Hardwear. Households in Khunde and other Sherpa villages have at least one person employed in the tourism industry and many own high-end outdoor gear given to them by foreigners or knockoffs sold in the local markets.Phurba surveys the destruction, writes down names and the amount of loss. Some houses have been flattened; others are severely damaged. Few have escaped unscathed.This is where his wife grew up. It's shocking for Phurba to witness the devastation. "How are you doing?" he asks everyone he sees.The answer is like a song's refrain that he hears over and over."I was at the Saturday market and that is why I am alive," says Da Tsering Sherpa, 40. "But my house is destroyed.""I have lost everything," says Pasang Lamu, 55, breaking down. "Please help us."Phurba finds his wife's relatives. They are camping out in a tiny tent; their broken houses still stand as constant reminders of their suffering. Phurba has stayed in those houses so many times, shared meals there with loved ones."All gone," Phurba says to me. "This will all have to be rebuilt."I can tell Phurba is making a heroic effort not to betray his emotions at this moment."We are the lucky ones," he says. "We are alive. There is no time to be sad. We have lots of work to do."We trek through several villages, up and down dirt paths laden with rocks. The same scenes of despair -- and frustration -- play out everywhere. Foundations shaken to the core, roads blocked off by falling rocks and with the upcoming monsoons, the threat of massive landslides along the fresh cracks in the earth.In nearby Khumjung, Bal Bahadur doles out $400 -- a token amount -- to people who lost loved ones. That's what the government gave as compensation to the families of the 16 Sherpas who died on Everest last year. They saw the meager sum as derisory, government indifference to the Sherpas and the dangerous jobs they perform.Those who lost their houses receive $100 on this afternoon. In this area alone, 164 houses are documented as gone. Bal Bahadur tries to assure residents that help is on the way."I will not forget you," he tells the people. But few believe the government's intentions are true."We are citizens of Nepal," says Phurba's friend, Chungbu Sherpa. "And that is all. Beyond that there is no relationship. We have to take it upon ourselves to help each other."Schoolteacher Chhunjing Dorjee Sherpa, 50, listens to what Bal Bahadur has to say but has little faith that the lawmaker will come through."Do you feel that aid is coming?" I ask."This is the Nepal government," he says. Maybe he will rely instead on a grant from a nonprofit or perhaps a bank will issue him a low-interest loan.A woman who runs a small restaurant has few customers. Sherpas who serve the tourist community are hurting after two failed Everest climbing seasons.Near Phakding, we see a centuries-old teaching monastery that barely withstood the earthquake. The 28 Buddhist monks and 18 students who live here are busy putting up wood supports to mitigate the risks of everything crashing down.Phurba has made it a priority to generate money to get the monastery repaired. It's his history. His culture. It's like seeing the fallen temples and palaces in Kathmandu's UNESCO World Heritage site, national treasures that will never be the same.He stays behind to discuss reparations. Nawang Nuru Sherpa, 38, works as a guide for Phurba and accompanies me to Phakding. On the way we stop to survey Nawang's property.He gazes at the fertile farmlands. The fields are a vibrant green with new wheat; potatoes abound in the soil the color of charcoal. Beyond that, he sees his home, still standing but precariously.He pitched a tent for himself, his wife, 9-year-old son and infant daughter. He saved as many things as he could from the house and arranged them in the tent as though it were home. But it isn't."I am afraid no tourists will come here anymore," Nawang says. "Then how will I get money to rebuild my house?"It is something that preoccupies Phurba.He had planned to let me stay at a lodge he built a few years ago. But we arrive instead to heavy damage to all 20 rooms and 22 bathrooms. Boulders lie in front of a fireplace on the second-floor landing as though they, like an evil Santa Claus, hurtled down the chimney. It took Phurba five years to build this lodge; nature took a few seconds to destroy it. He suspects he will have to demolish and rebuild by mid-September when the monsoons have ended and the fall Himalayan season begins. He estimates it will easily cost $300,000 to make the necessary fixes.I tell him I am sorry for his losses and that even amid the destruction, it's hard not to be overcome by the beauty of this land. "Bahut sundar hai," I say in Hindi to some of Phurba's employees. "It's very beautiful here."One replies. "Bauhut sundar tha." "It was very beautiful."Helicopters usually ferry climbers to Everest Base Camp. This year, they have been carrying those who died or were injured in the quake back to lower ground. A day of sufferingSeeing his wife's village in ruins was hard enough, but Phurba's heart shattered when he learned of the earthquake's wrath on Chaurikharka, the village he calls home. He dreaded seeing it. On the second day of our trek, he tells me to go ahead to Chaurikharka. He will follow later.It takes six hours to reach the village. There is no doubting nature's wrath here.Sheets of corrugated metal that flew off roofs and sides of houses obstruct the main dirt path. Chunks of stone and cement tumbled to the earth.Nima Kiter, 74, rushes toward me waving his hands in the air. "Everything gone," he says in broken English. "We would all be dead if this had happened at night."Most of the residents of Chaurikharka know Phurba and are relieved that a native son has taken charge of rebuilding the village.When Phurba was born 49 years ago, most Sherpas, including his father, either worked the land growing buckwheat and potatoes or they were traders selling goods from Tibet and India. But Phurba grew up as a new industry was blossoming: tourism.Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary scaled to the summit of the world's tallest mountain in 1953, challenging climbers from all over the world to match their feat. Many Sherpa men began charging foreigners money for acting as their guides, porters and support staff through this unforgiving terrain. Purbha's father pushed him from an early age to get into the trekking business. But the headmaster at his school recalls how Purbha snuck away to study. He was determined to learn, leave the village and carve out a successful life for himself."My parents were disappointed in me," Phurba had told me when I first met him. "But I knew education was the key to seeing the world."He saved the money from his occasional trekking jobs and left for Kathmandu. He paid for college tuition with his earnings from an aunt's tea shop and earned a degree in journalism and then a master's in sociology."There were no Sherpas in journalism then," he told me. "I wanted to make a difference."But then Mount Everest became big business, and in 1992, Phurba launched his own firm: Himalayan Sherpa Adventure. With it has come success, a large house and a comfortable existence for Phurba and his family in one of the poorest nations on Earth. A huge number of Nepalese live on $15 a month, and poverty is worst in remote mountainous villages.The Sherpa guides I speak with all tell me Mount Everest saved them, that the trekking business has been lucrative. But the work is seasonal and meant for the young and strong. And now, after the earthquake, the future looks grim.In popular tourist spots like Lukla and Phakding, I see empty guesthouses. Lodge owners say that after the earth shook, everyone and everything went downhill.The planes landing at Lukla airport are normally full of people this time of year. But these days, they land only with cargo. Rice, tents, medical supplies. The tourists who are still here are clamoring to go the other way.Phurba knows the worst may still be on the horizon for his people whose livelihoods are dependent on trekkers. The end result of falling tourism will mean no jobs. "And the people will suffer even more," he says.On this day, the suffering is greatest at Dawa Chiri Sherpa's house.The 27-year-old worked as an assistant for mountaineers attempting to reach the summit. He was at the base camp when a quake-triggered avalanche thundered down the mountain.Inside the heavily damaged family home, everyone is still mourning. They invite me inside and for a moment I think about what might happen if the second floor came crashing down. I climb the creaky stairs and see a Buddhist monk. He is sitting by a window chanting prayers in front of 13 flickering oil lamps. Dawa's mother cannot stop her tears.Dawa owned a yak and used to work as a porter, his brother Tenzing tells me. But that was a hard life, walking uphill with hundreds of pounds of gear and not making that much money. So Dawa completed a mountaineering course and became a climbing Sherpa; some of them earn as much as $7,000 in the two-month Everest season. That's more than 10 times the average Nepalese wage.Everyone knew it was tiring and extremely dangerous work, especially Dawa's wife, Phura Yangzi. She last spoke with her husband the day before the earthquake. "Tomorrow is my rest day at base camp," he told her. That was the last time she heard from him.It took the family two days to retrieve Dawa's body, even though he worked for a trekking company that had the resources to bring him down. Ultimately, it was Phurba's friend, Chungba Sherpa, who made the arrangements. "My brother died, but no one helped us," Tenzing tells me over a traditional Sherpa meal of boiled potatoes and freshly ground chili sauce. "No one from the government or from his company has contacted us. No one has said sorry. Who will take care of his wife and baby?"Phura Yangzi carries 18-month old Chiring Dolma on her back as she carries on with her chores. Sometimes, she thinks it's all a bad dream; that her husband is still on Everest. She got married two years ago and at age 22, she is a widow with a child.She tells me she is worried for her daughter's future. How will she get an education without a father earning money? She says she will try her hand as a street vendor, selling sodas and mineral water to tourists. "It will be difficult but I will try," she says. "I have to."In this land of incredible beauty, nature exacted a heavy toll.The eternal mountainI ponder the tough lives of the Sherpas on the uphill trek back to Lukla. I only have a backpack -- a porter is carrying my heavier bag, just like they do for tourists. I have been walking all day and the last stretch seems the most strenuous. On the way, I see a 63-year-old man carrying what he estimates to be 130 pounds of goods on his back. I am in awe of his strength and his ability to carry on without complaint.In Lukla, I meet back up with Phurba, who has come from seeing his own village and is making arrangements to fix damaged structures and bring in more aid to his people."Base camp has become very big news, but you see how thousands of people have been affected," he says. "There are many places that are really poor, are really miserable. It is my job to support those in need.""Wasn't it hard to see your wife's village, to see your own village lie in ruins?" I ask."Some people cry with their eyes," he says, "and others don't. But that doesn't mean I am not sad."He says he has to worry about his people's livelihoods in the future.During the recession, when his company felt the sting of fewer Americans spending money on global travel, his friends assured him. "Don't worry," they said. "You will have no problem as long as you have Everest."Phurba -- and his people -- are counting on that again.<img alt="" class="media__image" src="//i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150430180729-nepal-faces-cta-large-169.jpg">

Jessica Ravitz, CNN

2015-04-02 09:48:26

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https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/us/new-womens-equal-rights-movement/index.html

The new women's movement: Reviving the ERA fight - CNN

The last Equal Rights Amendment campaign failed to pass by its 1982 deadline. Now, the fight for the ERA is heating up again.

us, The new women's movement: Reviving the ERA fight - CNN

The new women warriors: Reviving the fight for equal rights

Washington (CNN)Though she certainly wouldn't have called herself one at the time, Bettina Hager suspects she was a feminist by age 6 or 7. She knew she was "supposed to like" pink and instead announced to anyone who'd listen that her favorite color was navy blue. She loved math and was hell-bent on running faster than boys. Is now the time?When CNN's Jessica Ravitz last thought about the Equal Rights Amendment, she was a kid tagging along with her mom to marches some 35 years ago. What happened to the crusade to enshrine women's rights in the Constitution? Join Ravitz as she meets the women and men behind a renewed push to pass the ERA.Female, 30 and on a mission: The ERA's new warriorsThe politics of feminism: An unlikely partnershipWomen in the world: Where the U.S. falters Hager, 30, grew up to run marathons. She reads Ms. Magazine while working out. A few years back, while working for the National Women's Political Caucus, she once deployed a crew of interns to slip copies of Ms. -- an alternative to Cosmopolitan -- into Washington-area nail salons.Today, in her new job, she sits in her small and sparse "cubicle that could," helping to mobilize a crusade that began more than 90 years ago. Her marching orders, as the D.C. director of the ERA Coalition, are to help pass and ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposed addition to the U.S. Constitution that would explicitly protect women's rights and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. Hager is just one fresh face in a rejuvenated movement to make this happen.Read MoreThough first introduced in 1923, the last time the country really paid attention to the ERA was in the 1970s and early '80s, before Hager was even born. That was when feminist activists brought the issue to a boil. But after failing to secure the required number of state ratifications to pass the ERA by its 1982 deadline, the campaign was reduced to a low simmer."A woman's rights should truly be guaranteed by our government and not something that can be up to debate or negotiation," says Bettina Hager, the D.C. director of the ERA Coalition. These days, though, it seems the fight for women's equality is heating up.Just look toward Tinseltown. Emma Watson's now-famous September speech to the United Nations about feminism was watched millions of times. The hack of emails at Sony Pictures revealed pervasive Hollywood gender wage gaps. And then there was Patricia Arquette's recent Oscar acceptance speech for her role as a struggling single mom in "Boyhood." She took to the podium, calling out for equal pay and rights for women in the United States, and inspired a social media frenzy -- not to mention enthusiastic cheers from Meryl Streep. In a backstage interview, Arquette specifically raised the need for the constitutional amendment. Meantime, there's a new book and soon-to-be completed documentary about the ERA, both titled "Equal Means Equal." And, in the midst of these coordinated efforts, lawmakers who've sponsored previous attempts to resurrect the ERA plan to publicly stand together at the U.S. Capitol when they reintroduce their bills in the coming weeks. Sure to be there cheering them on will be activists like Hager, millennial women inspired by those who've walked before them. The question hanging over them: Will this time be different? Necessity or waste of time?A toasty and crowded wood-paneled room, high up in Manhattan's Yale Club, buzzes with experience and credentials.Taking a break from writing her latest book is Gloria Steinem, arguably the most recognized name and face in feminist activism. Walking by is Robin Morgan, a poet and writer whose 1970 anthology, "Sisterhood is Powerful," helped galvanize a movement. Shaking hands is Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, who has been introducing the ERA in every congressional session since 1997.Others in the room are high-powered attorneys, heads of foundations and nonprofits, local government insiders. Since the time of the last ERA push, the percentage of women in the workforce has grown. In 1970, nearly half of mothers stayed home. As of 2012, less than 30% do, according to the Pew Research Center. That shift helps drive a tide of interest in equal opportunities and pay, supporters say. The politics of feminism: An unlikely partnershipWomen who work full-time earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts, a raise of just about 19 cents since President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963. For women of color, the picture is worse, with black women making 64 cents and Latinas making 56 cents for every dollar earned by a white man. The face of ERA opposition during the last big go-round isn't swayed by such figures; in fact, she calls them lies. Phyllis Schlafly, the 90-year-old conservative activist who founded the Eagle Forum, insists gender-neutral employment law already protects women doing equal work with equal experience.The ERA is "dumb and offensive," she tells me in a phone call. And a new push for it is "a colossal waste of time." Schlafly once warned that the ERA would lead to same-sex marriage and women being drafted into combat. She also said it would threaten families, an argument she still makes. She touts the virtues of the traditional nuclear family with a gender-division of duty, wherein husbands provide and wives focus on the home and children. "But didn't you go to law school? Weren't you a lawyer?" I ask."I only went to law school to irritate the feminists," she says with a laugh. Schlafly also was interviewed by Kamala Lopez, the actress, director and activist who established the ERA Education Project and is behind the forthcoming documentary, "Equal Means Equal." The offices of the Feminist Majority Foundation pay homage to an ongoing battle to secure equal rights for women. Amid framed posters gathered over the years are handmade signs like this one. She told Lopez, "Women like the pay gap." And she talked about hypergamy, the notion of marrying up, saying if a man doesn't earn as much as a woman, it is a "deterrent to marriage."The women gathered at the Yale Club in New York scoff when they hear Schlafly's name. They care about issues beyond gender roles and pay equity. They chat over wine and hors d'oeuvres about the injustice of piled-up, untested rape kits. They voice outrage that National Football League star Ray Rice was not prosecuted in New Jersey for assaulting his then-fiancée. They commiserate with each other about ways they still must educate trial lawyers and judges about sexual harassment and assault cases, offering examples like, "No, you can't ask if her skirt was too high." Weaving past these women and men -- mostly older feminists with deep pockets -- is Hager. She, too, has come here this biting-cold January evening to support the ERA Coalition and celebrate the release of the new book, "Equal Means Equal: Why the Time for an Equal Rights Amendment is Now," written by the coalition's founder and president -- and Hager's colleague -- Jessica Neuwirth. A women's rights lawyer, Neuwirth established the international organization Equality Now and was a director in the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. She's spent much of her career focused on Africa, steeped in cases of genocide, sexual violence and war crimes. She met Maloney years back during discussions about sex trafficking, and the congresswoman approached her about taking up the ERA charge. Neuwirth, 53, says she welcomes the chance to work on something close to home and, in her mind, so positive and unambiguous. Using court cases as examples, Neuwirth sets out in her book to answer why the ERA is necessary, addressing the question she hears so often from people who assume that it already passed or that women's rights are already covered by existing laws and constitutional language. Photos: History of the ERA Photos: History of the ERAThe feminist activists of the 1960s, '70s and early '80s weren't the first to push for an Equal Rights Amendment. Suffragist leader Alice Paul, second from right, fought hard to pass the 19th Amendment -- which earned women the right to vote in 1920. She drafted the first ERA and introduced it to Congress in 1923.Hide Caption 1 of 11 Photos: History of the ERAIn 1972, the House and Senate passed the ERA by the required two-thirds votes before sending it to state legislatures for ratification. Three-quarters of the states needed to ratify it, but the ERA fell three states short by its 1982 deadline. Hide Caption 2 of 11 Photos: History of the ERAGloria Steinem was among the key forces behind the ERA effort in the '70s and '80s. Although it wasn't ratified, most men and women were pro-ERA, Steinem says. Hide Caption 3 of 11 Photos: History of the ERAPresident Richard Nixon endorsed the ERA after it was adopted with bipartisan support in both houses of Congress in 1972. Hide Caption 4 of 11 Photos: History of the ERAThe face of ERA opposition, back in the day, was Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative activist who founded the Eagle Forum. She died in 2016 but said a year earlier that efforts to revive the ERA were "a colossal waste of time." Hide Caption 5 of 11 Photos: History of the ERASchlafly led protests against the ERA, including this one at the White House in 1977. The group, about 200 strong, was protesting then-first lady Rosalyn Carter's campaign for the ERA. Amendment supporters like Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, say their real enemy was never Schlafly but big business and insurance companies.Hide Caption 6 of 11 Photos: History of the ERADemocratic Sen. Ted Kennedy speaks at an ERA fundraising dinner in Washington in 1980. Kennedy spent more than three decades as a champion for the amendment in Congress.Hide Caption 7 of 11 Photos: History of the ERAEleanor Smeal, then-president of the National Organization for Women, left, and first lady Betty Ford attend an ERA rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1981.Hide Caption 8 of 11 Photos: History of the ERAFrom left, Rep. Gwen Moore, Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Carolyn Maloney hold a news conference in 2010 outside the U.S. Capitol to call for passage of the ERA. The amendment has been introduced in nearly every session of Congress since 1923.Hide Caption 9 of 11 Photos: History of the ERAERA supporters like to quote late US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who told California Lawyer in a January 2011 issue, "Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't."Hide Caption 10 of 11 Photos: History of the ERASupreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, seen here at an annual Women's History Month event at the US Capitol a few years ago, said this when she was asked how she would amend the Constitution: "If I could choose an amendment to add to this Constitution, it would be the Equal Rights Amendment."Hide Caption 11 of 11"It was literally just a handful of votes that stopped the ERA," she tells the group assembled in New York. "Surely with social media and the new generation of women and men who do not believe in second-class citizenship for women, we can get the ERA across the finish line and put it in the Constitution where it belongs." Those around her cheer, but opponents more contemporary than Schlafly bristle at the idea of women seeing themselves as victims.A Tumblr site and Facebook page dedicated to "Women Against Feminism" feature young women brandishing their own versions of that argument. "If I experience sexism, I stand up for myself and move on," writes one woman. "Bitching about it will get me nowhere." Others warn of unanticipated fallout if the ERA passes. Parents who enroll their children in single-sex schools or organizations like the Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts may lose that choice, says Sabrina Schaeffer, executive director of the Independent Women's Forum.Ongoing claims about a wage gap are overblown and speak more to women's choices than to discrimination, says Schaeffer, whose organization counts Lynne Cheney, the wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney, among its supporters.Women in the world: Where the U.S. falters in quest for equality"Women would be far better served by having an honest conversation about the things they hope to achieve and the choices they're making along the way, from their college major to if they want to take time out of the workplace," Schaeffer wrote me in an email, "than any kind of legislation which would make women more expensive to hire and ultimately less attractive to businesses." Arguments like these leave Neuwirth baffled."Anyone who says that paying women equally and treating them equally in the workplace makes it more expensive for businesses to hire them ... is saying in effect that women are worth less than men," she says. "Equality in the workplace is not just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing for business and a good thing for men as well as women."People often assume women's rights are secure thanks to the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment, Neuwirth says. That amendment was adopted in 1868. The mere fact that it took another five decades for women to get the right to vote, she says, proves the clause wasn't about them. Jessica Neuwirth has spent much of her career steeped in cases of genocide, sexual violence and war crimes in Africa. Now, as head of the ERA Coalition, she welcomes the chance to work on something closer to home.And laws bearing names like the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Equal Pay Act and Violence Against Women Act may sound great, but they're not ironclad guarantees of protection. In her book, Neuwirth outlines stories of women who have tested the power of federal statutes. One had been raped in college, only to see an admitted attacker go unpunished. Another took out a restraining order against her violent husband, who went on to kill their three daughters. In both instances, the women sued authorities for failing to act and took their cases all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, only to be told there was no constitutional basis for their protection. Other court decisions have justified unequal pay for identical work, as well as the firing of women from jobs they were still capable of doing simply because they got pregnant.Women who think their interests are sufficiently protected, Neuwirth tells the Yale Club gathering, have been duped by a fairy tale."Who would know that better," she says, "than Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia?" She cites what he told California Lawyer in a January 2011 issue: "Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't."A battle rich in historyLast April, Scalia appeared at the National Press Club beside his judicial polar opposite -- and friend -- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The two were asked how they would amend the Constitution, if they could. The Notorious R.B.G., as she is sometimes referred to these days, didn't hesitate. "If I could choose an amendment to add to this Constitution, it would be the Equal Rights Amendment," she said."What do you mean by that?" asked the moderator, Marvin Kalb."It means that women are people equal in stature before the law," she said. "We have achieved that through legislation, but legislation can be repealed. It can be altered. ... That principle belongs in our Constitution. It is in every constitution written since the Second World War."When her granddaughters pick up the U.S. Constitution, Ginsburg added, she'd "like them to see that that is a basic principle of our society." The idea of an Equal Rights Amendment in the United States isn't new. It was the brainchild of Alice Paul, a suffragist leader who fought hard to pass the 19th Amendment, earning women the right to vote in 1920. Believing that wasn't enough to end discrimination, Paul then drafted the ERA and introduced it to Congress in 1923.From then until 1970, the amendment was presented during every congressional session. Over the years, it enjoyed bipartisan support. For decades it stayed on the Republican platform. But it rarely made it out of committee. A growing women's movement in the late '60s and early '70s set out to change that. In 1972, the ERA passed by the necessary two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, was endorsed by President Richard Nixon and then sent to state legislatures for ratification. The key language, tweaked from Paul's original version, read: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. To pass an amendment, three-quarters of the states -- or 38 of them -- must ratify it. There was a deadline tied to this effort, though; at first seven years, then extended to 10. By the time 1982 rolled around, 35 states had ratified the ERA. The amendment failed to pass, falling three states short.The fight on the national stage grew quiet, but the ERA has been reintroduced every congressional session since then. With the exception of 1983, when House representatives voted on it once more, the ERA has never again made it out of committee and onto the floor for a vote. Rep. Maloney hopes this year will shift the tide. "I spend 75% if not more of my time fighting to hold on to what we [women] already have, not advancing to the next level," Maloney says. "This is going to be the decade of the woman. We need to pass it by 2020 and finish the job." The last time the U.S. Constitution was amended was 1992. The 27th Amendment prohibits members of Congress from giving themselves pay raises during the session in which they are currently serving. That amendment was introduced by James Madison and sent to the states for ratification in 1789. More than 202 years later, it passed. When Maloney and her colleagues reintroduce the ERA, they will present two strategies. Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier of California and Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland will introduce legislation to lift the 1982 deadline -- a hurdle clearly not faced when it came to the 27th Amendment. That would put the ERA three states shy of success.It's been more than 30 years since the last big push to put the protection of women in the U.S. Constitution. A rejuvenated movement is underway, and today's fight includes resources like the new book, "Equal Means Equal." Maloney will propose starting the ERA process from scratch. Embattled Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who took up the charge after Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy died, is expected to do the same.There's no downside in pitching both strategies at once, they all say. The lawmakers are not in competition. They're just trying different approaches to see what will take.The need, they say, is as evident today as ever. While more than 80% of countries guarantee gender equality in their constitutions, the UCLA's WORLD Policy Analysis Center found, 32 do not, including the United States.Facing the opponent early A sign on the wall reads, "An equal society is a happy one." Gathered are about 20 members of a local feminism club. Some rush to finish their lunches of burgers, greasy fries and salads, hinting at their busy schedules.Hager usually spends her days building relationships, talking to staffers on the Hill and joining constituents in meetings with lawmakers. She crafts fact sheets, beats the ERA drum via social media and volunteers for speaking engagements. Often that means talking to groups of adults. Today, though, most of her audience isn't old enough to vote.She has taken her women's history lesson and message to a posh Washington-area private academy, The Field School, where she's been invited to address a room full of teens -- including Jessica Neuwirth's nephew. "I'm not sure if anyone knows who Justice Scalia is," Hager says near the top of her talk, gearing up to share his oft-repeated quote."I play tennis with him!" a boy blurts out. "He goes to our club."The unexpected answer leaves Hager stunned and smiling. The only answer she can come up with: "Well, can you tell him to help us out?" The students want to know what they can do, beyond hit up a Supreme Court justice for support."There is so much creativity in your minds, and we need to find ways to reach out," Hager tells them. "That ice bucket thing [for ALS] took off so fast," says James Barringer, 15, Neuwirth's nephew and the brains behind a Facebook group called Boys and Men for the ERA. "Maybe we can come up with something like that?" James Barringer, center, started Boys and Men for the ERA and is part of his school's feminism club. "Everyone at some point has had a mother," he says. "We would want her to have equal rights." One student fixates on the ERA's language and suggests it should read "regardless of assigned or perceived gender or sex," rather than just "regardless of sex." Another asks about the new movement's greatest opposition."The main opponent we face is lack of knowledge," Hager says. "Seven out of 10 Americans think we already have it. Nine out of 10 think we should have it. Why don't we have it? Because seven out of 10 think we do." Dozens of organizations are active in the ERA Coalition: A Call to Men, the YWCA, the National Congress for Black Women, to name a few. They may have representatives enlisted to work on the cause, but the ERA is Hager's one and only focus.Beyond her job, Hager co-chairs the ERA Task Force of the National Council of Women's Organizations. Her partner in this effort -- and one of her mentors -- is 72-year-old Roberta "Bobbie" Francis. While so many women her age burned out or moved on after the 1982 deadline, Francis remained engaged. In 1981, she wrote a flier, "Why We Need the ERA," which was nationally distributed by the League of Women Voters. But Francis got involved a little late and wasn't on the front lines. "I joined a marathon at the 13th mile," she says. Maybe that's why she's lasted. Or maybe it's simply her personality?"I think the word you're looking for is bullheaded," she says with a laugh. Whatever the case, she's kept on.Francis established and runs equalrightsamendment.org, a repository for all things ERA. And it was she who recommended Hager for the ERA Coalition position when Neuwirth began looking. It's no small responsibility to Hager."If I mess up on the Hill, I could hurt 51% of the population," she says. "Why do you think I'm so hard on myself? I take it very seriously." Jolted to attentionAt the popular Tortilla Coast on Capitol Hill, Hager sits down for a lunch of fajitas, chips and guacamole surrounded by half a dozen colleagues-in-the-cause she counts as friends. All these women, with the exception of one, were born after 1982 -- and into a world where rallying cries for the ERA had been reduced to a whisper.Most of them, including Hager, were jolted to attention in college when they took women's studies courses. That's how they first learned there was no ERA and nothing in the U.S. Constitution to specifically protect them as women."Wait, what? Are you sure?" Kristina Romines, 25, the field coordinator for the National Organization for Women (NOW), remembers saying as she exchanged wide-eyed stares with other startled students. "I almost asked my professor to double check." It's the sort of WTF response they say they hear from peers, women and men alike, over and over. And it matches what polls have shown.A 2001 survey conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation showed that 96% of U.S. adults believe women and men should have equal rights, and 72% believe the Constitution already guarantees those rights. "Studies have shown that when women are involved, companies do better, the world is safer. This is a reality for all of us," says Dr. Dara Richardson-Heron, CEO of YWCA USA, which is active in the ERA Coalition. The problem, ERA proponents say, is that this simply isn't true. That the ERA isn't already in the Constitution strikes these women as ludicrous. It should be a no-brainer, they say. These women thank their fathers, who were their cheerleaders. At least one speaks of being raised by a single mother, another by a single father after her mother died young. Several mention husbands who share the load at home -- and share their outrage. They talk about how to stir up widespread support, the importance of education, the need for constituents to contact their members of Congress. And they find hope in what's brewing around them: The growing efforts to address sexual assault on college campuses. The higher-than-ever number of women in Congress. The fact that a woman is one party's presumed presidential nominee.They shake their heads about the hypocrisy of the United States pushing other nations -- including Afghanistan -- to protect women in their constitutions while not doing the same at home. While they applaud how same-sex marriage is poised to be protected by the highest court, they are a bit dumbfounded that the same court says it has no constitutional basis to protect them. Frankly, they feel like they got passed over. "Societally, our generation is there," insists Chitra Panjabi, 30, NOW's membership vice president. "The structure needs to catch up." While ratifying the ERA would certainly be symbolic -- a statement to the nation and the world that women in America matter -- these activists insist the need is real.Just look at the recent flood of state legislation meant to chip away at reproductive rights, they say. See how religious freedoms trumped women's rights when the Supreme Court allowed Hobby Lobby to refuse comprehensive birth control coverage. Peek into corporate boardrooms and notice the dearth of female CEOs.Pay and other inequities hurt women -- and, by extension, families and communities (including men). Victims of domestic violence are less likely to leave if they can't stand on their own feet financially. And a lifetime of wage discrimination means women and their families also pay a price later when it comes to Social Security benefits. They marvel about those who fought before them, like the suffragists who endured beatings, arrests and hunger strikes so women could earn the right to vote. "Alice Paul showed up and said, 'I'm going to march on Pennsylvania Avenue," says Panjabi. "That's badass." They can't fathom why anyone elected to serve in Congress would oppose the ERA. "It's hard to vote against equal rights for women and then expect women to vote for you," says Gaylynn Burroughs, 36, director of policy and research at the Feminist Majority Foundation. They feel strange sitting here, speaking on behalf of this fight. It's as if they're instinctively waiting for their mentors to do the talking -- women like Burroughs' boss, Eleanor "Ellie" Smeal, who has been waging battles for women's equality for more than 40 years. Bolstering the bandwidth The offices of Smeal's Feminist Majority Foundation in Arlington, Virginia, are abuzz with interns doing research, planning outreach, organizing reports. On the walls of one workroom are handwritten reminders of why they do what they do."I need feminism because ... People didn't believe I could be a cheerleader and valedictorian," reads one. "I need feminism because... It's 2014 and old white men are still trying to write laws that control my body," says another.Smeal, 75, walks the hallways checking in with her young warriors, striding past a poster for the 2004 "March for Women's Lives." There's a framed Ms. Magazine cover -- Smeal is the publisher -- which reads "Wonder Woman for President." An image of Rosa Parks features her quote, "My sole concern was to get home after a hard day's work." A sketch of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist is emblazoned with the words, "Gag me with a coat hanger." "We had a huge movement. But we have a bigger movement today; do not be mistaken," says Eleanor "Ellie" Smeal, longtime activist and president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. The ERA "is going to ratify. It's just a matter of time." In a conference room that doubles as a library for all-books-feminist-activist, the political analyst and strategist regales her protégé Burroughs -- joined today by Hager and other guests -- with war stories. She was president of NOW during the last big battle to ratify the ERA. She took part in a silent vigil on the steps of the Capitol, while "little boys from the Boy Scouts yelled at us to get back in the kitchen," she says, laughing at the absurdity of it all. "These little twerps, and their parents wouldn't say anything. And there we were like schmucks not talking. It was awful!" She details an Indiana march through a blizzard, the all-nighters in a Nevada library doing frenzied research, the ongoing struggle to find female lawyers to work with and a female CPA to do NOW's books. She cracks up recalling how befuddled she and her cohorts were by negative media coverage, until they remembered they were suing all three networks and many newspapers for discriminatory practices. Smeal insists the real enemy was never Phyllis Schlafly; it was big business -- "We're the cheap labor pool" -- and insurance companies. Before the Affordable Care Act, women paid about $1 billion more than men each year in the individual health insurance market, according to the National Women's Law Center. And only 3% of the plans they had covered maternity services.Reflecting on the last big ERA fight, Smeal says she and others in the core group knew their odds were bad. But they were building something bigger; it wasn't just one fight. They were an extension of a movement that began years before. When she first met Alice Paul, it was in the wee hours of the night at the National Women's Party building. Smeal and others from the Pittsburgh NOW chapter woke up Paul, who came to the door in a nightgown. Smeal says she was mortified, especially after Paul ran to fetch a bell and started ringing it."If you'd waited 50 years for reinforcements, you'd be excited, too," she remembers a friend saying. In the new reinforcements represented by Hager and Burroughs, Smeal sees all that is possible.While she and her comrades once shut down Western Union when they sent 400,000 telegrams during a march on Washington, today's movement is bolstered by the bandwidth of the Internet and tools like Twitter. Back in the day, it would take a week to move from a new idea to a mailing and require the help of children to stuff envelopes. These days, activists can blast out a fresh message to millions in minutes.While only 12 women held seats in the U.S. Congress, now there are 104. Factor in women elected to offices across the country, Smeal says, "You couldn't get them all in one room." Today, battles are being waged and won locally -- and don't require national mobilization. Oregon stands out as an example, having passed an Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution in a landslide vote in November. "The movement will grow. And the first good shot we get, you can bet we'll take it," Smeal says of the national ERA effort. "I see it as an intergenerational fight. I don't know if I'll be there. I don't know who will be there. But I know one thing: When we go over the top, we're going to need everybody." Driving forward Hager's sensible black pumps are killing her as she climbs into a cab after a long day on the Hill. She's greeted with a surprise that energizes her: At the wheel is only the third female taxi driver Hager has seen in her six years in Washington.The cabbie, who's been at this job for 29 years, isn't fazed. If she had a penny for every passenger who has said they'd never had a female cab driver before, she says, "I'd be a rich somebody." Instead, she gets fired up describing the men who've challenged her. Some say she's taken away their jobs. Others, when she was pregnant, accused her of not having a good husband because she works. "I could go on and on and on," she says, asking that her name not be used. "I give them a piece of my mind, and that's why I don't have much of one anymore." What got her on this roll is simple: Hager let her in on the not-so-secret fact that the ERA never passed. "What are you saying?" the cabbie shrieks, her eyes wide. "I thought I was well educated. You're tripping me out! What do you mean I don't have equal rights?"Now it's Hager's turn to be unfazed. She and her compatriots have seen this response so many times before. So she smiles, leans in from the back seat and begins to explain.

Jessica Ravitz, CNN

2015-04-09 14:17:29

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https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/09/us/era-womens-movement-unlikely-partners/index.html

The politics of feminism: An unlikely partnership - CNN

Two women on opposite sides of the aisle in Washington are setting aside barriers for a common goal: They want to see the ERA in the U.S. Constitution.

us, The politics of feminism: An unlikely partnership - CNN

The politics of feminism: An unlikely partnership

Washington (CNN)A diehard New York Democrat sits in her congressional office, looking over details of one of her pet bills. In walks a far-right Republican, a woman from the West who was part of the Tea Party Caucus -- the sort who'd seem an obvious adversary. Is now the time?When CNN's Jessica Ravitz last thought about the Equal Rights Amendment, she was a kid tagging along with her mom to marches some 35 years ago. What happened to the crusade to enshrine women's rights in the Constitution? Join Ravitz as she meets the women and men behind a renewed push to pass the ERA.Female, 30 and on a mission: The ERA's new warriorsThe politics of feminism: An unlikely partnershipWomen in the world: Where the U.S. falters "Nice view, missy!" the visitor says, taking in the postcard-perfect sight of the U.S. Capitol. The two greet each other with big smiles and settle in for a nice long chat, vowing to work together.The host is Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a staunch pro-choice veteran of Capitol Hill who created a stir in 2012 when she demanded of a panel of men testifying on birth control: "Where are the women?" Beside her, exuding warmth, is Rep. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, an equally proud conservative Republican who boasts of her "100% pro-life voting record." Here in Washington, where party politics divide and erect thick walls, these two are pushing aside barriers for a common goal: They both want to see the Equal Rights Amendment -- language that would explicitly protect women's rights and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex -- in the U.S. Constitution. Read MoreTheir backgrounds and what motivates them may differ; one raises the specter of sharia law, the other illegal abortions. But partisanship has no place when it comes to the importance of the ERA, these unlikely allies insist."The key here is just reminding people that equal rights have to be fought for, sought and obtained in writing," Lummis says. "If we don't do it, who else is going to do it?" says Maloney. "The best legislation is always bipartisan."'Men don't like to ask women for money'Maloney, 69, remembers when classified ads in newspapers separated job listings by gender. She's heard too many accounts of women who became sick or died after getting back-alley abortions. She never participated in athletics at school while growing up in North Carolina because the option didn't exist for girls."When I first started working, discrimination and harassment was part of the job. There was no one there to protect you," she says. "It wasn't really long ago when you couldn't get credit in your own name."Framed art featuring Eleanor Roosevelt, an early women's rights advocate, decorates Rep. Carolyn Maloney's office on Capitol Hill. It was a gift from Rep. Patricia Schroeder, a fervent ERA supporter and a co-founder of the Congressional Women's Caucus.All of this fuels the fight she brings to the Hill, where she's been for 22 years. She's worked to combat sex trafficking, clear the backlog of untested rape kits and eliminate campus sexual violence. She's introduced bills to boost access to child care and expand family and medical leave. She's been at the forefront of legislation to create a National Women's History Museum. But so much of the time, she says, she's battling to hold on to rights women have already won. Without a constitutional basis to protect women and enshrine their rights, she says, legislation can be rolled back and judicial decisions changed. "You can have rights, and they can be taken away," she says. Her concerns helped drive the formation of the new ERA Coalition, which is mobilizing a renewed crusade to finish business that started more than 90 years ago.The ERA, first introduced in 1923, finally passed in Congress in 1972. It was sent to legislatures for ratification, but only 35 of the necessary 38 states ratified it before a 1982 deadline. The movement to pass it, after coming so close, seemed to grow quiet. Maloney is among those beating a drum to stir up noise. "I'm becoming too tired, too old, too fat to keep on with these fights," she says with a laugh. "I'd just like to get into the Constitution and get it over with." Since 1997, Maloney has been introducing the ERA in every congressional session. Last time around, she got 176 House members to sign on -- only five of them Republicans. But Lummis was one of them, and she's stepping up to help build Republican support. "Equality, rights and opportunity are basic values in our country," says Maloney. "And the world is changing. We can't compete and win in the global economy if we don't use the skills of all of our people."Not since the early '80s has the ERA made it out of committee in the House and onto the floor for a vote. Supporters can't -- or won't -- point to specific adversaries; they just know the amendment hasn't gotten the traction they feel it deserves. The ERA needs to be seen as a priority, they say. It needs to be seen as separate from hot-button issues that divide, like abortion. Men and women, liberals and conservatives alike, must realize its value for all Americans.Lummis, 60, gets this. The relative Washington newbie -- she entered office in 2009 -- came to know Maloney when they were both active in the Congressional Women's Caucus. Both women are mothers to daughters -- Lummis has one, Maloney two -- and have long careers in politics.Lummis, too, has advocated for the women's history museum and brings with her a heavy dose of Wyoming pride. Her state, before it was even a state, was the first to grant women the right to vote in 1869. When that right threatened Wyoming's admission to the union in 1890, she says, "The quote was, 'We're not coming into the union without the women.' " Wyoming boasts the nation's first woman governor, first woman bailiff and first all-woman jury. It had the first woman statewide elected official, the first woman justice of the peace and sent the first woman delegate to the Republican National Convention. Women in the world: Where the U.S. falters in quest for equalityThe state's motto is "Equal Rights," and Wyoming ratified the ERA in January 1973. Supporting the ERA, Lummis says, "is very much in keeping with Wyoming's history, its tradition and its commitment to equality." She, though, is no stranger to discrimination. Approaching her graduation from the University of Wyoming, Lummis interviewed for a job as a loan officer. She was told she wouldn't get it because "men don't like to ask women for money," she remembers. "I was just stunned. ... When you face those kinds of realities in life, they stay with you."Lummis, who insists on being called congressman, not congresswoman -- "only because it is a title, not a statement of gender" -- says her state cannot rest on its history of women's rights and female firsts."My state currently has the largest gap in pay between men and women of any state in the nation," she says. "My state has fallen behind in understanding the importance of equal pay for the same job, for equal work. So it makes clear to me that these are rights that should not be taken for granted." Religious freedom vs. women's rightsThe heart of Maloney's bill reads: "Women shall have equal rights in the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." While many supporters of the ERA, Maloney included, might argue that constitutional protection of women is necessary to beat back state attempts to chip away at women's reproductive rights, Lummis insists she can remain steadfast against abortion while advocating for the amendment. The two issues, she says, are separate -- and that's a pro-ERA argument she plans to take to members of her party.Maloney's reading glasses and "Equal Means Equal," a new book by ERA Coalition President Jessica Neuwirth, rest atop ERA talking points on a couch in the congresswoman's office."It's a heavier lift for me in that the Republican Party and its platform and many of its elected members are pro-life, and they don't want to give a camel's nose under the tent to the pro-choice position," she says. But after pointing out her "100% pro-life voting record," she says, "I'm not the least bit afraid of this legislation, and I'm happy to work with them to ensure that this is not intended in any way to expand abortion rights." Furthermore, Lummis adds, the ERA would protect against sex-selective abortion, a concern she says weighs on conservatives. What also drives her stance is what she sees happening around the world. A visit to China, where the country's one-child policy means many girls are given up for adoption, if not aborted, increased her commitment to making sure both genders are equally valued. And in Europe, she sees the influx of groups she fears may someday try to institute "sharia law, which is very unfavorable to women," she says. "I want to make sure that here, in the United States, if we have those sorts of religious communities forming, that there is a clear line between freedom of religion and women's rights," she says. An economic argumentMaloney may not wade into the ERA discussion the same way as Lummis -- she's more prone to raise issues such as pregnancy discrimination or college campus rapes -- but that's what they say makes their alliance so important. They can approach conversations with their respective colleagues differently. The end goal, however, remains the same."Equality, rights and opportunity are basic values in our country," Maloney says. "And the world is changing. We can't compete and win in the global economy if we don't use the skills of all of our people."Signing on to support the ERA doesn't hurt anyone, Maloney adds."This is something you can do to strengthen the country, and it doesn't run up the deficit," she says. "It just runs up women's self-esteem." And the effort fits perfectly with what matters to her party, Lummis says.Rep. Cynthia Lummis prefers the title "congressman" and is an unlikely but open supporter of the ERA, noting that her state of Wyoming has the largest gender pay gap in the nation."One of the Republican themes is, 'A rising tide lifts all boats.' This is a rising tide, and it will lift all boats," she says."Wow," Maloney says, her eyes and smile wide. Lummis continues: "When women are out of poverty, their families are out of poverty, their children, their husbands, their significant others are out of poverty. ... Why wouldn't we want their tide lifted? They'll lift the entire economy." Maloney looks at her colleague and agrees."It's an economic bill," she says. "When women succeed, America succeeds. And, another thing: I would say countries that treat women well and empower them have less terrorism. ... We're a positive force."As of April 1, Maloney's bill has 111 co-sponsors, with another 25 lined up pending confirmation, a Maloney aide says.When she introduces her bill in the coming weeks, Maloney won't stand alone. She'll be flanked by other lawmakers proposing similar legislation: Rep. Jackie Speier and Sens. Robert Menendez and Ben Cardin.Maloney's House bill, along with sister legislation to be introduced in the Senate, proposes that the ERA process start from scratch -- with Congress first voting to pass it by two-thirds, followed by a new push to ratify the amendment in 38 states. Another strategy is also being floated which calls for lifting the 1982 deadline that stopped the last push when it fell three states short.The lawmakers, though, insist there is no competition. Whatever approach gets the job done, they'll take.Turning trauma into toolsJackie Speier traces her connection to the ERA back to her early 20s, when she was first working in Rep. Leo Ryan's office. The California Democrat was deciding if he'd support the ERA when it came up for a House floor vote in 1972, and she grew nervous as she watched him "like a hawk" from the gallery.JUST WATCHED'Shouldn't be a heavy lift'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH'Shouldn't be a heavy lift' 00:23"It was the one time in my time with him when I was unsure whether or not he was going to do the right thing," she says. "I sat there thinking, 'What am I going to do if he votes the wrong way?' " He was slow to vote, making her squirm, but when he did, he didn't disappoint her."I have a very vivid recollection of that experience," Speier says. "It was the quintessential issue around womanhood." A lot happened to Speier in the years that followed. She was a congressional staffer with Ryan in November 1978 when a fact-finding mission in Jonestown, Guyana, turned deadly. They were investigating the Rev. Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple followers when they came under fire. Five people were gunned down and killed, including Ryan. Speier was shot five times. As she barely clung to life, more than 900 people died that day in a mass murder-suicide.Speier went on to have her own political career, eventually filling the seat once held by her mentor, Ryan. The Democrat believes what scars a person can be turned around and used as a tool for empowerment. The new women warriors: Reviving the fight for equal rightsSpeier, 64, has worked on behalf of women survivors of military sexual trauma. She's taken on campus sexual assaults and human and sex trafficking. She's advocated for women small-business owners and for access to insurance-covered birth control. She once spoke openly on the House floor about the time she underwent an emergency abortion because of complications in a wanted pregnancy.Last spring, she became the latest lawmaker to introduce ERA legislation when she proposed lifting the 1982 deadline. Speier dove into the cause, co-hosting a rally with Maloney outside the U.S. Supreme Court in which they handed out red bandanas and had all the young women around them tie up their hair like "Rosie the Riveter." The congresswoman talks about how Republican women lawmakers are beginning to flex their collective muscle. She knows there's support among them for the ERA and is hopeful that more of them will step forward."There's no downside risk. And there's a lot of upside to our daughters and our granddaughters and our great-great-granddaughters who have yet to be born," Speier says. "I'm in the business of optimism," she adds. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." Fighting on, under a cloud The political future of Sen. Robert Menendez may be up in the air -- the New Jersey Democrat is facing federal corruption charges -- but his support of the Equal Rights Amendment stands on solid ground. Staffers say he's "150%" committed to continuing the fight and sponsoring legislation this spring,JUST WATCHEDWhy men should back the ERAReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWhy men should back the ERA 00:31He took up the ERA charge from Sen. Ted Kennedy after he died in 2009 and plans to reintroduce a sister bill to Maloney's start-from-scratch approach.The senator says his interest is rooted in the experiences of his own mother, who emigrated from Cuba like his father and worked in a New Jersey factory. "She ultimately rose within the factory to do what, in essence, was the manager's job. But she never got paid as the manager, and the other guys who were on the floor with her, they did," Menendez says. Though he didn't fully appreciate the significance then, he says as he grew older he understood this was "a real life example to me of the challenges that women have in our society." He fights this fight because he believes without explicit language in the U.S. Constitution, too much can be left up to interpretation. And the lack of such language can prove a roadblock for women seeking their rights."It's about remembering my mother. It's about the history of what this means," he says. "It's about my daughter being able to fulfill all of her capabilities with no limitations placed on her by our society or our government." His daughter, Alicia Menendez, wrote her Harvard honor's thesis on women's social capital and is a TV host for Fusion, a cable partnership between ABC and Univision. Passing the ERA, Menendez says, requires more from constituents across the country. They -- women and men alike -- need to be reaching out to their own members of Congress who may have not made the ERA a priority themselves."I believe in Adlai Stevenson's admonition that 'When I get the heat at home, I see the light in Washington,' " Menendez says. "If daughters and wives spoke to their dads and husbands, that would be a great start." A Republican issueBack when he served in the Maryland State House of Delegates, Ben Cardin fought to get a lavatory for women members.Sen. Ben Cardin says opposition to the ERA may stem from fears over religious conflicts or government intrusion.He grew up in a progressive household and around strong women. His mother, a teacher, was active in issues affecting women in education and health care, he says. She died young but left an impression. All his female cousins, who he says were older than him, went to college. His oldest aunt was the chief financial officer of the family business. Cardin, now 71 and a U.S. senator, wants his two granddaughters to have every opportunity available to them, just as he's wanted the same for his wife and daughter.He first introduced a Senate bill to lift the ERA deadline in 2012, and he plans to introduce it again along with Speier's sister legislation in the House.He points to the history of the 27th Amendment as a precedent for the approach. That most recent amendment, which prohibits members of Congress from giving themselves raises during the session in which they're serving, was ratified in 1992 -- more than 202 years after it was introduced -- and was clearly unencumbered by a deadline.While a number of states have Equal Rights Amendments in their own constitutions, including his home state of Maryland, "it's not the same as having the federal umbrella protection," Cardin says. The ERA represents a fundamental value, Cardin says, one that should be embraced by Republicans and Democrats alike -- just as it once was. Its original author in 1923, Alice Paul, was a Republican. For decades, it remained on the Republican Party platform. It was signed by President Richard Nixon as soon as it passed in Congress in 1972. "I really don't think these are partisan issues. Only in Washington do they become partisan; not with the American people. So Republicans out in the communities are rooting for us," he says. The opposition, he speculates, comes from those who worry that the ERA would somehow conflict with religious beliefs, lead to big government intrusion or foster a slew of lawsuits. Or, he says, maybe those who haven't yet signed on simply don't see it as a priority. But it should be a priority for everyone, says Cardin."It's just not fair to say someone can't achieve their full potential because they happen to be a woman," he says. "There are so many times we turn a blind eye because we say, 'Is it really our fight?' The answer is: It is our fight."

Jessica Ravitz, CNN

2015-04-16 11:37:15

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https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/16/us/american-women-world-rankings/index.html

Women in the world: Where the U.S. falters - CNN

Imagine countries where women and girls have it worst. The U.S. probably doesn't come to mind. But there are surprising ways in which the U.S. lags behind.

us, Women in the world: Where the U.S. falters - CNN

Women in the world: Where the U.S. falters in quest for equality

(CNN)If you imagine countries where women and girls have it worst, the United States probably doesn't come to mind. Is now the time?When CNN's Jessica Ravitz last thought about the Equal Rights Amendment, she was a kid tagging along with her mom to marches some 35 years ago. What happened to the crusade to enshrine women's rights in the Constitution? Join Ravitz as she meets the women and men behind a renewed push to pass the ERA.Female, 30 and on a mission: The ERA's new warriorsThe politics of feminism: An unlikely partnershipWomen in the world: Where the U.S. falters Here, women can drive; they don't need male guardians to travel, work or receive health care. Girls can pursue an education without fear of being attacked or abducted for wanting to learn. They are rarely forced into marriages at young ages, kidnapped by would-be husbands or killed if they choose whom to love. Stories like these may happen elsewhere, but they shock American sensibilities. We prefer to think of our country as an example of what is possible.But there are ways in which the United States lags behind other nations -- sometimes in principle; other times in practice. And some of those ways may surprise you. Read MoreHand-in-hand with Iran and SudanIt's considered an "international bill of rights for women." It promises to end discrimination, establish equality and fight against violence. Nearly all the 193 member states of the United Nations have ratified it. Only seven haven't: Iran, Palau, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tonga. And the United States. The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women -- or CEDAW, as it's known -- was adopted by the United Nations in 1979. The new women warriors: Reviving the fight for equal rightsIt's the biggest treaty creating specific guarantees for women and girls since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was established in 1948, when the United Nations said all people, regardless of sex, "are born free and equal in dignity and rights."By ratifying CEDAW, 186 member states have committed -- at least on paper -- to ending discrimination against women and establishing equality in everything from health care and education to political participation, employment and marriage. With this comes an agreement, in principle, to combat societal ills like gender-related violence and sex trafficking.The United States is a signatory to CEDAW, but to ratify such a treaty, two-thirds of the Senate must vote in favor of it. CEDAW has never made it to the Senate floor for a vote.Just like NiueMothers of newborns are guaranteed paid leave in 188 countries, the WORLD Policy Analysis Center reports.Only nine countries do not. Guess which one is among them? The United States. The others: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Suriname and Tonga.The company we keep shrinks further when you consider that five of those countries -- Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Suriname and Tonga -- guarantee paid maternity leave for public sector workers. That leaves just four countries with no guaranteed paid leave for new mothers. The United States is the only high-income, developed country with this distinction. And let's not even begin to list all the countries that guarantee paid leave to both fathers and mothers, a practice that not only offers new fathers more time with children but also gives mothers support and the option to head back to work more quickly if they choose. Just know that 49% of countries provide paid leave to both new parents, including Saudi Arabia. Burundi wins When it comes to paychecks, the United States ranks 65th in wage equality for similar work, according to a World Economic Forum study of 142 countries.Among the dozens of countries where women are better off, according to this measure, are the United Arab Emirates and Norway, the Kyrgyz Republic and Canada, Egypt, Iceland, Japan, Botswana, Honduras and Ethiopia. The politics of feminism: An unlikely partnershipThe top five, in descending order: Burundi, Mongolia, Qatar, Thailand and Malaysia. In 2013, women who worked full-time, year-round in the United States were paid 78% of what men were paid -- or 78 cents for every dollar earned on average by men, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That gap, though, is worse for women of color: Black women make 64 cents and Latinas make 56 cents for every dollar earned by a white man.The facts about the gender wage gapWomen in Rwanda and India ruleThe United States now has more women in Congress than ever: 104, to be exact.Still, that's only 19.4% of the 535 seats on Capitol Hill, which isn't so impressive when you consider females make up 51% of the population. But wait. There's more.The U.S. Congress ranks in the bottom half of national parliaments around the world when it comes to female members, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Rwanda sits in a comfortable lead, with women making up nearly 64% of its lower house and 38.5% of the Senate. The rest of the top 10: Bolivia, Andorra, Cuba, Seychelles, Sweden, Senegal, Finland, Ecuador and South Africa. The U.S. Congress is ranked in 72nd place out of 139 spots (190 countries were included in the rankings, but there were nearly 50 ties). Women are represented more in Uganda, Algeria, Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.So how big of a deal is Hillary Clinton's presumed Democratic nomination for President? While 52 countries have had a female head of state over the past 50 years -- including India for 21 of those years -- the United States is among those that never have, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2014.Other countries that have had women in charge include Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Liberia and China.The new women warriors: Reviving the fight for equal rightsAfghanistan trumps U.S.There are 197 constitutions across the globe, and 165 of them -- or about 84% -- explicitly guarantee gender equality, the WORLD Policy Analysis Center reports. Eleven of these constitutions, however, allow religious or customary laws to override parts or all of the constitution.Only 32 constitutions do not include an explicit gender equality guarantee. The U.S. Constitution is one of them. Though parts of the Constitution -- like the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment -- may appear to protect women, even Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has said this isn't the case."Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't," he said in the January 2011 issue of California Lawyer. Americans drafted the post-World War II Japanese constitution, which lays out equal rights for women. When it was noted that Japanese women now had more rights than their American counterparts, the 22-year-old woman who helped put that language in Japan's document -- Beate Sirota Gordon -- replied, "That's not very difficult to do, because women are not in the American Constitution."Even Afghanistan's constitution includes equal rights provisions for women. And while they may not be enforced, says Jessica Neuwirth, founder and president of the ERA Coalition, the language offers a legal framework lawyers can use to work on behalf of women.The Equal Rights Amendment, meant to give women in America the sort of explicit protections now offered in constitutions across the globe, was first introduced to Congress in 1923. Both houses of Congress passed it in 1972. It then went to state legislatures, requiring the ratification of 38 states. But by the time the 1982 deadline hit, it had fallen three states short.Today, a new revitalized movement to ratify the ERA is gaining steam. To the women and men behind the push, including an unlikely alliance of politicians, it is unfinished business they want to see completed. It's long overdue, they say, and would prove to the world that women in the United States matter.American women nearly twice as likely as men to retire in poverty

Jessica Ravitz, CNN

2015-07-24 21:42:12

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us

https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/24/us/anderson-monarchs-bus-tour/index.html

A young ballclub barnstorms the Deep South - CNN

The Anderson Monarchs, a Philadelphia baseball team that includes Little League phenom Mo'ne Davis, embarks on a bus tour to learn civil rights history.

us, A young ballclub barnstorms the Deep South - CNN

Scoring runs and catching history: Young ballclub barnstorms the Deep South

Story highlightsThe Anderson Monarchs, a South Philly youth baseball club, heads out on a civil rights tourLittle League phenom Mo'ne Davis and teammates meet legends and touch historyTheir trip starts hours before the Charleston shooting, making the timing especially relevantAcross the South (CNN)In downtown Selma, Alabama, three teenage ballplayers watch history unfold in black and white. First come the marchers over the nearby historic bridge. Then come the troopers. The bedlam. The violence. "Oh, there's my boy John Lewis," says one of the kids, pointing out the image on the small museum screen of a man being clubbed.Each hit Lewis takes feels personal to them. Just a week earlier, they'd met the civil rights leader-turned-congressman in his Washington, D.C. office. "I would fight back," says a second teen. "But then they'd kill you and your family," the first one answers, eyes wide with concern.Read MoreThere's a pause. The three of them think about this while the footage keeps rolling. Finally, the third one speaks up as he turns to walk away: "Yeah, I don't know if I could be nonviolent." They and their teammates had seen the film "Selma" in preparation for their visit to this city, where events here helped change the nation. It was one of many stops in a 4,500-mile summer adventure for this young baseball team. But being here forces them to grapple with questions they can only begin to answer.For 23 days starting in June, the Anderson Monarchs hit the road in a vintage 1947 bus for a civil rights barnstorming tour that took them from their Philadelphia home to D.C. and Atlanta before rolling into Selma and across the Deep South. The group of 13- and 14-year-olds, most of them African-American, included athletes who went to the 2014 Little League World Series. Among them was pitching phenom Mo'ne Davis. They set out to play some ball and, more significantly, make history real. They'd visit landmarks and shake hands with legends. Tamir Brooks, right, and Sami Wylie look out the windows of the 1947 vintage bus their team traveled on this summer.The core of this trip through time began in Atlanta, where I hopped on board and joined the team as the bus wound through five Southern states.Their journey -- which coincided with the 50th anniversary year of the march on Selma that prompted the passage of the Voting Rights Act -- was the culmination of months of learning. For half a year, Coach Steve Bandura gathered the group at their South Philly rec center for weekly movie nights. They watched historical dramas like "Roots," "Glory" and "The Tuskegee Airmen." They tackled documentaries including "Freedom Riders," "4 Little Girls" and "Eyes on the Prize." "If you don't understand slavery, you can't understand the civil rights movement. And if you don't understand the civil rights movement, you can't understand Ferguson or Baltimore," says Coach Steve, who's white.What he and his ballplayers couldn't have imagined is how relevant their trip would become. Just hours after their bus rolled out of Philadelphia on June 17, a white gunman strolled into a Bible study at a historic Charleston, South Carolina, black church and killed nine worshippers, including the pastor. All evidence indicates that the shooter was motivated by racism, which is why he is now facing federal hate crime charges. "It's not ancient history. Just because laws have changed doesn't mean people's attitudes have changed," says Bandura, 54. "Charleston drove that home. The first thing the kids said was, 'It's Birmingham all over again.'"Under a microscopeHook them with sports and then emphasize education and character-building: That's Coach Steve's way. The longtime parks and rec employee is the force behind the Philadelphia Youth Organization, which offers year-round play including baseball, basketball and soccer. The Anderson Monarchs came out of this program 20 years ago. Boys and girls, some of whom he's worked with since they were 3, are taught from day one that they will go to college. Bandura's helped kids snag scholarships long before they seek a higher education, and has even taken them in during the week so they can be closer to their schools.The coach offers support, but he's no pushover. The kids must respect one another and not act, as he puts it, "like horses' behinds." He teaches them lessons, such as: "Just because someone treats you like a king doesn't make you a king." Bad language? He shuts that down with one look. Slouching or whining about the heat before they walk over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma? He's not having it. They are to walk with their shoulders back and heads held high. And they do. "I don't care if it's hot," he explains. "This is history. This is why we're here."Electronics on the tour are banned. Their uniforms must be crisp and white, their shirts tucked in, their socks pulled up high. It may not be fair, but they are under a constant microscope. When they pose for pictures, he lets them know if the shot is "smiley" or "not smiley." The roadside marker where a Freedom Rider bus was set ablaze by a white mob: Not smiley. Beside John Lewis: Smiley.At Birmingham's Kelly Ingram Park, they examine a memorial sculpture for the four girls killed in the 1963 church bombing.A reluctant celebrityNot always smiley, even when fans and media want her to be, is Mo'ne Davis. The attention showered on this team member is the undeniable sideshow of this tour. The young ballplayer grabbed headlines in 2014 after she became the first girl in Little League history to pitch a shutout in a World Series game. Soon her name and face appeared everywhere, including the cover of Sports Illustrated. To the team, she's just one of them. But to the public, she's something else.Jaws drop with recognition. Little girls squeal. Grown women scream, "We love you!" Fans charge the field and trail her every move, demanding autographs and selfies with her.It's well-earned, given the role model she's become, but it's an odd distraction from the purpose of this journey. Mayors and city officials single her out for handshakes and photo ops. One small town offers up a proclamation, declaring June 26, 2015, "Mo'ne Ikea Davis Day." And the media plays no small part in fueling the madness. Some outlets, when told they can't get one-on-one interviews with her, simply walk away from a story that's, frankly, much bigger than one girl.The coach knows that the cameras might not be here at all if not for her, but he sometimes has a hard time hiding his frustration."I often feel like we're traveling with one of the Kardashians, the way the media covers it," Bandura says. "It's too damn important right now, especially after Charleston. And it's not fair to her." On her 14th birthday, she and her teammates were in Birmingham, Alabama, where they visited the 16th Street Baptist Church, site of a 1963 KKK bombing that killed four girls. Three of those girls were the same age as Mo'ne, and the media that swarms outside the church demand her time. The coach, who's been a part of her life since he first spotted her in a park throwing a football with a perfect spiral at age 7, finally relents. He allows them five minutes.What they get is hardly worthwhile. Myles Eaddy, center, and Mo'ne Davis stand at a sculpture to honor children who were jailed for marching in Birmingham."What struck you most?" someone asks of her visit inside."We learned a lot of the history behind what happened," she says. "I really enjoyed it." "How's life on the bus?""It's kind of hot on it." "What sort of perspective do you take away considering Charleston?""I don't know a lot about Charleston." Mo'ne knows about Charleston, of course. The team found out about the church shooting the morning after it happened. They discussed it over breakfast and with Rep. Lewis of Atlanta. She also knows about the debate swirling around the Confederate battle flag, which was celebrated by the gunman.In moments like this one in Birmingham, though, she appears a reluctant celebrity. She's a child who can't be expected to wax poetic on civil rights issues.When she's around her teammates, she lights up, is engaged and smiles easily. In front of this sea of cameras, her face falls and she looks miserable. I ask her later if she misses going unrecognized. She says she only does after games, when she's hot, tired and mobbed by crowds. The coaches often step in to cut people off. Her teammates, who are like brothers to her, say they sometimes surround her like Secret Service. The line between childhood and maturityBefore Birmingham, they walk through the Atlanta home where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was born and raised. Later, after Little Rock, Arkansas, they gaze out at the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis where he took a bullet and his last breath.In various museums, they stare down displays of Ku Klux Klansmen, take in images of lynchings and grimace in front of drinking fountains marked "colored." They visit the Jackson, Mississippi, house where NAACP leader Medgar Evers lived and died, assassinated in his driveway hours after President John F. Kennedy proposed the Civil Rights Act. Along the way, they receive living testimonies.A Freedom Rider points to his mugshot, taken when he was 19. A man who helped desegregate lunch counters and trained in nonviolence alongside John Lewis shares the last words MLK said to him, five hours before he was killed. A daughter of a civil rights attorney shares tales of growing up under Jim Crow laws and remembers the gun shots that blew through her family's home windows. The younger sister of a girl killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing talks about honoring the past.The content, no doubt, is heavy. Outside the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, one boy breaks down in tears. His teammates reach out to comfort him, as does a father traveling with the group. The Anderson Monarchs are a family, and they're in this together.The team tours the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and learns how segregation underJim Crow affected daily life. Playing baseball, which they do often during this tour, lets them take a break from deep thinking and feeling -- while trouncing local teams. In the week I was with the team, the scoreboards told the tale: 18-1. 20-2. 16-5.There are also plenty of moments when they are just kids being kids. Without electronics, they play Uno and Battleship on the bus while chomping on Big League Chew bubblegum. Over pizza in a small-town restaurant, they sway and sing along to John Legend's "All of Me." Whenever they hear Silentó's "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)," a song that's spawned a viral dance sensation, they jump up to show off their moves. Coach John Bromley catches one boy preparing to iron his shorts while wearing them. The kids pull their shirts over their noses and scream "Ewwww!" as the bus rolls past farms that reek of manure. Overheard from the back of the bus, amid laughter: "I'll sit on your head and fart on your head if you don't stop playing with me!" But even as they joke around over a free hotel breakfast, laughing about the "great flood" in one of their rooms the night before, they are wired to pick up what's happening in the world around them. The television in the dining area reports the morning news.Outfielder Myles Eaddy, who refers to President Barack Obama as "Obeezy," pumps his fist in the air and cheers, "Woohoo!" when he spots footage of an activist climbing down a South Carolina statehouse flagpole with the Confederate flag."She got arrested, but I like her way of thinking," says second baseman Jahli Hendricks. Minutes later, third baseman Jack Rice sits riveted watching reports about the Supreme Court decision -- handed down the day before -- that legalized same-sex marriages across the country. Jack says he lives in a neighborhood with a large gay community."I think it's good whenever I see a couple walking down the street," he says. This historic news, and learning about it on this trip, means something to him. "It's almost like another civil rights movement," he says. Later in the day, as we drive through an underpass, a spray-painted message on a concrete wall catches my eye. In large green letters it says, "No to gay marriage," and underneath that, "Kill."I turn around to see if Jack, who's seated behind me, saw it, too. I'm sort of grateful he's looking the other way.A Birmingham Black Barons uniform reminds the team of a time when blacks and whites did not play ball together. What others worked forAt Atlanta's Turner Field, they meet baseball great Hank Aaron. And in Birmingham, players from the former Negro Leagues come out to have lunch with the Monarchs and watch them take on a local team. The kids step onto the hallowed ground that is Rickwood Field, the oldest ballpark in America. Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb graced this diamond, as did Willie Mays -- who first made his mark as a teenager when he began playing here for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948.That was one year after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball -- and the same year the Monarchs' vintage bus first hit the road.The 1947 Flxible Clipper garners gawks at gas stations. Drivers speed up from behind to snap pictures and get closer looks. As the bus passes one city sidewalk, a parking attendant screams, "One of a kind!"As far as Tom Murphy knows, it is the only one of its kind. Some have been turned into RVs, the team's mechanic says, but as a working bus, this is it. Murphy, who deals in auto parts, found it in 1997. It had been sitting in a Connecticut barn for 24 years before he came along and made it run again. Ernest Fann, 72, sits up in the stands at Rickwood Field and says the bus is not so different from the sort he rode in when he joined the Negro Leagues in 1962, playing with the Raleigh Tigers right before the leagues were phased out.He and his teammates ate and slept in a bus like this one, barred by Jim Crow laws from being able to check into hotels. They stopped at creeks to wash their clothes, letting their laundry dry from bus windows. They lived on a big stick of baloney -- "schoolboy steak," he calls it -- and a couple loaves of bread. Fann made $5 a day when he played, and that could be for as many as three games a day.By the time he joined the Negro Leagues, he says the players were united in what their message was to the world."It wasn't about us," he says. "It was about trying to open up the door for the kids."He went on to play in the minor leagues for a bit before two knee surgeries did him in. But he's happy to be where he is now. He looks at the kids on the field, what they've achieved and the opportunities available to them, and can only smile."It means a lot," he says, "because this is what we worked for."Mo'ne Davis is next up to bat during a game at Birmingham's Rickwood Field, the oldest ballpark in America. 'The cake to go with the icing'What will they work for? How can they make a difference and take the baton from those who walked and played before them? In what ways will they serve as an example to others? If they see a kid being bullied at school or online, will they speak up?These sorts of questions are posed to the Monarchs time and again, and perhaps no one drives home the message more during their swing through the South than a woman who stands before them a stranger. Sybil Jordan Hampton isn't etched in history books or honored in films or museums. When she tells people she helped integrate Little Rock Central High School, she says they usually stop listening when they learn she wasn't one of the "Little Rock Nine." Not today.These students lean forward to take in her every word. Hampton, 71, tells them that while the world watched the "Little Rock Nine" enter Central High in 1957 with a military escort amid screaming protesters, the story continued long after the cameras went away. That's when her journey began.After a year of struggles during that first attempt at integration, the governor of Arkansas dug in his heels against the federal order to end segregation. He signed a bill allowing Little Rock to close its public high schools. That next year became known as the "lost year." When the schools reopened in 1959, Hampton was one of just five black students to enter Central High. And she was the only one in her graduating class of 544 students.The city took an economic hit in '57, so the mandate in '59 was to avoid drama and further media attention. As a result, there weren't loud protests. Instead, not one white student spoke to Hampton in her three years at the school. When she walked down the halls, crowds parted as if she had the plague. She remembers when a football player kicked her bandaged knee in a hallway and no one stepped forward to help her. But she also remembers when a student spit in her face, and the assistant vice principal and secretary finally wrapped their arms around her."You have to be open. There may be a moment that touches hearts," she says. "We're seeing one of those moments right now, right?""Yes," the students respond in unison. Like her, their minds turn to Charleston and the outpouring of love and support toward victims' families, survivors of the church massacre and the church itself.She tells them about her commitment to forgiveness. She shares lessons her parents taught her about those who made her feel worthless."My mother and father always said, 'Those people, Sybil, don't know you. You are a symbol of what they hate. It's not about you. You are a symbol. Because, baby, if they could really know you, they'd love you.' " Doing well has been her best revenge, says Hampton, a lifelong educator who holds a doctorate in education from Columbia University. She speaks often to groups.When black teens talk to her about how angry they are, she always has an answer ready: "If I am not an ax murderess, what do you have to be angry about?"She looks out at the group, most of whom, like her, haven't made headlines, inspired movies or drawn media attention. But, like her, they can make a difference in this world. "Not everyone here is going to be a star," she says, "but everyone is important. We all matter."Her talk brings applause, and the students walk up to not just thank her but hug her. "This is the cake to go with the icing," says Coach Steve. "This is what it's really about."And as the kids gather around Hampton to take a picture with her, he tells them this one is smiley. Most definitely smiley.

Rob Kuznia, Curt Devine and Yahya Abou-Ghazala, CNN

2021-12-09 12:10:17

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/09/business/epik-hack-ceo-rob-monster-invs/index.html

Epik is a refuge for the deplatformed far right. Here's why its CEO insists on doing it - CNN

business, Epik is a refuge for the deplatformed far right. Here's why its CEO insists on doing it - CNN

Epik is a refuge for the deplatformed far right. Here's why its CEO insists on doing it

(CNN)In October of 2018, a man walked into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and opened fire, killing 11 people -- the worst anti-Semitic attack in US history. The suspected shooter had been a serial poster of genocidal rantings about Jews on a social platform called Gab.  Nearly five months later, another gunman strode into a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, and began shooting. When he was done, 51 people in two mosques were dead -- the country's worst mass shooting in modern history. The 28-year-old live-streamed the rampage on Facebook and posted a manifesto online about "white genocide."   In both cases, mainstream tech companies scrambled to remove the content from the internet; Gab -- a Twitter-like platform long known for its extremist content -- was yanked offline entirely.   And in both cases, a man named Rob Monster -- an outspoken born-again Christian and the CEO of a tech company called Epik -- made pointed restorations, republishing much of the New Zealand content and putting Gab back online. All in the name, he said, of free speech.After reposting the Christchurch shooter's manifesto online, Monster publicly weighed in on the believability of the livestream video, speculating the slaughter may have been faked.    Read More"Shell casings simply vanish into thin air," he said in a social media post soon after the massacre. "It looks like a low budget CGI."   Since those events, the wealthy Dutch-American tech entrepreneur has emerged as the notorious platform provider for far-right provocateurs banished by mainstream tech companies.  The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, 2020 election deniers such as Ali Alexander, a far-right activist who spreads White nationalist ideas named Nick Fuentes, online forums such as Parler and AR15.com -- they all have a history of being jettisoned by mainstream social media companies or other tech giants for various reasons, including spreading hate, broadcasting dangerous misinformation or inciting violence. All have found a home at Epik. Once obscure, Epik -- a domain-name registrar and web hosting company -- has transformed itself into a culture-war lightning rod. Lightning struck this fall, when so-called hacktivists illegally cracked open the company's databases and made them public, triggering a feeding frenzy for internet researchers who have been sifting through a decade's worth of data, which includes 15 million email addresses from customers and noncustomers alike, as well as names, home addresses, passwords and as many as 38,000 credit card numbers.   Revelations from the mountain of information are trickling in, unveiling a web of connections among operatives of the far right and outing names of sympathizers of extremist groups. This is the kind of thing where you have to start wondering -- is this about free speech or is he celebrating?Heidi Beirich, chief strategy officer, Global Project Against Hate and ExtremismThis has cemented the perception of Monster as an ally to the far right, and deepened the notoriety of a brand that had already been so infamous that, early this year, the upscale Seattle suburb in which Monster resides -- Sammamish -- released two statements in as many days distancing itself from his company in response to uproar over Epik picking up Parler. But while web experts note that Epik is a victim of a crime, Monster, who has profited by turning his company into a haven for the far right, says he doesn't feel like a victim. "It didn't kill us," he has said of the hack. "It's gonna make us stronger." Heidi Beirich, chief strategy officer for the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said without Monster's Epik, "a lot of Nazi content" would not exist on the web. "This is the kind of thing where you have to start wondering -- is this about free speech or is he celebrating?" she said. "I just can't quite figure the guy out." Compassion for haters, but muted on plight of the hated For all of its reveals, the hack has done little to lessen the mystery surrounding Monster, a largely behind-the-scenes figure in a politically charged universe. Despite his status as one of the web's most influential enablers of extremist content, Monster, 54, has amassed a modest 4,600-plus followers on Twitter, where he peppers his social media posts with allusions to prayer and God. And while Nazi, anti-Semitic, racist and anti-LGBT material can be readily found on sites his company keeps online, Monster's own social media presence has a banal and even benign tone, calling on followers to be kind, for instance, or touting an upcoming Epik-created initiative for orphans. Monster was hesitant to sit for an off-the-record interview with CNN, claiming he's been burned by journalists. And even after an hourlong conversation in his lakeside mansion, he would only offer on-the-record quotes through an attorney. Epik's pivot to becoming the "free speech" alternative to Big Tech behemoths like GoDaddy has granted him visibility, which has been good for business. But now, Monster complains that he feels demonized by the media. Despite the nature of the content his company enables, he speculates that this media treatment -- he once referred to it in a talk as "persecution" -- has something to do with his last name, which is common in the Netherlands, where there exists a town called Monster on the western coast. "It sounds like a villain," he said recently, "but I'm not a villain." The son of parents who emigrated from the Netherlands in 1967, Monster was raised in an atheist household and attended a private Quaker school in Philadelphia called Germantown Friends. His father, Arie Willem Monster, was a Fulbright Scholar who became a computer science professor at Temple University. Monster's paternal grandfather -- also named Arie Willem Monster -- was a reserve medical officer for the Dutch Army during German occupation in World War II, according to records reviewed by CNN at the National Archives in the Netherlands.Documents from governmental commissions evaluating military staff shortly after the war showed he told investigators he refused to treat Nazi soldiers, a decision that he said caused him "trouble and the usual threats" from the enemy. Arie also said he provided medical treatment for people in hiding, including members of the resistance and a few Canadian pilots. The medical resistance group "Medisch Contact" vouched for Arie, saying he joined political protests against Nazis, wrote a letter of protest against the "Nazification" of health insurance and that "his morality is excellent."I'm not a villain.Rob Monster, CEO of EpikMonster said his maternal grandfather, too, played an active role in resisting German occupation, providing food and shelter for the Allied paratroopers who would sometimes be dropped into the fields of his farm."There is some lineage in my family of objecting to tyrants and despots and safeguarding sovereignty even when it was uncomfortable or personally dangerous," he told CNN.As a child, Rob Monster says, he often was sent to the Netherlands in the summers to work on the farm of his maternal grandparents. His grandfather paid him, and, Monster has said, he developed an early interest in money -- so much so he started trading stocks."If I was investing in a company -- I was 12, mind you -- I would call or visit with the company I was investing in," he told CNN. "They would take my meeting because it was so weird." An Ivy League alum who has been the CEO of several companies, Monster embraced Christianity later in life -- in 2013 -- and uses the language of redemption to explain his company's comparatively high tolerance for extremists. "There are people that humanity has discarded," he told an interviewer on a Christian-themed podcast earlier this year. "We actually will talk to people that others might discard, but part of the reason why we talk to them is because we believe there's an opportunity to appeal to their higher selves."  Monster stresses that he isn't a free speech absolutist. Indeed, he has declined service for two of the web's fringiest elements -- such as a forum called 8chan and a neo-Nazi website called The Daily Stormer -- because they "propagate hate." 'Anonymous' hackers claim to hit website hosting firm popular with Proud Boys"I used to think there is no such thing as hate speech," he told CNN. "Then I concluded some people have hate in their hearts." Sensitive to claims of providing a safe harbor for hate speech, Epik dedicates a page on its website to displaying letters addressing account holders who have crossed the line. Still, Monster's definition of irredeemable hate speech is murky. When shown a still-existing Nazi-themed Gab account -- which also bears the Daily Stormer name and prominently depicts swastikas and allusions to Hitler -- Monster told CNN he strongly disapproves of the material. "I'm also not comfortable being the person who decides what content should be allowed to continue to exist," he added. "I support lawful free speech -- even for speech we dislike." Monster portrays his company's willingness to do business with White nationalists or people who "manifest genocidal thoughts" as a gesture of benevolence. "Even the most dark, mean-spirited individual, if you attempt to engage that person with humility and compassion, more times than not, they will actually respond to that," he recently said. Asked what he thinks the media fails to understand about him, he told CNN: "I can deal with people who are very lost and see hope for them." But Monster has exhibited little interest in reflecting on the tragedies that prompted him to react in ways that have brought visibility -- and profits -- to Epik. In the wake of the Pittsburgh shooting, he published a blog post touting Epik as a bastion of free speech -- adorning the page with lofty pull quotes from Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin -- but made no mention of the horrific attack or the victims. In the aftermath of the New Zealand shooting that killed dozens, Monster seemed to use his online restoration of the shooter's manifesto as a marketing opportunity. In a message on Gab informing people where they could find the shooter's "writing" on a peer-to-peer network that he called "effectively uncensorable," he added promotional language about how others could do the same using services provided by Epik. (Monster told CNN in an email that it had not been his intent to turn the tragedy into a marketing opportunity, and that the link to the manifesto and the promotional message "should not have been in the same post.")  Monster declined to say whether, if given the chance to do it over, he would again put the Christchurch content back online -- or whether he still thinks the attack could have been a false flag.  But when pressed, he condemned the Pittsburgh and Christchurch attacks. "Those shootings in holy places were evil," Monster told CNN. "I believe life is precious, and I pray that the families impacted by such senseless violence find peace."  Giving money to his enemy Three days after news of the hack became public September 13, Monster held a four-hour Q&A session on a Zoom-like platform called PrayerMeeting.com. It started as a kind of news conference to discuss the breach but evolved into something like a late-night campfire chat, albeit with an element of the surreal.   Monster recited prayers to ward off demons, warned participants not to mess with the hacked data because it is "cursed," and spoke in friendly tones with a motley cast of characters that included a neo-Nazi and a founder of Anonymous -- the hacktivist collective that claims responsibility for the attack on his company.  Through it all, Monster seemed oddly in his element and unguarded. "Do you guys want to do this again tomorrow?" he at one point asked the group of up to 40 people that included hackers, activists, trolls and journalists. "I'll do it again tomorrow." About 15 minutes into the call, Monster cheerfully called out the presence of an unlikely participant: Aubrey "Kirtaner" Cottle, who describes himself as a founder of Anonymous. In other words -- Monster's enemy. "Kirtaner!" he said, clapping his hands. "What's up, bro?"   Monster asked Cottle if he performed the hack.    Cottle denied it, then added, "I would never, ever, ever, ever admit to a federal crime in a space like this."   A day or two later, Monster donated $444 to the GoFundMe page set up by Cottle, who told CNN he lives off donations. Monster has referenced the number as having biblical connotations; Cottle took the gesture as a message.   "He's got his eye on me," Cottle told CNN. "He had to go digging to find that GoFundMe."   Cottle -- who said he lives modestly in Toronto -- acknowledged that he took Monster's money and used it for a trip to visit his young child in Philadelphia.   Monster told CNN he believes Cottle is the culprit. "But that doesn't mean I can't have compassion for him," he said. "Love the sinner, not the sin." He added: "You'd be amazed at how many people -- who are lost and on a dark path -- are transformed into noble citizens because somebody gave them the benefit of the doubt." Monster had another remarkable conversation during the call -- one that seemed to sum up his entire approach to online hate speech. He noticed a man on the call showing off a chest tattoo of a swastika.   It was Andrew Auernheimer, the webmaster known for keeping the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer online -- and who goes by the moniker "weev."  Monster engaged him directly.  "What's your 'why'?" he asked, giving Auernheimer the floor.  Auernheimer began holding court, and at one point said, "The Western neoliberal order is about to collapse on itself." "I agree with that," Monster replied.    But Auernheimer also proceeded to lay out a string of vile beliefs: Slavery is a good institution; medieval laws making women the property of men should be restored; all Jews should be "expelled."  After letting Auernheimer ramble for more than six minutes -- with frequent interruptions from other callers -- Monster finally muted him.   This is the best strategy we have against extremism and misinformation"Weev? I gotta tell you bro, I don't think that you're very enlightened," he said. "I will pray for you tonight."   Monster also uttered to Auernheimer another of his common refrains: "Much love to you." "Probably nobody's ever told him that," Monster later told CNN.  Monster said he was trying to help Auernheimer "walk off the battlefield." "A lot of these guys are like shock jocks," he said. "They don't necessarily believe what they're saying. I tried to appeal to his highest self -- there's a spark of divinity in everybody." It is often implied or assumed that Monster himself harbors the views of some of the extremists he enables. It's the reason Cottle condones the hack of Epik. "During World War II, you f**k up some Nazis, you're heralded as a hero," Cottle told CNN. "How should it be any different these days?"   Monster has said he isn't a White nationalist, describing himself instead as a "Christian libertarian" who believes in freedom of expression.  But for a man who often says he is on a quest for truth, he seems to have an oddly high tolerance for conspiracy theories. During the prayer meeting, Monster said he considers Infowars, the conspiracy theory website owned by his client, Alex Jones -- who has said 9/11 was an inside job, the famous footage of the 1969 lunar landing was staged, the Sandy Hook mass shooting was a false flag, the 2020 election was stolen and speculated that Michelle Obama is a man -- to be "like a gateway drug for, for like truth." At another point, he acknowledged that some of Jones' claims are "a little fringe," but added, "He gets some stuff right." (Jones has said it was a "form of psychosis" that caused him to believe certain events -- such as the Sandy Hook massacre -- were staged.) Meanwhile, Monster believes the mainstream media and online resources like Wikipedia are purveyors of propaganda.  "Do you guys get how subverted Wikipedia is?" he said during the prayer meeting. "You realize how much of a globalist tool that thing has become? You get that? Is that, like, lost on people?" Divine intervention on the Mediterranean Sea It would be tempting to think Monster took on Gab -- and rebranded Epik as a "free speech" champion -- for the money, but while it is difficult to assess his motive, he was well-to-do long before making that move.  In 1999, after a stint as a product manager for Pampers, the Cornell University alum started an online polling company called Global Market Insite (GMI) that grew explosively for over a decade. He even landed the Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2005 from Ernst & Young, one of the Big Four accounting firms. But Monster was fired from his own company in 2007 for clashing with executives -- GMI sources told CNN he had unrealistic expectations. Still, he remained on the board. Monster would later profit handsomely in 2011, when GMI was purchased by WPP, the world's largest advertising group, in a nine-figure cash deal.   After a brief early retirement at age 40, Monster got back into the entrepreneur game, immersing himself in the world of domain-name speculation. He started Epik in 2009. A few years later, he found Jesus, and it was divine intervention, he said, that hit him with a premonition: He needed to compete with GoDaddy, the world's largest domain-name registrar and web hosting company.  As Monster tells the story, it was late summer of 2018, and he was on a Mediterranean cruise.  "Middle of the Mediterranean, underneath the Perseid meteor shower, and I'm looking up at the sky," he said. "Beautiful, clear night, like endless stars, and I have absolute clarity that the Lord is going to need a registrar. It's the closest thing to a calling I've ever experienced."  It was an optimal time for a calling: Monster's relations with executives at another company where he was the CEO were rapidly deteriorating.  That summer, Monster was actually the CEO of two companies simultaneously -- Epik, and an online commerce company called DigitalTown.  DigitalTown was a decades-old entity that had had several iterations, but Monster's vision for the company was to provide a way for people to conveniently use the internet to buy locally in the same way they now use it to buy from Amazon. Monster told investors that the technology would be built on a blockchain. It failed, and who's at fault depends on whom you ask.   Several former DigitalTown colleagues told CNN that Monster didn't follow through on his big ideas. Monster said by the time he came aboard, the company -- which recruited him in 2015 -- was already a sinking ship. In any case, last year, DigitalTown filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (It is still trying to reinvent itself.) Monster took a hit, too: Because DigitalTown went broke, he was never paid for about $750,000 worth of domain names it owed Epik, or about $250,000 in deferred salary payments, a former colleague at DigitalTown told CNN. In mid-October of 2018, Monster traded bitter emails with a DigitalTown executive who said the company wasn't inclined to make further payments to him. "Everyone wants to stick it to you for sticking it to us," the executive told Monster in an email obtained by CNN.  "I have not harmed DT at all, so stop that nonsense," Monster replied. Less than two weeks later -- on October 27, 2018 -- came the massacre in Pittsburgh. To this day, the synagogue remains fenced off, so traumatic was the atrocity to the community. It would lead to a major turning point for Epik as a brand, and Monster as a public figure.  The suspect, Robert Bowers, had used Gab to rail against immigrants and Jews. Shortly after the rampage, a host of tech companies -- including PayPal and GoDaddy -- announced they would end their service to Gab. The site had already stirred controversy for hate speech, such as when a man who'd once been a candidate for US Senate was flagged for posting about the "holohoax" and calling Jews "livestock," as well as for disinformation when a bunch of Brazilian political pages in support of now-President Jair Bolsonaro fled en masse to Gab after having been banned or suspended from Facebook and Twitter, according to Ars Technica, a website covering news about the tech industry.  With his burned bridge at DigitalTown still smoldering, Monster moved quickly to seize the opportunity. He met with Gab's founder, Andrew Torba, then a 27-year-old tech entrepreneur and Christian conservative.   On November 3, 2018, Monster announced that Epik would be the domain registrar for Gab. (Epik soon after purchased the European company -- Sibyl Systems -- that provides web hosting for Gab.) Gab came back online the following day. "Can't stop us, won't stop us. Free Speech LIVES!" the social media site said in an announcement. It was an unnerving time for Monster. That night, he called the King County Sheriff's Office to report a suspicious vehicle near his home, saying it could be connected to threats he'd been receiving from "radical leftists." Monster worried his home would be vandalized, according to records obtained by CNN.  He later contacted the sheriff's office to report several more threats, which he received online and in real life. In mid-November of 2018 Monster told a deputy he'd received a "glitter bomb" in the mail and neighbors were getting fliers about him on their property, according to sheriff's reports obtained by CNN. Monster told a deputy he worried the harassment would escalate. Epik gains attention -- and business Monster's welcoming of Gab attracted media attention, and there is some evidence that his pivot was good for business, a CNN analysis found.  The number of dot-com domains registered at Epik jumped considerably in the months after the Pittsburgh shooting -- from 243,000 in October of 2018 to more than 278,000 in December. (Dot coms still represent by far the largest share of domain extensions on the internet.) Prior to then, it had been growing in smaller monthly spurts, according to data from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which acts as a de facto regulator in the industry.  Other far-right sites would gravitate to Epik. Among the first to announce its migration in early 2019 was BitChute, a YouTube imitator that had been blocked by PayPal. According to the Anti-Defamation League, BitChute is rife with "swastikas and SS symbols" and videos praising Hitler as well as comments that glorify police beatings or vilify Muslims, immigrants and other marginalized groups. A White power propaganda site was also registered on Epik by a former leader of a violent neo-Nazi group called Atomwaffen Division, according to a recent finding by the Southern Poverty Law Center. (Monster told SPLC that he had terminated the site's registration because it violated Epik's terms and conditions.) How White nationalists evade the law and continue profiting off hate Others would include Parler, Alex Jones's Infowars, and a forum called TheDonald, where users, prior to January 6, were calling for Trump supporters to "encircle congress" on that day, "bring handcuffs and zip ties to DC" and kill members of Congress who didn't certify "Trump the rightful winner," according to a report by SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks and analyzes the online activity of extremists. Several high-profile right-wing customers came to Epik in the aftermath of the January 6 siege at the Capitol. The next day, a user of TheDonald called the King County Sheriff's Office to report online threats against employees at Epik, according to a report obtained by CNN. A deputy notified Monster, but said in a report that Monster seemed unconcerned. "He said he has received death threats in the past because his company allows websites that exercise 'free speech within the law,'" the deputy wrote.  A few days later, on January 12, Monster emailed a sheriff's deputy to say that three sites -- Parler.com, Bongino.com and AR15.com -- "moved to Epik today following censorship actions by GoDaddy and Amazon." Monster went on: "There are plenty of conservatives and patriots in Sammamish and not too many unhinged people but just letting you know." He added that the clinic run by his wife, a naturopathic physician, was also being targeted. According to the latest available data, Epik's portfolio of dot-com domains now numbers more than half a million, making it about the 45th-largest company in a realm that includes roughly a couple thousand, industry insiders say. Epik, they add, is about a hundredth the size of GoDaddy.  Monster, who says Epik employs about 80 people including contractors, acknowledges that the notoriety has been financially beneficial.  "Yes, indirectly it has," he told CNN, "because the media attention to portray us as a villain -- for some percent of the population, they interpret the opposite." His move to take on Gab marked the beginning of Epik's fast evolution into a haven for the far right, essentially putting a target on the company. Troy Hunt, founder of HaveIBeenPwned, a data breach search website that allows people to see whether their information has been compromised, said he figures 99% of Epik's content is non-extremist, but "they have about 1% which is just like way out there and inconsistent with the values that many of us hold. ... And that does sort of make them somewhat of a target." Even so, experts interviewed by CNN say the company appears to have regarded cybersecurity as an afterthought.  It didn't kill us. It's gonna make us stronger.Rob Monster, CEO of Epik, on company's hackIn the days after the mid-September hack, computer science experts were astonished by Epik's lax approach to protecting its customers, especially in light of its tagline: "The Swiss bank of domains."  Megan Squire, a computer science professor and fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center who has been examining the hack, said passwords and credit card numbers can be found in plain text.  "The technical stuff in this database is some of the worst -- it is the worst I've ever seen," she said. "It's a horrible database. It's got a terrible design, it's full of mistakes, it's incomprehensible at times, it's sloppy." Also highlighting Epik's lack of attention to safeguarding sensitive data is a cybersecurity expert who manages a private university's cybersecurity operations and has been studying the hack as a kind of volunteer researcher. "It's a neglected environment ... and bad practice all around," said the cybersecurity expert, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid having to "drag my employer into this."  In an email to CNN, Monster said while he didn't agree with the experts' assessment that Epik was lax on cybersecurity, he acknowledged that "we've clearly got quite a ways to go." "Technology is constantly advancing, and every business can improve security as things move forward," he said. "Epik is doing exactly that." During the September 16 video conference, Monster agreed that the hack was bad, and blamed the vulnerability on a team of Russian developers who built the original platform using outdated code.But he said Epik recently raised $32 million, which will enable the company to "step on the gas with infrastructure." Monster added that he has recently hired some talented tech people; one of them, Michael Zimmermann, is the former IT director for Alex Jones.  "We're going to get our ducks fully in a row," Monster said. "My guess is within six months we will be fairly competent in the cybersecurity arena."  Revelations of the hack  The perpetrator of the massacre in New Zealand on May 15, 2019, was Brenton Tarrant, who posted his 74-page manifesto about "white genocide" on 8chan minutes before carrying out the attack. Hours later, somebody purchased a domain name from Epik called TarrantManifesto.com, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Another person purchased SaintTarrant.com.  The Epik hack, according to the report, revealed who they were: Zimmermann -- Jones' former IT director -- and Timothy Thrift, who, according to Squire, also worked on Jones's Infowars site. "People like to think that Alex Jones is kind of a big buffoon, and that he just has these dumb ideas," said Squire, one of the authors of the report. "He likes to present himself as not hateful or whatever. But I think what this shows is he definitely has people working for him who are doing that and are actively assisting the production of hateful propaganda."  We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. Zimmermann and Thrift did not respond to CNN's multiple requests for comment; Infowars did not respond to a request emailed to its press office.The hack also showed that a man who was listed as a director of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers had been running a QAnon-affiliated site called QAlerts, said Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group. "This connection puts yet more emphasis on how intricately connected QAnon, militia groups, and other extremist entities have become in recent years," she said in an email to CNN.  The Seattle branch of the FBI told CNN it could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation into the hack of Epik, but Monster has said that law enforcement is working on the case. Toward the end of the online prayer meeting in September, Monster lamented the enormous amount of misinformation online. This prompted pushback."You're the guy who hosts their bullshit, Rob," said a man on the call, sounding incredulous. "You run it. You should know better ... the QAnon crap? The QAnon crap got parents to murder their children, Rob."  Monster responded with a dodge, casting himself as a put-upon rescuer of lost souls. "Misguided people are out there, and the question is, do you isolate them or do you engage and rehabilitate them?" he said. "That's a very difficult question. I tell you, it's a ton of work -- and most of it is thankless."CNN's Majlie de Puy Kamp contributed to this report.

Casey Tolan, CNN Photographs by Barrett Emke for CNN

2021-11-12 12:03:06

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/12/politics/biden-private-prisons-immigration-detention-centers-invs/index.html

Biden vowed to close federal private prisons, but prison companies are finding loopholes to keep them open - CNNPolitics

Leavenworth Detention Center seems like a prime example of why President Joe Biden wants to close private prisons: So far this year, the federally contracted jail has been the site of multiple stabbings and a fatal beating. Former guards say drugs and weapons are common behind bars -- and for months, many cell doors didn't even lock. A judge called it "an absolute hellhole" at a recent sentencing hearing. 

politics, Biden vowed to close federal private prisons, but prison companies are finding loopholes to keep them open - CNNPolitics

Biden vowed to close federal private prisons, but prison companies are finding loopholes to keep them open

(CNN)Leavenworth Detention Center seems like a prime example of why President Joe Biden wants to close private prisons: So far this year, the federally contracted jail has been the site of multiple stabbings and a fatal beating. Former guards say drugs and weapons are common behind bars -- and for months, many cell doors didn't even lock. A judge called it "an absolute hellhole" at a recent sentencing hearing.  But while the Biden administration is ending contracts with private companies like the one operating the detention center, the Kansas facility and others like it are trying to get around the President's directive and still collect federal money. One key loophole they've found: holding detained immigrants for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Biden signed an executive order his first week in office that banned new private prison contracts, but it didn't apply to immigrant detention centers. A Pennsylvania federal prison owned by the corporate giant GEO Group has reopened as an immigrant detention center, and local officials around the country told CNN prison companies are exploring the same playbook for at least a half-dozen other private facilities with expiring contracts, including possibly at Leavenworth.  Activists say the moves amount to a broken campaign promise from the President. Read More"The Biden administration is literally allowing private prison companies to fill beds that were emptied out under the executive order with immigrant detainees," said Eunice Cho, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU National Prison Project. "These companies are basically playing an end run around the executive order." Elsewhere, local or county governments are simply stepping in as middlemen, accepting federal funds to hold federal inmates and negotiating new contracts with the same private prison companies to get around the executive order. The tactics have led to an uncertain future for prisons like the Leavenworth Detention Center, which was the first maximum-security federal private prison in the country when it opened three decades ago (and is separate from the more well-known government-run federal penitentiary nearby). The detention center's contract, with the prison company CoreCivic, is set to expire at the end of next month.  Former correctional officers Brenda Lust, left, and Shari Rich both quit after more than a decade working at the Leavenworth Detention Center, as they felt the prison was no longer a safe working environment.Eight current and former correctional officers at Leavenworth told CNN the private jail was putting inmates and staff alike in danger -- allegations that CoreCivic denied. Many of the officers argued the jail shouldn't be allowed to stay open in any form. "That facility really needs to be completely shut down," said Shari Rich, who quit in July after almost 13 years working at the detention center. "Our families are very glad we're out of there." Despite campaign promise, Biden order excluded ICE Closing private prisons has been a long-standing goal for liberal activists -- and Biden's election put it within reach at the federal level. Under President Barack Obama, the Department of Justice moved to end its use of private prisons in 2016, following an inspector general report that found federal private prisons were more violent than publicly run facilities. But after President Donald Trump took office, the order was quickly rescinded. Biden reversed course again in January, directing the attorney general not to renew contracts for privately operated detention facilities. His executive order applied only to Department of Justice facilities: about a dozen federal private prisons contracted by the Bureau of Prisons, as well as at least a dozen other private federal jails contracted by the US Marshals Service, which mostly holds pretrial inmates. 'There's no trust': Pro-immigrant groups blasted Biden officials on a call Friday morningThe order didn't include ICE detention centers, which are overseen by the Department of Homeland Security -- even though Biden had pledged on his campaign website that as president he would "make clear that the federal government should not use private facilities for any detention, including detention of undocumented immigrants." That created a significant loophole. George Zoley, the executive chairman of the GEO Group, said during the company's quarterly earnings call on November 4 that in working to reopen the private prisons closed by Biden's order, "we've made our facilities known to the ICE officials ... and they are evaluating those facilities." Federal contracts for prisons and jails accounted for about a fourth of revenue last year for the two largest private prison companies, CoreCivic and the GEO Group, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, while ICE facilities made up a slightly larger share. Roughly 8 in 10 ICE detainees are held in private facilities.  The companies objected to Biden's executive order, saying the reasoning behind it was flawed. "Our efforts are fully aligned with the administration's goal to prioritize rehabilitation and redemption for individuals in our criminal justice system," CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin said in an email. "The fact that we've worked with both Democrat and Republican administrations for the past four decades is a testament to the quality of the services we provide and the genuine need the government has for them." The prison companies are also adapting and expanding beyond the detention industry to continue raking in federal contracts. In a stark sign that Biden's order hasn't blunted their business, the two corporate private giants have been awarded more federal money per day during the Biden administration than during the Trump administration, according to a CNN analysis of federal contracting data. Former Leavenworth Detention Center correctional officer William Rogers kept stacks of reports and letters he filed to the prison management documenting his concerns over safety at the prison. Since Biden took office, the federal government has approved more than $888 million in direct payments to CoreCivic, the GEO Group and their subsidiaries -- or about $3 million per day of Biden's administration. That's more than the $2.9 million per day of the Trump administration or $2.2 million per day of the Obama administration. Most of the Biden spending came from ICE. In many cases, the Biden administration is fulfilling contracts originally signed by previous officials, not awarding new deals. But the spending shows how the private prison industry has adapted to the changing political climate: ICE has awarded more than $255 million in payments to a GEO Group subsidiary for ankle monitors and other monitoring services for immigrants in 2021, significantly more than the Trump administration paid for the same program. The monitoring program accounts for the largest private prison company payments of the Biden era. "The idea of alternatives to detention is being more popularized and receiving support on a bipartisan basis," Zoley said on the earnings call. "It's cheaper and it's effective, and the technology is being continuously improved." How prison companies are getting around executive order Across the country, prison companies are trying to get around Biden's executive order in two ways. In some cases, they are working to reopen private prisons as immigrant detention centers. Elsewhere, they are recruiting local governments to act as intermediaries, taking over prison contracts but then passing federal funds on to the private companies.  So far, one federal prison has reopened for ICE. The Moshannon Valley Correctional Center, in central Pennsylvania, closed at the end of March, and in late September the GEO Group and ICE signed a contract with the county to reopen the facility as an immigration detention center. While local activists and immigrant advocates criticized the deal, John Sobel, the chairman of the Clearfield County Board of Commissioners, said that it worked out well for his community. In addition to saving roughly 300 jobs at the prison, the county will receive an annual fee of $200,000 under the contract, he said.  "It's a very rare occasion when an entity closes and jobs are lost that you're able to restore them within such a short time," Sobel said.  Moshannon likely won't be the only facility to see such a conversion -- prison companies are exploring the possibility of reopening other closed prisons to hold immigrants, local officials around the US told CNN.  In Tipton County, Tennessee, the CoreCivic-run West Tennessee Detention Facility closed in September after its contract with the Marshals Service ended. Before the prison closed, local officials were already in negotiations with ICE and CoreCivic about the possibility of an immigration detention center, according to county records. Jeff Huffman, the county executive, said that CoreCivic wanted "to use the county as a passthrough" for ICE, although the details are still being negotiated. He said he thought locals would support an immigrant detention center due to the economic impact of the facility remaining shuttered.  "I don't know what you do with a closed prison that's growing up in johnsongrass and weeds," he said.  CoreCivic, one of the largest private prison companies, runs the Leavenworth Detention Center.And in Big Spring, a small West Texas city that's home to the GEO Group's Big Spring Correctional Center, Mayor Shannon Thomason said his city has reached out to both ICE and the US Department of Health and Human Services about the possibility of converting the private prison into an immigrant detention center or a facility for unaccompanied immigrant minors after its contract expires at the end of this month. "ICE has expressed an interest," Thomason said. "If we do go as an immigrant detention facility, my intent is for it to be a model detention facility." Other communities, however, have turned down prison companies' pitches for immigrant detention. In rural Hinton, Oklahoma, the Bureau of Prisons ended its contract with the GEO Group-run Great Plains Correctional Institution, which closed in May.  With the prison closed, the town lost about 230 jobs, as well as $1.5 million a year in utilities and fees, according to local officials. Because of the lost revenue, the Hinton government cut one of its six police officer positions as well as its only code enforcer, said Shanon Pack, the town administrator. But Jason Garner, the head of the local economic development agency that contracts with GEO to run the prison, said that the company's proposal to revive the facility for ICE was a nonstarter. GEO "wanted to use it as a processing facility for illegal immigrants," Garner said. "They worked on a contract for that, but we didn't like the idea because they were going to process the detainees and release some of them into the community." In Youngstown, Ohio, the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, a Marshals Service jail run by CoreCivic, was originally set to close in late February, when its contract expired. But the Marshals Service inked a deal with the Mahoning County Sheriff's Office to keep it open: The feds pay the county, then the county pays CoreCivic. Even though the jail is still run by a private company, the company never signs a contract directly with the federal government -- and avoids running afoul of Biden's order. A similar arrangement is being negotiated for the Western Region Detention Facility in San Diego, another Marshals Service jail run by the GEO Group. While its contract was supposed to expire at the end of September, it was granted a six-month extension, and GEO is in talks with the city of McFarland -- 250 miles north of the facility -- to serve as a middleman, according to city records.  Activists blasted these maneuvers as a blatant strategy to get around Biden's directive. "It goes against the spirit of the executive order and against the promises Biden made," said Setareh Ghandehari, the advocacy director of the Detention Watch Network, an advocacy group. The GEO Group did not respond to specific questions about its contracts but said in a statement that it was focused on providing "innovative, flexible, high-quality solutions that help our government agency partners address current and future support services and infrastructure needs." The White House did not respond to a request for comment, and Department of Justice and Marshals Service spokespeople did not answer questions about why the contract extensions had been allowed. "The Department of Justice is carefully examining its existing contracts with these facilities, while also taking care to avoid unnecessarily disrupting meaningful access to counsel, timely court appearances and case resolutions, and access to family visitation and support," a spokesperson wrote in an email.  An ICE spokesperson said all facilities holding its detainees are "required to follow ICE's stringent detention standards, which help ensure that all detainees are treated humanely." Failures at Leavenworth: 'An absolute hellhole' Just beyond the barbed wire fence that surrounds the Leavenworth Detention Center, a string of "NOW HIRING" yard signs and banners advertise a starting wage of $22.75 per hour. But according to guards who work at the jail, which holds up to about 1,000 inmates for the Marshals Service, the recruitment effort is a sign of critical understaffing. In interviews with CNN, eight current and former correctional officers painted a picture of a violent, dangerous prison that spiraled out of control during the coronavirus pandemic.  Former correctional officer Justin Chmidling holds documentation of reports he filed while working at the Leavenworth Detention Center, including photos of cafeteria trays that he said inmates were using as weapons.The problems start with the jail's most basic function: Many of the doors to individual cells simply didn't lock, after being broken by inmates, all of the guards interviewed by CNN said. Ron Miller, the US marshal for Kansas, confirmed in an interview that broken cell door locks had been a problem in the facility earlier this year but said the issue had been fixed in recent months.  The prison has also faced near-constant understaffing, the employees say: Single officers would be assigned to staff areas that in past years would be covered by four or more guards, and several key security posts -- known as pod control posts -- regularly went unmanned.  A scarcity of employees has been a problem at Leavenworth for years, with a 2017 inspector general report finding that up to 23% of correctional officer positions were vacant. But guards said the vacancies increased during the Covid pandemic, as more and more employees quit. Constant turnover also meant that many newer guards receive little training before they start working. Guards said weapons such as improvised shanks and drugs are rampant behind bars, with cell blocks often filled with the acrid smell of K2, a type of synthetic marijuana.  "Just walking down the hallway, it feels like you get a contact high," said Justin Chmidling, who started as a guard in February 2019. He said he quit in September after the stress of working there made him physically ill. The deadly cocktail of understaffing, drug use and weapons has led to an eruption of violence in recent years. Data provided by CoreCivic to a federal public defender, and included in an inmate's motion for a sentence reduction, show that the number of assaults and uses of force has jumped from 2019 to 2020 and 2021. And Leavenworth Police Department data shows a similar increase in calls for service to the facility for reports of battery, assault and rape. Many of the problems with the prison have previously been reported by the Missouri Independent, a nonprofit news organization.   Former correctional officer William Rogers said he was assaulted seven times in the detention center over his four and a half years working there, including three times that sent him to the hospital. Documents he provided to CNN show that he and colleagues repeatedly warned CoreCivic higher-ups about violence and security oversights. "Right now we seem to have lost control of the jail," he wrote in one letter to his warden. "Leaving these posts empty is putting staff at great risk," he wrote in another report. But he said that almost none of his missives received a response. "It's about the profit for them. They don't care to make it better," he said in an interview. Rogers was fired last year for violating a use of force policy by pushing an inmate.  Former correctional officer William Rogers said he was assaulted seven times over four and a half years on the job. In one incident in February, an inmate threw boiling water in the face of a correctional officer, then stabbed, kicked and punched her, according to multiple guards. The inmate also stabbed a second officer as she tried to step in, sending both to the hospital.In August, Leavenworth inmate Scotty Wilson was attacked by another inmate at the facility, who bashed him in the head with a metal food tray. He died two days later. Wilson was being held at the CoreCivic facility for failing to show up to a halfway house after a previous prison stay. Wendi Anaya-Wilson, his widow, said he had described the prison as "total chaos," telling her in phone calls that inmates "had to watch themselves and there was no guards and doors didn't lock." "He was only looking at eight to 14 months, but what he got was the death penalty," Anaya-Wilson said in an interview. She pulled up photos on her phone from the hospital showing her husband's bruised and bloodied head -- just above his tattoo of the couple's names and faces.  Wendi Anaya-Wilson and her husband, Scotty Wilson, who died after another inmated attacked him at Leavenworth Detention Center.In a statement, CoreCivic denied "specious and sensationalized allegations" that Leavenworth is violent or dangerous, arguing that criticism from former employees and activists is "designed to exert political pressure rather than to serve as an objective assessment" of the jail. Both public and privately run corrections facilities deal with contraband and violence, and staffing shortages have hit prisons around the country in recent months, Gustin, the CoreCivic spokesperson, pointed out. He said Leavenworth has "made significant capital investments to the facility to improve safety and security," including adding a locksmith position, repairing any damaged locks, reducing violent incidents and interdicting more contraband. The company declined to allow a CNN reporter to visit the facility.  Federal officials overseeing the facility have made clear they're aware of the problems.  "The only way I could describe it, frankly, what's going on at CoreCivic right now is it's an absolute hellhole," Julie Robinson, the chief judge of the US district court for Kansas, declared during a September sentencing hearing, according to a transcript reviewed by CNN. A staffer for Robinson declined an interview request for her.  What's next for Leavenworth? With the Leavenworth contract set to expire at the end of December, the Marshals Service is starting to pull detainees out of the jail -- but what comes next is still uncertain. Miller, the US marshal for Kansas, said that most inmates are being relocated to a separate government-run federal prison in Leavenworth. Conditions have improved in the CoreCivic jail as the inmate population has decreased, he said. Still, he said he would have recommended the contract not be renewed even if it weren't for Biden's order. "CoreCivic was not able to address it," Miller said of the violence in the facility. Earlier this year, CoreCivic proposed that the county government take over the facility. The CoreCivic CEO, Damon Hininger -- who grew up nearby and launched his career as a corrections officer at the Leavenworth Detention Center in 1992 -- described the proposal during a meeting of the county commission in April as "a thoughtful but creative way" to keep the jail open and comply with Biden's executive order. But the county commission eventually turned down the proposal, worried about lawsuits related to the jail. Since then, "we've not had any further contact" from CoreCivic about the facility's future, said Vicky Kaaz, a commissioner.  The Leavenworth County Courthouse building, where the county commissioners' office is located, in Leavenworth, Kansas.During CoreCivic's quarterly earnings call on November 9, Hininger told investors the company is "currently in discussions with other potential government partners to utilize the Leavenworth facility," adding that conversations are happening at a "couple of different levels." In Leavenworth, rumors are swirling about who that partner could be. Paul Kramer, the Leavenworth city manager, said he had heard that CoreCivic was exploring the possibility of reopening the jail as an ICE detention center. Several guards said that executives at the prison were still assuring employees in recent weeks that the jail would stay open. An ICE spokesperson declined to comment on whether the facility was being considered. Any facility that's transformed from a prison to an immigrant detention center would require major renovations. But in at least one past example, a troubled prison converted to hold immigrants continued to have problems after reopening in its new form.  ​​In 2019, the Bureau of Prisons stopped using the Adams County Detention Center in Natchez, Mississippi, operated by CoreCivic, after reports of chronic understaffing, lack of medical care, poor conditions and a riot that had killed a guard. A few months after the Bureau of Prisons left, ICE began using the facility to hold detainees. Local ICE officers objected to the use of the Adams County prison as an immigration detention center "because of that facility's history of chronic understaffing in correctional and health services" but were overridden by ICE headquarters, according to a report from the US Government Accountability Office. Earlier this year, an inspector general report found "violations of ICE detention standards that threatened the health, safety, and rights of detainees" at the facility, including a medical oversight that had led to a detainee death and lax Covid procedures that had resulted in an outbreak. Activists are worried that if Leavenworth does reopen as an immigrant detention center -- or in another form -- the problems plaguing the facility would continue. Federal public defenders and local American Civil Liberties Union chapters urged the Biden administration in a September letter to keep the facility closed. Sharon Brett, the legal director at the ACLU of Kansas and a former Justice Department lawyer who spent years investigating prison conditions for the federal government, said Leavenworth could be appealing to ICE due to its central location in the US, as well as a new Illinois law forcing the agency to stop detaining immigrants in that state.  "It's a thousand-bed facility that will be sitting empty in a region that would be ripe for ICE to target," Brett said. "As long as the government is going to continue to rely on detention, there is an opportunity for corporations to profit."

Bob Ortega, CNN Investigates

2021-11-05 11:23:00

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/05/politics/gun-control-fears-state-second-amendment-laws-invs/index.html

Fears of unlikely federal gun-control measures lead to raft of state laws - CNNPolitics

Brandon Steele, a second-term Republican in West Virginia's House, worked Amid fears on social media and by gun-rights groups that the Second Amendment is under threat, GOP lawmakers have rushed to pass state laws seeking to blunt any federal gun restrictions the Biden administration might adopt.

politics, Fears of unlikely federal gun-control measures lead to raft of state laws - CNNPolitics

Fears of unlikely federal gun-control measures lead to raft of state laws

(CNN)Brandon Steele, a second-term Republican in West Virginia's House, worked hard this year to get his colleagues to pass his "Second Amendment Preservation Act." It seeks to bar state or local police from enforcing new federal gun restrictions the Biden administration might adopt. Mind you, Steele himself concedes he doesn't see significant new federal restrictions getting passed anytime soon. "The Biden administration has not gotten anywhere in terms of pushing their firearms regulatory agenda; they haven't even got their ATF guy in there," he told CNN. "There are a lot of forces in play to keep that from happening."With a 50-50 US Senate, a paper-thin margin in the House, and Biden focused on other priorities, advocates on both sides acknowledge that sweeping measures to address gun violence appear unlikely.But that hasn't stopped gun-rights groups and politicians across the country from ginning up fears that Biden wants to, as Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz put it, "erase the Second Amendment," and come to people's homes and take away their guns. Read MoreGOP lawmakers in at least 17 states have introduced bills this year taking aim at possible federal gun restrictions, a CNN review has found. Nine of those states signed new laws that take a page from the immigration sanctuary movement (which limited state and local police from helping with federal immigration enforcement), by barring local and state police agencies from helping enforce any new federal gun laws. And two states, Missouri and Arizona, enacted measures that conflict with existing federal gun laws in ways that prosecutors tell CNN already are making it harder, or risk making it harder, to investigate gun crimes. The inflammatory rhetoric surrounding these new laws, critics says, is similar and even connected to claims of 2020 election fraud and pushback against Covid-19 vaccine or mask mandates in that they rely on a denial of reality. "They are part of an ideological system, [and believe] that the other side -- in this case, the Democrats -- are devious and intent on taking political rights away and imposing a socialistic tyranny," said Alexandra Filindra, a political science professor at University of Illinois, Chicago, who studies gun politics, disinformation and social media. "Information that conflicts with this narrative is dismissed," she said. "Saying Biden is a Democrat and coming for your guns is a great way to motivate anger and get people to vote in the midterm, especially." Missouri "suspends participation"While most of the new gun laws are aimed at some perceived future threat to gun ownership, the ones in Missouri and Arizona, at a minimum, have the potential to undermine present-day law enforcement investigations. Soon after Missouri adopted its "Second Amendment Preservation Act" in June, at least a dozen federally deputized state and local law enforcement officers withdrew from joint task forces where they'd worked with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate violent gun crimes and illegal gun trafficking, according to Frederic Winston, the head of ATF's Kansas City field office.Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. John Hotz confirmed it "has suspended participation" in ATF's joint task force. As a result, Winston said, the patrol stopped submitting firearms-trace requests to ATF, and stopped assisting in referrals to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, for investigations of people who get a firearm from a licensed dealer despite being prohibited from doing so. Missouri's act seeks to nullify any federal gun laws that tax guns, ammunition or accessories; that register or track firearms or firearms ownership; or that would confiscate or forbid the ownership, use, or transfer of guns by "law-abiding citizens." It says no state or local officers or officials "can have authority to enforce or attempt to enforce" such laws.State lawmakers also adopted an approach used in Texas' controversial abortion legislation by letting residents sue, for up to $50,000, local or state police who enforce federal gun laws that fall afoul of the act. US Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), right, speaks during a Second Amendment Rally Sept. 16, 2021, at a gun store in Midland, Texas.Frederic Winston, the head of the ATF's Kansas City field office, said in a court declaration that the act "deprives law enforcement of information needed to successfully investigate crimes, including violent crimes." The city of St. Louis filed a lawsuit seeking to block the law shortly after it was passed. The Department of Justice supported that effort, arguing that under the US "Constitution's Supremacy Clause, the State of Missouri has no power to nullify federal laws." Like Missouri's law, Arizona's "Second Amendment Sanctuary" act, signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey in May, applies to current federal firearms laws. It orders state and local police agencies not to enforce or cooperate with any federal measures that are "inconsistent with any law of this state regarding the regulation of firearms." That bar on enforcement is modeled on California's 2017 immigration sanctuary law, state Rep. Leo Biasiucci, its author, told The Washington Monthly. Biasiucci didn't respond to repeated interview requests from CNN.States can't simply claim to nullify federal firearms laws that go farther than state laws, said Jonathan Lowy, chief legal counsel of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. If they think a law is unconstitutional, they can challenge it in court, he said. "That's the way you do it: You challenge laws. You don't say, 'I'm not going to follow federal law.'"Unlike in Missouri, federal and state law enforcement officials in Arizona say they haven't seen changes in joint task forces or other collaborations to investigate illegal gun trafficking or violent gun crimes. Arizona's gun law did swiftly draw a backlash from the Tucson City Council, which in June adopted a resolution to continue enforcing federal gun laws. Tucson, where several churches were early leaders in the 1980s immigration sanctuary movement, and where the 2011 shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and 18 other people in a grocery-store parking lot remains etched into memory, has often clashed with the state's GOP-dominated leadership. "We fully intend to enforce federal gun laws in Arizona," said Tucson City Council Member Steve Kozachik. "I believe their nullification amendment is highly unconstitutional, and it's not anywhere close to being in the best interests of our constituents to say we're going to opt out of federal gun laws."Immigration sanctuary modelLegal experts across the spectrum say that while provisions in Missouri and Arizona's laws appear to go too far, other recent acts, such as West Virginia's "Second Amendment Preservation and Anti-Federal Commandeering Act," are likely to survive legal challenges. Those measures rely on what's known as the "anti-commandeering" doctrine, which holds that the federal government can't make state or local authorities enforce federal regulations on its behalf. That doctrine has repeatedly been upheld in recent cases involving immigration-sanctuary laws adopted by dozens of cities, from Seattle and San Francisco to Jackson, Mississippi. "It's perfectly constitutional for state officials to opt not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement or federal gun enforcement," said Eric Ruben, an assistant professor of law at Southern Methodist University and a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive policy think tank. Some state GOP lawmakers who, under President Donald Trump, passed laws to preempt cities from declaring themselves immigration sanctuaries, initially shied at embracing a sanctuary approach for guns. "I actually had some members balk at the concept of using the word sanctuary," said state Rep. Scotty Campbell, of Mountain City, Tennessee, about his gun-protection bill. "I argued it was known and understood as a Second Amendment Sanctuary. They didn't want to use the word sanctuary." The new laws seeking to stave off gun restrictions echo gun-advocacy efforts under President Barack Obama that led to seven states adopting similar measures between 2010 and 2016. Even modest efforts to address gun safety often are painted by opponents as apocalyptic threats. Groups such as Gun Owners of America characterized Biden's recent call to restrict stabilizing gun braces, for example, as "disarming the American people."Last fall, the Trump campaign ran ads in key battleground states that clipped comments Biden made during a CNN interview, taking them out of context to falsely make it sound as though he planned to take away voters' guns. Cruz shared a similar false video on social media on the eve of Biden's first joint address to Congress, and claimed that Biden wants to "erase the Second Amendment." In September, Fox News explicitly tied guns and Covid-19 together with a piece titled: "Second Amendment groups on Biden mandate: If he can force a needle in your arm, can he take your gun?" Demonstrators rally outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, November 3, 2021. The Supreme Court was set to hear arguments in a gun-rights case that centers on whether limits the state of New York has placed on carrying a gun in public violate the Second Amendment. In interviews with CNN, lawmakers in several states cited such fears as justification for their gun-rights bills."We didn't know how far they'd go to restrict private gun ownership," said Arkansas state Rep. Brandt Smith, for example. "Confiscation of guns? Restrictions of the purchase of firearms? We wanted to be proactive and prevent that." Americans own more guns than ever, and more guns per capita than any other country in the world. Researchers for the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey estimated that Americans, with 4.3% of the world's population, owned 393 million guns, or 46% of all guns owned by private citizens worldwide, in 2018, the most recent year the survey was conducted. And Americans have bought an estimated 36.9 million more firearms in the past two years, according to Small Arms Analytics, a consulting firm based in South Carolina. Since the US has no national gun registry, gun ownership and sales are estimated by surveys, firearms industry publications, and background checks. These GOP-led efforts to guard against future gun restrictions come at a time when some gun-control measures enjoy broad support. More than 80 percent of people in the US (including 70 percent of Republicans) said they support expanded background checks for guns, in an April 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center. The survey said about half of Americans see gun violence as a major problem in the US -- understandable, given that, according to the Gun Violence Archive, 37,820 people have been shot to death in the US this year through Nov. 4, including 20,328 suicides. But it's the fear of losing guns that animates the call to bar such measures. State Sen. Joey Hensley, who cosponsored a Second Amendment sanctuary bill in Tennessee, said his constituents "were very concerned about the federal government making more restrictions" on guns. "I'm personally not afraid so much of the federal government. I think we have plenty of protections under the Second Amendment and I think the Supreme Court would protect our rights," said Hensley. "But we wanted to get some legislation on the books, so people knew where we stood." Filindra, the political scientist, said that the gun-rights narrative has been shifting, from a focus on using guns for self or home protection, to "the idea that citizens have a right to arms as a check on government, and that without that, the franchise is insecure ... if the voting box is insufficient to guarantee our rights, we have the ammo box." In this narrative, she said, "threats to gun rights are existential threats to democracy." Whether or not Congress actually can pass a substantial gun-control measure is beside the point, said Sarah Byner, research director for Open Secrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics and its effect on public policies and elections. "That's something about the political climate we're in. Even if it's out of the realm of anything being discussed in the Congress, people aren't following Congress; people aren't police experts. They respond to the messages and that's what these groups are putting out into the world, facts be damned," she said.

Scott Glover and Daniel A. Medina, CNN

2021-10-14 14:58:03

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/14/us/kansas-city-police-investigation-golubski-invs/index.html

Roger Golubski: Federal grand jury investigating Kansas City cop who allegedly 'exploited and terrorized' Black residents for decades - CNN

Federal prosecutors in Kansas have launched a criminal grand jury investigation into a retired Kansas City police detective who is the subject of long-swirling allegations that he "exploited and terrorized" Black residents of the city's north end for decades, CNN has learned.

us, Roger Golubski: Federal grand jury investigating Kansas City cop who allegedly 'exploited and terrorized' Black residents for decades - CNN

Federal grand jury investigating Kansas City cop who allegedly 'exploited and terrorized' Black residents for decades

(CNN)Federal prosecutors in Kansas have launched a criminal grand jury investigation into a retired Kansas City police detective who is the subject of long-swirling allegations that he "exploited and terrorized" Black residents of the city's north end for decades, CNN has learned. Roger Golubski is accused of being "a dirty cop who used the power of his badge to exploit vulnerable black women, including black women who worked as prostitutes," according to a 2019 civil complaint filed by a man exonerated of double murder charges investigated by Golubski. The veteran detective, who retired from the Kansas City, Kansas, police department in 2010 at the rank of captain, was also accused of being on the payroll of a local drug kingpin and of framing people for crimes they did not commit. The unproven allegations have roiled the community for years and recently attracted the attention of hip-hop mogul Jay-Z. The rapper's social justice-oriented group, Team Roc, took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post last week calling the alleged police corruption in Kansas City "one of the worst examples of abuse of power in U.S. history."Read MoreA wrongfully convicted man who spent 23 years in prison will receive $1.5 million from the state of Kansas Golubski, 69, has not been charged with any crimes nor faced any discipline in connection with the highly public -- and highly inflammatory -- allegations against him. During a civil court deposition last year, he repeatedly invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination, pleading the Fifth over and over again. An attorney representing Golubski in the civil case declined comment, citing the pending litigation. While the city's newspaper and police reform activists have been clamoring for action, prosecutors have been quietly calling witnesses to testify about Golubski since at least August, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Among those who testified is Terry Zeigler, a former chief of the department who spent three years as Golubski's partner. Another officer summoned to testify is mentioned as a possible corroborating witness in the civil court deposition of a woman who accused Golubski of sexually assaulting her. A third officer called to testify purportedly walked in on Golubski during a sexual encounter with a woman in his office at the police station. Federal authorities declined comment. Unlike witnesses, prosecutors are governed by strict secrecy rules governing grand jury proceedings. Without comment from prosecutors, CNN could not determine the full scope of the investigation, its focus or how many witnesses have been called.Former partners Zeigler told CNN he spent roughly two hours before the grand jury in the Topeka, Kansas, federal courthouse last month answering questions about his role working homicide cases with Golubski from 1999 to 2002. He said he told the panel he had previously worked in the department's internal affairs unit and was unaware of Golubski's purported reputation for misconduct. Zeigler, who retired from his job as chief in September 2019, said he never witnessed Golubski commit any crimes or sexual misconduct during their time together. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. "They were trying to understand how I didn't know or was I trying to cover up things about Roger that I knew," Zeigler said. "I don't mind talking and telling people because I don't have anything to hide." Zeigler said he and Golubski did not socialize outside of work and that he had little insight into his personal life. He recalled one incident that he said raised his suspicions, telling the grand jury about once calling Golubski's home in the middle of the night about a homicide that had just occurred. A woman answered the phone and said Golubski was not home. Moments later, when Zeigler got Golubski on the phone, Zeigler said the detective denied that there was any woman at his house. On another occasion, he said, he learned Golubski was getting married and that he had not been invited to the wedding, despite being his partner. "The dude was very secretive," Zeigler told CNN. "I mean he would want you to talk all day about your family, but he would talk very little about his own." Zeigler said Golubski appeared despondent when the allegations against him became public, and the two met for breakfast at an IHOP restaurant. "He was very emotional," Zeigler recalled. Zeigler said he did not take Golubski's mental state to mean that he was guilty, but that he "had this black cloud over his name" that he felt he could do nothing to remove. He said he encouraged Golubski to seek counseling but added that he had not seen him since that meeting. Zeigler said he was aware of more than a half dozen former KCKPD officers who have either already testified or have been subpoenaed to appear this week before a grand jury. Zeigler said prosecutors had also subpoenaed approximately a dozen case files from the department in 2019 shortly before he retired. He said he did not know any details of the cases.After leaving the KCKPD in 2010, Golubski worked for six years as a detective at a nearby department before retiring for good in 2016. Zeigler said he was not privy to the details of the federal investigation but that, based on what he knows, he found the allegations against his former partner difficult to believe. "I think everybody has a hard time believing that this could be true," he said. A 'manifest injustice' Golubski first came under public scrutiny in 2016 for his work in the double murder conviction of Lamonte McIntyre. McIntyre, who had served 23 years in prison, was freed in 2017 when the district attorney for Wyandotte County, which includes Kansas City, Kansas, concluded the case represented a "manifest injustice." Lamonte McIntyre, here with his mother, Rose, was wrongfully convicted of committing a double murder. He and his mother are suing multiple officers in connection with his case. (Photo by Rich Sugg/Kansas City Star/TNS/Sipa USA)McIntyre's lawyers alleged in court documents that police and prosecutors conducted a shoddy investigation and intentionally manipulated witnesses to convict McIntyre for the crime. They also alleged that the entire trial and appeals process was tainted by an undisclosed years-old romantic relationship between the prosecutor, Terra Morehead, and the judge, J. Dexter Burdette. The newly elected district attorney Mark Dupree, who came into office in January 2017 as a progressive criminal justice reformer, said he was taking no position on those allegations. "Information has been presented over the last few weeks by Mr. McIntyre's defense team and individuals in the community alleging misconduct on several levels of law enforcement," Dupree said in a statement issued shortly after he asked a court to dismiss the case. "My office is not agreeing that any of those entities committed wrongdoing." Judge Burdette has remained silent on the issue -- until now. In a recent interview with CNN, at his Kansas City home, he said that, at the time of the trial in 1994, he had no duty to disclose what he described as a brief, non-exclusive dating relationship that ended several years before the trial began. He said it had no bearing on the case and that he had no regrets about how he conducted himself, adding that he believed at the time that McIntyre received a fair trial. Morehead did not respond to requests for comment.Judge J. Dexter Burdette says he has no regrets about his role in the case and believed at the time that McIntyre received a fair trial. CNN reached out to Dupree's office on multiple occasions for comment about the McIntyre case and related allegations against Golubski. He declined to be interviewed, and a spokesperson declined to respond to detailed written questions. A year after his release from prison, McIntyre and his mother filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against multiple officers involved in his case, taking particular aim at Golubski. His misconduct, they argued, was not only permitted, but "endorsed and rewarded" by his superiors, including Zeigler. The complaint accuses Golubski of having sexually assaulted McIntyre's mother, Rose, in the late 1980s and then framing her teenage son for a double murder because she rebuffed his continued pursuits. In the years since McIntyre's release, the allegations against Golubski have been closely covered in the local newspaper, the Kansas City Star. The paper's editorial board has referred to him as a "lifelong criminal" and a prominent columnist wrote that he was "the common denominator" in the unsolved murders of a half dozen Black women. In May, the editorial board urged the Department of Justice to get involved in the matter and "sweep away the web of lies that has allowed Golubski and others to escape punishment." More recently, Jay-Z's Team Roc filed a lawsuit against the KCKPD to obtain complaints of alleged misconduct against officers, including Golubski, dating back decades. The group also recently helped arrange $1 million in donations to The Midwest Innocence Project, which along with another nonprofit called Centurion Ministries and Kansas City attorney Cheryl Pilate, worked to overturn McIntyre's conviction in 2017. A fight for freedomThe allegations against Golubski are based in part on dozens of affidavits gathered by defense investigators during the years-long fight to win McIntyre's freedom.Jay-Z and Team Roc pay fees for those arrested in Wisconsin protests They include a woman who testified that she saw McIntyre commit the murders, but who later recanted her testimony, several family members of the victims who insist they believe McIntyre is innocent and others who said that a young enforcer from a local drug house was responsible for the slayings. A main thrust of the documents, though, was that Golubski was a corrupt cop and had been for decades. One witness after another described him as being obsessed with Black female prostitutes and of using the power of his badge to extort them for sex and information. The civil lawsuit accused Golubski of being on the payroll of a local drug kingpin and giving him information and protection in exchange for cash and drugs that he would in turn use to ply his stable of prostitutes.'I suffered nightmares' Lamonte McIntyre's mother said in a 2014 sworn affidavit that Golubski preyed on her in the late 1980s. It began, she said, when he rousted her from a car she was sitting in with her then-boyfriend outside a nightclub. Golubski ordered her to get out of the car and join him in his police vehicle. He crudely propositioned her and threatened to arrest her boyfriend if she didn't come to see him at the police station the following night, she said. Rose McIntyre said she feared the repercussions of ignoring a police officer, so she showed up there as he asked. Once in his office, Rose McIntyre alleged, Golubski performed oral sex on her against her will. After that encounter, he began vigorously pursuing her, at times calling her up to three times a day. She eventually had to move and change her phone number to get rid of him, she said. "This entire incident caused immense trauma," Rose McIntyre said in her declaration. "In fact, I suffered nightmares about it for a long time."Crime scene photo from the 1994 slayings of Donald Ewing and Doniel Quinn who Lamonte McIntyre was wrongly convicted of killing. In April 1994, when her then 17-year-old son was arrested for the double homicide, Golubski was one of the main detectives on the case. A court transcript shows that she and Golubski each testified at the same juvenile court hearing two months after the arrest. Rose McIntyre also attended her son's trial in September at which Golubski was a key witness, though McIntyre said in her affidavit that she spent her time in the hallway because she'd been listed as a potential witness by both the prosecution and the defense. McIntyre said in a recent deposition she first learned of Golubski's involvement years later from James McCloskey, the founder of Centurion Ministries, a group devoted to clearing the wrongfully convicted. McCloskey was a key figure in reinvestigating Lamonte McIntyre's case and a driving force in collecting the dozens of affidavits submitted in his defense. "The timing of these allegations is suspicious," Golubski's civil defense attorneys wrote in a recent court filing. The lawyers are seeking additional details about conversations between Rose McIntyre and McCloskey "to ensure that information regarding Mr. Golubski, his alleged behavior, and alleged motives, was not leading or suggestive so as to unduly influence or affect Ms. McIntyre's memory." From a murder investigation to marriageEthel Abbott, one of Golubski's four ex-wives, was also among those who provided a sworn statement to Lamonte McIntyre's attorneys. In the document, and in a recent interview with CNN, Abbott said she was working at a gas station in the late 1980s where a homicide took place. Golubski was assigned to investigate the homicide and asked her to look at some security video footage to help identify the suspect, which Abbott said she did. But after her involvement in the case should have ended, she said Golubski began to pursue her, even though she had a boyfriend. She eventually broke up with her boyfriend and married Golubski. Abbott said they had a normal life for a while, which included a post-marriage trip to New Orleans, melding their families and going to church on Sundays "like regular families do." But after a few years of marriage, she said, she began to hear rumors from friends and family in her childhood neighborhood in Kansas City's north end -- where Golubski often patrolled -- that her husband was not being faithful. Once, she said, she caught him in the company of two women in his car who appeared to be prostitutes and later confronted him. Following the episode, and a comment in which he allegedly disparaged Black women as being "uneducated," she said she got back at him by running up $50,000 in credit card debt and left him. He harassed her on and off for a decade, she said. At some point after they were divorced, she complained to the police department's internal affairs office. Both she and Golubski were present, she said, when a police official admonished Golubski that he'd be fired if he didn't leave her alone. She said Golubski stormed out of the office but was never disciplined by the department. Earlier this year, Abbott said, she was visited by two FBI special agents who inquired about her history with Golubski. She said they spent hours asking her questions and showing her photos of different women, some of them deceased. Among them was Rhonda Tribue whose unsolved 1998 murder prompted the FBI to offer a $50,000 reward for information earlier this year.The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information about the unsolved slaying of Rhonda Tribue. One of Golubski's ex-wives said agents asked her if she had ever seen Golubski with Tribue. She said told them she had not. Abbott said the agents, at least one of whom was assigned to the agency's public corruption squad, wanted to know if she'd seen Golubski with any of the women. She said she told them she had not. She said investigators from McIntyre's defense team had years earlier asked about any unexplained assets during their marriage, and she said she had no information about that either. In the interview with CNN, she described her former husband as a "chameleon" who was secretive about his finances and conducted his business in a private study to which she did not have access. "He kept that locked," she recalled. "That was none of my business."

Katherine Dautrich, Isabelle Chapman, Majlie de Puy Kamp and Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-10-22 12:20:36

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/22/us/texas-abortion-ban-invs/index.html

Texas abortion ban is an early glimpse of what post-Roe America would look like for women - CNN

As Texas' law hurtles toward the US Supreme Court, women in Nicole's shoes have been forced to make rushed decisions or travel hundreds of miles to access health care.

us, Texas abortion ban is an early glimpse of what post-Roe America would look like for women - CNN

Texas abortion ban is an early glimpse of what post-Roe America would look like for women

(CNN)Nicole began her morning with a simple prayer: "Please let my car start today." She had already gotten the mandatory ultrasound, scrounged up $595 and taken time off work. But at that moment -- with her pregnancy at exactly six weeks -- getting an abortion in her home state boiled down to her hatchback's temperamental engine turning over. On that Friday morning in early October, as heavy rains and flash floods swept through Houston, Nicole was cornered into making a painful decision on a hairline timeframe. She was one of thousands of Texas women feeling the impact of a new state law banning abortions after embryonic cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy -- often before a woman even realizes she is pregnant. As the clock ticked away, with what felt like the world working against her, Nicole finally got her car to start. Soon, she ran across a wet parking lot into Aaron Women's Clinic for her morning appointment. If she'd had more time to think, she said, she may not have gotten the abortion at all. But without the flexibility to plan her future, or the resources to go to another state for the procedure, the mother of two said she made the best decision she could in the limited window she was afforded. Read More"I just had to honestly just make the decision quickly and say you know what, I'm 33 years old, I have a week and a half to kind of decide this, and it's just going to be a 'yes,' honestly, at this point," Nicole, who asked that her last name not be used, told CNN minutes before having the procedure. As Texas' law hurtles toward the US Supreme Court, women in Nicole's shoes have been forced to make rushed decisions or travel hundreds of miles to access health care. The choice presents women with a staggering list of logistical challenges, including what to do about child care, how to cover the cost of travel and whether they can miss work -- which, for many women, prove insurmountable. The restrictions not only control where women can receive abortions, but also impact both the type and timeliness of the procedure. And, for some, it means not receiving care at all. The struggle transcends Texas. A wave of restrictive abortion laws is moving through legislatures across the United States, increasing barriers and mileage between women and abortion providers. What's more, some legal experts say there is a very real possibility that by next year, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 landmark decision that affirmed the constitutional right to abortion nearly a half-century ago. To do so would trigger abortion bans across a vast swath of the country and, in essence, strip away a constitutional right that has protected women's choice for an entire generation. As law professor Joanna Grossman put it, "It's just a really scary time to be a woman." Women protest against the six-week abortion ban at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, on September 1.'They are just in panic mode' At Aaron Women's Clinic -- an abortion facility sandwiched between a pair of auto shops in north Houston that has been in business since a year before Roe v. Wade -- Linda Shafer, the clinic administrator, peered into the beige waiting room. Small paintings of flowers hung on either side of 11 empty chairs, bringing a little burst of color to the otherwise drab room, where the blinds were fully drawn. Nicole barely kept her appointment that morning, but five others missed theirs. Maybe it was the flash floods, maybe they couldn't come up with the money in time, or maybe they just changed their minds. Regardless, rescheduling would not be an option. Shafer clutched the gold cross around her neck, knowing that come Monday, all five women would be too far into their pregnancies for the doctors at her clinic to help -- and, if they still needed abortion providers, she would have to tell them to go out of state. In her 22 years at the clinic, she'd borne witness to change after change in the state's abortion laws -- with restrictions steadily chipping away at her ability to serve patients. At this point, she said, women seeking abortions are often in tears while she's resigned to a sense of helplessness. Around the six-week mark, the patients "don't know where to go, they don't know what to do, they don't have the funds," she said. "They are just in panic mode." The new law has dramatically transformed Texas women's access to abortion into an hourslong odyssey across state lines. Before the ban went into effect, women of reproductive age in the state -- between 15 and 49 years old -- had to drive a median distance of roughly 19 miles to the nearest abortion clinic, according to a CNN analysis. Now that Texas clinics are turning most pregnant women away, they are forced to drive a median distance of 243 miles to the nearest out-of-state clinic.  For some women in the Rio Grande Valley on the US-Mexico border, the nearest out-of-state clinic in the United States is 600 miles away, in Shreveport, Louisiana -- a 10-hour journey each way. One study examining Texas data found that a more than 200-mile increase in driving distance to the nearest abortion clinic can cut the abortion rate by as much as 44%. "Throughout history, we have seen that patients of color, patients who live in rural areas and patients who have less economic means -- they are the patients who are disproportionately affected by any barriers in health care," said Kristina Tocce, medical director at Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains, which includes New Mexico, Colorado and southern Nevada. "History is repeating itself," she said. A few organizations -- including the Lilith Fund and Fund Texas Choice -- help women by providing financial support for travel. But for some, that's not enough. "There are people who, it don't matter how much money we give them, they can't leave the state," said the Rev. Katherine Ragsdale, former president of the National Abortion Federation. For most women in Texas, the nearest providers across the border are clinics in Shreveport and Oklahoma City, according to a CNN analysis of census data and driving distances. A 33-year-old mother of three from central Texas is escorted down the hall by a clinic administrator prior to getting an abortion on October 9 at Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Louisiana. In September, Planned Parenthood clinics in nearby states saw more than 11 times as many patients from Texas than they had in previous years, the organization said. The only clinic in Shreveport told CNN that Texas patients now comprise 50% of its roster, up from 20% before the ban. In search of available appointments, some patients are traveling even farther to see a provider sooner, said Emily Wales, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which includes Oklahoma. "They're coming to other states, but the majority, I think, are actually waiting longer to stay closer to home," she said. Planned Parenthood reported seeing women from Texas at its clinics in Kansas, Colorado, Nevada and even as far as New York. Most of the women the Aaron Women's Clinic serves probably won't make it out of the state, according to Shafer. She said most of her patients are from minority communities and often don't have the resources to travel for an abortion. At the same time, she added, they can't afford to have a baby. All she can do sometimes, she told CNN, is pray for her patients. "Lord, if it be your will ... women need help too," she said. "Don't forget about us." Legal maneuvers leave women in limbo Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference on September 21 in Del Rio, Texas. As Gov. Greg Abbott signed the new law in May, he declared that "our creator endowed us with the right to life and millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion," and said the bill would "work to save those lives." While Abbott echoed rhetoric used by anti-abortion activists for decades, the law he signed was unprecedented: It allows private citizens to sue abortion providers, in a novel method to evade judicial review.That has led to a series of head-spinning legal maneuvers, leaving patients and providers in the state in limbo. Polls show that while Texans are closely divided on the new bill, a majority of Americans are against it. Read: DOJ filing to Supreme Court to block Texas abortion lawJust over a week after the Texas ban went into effect, the Biden administration challenged the law, after declaring that it "blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade." A federal judge initially sided with the Department of Justice and put a temporary block on the abortion ban, but Texas appealed, and days later the appellate court signed an administrative stay, essentially letting the ban go back into effect. The DOJ unsuccessfully asked the appeals court to lift the stay late last week. On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a request from the Biden administration to temporarily block the law, but agreed to hear oral arguments on it on November 1.Even during the brief temporary block, providers were hesitant to perform abortions because the new law allows for retroactive lawsuits. Aaron Women's Clinic decided not to offer abortions past six weeks of pregnancy during the reprieve because of that legal uncertainty. "It's almost like you have to check the law every morning when you get up before you go to work," Shafer said, "because you don't know what changed overnight." More abortion restrictions nationwide Participants wave signs as they walk back to Orlando City Hall during the March for Abortion Access on October 2.While neighboring states still provide a safe haven from the Texas ban, that reprieve may be short-lived. Despite the dropping national abortion rate, a record number of abortion restrictions -- 106 -- have been enacted across 19 states this year, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights think tank. The previous spike came in 2011, when 89 restrictions were enacted. A six-week abortion ban, similar to the Texas law, was set to take effect in Oklahoma on November 1 until a state judge blocked it earlier this month. The state is expected to appeal. Florida Republicans introduced a bill, modeled on the Texas law, that prohibits abortions after six weeks and uses a similar legal mechanism to allow private citizens to sue abortion providers.   A Mississippi abortion law -- which bars most abortions after 15 weeks without exceptions for rape or incest -- will be reviewed by the Supreme Court on December 1, giving the conservative majority on the high court an opportunity to reconsider Roe v. Wade. The court is likely to deliver its ruling on the case in June 2022. JUST WATCHEDSotomayor: There's going to be a lot of disappointment in the lawReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSotomayor: There's going to be a lot of disappointment in the law 02:29"If you look at the current Supreme Court right now, there are six people who are on record opposed to abortion rights," said Grossman, a law professor at Southern Methodist University, referring to the six conservative members of the court. The fact that the justices allowed the Texas law to go into effect suggests that "they're going to get rid of abortion no matter what," she said. Priscilla Smith, senior fellow at Yale Law School's Program for the Study of Reproductive Justice, shares similar suspicions. "There's no reason to believe that they're not going to do it," said Smith, "except for the fact that they like to do things quietly" -- suggesting that the court could at least undercut Roe v. Wade, if not reverse it. If Roe v. Wade is overturned next year, 11 states -- Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah -- have so-called trigger laws that would immediately ban all or nearly all abortions, effectively creating a blackout for the procedure across large swaths of the country. Abortion would still be accessible in states such as New York, which passed legislation to protect abortion rights. But many women, particularly in the South, would have to travel long distances to get abortion access. "The abortion map is just going to look like the presidential election map," Grossman said. Clinic closures and wait times take a toll Abortion laws have been used as political footballs for decades, but they have immediate real-life implications for women such as Caroline, a 27-year-old Texan. She waited a month and a half for an abortion appointment more than a thousand miles away, and was 18 weeks pregnant at the time of the procedure. The wait was devastating. As a woman living with domestic abuse and few financial resources, she said, abortion was her only option. "A lot of women in domestic violence situations," she told CNN, her voice cracking, "know that if they give birth, that child will be turned into a weapon."  Texas doctor: All I could do was hold my patient's hand as she wept Caroline, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym, said she agonized over her decision while waiting for her appointment at a Colorado clinic, the first to respond to her request. "I haven't been able to sleep and eat," she said. "Pregnancy takes a toll on your body and my body's just been hurting."  Pregnancy complications at 17 weeks, just a few days before her procedure, made Caroline certain about her decision. Ten years ago, Caroline would have been able to get an abortion at 62 providers in Texas. But over the past decade, a string of restrictions has slowly chipped away at abortion access in the state, forcing facilities to shut down. In 2017, 43% of Texas women lived in counties without clinics that provided abortions, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute. Jason Lindo, an economics professor at Texas A&M University who has studied the effects of abortion restrictions in Texas, said many of the clinics that were forced to close down after previous restrictions never reopened. "Even if the new law is successfully challenged, it may continue to do damage," he said. At Aaron Women's Clinic in Houston, that fear may become reality. With fewer patients able to come in, the clinic has already had to let go of three employees, a staff member told CNN. "We're at 25% patient load. If this continues, I don't know if we're going to remain open," she said. Restrictive abortion laws shuttering clinics across the country have forced a growing number of women to leave their states for the procedure. In New Mexico, for example, about a fourth of abortions in 2018 were performed for out-of-state residents -- one of the highest rates in the United States and a nearly fivefold increase from the 2009 rate, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Clinic closures in one state often lead to busier clinics in neighboring states. In 2018, Texas, the second-most populous state in the country, performed more abortions after six weeks than all its bordering states combined, according to the CDC data -- procedures that clinics in Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma are likely to inherit following the latest ban. Some clinics have been able to increase staffing to help with the recent influx of patients, but even so, providers in New Mexico and Nevada have wait times just under three weeks and Planned Parenthood in Oklahoma is booking appointments for up to four weeks out. When women need abortion care, Tocce, the medical director at Planned Parenthood, said, even a two-week wait is an "eternity." 'A very realistic fear' for the future A nurse at Houston Women's Reproductive Services shows off her socks, honoring the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.Tucked into the third floor of a sleek, black office building in Houston -- just a few miles south of Aaron Women's Clinic -- sits Houston Women's Reproductive Services. It opened in 2019, a few years after the Supreme Court ruled that two provisions of an earlier Texas abortion law -- which led to a wave of abortion clinic closures -- were unconstitutional. Here, the nearly all-female staff affectionately refer to their clinic as "Ruth," in honor of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a staunch defender of abortion rights who died last year. One staff member, wearing a necklace resembling one of Ginsburg's famous collars, pulled up a pant leg to flash her RBG socks at visitors. Still, amid the cheerful phone greetings and comforting smiles with patients, there was an undercurrent of concern about the future of "Ruth" and its patients. "How did we get here?" asked Kitty, who has worked in abortion care since the early 1970s and now helps women at the Houston clinic navigate their options through the increasingly restrictive abortion laws in their state. "I feel like we're on a conveyor belt going backwards." She asked that her last name not be used in order to protect her family's privacy. As abortion rights are diminished, experts warn, women will increasingly have to seek alternatives beyond traditional clinics. When Abbott's executive order last year temporarily ruled abortions to be non-essential procedures during the Covid-19 pandemic, Aid Access, a telemedicine service, saw demand for abortion medication by mail in Texas nearly double. That's likely to happen again because of the new ban, said University of Texas professor Abigail Aiken, who is studying the impact of the law. Cost and clinic proximity, she explained, motivate women to consider telemedicine and abortion medication by mail. Although a new law set to take effect in December bans the mailing of abortion pills in Texas, Aid Access provider Christie Pitney said this won't stop the organization from delivering the medication to those in the state requesting them. The organization, which has clashed with US regulators in the past, is headquartered in Austria, and Rebecca Gomperts, Aid Access' founder and the doctor prescribing the pills to patients in Texas, is licensed in Europe. "I think we'll have to see what happens," said Pitney, "but I believe that (Gomperts) being based out of Europe kind of gives her a cushion and protection there." While Food and Drug Administration rules require women to receive abortion medication from a medical provider in person, the agency has declined to enforce the policy during the Covid-19 pandemic, citing a scientific review of clinical outcomes and adverse effects of abortion medication. The World Health Organization deems abortion medication safe for at-home use up to 12 weeks of pregnancy without the supervision of a medical provider. Still, with options for abortions dwindling, some medical providers fear reproductive rights in the United States could circle back to pre-Roe days -- when more dangerous methods of self-managed abortions and unregulated providers were commonplace. "We have seen that when patients aren't able to access safe, legal abortion, that doesn't stop abortion from happening," said Tocce. "Will patients be attempting to self-abort or utilize unsafe means? I think that is a very realistic fear." In Houston, a finicky car that finally bothered to start saved Nicole from going back to square one -- debating options that would have grown more limited as the hours wore on. "I don't know what would have been my next options," she told CNN in the minutes before her appointment. "I'm just grateful that my car came on today." That afternoon, after her appointment at Aaron Women's Clinic, a nurse gingerly walked Nicole out of the front door and into the drizzly parking lot, where her car was waiting for the drive home. Methodology To find the median driving distance to abortion clinics for Texas women of reproductive age, CNN used data on age and sex from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey. For each census tract in Texas, CNN found the abortion clinic closest to the center of the tract and calculated the driving distance using an application programming interface from Google Maps.In analyzing CDC data on out-of-state abortions, CNN excluded abortions if it was unknown whether a patient traveled out of state or had the procedure in her home state.

Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN

2021-11-03 22:53:48

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/03/business/merchant-marine-sea-year-rape-invs/index.html

Government suspends training at sea after college student says she and others were raped - CNN

The federal government's academy for merchant mariners is halting a key training program that sends students thousands of miles away from campus on commercial ships after a 19-year-old student was allegedly raped at sea.

business, Government suspends training at sea after college student says she and others were raped - CNN

Government suspends training at sea program after college student says she and others were raped

(CNN)The federal government's academy for merchant mariners is halting a key training program that sends students thousands of miles away from campus on commercial ships after a 19-year-old student was allegedly raped at sea.The decision by the Department of Transportation, which oversees the US Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), came just weeks before students were set to embark on their "Sea Year" voyage, in which students are typically sent in pairs to work alongside older, predominantly male crew members.In a letter to students notifying them that the program has been temporarily suspended, school and transportation officials said the academy and the maritime industry were confronting a "challenging time" and that the decision to halt the program was "one of the most difficult we have faced."Just days earlier, congressional lawmakers expressed concern that students at the academy were being put in danger while participating in the Sea Year program. 'I was trapped': Shipping giant investigates alleged rape of 19-year-old during federal training programSea Year was designed to provide students at the academy, located in Kings Point, New York, with valuable experience working on commercial vessels and is one of the school's major draws, with many hoping to go on to become engineers and leaders in the shipping industry.Read MoreOfficials told students on Tuesday that Sea Year would not resume until they were able to put together a detailed plan with new safety measures as requested by lawmakers. They said sailing wouldn't resume until December at the very earliest. The letter did not provide details about the changes but said that some were already in the works and being discussed with both the school community and the maritime industry. Lawmakers had also called for the resignation of USMMA's superintendent Jack Buono, but no leadership changes have been announced and Buono was one of the officials involved with Tuesday's action. This is the second time in five years that Sea Year has been halted amid concerns about sexual assault and harassment. What should we investigate next? Email us: [email protected]. The academy first suspended the program back in 2016, before reinstating it the following year and pledging that new rules and a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault and harassment would keep cadets safe both on campus and at sea. Since then, school reports show that students have been reluctant to report cases of sexual assault in part because they have been so worried that Sea Year would be canceled again. But a current student did decide to come forward anonymously this fall, bringing the school under fire once again. Known as Midshipman-X, the woman wrote online that she was raped by her supervisor, a senior crew member, in 2019 while aboard a Maersk ship during Sea Year. She said that she was the only female on the ship and that for the next 50 days, she had to continue to work for her assailant and see him every day.While she said she was too scared to report the crime at the time, she decided to share her experience after learning that nine other female students currently enrolled at the academy said they had also been raped during their Sea Year.As her story circulated among the USMMA community and others in the maritime industry, Maersk suspended five crew members and both the company and the federal government have been investigating the reported rape. CNN Investigates: Police officers convicted of rape, murder and other serious crimes are collecting tens of millions of dollars during retirementMidshipman-X responded to the recent news on Wednesday, writing that while it has been rewarding to see conversations happening about changing the industry, she has also come under "pressure and scrutiny" that has increased with the decision to suspend Sea Year. She said the program is an essential part of the school and that "if anything were accomplished by the first Sea Year suspension, it was only that the problems grew worse" -- saying that broader industry changes are needed to hold predators accountable and keep them off ships. "It was never my goal to see Sea Year suspended," she wrote. "If every cadet is removed from the industry, then yes, cadets won't be assaulted on ships. But other mariners will still be assaulted, recent graduates of the Academy will still be assaulted, and nothing will have changed." Do you have an experience or information to share about the US Merchant Marine Academy or the maritime industry? Email us at [email protected].

Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN

2021-10-12 00:37:09

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/11/business/maersk-rape-investigation-merchant-marine/index.html

Maersk investigates alleged rape of 19-year-old during federal training program - CNN

International shipping giant Maersk has suspended five crew members and launched an investigation in the wake of an explosive blog post from a student at a federal service academy who said she was raped in 2019 on one of the company's ships when she was 19 years old.

business, Maersk investigates alleged rape of 19-year-old during federal training program - CNN

'I was trapped': Shipping giant investigates alleged rape of 19-year-old during federal training program

(CNN)International shipping giant Maersk has suspended five crew members and launched an investigation in the wake of an explosive blog post from a student at a federal service academy who said she was raped in 2019 on one of the company's ships when she was 19 years old.The anonymous author of the post said she is a current senior at the US Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in Kings Point, New York, which trains students to become commissioned officers in the armed forces and licensed Merchant Marine officers who work on ships transporting cargo and passengers worldwide. She wrote last month that she was the only female on a Maersk ship during her Sea Year, a mandatory program when students work on commercial vessels and experience what the school describes as their "first real opportunity for self-reliance." In her account of what happened, she said that after leaving a port in the Middle East, engineers on the ship forced her and her fellow cadet, who is male, to down shot after shot of hard liquor one night, and that she woke up naked in her bed early the next morning and began to panic. "There was blood on my sheets, and I knew immediately that I had been raped," she wrote. "I was a virgin and had been saving myself, and as soon as I woke up I could feel that I was very sore and knew exactly what had happened."Read More What should we investigate next? Email us: [email protected]. She wrote that her supervisor on the ship, a senior engineer in his 60s and the second in command of her department, had been sexually harassing her for weeks leading up to this night. She said while she couldn't remember the actual rape due to the alcohol, she remembered this same man in her room, getting undressed, standing over her and forcing himself on her.According to her post, he called her hours after she woke up and realized what happened and asked her to come to his room, saying they needed to talk. The woman said she went to his room and when she accused him of forcing himself on her, he denied it, saying he had just helped her back to her room and "Whatever you believed happened, you wouldn't tell the captain would you?" She said he proceeded to put his hand on her thigh, and that when she got up to leave he told her no one would ever believe her."Back in my room I decided that the only thing I could do was to tough it out," she wrote in her post on the website of Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy, a nonprofit run by a USMMA graduate who said he was a victim and witness of sexual harassment and abuse on a Maersk ship. "No one was going to believe me, and toughing it out was the only option I felt like I had. I was trapped." For the next 50 days, she said she had to continue to work for the man who had raped her — seeing him every day. What she says prompted her to speak outWhile she confided in the other USMMA cadet onboard about the alleged rape, she didn't officially report it at the time. But upon returning to campus and working as a victim's advocate, she learned of at least nine other female students currently enrolled at the academy who said they had been raped during their Sea Year. This prompted her to speak out, she said, and her story quickly made rounds in the industry and federal government. "She was sickened by the number of young women getting raped at sea," said her attorney Ryan Melogy, founder of the nonprofit that published her story. "Nothing was being done about the problem. She wants to see real change and real accountability for what happened to her and far too many others."Her post has also sparked media attention and dozens of comments expressing support and sharing similar experiences from both men and women, including alumni, students, academy parents and others in the maritime industry. CNN Investigates: Police officers convicted of rape, murder and other serious crimes are collecting tens of millions of dollars during retirementDenmark-based Maersk, which is the world's largest container shipping company, said in a statement issued Friday, as previously reported in Danish and industry media, that its US subsidiary is working closely with the academy, the labor unions that represent the officers and crew, and the US government, and that five crew members would remain suspended until the inquiry is complete. "We are shocked and deeply saddened about we have read. We take this situation seriously and are disturbed by the allegations made in this anonymous posting which has only recently been brought to our attention," said Bill Woodhour, CEO of Maersk Line, Limited, the company's US subsidiary. "We do everything we can to ensure that all of our workplace environments, including vessels, are a safe and welcoming workplace and we've launched a top to bottom investigation."The U.S. Maritime Administration, which oversees the academy, said in a statement that it was aware of the allegation and that the USMMA Superintendent referred the blog post to the Coast Guard Investigative Service the day after it was published. "We have zero tolerance for sexual assault and sexual harassment at USMMA and in the maritime industry," the statement said. "As we determine the appropriate steps required to increase and ensure the safety of USMMA students, we pledge to listen to and work closely with the entire USMMA community including students, parents and alumni." A spokesperson for the agency also noted that the woman said in her post that she did not choose to report the alleged assault and said that the academy and government officials would be undertaking a review of the current requirements imposed on commercial vessels to ensure the safety of students. Sea Year has been previously suspended The USMMA's partnerships with shipping companies previously came under scrutiny in 2016, when Sea Year was suspended amid reports of sexual assault and harassment. It was reinstated the next year, after the school and the federal government touted new rules for the program and a zero tolerance policy for sexual assault and harassment.The federal government said last year that reports of sexual assault of academy students had decreased in the 2018-2019 academic year but that there were nine allegations of sexual assaults during this time, as well as two claims of sexual harassment and one report of retaliation.The Department of Transportation also noted that the school's culture remained "heavily influenced by the higher ratio of men compared to women" — making some female students feel like they have to act like "one of the boys" — and said there are still a number of reasons victims don't feel comfortable coming forward, including "fear of reprisal from peers, social stigmatization, and ostracism." The woman behind the blog post wrote that of more than 50 women in her senior class at the academy, she has "not spoken to a single one of those women who has told me that she has not been sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, or degraded at some point during the last 3 years at the Academy or during Sea Year. Most people, and even the leaders of our school, do not seem to understand how serious this problem is, especially at sea."Prior to Maersk's announcement about its investigation, the US Deputy Secretary of Transportation and acting maritime administrator co-authored a letter posted on the school's website expressing the agency's "unwavering support" for the woman who came forward.Congressman Tom Suozzi and US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also issued a statement last week demanding an immediate investigation and saying they will "continue to work closely with the Merchant Marine Academy to put systems in place to ensure timely and thorough reporting." Do you have an experience or information to share about the US Merchant Marine Academy or the maritime industry? Email us at [email protected].

Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-10-04 19:14:47

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/04/us/beta-operating-company-violations/index.html

Beta Operating Company, operator of leaking oil infrastructure, has record of violations - CNN

The company that operates the pipeline responsible for the oil spill off the Southern California coast has been cited by federal regulators for more than 100 violations over the past 11 years, including at least two that led to worker injuries, government and court records show.

us, Beta Operating Company, operator of leaking oil infrastructure, has record of violations - CNN

Operator of leaking oil infrastructure has record of violations

(CNN)The company that operates the pipeline responsible for the oil spill off the Southern California coast has been cited by federal regulators for more than 100 violations over the past 11 years, including at least two that led to worker injuries, government and court records show.Beta Operating Company LLC, has had 125 incidents of non-compliance documented by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, a federal agency that oversees the offshore drilling industry. Of those, bureau records show, 53 were warnings, 71 were "component shut-in" violations, and one was a "facility shut-in" violation.Warnings must be corrected "within a reasonable amount of time" specified by the agency, while shut-in violations "must be corrected before the operator is allowed to continue the activity in question," according to the bureau's website.Stock plunges at the tiny company responsible for California's massive oil spillMost recently, Beta received a warning on September 29, just days before the leak, according to bureau records -- although no details about the warning were immediately available. The company's facilities were inspected by the bureau on September 28 and 30. Beta is a subsidiary of Amplify Energy, a small public company whose shares fell steeply in the wake of the disaster. Representatives from Amplify did not respond to requests for comment from CNN on Monday. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said the agency is working to gather more details about its past inspections of the facilities. Read MoreBeta was fined a total of $85,000 in 2013 and 2014 for three incidents, according to bureau records -- one of which involved the release of oil. In a 2014 case, an investigation by the bureau found that "crude oil was released through the flare boom," a report said. "A safety device was bypassed for reasons other than startup, maintenance or testing and was not properly flagged or monitored." More details on the incident were not immediately available. Two other cases involved worker injuries. In 2012, a piece of equipment "fell and struck an employee resulting in injuries to the head and face." And in 2014, "investigators discovered that an injured party received an electric shock of an estimated 98,000 volts at very low amperage," another document said, noting that the injured person was "not wearing proper personal protective equipment."Some of the cases were first reported by the Los Angeles Times.Beaches are closed and cleanup is underway after oil spill off Southern California destroys wildlife habitatsBetween October 2013 and September 2014, there were at least 18 incidents that involved worker injuries at Beta facilities, according to a report from the bureau, although most were minor.Beta operates the Elly and Ellen platforms off the coast of Long Beach, which are believed to be the source of the oil leak. The facilities operating the pipeline were built in the late 1970s and early 1980s and are inspected every other year, Amplify CEO Martyn Willsher said at a news conference Sunday. He said company employees noticed the oil spill and notified the Coast Guard on Saturday.The spill has caused an estimated 126,000 gallons of crude oil to leak off the California coast, according to authorities.Amplify, Beta's parent company, went through bankruptcy several years ago. Memorial Production Partners LP, a Houston-based company, filed for bankruptcy in January 2017, and the case was closed in May 2018, with the company's name changed to Amplify Energy Corp., according to court records. In its bankruptcy petition, the company listed more than $2.4 billion in assets and more than $2 billion in debts.CNN's Chris Isidore contributed to this report.

Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-09-30 11:05:09

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/30/us/covid-prison-inmates-compassionate-release-invs/index.html

Compassionate release became a life-or-death lottery for thousands of federal inmates during the pandemic - CNN

The assessment was dire: Horacio Estrada-Elias had "less than 18 months" left to live, his prison doctor wrote last year in a document submitted with the 90-year-old inmate's request for compassionate release.

us, Compassionate release became a life-or-death lottery for thousands of federal inmates during the pandemic - CNN

Compassionate release became a life-or-death lottery for thousands of federal inmates during the pandemic

(CNN)The assessment was dire: Horacio Estrada-Elias had "less than 18 months" left to live, his prison doctor wrote last year in a document submitted with the 90-year-old inmate's request for compassionate release. Estrada-Elias, who is serving a life sentence in federal prison for a nonviolent marijuana trafficking crime, suffers from congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation and chronic kidney disease, another doctor who reviewed his records wrote. His prison warden recommended last year that he be released, noting his spotless disciplinary record. But the federal judge who sentenced Estrada-Elias a decade and a half ago was not convinced. Judge Danny Reeves denied Estrada-Elias' request for compassionate release in July, writing that the large volumes of marijuana the defendant sold reflected "a flagrant disrespect for the law that can only be reflected in an equally severe sentence." Estrada-Elias isn't alone: Reeves has denied compassionate release motions from at least 90 inmates since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, a CNN review of court records found. In Reeves' district, the Eastern District of Kentucky, judges granted about 6% of compassionate release motions in 2020 and the first half of 2021, according to data released by the US Sentencing Commission this week. In some judicial districts, the approval rate was even lower. But elsewhere in the country, compassionate release is a different story: Nearly 50% of compassionate release motions decided by the federal court in Massachusetts and more than 60% decided by the court in Oregon were approved during the same time period -- including some for inmates with far less serious medical conditions than Estrada-Elias.Read MoreFederal judges in all of these districts are applying the same laws, which allow compassionate release in "extraordinary and compelling" cases. But those wide disparities show that whether defendants get released early during the pandemic has had almost as much to do with which courts are hearing their motion as it does with the facts of their cases, legal advocates and researchers say. The compassionate release process, expanded by Congress in a landmark 2018 criminal justice reform bill, has acted as a safety valve for the federal prison system during the pandemic, with more than 3,600 inmates being released in 2020 and the first half of 2021. But it has given judges broad discretion to interpret which sentences should be reduced, leading to a national patchwork of jarringly different approval rates between federal courts. The reasons behind the disparities have to do with variations in sentence length and legal representation for inmates, as well as differing approaches between more liberal and conservative judges, according to interviews with more than a dozen lawyers, advocates and experts studying compassionate release. More broadly, the percentage of motions granted nationwide has fallen this year, as judges and Department of Justice lawyers have been pointing to inmates' vaccination status as a reason to oppose their release. "Judges are looking at the same law and policy but interpreting it differently," said Hope Johnson, a researcher with the UCLA School of Law who's studied compassionate release cases. "There's an arbitrariness in the way these decisions are being made." 'Extraordinary and compelling reasons' When Congress passed the First Step Act in 2018, Democrats and Republicans hailed it as a breakthrough for overturning excessive sentences. Among other reforms -- such as easing mandatory minimum sentences and requiring inmates to be housed in prisons closer to their families -- the law allows any defendant to petition their judge for compassionate release if "extraordinary and compelling reasons" support a sentence reduction. Previously, only the government could make such a motion -- and did so very rarely. When the pandemic hit and Covid-19 began to spread through the prison system, lawyers turned to compassionate release as a key method to help medically vulnerable inmates get out. As petitions piled up on court dockets, judges were largely left to puzzle out what "extraordinary and compelling" means -- a life-and-death decision for some inmates. Murders rose sharply in 2020 but data is lacking across much of the countryThe law doesn't define that standard, but it directs judges to consider factors associated with sentencing law as well as guidelines published by the US Sentencing Commission. All but one of the seats on the commission are currently vacant, and it hasn't approved new compassionate release guidelines in years. Some federal judges initially ruled in 2019 and 2020 that they were bound by the commission's years-old guidelines, limiting the reasons inmates are eligible for release. But most appeals courts around the country have since rejected that idea, issuing rulings over the last year saying the guidance is just advisory in most cases. Typically, inmates petitioning for compassionate release during the pandemic have argued their cases are extraordinary due to medical issues, coronavirus risk, age, family situations or excessive sentences. Often, they claim multiple reasons apply. Overall, 17.5% of compassionate release motions were granted in 2020 and the first six months of 2021, newly released sentencing commission statistics show. But that rate ranged from a low of 1.7% in the Southern District of Georgia, where all but four of 230 motions were denied, to a high of 77.3% in the District of Puerto Rico, where 17 of 22 motions were granted. Judge Charles Breyer, the only current member of the sentencing commission, said in an interview that he thought the lack of updated compassionate release guidelines was exacerbating the wide disparities between districts. He said he would like the commission to pass a new standard urging judges to take "the pernicious effect of Covid" into account in deciding compassionate release cases. "You need a national standard," Breyer told CNN, adding that without one, "it creates a vacuum and it creates uncertainty, and most importantly it creates disparity." Judge Charles Breyer sits in his chambers at the federal courthouse in San Francisco in 2016.Some of the disparities between districts in compassionate release mirror variations in sentencing, with courts that tend to hand out longer sentences being less likely to grant release, experts say. In most cases, the same judges who handed down those original sentences are making decisions on early release. "Certain districts are just much less sympathetic to criminal defendants than others," said Beth Blackwood, a lawyer at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which has referred hundreds of defendants to pro bono attorneys who help them with compassionate release motions. "Sentencing judges have always had a tremendous amount of discretion, and that cuts both ways for defendants." Judicial politics also seem to play a role. Georgetown Law researcher Victoria Finkle, who analyzed more than 4,000 compassionate release cases from March through October 2020, found that district judges appointed by Democratic presidents were more than twice as likely to approve release as judges appointed by Republican presidents. Researchers from the UCLA School of Law, who have also tracked compassionate release cases, said they found a similar trend. Nationally, while the number of inmates who've won compassionate release has spiked during the pandemic, the percentage of compassionate release motions granted has decreased over time. Just over 40% of motions decided in March 2020 were approved, but that fell to less than 17% in December and about 11% in June 2021. The decline this year came as the number of new coronavirus cases behind bars receded and vaccines became widely available in the prison system. Some of those who were denied compassionate release didn't survive the pandemic. Of the roughly 250 people who have died of coronavirus in federal prison, about 70 had applied for compassionate release before their death, according to research by University of Iowa law professor Alison Guernsey, who studies criminal justice issues and has represented inmates in compassionate release cases. Most were denied or had motions pending when they died, although three inmates had been granted compassionate release but had not yet been released when they died. Some inmates get lawyers, others 'left on their own' The federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon.Before they even rule on an inmate's compassionate release motion, judges can make a decision that lawyers and advocates say can have a big impact on the outcome: whether to appoint a lawyer for the inmate. Unlike the process in criminal cases, inmates who are requesting compassionate release have no right to a lawyer to help them with their motion. But in some courts, judges are assigning at least some prisoners who can't afford legal counsel a public defender. In the District of Oregon, Federal Public Defender Lisa Hay said her office or affiliated attorneys were appointed to represent inmates in most compassionate release cases over the last year and a half. Public defenders gathered inmates' medical records, studied the growing body of case law about compassionate release, and worked with prosecutors and probation officers to advocate for their clients. "It's just very hard for somebody on their own to make the same compelling case and the legal arguments they need," Hay said. "It's been, obviously, a huge burden to have all of these cases come in that are on top of the ordinary caseload, but it is critical to help people who are otherwise facing potential death in prison." The spike in gun violence continues, with 2021 on pace to be the worst year in decadesTheir work seems to have had an impact: Nearly 65% of the 127 compassionate release motions heard by judges between January 2020 and June 2021 were approved -- the second-highest rate for any federal court in the US, after the Puerto Rico District. More generally, Hay said, the judges in her district are taking the coronavirus risks for inmates seriously. "Our judges have been acutely aware of the pandemic and the dangers that it poses for our residents in prisons, and have been willing to use their statutory authority to release people," she said. Judges are taking a very different approach in the Western District of Oklahoma, which includes Oklahoma City. Less than 4% of the 80 compassionate release motions heard in the district in 2020 and the first half of 2021 were granted -- and the vast majority weren't represented by a public defender. Laura Deskin, an attorney at the federal public defender's office there, said that while she and her colleagues would have liked to represent inmates requesting compassionate release, judges in the district declined to appoint them to do so. The defender's office hasn't submitted any compassionate release motions based on the coronavirus pandemic, she said. Without the support of a public defender, inmates who can't afford lawyers are "left on their own," Deskin said. "We would have taken them," Deskin said. "I would like to think that if our office had been permitted to advocate for inmates, perhaps we could have convinced the judges to be more, dare I say, compassionate." We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. The court clerk for the district, Carmelita Shinn, said that judges reviewed each compassionate release motion on an individual, case-by-case basis. Legal experts say that some judges are reluctant to appoint federal defenders to help with motions because many defense offices are already struggling with huge caseloads. Other nonprofit groups such as the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers have taken up the slack in some districts, referring inmates to pro bono lawyers. The difference between judges appointing attorneys or not can mean that they end up reviewing vastly different petitions. In July, Wylema Wilson, a 66-year-old inmate serving a five-year sentence for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, sent her Oklahoma judge a handwritten letter petitioning for compassionate release. In careful penmanship on a lined piece of paper, she noted past coronavirus deaths at her prison, listed the medical conditions she was facing -- including epilepsy, diabetes and heart disease -- and wrote that she hoped for "a second chance at life, a life the way it should be clean and sober." Her judge didn't appoint a public defender or other attorney to represent her, and denied the motion even though she had less than a year left on her sentence. A reduction would not "reflect the seriousness of defendant's offense," Judge Stephen Friot wrote. Across the country, another drug convict in the Oregon District was more successful. Maycol Fuentes-Salinas, a 28-year-old serving a three-year sentence for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute, also sent his judge a handwritten petition for compassionate release. Writing in block capital letters, he said that the 23.5-hour daily lockdown in his prison during the pandemic had greatly exacerbated his depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. The same day he received the letter, a judge appointed the Oregon federal defenders' office to represent Fuentes-Salinas, and a lawyer wrote him a new petition that included a supportive affidavit by a clinical psychologist and a psychiatrist and references to similar legal cases. The U.S. Attorney's Office did not oppose the motion, and a judge approved his release in May, sending him to a re-entry center where he could receive treatment. A Catch-22 on vaccinations In a large majority of cases, however, federal prosecutors have argued against compassionate release. And in some cases, lawyers for the government are pointing to inmates' vaccination status to argue to keep them behind bars. That's the case for both vaccinated and unvaccinated inmates. In a petition opposing the release of Estrada-Elias, the 90-year-old inmate, a Department of Justice lawyer noted that he had refused a Moderna coronavirus vaccination this summer. "Unfortunate though it may be, Estrada-Elias' continued vulnerability to COVID-19 infection is now a result of his own volitional choice," the government wrote in its motion. The lawyer argued that whether his health conditions reach the level of extraordinary and compelling is "debatable" -- despite the recommendation from the prison doctor and warden -- and don't outweigh the severity of his crime. JUST WATCHEDInside the US federal prison hit hardest by Covid-19 ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHInside the US federal prison hit hardest by Covid-19 03:45Across the country, another DOJ lawyer made the opposite vaccine argument about Maurice Watkins, who had petitioned for release in January after serving nearly 90% of a 21-year sentence for selling heroin. Watkins wrote that medical conditions such as high-blood pressure and obesity made him vulnerable to coronavirus. By the time the government responded to Watkins' petition in April, however, he had been "fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus with the Pfizer vaccine," a federal prosecutor wrote, adding that "the risk of complications associated with any underlying health condition have been obviated." A judge concurred, keeping Watkins in prison for the remainder of his sentence. The Department of Justice has made similar arguments in dozens of other cases since vaccines became widely available in prisons earlier this year, according to a CNN review of court documents. That's led to a Catch-22 facing federal inmates seeking compassionate release during the pandemic: In case after case, the government has pointed both to inmates receiving and rejecting a vaccination as a reason to keep them in prison. In court filings last year, DOJ lawyers said the department's policy was that any inmates with coronavirus risk factors identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- such as obesity, heart disease or diabetes -- should be considered to have an extraordinary and compelling reason for sentence reduction. But that stance seems to have shifted with the arrival of vaccines. Lawyers and advocates for inmates say they're frustrated with the approach -- especially considering President Joe Biden campaigned on reducing excessive prison sentences and making the criminal justice system fairer. "The DOJ's position now is either you're vaccinated and you're safe, or you should have gotten vaccinated and if not, you're not deserving of compassionate release," said Blackwood, the NACDL lawyer. "We're seeing a near-blanket opposition to almost all of our cases." A DOJ spokesperson said in a statement that the government's position on compassionate release cases "has consistently been informed by guidance from the CDC." Each case is reviewed individually and there have been some cases in which the department didn't oppose release for vaccinated inmates, the spokesperson said. More than 65% of federal inmates have been fully vaccinated, according to a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson -- a similar rate to the adult US population at large. According to advocates, some inmates who are refusing a vaccine are distrustful of medical services in their prisons. And even vaccinated inmates with serious medical conditions are worried about the Delta variant. In at least one recent case, an inmate died after contracting a breakthrough coronavirus case despite being vaccinated. Rasheem Hicks, 42, who was serving a six and a half-year sentence for cocaine and firearm possession, died late last month about two weeks after testing positive for Covid-19. The DOJ had cited his vaccination in its motion opposing Hicks' request for compassionate release, even though he suffered from sickle cell disease, diabetes and chronic liver disease. 'He will not recover' Horacio Estrada-Elias during a family visit in 2018.Some of the longest sentences that judges are now reconsidering were imposed under mandatory minimum laws. Estrada-Elias was sentenced to life in April 2008 after pleading guilty to a conspiracy to traffic tens of thousands of pounds of marijuana into and around the United States. Reeves, his judge, was required to give him a life sentence because he had previous drug convictions. The mandatory minimum law that applied in that case was taken off the books under a separate provision of the First Step Act in 2018. If Estrada-Elias hadn't been subject to the mandatory minimum, the guideline for his sentence range would have been about 12 to 16 years, according to court documents. In addition to the health problems documented by his prison doctor, Estrada-Elias, who has spent most of the last year and a half in hospitals and other medical facilities, suffered from a coronavirus infection late last year. "Mr. Estrada-Elias' prognosis is poor," his prison warden wrote in his recommendation for release last year, referring to his broader illnesses. "He has been diagnosed with an incurable, progressive illness in which he will not recover." Few inmates in the federal prison system are as old as the nonagenarian Estrada-Elias: Less than 3% of federal inmates are older than 65, according to statistics from the Bureau of Prisons. His case is extraordinary because of his health risks, and he hoped to "spend the remaining few months of his life with his family," his pro bono lawyer wrote in the petition. But in denying the motion for release, Judge Reeves noted that Estrada-Elias was convicted of drug trafficking when he was in his mid-70s. "He suggests that his frailty would preclude him from re-offending, but he made similar suggestions prior to being sentenced," the judge wrote. Pointing to the large quantities of marijuana Estrada-Elias pled guilty to trafficking, Reeves wrote that "it is hard to imagine that a defendant can commit a more serious non-violent offense," and concluded that a life sentence is "the only sentence that would be appropriate and that would protect the public." A court staffer for Reeves, who was nominated to the bench in 2001 by former President George W. Bush and serves as the chief judge in his district, declined an interview request for him. Mary Price, the general counsel of FAMM, a group that advocates for criminal justice reform, said that the denial of Estrada-Elias' motion was an example of "the dark side" of judicial discretion. "He is nearing the end of his life and as a society, we've recognized the sentence imposed on him no longer fits," Price said. Estrada-Elias "is going to have to spend the rest of his life serving a sentence that we as a society have said is absolutely inappropriate." Estrada-Elias' lawyer has appealed the denial. Meanwhile, his family members, who bought a medical bed and set up a spare room for him at his sister's house in the hope that he'd be released, are waiting anxiously. Hearing that he was denied despite the doctors' warnings was devastating, said Elizabeth Estrada, his daughter. "He is suffering, and we're suffering because we don't understand it," Estrada said. "I dread a phone call that something happened to my dad."

Rob Kuznia, Bob Ortega and Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-09-13 00:02:53

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/12/politics/trump-2020-future-presidential-elections-invs/index.html

Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election could put future fair elections in jeopardy - CNNPolitics

Trump's efforts to subvert the election leave the future of free and fair elections in jeopardy.

politics, Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election could put future fair elections in jeopardy - CNNPolitics

In the wake of Trump's attack on democracy, election officials fear for the future of American elections

This story contains disturbing language. (CNN)When the election office led by Lisa Deeley first came under attack from then-President Donald Trump last year, it was more than a month before Election Day.Deeley, the chair of Philadelphia's three-member election commission and a Democrat, watched from home as Trump falsely claimed during the first 2020 presidential debate that poll watchers had already been turned away at early voting centers in Philadelphia."Bad things happen in Philadelphia," Trump said. Deeley's cell phone immediately lit up with calls and text messages."A lot of my family, my friends, got a little chuckle out of it, but I knew it wasn't at all something to laugh about," she told CNN. "It was just the beginning."Read MoreLisa Deeley, chair of Philadelphia's election commission, speaks at a news conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 4, 2020. Trump's efforts to subvert the election began well before Election Day, and have only gained momentum since, with Republicans passing laws to restrict voting or make it easier for partisans to interfere in more than a dozen states, including key battlegrounds. Most recently, in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott signed an election bill into law last week over the fierce objection of the state's Democrats, who, in hopes of derailing similar restrictions proposed earlier this summer, had fled the state two times en masse.The state legislative efforts are bolstered by a coordinated, behind-the-scenes push by conservative groups to raise millions to support restrictive voting laws, spread unproven claims about voter fraud and fund sham audits of election results. All of which, election experts say, will make it easier the next time to overturn close results, and puts the future of free and fair elections in jeopardy."I don't think we've ever been at a point that's been quite this tenuous for the democracy," Christine Todd Whitman, a former GOP governor of New Jersey and a founder and co-chair of States United Democracy Center, told CNN. "I think it's a huge danger because it's the first time that I've seen it being undermined -- our democracy being undermined from within." CNN spoke to about a dozen state and county officials involved in elections for this story; all of them expressed concern that the widespread and unsubstantiated claims of a stolen election could take a lasting toll on American democracy. For weeks after the election, Trump tried to sabotage the will of American voters in his relentless attempts to overturn the results. He and his allies browbeat local officials in multiple states and tried in vain to coerce the Department of Justice to open a bogus investigation. They dispatched attorneys to file nearly 60 lawsuits across the country; all but one minor case were dropped or dismissed -- some by Trump-appointed judges.But while those efforts were stymied by a thin line of civil servants, a concerted push in myriad states to set the stage for a future power grab is finding more success. "It's all designed to make it easier to raise the doubt and uncertainty to allow a close election to be overturned," said Ben Berwick, an attorney at Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan organization that works to keep elections and election administration from being politicized. "2020 was a preview of what is likely to be darker times to come, if we continue down this path away from democracy." Big lie fuels threats against election workersPolls show most Republican voters continue to believe Trump's lie that he won the election. In July, a poll from The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that two-thirds of Republicans still believe Biden was not legitimately elected.That big lie, coupled with punishing new laws and threats against poll workers, has prompted fatigue in the field and a potential exodus of knowledgeable people to run smooth elections in the future, experts and poll workers say."What it's going to cause -- and we've seen this happening across the country -- is local officials are going to leave," said Matthew Masterson, a former senior cybersecurity adviser with the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, primarily responsible for elections. "That opens the door to adding more political actors -- less professional, more political actors -- into the election space, which, again, is incredibly dangerous." Matthew Masterson testifies on election security before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on October 22, 2019.Nearly 1 in 3 election officials say they feel unsafe because of their jobs, and about 1 in 5 listed threats to their lives as a job-related concern, according to a spring survey commissioned by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's Law School. Among them is Claire Woodall-Vogg, the executive director of the Milwaukee election commission. In early August -- nine months after the election -- she received voicemails calling for her hanging. Those and other threats followed two rightwing websites publishing an email exchange in which she responded to a joke by an election consultant on November 4 about how the votes had been submitted at 3 a.m. The sites suggested Woodall-Vogg delivered Joe Biden a questionable win in her district. Here's an example of the calls Woodall-Vogg has received. "Are we going to hold people who are publishing conspiracy theories accountable when someone does get killed?" Woodall-Vogg said in an interview with CNN. In Philadelphia, Deeley was confronted outside the convention center a few days after the election by a man taking a cellphone video of her walking down the street. It was James Fitzpatrick, Trump's Pennsylvania director of Election Day operations, who lobbed allegations of corruption at her as she covered her face."It got millions of views," Deeley, an elected official, told CNN. "And awful comments about my physical shape, people called me all kinds of names, people saying I should be hung for treason, that 'we should find out where she lives and kill her,' 'we should bludgeon her.' I mean -- unbelievable." The city was also flooded with threatening phone calls. Here are some of the threats called into Deeley's office. "People just wanted to believe," Deeley said. "They want to believe something that is not true. And there's not one shred of evidence to prove that it's true, but they just want to believe it."It isn't just election officials who have faced threats. In Arizona, which in last year's presidential vote flipped from red to blue, a wave of animus came down on the majority-Republican Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which oversees elections for about 60% of the state's voters. "On a daily basis ... we're told that we need to go in, go to jail -- either on social media, phone calls to the office, emails -- and the threats do continue," said Bill Gates, a Republican member of the board, adding that last month, "My colleagues and I all were treated to an orange jumpsuit that a gentleman sent to us and, you know, declared that we will end up in jail someday because we are traitors in the minds of these people."Pressure campaign results in coup attemptJust as he did in 2016, when he claimed the upcoming election was "rigged" against him, Trump started calling the integrity of the 2020 election into question long before any vote was cast. "The only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged," he told a group of supporters in Wisconsin last August.After the election, as the days ticked by, Trump's increasingly desperate behavior produced a steady barrage of headlines -- as it always has. From his perch at the White House, a symbol of the strongest democracy in human history, he made personal phone calls to local officials, badgering them to change the results. He paid considerable attention to Georgia, another state that flipped from red to blue in November.Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, speaks during a news conference at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on December 14, 2020. In a particularly stunning exchange, Trump tried to convince Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change the vote count -- a move that became part of a criminal state investigation into attempts to "influence the election."During that call, Trump said he wanted to "find 11,780 votes" -- the amount he needed to win Georgia by a single vote. Listen to part of Trump's call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, also made the rounds. He phoned Gates, the Republican member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in Arizona. Listen to Giuliani's voicemail to a member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in Arizona. Gates did not return the call. "This was the first time that I was ever aware of that you had folks at the national level trying to impose their will on a county elected official," Gates told CNN. "That was bizarre and frightening."Trump also convened multiple meetings with elected officials from purple states at the White House to discuss election fraud, even though his own Department of Homeland Security declared the election "the most secure in American history." And on January 6 in Washington -- the day Vice President Mike Pence disregarded Trump's request to challenge the results -- Trump told tens of thousands of supporters who'd convened in DC that day to "fight like hell." A deadly riot ensued shortly after at the US Capitol. Interactive: Assault on Democracy: Paths to Insurrection But it wasn't until this summer, when a series of revelations surfaced about how Trump had sought to use his Department of Justice as a cudgel to turn a loss into a win, that it became clear what the totality of his actions amounted to: an attempted coup. In late July, the Department of Justice released documents showing that Trump in December had threatened to replace his acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, with a midlevel attorney in the Justice Department named Jeffrey Clark, who'd been meeting with Trump and promoted wild conspiracy theories about election fraud -- such as that a Dominion voting machine had "accessed the Internet through a smart thermostat with a net connection trail leading back to China." Clark also urged his superiors -- Rosen and his deputy, Richard Donoghue -- to sign a letter to Georgia's governor falsely claiming the Department of Justice had "identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia."None of that worked to keep Trump in office. But the extraordinary events of the past year raise the question: Was the chaotic campaign to circumvent the will of American voters unique to Trump? Or has a new standard been set? "Trump-ism is going to survive Donald Trump, and he has unleashed a set of forces, anti-democratic -- small-D democratic -- anti-democratic forces that are going to plague American democracy for years to come," warned Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California at Irvine. "I think we're in grave danger."New laws shift election powersFive days before the November election, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's office announced that he and his wife were in quarantine after having been in contact with someone who'd tested positive for Covid-19. That day, Kemp requested an absentee ballot, which arrived a day before the election.Four months later, in March, Kemp signed a voting bill into law that, had it been in place for the 2020 election, would have barred even himself from receiving a ballot, said Tonnie Adams, a self-described conservative who serves as elections supervisor for Georgia's Heard County. "I'm not kidding," Adams told CNN. "Gov. Kemp would not have been able to vote if this rule had been in place."Gov. Brian Kemp signs Georgia's Election Integrity Act on March 25, 2021.Under Georgia's Election Integrity Act of 2021, voters are not permitted to apply for an absentee ballot within 11 days before the election -- which would have invalidated Kemp. In addition to making absentee voting -- or "mail-in voting" -- harder in this and other ways, the new law reduces drop boxes, essentially bans mobile voting centers, makes it illegal for election officials to mail out unsolicited absentee-ballot applications to all voters, and also makes it illegal for people to offer food or water to voters in line within a certain radius of the voting precinct.Georgia's law is just one of a slew to be proposed or enacted in the noisy aftermath of the election, all hurriedly conceived at a time of rampant amplification of Trump's lie. The Justice Department is suing the state over its new voting restrictions.In more than a dozen states -- including toss-ups like Georgia, Arizona and Florida -- Republican-led legislatures are enacting laws that could make it more difficult to vote. The restrictions are expected to disproportionately impact a rapidly growing demographic -- non-White voters -- to the benefit of a shrinking Republican base. Voter-outreach groups say the batch of new statutes represents the most serious threat to the voting power of the marginalized since Jim Crow-era poll taxes and literacy tests, which sought to curtail the Black vote and were banished by the 24th Amendment and federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Aklima Khondoker, chief legal officer of the New Georgia Project -- a nonpartisan voter registration group founded by Stacey Abrams -- said the surge of new laws is "shocking, but not surprising." Interactive: Black voting rights and voter suppression: A timeline "I was shocked because it is appalling to see this out-and-out lie proliferate the way that it has over our elections," she said. "It's not surprising, because when you look at the history of voting -- not only in Georgia but across our nation -- it has always been fraught. It has always come up against challenges to people of color specifically." Georgia's new law, experts say, is the boldest of the bunch."It's a massive power grab," said Adams.To be sure, there are some provisions of the 98-page Georgia law that actually expand voting access, such as weekend hours during the early voting period. But Georgia's law and others passed in 2021 are calling for a new kind of tactic that experts find alarming, in which elections are increasingly overseen by partisan officials. Hasen, the elections expert at UC Irvine, calls it "election subversion," a phenomenon that he says is distinct from "voter suppression" and is "newly appearing on the horizon." "The idea here is manipulating how votes are counted or how elections are conducted, so that it's possible that the winner who was announced is not actually the choice of the voters," Hasen said.Georgia's law takes what had been the secretary of state's seat on the state elections board and hands it to a legislative appointee, granting the GOP-controlled legislature more power over the board. It then allows that board to suspend county election officials and replace them with an individual of its choosing. The law effectively empowers partisan state lawmakers to intervene in how counties administer and count the vote -- a process that has already begun in Fulton County, the state's most populous, predominantly blue county that's faced complaints over its election operations for years.In Arizona, a new law includes a remarkable end run around Democrats. In recent months, Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law GOP measures that, along with enacting voting restrictions and making it easier to purge early voting lists, stripped power from the secretary of state, Democrat Katie Hobbs. It shifts control over any election-related litigation to Arizona's attorney general, currently Republican Mark Brnovich, but only until January 2023, when Hobbs' term ends -- in effect, ensuring that a Republican official will control any litigation over mid-term elections in that state."That's pretty blatant," said Lawrence Norden, director of the Brennan Center's Election Reform Program.Hobbs told CNN it's all part of a larger coordinated effort."We're seeing a shift to highly partisan individuals wanting to put these powers in the hands of other highly partisan individuals," she said.Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shows off Senate Bill 1, also known as the election integrity bill, after he signed it into law on Sept. 7, 2021.Most recently, in Texas, a months-long drama over a voting bill came to a head last week when Gov. Abbott signed a measure that will tighten restrictions on mail-in voting, reduce hours for drive-thru voting, criminalize the act of sending mail-in voting applications to people who haven't requested them, and grant more powers to partisan poll watchers. Democratic state lawmakers went to extremes to block passage, saying the effort is aimed at curtailing the minority vote in urban centers. In May, more than 50 of them decamped from the state Capitol, derailing a similar bill. They repeated the move in July, prompting the state House speaker to sign warrants for their civil arrest."There's a lot of seats last election cycle won by a few hundred votes," state Rep. Gene Wu, a Democrat, told CNN. "That's the whole point. Because they know they don't need to put something in law that says Black people can't vote. They just need for point five percent of Black people not to be able to vote."All told, experts and activists say, many of the new election laws share the quality of having been put forth as the solution to a nonexistent problem -- widespread voter fraud -- manufactured by Trump and the GOP. For instance, in Florida, even Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis boasted in November about how smoothly the 2020 election went in the Sunshine State, which Trump won. And yet, in May, DeSantis signed into law a bill that restricts voting, saying it would "increase transparency and strengthen the security of our elections.""We'd already had a couple of weeks of just total chest-thumping -- we're great, did well, yay, Florida's not a laughingstock anymore," said Cecile Scoon, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, which is suing the state for its new law. "So to then be quote 'rewarded' ... with these limitations and restrictions that are likely to have a disparate impact on minorities and the youth and the disabled, is very concerning." After Kemp signed the new voter law in Georgia, he made a point of sounding off on his political foes, chief among them President Joe Biden, who had employed some hyperbole of his own when he called the new law "Jim Crow on steroids.""President Biden, the left, and the national media are determined to destroy the sanctity and security of the ballot box," Kemp said. After the election, three separate audits were conducted in Georgia; none found evidence of widespread fraud.'Working off the same playbook'Less than a week before the Georgia legislature passed its controversial election bill, a former Trump administration official named Jessica Anderson met with Kemp. In a leaked video published by the watchdog group Documented and Mother Jones magazine, Anderson -- now the executive director of Heritage Action for America, an affiliate of the enormously influential conservative Heritage Foundation -- told the audience of donors what she told Kemp. "I had one message for him: Do not wait to sign that bill," she said she had told him. "If you wait even an hour, you will look weak." Listen to Anderson describe her conversation with Georgia's governor. In the video, Anderson claimed that Heritage had recommended eight key provisions in the bill that Kemp signed, and that Heritage has done the same for other states."In some cases, we actually draft them for them, or we have a sentinel on our behalf give them the model legislation so it has that grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe," she said at the closed-door retreat in April. Kemp's office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.Behind the scenes, the efforts to limit voting rights in statehouses around the country are being organized and encouraged by deep-pocketed conservative groups raising the specter of voting fraud. The Heritage Foundation published a list of "best practices" for voting laws earlier this year that includes limiting absentee voting, banning same-day and automatic voter registration, and making it easier for state legislatures to sue other state officials over election rules. Many of the bills passed by legislators in recent months made those same changes. "They are all working off the same playbook," said Berwick, the attorney with Protect Democracy. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. Heritage Action -- which has received donations from trade groups for the petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries, among other groups -- has also worked more directly with lawmakers. Back in April, in addition to taking credit for much of Georgia's bill, Anderson of Heritage Action told the donors her group had also helped push similar bills in Arizona and Iowa. (Iowa lawmakers have denied working with the group on their voting legislation, and a state ethics investigation found no evidence that Heritage lobbied state officials and lawmakers.)And Heritage lobbyists and activists also worked with GOP legislators in Florida to shape their new restrictive voting law. In a statement to CNN that echoed arguments made by Republican legislators around the country, Anderson said Heritage was "proud of our grassroots members' work to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.""Members of the press using their platforms to spin up paranoia and resentment instead of covering problems with our election systems and focusing on real efforts to secure our elections are doing a disservice to their audiences," she said.Other conservative groups have also worked to challenge voting laws in the courts, sued states and counties to encourage more frequent purges of voter rolls, and recruited poll watchers to challenge voters' eligibility. And many of the organizations are funded by the same big donors and deep-pocketed foundations, such as the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which has given millions of dollars to groups that have advocated for more restrictive voting laws or pushed unproven claims about voting fraud, according to tax records. The efforts by Trump to overturn the election result and conservatives to rewrite voting rules are deeply linked. The Bradley Foundation's board includes Cleta Mitchell, a conservative lawyer who joined Trump on his call to Georgia election officials in which the president asked them to "find" thousands of votes for him. Documents from the group posted by hackers in 2016 (and later obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) show that the foundation shifted over the last decade from a focus on Wisconsin issues to funding national conservative groups and think tanks, a change encouraged by Mitchell. Cleta Mitchell speaks during an event marking the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment ratification with President Donald Trump, left, in the Blue Room of the White House on August 18, 2020.In a statement to CNN, Bradley spokesperson Christine Czernejewski said the foundation "has supported efforts that encourage voter participation and give Americans the confidence that their vote matters," adding that in light of pandemic-related changes to voting in 2020, "it is reasonable and prudent to assess last year's elections and then determine how to improve the system." Czernejewski did not make Mitchell available for an interview. Hobbs, the Arizona secretary of state, said it was clear that conservatives trying to restrict voting rights were working together -- including in right-wing efforts to "audit" the 2020 election results. A company running a particularly controversial right-wing ballot inspection in Arizona has received millions of dollars from groups led by Trump allies, including Sidney Powell, one of the lawyers who filed Trump's cases to overturn the election results, and Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser. "There's been really what seems to be a coordinated approach on multiple scores, introducing bills to make it harder to vote, bills that change who oversees certain aspects of elections -- and then continuing this fake audit that will undermine reality," Hobbs said. Sham audits are keeping the big lie aliveThe Arizona audit began with a three-page subpoena to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors containing a typo that, under normal circumstances, wouldn't raise an eyebrow. In the subpoena, a GOP state legislator in Arizona demanded a list of items and data, including the "ballet cancel date." The word should have been "ballot." The election materials seized from the subpoena were handed over to Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based cybersecurity company whose CEO, Doug Logan, has declared his support for Trump and repeatedly spread misinformation on social media insinuating that Biden stole the election. (Some of the misinformation shared by Logan has come in the form of retweeted false claims of fraud by Powell, Flynn and Ron Watkins, a heavy promoter of QAnon conspiracy theories. Logan has since deleted his Twitter account.) Contractors working for Cyber Ninjas, which was hired by the Arizona State Senate, examine and recount ballots from the 2020 general election on May 3, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. Since Cyber Ninjas' controversial examination began in April, two other Trump-backing state legislators -- one in Wisconsin, one in Pennsylvania -- have sent their own demands to election officials in their states. Both contained much of the same boilerplate language, right down to the ballet/ballot typo. (In all three states, the results of the November election have already been confirmed in official audits by experts.)The Wisconsin letter also seemed to crib language from the Pennsylvania one. Like the Pennsylvania letter, the subpoena from Republican state Rep. Janel Brandtjen demands access to data from a specific voting machine model made by Election Systems & Software, even though that model isn't used in Wisconsin. It also seeks training material for "Judges of Elections." Pennsylvania has election judges; Wisconsin does not.The copy-and-pasting gaffes are another illustration of the coordination among Trumpian Republicans nationwide in their efforts to keep the narrative of a stolen election alive. "Attacks on voter rights are not new, but this coordination is," said Hobbs, Arizona's secretary of state. The Arizona review's stack of well-documented problems is tall: a contractor inexperienced in election audits; millions in partisan funding from "Stop the Steal" advocates; procedures made public only after court battles; counting and review processes that changed midstream; internal fights that led the auditors to lock out the state Senate's own liaison for a time."This process isn't an audit or review, but instead a grift," said Masterson, the former Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity adviser. "This is an effort and a playbook that, unfortunately, we'll see again, because it has proven to be effective both in the messaging and in the fundraising around it."In Wisconsin, Brandtjen's subpoenas don't appear to carry any legal weight. A recent memo from Wisconsin's Legislative Council noted that, under state law, legislative subpoenas must be signed by the assembly's speaker and chief clerk, which Brandtjen's subpoenas are not. A separate review, ordered by Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, is being led by a former state supreme court justice who last year told a pro-Trump rally that a stolen election would be "systematically unjust."In Pennsylvania, state Sen. Doug Mastriano's threat to subpoena several counties for election materials unraveled last month when he announced that his plan to bring the matter to a vote on the GOP-dominated committee that he chairs had been blocked. But state Republicans launched an election review this week, an effort led by state Sen. Cris Dush, who visited Arizona's audit this spring and said he "absolutely" wants to replicate the process there.Taken together, the pseudo audits, the widespread claims of a stolen election despite a lack of credible evidence, the hounding of election officials by the White House, Trump's attempts to turn the Department of Justice into a weapon against a fair outcome, the threats of bodily harm to people in charge of counting the votes, the wave of new laws that restrict voting in response to false claims of election fraud and could put more partisans in charge of elections -- and all of it increasingly underwritten by the full force of a mighty political machine -- add up to a warning: Americans on the losing end of elections may become less and less willing to accept the results. In short, as the nation's culture and demographics shift, one of the two major political parties in the world's beacon of democracy has a huge faction that favors contracting the vote over expanding the party tent. "It used to be unthinkable to contemplate election subversion in the United States," Hasen said. "It's now not only become thinkable, but become something that we need to spend the next few years guarding against. It is the greatest danger facing American democracy today." CNN's Drew Griffin, Curt Devine, Scott Bronstein, Yahya Abou-Ghazala and Audrey Ash contributed to this story.

Casey Tolan, Curt Devine and Isabelle Chapman, CNN

2021-09-02 21:52:14

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/02/politics/herschel-walker-stalking-claim-invs/index.html

As Herschel Walker eyes a Georgia Senate seat, a newly revealed stalking claim brings his troubled history under new scrutiny - CNNPolitics

A Texas woman told police in 2002 that Georgia US Senate candidate Herschel Walker had threatened and stalked her, according to a police report obtained by CNN.

politics, As Herschel Walker eyes a Georgia Senate seat, a newly revealed stalking claim brings his troubled history under new scrutiny - CNNPolitics

As Herschel Walker eyes Georgia US Senate seat, a newly revealed stalking claim brings his troubled history under scrutiny

(CNN)A Texas woman told police in 2002 that Georgia US Senate candidate Herschel Walker had threatened and stalked her, according to a police report obtained by CNN. The woman, a friend of Walker's ex-wife, told police that the football star had been following her, and had previously made "threats to her" and had "her house watched." The report did not specify the nature of the threats by Walker, who is now one of the highest-profile Senate candidates in the country and a close ally of former president Donald Trump, who endorsed him on Thursday. Over the years, two other women -- Walker's ex-wife and an ex-girlfriend -- have also accused him of making threats, telling authorities Walker claimed he would shoot them in the head. Their years-old accounts have resurfaced in recent weeks as Walker, who won national fame as a college football player at the University of Georgia, launched a campaign for the Peach State's battleground Senate seat. The third woman's account has not been previously reported. President Donald Trump is greeted by Herschel Walker at an event in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 25, 2020.The woman, who was in her late 20s at the time she contacted police, confirmed to CNN this week that Walker had threatened her, but asked not to be identified and declined to discuss the specifics of his threats. She stressed that she never dated or had a relationship with Walker. Walker's campaign declined to respond to the woman's allegations or discuss the 2002 police report. In response to questions about the incident, Mallory Blount, a campaign spokesperson, cited Walker's past struggles with mental health issues, which he's spoken about publicly. Read More"It is sad that many in politics and the media who praised Herschel for his transparency over a decade ago are now making false statements, stereotyping, attacking, and attempting to sensationalize his past just because he is a Republican Senate candidate," she said in a statement. Reports detail claims against WalkerIn the May 2002 report, which CNN obtained through a public records request, a police officer from the Dallas suburb of Irving wrote that he responded to a "prowler call" from a woman who said she believed someone was "sneaking around outside her house." The woman said she "felt she knew who the person would be" but was "very reluctant to tell me," the officer, Jason Mullins, wrote in the report. Eventually, the woman told Mullins that the person she suspected was Walker. About a year before calling the police, the woman told Mullins, she had had "a confrontation" with Walker and "he began calling her, making threats to her and having her house watched." It's not clear from the document what those threats entailed. She said that when she had recently seen Walker at a local resort, the former football star "jumped into" his vehicle and followed her "all the way to her house," according to the report. JUST WATCHEDA Herschel Walker candidacy is a total nightmare for Senate RepublicansReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHA Herschel Walker candidacy is a total nightmare for Senate Republicans 06:18"She is very frighten (sic) of the individual and is afraid that he going (sic) to begin bothering her again," Mullins wrote. "She advised that she does not want him contacted under any circumstances as she feels this will only make the problem worse." Mullins wrote that he talked to the guard at the entrance to the woman's neighborhood, who said he hadn't seen Walker enter the area. Mullins, who is still working for the Irving police department, said that from what he could tell, the department didn't further investigate the woman's allegations. "Since she stated that she didn't want us to contact him, it's unlikely that we would have, but I can't tell you that for sure," Mullins told CNN. He said the woman's allegation appeared to have been taken as an "informational report" that would stay on file, instead of a "criminal offense report" that would be forwarded to police investigators. The report came around the same time that Walker's wife, Cindy Grossman, was divorcing him after nearly two decades of marriage. Grossman has spoken publicly about Walker threatening to kill her during their marriage. In a 2008 interview with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, she said that Walker had held a razor to her throat, and at one point, "he held [a] gun to my temple and said he was going to blow my brains out." Grossman did not respond to CNN's request for comment this week. The threats continued after the couple was separated. In December 2005, Grossman filed for a protective order against Walker. Grossman's sister, Maria Tsettos, said in an affidavit submitted with the request that Walker had called her and threatened to kill Grossman and her then-boyfriend. He "stated unequivocally that he was going to shoot my sister Cindy and her boyfriend in the head," Tsettos said. One day that month, Grossman and her boyfriend were at a mall when Walker "slowly drove by in his vehicle, pointed his finger at (Grossman) and tracked (her) with his finger as he drove," according to the petition. Walker had called Tsettos threatening Grossman again earlier that day. The judge granted the petition for a protective order. The Associated Press first reported the case. Walker's book details mental health issuesWalker has spoken publicly about facing mental health issues during his marriage to Grossman, saying in interviews and writing in a book that he had been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, which was previously known as multiple personality disorder. He said in the 2008 CNN interview that he didn't remember being violent toward his wife, but he didn't deny it and noted that one of the symptoms of his disorder was blackouts. In his book, Walker wrote that he sought help for his disorder after another violent episode in 2001, in which he drove around the Dallas area looking for a man who had failed to deliver a car he bought. Walker wrote that voices in his head told him to kill the man, and he imagined "the visceral enjoyment I'd get from seeing the small entry would and the spray of brain tissue and blood — like a Fourth of July firework — exploding behind him." He fought off the urges and went to a doctor, he said, and later wrote his book to destigmatize mental illness. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. Another woman romantically involved with Walker later made similar accusations to Grossman's. Myka Dean, who told police she had an on-and-off relationship with Walker for 20 years, said he had threatened to kill her, according to a 2012 Irving police report. A police officer wrote that Dean said Walker "told her that he was going to come and sit outside her apartment and 'blow her head off when she came outside,'" the report said. "He then told [Dean] he was going to 'blow his head off' after he killed her." Dean expressed doubts about reporting the threat, the officer wrote, saying she didn't "want him to get in trouble" and becoming "pretty reserved." The officer noted that the department had had "previous contact" with Walker, citing another police report from 2001. The Irving police department declined to publicly release that report this week, saying it was being withheld "pending an Attorney General request for opinion." The allegation by Dean, who died in 2019, was first reported last week by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. When asked about Dean's statement to police, Walker's spokesperson Blount said the candidate "emphatically denies these false claims," calling them an example of "political mudslinging." Dean's mother told the Journal-Constitution that she hadn't known about the allegations and added that "we are very proud of the man Herschel Walker has become." CNN's Drew Griffin, Nelli Black, Audrey Ash and Yahya Abou-Ghazala contributed to this report.

Casey Tolan, Curt Devine and Drew Griffin, CNN

2021-08-06 00:30:44

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/politics/mike-lindell-mypillow-ceo-election-claims-invs/index.html

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's latest election conspiracy theory is his most bizarre yet - CNNPolitics

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, has emerged as one of the most vocal boosters still pushing false claims about the 2020 election. His latest theory about vote-switching is outrageous.

politics, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's latest election conspiracy theory is his most bizarre yet - CNNPolitics

MyPillow magnate Mike Lindell's latest election conspiracy theory is his most bizarre yet

(CNN)Since the presidential election, Christina Jensen says she's been stopped on the street several times by acquaintances who wanted to share troubling news: hackers from Beijing had switched nearly 24,000 votes for Donald Trump in their rural, GOP-leaning Wisconsin county. Jensen, the Clark County clerk and a Republican herself, has patiently explained that the local election computer system isn't connected to the internet -- and the county has less than 17,000 registered voters overall. But she finds herself unable to convince those constituents of the simple fact that the election wasn't stolen: "They are like, 'Well, Mike Lindell says this,'" Jensen said. Lindell, the MyPillow CEO and a close ally of former President Donald Trump, has emerged as one of the most vocal boosters still pushing false claims about the 2020 election. In a series of so-called documentaries, Lindell has advanced an increasingly outlandish theory that foreign hackers broke into the computer systems of election offices like Clark County to switch votes -- in what he has described as the "biggest cyber-crime in world history." My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House on March 30, 2020.Election officials at more than a dozen counties that Lindell has claimed were hacking targets told CNN that the pillow magnate's claims are utterly meritless. They noted that their voting machines are not connected to the internet, that the results are confirmed by paper ballots, and in some cases that official audits, recounts, or reviews have verified their vote tallies. Read MoreIn addition, CNN interviewed nine cybersecurity experts, all of whom said the "proof" Lindell has released so far is nonsense -- and that there is zero evidence of any kind of successful hacking of last year's election results. But many Americans are buying into baseless claims of vote fraud: polls have found that roughly two-thirds of Republicans believe President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected. And while Lindell isn't as prominent as other right-wing figures denying the election results -- including the former President himself -- his rhetoric has broken through among some of the Trump faithful. Jensen said she watched Lindell's video "Absolute Proof" -- which claims that 23,909 votes for Trump had been switched in her county -- after a concerned voter emailed her a link to it. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. "It made me angry," she said. "He has created a lot of doubt in a lot of peoples' minds, even though the count was accurate." Trump won the county with a margin of more than 5,000 votes. Lindell -- who once considered running for Minnesota governor or other elected office -- has become persona non grata in mainstream conservative circles. He's been booted from Twitter for violating its policy on sharing election fraud claims, and his videos have been swiftly removed from YouTube and other platforms. His pillows have been taken off the shelves at retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl's. And he and his company are facing a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from the voting machine company Dominion, which Lindell has falsely accused of being involved in voter fraud. Now, Lindell is resorting to a last-ditch attempt to promote his theory, planning a "cyber symposium" this month in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he says he will release 37 terabytes of data showing election hacking. JUST WATCHEDDominion spokesman: Mike Lindell is begging to be suedReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHDominion spokesman: Mike Lindell is begging to be sued 04:29In a rambling and combative interview with CNN, Lindell insisted that he had proof the election was stolen. "I'm not wrong. I've checked it out. I've spent millions," he claimed. "You need to trust me and come there." Election officials say Lindell's conspiracies are undermining faith in the voting system. Scott McDonell, the clerk for Dane County, Wisconsin -- another county where Lindell has claimed hacking switched thousands of votes from Trump to Biden -- said that out of all the election theories he's heard, Lindell's is "the worst one because it's the dumbest." The county conducted a hand recount of every ballot, paid for by Trump's campaign, which verified Biden's win. And every ballot in the state has a paper trail. "It's damaging to our democracy," McDonell said of Lindell's claims. "Spurious allegations spread on the internet because they affirm what you want to believe." From pillows to conspiracies President Donald Trump speaks alongside MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, during a "Made in America" event with US manufacturers at the White House on July 19, 2017. Since Trump's loss last fall, Lindell has been a superspreader of election misinformation. A Minnesotan who often talks about his journey from recovered crack cocaine addict to CEO, Lindell made a name for himself with cheery infomercials showing him hugging his trademark pillow. He fell into Trump's orbit during the 2016 election, attending his election night watch party and later showing up at White House events. Even as many Republican politicians acknowledged Biden's victory, Lindell stuck with Trump's lies about his loss. Lindell has shared a wide range of theories of why the election was stolen, from ballots cast by dead voters to Biden votes being counted multiple times -- all of which have been debunked. His latest and most operatic theory involves a sweeping conspiracy in which hackers from China and other foreign countries broke into elections office computer systems around the country to reduce the number of votes for Trump. The claim is supported, he says, by "heroes" who supposedly captured data proving the hacking and then leaked it to Lindell in January. Donald Trump's political organization builds war chest topping $100 millionLindell included a snippet of the data in one of his videos and sent CNN a half-dozen additional screenshots he said were examples of the data. He said he has spent millions of dollars to verify the data by hiring unnamed experts -- some of whom he has included, with their faces blurred out and voices changed, in his videos. But Lindell's claims don't hold water. The first block of data from Lindell's "Absolutely 9-0" video, released in June, was a dramatic scrolling video of a long series of numbers in hexadecimal format, a numeric system used by some programmers. When the data is converted to text, it becomes clear that it is not evidence of hacking but a version of Pennsylvania's voter file, listing every voter registered in the state -- a copy of which can be purchased from the state government for $20. The Washington Post first reported the voter file connection. In the video, one of Lindell's anonymous experts says that the data he was showing was "raw, encrypted data" proving election hacking. But Lindell later claimed that the data was simply "B-roll," a placeholder for the actual evidence. The other snippets of data Lindell sent to CNN -- which he says are the real deal -- are also far from proof, according to nine cybersecurity experts who reviewed them. The screenshots are other blocks of hexadecimal numbers. When converted to text, they appear to be a list of IP addresses and coordinates, but nothing proving hacking or even the nature of any traffic between them. JUST WATCHEDJimmy Kimmel is worried about MyPillow's Mike LindellReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHJimmy Kimmel is worried about MyPillow's Mike Lindell 02:54In his videos, Lindell has called his data "PCAPs," or packet captures -- a technical format for capturing web traffic. But the experts CNN consulted agreed that the data he has released so far are not PCAPs. Some of the IP addresses listed appear to be associated with public county and city websites -- but not computers involved in vote casting, tallying or other critical election infrastructure, the experts said. "These are not PCAP files," said Harri Hursti, a computer programmer who organizes voting machine hacking tests and has assisted with election audits. Lindell "has shown no evidence that he has PCAP files and he has shown no evidence that these files have anything to do with elections," he said. J. Alex Halderman, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan and expert in voting machines, called Lindell's antics "completely ridiculous." "When security experts produce evidence, we don't send around video of hex-encoded files -- that's entirely Hollywood," he said. "What we do is share the original data (along with information to support its provenance and authenticity) and explain our interpretation so that other experts can verify or dispute it." Lindell claims that he will release his full dataset showing election hacking at his so-called symposium. "Nobody has seen what I have," he said. "No judge, nobody, until I sent you guys a piece of it." But notably, experts said the vast majority of votes in the US -- including in battleground states -- are cast by paper ballot or supported by a paper trail. That means that if hacking did occur, it could be proven by looking back at the ballots. And recounts or audits in several of the counties Lindell says were hacked have verified the results based on those paper ballots. "The ballots are ink on dead trees," said Dan Wallach, a Rice University computer science professor who has researched electronic voting system security. "Nothing that happens in China can change the ink on those dead trees." The 'election that never ends' MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell waits outside the West Wing of the White House before entering on January 15, 2021.Numerous election officials in the counties that Lindell has identified as purported targets for hacking told CNN they were baffled and frustrated by his claims. The officials said that their vote-tallying machines are not connected to the internet at all -- and that the specifics of Lindell's allegations simply don't add up. Take Adams County, Pennsylvania, the home of the Gettysburg battlefield. Trump won the county with 37,567 votes, compared to 18,254 for Biden. Data included by Lindell in one of his videos and in court documents allege that 33,111 votes had been stolen from Trump after a hack on November 4 or November 5.JUST WATCHEDWatch Newsmax anchor walk off set during MyPillow CEO interviewReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWatch Newsmax anchor walk off set during MyPillow CEO interview 02:03Molly Mudd, the county solicitor, said that nearly all of the county's ballots had been counted and reported by Election Night, November 3, before Lindell alleges the hack took place. And if Lindell's claim about that many votes being swapped were correct, Mudd said in an email, "then it would mean that Biden actually won Adams County (a heavily Republican-leaning county) by an unprecedented landslide, which is probably not the outcome that Mr. Lindell and his associates are fishing for." Some officials said they were seeing the impact of election conspiracy theories spread by Lindell and others among their communities and neighbors. In Houghton County, Michigan, near the northern tip of the state's Upper Peninsula, election officials have been deluged by emails from voters who believe their ballots were switched, said clerk Jennifer Kelly -- even though the county's machines are separate from the internet. Some voters have complained at monthly county board meetings, and others have demanded to view the ballots themselves, she said. "It's the election that never ends," Kelly said. And across the state in Oakland County, a Detroit suburb, election officials say they get regular phone calls from people claiming their votes were stolen, even after a canvass and two audits of the paper ballots verified the results. "It's very convenient to say after the fact, 'oh, you know, it was hacked,'" said Lisa Brown, the county clerk. "This is a guy who sells pillows... I don't know why anybody would want to listen to him as an expert on anything related to elections." Vote-flipping theory has questionable originsLindell's vote-flipping theories have striking similarities to a thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory -- advanced by a group of right-wing bloggers who have cited a former intelligence contractor with a checkered past -- that a supercomputer was used to steal votes from Trump across the country. In "Absolute Proof," Lindell includes a video of a map showing colorful lines and dots connecting the United States to other countries around the world -- which he claimed illustrated hacking election attempts from those countries. Mike LIndell appearing in a scene from his video, "Absolute Proof."A nearly identical graphic previously appeared on a website connected to Dennis Montgomery, a former intelligence contractor who has been the subject of multiple exposes detailing exaggerated claims and alleged cons involving junk data. A screen grab from a video called "Foreign Interference - Coordinated Hack" posted on Blxware.org, a website connected to Dennis Montgomery.Starting in 2013, Montgomery convinced former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio to pay him more than $100,000 for data that supposedly showed an illegal conspiracy involving a federal judge. A detective for the sheriff's office wrote in a 2014 email that the data contained "no evidence to support" Montgomery's claims. And Montgomery and his associates previously received more than $20 million in federal government contracts for terrorism-fighting software that appeared to have been a hoax, The New York Times reported in 2011. Lindell co-produced "Absolute Proof" with right-wing online broadcaster Brannon Howse and a blogger who goes by the name Mary Fanning, both of whom were early promoters of the supercomputer conspiracy theory. In the video, Fanning calls Lindell as he shows the map graphic, and talks through what she claims were attempted and successful cyber attacks. In multiple articles on her blog, The American Report, and discussions on Howse's show, Fanning has attributed her beliefs about vote-flipping to Montgomery. Lindell said in "Absolutely 9-0" that his unnamed sources gave him the data on January 9. And Howse said during an episode of his show that he and Fanning called Lindell on January 9 and shared their theory with him that same day. "We were talking, we're like, who can we get some of this information to that has the courage and the guts to talk about this, take on this cause, bring it to the president?" Howse said on the podcast. "I said there's only one guy in my Rolodex I know that has that kind of access, that kind of popularity and the guts to do it. And that's Mike Lindell." In a January interview with Howse, Lindell said Howse and Fanning were the people who alerted him to "the answers I was looking for" about mass vote switching. In the interview with CNN, Lindell said he hadn't met Montgomery or Fanning and that he had multiple sources for his data. Montgomery, Fanning and Howse did not respond to CNN's requests for comment. Election lies and pillow promos Mike Lindell departs from federal court in Washington, DC, on June 24, 2021.According to Lindell, his advocacy for overturning the election has cost him millions of dollars in lost business. After his pillows were dropped by major retailers earlier this year, "that's 40% of my whole business wiped out in a blink of an eye," Lindell told CNN. Still, right-wing podcasts and shows that feature him often include promo codes for MyPillow. Voting machine company Dominion argued in its defamation lawsuit that Lindell used his prominence in pushing false election claims to bring in new business from Trump supporters -- although there are no public records about how the controversy has truly affected MyPillow's finances. Last week, Lindell said MyPillow planned to stop advertising on Fox News, where its pillow ads are a common sight, because the channel won't run a promo for his August event. Trump has continued his ties to Lindell, speaking via video at a Wisconsin rally headlined by the MyPillow CEO in June. Lindell has said that after his big reveal this month, he expects the Supreme Court to rule 9-0 in favor of reinstating Trump as president -- even though there's no constitutional mechanism for that to happen. Experts agree that Lindell's fanciful claims are fanciful and unsupported -- and are eroding trust in our democracy. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," said Wallach, the Rice University professor. "This ain't that." CNN's Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Audrey Ash and Jeffrey Winter contributed to this report.

Daniel A. Medina, CNN

2021-08-05 11:22:01

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/politics/guantanamo-detainee-qahtani-biden-invs/index.html

One of the last Guantanamo detainees is a litmus test for Biden - CNNPolitics

Mohammed al-Qahtani is one of only 39 detainees left at Guantanamo. Once tortured, prisoner's quest for freedom is a test of larger political realities at play for the Biden administration.

politics, One of the last Guantanamo detainees is a litmus test for Biden - CNNPolitics

He is one of only 39 detainees left at Guantanamo. Once tortured, prisoner's case is a test of larger political realities at play.

(CNN)Nearly two decades ago, in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, a man named Mohammed al-Qahtani was captured on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Saudi national, US authorities alleged, was an al-Qaeda operative who was supposed to have been the "20th hijacker" but he failed to board United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania. After his capture, al-Qahtani was imprisoned, tortured by the US government and -- when charges against him were dropped in 2008 -- left to languish behind bars with no end in sight. Today, he sits in an isolated cell at Camp 6 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he is one of only 39 detainees left in a facility that once housed approximately 680 so-called enemy combatants, a Department of Defense spokesperson confirmed to CNN. His attorneys have waged a protracted legal battle for al-Qahtani's repatriation to Saudi Arabia. His quest for freedom is forcing the Biden administration to consider whether to release the 45-year-old man whose attorneys say is severely mentally ill battling schizophrenia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his torture or seek to hold him indefinitely without charging him with a crime. Read MoreAl-Qahtani's case, experts say, stands as a litmus test for whether President Joe Biden is committed to his pledge to shutter the controversial facility -- an enduring symbol of the George W. Bush administration's global "war on terror" that persisted through the Barack Obama and Donald Trump presidencies. And, they say, the case has troubling implications for the humane treatment of other prisoners of war, including any US servicemembers who may be captured in future conflicts.The challenge facing the Biden administration's legal team is how to balance the merits of al-Qahtani's case with the larger political realities at play, said Stephen I. Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law who follows Guantanamo litigation. While there will be those who urge the President to side with the severely mentally ill detainee as part of the process of closing down Guantanamo, said Vladeck, others within the White House may advise Biden to consider the political drawbacks of any decision that may help set free a man who allegedly aspired to take part in the worst terrorist attack on US soil. "As much as the administration may wish to show compassion toward al-Qahtani, any broader effort to effectuate his release and that of the other 38 men still in detention there would require political capital that the administration is either unable or unwilling to spend," said Vladeck, who is a CNN legal analyst.Efforts to keep al-Qahtani in custody, however, have their own potential downsides. Biden has staked his foreign policy agenda on improving relations with US allies and changing America's image abroad. He has sold his decisions to end combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq as moving the country forward from the perpetual "war on terror" footing it has operated on for nearly two decades. Keeping al-Qahtani in custody and Guantanamo open would not align with those stated goals, said Eric M. Freedman, a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University who has long been critical of detentions at Guantanamo."The saga of this individual clearly exemplifies the layer upon layer of outrage that the entire Guantanamo venture has represented since its inception," Freedman said. "If President Biden wants to adhere to his campaign promises to bring America back, freeing this man would be an excellent place to start." Mental illness, extremism and captureThe Pakistani army captured al-Qahtani in December 2001 as he traveled with other suspected al-Qaeda fighters from remote Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan to cross into Pakistan.Al-Qahtani's long history of mental illness began at age eight when he was in a serious car accident and thrown from the vehicle, suffering a traumatic brain injury, according to Dr. Emily Keram, a court-appointed psychiatrist hired at the request of defense attorneys to evaluate their client. Keram, who reviewed al-Qahtani's Saudi medical records, said the injury impaired his ability to read and concentrate, which worsened with two more car accidents in later years.In the years that followed, al-Qahtani experienced "episodes of extreme behavioral dyscontrol," according to Keram, who has interviewed al-Qahtani multiple times, including during two trips to Guantanamo Bay, since 2015. She also interviewed an older brother of al-Qahtani, one of 12 children in his family.At some point in his early 20s, al-Qahtani was found by Riyadh police naked in a garbage dumpster, Keram noted in her report. A few years later, police in the holy city of Mecca arrested al-Qahtani after he hurled himself into oncoming traffic, Keram said. That incident resulted in his involuntary commitment to the psychiatric unit of the city's King Abdul Aziz Hospital for four days where doctors determined he was delusional and suicidal, according to Keram, who also said he suffered from schizophrenia prior to entering US custody.Six months after leaving King Abdul Aziz Hospital, al-Qahtani started embracing a more extreme version of Islam and later attended an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, US authorities allege.Al-Qahtani's "psychological and cognitive deficits would be recognized by others, leading him to be vulnerable to manipulation and coercion," Keram wrote in a June 2016 assessment of al-Qahtani.At the camp, according to US military records, al-Qahtani met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and swore his loyalty to him. Bin Laden personally selected him to take part in the 9/11 attacks, the records claim. On August 4, 2001, al-Qahtani landed in Orlando, Florida, with a one-way ticket and $4,000 in cash, which made immigration officials suspicious. They questioned him for 90 minutes before sending him back to Dubai. While military records allege that he was in Orlando to meet al-Qaeda member Mohamed Atta, one of the September 11 hijackers, they also note that al-Qahtani later told interrogators he didn't know the purpose of the meet up. By the end of that month, al-Qahtani had returned to Afghanistan.Weeks later, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration embarked on a global manhunt to find the perpetrators that extended to the far reaches of Afghanistan's remote eastern frontier.In December, as al-Qahtani traveled with other suspected al-Qaeda fighters from remote Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan to cross into Pakistan, he was captured by the Pakistani army at the border and transferred to US custody roughly two weeks later, military records show.Washington moved al-Qahtani to Guantanamo Bay on February 13, 2002, one of the first wave of detainees that arrived at the new facility.He became known as Detainee 063. Military dogs, strangling and beatingsMohammed al-Qahtani, known as Detainee 063, was tortured over a roughly 50-day period between November 2002 and January 2003 at Camp X-Ray in the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp.For approximately 39 hours in May 2015, Keram met with al‐Qahtani in a bare interrogation room at Camp Echo, a former CIA black site in the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. She was there to evaluate the overall state of his mental health after more than 13 years of detention and whether he was receiving adequate medical and psychiatric care. When their conversations turned to his torture at Guantanamo, al-Qahtani often wept as he relived the ordeal.According to the government's interrogation logs, which describe the torture in detail and were leaked to Time Magazine in 2005, al-Qahtani experienced some of the most severe "enhanced interrogation" techniques approved by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld under his authorized "First Special Interrogation Plan." Rumsfeld infamously scribbled a note in the margins of a memo suggesting even harsher techniques.Over a roughly 50-day period between November 2002 and January 2003, al-Qahtani was subjected to a long list of brutal methods -- including sleep deprivation, extreme temperature and noise exposure, sexual humiliation, beatings and strangling, according to Keram's report. At times, in apparent protest at his treatment, al-Qahtani refused to eat or drink water.Dehydrated, doctors would occasionally forcibly administer an IV, the logs show. In one instance, al-Qahtani bit an IV tube in two before he was restrained.Al-Qahtani's interrogators also threatened him with military dogs and tied a leash to his shackles, led him around the room and forced him to perform a series of dog tricks. At times, they would not allow him to use the bathroom, resulting in him urinating on himself repeatedly, according to military records.Al-Qahtani told Keram that during his torture he experienced hallucinatory episodes. In one, he believed he was dead and seeing ghosts before an imaginary bird assured him that he was still alive. He told her that he wanted to end his life to stop the torture.Al-Qahtani was subjected to torture methods including sleep deprivation, extreme temperature and noise exposure, sexual humiliation, beatings and strangling."The intensity I had to kill myself was not the intensity to die, it was the intensity to stop the psychological torture, the horrible pain of solitary confinement," said al-Qahtani. "The symptoms of psychological torture were horrific. It was even worse than the effects of the physical torture."During the sessions, interrogators allowed medical personnel inside the room to check al-Qahtani's vitals signs -- sometimes three times a day. They were done to ensure he was "able to continue" with the interrogations, the records note.He was hospitalized on two occasions for an abnormally slow heart rate, according to military records. In one instance, officials flew in a radiologist from a naval station in Puerto Rico to read al-Qahtani's CT scan after his heart rate dropped to 35 beats per minute. When the doctor found "no anomalies" al-Qahtani was "hooded, shackled and restrained in a litter" and taken back to Camp X-Ray for interrogations the following day, the logs report. On December 6, 2002 -- roughly two weeks after the interrogations began -- al-Qahtani told interrogators the story that he had met bin Laden in Afghanistan. "I am doing this to get out of here," he said. He retracted the story the next day, saying that he had made the claim because he was under pressure.In an October 2008 memo, a military official alleged that al-Qahtani's admission of involvement in bin Laden's "special mission to the US appear to be true and are corroborated in reporting from other sources." The document does not detail what information the military had or how it was corroborated.In the June 2016 evaluation, Keram concluded that al-Qahtani could not receive effective mental health treatment while he remains imprisoned at Guantanamo. She recommended his release to Saudi Arabia, where the government has said it would provide him psychiatric care."The profound physical and psychological torture Mr. al-Qahtani experienced during interrogations, coupled with his inability to control what was happening to him, led him to conclude that he had only two means of ending his suffering; suicide or compliance," wrote Keram of the torture sessions. "Thus, Mr. al-Qahtani's statements were coerced and not voluntary, reliable, or credible."Al-Qahtani's condition has significantly deteriorated in the last year. He has tried to take his own life on three separate occasions in the last nine months during psychotic episodes driven by schizophrenic hallucinations, including by swallowing broken pieces of glass, his legal team says."The fact that somebody as sick as Mr. al-Qahtani poses some kind of security threat to the United States is unthinkable," said Scott Roehm, Washington director for The Center for Victims of Torture, a nonprofit that has pressured the Biden administration to close Guantanamo. CNN was unable to interview al-Qahtani for this article.This past February, Keram supplied another court declaration, writing that al-Qahtani was at "high risk for suicide." Court ruling forces Biden White House to make decisionsAl-Qahtani was interrogated for 18 to 20 hours a day at Camp X-Ray.To probe the last 16 years of court records in al-Qahtani's legal quest for freedom -- a cache of more than 400 filings between October 2005 and June 2021 -- is to take a journey through some of the most sordid moments in the recent history of the United States.The government dropped all charges against him in 2008, which Susan Crawford, a senior Bush administration official later admitted to The Washington Post was because he was tortured. Crawford served as the head of military commissions at Guantanamo Bay and was charged with deciding whether to bring detainees to trial. Any information gleaned during those sessions at Camp X-Ray, Crawford acknowledged, was inadmissible in court.The admission was unprecedented.Despite dropping the charges, the 2008 military memo argued for al-Qahtani's continued detention, categorizing him as a "high-risk" to national security.Al-Qahtani's legal team has made numerous efforts to secure his release, particularly after 2008 when charges against him were dropped. All were unsuccessful. In the face of those defeats, al-Qahtani's lawyers decided in April 2017 to go down an untried legal route for Guantanamo detainees. As a prisoner of war, they argued, their client had the right under the Geneva Conventions to be granted a medical evaluation by an independent panel of three doctors, known as a mixed medical commission.Al-Qahtani's lawyers argued that an independent medical evaluation was guaranteed under a US Army rule known as Army Reg. 190-8, a domestic law which allows for the repatriation of sick and wounded prisoners of war.The strategy, according to al-Qahtani's lawyers, was to see if other doctors agreed with Keram's view that al-Qahtani was so mentally ill that he poses no threat to the United States and should be repatriated to Saudi Arabia. Justice Department lawyers contended that the Army rule did not apply to Guantanamo detainees.After years of disappointment, al-Qahtani and his legal team had its first significant victory. In March 2020, US District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer, in a 25-page opinion, ordered the US military to permit a mixed medical commission to examine al-Qahtani and determine his eligibility for repatriation to Saudi Arabia for psychiatric care.The judge's order shook the Pentagon, which has consistently fought to block civilian courts from deciding the fate of Guantanamo detainees. The Trump administration appealed the order, which the DC Court of Appeals dismissed in September.A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment for this article, citing al-Qahtani's ongoing case.On January 15, in the waning days of Trump's presidential term, the Justice Department made another bid to have Collyer's ruling tossed out, filing a "motion for reconsideration" in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, citing a last-minute rule change instituted by then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy declaring Guantanamo detainees exempt from Army Reg. 190-8. The new rule, the government said, made the judge's ruling moot. "In the final hours of the Trump administration, they tried to move the goal posts," said Ramzi Kassem, a City University of New York law professor whose legal clinic represents al-Qahtani with The Center for Constitutional Rights. "It's the government, having lost under the law, then trying to change the law."In the back-and-forth of court filings, al-Qahtani's attorneys have argued that the last-minute attempted rule change didn't change the government's obligation to adhere to the Geneva conventions. The Biden administration has now inherited the case and has on five occasions asked the court for an extension as it determines how it will proceed. It has until September 8 to decide which course of action to take: Continue to fight Collyer's order, grant a mixed medical commission access to al-Qahtani, or drop the matter and repatriate him to Saudi Arabia.Wherever the White house falls, the potential moral, ethical and practical implications are significant. Mohammed al-Qahtani has been held at Guantanamo Bay since February 2002 and since May 2008 without charge. Today, he is being held in a cell at Camp 6.The White House declined comment on al-Qahtani's case, citing the pending litigation. If the Biden White House were to allow a mixed medical commission to examine al-Qahtani at Guantanamo, the first in the base's history, he could set a precedent in which a number of other prisoners could request independent medical evaluations that could expose the conditions they have been subjected to for nearly two decades in some cases. If the government denies al-Qahtani a medical evaluation, however, and supports the Trump administration's attempted unilateral carve out to exclude Guantanamo detainees from the Geneva Conventions, that could put US servicemembers captured as prisoners of war in peril. In a life-or-death scenario, those servicemembers could be denied the same type of treatment and medical evaluations al-Qahtani is now seeking, said Freedman.Looming in the background is the fierce debate over whether Guantanamo detainees are entitled to "due process rights," a constitutional guarantee to fair treatment in court that is a bedrock of the American judicial system. Previous administrations have argued that such rights do not apply to them. The Biden administration's legal team is divided on the issue, according to a recent New York Times report. The administration has yet to take a public stance on the matter. Recently, however, the Biden White House put its first stamp on Guantanamo policy on July 19, allowing the transfer of detainee, Abdul Latif Nasser, to Morocco. Because Nasser -- who was never charged with a crime -- had been cleared for repatriation in 2016, it's unclear whether or not the move represents a significant shift in policy.Meanwhile, as the battle over the future of Guantanamo Bay plays out in Washington, al-Qahtani spends his days in isolation in his cell. He avoids other detainees because of his schizophrenic outbreaks, Keram noted in an August 2020 court declaration.In a recent phone conversation with his lawyer, Kassem, al-Qahtani said he survived on the hope of seeing his family again. The unclassified notes of that call, according to Kassem, reveal the desperation his client feels."There is no life for me here," al-Qahtani told his attorney. "If I have a future, it is outside this place."

Bob Ortega, CNN Investigates

2021-07-23 11:25:25

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/23/politics/arizona-audit-politicians-invs/index.html

Candidates echo fake Arizona fraud claims with an eye on 2022 - CNNPolitics

A slew of midterm candidates are using phony election fraud claims in Arizona to cozy up to Trump supporters

politics, Candidates echo fake Arizona fraud claims with an eye on 2022 - CNNPolitics

Trump loyalists echo false Arizona election fraud claims in hopes of winning midterms

(CNN)Oklahoma pastor Jackson Lahmeyer's quest to win a seat in the US Senate in his home state recently led him to the Phoenix coliseum that has become a beacon for the Trump faithful seeking to overturn the 2020 election.Lahmeyer is among a slew of 2022 political aspirants or lawmakers who've trekked to the site of the Arizona Senate's "audit," to cozy up to former President Donald J. Trump's supporters and tie themselves to the phony notion that the election was stolen. Even though Trump won Oklahoma with 65.4 percent of the vote, Lahmeyer says he's concerned: "Do I believe there was voter fraud in Oklahoma in 2020? Yes," he told CNN, after visiting Arizona. "I believe there was voter fraud in all 50 states ... Who could possibly believe the idea there were 80 million votes for Joe Biden?" These GOP politicians have used the Arizona audit's key role at the center of the stolen-election narrative to draw attention to their own 2022 campaigns, and as evidence of their commitment to Trump as they fundraise. Former Georgia state representative and gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones visited the Arizona Senate's audit in Phoenix on June 9, as seen in this post from an account tied to the audit. Among others who've made the journey: Vernon Jones, a former Georgia lawmaker who spoke at Trump's Jan. 6 rally in DC, and is running to unseat Gov. Brian Kemp, whom he's called "a traitor;" Chuck Gray, a Wyoming state house member mounting a primary challenge against Rep. Liz Cheney; Amanda Chase, a Virginia state senator who spoke in DC on Jan. 6, was censured by her state senate, and flirted with an independent candidacy after losing the GOP nomination for this November's Virginia gubernatorial race; and Eric Greitens, who resigned as Missouri governor in 2018 amid reports he'd abused and blackmailed a woman with whom he was having an affair. Greitens admitted the affair but denied blackmailing her, and the charges against him were dropped. He is now running for the US Senate seat left open next year by Sen. Roy Blunt's retirement. Read MoreHis cybersecurity firm is working on the Arizona 'audit'. But people who know him have questions Trump himself is scheduled to visit Arizona this Saturday, where he looks to claim, yet again, that the Arizona audit will be the first domino in showing fraud in a string of states that Biden narrowly won, including Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.In this narrative, truth doesn't merely take a back seat. It gets tossed to the side of the road. Take last week's GOP briefing at Arizona's state capitol, where Doug Logan, lead contractor on the review of ballots in Maricopa County, said "we have 74,243 mail-in-ballots where there is no clear record of them being sent," and 11,326 people whom he said were not on the Nov. 7 voter rolls but showed up on the final roll of voters on Dec. 4.Election experts, analysts and reporters quickly debunked Logan's claims online and in news stories, noting they seemed to be based on Logan misunderstanding or misstating how the voting process worked. But that didn't matter. Within minutes, and in the week since, Donald Trump and a slew of GOP election conspiracists trumpeted these supposed findings across social media as "proof" the election was stolen. And candidates touting their fealty to Trump were quick to tweet, re-tweet or otherwise post Logan's debunked claims and call for more audits. Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, (center) now running for a US Senate seat, poses with Arizona state senators Wendy Rogers and Sonny Borrelli before his June 12 tour of the Arizona Senate's audit site. From the start, with Arizona Senate President Karen Fann hiring the Cyber Ninjas firm, a little-known firm inexperienced in election audits, run by a man who'd repeated wild conspiratorial fraud claims; to the review being funded with great secrecy by private, likely partisan sources; through the company initially handing auditors blue pens until a reporter pointed out they could be used to change how ballots are read; to, more recently, contractors sending reams of vote data off to a mysterious cabin in Montana, in the latest portion of the audit, the Arizona vote review has been fraught.There could scarcely be a deeper canyon than the one between how election experts see the audit and how Trump-backing GOP candidates describe it. "Was this deliberate from day one for fundraising?" asked Harri Hursti, founder of Nordic Innovation Labs, and a data-security expert who recently completed a conventional election audit in New Hampshire, about the Arizona vote review. "This whole thing is theater ... it's all smoke and mirrors and theater." The New Hampshire audit, by contrast, found that a borrowed folding machine in the town of Windham caused 400 ballots to be improperly counted, but that there was "no basis to believe that the miscounts found in Windham indicate a pattern of partisan bias or a failed election." Trey Grayson, a Republican and former Kentucky Secretary of State, co-wrote a recent report on the Arizona audit for the States United Democracy Center, a nonprofit focused on fair and secure elections. It detailed huge flaws in the audit's processes, poor security, high levels of built-in error and other problems. "If you are a Republican who has concerns about this election, you shouldn't trust the outcome of this review in Arizona," Grayson told CNN."Routine audits of vote counts are important," said Mark Lindeman, acting co-director of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan election-integrity nonprofit that earlier this year worked with Georgia on a full hand count of its vote and with Pennsylvania on a risk-limiting election audit. Both indicated that the original results were substantially accurate. Arizona audit funding cloaked in secrecyBut in Arizona, he said, "The problem seems to be that Trump lost, and that's what they're trying to fix; but that's not what audits do." He called the procedures Cyber Ninjas and the other subcontractors in Arizona are following bizarre, adding, "It's a process that can only raise more questions, muddy the waters ... None of it makes much sense, except as a way to increase doubt." Maricopa County's GOP-led Board of Supervisors also has termed the Arizona Senate's audit unnecessary, with board chairman Jack Sellers last week issuing a statement that, "It's clear the people hired by Arizona Senate leadership to supposedly bring integrity to our elections are instead just bringing incompetence." But many of the GOP candidates and lawmakers visiting Arizona, who have eagerly fomented lies about the 2020 vote, and embraced vicious and radical rhetoric about those who disagree with them, dismiss such criticisms. "I don't care what a GOP board says; you have a lot of RINOs occupying positions they should not be in," said Oklahoma's Lahmeyer, using the term for "Republicans in name only." Lahmeyer, who touts his endorsement from disgraced former Gen. Michael Flynn, and hopes to unseat GOP Sen. James Lankford in 2022, termed Lankford "a traitor," for voting on Jan. 6 to certify President Biden's victory. As of June 30, Lahmeyer reported raising just more than $250,000 to the Federal Election Commission. Lankford's FEC reports show he'd raised $2.3 million as of that date. "Absolutely," the election was stolen from Trump, said Gray, the Wyoming lawmaker challenging Cheney. Trump has regularly attacked Cheney for voting to impeach him and for rejecting his claims the election was stolen, scurrilous claims and nonsensical rhetoric Gray eagerly echoed. "We've ... got to expose the truth, got to stop the fake news media, Liz Cheney and the coalition of radical socialists," he said. Jones, the former Georgia lawmaker, has called Gov. Kemp "a traitor" for rejecting election fraud claims. Asked about his visit to the Arizona audit and his claims of fraud in Georgia, Jones said, "It has helped my campaign. From day one, I've talked about things I described as violation of the Constitution, the procedures followed in counting absentee ballots." His fundraising website specifically asks for contributions to "ensure that Georgia's elections are never stolen by Democrats again." Lawmakers and candidates from Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, too, have visited Arizona amid calls for audits in their states. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the visits of the four Wisconsin lawmakers were paid for by OAN personality Christina Bobb's Voices and Votes nonprofit. None of the four nor Bobb responded to interview requests by CNN. Bobb has said on her website she's raising funds for the audit. Chase, the Virginia lawmaker, said she plans to push for an audit in Virginia when its legislature goes into session in August. "I do believe there were irregularities and an organized effort by Democrats to steal the election from President Trump, and thousands of votes flipped. There needs to be a forensic audit in every state," she said. And in Arizona, where term-limited Gov. Doug Ducey won't be running for reelection, at least two GOP candidates for governor have echoed on social media Logan's debunked claims about election problems. Lindeman, of Verified Voting, sighed during a discussion of such claims, and said that while election audits can always be improved, "they were better in 2020 than they have ever been.""There is no rational basis for the notion that something terrible happened in November 2020 and we have to keep investigating and investigating until we find it," he said, adding that, "what's been lost is any shared national commitment to look for facts."

Casey Tolan and Curt Devine, CNN

2021-07-14 10:40:25

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/14/us/florida-condo-collapse-building-inspections-invs/index.html

Surfside building collapse could lead to new Florida laws - CNN

Inspectors from the town of Surfside visited Champlain Towers South to review permits dozens of times in the years before it collapsed. Now, the Florida disaster could lead to stricter building rules.

us, Surfside building collapse could lead to new Florida laws - CNN

Surfside inspectors visited Champlain Towers South dozens of times. Now its collapse is spurring calls for reform

(CNN)In the wake of last month's deadly building collapse, inspectors from around South Florida have fanned out to review other high-rises for damage in an attempt to avert another tragedy.But Champlain Towers South had been visited regularly by officials in the years before it fell. Inspectors from the town of Surfside conducted permit-related inspections at the condo tower more than once a week on average in 2018 and 2019, according to a CNN analysis of town records.Even as an engineer hired by the building's condo board warned of "major structural damage" in the property, and as residents squabbled over funding for expensive repairs, there's no record that any of the town employees who streamed through the building raised red flags over a condo that would collapse with deadly consequences two years later.One reason why: Their job was to ensure compliance with permits ranging from plumbing upgrades to air conditioning repairs to window installations in individual units, not to review the structure of the building. The evidence from the collapsed Surfside condo is growing by the day, but the investigation could take yearsNow, state and local officials and real estate experts around Florida are questioning whether periodic, structural inspections of buildings should become mandatory statewide, and what role government inspectors should play. Read MoreSome experts say the large number of inspections at Champlain Towers South, at a time when broader flaws in the building seemed to fly under the radar in the town government, raises questions about the priorities and incentives in Florida's building regulations. Towns and cities collect fees from permits and permit-related inspections -- while larger reviews of structural safety are the responsibility of property owners. "Inspectors love to go to buildings down here when the little guy, meaning the unit owner, God forbid, installs kitchen cabinets without a permit," said Eric Glazer, a South Florida attorney who is part of a committee that will be advising a task force reviewing Florida condominium law. "But on the way, when they're walking to that place, if they happen to pass the common elements, and the common elements are literally falling down around them, they'll ignore it and continue on just to get the little guy. That's how it works." Overall, town employees conducted 177 inspections at Champlain Towers South between January 2018 and August 2019, with inspections taking place roughly one out of every four weekdays on average. There were only three buildings in Surfside that town employees conducted more inspections at than they did at Champlain Towers South during that 20-month period. Since the disaster -- which as of Tuesday has taken 94 lives and left 22 more still unaccounted for -- South Florida officials have scrambled to re-inspect other aging buildings, prompting evacuations of at least three other residential structures deemed unsafe.And as Floridians up and down the state's 1,350 miles of coastline fret about whether their condos could be in danger, calls are growing for reform. Frequent inspectionsIn some ways, Miami-Dade County, which includes Surfside, has some of the strictest building inspection rules in Florida. Along with neighboring Broward County, Miami-Dade requires building owners to hire an engineer to inspect their structures every 10 years after they turn 40 -- a requirement first passed after a collapse of a Miami office building in 1974 that killed seven people. Champlain Towers South was set to hit that 40-year mark this year. An engineer hired by the condo board had found alarming damage, which he documented in a 2018 report, and work had begun on some repairs at the time it fell. But before buildings turn 40, the only inspections required by government officials are to ensure property owners are complying with individual permits. Surfside conducts hundreds of those inspections every year, according to a 5,700-page document posted on the town website listing building inspections going back to the 1990s. CNN converted the document into a more easily usable database, and searched for all inspections at the address of Champlain Towers South, 8777 Collins Ave.A 2020 report found Surfside condo lacked funds for necessary repairs. One expert called it a 'wake-up call'The analysis found that the town conducted more than a dozen inspections at the building every year since 2013, with more than 100 in 2018. The most common inspections were of permits for "alterations and repairs," exterior windows and doors, and air conditioning replacement. On some days, multiple inspectors visited the building on the same day. Inspections that were listed with a status of "cancelled" were excluded from the analysis. In addition, CNN obtained through a public records request a separate document from the town listing inspections since October 1, 2019, after the department changed its record-keeping system. That showed that inspectors conducted more than a dozen inspections at Champlain Towers South in both 2020 and 2021, although not as frequently as the two years prior -- likely in part due to the coronavirus pandemic. The most recent was an inspection by the town's head building official, Jim McGuinness, who reviewed work happening on the building's roof on June 23, the day before the collapse. McGuinness has said he saw no signs on the roof that the building was in danger of toppling. Surfside mayor says security will be tightened at the condo collapse location, which he says is a 'holy site'In an interview, McGuinness pushed back against the notion that the town's inspectors have focused more on permitting issues than structural integrity and said buildings must be certified for compliance with all building codes before they are occupied. "Our job is life safety in buildings. Period. That's our job," McGuinness told CNN, though he added that building owners have responsibility to maintain their properties. "We're the guys who help people help themselves." McGuinness said in light of the collapse, the town's inspectors are now examining buildings for "any signs of trouble." He added that buildings over 30 years old should begin assessments of their own ahead of their 40-year deadlines. Florida building officials point out that the inspectors who conducted those dozens of inspections weren't assigned to scour the building's concrete for cracks or hunt for water damage. Claudio Grande, a retired building official and inspector who worked for multiple South Florida cities, said that building officials' jobs focused on the enforcement of permitting issues instead of structural reviews because that's what the Florida building code requires. "The fact is that we depend on the engineers to provide us a report" about whether a building is safe, he said, referring to engineers hired by building owners. And Guillermo Olmedillo, a former town manager for Surfside, noted that the inspectors sent to buildings to inspect permits are experts in specific trades, like air conditioning repair or electrical wiring, not necessarily structural engineering."It's like doctors: If I go to a cardiologist, can he tell me there is something wrong with my endocrinology?" Olmedillo asked. Still, he noted that if inspectors saw concerning issues they could flag it to other city officials or employees. A 2020 report found Surfside condo lacked funds for necessary repairs. One expert called it a 'wake-up call'Several contractors who did work at units in Champlain Towers South told CNN that the inspectors from the town were diligent and professional. Jeff Rose, a general contractor whose parents owned a unit in the building (and weren't there when it collapsed), said he didn't blame town inspectors who were sent to the building to review permits for not sounding the alarm on the building's safety. "If you're going to check out somebody's flooring, you get out of your car, check in with security, get into the elevator, and check out the floor of that unit, and that's it," said Rose, who has worked in about a dozen units in Champlain Towers South over the years. "Never would you start randomly walking around a whole building to inspect it." After the collapse, he said, he anticipated the rules would change to require more regular inspections of broader structural issues and "give people the peace of mind they need." A son's unanswered text message, two sisters buried together, a newlywed couple and a 60-year-old love story: What we know about the collapse victimsAt least one official in the town government had seen the 2018 report from the engineer warning of "major structural damage." Rosendo Prieto, the town's former head building official, was sent a copy of the report by a condo board member, but told residents that their building was "in very good shape" just a few days later, according to minutes of a board meeting obtained by CNN. Grande, the retired official, said Prieto -- who has not responded to CNN's requests for comment -- should have prioritized the issue and made sure the association moved swiftly to address the damage."He looked at the report that basically said the building was unsafe and needed priority and he went ahead and told the condo association, 'Your building is in good shape. Don't worry about it,'" Grande said. Calls for changeAs first responders search through the rubble of Champlain Towers South, government officials and real estate experts around Florida are considering stricter regulations requiring more regular inspections of buildings' structural integrity. Democratic State Sen. Jason Pizzo, who represents Surfside, has said he's planning to push for new legislation addressing condo inspections during the legislature's next session, and hopes the disaster will spark action. "When we all go up to Tallahassee, I don't want everybody to forget and have short-term memories about where we were in that moment," Pizzo told local TV channel WPTV.The Florida State Bar has formed a task force of legal experts to review the state's condo laws and make suggestions to the legislature. And a group of engineering organizations has formed a separate working group to make their own recommendations.The engineers' task force is studying "what should these inspections entail and who can do them," said Allen Douglas, the executive director of the Florida Engineering Society and the American Council of Engineering Companies of Florida and a member of that working group. That could involve a statewide rule, or possibly varying regulations around the state. For example, he said, municipalities that are "right along the coast, that get the sea spray and at times salt water intrusion" might face stricter regulations about how often to conduct inspections. Surfside search crew member: 'I'm also emotionally digging for more strength'In 2008, the state passed a law requiring condo associations to conduct studies by engineers looking at their building's needed maintenance and finances at least every five years. But that rule was repealed in 2010 amid criticism from some real estate lawyers and property managers that the reviews were overly expensive, and regular studies are no longer required.While Florida law still requires condo boards to maintain their common areas, "nobody is checking to see if you do or you don't," said Glazer, the condo attorney who's assisting the state bar task force. "You are on the honor system." He said the state should require condo owners to save money for repairs, and require local building officials to conduct more regular structural inspections. So far, Gov. Ron DeSantis has stayed noncommittal on potential changes to building rules in the wake of the collapse, saying last week at a press conference that he believed the Champlain Towers building "had problems from the start." "If there is something identified that would have implications broader than Champlain Towers, then obviously we are going to take that and act as appropriate," DeSantis said. Some city and county officials are also looking at potential changes. Scott Singer, the mayor of Boca Raton, Florida, told CNN that his staffers are drafting an ordinance that would require the recertification of buildings after 30 years or possibly less. He said he had talked to engineers whose phones were "ringing off the hook" with people trying to schedule inspections. "People should have confidence that the Surfside tragedy was an incredibly rare event, and we want to take more proactive measures to increase our safeguards to ensure it's not repeated," he said. "Everyone's looking to prevent this freak occurrence from ever happening again."

Casey Tolan, Curt Devine and Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman, CNN

2021-07-08 23:37:49

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/08/us/surfside-collapse-condo-finances-invs/index.html

Report found Surfside condo association was deeply underfunded as repair bills piled up - CNN

An independent budget review warned the Champlain Towers South condo association that its financial reserves were critically underfunded in the face of urgently needed structural repairs a little over a year before the building collapsed, a document obtained by CNN shows.

us, Report found Surfside condo association was deeply underfunded as repair bills piled up - CNN

A 2020 report found Surfside condo lacked funds for necessary repairs. One expert called it a 'wake-up call'

(CNN)An independent budget review warned the Champlain Towers South condo association that its financial reserves were critically underfunded in the face of urgently needed structural repairs a little over a year before the building collapsed, a document obtained by CNN shows. The condo association only had 6.9% of the recommended level of money to complete repair and replacement projects and stay financially secure, according to a March 2020 report from Association Reserves, a company that analyzes housing association finances. The report said that various components of the Surfside, Florida, building had zero years of "remaining useful life." Those included the entrance and garage -- where some experts believe concrete cracking may have contributed to last month's deadly collapse. Read MoreThe Surfside community gathers for a memorial as search efforts turn from rescue to recovery The study, which has not been previously reported, underscores how squabbling over assessments and underfunded reserves brought the repair situation at Champlain Towers South to a head. The association was projected to have a little over $706,000 in its reserves as of January 2021, according to the report, while Association Reserves recommended it stockpile nearly $10.3 million to account for necessary repairs. Based on that gap, the report found that the Champlain South board was at "high risk" of "special assessments & deferred maintenance." About a year after receiving the report, the board moved in April 2021 to levy a $15 million special assessment on condo owners to raise money needed for repairs. Robert Nordlund, the founder and CEO of Association Reserves, told CNN in an interview that about three out of 10 condo associations nationwide that his company reviews are at high risk, with less than 30% of the recommended reserves. He said the report showed the importance of condo associations stockpiling enough money to conduct regular repairs. "I just wish they had hired us five years or 10 years or 20 years prior," he said of the Champlain South condo board.JUST WATCHEDVideo shows demolition of remainder of Surfside buildingReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHVideo shows demolition of remainder of Surfside building 02:47 The board had never previously received a reserve budget study, according to a separate PowerPoint presentation to residents from November 2020. The presentation alluded to the contentious debates among owners about the big-ticket items. "Complaining Or Shouting At Each Other Doesn't Work!" one slide of the presentation said, underlining the statement. The lack of reserves complicated the condo association's efforts to secure money for repairs. Another presentation to residents in December 2020 said that "two major HOA [Homeowner Associations] lenders declined us" for loans. The loans were declined because the condo association was in a "higher risk category" due to its relatively low monthly maintenance fees and the lack of funds saved in the reserves, according to the presentation. "We should have a lot more money in the bank for lenders to be comfortable," the presentation stated. "We have not done reserve studies or set enough reserve money aside to prepare for this day." The condo association did eventually secure a $12 million loan from Valley National Bank in March 2021 to pay for repairs, according to financial documents obtained by CNN. The $15 million special assessment was designed to pay that back. Nordlund said that he believed his company's report was "a wake-up call" for the condo board, spurring the assessment. The report, which included a visual inspection of the building, also includes photos of damaged concrete on the balconies and facade. Nordlund said that as part of the report, his employees reviewed the 2018 engineer's study warning of "major structural damage" in the building's concrete. He said the designation of zero years of useful remaining life for areas such as the garage was likely inspired by that report, and meant that repair projects "need to be done immediately." A spokesperson for the Champlain Towers South condo association did not provide comment about the budget report. Donna DiMaggio Berger, an attorney for the association, told CNN's Chris Cuomo last month that under Florida law, association boards create operating budgets with reserves but a majority of association members can vote to waive reserves. "In far too many communities we do have members voting to waive reserves each year," she said. Peter S. Sachs, a Florida attorney who specializes in condominium law, said the report shows the board tried to "do the right thing" by obtaining a thorough analysis of its reserves. But he said it also reveals how "prior boards may have been asleep at the wheel or unable to overcome political resistance from the unit owners" to raise money for maintenance.A son's unanswered text message, two sisters buried together, a newlywed couple and a 60 year old love story: What we know about the collapse victims The collapse should inspire new regulations requiring condo associations to save reserve money and avoid deferring necessary maintenance, said Eric Glazer, a South Florida-based attorney who is part of a committee that will be advising the task force reviewing Florida condominium law in the wake of the collapse. "Florida needs to step up and force people to put money away for a rainy day," Glazer said.Florida law already mandates condo associations keep reserves for repairs that cost more than $10,000, but a majority of owners can vote to waive that requirement, legal experts in the state said. In 2008, the state passed a law requiring condo associations to conduct reserve studies at least every five years. But that rule was repealed in 2010 amid criticism from some real estate lawyers and property managers, NBC News reported Thursday, and regular studies are no longer required. Nine other states around the country require associations to conduct some form of reserve studies, according to the Community Associations Institute, a trade association. Nordlund agreed that the building collapse could lead to changes in the practice of condo finances. After the disaster, he said, "we scoured that file, looking, did we miss anything?" "We are in the budget business, not the safety business," he said. But if the board had conducted an earlier budget study and moved more quickly to raise money and conduct repairs, he said, it could have possibly meant "preventing a tragedy."

Rob Kuznia, Scott Glover, Curt Devine and Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-07-03 08:03:07

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/03/us/surfside-condo-collapse-questions-unanswered-invs/index.html

'Tragedy beyond tragedy': Over a week after Surfside condo collapse, questions remain unanswered - CNN

Sara Nir was up late, checking her email when she heard knocking sounds that went from a soft tapping to hard pounding to a frightful crash overhead -- as if a wall had collapsed in the unit above her ground-floor condo. 

us, 'Tragedy beyond tragedy': Over a week after Surfside condo collapse, questions remain unanswered - CNN

'Tragedy beyond tragedy': Champlain Towers South was a catastrophe in slow motion

(CNN)Sara Nir was up late, checking her email when she heard knocking sounds that went from a soft tapping to hard pounding to a frightful crash overhead -- as if a wall had collapsed in the unit above her ground-floor condo.  Raysa Rodriguez was sleeping in her room on the ninth floor when she awoke disoriented. The building was swaying "like a sheet of paper." She ran into the hallway to find that it had been impaled from floor to ceiling by a concrete pillar; the doors of the elevators were shorn off, exposing the shafts.  Cassie Stratton was on the phone with her out-of-town husband, looking down from her fourth-floor balcony in horror as part of the pool deck below apparently vanished into a sink hole. She "told him that the pool was collapsing, that the ground was shaking and cracking," Stratton's sister, Ashley Dean, told CNN's John Berman. "It's my understanding that she let out a very loud scream and the phone went dead."  Cassondra Stratton and Mike Stratton.To many residents of the Champlain Towers South, the devastating partial collapse of the 13-story structure in Surfside, Florida, in the predawn hours of June 24 came on suddenly and left them traumatized, injured or dead in a matter of seconds. Read MoreBut from what is known to date, the tower's cave-in resembles less a cataclysmic event than a slow-motion catastrophe, made possible by years of missed warnings, mixed messaging and delayed action, according to public records, including emails and inspection reports, as well as experts who have spoken with CNN. "This is obviously a tragedy beyond tragedy, and there seems to have been signs of concern," said Daniella Levine Cava, mayor of Miami-Dade County. "We're obviously going to be part of the investigation -- the county is going to be doing everything in our power to make sure that we learn from this." The disaster appears to have exposed some of the limitations of condo associations, which are made up of condominium owners with a vested interest in the property but that seldom possess much expertise in structural engineering. And it has raised questions about whether other residential structures could be at risk in Miami-Dade County, where sea levels are rising, the salty air is corrosive and nearly two-thirds of all commercial, condo and apartment buildings are as old or older than the 40-year-old edifice that went down, according to a CNN analysis of county records. Some have since been renovated or had newer additions added on to them.Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava delivers a speech during a rescue operation of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida on June 29, 2021. To be sure, construction experts in Florida caution that a single deadly collapse doesn't mean other older buildings are necessarily at risk. "You can have a 40-year-old building that has no issues and a 20-year-old one that does, and it all boils down to how well it was maintained," Peter Dyga, president of the trade group Associated Builders and Contractors, told CNN. "We're probably going to overreact. But it's understandable -- people want a level of assurance that their building is safe." Still, Gary Slossberg, president of the National Home Building and Remodeling Corporation, a construction company in Boca Raton, Florida, said the collapse is "a wake-up-call on many fronts" and may lead to changes in laws or regulations about the frequency of building inspections. The true toll of the collapse, of course, remains buried in the rubble. Authorities have confirmed at least 22 deaths, along with 126 unaccounted for. A woman prays in front of photos at the makeshift memorial for the victims of the building collapse, near the site of the accident in Surfside, Florida on June 27, 2021. For days the layers of impending heartbreak have rippled across social media, newspaper stories and television reports. The fundraising website GoFundMe has multiple campaigns aimed at assisting those touched by the tragedy: a mother awaiting news of her husband and son, a young woman who was spending the night with friends, a newlywed couple "still missing in the rubble." "We pray for a miracle," one post says. "We have hope that they will be found," says another. Nicole Ortiz was hit with the news that her sister, nephew and brother-in-law all died in the collapse. "There's no words to describe the pain of a loved one or the agony of waiting if they're alive or not," she told CNN. "Every hour, every day is different. I scream, I have almost fainted, I've cried." JUST WATCHEDFamilies of the missing wait near site of Florida condo collapseReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFamilies of the missing wait near site of Florida condo collapse 00:28'Be the first to get the best of the last' Situated on a strip of peninsula wedged between the Biscayne Bay and Atlantic Ocean, the affluent hamlet of Surfside -- population 5,600 -- butts up against its better-known neighbor to the south, the city of Miami Beach. With 136 units, Champlain Towers South was a reflection of Greater Miami's diversity: a mix of Orthodox Jews, snowbirds, foreign nationals from across Latin America, young families and retirees. Champlain Towers South -- and a sister structure, Champlain Towers North -- were completed in 1981 by a consortium of developers that included two men from Canada; one of them, Nathan Reiber, was wanted back home for tax evasion, according to the Hamilton Spectator in Ontario. He pleaded guilty in 1996 -- 15 years after the charge -- and would ultimately become a prominent philanthropist in Miami. Reiber died in 2014, at age 86.When it first went up, the building was billed as a luxury development with wraparound balconies, breathtaking ocean views, a heated pool and valet parking.  "Be the first to get the best of the last," touted a newspaper ad pitching units in the Miami Herald in 1980. In recent years selling prices in the building have remained high. A week before the disaster, a three-bedroom condo there sold for $710,000, according to realty company Redfin. The price of most condos ranged from $295,000 (for a one-bedroom in March 2020) to $980,000 (for a three-bedroom a year later), real estate records indicate. An aerial view of Surfside Beach is seen in Miami, Florida, United States on July 1, 2021. By 2018, when the tower's stakeholders were preparing for its 40-year recertification -- a stringent building review process enacted after the 1974 collapse of a rooftop parking lot into a building that killed seven in Miami -- structural problems were coming to light.  Morabito Consultants, the engineering firm hired to conduct the review, noted "abundant cracking and spalling" in concrete columns, beams and walls, "exposed, deteriorating rebar" and failing waterproofing beneath the pool deck and entrance that was causing "major structural damage." Also, a photo taken that year by a mechanical engineering firm shows a crack around the edge of a beam running along the top of the room. Engineers and experts consulted by CNN said it appears the same crack is visible in a photograph of the pool equipment room taken just days before the collapse -- only the latter photo, first published by the Miami Herald, shows the crack in much worse condition.The October 2018 report, put together by engineer Frank Morabito, did not indicate that the structure was at risk of collapse. But he provided the condo association with an initial cost estimate of $9 million for "extensive and necessary repairs," including "significant cracks and breaks in the concrete, which required repairs to ensure the safety of the resident and the public," the company said in a recent statement. But, at the time, residents were essentially told not to worry. Mounting repairs and sticker shock: 'This is where we are now'About a month after the report was released by Morabito, a condo association member, Mara Chouela, forwarded a copy of it to Surfside's building official, Rosendo Prieto. Prieto came to the board's regular meeting a couple days later and shared his professional opinion, saying the building appears to be "in very good shape," according to minutes of the meeting. The next year, 2019, seems to have been marked by strife. First, in the early part of the year, construction of a neighboring ultra-luxury high rise that would dwarf Champlain Towers prompted a series of complaints from residents about noise, debris and shaking. Ultra-luxury high rise to the left, and Champlain Towers South on the right. Once again, Chouela took action, firing off another email to Prieto in January. "We are concerned that the construction next to Surfside is too close," she wrote, attaching photos of construction equipment directly across from her building's property wall. Workers were "digging too close to our property and we have concerns regarding the structure of our building." Prieto replied within half an hour. "There is nothing for me to check," he wrote. The reason: The offending development, Eighty Seven Park, was directly across the border separating the town of Surfside from the city of Miami Beach, which runs between the two buildings. Prieto, who most recently had been doing work in the Florida city of Doral, has come under fire for his comments about Champlain Towers, and is on a leave of absence. Out of "an abundance of caution," the city is reviewing his projects in Doral, according to a statement Thursday. City spokesperson Maggie Santos on Friday said licensed experts were conducting an internal review of Prieto's work. "As of this writing we have found no discrepancies or indications of wrongdoing," she said. CNN's multiple attempts to reach Prieto have been unsuccessful.There's no known evidence that the construction of Eighty Seven Park, which took place between 2016 and 2019, contributed to the collapse. "We are confident that the construction of 87 Park did not cause or contribute to the collapse that took place in Surfside," the development group behind Eighty Seven Park said in a statement to CNN Tuesday. Later in the year, a majority of the seven-member condo board -- including Chouela -- quit amid infighting about the necessary repairs that were detailed in the report by Morabito Consultants, according to The Washington Post, citing board minutes and other board records.Another ominous sign emerged in the fall of 2020. Morabito Consultants, the structural engineering firm that had put out the report two years prior and was working on repairs, said in an October letter that it found "deep" concrete deterioration near the pool and couldn't perform improvements due in part to structural concerns about stability. A newly obtained 2018 photograph shows the earlier stages of a crack in the concrete of the pool equipment room in the Surfside, Florida, building that collapsed. The 2018 photograph, shared with CNN by Tom Henz, a mechanical engineer whose firm did an electrical and mechanical inspection of the Champlain Towers South building that year as part of its 40-year recertification process, shows a crack around the edge of a beam running along the top of the room. What's more, to address the problem, Morabito said it would need to access the inside of the pool, but the pool "was to remain in service for the duration of this work," the firm said in its letter, which was addressed to condo association president Jean Wodnicki and property manager Scott Stewart.As a result, Morabito and a subcontractor would limit the work to loose concrete removal, stated the letter, which was obtained by CNN and first reported by USA Today.Morabito Consultants did not respond to CNN's request for comment on the letter, but it has defended its work at the tower in previous statements. Attempts by CNN to reach Wodnicki and Stewart were unsuccessful.Fast forward to April, when Wodnicki sent residents a sobering letter. "The observable damage such as in the garage has gotten significantly worse since the initial inspection," Wodnicki wrote in the April 9 letter. "The concrete deterioration is accelerating. The roof situation got much worse, so extensive roof repairs had to be incorporated." The letter also had another piece of bad news: The costs of the repairs outlined in the 2018 report had swelled from $9 million to $15 million. The board approved a $15 million special assessment to cover the repairs. For each owner, it translated into a cost of at least $80,000. Monthly payments were set to begin July 1. A portion of the condo tower crumbled to the ground during a partial collapse of the building on June 24, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. "A lot of this work could have been done or planned for in years gone by," Wodnicki's letter said. "But this is where we are now." Isabel Aguero, who owns an 11th-floor condo with her husband in the part of the building that remains standing, was one of the residents who opted for a monthly payment to help ease the sticker shock of the repair costs. On June 23, she filed the paperwork to make that happen, she told CNN. Early the next morning, around 1:20 a.m., two-thirds of the building collapsed. Clues emerge in the building's lower reachesAlthough the forensic investigation is expected to take months, engineers suspect the source of the problem was at the base of the building, perhaps near the pool deck, where substandard waterproofing had been flagged in the 2018 Morabito report. Vacationers at a building next door to Champlain Towers South shot video of the doomed building minutes before it collapsed. The footage, provided to CNN, shows debris and water gushing into the underground garage, an area that the report said needed repairs. Several engineers told CNN it's possible a multitude of factors coincided to bring about the initial breaking point, which appeared to set off a compounding sequence of structural failures, causing the floors to drop, or "pancake," on top of each other. This aerial view shows search and rescue personnel working on site after the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, on June 24, 2021. "Unless it's a plane or a bomb that you know triggered this whole thing, sometimes you can't get it down to one cause," Allyn Kilsheimer, the structural engineer hired by the town of Surfside to identify the cause of the collapse, told CNN. "Sometimes ... we don't have enough information to decide between X, Y and Z, so it's some combination of X, Y and Z," he said. "But you don't know what you're going to end up with until you finish the whole study." Gregg Schlesinger, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based contractor and attorney who focuses on construction design, said the focus of any investigation should be on the columns, beams and slab at the foundation of the building."Did the building fail structurally? Yes. What makes up the structure? Concrete and steel," he said. "Did that fail? Yes. Why did it fail? It was compromised. What portions were compromised? In the pictures (in the 2018 report), we definitely see a column that's structurally compromised." Others noted that the building's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, with its corrosive seawater, increases the chances for spalling, wherein reinforced steel within the concrete begins to rust. "I've seen up and down the coast hundreds of buildings where you have concrete problems," said Greg Batista, a specialist in concrete repair projects. "If not maintained, whether it's a concrete problem or a settling problem -- it could be a bridge, it could be a building, it could be a dam or a sea wall -- these kind of things happen if not tended to." One study last year showed that Champlain Towers South was sinking at a rate of about 2 millimeters a year from 1993 to 1999. The professor who conducted the study, Shimon Wdowinski of Florida International University's Institute of Environment, told CNN that Champlain Towers South was the only building in the immediate area that was sinking. However, other buildings set on wetlands in nearby Miami Beach were sinking at a faster rate, "so we didn't think it was something unusual," he said. Wdowinski said that while sinking alone would likely not cause the condo's collapse, it could have been a contributing factor.Wave of lawsuits demands accountabilityThe tragedy has already triggered at least five lawsuits. Earlier this week, the family of resident Harold Rosenberg, who remains unaccounted for, sued the condo association and named Morabito Consultants as a defendant. The lawsuit blamed the company for failing to conduct a more thorough review in 2018 and for not certifying the building as safe "for continued occupancy." The lawsuit accused the company of "an apparent attempt to wash away its failures" by filing some paperwork only after the building collapsed. The company defended its actions in a statement to CNN, which read, in part: "Morabito Consulting did their job, just as they have done for nearly four decades -- providing expert structural engineering counsel and services. And they will continue to work with the investigating authorities to understand why this structure failed, so that such a catastrophic event can never happen again." People join together in a community twilight vigil on the beach for those lost and missing during the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South condo building on June 28, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. Three other lawsuits have targeted the condo association. In a statement on Friday, the condo association said the causes of the collapse will take time to understand. The association also said that its surviving board members support an independent receiver being appointed to oversee the legal and claims process. "We know that answers will take time as part of a comprehensive investigation and we will continue to work with city, state, local, and federal officials in their rescue efforts, and to understand the causes of this tragedy," it said.One of the suits against the association was filed by Steven Rosenthal, who, according to court documents, owned a unit in the building and was standing next to the tower when it collapsed. Rosenthal breathed in dust "that did who knows what to the immune system," his attorney, Bob McKee, told CNN. A class-action suit against the association was filed on behalf of Raysa Rodriguez, the woman who awoke disoriented after the collapse and ran to the ninth-floor hallway to find the building in ruins. In the court filing, Rodriguez -- who, according to the document, was nearly finished paying her mortgage -- described the harrowing scene in vivid detail. "I knocked on several neighbors' doors, no answer," she said. "I run to the exit, open the doors that lead to the outside stairwell and saw the devastation. The beachside of Champlain had collapsed, pancaked. I screamed in horror."Rodriguez said a woman's voice cried out from the rubble. "She said, 'Please help me! Please help me! Don't leave me here!'" Rodriguez said. "I couldn't see her. There were no lights. I was still in my pajamas. I ran inside and got dressed." Rodriguez gingerly made her way down the stairs with three neighbors: a mother and her 10-year-old son, who held a puppy; and an 80-year-old woman who used a walker. Daniel A. Medina, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Jeffrey Winter, David Shortell, Kristen Holmes, Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman and Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report.

Curt Devine and Kristen Holmes, CNN

2021-07-01 14:43:02

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/01/us/surfside-engineering-morabito-lawsuit/index.html

Champlain Towers South engineering firm failed to keep occupants safe, lawsuit alleges - CNN

A family suing the Champlain Towers South condo association names the engineering firm that performed a 2018 structural analysis of the building as a defendant, arguing the firm should have more thoroughly examined the building's stability.

us, Champlain Towers South engineering firm failed to keep occupants safe, lawsuit alleges - CNN

Champlain Towers South engineering firm failed to keep occupants safe, lawsuit alleges

(CNN)A family suing the Champlain Towers South condo association names the engineering firm that performed a 2018 structural analysis of the building as a defendant, arguing the firm should have more thoroughly examined the building's stability.Maryland-based Morabito Consultants should have done so by "inspecting the sub-surface foundation," the lawsuit says. A large portion of the condo tower crumbled to the ground last week, killing at least 18 people and leaving 147 unaccounted for. Attorneys for the family of Harold Rosenberg, who remains unaccounted for, filed the suit Wednesday, alleging that after Morabito completed the 2018 structural analysis it should have submitted a written report to the town of Surfside certifying that the condo was structurally safe. "The Morabito report did not certify that the building 'is structurally and electrically safe ... for continued occupancy,'" the suit states.Read More"Instead, in an apparent attempt to wash away its failures in the wake of this tragedy, Defendant Morabito submitted this report ... approximately 16 hours after the Champlain Towers South building collapsed," the suit states, referring to a document that firm president Frank Morabito filed with Surfside on June 24, the day the building fell.Morabito says it offered detailed recommendationsMorabito, an engineer, produced the 2018 report for the building's condo association as part of Champlain Towers South's 40-year recertification effort -- a stringent process for updates and improvements enacted after Hurricane Andrew in 1992."Morabito Consultants provided the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association with detailed findings and recommendations nearly three years ago regarding the structural repairs that were needed on the building to ensure the safety of the residents and the public," a Morabito spokesman said in a statement to CNN. JUST WATCHEDNew video shows moments just before and after condo collapse ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHNew video shows moments just before and after condo collapse 02:48It continued, "Morabito Consultants did their job, just as they have done for nearly four decades -- providing expert structural engineering counsel and services. And they will continue to work with the investigating authorities to understand why this structure failed, so that such a catastrophic event can never happen again."In the survey widely reported by media, Morabito Consultants noted "abundant cracking and spalling" in concrete columns and walls, "exposed, deteriorating rebar" and failing waterproofing beneath the pool deck and entrance drive that was causing "major structural damage."Morabito Consultants has said previously it "provided the condominium association with an estimate of the probable costs to make the extensive and necessary repairs. Among other things, our report detailed significant cracks and breaks in the concrete, which required repairs to ensure the safety of the residents and the public."Attorneys want to inspect rubble before it's clearedRosenberg's family is also suing SD Architects, a firm the suit alleges failed to ensure appropriate corrective measures were taken in the building after it was retained to create plans for remediation work this year. In an emergency motion filed Wednesday, attorneys asked for permission to conduct on-site inspections when search-and-rescue efforts end but before the site is cleared.JUST WATCHEDSurvivor heard noises well before collapseReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSurvivor heard noises well before collapse 03:56Even though government entities are gathering evidence, attorney Robert Mongeluzzi said, families don't know what is being collected and deserve the opportunity to have their own observers collect images with a drone. "The key in building collapse cases is the evidence that is at the site," the lawyer said at a Wednesday news conference. "The families have not had a voice or a set of eyes in that process at all."Rosenberg's three adult children allege in the lawsuit that the condo association failed to make structural repairs on the building due to a desire to save money. Donna DiMaggio Berger, an attorney representing the condo association, didn't think the building was in a state of disrepair before its collapse, she told CNN on Monday. The board was hiring an engineer to evaluate who is responsible, she said. Since last week's disaster, several lawsuits have been filed. At least one seeks class-action status.

Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-06-29 22:49:41

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/29/us/florida-condo-shaking-construction-invs/index.html

Florida condo was 'shaking all the time' during luxury tower construction next door, according to residents - CNN

Two and a half years before her building collapsed into a pile of rubble, Champlain Towers South resident Mara Chouela dashed off the latest in a string of angry complaints about the development project next door.

us, Florida condo was 'shaking all the time' during luxury tower construction next door, according to residents - CNN

'Shaking all the time:' Surfside condo owners complained of luxury tower being built next door

(CNN)Two and a half years before her building collapsed into a pile of rubble, Champlain Towers South resident Mara Chouela dashed off the latest in a string of angry complaints about the development project next door. "We are concerned that the construction next to Surfside is too close," Chouela, a board member of the condo association, wrote in a January 2019 email to a building official in her Florida town. Workers were "digging too close to our property and we have concerns regarding the structure of our building," she wrote, attaching photos of construction equipment directly across from her building's property wall. Just 28 minutes later, the official, Rosendo Prieto, responded that "there is nothing for me to check." The reason why: The offending development, an ultra-luxury tower known as Eighty Seven Park, was directly across the border separating the town of Surfside from the city of Miami Beach, which runs between the two buildings. In the wake of the Champlain Towers South disaster, Eighty Seven Park is facing new scrutiny: Champlain residents had complained that construction on the neighboring building would regularly cause their units to shake, according to friends and family members of the condo owners, as well as emails released by the town. Ultra-luxury tower known as Eighty Seven Park, left, across from the ruins at Champlain Towers South.There's no evidence that the construction of Eighty Seven Park, which took place between 2016 and 2019, contributed to the collapse. Read More"We are confident that the construction of 87 Park did not cause or contribute to the collapse that took place in Surfside," the development group behind Eighty Seven Park said in a statement to CNN Tuesday.But the 18-story tower would not have been allowed to be built across the border in Surfside, where buildings are subject to a 12-story height limit (although Champlain Towers itself received an exemption in the 1980s to add nine extra feet, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday). That height limit doesn't apply in Miami Beach. The new tower looms over its now-ruined neighbor, its sleek, glass curves contrasting with the workmanlike stucco and concrete balconies of the section of Champlain South that's still standing. Magaly "Maggie" Ramsey told CNN her mother Magaly Delgado, who is among the unaccounted for Champlain residents, had been concerned about the work being done next door. "She did complain of a lot of tremors and things that were being done to the other building that she sometimes was concerned what may be happening to her building -- that might be putting it at risk," Ramsey said. This is what we know about the dead and unaccounted for in the Miami condo collapseThe new tower was designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano -- and billed as the starchitect's "first residential project in the Western Hemisphere." Its units are selling for millions of dollars, far more than most of those in Champlain South, and an outlier in what has historically been a more middle-class neighborhood of Miami Beach.Eighty Seven Park's owners have included the world's top ranked tennis player: Novak Djokovic bought a ninth-floor condo in the building in 2019 and sold it earlier this month, according to property records -- less than two weeks before the deadly collapse. Peter Dyga, the president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors, said that the likelihood of the Eighty Seven Park construction "being a significant cause" in the Surfside collapse "is slim, but no lead or idea should be excluded.""There's probably going to be multiple things in the end that have contributed in some way or another," he said. "Still, buildings are built next to buildings all the time, and it doesn't mean that they come down."He said minor shaking would not be unusual.There are plenty of other potential causes: Engineering reports and a letter from the building's condo association have documented examples of structural damage in the doomed tower, with a 2018 report warning of "abundant cracking" in the concrete of the building's parking garage. The residents' struggle with the developer across the border became a topic of conversation in Surfside. Marta Castro, a former member of the board of Champlain Towers East, a nearby building built by the same developer as Champlain Towers South, said she had heard many complaints from her friends and neighbors in the south building about the Eighty Seven Park construction. "Everyone in town knew the problems they were facing," she told CNN. "My neighbors could feel the vibration -- they protested, they complained, nothing happened. I signed so many petitions."And Eliana Salzhauer, a Surfside town commissioner, said she had heard from residents saying that the building "was shaking all the time" during construction."They were very traumatized and shook up," she said.Debris, noise and a lack of responseRecords released by the town showed that Champlain South residents sent a series of outraged emails to Terra Group, one of the Eighty Seven Park developers, complaining about construction debris, noise and the lack of response, and often attaching photos and videos."I am shocked and disappointed to see the lack of consideration and respect that Terra has shown our residents," Anette Goldstein, a condo board member, wrote to executives with the developer. "You have said you want to be a good neighbor... This is truly outrageous and quite unprecedented from what we hear from other associations in the area that have dealt with construction beside them." In this aerial view, search and rescue personnel work after the partial collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building. Eighty Seven Park is to the left.An executive with Terra replied that construction workers had addressed or were in the process of fixing several specific issues, including plastic foam that was clogging the Champlain pool and unsecured tarps that were noisily flapping in the wind. The emails released by Surfside so far don't show the residents specifically complaining to Terra about the building shaking, or bringing up the possibility of structural damage with the developer directly. Miami Beach employees responded to more than 50 noise complaints at the building's address between 2016 and 2019, most of which specified construction noise, and the developers were fined for excessive noise at least eight times, according to city records. But there doesn't appear to have been any code enforcement cases specifically related to alleged shaking caused by construction.A Miami Beach spokesperson said Tuesday night the city is "looking into many aspects of our process at all buildings to see where improvements can be made." Prieto, the former Surfside building official, did not respond to requests for comment.Miami Beach approved the Eighty Seven Park development in 2015, with a review board allowing a height increase from 60 feet to 200 feet, according to news reports at the time. As part of the approval, Terra agreed to build public walking paths from the street to the beach and pay the city $10.5 million for improvements in a nearby park and other infrastructure upgrades. In exchange, the developer took over the right-of-way of the street, 87th Terrace, separating the development from Champlain South.Joy Malakoff, who served as a Miami Beach commissioner at the time, said she hadn't heard any complaints from Surfside residents about the construction. "As far as I know, Eighty Seven Park was very carefully built, well built, and expensively built," Malakoff said. The development had previously faced controversy over its demolition of the Biltmore Terrace Hotel, designed by well-known Miami architect Morris Lapidus, which was previously at the site. The hotel had not been protected by historic preservation rules, but Terra had originally said it would renovate the hotel and add a condo building to the property alongside it.Instead, it tore down the hotel, saying the project wasn't viable. Some community activists to complained of a "bait-and-switch," the Miami Herald reported at the time.Malakoff said that the hotel was in disrepair. "There were some preservationists who really fought to keep it, but it was past its life," she said. Now, the condo tower is among the priciest in the city. Its penthouse came to market in 2019 asking $68 million, a price that would have been the highest paid for any condo ever sold in Florida, according to The Wall Street Journal. (It eventually sold for a mere $37 million.)A $10.9 million four-bedroom condo in the building was posted on the real estate website Zillow earlier this month -- with photos showing an expansive view looking down on what is now a pile of ruins.

Tina Burnside and Curt Devine, CNN

2021-06-29 16:16:52

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/29/us/surfside-condo-collapse-lawsuit/index.html

Another lawsuit has been filed against the condo association after deadly collapse in Surfside - CNN

A new class-action lawsuit has been filed against the Champlain Towers South condominium association in connection to last week's deadly collapse in Surfside, Florida.

us, Another lawsuit has been filed against the condo association after deadly collapse in Surfside - CNN

Another lawsuit has been filed against condo association after the deadly collapse in Surfside

(CNN)A new class-action lawsuit has been filed against the Champlain Towers South condominium association in connection to last week's deadly collapse in Surfside, Florida. The lawsuit, filed Monday on behalf of Raysa Rodriguez, a resident who lives on the ninth floor of the Champlain Towers South building, as well as other residents similarly situated, states the condominium association had the duty to maintain the building in a safe condition and good working order. "Despite the obvious duties required by Florida law, and this admitted duty of care by the Association's Declaration and other governing documents, Defendant, through their own reckless and negligent conduct, caused a catastrophic deadly collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside," the complaint alleges. In filing the complaint, Rodriguez is seeking class action status to represent all of the people who were affected by the tragedy, and is asking the court to help preserve any materials so everyone who is to blame can be held responsible. Letter sent months before deadly Florida collapse warned damage to condo building was acceleratingThe plaintiff is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial, according to the complaint. This is the third lawsuit to be filed against the condo association. Read MoreCNN's calls to the Champlain Towers South condominium association seeking comment have not been returned. On Monday night, the attorney representing the condo association appeared live on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time.""The board is already in the process of hiring an engineer to also try to figure out what happened, and they will be evaluating who's responsible," said attorney Donna DiMaggio Berger. Resident recounts 'the devastation'In the complaint, Rodriguez, who was asleep at the time of the collapse, recounts the shear devastation and the frantic race against time to evacuate once she realized part of the building was gone. "I looked left to the North end of the building. A concrete column had pierced the hallway from floor to ceiling. I looked at the elevators. The elevator shafts were exposed, the doors were gone. I knocked on several neighbors' doors, no answer. I run to the exit, open the doors that lead to the outside stairwell and saw the devastation. The beachside of Champlain had collapsed, pancaked. I screamed in horror," Rodriguez stated in the complaint. Bidens to travel to Florida in wake of building collapseThe complaint alleges that the defendant failed to address "major structural damages" outlined in a structural field survey report submitted to the defendant in 2018 by Morabito Consultants.The suit further alleges that a variety of factors may have played a role in the collapse, which killed 11 people and left scores unaccounted for. The complaint says "unfit material used during the construction of the building," could have resulted in the collapse, along with the weight of materials and construction equipment being used to re-roof the building. "Had Defendant and/or its contractors properly tested, inspected and evaluated the structural integrity of the building prior to commencing this work, it likely would not have occurred and become a contributing cause to the collapse," states the complaint. In an interview with CNN, one of Rodriguez's attorney's, Adam Schwartzbaum, argued the association has known that the building was in "critical" condition for years and that warning signs have been apparent for more than a decade.Rescuers search through debris for the sixth day as families wait for answers about their loved ones and what caused the collapseSchwartzbaum said his grandparents lived at Champlain for 30 years until they moved out about 10 years ago. He said his grandmother used to complain that she would get water spots on her car in the garage, as if there was a leak. "She didn't understand why there would be water on her car even though it was underground," he said. Referring to the 2018 report that identified cracked concrete and other damage, Schwartzbaum said, "Certainly for at least three years, there was a major red flag...sirens flashing, alerting the condo association of this danger."He said Rodriguez "recently" took a photograph that is included in the complaint that depicts a crack in the concrete above her parking space in the condo's garage. He said Rodriguez shared the photo with the association "after a giant piece of concrete landed behind her car... to try to put them on notice of this.""Based on our investigation there were many warning signs more than 10 years ago, maybe even longer. These are not things that were just a few years ago," he said. The lawsuit accuses the condo association of negligence and breach of contract for failing to "exercise reasonable care in performing its management, maintenance and repair" of the Champlain Towers South condominium building. The "Defendant knew or should have known there was a significant and foreseeable risk of unreasonable harm to Plaintiff and class members and their property," the complaint stated. First civil action was filed last weekThe first civil action after the building's collapse was a lawsuit filed Thursday on behalf of Manuel Drezner, who lived in Unit 1009 of the tower.Lawyers representing the resident have begun the process of subpoenaing documents from the engineering firm that completed the 2018 field survey.The lawyers said they intend to request documents from the condominium association pertaining to the building's integrity and other matters, according to Brad Sohn, an attorney on the case.Both requests for discovery -- a routine step in a civil lawsuit like this -- were detailed in filings before the Florida court where the class-action case is being heard. They were not yet available via a public docket. Sohn provided the filing related to the engineering firm to CNN.Sohn said his firm has talked to a number of other residents of the tower who have expressed interest in joining that suit. Morabito Consultants, the engineering firm, is not a defendant in the suit, which was levied against the condominium association.A copy of the subpoena included in the filing requests from the engineering firm "a complete copy of your entire file from cover to cover" including "all documents, electronic records, and communications that refer, relate to, or concern Champlain Towers South and Champlain Towers South Condominium Association, Inc."The lawyers say in the filing that they intend to subpoena similar documents from the town of Surfside as well as other companies in the area connected to the building, including contractors who studied moisture levels on the building's roof.CNN's David Shortell contributed to this report.

Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-06-29 02:12:48

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/28/us/surfside-condo-owners-assessments-invs/index.html

Surfside condo owners in Florida building were facing assessments for $15 million worth of repairs - CNN

Condo owners in the South Florida tower that collapsed last week were facing assessments for millions of dollars worth of repairs -- with payments set to begin a week after the building's deadly fall.

us, Surfside condo owners in Florida building were facing assessments for $15 million worth of repairs - CNN

Condo owners in Surfside building were facing assessments for $15 million worth of repairs

(CNN)Condo owners in the South Florida tower that collapsed last week were facing assessments for millions of dollars worth of repairs -- with payments set to begin a week after the building's deadly fall.The Champlain Towers South condo association approved a $15 million assessment in April to complete repairs required under the county's 40-year recertification process, according to documents obtained by CNN. The documents show that more than two years after association members received a report about "major structural damage" in the building, they began the assessment process to pay for necessary repairs. Owners would have to pay assessments ranging from $80,190 for one-bedroom units to $336,135 for the owner of the building's four-bedroom penthouse, a document sent to the building's residents said. The deadline to pay upfront or choose paying a monthly fee lasting 15 years was July 1.Letter sent months before deadly Florida collapse warned damage to condo building was acceleratingAn itemized list of planned repairs included new pavers, planter landscape and waterproofing -- addressing some of the issues noted in a 2018 engineer's report, which warned how leaking water was leading to deteriorating concrete. The most costly project was "facade, balcony and railing repairs" for $3.4 million. Read MoreThe 2018 report, prepared for the condo association, had previously estimated that necessary repairs to the Surfside, Florida, building would cost about $9.1 million. It's unclear whether the issues identified by Frank Morabito, the structural engineer who produced the report, contributed to the disaster. In an April letter to homeowners, condo association President Jean Wodnicki described the progression of decay at the building, saying, "the observable damage such as in the garage has gotten significantly worse since the initial inspection." She noted that the "concrete deterioration is accelerating. The roof situation got much worse, so extensive roof repairs had to be incorporated." "Other previously identified projects have been rolled under the main project. New problems have been identified. Also, costs go up every year," the letter states. "This is how we have gone from the estimated $9,128,433.60 cited in Morabito's 2018 report, to the much larger figure we have today."The big assessment bill came as an unwelcome surprise to some owners of the building's 136 units. "We struggled with it and everything," said Isabel Aguero, who owns an 11th-floor condo in the part of the building that remains standing. She said she thought most of the line items appeared to be more for aesthetic improvements instead of structural fixes to the building -- such as $722,000 for "hallway and public area renovations." As engineers hunt for answers in the Surfside building collapse, signs point to the building's lower reachesAguero and her husband decided to go with the monthly payment and sent in the paperwork on June 23 so the association would start adding $593 to their homeowner fees, they said. Early the next morning, the building collapsed. The couple bought their condo two years ago with plans to retire there, but they said they hadn't spent much time in it, as their renovations and furniture deliveries were delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Their son, Albert Aguero, was in the tower vacationing with his wife and two children when it collapsed. They woke up to a horrific noise and shaking, and "when we opened the door, we realized just how much damage had occurred," he said. "The apartment to the left looked like it had been sheared in half."He said that there had been work on the building's roof since earlier this year "that would wake us up every morning with drilling." But larger structural construction had not yet begun, according to a statement from the engineering firm that conducted the 2018 report.Albert said he was distressed reading the warnings in the 2018 report, which he never saw until after the building fell. "I was pretty angry at that point, angry that innocent lives had to be lost," he said. Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiExcavators dig through the remains from the Champlain Towers South building on July 9.Hide Caption 1 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiWooden hearts with victims' names have been put up at the memorial site near the building's remains.Hide Caption 2 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiNuns from the St. Joseph's Catholic Church pray at the memorial site on July 7.Hide Caption 3 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA member of a search team moves rubble at the site on July 7. Authorities transitioned from search and rescue to search and recovery after determining "the viability of life in the rubble" was low, Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said.Hide Caption 4 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiWorkers gather for a moment of silence and prayer after it was announced that rescue efforts would transition to a recovery operation.Hide Caption 5 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA member of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue hugs victims' family members and friends at the memorial near the collapsed building.Hide Caption 6 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiCrews work at the site of the collapsed building on July 6.Hide Caption 7 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiMembers of a search-and-rescue team comb through the debris on July 5.Hide Caption 8 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA memorial is seen near the spot where the building used to be. The rest of the building was demolished on July 4 so that authorities could continue to look for survivors safely, officials said.Hide Caption 9 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA controlled explosion brings down the unstable remains of the building on July 4.Hide Caption 10 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA woman cries as she watches the rest of Champlain Towers South be demolished.Hide Caption 11 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople watch a cloud of dust form as the rest of the building is demolished.Hide Caption 12 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiKarol Casper places a flower on the memorial wall set up near the building.Hide Caption 13 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople stop at a makeshift memorial near the site.Hide Caption 14 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiSearch-and-rescue personnel work at the site on July 2.Hide Caption 15 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiResidents of the Crestview Towers Condominium carry their belongings as they leave their building in North Miami Beach, Florida, on July 2. The building, about 6 miles from Surfside, was deemed to be structurally and electrically unsafe based on a delinquent recertification report for the almost 50-year-old building. The city said the move was out of an "abundance of caution," as area authorities check high-rise condo buildings following the Surfside collapse.Hide Caption 16 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPresident Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visit a memorial near the partially collapsed building on July 1. Biden traveled to Surfside to console families still waiting on news of their loved ones. Those meetings were closed to the press.Hide Caption 17 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA Coast Guard boat patrols the water ahead of Biden's visit.Hide Caption 18 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiNBA basketball player Udonis Haslem, left, and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava arrive to pay their respects at a memorial near the building on June 30.Hide Caption 19 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiSearch-and-rescue teams look through the rubble of Champlain Towers South on June 29.Hide Caption 20 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople take part in a twilight vigil near the building on June 28.Hide Caption 21 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiMore than 3 million pounds of concrete have already been removed during the rescue operation, said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky.Hide Caption 22 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA woman puts flowers in a barricade as she pays her respects near the building.Hide Caption 23 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPassersby look at photos of missing people.Hide Caption 24 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiWorkers search through the rubble on June 26.Hide Caption 25 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiEliagne Sanchez and K. Parker lay flowers on the beach near the partially collapsed building.Hide Caption 26 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiSmoke rises as rescuers continued to search for survivors on June 26.Hide Caption 27 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople stand near the building on June 25.Hide Caption 28 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiMourners light candles on the beach near the building.Hide Caption 29 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiMembers of a search-and-rescue team work in the rubble.Hide Caption 30 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople pray together on the beach near the collapsed building.Hide Caption 31 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiFirefighters battle a blaze at the collapse site.Hide Caption 32 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople hug June 25 as they wait for news about their relatives at a community center in Surfside.Hide Caption 33 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue personnel search through the building's rubble on June 25.Hide Caption 34 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiToby Fried holds up a picture of her missing brother, Chaim Rosenberg, outside the Surfside Community Center on June 25.Hide Caption 35 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue workers use a crane to inspect the damage.Hide Caption 36 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiAriana Hevia, center, stands with Sean Wilt near the partially collapsed building on June 25. Hevia's mother, Cassandra Statton, lives in the building.Hide Caption 37 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue workers arrive to the scene with dogs on June 25.Hide Caption 38 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiFaydah Bushnaq, center, is hugged by Maria Fernanda Martinez as they stand on the beach near the building. Bushnaq, who was vacationing in South Florida, stopped to write "pray for their souls" in the sand.Hide Caption 39 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThe arm of an earth mover is seen during the search operations.Hide Caption 40 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue personnel work at the site on June 24.Hide Caption 41 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiYube Pettingill talks to the media. Two of her family members were still missing.Hide Caption 42 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThis photo was tweeted by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue after the building collapsed.Hide Caption 43 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiDisplaced residents are taken to a nearby hotel in Surfside.Hide Caption 44 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThe partial collapse left huge piles of rubble and materials dangling from what remained of the structure.Hide Caption 45 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at center in the red tie, arrives to speak to the media on June 24. "We still have hope to be able to identify additional survivors," DeSantis told reporters near the scene. "The state of Florida, we're offering any assistance that we can."Hide Caption 46 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiDebris dangles from the building on June 24.Hide Caption 47 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople hug at a family reunification center where evacuees were staying in Surfside.Hide Caption 48 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThe cause of the collapse wasn't immediately known.Hide Caption 49 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiJennifer Carr sits with her daughter as they and other evacuees wait for news at the family reunification center in Surfside.Hide Caption 50 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue personnel search through the rubble with dogs.Hide Caption 51 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPolice stand guard on the day the building collapsed.Hide Caption 52 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople on the beach look at the building after the partial collapse.Hide Caption 53 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThe building was constructed in 1981, according to online Miami-Dade property records.Hide Caption 54 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople lie on cots at the family reunification center in Surfside.Hide Caption 55 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThe beachfront community is a few miles north of Miami Beach.Hide Caption 56 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiMore than 80 rescue units responded to the scene, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said.Hide Caption 57 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue personnel work at the site of the partial collapse.Hide Caption 58 of 58Earlier this month, Francesco Cordaro paid more than $95,000 for his portion of the millions in special fees related to the repairs and recertification. On Thursday, Cordaro and his wife watched on TV from Staten Island, New York, as their apartment building crashed to the ground. They were in Surfside last month and had planned to move to South Florida for retirement, he said. "The ocean view, the size, the location -- I loved everything about that apartment," the 65-year-old said. "All my dreams are shattered."The couple purchased the unit in January 2019. "We knew that we were going to have the recertification, but no other specific claims were made at that time about any structural problems," Cordaro said.He has not hired a lawyer out of respect for the tower's missing residents, he said, but he believes someone should be held financially liable. "Certainly, someone needs to pay for this," he said. "I don't know who, what, when, but certainly someone has to pay."Condo association under scrutinySince the collapse, the condo association has received scrutiny for the yearslong delay between the alarming 2018 report and the building's overhaul. Its representatives have noted that they were delayed by the pandemic and had to take the time to issue competitive bids for the work."We have board members who are living here, had their families living here, and are among the missing, so if they knew there was a hazardous issue, they certainly would have taken care of it," Donna DiMaggio Berger, an attorney for the Champlain Towers condo association, told CNN on Friday. One official from the town of Surfside had previously assured the association that their building was "in very good shape" in November 2018, meeting minutes obtained by CNN show -- even though he had received the report about structural damage two days earlier. Rosendo Prieto, who worked as the town's building official at the time, made the comments at a meeting of the tower's condo association more than two years before the building's collapse, according to minutes from the November 15, 2018, meeting. The death toll from the Florida condo collapse reaches 11 as rescuers race to find 150 people still missing"Structural engineer report was reviewed by Mr. Prieto," the minutes said, in an apparent reference to the Morabito report. Although Prieto noted that the report "was not in the format for the 40 year certification he determined the necessary data was collected and it appears the building is in very good shape," the minutes say.A resident of the condo, Susana Alvarez, told NPR that she attended the meeting -- which took place in the building's recreation room -- and remembered a representative of the town saying, "the building was not in bad shape." Prieto no longer works for Surfside and has not responded to requests for comment from CNN. Two days before the meeting took place, on November 13, 2018, a member of the condo board, Mara Chouela, forwarded Prieto a copy of the structural engineer's report, according to an email released by the town on Saturday. And the day after the meeting, Prieto sent another email to Guillermo Olmedillo, the former town manager, saying the condo board meeting "went very well." "The response was very positive from everyone in the room," Prieto wrote in the November 16 email, which was released by the town Sunday. "All main concerns over their forty year recertification process were addressed."CNN's Daniel Medina contributed to this report.

Curt Devine, CNN

2021-06-28 17:57:54

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/28/us/surfside-condo-collapse-cause/index.html

Surfside condo collapse: Engineers search for the cause - CNN

Amid a rescue mission now in its fifth day, engineers and government officials are trying to determine how a Surfside, Florida, condominium tower crashed to the ground, seemingly without warning.

us, Surfside condo collapse: Engineers search for the cause - CNN

As engineers hunt for answers in the Surfside building collapse, signs point to the building's lower reaches

(CNN)Amid a rescue mission now in its fifth day, engineers and government officials are trying to determine how a Surfside, Florida, condominium tower crashed to the ground, seemingly without warning.There are no clear answers yet, but early signs point to some failure in the lower reaches of the 13-story building, perhaps in its foundation, columns or underground parking garage. Forensic engineers will need to examine the ground-floor columns in their investigation, said Sinisa Kolar, a Miami-based engineering executive."The key element to this investigation, in my opinion, lies in that rubble, in those columns and condition of the structural elements," Kolar said. The notion that the building collapsed due to a failure at or near its base seems to be supported by a report that Michael Stratton was on the phone with his wife, Cassondra, who told him their building was shaking just before the collapse. She was looking out from a condo at Champlain Towers South when she told him she saw "a sinkhole where the pool out her window used to be," he told the Miami Herald.Read MoreThe phone call then cut off. Stratton is among the scores of people who remain unaccounted for days after the collapse. The death toll stands at 11.Allyn Kilsheimer, the structural engineer hired by the town of Surfside to look into the reasons for the collapse, said his investigation could last a few months or longer but there was no definitive timeline. He said he has started to examine the building and will use a meticulous, computer-assisted process of elimination to attempt to identify the cause or causes."Unless it's a plane or a bomb that you know triggered this whole thing, sometimes you can't get it down to one cause," he explained. "Sometimes... we don't have enough information to decide between X, Y and Z, so it's some combination of X, Y and Z," he said. "But you don't know what you're going to end up with until you finish the whole study." Signs point to the building's baseEngineers who have reviewed the available information about the tower's collapse say the investigation into its cause should focus on potential failures near the base of the building. Kolar expects investigators will test samples of concrete and examine its condition as part of the probe into what caused the collapse and cross-reference that with structural drawings.The disaster most likely resulted from a combination of foundational and structural problems, said Mehrdad Sasani, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University. The collapse likely started at lower floors of the condo and could have been influenced by "40 years of exposure to salt, water and salt air and the indication of some level of damage in the garage at the lower floors of the building."A range of other factors could have contributed to foundation and structural failures, including vibrations from recent construction work, heavy equipment on its roof and water damage associated with the building's pool, Sasani said. Joel Figueroa-Vallines, president of SEP Engineers, said he thinks it's too early to reach conclusions, though video of the collapse appears to show that once the "pancaking" collapse began, columns at the center part of the building seemed to fail and a leaning effect occurred, followed by another part of the building falling. All of the current analysis is speculative, he said, but added that speculation "is leaning toward to the fact that this did not topple over. This sort of came straight down." Figueroa-Vallines said he would focus an investigation on the foundation and the "podium level" of the pool deck. He also said he would look at the construction. "Typically, with pancake construction, there isn't a lot of redundancy in the floor system," he said. "Flat slab systems generally have a little less redundancy -- not that that is the cause of the collapse, but once that collapse is initiated, that system will accelerate with gravity."He cautioned, however: "Typically, in these cases there will not be what we call a definitive smoking gun; it's more of a contributing factor scenario."JUST WATCHEDTeen says saving elderly woman was 'a blessing in disguise'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHTeen says saving elderly woman was 'a blessing in disguise' 03:57Footage from the collapse shows a center section of the building crumble to the ground, before the easternmost portion of the building falls seconds later. Donald Dusenberry, a consulting engineer who has investigated structural collapses, told the newspaper it appeared to be "a foundation-related matter -- potentially corrosion or other damage at a lower level," though he did not rule out design or construction errors. Peter Dyga, president and CEO of a Florida chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, told CNN he'd begin any investigation in the middle portion of the wing that collapsed first."I've also seen some videos looking at the side of the building that's still standing where it appears like the ground is creviced," he said. The failure may be in the support mechanism, said Kit Miyamoto, a structural engineer and California Seismic Safety Commission chairman."This collapse is a classic column failure, which means the building itself was supported by a series of pillars. If the pillars fail, everything fails," Miyamoto said. The building's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, with its corrosive seawater, increases the chances for spalling, wherein reinforced steel within the concrete begins to rust, said Miyamoto and Greg Batista, a specialist in concrete repair projects."I've seen up and down the coast hundreds of buildings where you have concrete problems," Batista said. "If not maintained, whether it's a concrete problem or a settling problem -- it could be a bridge, it could be a building, it could be a dam or a sea wall -- these kind of things happen if not tended to."A report and a lawsuit cited cracksA 2018 report, which Surfside has released among other public records, noted problems with the building's concrete, but an engineer who inspected Champlain Towers South last year said the report mentioned nothing alarming. "Abundant cracking and spalling of various degrees was observed in the concrete columns, beams and walls," the survey found. "Several sizeable spalls were noted in both the topside of the entrance drive ramp and underside of the pool/entrance drive/planter slabs, which included instances with exposed, deteriorating rebar. Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion." The waterproofing below the pool deck and entrance drive was failing and causing "major structural damage," according to the report by Morabito Consultants.The report didn't indicate the structure was at risk of collapse.Morabito Consultants "provided the condominium association with an estimate of the probable costs to make the extensive and necessary repairs. Among other things, our report detailed significant cracks and breaks in the concrete, which required repairs to ensure the safety of the residents and the public," it said in a statement.Condo owners in Champlain Towers South were facing assessments for $15 million worth of repairs -- with payments set to begin just days after the building's deadly collapse.The building's association approved a $15 million assessment in April to complete repairs required under the county's 40-year recertification process, according to documents obtained by CNN. The deadline to pay upfront or choose a monthly fee lasting 15 years was July 1, a document sent to the owners said.An itemized list of planned repairs included new pavers, planter landscape and waterproofing -- addressing some of the issues noted in the 2018 report. The most costly project listed was "facade, balcony and railing repairs" for $3.4 million.In 2015, attorney Daniel Wagner filled a lawsuit alleging "cracks in the outside wall of the building" had allowed water into one of the condominiums. The case was settled. Still, the issues flagged in the 2018 report would not be sufficient to cause a collapse, Kolar said he believes. JUST WATCHED'It's not enough!': Frustrated mom lashes out at Florida officials ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH'It's not enough!': Frustrated mom lashes out at Florida officials 03:34"When somebody shows us damages and corrosion and exposed rebar on the underside of the balcony, that's a horizontal element that basically supports only that floor. So, if there is a collapse of a balcony, that most likely would not cause any additional damage to the rest of the building except for that particular balcony."Some of these damages as depicted in 2018 report -- although problematic and definitely should have been addressed -- in my opinion were unlikely to cause the collapse of the entire building," he said. "It's a giant leap from the damage depicted in that report to the collapse of the building and there are a bunch of dots missing to connect the two." Gregg Schlesinger, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based contractor and attorney who focuses on construction design, is one of several experts who say myriad factors might have played a role in the disaster. "Did the building fail structurally? Yes. What makes up the structure? Concrete and steel. Did that fail? Yes. Why did it fail? ... It was compromised," he said. "What portions were compromised? In the pictures (in the 2018 report), we definitely see a column that's structurally compromised." Other likely contributing causes: seismic loads from construction next door, which could degrade the structural capacity; as well as roof loading, which may have involved a "point load," where equipment wasn't scattered but was a dead load of equipment in one area that adds forces down through a compromised column. Also, the building is settling -- the ground is settling and that could add additional forces to a compromised structure, he said."Each one of these items is a straw. It's a piece of evidence. It's a clue. Can I say, 'Well it was 23.3% responsible? No," Schlesinger said. "You know who will make that determination? Jurors. There will be, what I expect, a couple monthslong trial."Nothing alarming on the roof, an engineer saysJason Borden, a structural engineer who examined the 40-year-old building last year, saw cracks in the facade and plaza level. While he was on site only for an hour, "what I did see while I was there did not alarm me at all," he told CNN on Monday. The 2018 report's conclusions were "very typical of what we see in buildings of this age and condition," he said. The building was amid a milestone safety certification and was undergoing work on its concrete roof. Had the failure begun on the roof, Borden said, the collapse "would have looked very different." If, as suspected, the collapse began somewhere in the bottom of the building, it's likely something compromised a support column, he said. Perhaps a slab fell and hit the column or a column's braces failed or shifted, Borden speculated. Several other experts have suggested a combination of factors could be behind the collapse. "Usually it's like a perfect storm," said Atorod Azizinamini, a structural engineering professor at Florida International University.JUST WATCHEDCould Florida building collapse have been prevented? ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCould Florida building collapse have been prevented? 05:24A month after the report citing "major structural damage" was released, Rosendo Prieto, the Surfside building official at the time, told the building's condo association that the tower was in "very good shape," according to minutes from the November 15, 2018, meeting.Two days before that meeting, a member of the condo board forwarded Prieto a copy of the October 2018 report, according to an email released by Surfside on Saturday.The report's findings were alarming, said Abieyuwa Aghayere, a Drexel University professor of structural engineering who reviewed the report. The findings should have spurred further review of the building's integrity, the professor told CNN. "Structural engineer report was reviewed by Mr. Prieto," the meeting minutes state. "It appears the building is in very good shape."Condo resident Susana Alvarez recalled a Surfside representative say at the meeting, "The building was not in bad shape," she told NPR. Prieto now works for CAP Government Inc., to which CNN has reached out for comment. Prieto has not responded to requests for comment. CAP Government on Monday told officials in Doral, for which the company provides building inspection services, that Prieto is on a leave of absence, according to the city.The building was sinking at one pointAnother report that emerged last week indicates the condo tower -- unlike surrounding structures -- was sinking at a rate of 2 millimeters per year between 1993 and 1999. It's unclear if the building continued to sink at that rate following the study.More information is needed before determining if the sinking played a role in last week's collapse, said Shimon Wdowinski, a coauthor of the study and professor with Florida International University's Institute of Environment. "If everything moves downward at the same level, then not so much," he told CNN, but "if one part of the building moves with respect to the other, that could cause some tension and cracks."Residents would've noticed if the building's "settlement" was uneven, Kobi Karp, a member of the American Institute of Architects, said last week. They would've seen cracks in their floors, walls and ceilings."The table would not be flat. Things would roll off," he said. It's unclear if complaints of that nature were lodged with the tower's management.JUST WATCHEDStructural engineer discusses concerns raised in 2018 reportReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHStructural engineer discusses concerns raised in 2018 report 03:55Buildings in nearby western Miami Beach, which was built on reclaimed wetlands, were moving at higher rates, "so we didn't think it was something unusual," Wdowinski said.The building had undergone a series of inspections as part of its 40-year certification -- a stringent process for updates and improvements enacted after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The only recent repairs had been to the roof, said Kenneth Direktor, an attorney for the condominium association. "Nothing like this was foreseeable," Direktor said. "At least it wasn't seen by the engineers who were looking at the building from a structural perspective."Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett has echoed that assertion, saying, "There's no reason for this building to go down like that unless someone literally pulls out the supports from underneath, or they get washed out, or there's a sinkhole or something like that."Surfside building official Jim McGuinness was on the roof 14 hours before the building collapsed and saw nothing unusual, he said. The building's ongoing roofing permit was going well, he said. "I have two words for the cause of this: under investigation," McGuinness said.CNN's Casey Tolan, Rosa Flores, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Gregory Lemos and Gregory Krieg contributed to this report.

Gregory Krieg and Curt Devine, CNN

2021-06-26 00:10:18

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/25/us/what-caused-surfside-building-collapse/index.html

Champlain Towers South: Mystery of what caused the Florida condo collapse deepens - CNN

The collapse of a high-rise condo tower in South Florida early Thursday morning has left at least four people dead and 159 more currently unaccounted for. Now, as the search for survivors continues, a critical question looms: What caused the building to fall?

us, Champlain Towers South: Mystery of what caused the Florida condo collapse deepens - CNN

Mystery of what caused South Florida condo collapse deepens

(CNN)The collapse of a high-rise condo tower in South Florida early Thursday morning has left at least four people dead and 159 more currently unaccounted for. Now, as the search for survivors continues, a critical question looms: What caused the building to fall?Officials are promising an urgent inquiry as engineers have said it is impossible, at this stage, to pinpoint a precise reason. Local officials familiar with the Champlain Towers South condo complex, which is only four decades old, have repeatedly shot down rumors that it was in any unusual state of disrepair. But a new report surfaced overnight and an older study of the building and surrounding areas have begun to suggest warning signs were there to see.An attorney for the building's condominium association, Kenneth Direktor, warned against early speculation. The building, he told CNN, had been subject to a series of inspections "over the last several months" as part of its milestone 40-year safety certification process. "Nothing like this was foreseeable," Direktor said. "At least it wasn't seen by the engineers who were looking at the building from a structural perspective."The only repairs that recently took place, he added, were work on the roof.Read MoreAt a news conference on Thursday, Surfside, Florida, Mayor Charles W. Burkett dismissed the suggestion that the rooftop repairs should have been a red flag. (It is unclear if the engineer's inspection process located any other concerns or recommended any other work)."There's no reason for this building to go down like that unless someone literally pulls out the supports from underneath, or they get washed out, or there's a sinkhole or something like that because it just went down," Burkett said. "There was roof work being done, but there's roof work being done on buildings all the time."Experts who observed footage of the disaster say the footage provided some baseline understanding of what happened, but little more."This collapse is a classic column failure. Which means the building itself was supported by a series of pillars. If the pillars fail, everything fails," said Kit Miyamoto, a structural engineer and California Seismic Safety Commission chairman.Determining what set off that failure is a test that awaits federal, state and local engineers."The building was in the condition you would expect for a building that is 40 years old, that is located on the Atlantic Ocean," Direktor said.But that proximity to the sea -- and the saltwater coming up off the ocean -- has been a recurring issue for experts trying to make sense of the disaster.Both Miyamoto and Greg Batista, a specialist in concrete repair projects, made note of the building's beachfront location. The potential for spalling -- a dangerous flaw caused by the rusting of reinforced steel inside concrete -- is greater when a structure, like the condo in Surfside, abuts the sea."I've seen up and down the coast hundreds of buildings where you have concrete problems," Batista said. "If not maintained, whether it's a concrete problem or a settling problem, it could be a bridge, it could be a building, it could be a dam or a sea wall -- these kind of things happen if not tended to."A structural field survey report completed nearly three years before the collapse raised concerns about structural damage to the concrete slab below the pool deck and "cracking and spalling" located in the parking garage.The report from October 2018 was included in a series of public records that were published overnight on the Surfside, Florida, town website."Abundant cracking and spalling of various degrees was observed in the concrete columns, beams and walls," read one part of the survey's findings. "Several sizeable spalls were noted in both the topside of the entrance drive ramp and underside of the pool/ entrance drive/ planter slabs, which included instances with exposed, deteriorating rebar. Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion." The revelation of the 2018 report adds to a growing list of potential warning signs.On Thursday, USA Today was the first to report on a study, published last year, that showed the collapsed condo -- unlike other buildings around it -- had been sinking at a rate of about 2 millimeters per year between 1993 and 1999. The research was focused on the effects of subsidence, the gradual giving way or collapse of land, on coastal flooding hazards. It did not follow up on the status of the condo, so it is unclear whether the structure continued to sink at the pace described in the study.But Shimon Wdowinski, a co-author of the study and professor with Florida International University's Institute of Environment, warned that his research did not provide a smoking gun."Other buildings didn't move in that eastern part of the city," Wdowinski told CNN. "If it is a precursor, it's only unique to that building."Asked directly if the sinking -- or subsidence -- could have been a contributing factor to the collapse, Wdowinski said additional information was needed before rendering judgment."If everything moves downward at the same level, then not so much," but "if one part of the building moves with respect to the other, that could cause some tension and cracks," he told CNN. "Maybe some subsidence can initiate the process."In an interview on Friday, Kobi Karp, a member of the American Institute of Architects, said that if the "settlement" of the build was "not equal," residents would have recognized the symptoms."People in the building would see cracks in their floors, the table would not be flat, things would roll off," Karp said. "You would see cracks in your walls. You look up in the ceiling and you see cracks in the ceiling."It remains unclear whether any complaints of that nature had been lodged with the condo's management.This story has been updated with additional details Saturday.

Jason Hanna, Aya Elamroussi, Hollie Silverman, Ray Sanchez and Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-06-26 07:14:28

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/26/us/building-collapse-miami-saturday/index.html

Four of the five victims killed in Florida building collapse were identified. 156 people remain unaccounted for - CNN

The death toll in the Surfside, Florida, residential building collapse has risen to five, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a Saturday evening news conference.

us, Four of the five victims killed in Florida building collapse were identified. 156 people remain unaccounted for - CNN

Four of the five victims killed in the Florida building collapse were identified. 156 people remain unaccounted for

(CNN)The death toll in the Surfside, Florida, residential building collapse has risen to five, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a Saturday evening news conference. "Today our search and rescue teams found another body in the rubble," Levine Cava said. "And, as well, our search has revealed some human remains."The process of identifying the victims is difficult, the mayor said, and officials will be relying on DNA testing "and that is why we've already been gathering DNA samples from the family members," she said.The victims were identified as Antonio Lozano, 83, Gladys Lozano, 79, and Manuel LaFont, 54, the Miami-Dade Police Department said in a news release Saturday night.Stacie Fang, 54, was previously identified, CNN reported.Read MoreAntonio and Gladys Lozano were both recovered from apartment 903, with Antonio recovered June 24 and Gladys recovered June 25, the release said.A fifth victim has not yet been identified.There are now 130 people accounted for and 156 unaccounted for, she said. Officials have not determined a cause of the collapse.About 55 of the 136 units at the building a few miles north of Miami Beach collapsed at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, leaving huge piles of rubble on the ground and materials dangling from what remained of the structure, officials said."Our top priority continues to be search and rescue and saving any lives that we can," the mayor added.Crews are continuing an "aggressive search and rescue strategy," in the rubble at Champlain Towers South, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said during the news conference. Fire crews were able to contain the fire and minimize the smoke that was hampering search and rescue operations, Cominsky said. "Currently we're searching the entire debris field, we've separated it into multiple sections and we actively ... are applying our search and rescue techniques."Engineer had raised concerns about structural damageNearly three years before Thursday's deadly partial collapse, an engineer raised concerns about structural damage to the concrete slab below the pool deck and "cracking and spalling" located in the parking garage, according to documents. A structural field survey report from October 2018 was included in a series of public documents published overnight on the Surfside town website. The New York Times was first to report about the field survey report.The structural field survey said the waterproofing below the pool deck and entrance drive was failing and causing "major structural damage."Rescuers battle fire, noise and shifting steel and concrete as they scramble to save lives"The waterproofing below the pool deck and Entrance Drive as well as all of the planter waterproofing is beyond its useful life and therefore must all be completely removed and replaced," the report reads."The failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas. Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially."The report said the waterproofing was laid on a flat structure rather than a sloped concrete slab that would have allowed the water to drain. That resulted in water sitting on the waterproofing until it evaporated, in what the report identified as a "major error." The report further noted that "the replacement of the existing deck waterproofing will be extremely expensive...be disruptive and create a major disturbance to the occupants of this condominium building."The report, the goal of which was to "understand and document the extent of structural issues," detailed signs of "distress/fatigue" in the parking garage.Mystery of what caused South Florida condo collapse deepens"Abundant cracking and spalling of various degrees was observed in the concrete columns, beams and walls. ... Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion." Spalling is a term used to describe areas of concrete that have cracked or crumbled.The 2018 report also noted that "many ... previous garage concrete repairs" were "failing."The report didn't give any indication that the structure was at risk of collapse. It was completed by Frank Morabito of Morabito Consultants. Consulting company says it was hired again in 2020In a Saturday statement, Morabito Consultants said the company completed a report in 2018 that detailed "significant cracks and breaks in the concrete" and provided "an estimate of the probable costs to make the extensive and necessary repairs."The condominium association hired the firm again in June 2020 "to prepare a '40-year Building Repair and Restoration' plan with detailed specifications for completing the necessary repairs and restoration work," its statement said. At the time of the collapse, there were roof repairs taking place, but concrete restoration had not started, the firm said, adding that it "exclusively provides" engineering consulting services and does not provide construction-related services. "We are deeply troubled by this building collapse and are working closely with the investigating authorities to understand why the structure failed," it added. 'Nothing like this was foreseeable,' condo association attorney saysAbieyuwa Aghayere, a professor of structural engineering at Drexel University who reviewed the report, said its findings were alarming and should have spurred further review of the building's integrity.An attorney for the building's condominium association, Kenneth Direktor, previously warned against early speculation. The building, he told CNN on Friday, had been subject to a series of inspections "over the last several months" as part of its milestone 40-year safety certification process. "Nothing like this was foreseeable," Direktor said. "At least it wasn't seen by the engineers who were looking at the building from a structural perspective."CNN reached out to Direktor on Saturday for comment. Surfside mayor: Evacuate nearby towerSurfside Mayor Charles Burkett on Saturday recommended residents of the nearby north tower evacuate out of "an abundance of caution." "I don't think people need to live with the possibility, or the even the thought that their" building may collapse, Burkett told CNN.Burkett said he has not seen the 2018 report, and that it's still "unclear what steps the building was taking to address ... cracks" mentioned in the document. Architect: Miami is my home. I am struggling to reconcile how Champlain Towers South could have partially fallenAt an emergency meeting Friday evening, the mayor and town commission discussed the evacuation of the north tower -- which Burkett described as "exactly the same property" in design as the collapsed tower -- and the hiring of an engineer to investigate. On Saturday morning, CNN asked Levine Cava, the Miami-Dade County mayor, about the report."We need all this information, we need all this evidence, and we are going to get to the bottom of what happened at this particular building," she said.The mayor later told reporters, "We knew nothing about this report."Levine Cava said Miami-Dade is conducting an audit of all county buildings at their 40-year point and beyond."We want to make sure that every building has completed their recertification process," she said. The building that collapsed was undergoing that recertification process, and the board only knew what the engineer's certification report included in terms of repair work, she said. Permit for roof repairs issued day before collapse Donna DiMaggio Berger, an attorney for the Champlain Towers condo association, said board members had no information that would have foreshadowed Thursday's disaster. "Typical things that an engineer looks for in a certification report in Miami-Dade and Broward County, which are the two counties that require this kind of certification, is a review of the roof, the HVAC system, electrical, plumbing, and the building envelope," Berger told CNN."But certainly, there was nothing hazardous that was outlined in that report, anything that would have proven to be a danger to life."The town of Surfside issued a permit for roof repairs on the Champlain Towers South building the day before the collapse, according to documents released Friday.Pancake collapses: What they are and why they're dangerousWednesday's permit was issued to a South Florida concrete company to "install roof safety anchors and provide stucco repairs." The work included removal of the "existing roof down to concrete deck" and replacing it, the permit said. The building fell the next day.The company set to perform the work, Concrete Protection and Restoration LLC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. Another document produced as part of the 2018 structural engineer's report also noted that small portions of the building were "showing distress." The report, conducted by Morabito for the building's condo association, noted that about "2% of exterior columns have experienced concrete spalling" and about "5% of the balcony structural floor slabs showed hairline cracking." A class-action lawsuit filed Thursday claims that the association of the collapsed condo is responsible for "failures to secure and safeguard" the lives and property of condo owners.Direktor responded on behalf of the association saying, "I don't know what caused this building to fall down ... The engineers don't know with certainty what caused this building to fall down."Families missing their loved onesWhile anxious family members await news -- and the search continues -- officials remain hopeful. A boy who was under a mattress and bed frame was pulled out alive from under the rubble on Thursday."I am holding out hope because our first responders tell me they have hope," Levine Cava told CNN. Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiExcavators dig through the remains from the Champlain Towers South building on July 9.Hide Caption 1 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiWooden hearts with victims' names have been put up at the memorial site near the building's remains.Hide Caption 2 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiNuns from the St. Joseph's Catholic Church pray at the memorial site on July 7.Hide Caption 3 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA member of a search team moves rubble at the site on July 7. Authorities transitioned from search and rescue to search and recovery after determining "the viability of life in the rubble" was low, Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said.Hide Caption 4 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiWorkers gather for a moment of silence and prayer after it was announced that rescue efforts would transition to a recovery operation.Hide Caption 5 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA member of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue hugs victims' family members and friends at the memorial near the collapsed building.Hide Caption 6 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiCrews work at the site of the collapsed building on July 6.Hide Caption 7 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiMembers of a search-and-rescue team comb through the debris on July 5.Hide Caption 8 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA memorial is seen near the spot where the building used to be. The rest of the building was demolished on July 4 so that authorities could continue to look for survivors safely, officials said.Hide Caption 9 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA controlled explosion brings down the unstable remains of the building on July 4.Hide Caption 10 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA woman cries as she watches the rest of Champlain Towers South be demolished.Hide Caption 11 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople watch a cloud of dust form as the rest of the building is demolished.Hide Caption 12 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiKarol Casper places a flower on the memorial wall set up near the building.Hide Caption 13 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople stop at a makeshift memorial near the site.Hide Caption 14 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiSearch-and-rescue personnel work at the site on July 2.Hide Caption 15 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiResidents of the Crestview Towers Condominium carry their belongings as they leave their building in North Miami Beach, Florida, on July 2. The building, about 6 miles from Surfside, was deemed to be structurally and electrically unsafe based on a delinquent recertification report for the almost 50-year-old building. The city said the move was out of an "abundance of caution," as area authorities check high-rise condo buildings following the Surfside collapse.Hide Caption 16 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPresident Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visit a memorial near the partially collapsed building on July 1. Biden traveled to Surfside to console families still waiting on news of their loved ones. Those meetings were closed to the press.Hide Caption 17 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA Coast Guard boat patrols the water ahead of Biden's visit.Hide Caption 18 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiNBA basketball player Udonis Haslem, left, and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava arrive to pay their respects at a memorial near the building on June 30.Hide Caption 19 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiSearch-and-rescue teams look through the rubble of Champlain Towers South on June 29.Hide Caption 20 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople take part in a twilight vigil near the building on June 28.Hide Caption 21 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiMore than 3 million pounds of concrete have already been removed during the rescue operation, said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky.Hide Caption 22 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiA woman puts flowers in a barricade as she pays her respects near the building.Hide Caption 23 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPassersby look at photos of missing people.Hide Caption 24 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiWorkers search through the rubble on June 26.Hide Caption 25 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiEliagne Sanchez and K. Parker lay flowers on the beach near the partially collapsed building.Hide Caption 26 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiSmoke rises as rescuers continued to search for survivors on June 26.Hide Caption 27 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople stand near the building on June 25.Hide Caption 28 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiMourners light candles on the beach near the building.Hide Caption 29 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiMembers of a search-and-rescue team work in the rubble.Hide Caption 30 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople pray together on the beach near the collapsed building.Hide Caption 31 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiFirefighters battle a blaze at the collapse site.Hide Caption 32 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople hug June 25 as they wait for news about their relatives at a community center in Surfside.Hide Caption 33 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue personnel search through the building's rubble on June 25.Hide Caption 34 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiToby Fried holds up a picture of her missing brother, Chaim Rosenberg, outside the Surfside Community Center on June 25.Hide Caption 35 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue workers use a crane to inspect the damage.Hide Caption 36 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiAriana Hevia, center, stands with Sean Wilt near the partially collapsed building on June 25. Hevia's mother, Cassandra Statton, lives in the building.Hide Caption 37 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue workers arrive to the scene with dogs on June 25.Hide Caption 38 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiFaydah Bushnaq, center, is hugged by Maria Fernanda Martinez as they stand on the beach near the building. Bushnaq, who was vacationing in South Florida, stopped to write "pray for their souls" in the sand.Hide Caption 39 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThe arm of an earth mover is seen during the search operations.Hide Caption 40 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue personnel work at the site on June 24.Hide Caption 41 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiYube Pettingill talks to the media. Two of her family members were still missing.Hide Caption 42 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThis photo was tweeted by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue after the building collapsed.Hide Caption 43 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiDisplaced residents are taken to a nearby hotel in Surfside.Hide Caption 44 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThe partial collapse left huge piles of rubble and materials dangling from what remained of the structure.Hide Caption 45 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at center in the red tie, arrives to speak to the media on June 24. "We still have hope to be able to identify additional survivors," DeSantis told reporters near the scene. "The state of Florida, we're offering any assistance that we can."Hide Caption 46 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiDebris dangles from the building on June 24.Hide Caption 47 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople hug at a family reunification center where evacuees were staying in Surfside.Hide Caption 48 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThe cause of the collapse wasn't immediately known.Hide Caption 49 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiJennifer Carr sits with her daughter as they and other evacuees wait for news at the family reunification center in Surfside.Hide Caption 50 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue personnel search through the rubble with dogs.Hide Caption 51 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPolice stand guard on the day the building collapsed.Hide Caption 52 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople on the beach look at the building after the partial collapse.Hide Caption 53 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThe building was constructed in 1981, according to online Miami-Dade property records.Hide Caption 54 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiPeople lie on cots at the family reunification center in Surfside.Hide Caption 55 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiThe beachfront community is a few miles north of Miami Beach.Hide Caption 56 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiMore than 80 rescue units responded to the scene, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said.Hide Caption 57 of 58 Photos: Deadly condo collapse near MiamiRescue personnel work at the site of the partial collapse.Hide Caption 58 of 58A makeshift memorial to the missing was set up along a fence near the site of the collapse, with photos, candles and flowers. Among the missing are Gil Guerra and his wife, Betty, who lived on the ninth floor.Search and rescue personnel work to find any survivors or casualties in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, Florida. "We're doing our best to stay hopeful," Michelle Guerra said of her father and stepmother. "That's what they would want."Also missing was Vishal Patel, his wife Bhavna Patel, their 1-year-old daughter Aishani Patel, their niece Sarina Patel told CNN, adding that Bhavna Patel is four months pregnant.Sarina Patel told CNN on Friday that she last spoke to her family June 20 to tell them she had booked a flight to visit. They were home at the time the collapse took place, Sarina Patel said."We have tried calling them countless of times and there's just been no answers," she said.CNN's Rosa Flores reported from Surfside; Steve Almasy, Curt Devine, Rebekah Riess, Amanda Watts, Sara Weisfeldt, Theresa Waldrop, Ana Zuniga, Melissa Alonso, Jamiel Lynch, Camille Furst, Abel Alvarado, Kristen Holmes, Valentina Moreira, Gerardo Lemos and Radina Gigova contributed to this report.

Scott Glover, CNN

2021-06-18 11:15:32

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/18/politics/ashli-babbitt-capitol-hill-riot-death-invs/index.html

Ashli Babbitt: How her death in the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot became so polarizing - CNNPolitics

Months after Ashli Babbitt was shot dead during the Capitol Hill riot, her memory has become as polarizing and as politicized as the day itself.

politics, Ashli Babbitt: How her death in the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot became so polarizing - CNNPolitics

To some, she's a patriot. To others, a domestic terrorist. How the memory of a woman killed in the Capitol riot got so politicized

(CNN)On a sunny morning in February, as a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" filled the salt air, Ashli Babbitt's family and friends scattered her ashes into the Pacific Ocean off San Diego.The ceremony, aboard a chartered boat, was supposed to be a final goodbye for the 35-year-old Air Force veteran and fervent Donald Trump supporter who was fatally shot in the US Capitol on Jan. 6.Babbitt was shot once in the shoulder by an unidentified Capitol police lieutenant while attempting to crawl through a broken window leading to the Speaker's Lobby outside the US House of Representatives' chamber. The shooting was captured on video and went viral for the world to see. The lieutenant has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing.But nearly six months after she was slain, Babbitt's memory not only lives on, it has become as polarizing and as politicized as the day itself.To some Americans on the right, she's a patriot who died a martyr's death. To others on the left, she's a domestic terrorist who got what she deserved -- a sentiment conveyed with its own Twitter hashtag, #SheWasATerrorist. Read More"She is the tragedy of the modern Republican voter personified," liberal political commentator Bill Maher proclaimed in January. "She died for a second Trump term even though that would have solved exactly none of her problems."Her image adorns a black "martyr flag" with the Capitol in the background that is being circulated on right-wing social media and appears in a painting reminiscent of the revolutionary war era entitled "Daughter of Liberty.""She is going to be used for many, many years," said Simon Purdue, a fellow at the UK-based Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right, who last month wrote an article on the significance of Babbitt's supposed martyrdom as a recruiting tool. "The more they mention her, the more dangerous her story is going to be."In interviews with CNN, Babbitt's mother and brother, Michelle and Roger Witthoeft, spoke openly about her life before the shooting, their perspectives on what led her to the Capitol that day and their contention that she did not deserve to be shot.To her family, the life Babbitt lived for 35 years was suddenly eclipsed by what they see as a distorted portrait that has emerged following her death, based in part on her own social media postings and videos in which she rants about her conservative political views and support of Donald Trump.Ashli Babbitt touted Donald Trump "every single day all day long," her mother said.Because of this and her high-profile role on Jan. 6, they say, the death of an unarmed woman who spent more than a decade in service to her country and who had no previous criminal convictions has been met with a collective shrug by the government and mainstream media.Politics aside, "she was a person," her mother said, her voice cracking with emotion.As for the videos, Roger Witthoeft said, "you're getting two minutes of 35 years. You don't know what she was like.""So many people either love my sister or they hate her," he said. "Most of them have never met her."'The Enforcer'Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt grew up a tomboy in a suburb of San Diego. She kept pace with four brothers and their friends, riding bikes, jumping them over ramps, skateboarding and "playing in the dirt," Witthoeft recalled. "She just did boy things," he said. "Me and my sister were best friends."Ashli Babbitt with her brother Roger Witthoeft in 2015.Babbitt excelled at water polo in high school. Despite her small stature, she was a hard-charging player, earning her the nickname "The Enforcer." She signed up for the Air Force at age 17. Her parents had to accompany her to the recruiting office do so."She was brave. She came out that way. Always was that way," her mother said. "She always wanted to go into the military. 9-11 strengthened her conviction."Babbitt spent four years on active duty, from 2004 through 2008, achieving the rank of senior airman. She went on to serve as an Air Force reservist from 2008 to 2010 and in the Air National Guard from 2010 to 2016, according to records released by the Air Force Personnel Center. Her service included deployments to Afghanistan in 2005, Iraq in 2006, and the United Arab Emirates in 2012 and 2014, according to an Air Force spokesperson. While with the Air National Guard, she was a member of the 113th Security Forces Squadron of the DC Air National Guard based at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. The unit, whose mission is to protect the DC area during periods of civil unrest, is nicknamed the Capital Guardians.'Always there'Witthoeft said his sister never let distance get in the way of her relationship with family members, whom she developed a habit of surprising with unannounced visits from across the country or around the world."You'd hear your dog barking at 2:30 in the morning and you'd open the door and it would be Ashli," her brother recalled "Caught a flight home!" she'd say.He recalled one episode when he was feeling particularly down and called his sister, who was living in Maryland, to vent.When he got home from work the next day, she was waiting at his front door. "She's probably running around packing her bags as I'm on the phone with her," he recalled. "Ashli was just always there in the time of need." Witthoeft said he doesn't recall his sister always being so consumed by politics. Years ago, he said, she voted for Barack Obama."She just would do her research and whoever she thought was the best candidate was the best candidate," he said. "In her opinion Obama was the better person at the time."In 2017, after more than a decade away, Babbitt returned to Southern California. She bought a pool service company that she ran with her brother Roger and her future husband, Aaron, who did not respond to multiple requests to be interviewed for this article.Ashli Babbitt in a photo from her since removed Twitter account. A shift to the rightBabbitt's politics, meanwhile, had shifted to the right from her days as an Obama supporter, according to a pair of videos from 2018.In one video, which appears to be shot in her kitchen, Babbitt speaks in an animated tone about homelessness and border security and calls out Democratic politicians for "refusing to acknowledge or even admit that we do need the wall.""The border is an absolute shit show," she said. "There's riots, there's arrests, there's rapes, there's drugs ... there are tons of issues.""I want my politicians to start coming down here and telling me that my reality is a lie," she said.She recorded another video around the same time from her car. She seems agitated, her voice impassioned, as she calls out then-Sen. Kamala Harris and fellow Democrats for failing to deal with homelessness, drugs and illegal immigration. "Where is Kamala? Where is Kamala?" Babbitt says, sounding exasperated. "You guys refuse to choose America over your stupid political party.""This is absolutely insane," she says moments later, her eyes darting back and forth between the camera and the road. "This is crazy."She became an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, proudly wearing a bright red Make America Great Again hat and attending as many of his rallies as she could, her brother said. She was prolific on Twitter, using the name @CommonAshSense, where she spread QAnon theories, attacked the credibility of the mainstream media and, after the pandemic hit, railed against Covid-19 restrictions. By 2019, her pool service company appeared to be struggling financially and was hit with a $70,000 judgment following a lawsuit by a company that provided a cash advance in exchange for a cut of future earnings. Witthoeft said the financial situation for the company was not dire and that Babbitt remained positive about the future of the company. "The financial stuff will pass," he quoted her as saying. "It's just a hiccup. Nothing lasts forever." Earlier this year, a sign on the door of the pool supply company proclaimed, "mask free autonomous zone, better known as America," according to a photo published by The Associated Press. A sign outside Babbitt's San Diego area pool supply company on Jan. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)Witthoeft, who spends his off hours surfing and working out, said he does not pay attention to social media and was largely oblivious to the increasing intensity of his sister's political views before Jan. 6. "That whole world ain't my game," he said. He had no idea his sister was bound for Washington, DC in early January, he said. 'Nothing will stop us'On her flight to Washington, Babbitt took a selfie in which she's wearing a Trump 2020 mask. "Tons of Trump supporters on my plane!!!!" she wrote in a text to her husband. "Be safe," he replied. "I cannot lose you." "Nothing will stop us," Babbitt Tweeted on Jan. 5. "They can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours." She ended the Tweet with the words "dark to light!" a phrase commonly associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory regarding an ongoing battle between good and evil. JUST WATCHEDThese are the key moments from the US Capitol riotReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHThese are the key moments from the US Capitol riot 04:47On the afternoon of the 6th, Babbitt filmed herself amid a throng of fellow Trump supporters walking toward the capitol."There's an estimated over three million people here today," she said, "so despite what the media tells you, boots on ground definitely say something different." The size of the crowd was actually a small fraction of Babbitt's estimate, likely in the tens of thousands at most based on various projections and protest permit applications. A short time later, around 2:45 p.m., she is captured on cell phone video attempting to climb through the window into the Speaker's Lobby, a Trump flag around her like a cape. There is a loud bang and she falls backward into the crowd of people behind her.'Invincible'Witthoeft was at work with his younger brother when they got a panicked call from their father. "Your sister's been shot in DC," he told them. "It was one of only two times I've ever seen my father cry -- I mean, go down to your knees, sobbing like a kid, cry," Witthoeft said.A day or so later a pair of FBI agents knocked on the door of the bungalow he shares with two of his brothers a few blocks from the beach. They were asking questions about Babbitt, Witthoeft recalled, and seemed skeptical that she'd traveled to DC all on her own and managed to find herself at the center of the mele without any help or planning. Witthoeft chuckled as he recalled the episode. He said he told the agents he was unaware of his sister conspiring with anyone and doubted she had. "You don't know my sister," he said. "That is exactly something she would do. That's who she was."Ever since they were kids, he said, she'd exhibited extraordinary determination and discipline when it came to something she cared about, obstacles be damned. Her motto for when the going got tough, he said, was "hydrate and press on." "She was invincible," Witthoeft said. "That's the way I looked at her."Michelle Witthoeft said answers were hard to come by in the days and weeks following her daughter's death. She was repeatedly brushed off by the Capitol police and various politicians, she said. In some cases, people were "downright rude." In February, Babbitt's family scattered her ashes in the Pacific Ocean off Point Loma, not too far from where she and her husband used to walk their three dogs. At the time, they held out hope that the officer who shot her would be held accountable. But federal prosecutors announced in April that they found "insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution" of the officer who shot Babbitt. Prosecutors won't pursue charges in shooting death of Ashli Babbitt during Capitol riotOfficer's actions 'nothing short of heroic'A press release from the US Attorney's office in Washington, DC said investigators examined video footage posted on social media and considered the statements of the officer who fired the fatal shot, other officers and witnesses at the scene, as well as physical evidence and the findings of an autopsy. The two-page release contained a brief summary of the incident which painted a tense scene in which Capitol police officers had constructed a makeshift barrier of furniture to block a mob from forcing entry into the Speaker's Lobby and chamber of the House of Representatives from which members of Congress were being evacuated. "Members of the mob attempted to break through the doors by striking them and breaking the glass with their hands, flagpoles, helmets and other objects," the release states. "Ms. Babbitt attempted to climb through one of the doors where glass was broken out. An officer inside the Speaker's Lobby fired one round from his service pistol, striking Ms. Babbitt in the left shoulder," the release said. She died a short time later at a local hospital. Prosecutors said their probe was focused on whether the officer violated Babbitt's civil rights by willfully using excessive force against her. "The investigation revealed no evidence," the US attorneys' office wrote, "that the officer did not reasonably believe he was acting in self-defense, or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber." The release did not specify the shooting officer's stated reason for pulling the trigger, nor did it say why other officers present did not shoot. Terry Roberts, a Maryland attorney retained by Babbitt's family, said in a recent interview with CNN that he intends to file a civil rights lawsuit alleging that she was a victim of excessive force. Roberts said there was no indication that the lieutenant issued a warning before opening fire and that if he had, Babbitt, a former military police officer, would have heeded that warning. "He didn't need a bullet to stop her," Roberts said in a brief telephone interview with CNN. "It was excessive." Roberts said he filed a claim that is a precursor to a lawsuit with the Capitol Police in April. He declined to provide a timetable for when the anticipated case would be filed.Attorney Mark Schamel, who represents the Capitol police lieutenant who shot Babbitt, said in a statement issued after the DOJ announcement that the officer "saved the lives of countless members of Congress" by stopping the rioters from gaining entry to the Speaker's Lobby. "His bravery on January 6 was nothing short of heroic," Schamel said. Senate report reveals new details about security failures ahead of January 6 attack but omits Trump's roleLast month, Arizona Republican Congressman Paul Gosar, a vocal Trump supporter who backed efforts to overturn the election, sought to undermine the notion that Babbitt was killed in an act of self-defense. He did so during a House oversight committee hearing in which he questioned a former Justice Department official about the events of Jan. 6. "Who executed Ashli Babbitt?" Gosar asked. "A woman, a veteran, was killed in the U.S. Capitol and her family and country deserve answers," the Congressman tweeted a week later. "Say her name." Purdue, the fellow from the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right, drew parallels between the rhetoric surrounding Babbitt's death and that of Vicki Weaver. Weaver was the wife of White separatist Randy Weaver who was fatally shot by an FBI sniper during a standoff with federal agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992. The Weavers' teenage son was also killed a day earlier as was a US marshal. Vicki Weaver's "perceived status as an innocent, white, female victim of 'state aggression' instantly placed her on a pedestal," Purdue wrote. Her death in particular became a rallying cry and recruiting tool on the far right and helped inspire Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols."We're seeing similarities in the way Ashli Babbitt is being treated," Purdue said in an interview with CNN. "They're talking about the death of Ashli Babbitt as proof that the state has gone too far. It's proof that a revolution is necessary."'Trump rallied his troops'Roger Witthoeft has since replayed the final moments of his sister's life countless times on the internet. "One of the hardest parts about seeing the video is you want to grab her and shake her and be like damn it, Ashli. Why'd you have to do that?" he said. "What the hell were you thinking?" That does not mean Witthoeft thinks his sister deserved to get shot -- he does not. The muscular weightlifter says he'd like five minutes alone in a room with the officer that shot her. Not to hurt him, he said, but to hear what was going through his mind when he pulled the trigger."I don't agree with the decision, and I'm angry as a brother," he said. "But I don't think anyone wakes up in the morning and goes, 'I want to go take a life today,' so I'd be interested to talk to him." Witthoeft said he understood that his sister's political messaging online and in her videos may "have been a little heated and delivered wrong," but that didn't mean she wasn't entitled to her opinion. He said she'd spent most of her adult life in the military defending the freedom of others to speak their minds. "I feel like she went to the Capitol because she felt like her voice wasn't being heard," he said. Michelle Witthoeft bristled at the notion that her daughter was an insurrectionist. "To have to defend my daughter's patriotism blows my mind, because she loved this country more than anybody I know," she said. "She was there to express her First Amendment right and to answer the call of a still sitting president." Though she, too, had been a Trump supporter, Michelle Witthoeft said she didn't appreciate the way the former President has behaved in the wake of her daughter's death. "Donald Trump rallied his troops and Ashli was definitely [one of] his troops," she said. "I think he could have intervened and spoken out on my daughter's behalf just one little iota as much as she touted for him every single day all day long." She makes no apologies for her daughter's conduct and said she takes comfort in the fact that she was "in her moment" up until the second she was shot. She called her daughter "a true patriot, in every sense of the word." "She walked the walk," her mother said. "She didn't just talk the talk."

Bob Ortega, Kyung Lah, Stephanie Becker and Anna-Maja Rappard, CNN

2021-06-18 00:48:30

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/17/politics/arizona-audit-cyber-ninjas-logan-invs/index.html

Arizona election audit: His cybersecurity firm is working on the 'audit'. But people who know him have questions - CNNPolitics

Cyber Ninjas, the company running Arizona Senate's controversial election 'audit,' is one man - Doug Logan - whose spouting of debunked conspiracy theories about 2020 election fraud may bring him more such 'audits' in other states.

politics, Arizona election audit: His cybersecurity firm is working on the 'audit'. But people who know him have questions - CNNPolitics

His cybersecurity firm is working on the Arizona 'audit'. But people who know him have questions

(CNN)In recent weeks, GOP lawmakers from at least 16 states have flocked to Phoenix for a first-hand look at a controversial, partisan "audit" of the 2020 vote in Arizona's largest county. The visits look to be a harbinger for similar exercises yet-to-come in those other states -- and a potential revenue stream for, among others, the Arizona effort's main contractor: Cyber Ninjas.Never heard of Cyber Ninjas before the Arizona audit began two months ago? You are not alone. Arizona audit funding cloaked in secrecyThough the Florida-based cybersecurity firm has existed in some form since at least 2014, before last November's election, it hadn't done election auditing, nor been in the public eye. But then, there hasn't been much of it to be in the public eye. Cyber Ninjas exists mostly in virtual reality, with its chief executive, Doug Logan, also serving as, well, pretty much everything. Read MoreOn recent calls to the company's automated answer line, pressing "3" for sales led to the answering message for Logan. So did pressing "4" for human resources. And pressing "5" for purchasing. And "6" for the general mailbox. Go to the address for Cyber Ninjas' Legal Department, listed on its audit contract with the Arizona Senate, and you'll wind up at a rented mailbox in a UPS Store in Sarasota, Florida. The company's business address registered with Florida's Secretary of State, also in Sarasota, was sold last December, and now sits empty. Cyber Ninjas owner Doug Logan, a Florida-based consultancy, talks about overseeing a 2020 election ballot audit ordered by the Republican lead Arizona Senate at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, during a news conference Thursday, April 22, 2021, in Phoenix. Logan himself has strenuously avoided speaking to reporters since taking part in an April 22 press conference just before the audit began. At that conference, he refused to answer questions about how he'd repeated and amplified various debunked election-fraud conspiracy theories on social media, such as this retweet unearthed by the Arizona Mirror, for example: "I'm tired of hearing people say there was no fraud. It happened, it's real, and people better get wise fast." He'd also provided, in a Michigan election lawsuit, an affidavit alleging vulnerabilities in one county's system for tallying votes; state and county officials disagreed, identified a slew of problems with the analysis. And Logan repeated disproven claims in a paper he wrote for Republican US senators objecting to Congress's Jan. 6 certification of President Joe Biden's election win. But Logan, and the Arizona Senate's audit liaison, Ken Bennett, argued at that press conference that Logan's own opinions don't matter, and that people should trust in the integrity of the audit process he's overseeing. Logan declined interview requests from CNN. An emailed statement from his spokesman, Rod Thomson, stated that "Mr. Logan recognizes President Biden's results were certified and accepted in accordance with the Constitution. Mr. Logan remains committed to restoring integrity and trust into our election system, which he is demonstrating through the work he is performing here in Maricopa County."But that's a tough sell, even to Logan's friends. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. "It's hard to say anything bad about the guy. He's a lovely person. He's just nuts now," said Tony Summerlin, who has been friends with Logan for 15 years, and said he helped him win a cybersecurity contract with the Federal Communications Commission five years ago. "It's scary; because if someone like him can turn into this, who can't turn into this?" Summerlin said that in all the years he'd known Logan, before the Arizona audit, "we never, never had a single political conversation; that's what stunned me about this... He said, 'there's definitely something there.' I said, 'based on what?' He said, 'it'll come.' I said, 'you sound like the My Pillow guy.'"Another friend of Logan, who asked not to be named because she works with both Republicans and Democrats in Washington, DC, and feared blowback from being linked to him, described him as very smart, very competent in cybersecurity, and politically naïve. "Doug may not have thought it all the way through," she said. JUST WATCHEDKyung Lah: Why right-wing TV reminds me of state-run mediaReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHKyung Lah: Why right-wing TV reminds me of state-run media 02:38Logan, 41, graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., in 2002, and quickly became involved in cybersecurity work. Summerlin said he first met Logan in 2005 or 2006. "He was in DC trying to get business with the government for his firm, which at that point was him. He seemed like a smart guy." In 2010, in New York, Logan competed in the first US Cyber Challenge, a national program to identify and develop cybersecurity talent. He went on to become a Cyber Challenge instructor, and helped develop a workshop for the curriculum, according to a person familiar with his work at the program. In March 2014, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that Sarasota County's Economic Development Corporation was helping Logan relocate his company, Cyber Ninjas, to the city, "with plans to eventually add eight to 10 employees." The paper said Logan was moving there from Bloomington, Indiana, where he'd also worked for the software security company Cigital. Logan and his company have a trail of positive reviews posted on his LinkedIn page for cybersecurity consulting work in the private sector. He and Cyber Ninjas also received a three-year, $101,000 federal cybersecurity contract with the Federal Communications Commission in 2016, and subsequently, Summerlin said, worked for the Universal Services Administrative Company, a private-public partnership under the FCC that provides broadband services to underserved communities and schools, among other work. None of that previous consulting appears to have any ties to election-related matters. In April 2020, Cyber Ninjas received a Covid assistance loan for $98,322, saying in its application it then had five employees.JUST WATCHEDCNN confronts woman behind bogus Arizona auditReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCNN confronts woman behind bogus Arizona audit 05:23Logan, in materials for a cybersecurity conference in Chicago last November, described himself as a father of 11 children and a "Follower of Jesus Christ." But also in November, within days of Trump's election loss, Logan was messaging Ron Watkins. The recent HBO documentary "Q: Into the Storm," pointed to Watkins as either being "Q" or at least a key promulgator of the QAnon conspiracy theories that helped animate many of those who stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6. Watkins is the former administrator of the internet message-board website 8chan, now 8kun, effectively QAnon's home base. In a series of archived tweets from a now-deleted account between Nov. 12 and December, first reported by The Daily Beast, Logan messaged Watkins, "I'd love to chat if you have a chance;" asked Watkins for links to "original source documents;" and tagged Watkins on his exchanges with attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, who filed numerous lawsuits challenging Biden's victory and baselessly claiming electoral fraud. Wood also told a reporter for Talking Points Memo that Logan had visited his home in South Carolina to meet with others "working on the investigation into election fraud." Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, who hired Cyber Ninjas, dismissed concerns about Logan's tweets and other indications he might be biased as "tiny little things." Some others don't see them as quite so tiny. Arizona mail in ballot auditDouglas Cobb, owner of Paper Forensics, a Savannah, Georgia-based document examination firm, shared emails with CNN showing he was approached in April by another Cyber Ninjas subcontractor, Haystack Investigations, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, to join the Arizona "audit." The emails were first reported by the Arizona Republic.Cobb said he was asked to provide up to 20 people for 14 days to examine the ballot paper, at a rate of $600 a day plus expenses per person and $800 a day for himself. That total, just over $179,000 plus expenses, is more than the Arizona Senate contracted to pay Cyber Ninjas for the audit as a whole: $150,000. As CNN has reported, private partisan sources heavily invested in casting doubt on Biden's election victory claim to have funneled more than $1.6 million to the audit. Neither Fann, nor the Senate, nor Logan, have said how much in private funding Cyber Ninjas has received or spent. At the April 22 press conference, Logan said he didn't know how much his company was being paid, and didn't want to know, because "I don't want to be influenced." Cobb had planned to work on the audit -- until his son looked online into the people he'd be working for. "I withdrew once I found out a little more about who was involved, Cyber Ninjas and Logan and his conspiracy theories," Cobb said. Logan didn't answer questions from CNN about who is accounting for funds received and spent for the audit; about whether he's been approached by legislators from other states to do similar work; about whether his company has an actual office or any full-time employees; about how he and his company came to Fann's attention; or about whether he still believes the conspiracies he touted months ago to GOP US senators, such as debunked allegations of fraud in counties in Georgia and Pennsylvania, or debunked claims that Dominion Voting System's core software originates from intellectual property of Smartmatic, and is linked through Smartmatic to Venezuela's long-dead former president Hugo Chavez, among others. Questions about Logan's beliefs continue to surface. On June 3, when conspiracy theorist and Overstock founder Patrick Byrne released a trailer for a film about the Arizona audit, claiming the election was stolen from Trump, several Arizona reporters immediately pointed to an anonymous speaker, identified only as an "ANON, Application Security Analyst," as sounding exactly like Doug Logan. Summerlin, too, said he recognized Logan's voice. On the trailer, the speaker says, "if we don't fix our election integrity now, we may no longer have a democracy." Shortly after several reporters tweeted about Logan and the trailer, a re-edited version of the trailer was substituted on YouTube with the voice for that speaker digitally altered. Logan didn't respond to queries about whether that was his voice on the trailer, which has now been removed for violating YouTube's community guidelines. The last time he spoke publicly about the audit, on April 22, Logan told reporters, "I know you guys want to paint me like some bad guy in here. I'm involved in this and putting everything on the line with my company because I care about our country. ... Otherwise, who would be stupid enough to walk into this? Every individual that walks into any election integrity thing gets butchered by everybody."Summerlin said Logan recently contacted him to ask for his help, saying that the Universal Service Administrative Company had terminated Cyber Ninjas' contract. Neither Logan nor the USAC responded to questions from CNN about the alleged contract termination. "He said, 'it's wrong they're terminating me,'" Summerlin said. "I said, 'don't be an idiot, of course they're terminating your ass, you work at will.' I said, 'if you get a government contract any time after this, I'll be amazed."

Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN

2021-06-14 10:59:00

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/14/business/amazonbasics-cpsc-investigation-invs/index.html

Federal safety regulators investigating AmazonBasics products highlighted in CNN report - CNN

The federal agency responsible for overseeing consumer product safety is investigating Amazon branded electronic products highlighted in a CNN investigation last year, according to records and interviews.

business, Federal safety regulators investigating AmazonBasics products highlighted in CNN report - CNN

Federal safety regulators investigating AmazonBasics products highlighted in CNN report

(CNN)The federal agency responsible for overseeing consumer product safety is investigating Amazon-branded electronic products highlighted in a CNN investigation last year, according to records and interviews. CNN reported last year that dozens of AmazonBasics electronics remained for sale on Amazon.com, despite customers reporting the products had melted, exploded or burst into flames. Lawmakers immediately called on the company to investigate and recall any electronics posing dangers to customers.Dozens of Amazon's own products have been reported as dangerous -- melting, exploding or even bursting into flames. Many are still on the market Now, at least eight of the items highlighted in CNN's investigation are being reviewed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, according to letters CNN received from the agency in response to public records requests. Among the products are surge protectors, phone charging cords, a patio heater, battery charger and a voice-activated microwave that consumers reported had caught fire. The CPSC would not say how many products are under review or what safety concerns are being examined. It also rejected CNN's request for records about the AmazonBasics products, citing the pending investigations. Matt Citro says that he sent back his charred surge protector so that it could be investigated by Amazon. He never heard anything back, but did receive a payment to cover damage to his home. (Courtesy Matt Citro)One customer who told CNN last year about how his surge protector had turned into what resembled a "blowtorch" and started a fire in his home confirmed to reporters that the CPSC contacted him for the first time in February to learn more about his experience. Read MoreJUST WATCHEDDozens of AmazonBasics product are flagged as dangerous, but many are still being sold (2020)ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHDozens of AmazonBasics product are flagged as dangerous, but many are still being sold (2020) 04:23He had posted a review about the fire back in 2018 and received a roughly $1,500 payment to cover damage to his home in a settlement in which Amazon denied any liability. Yet CNN found that Amazon continued to sell the surge protector for nearly two years after that review was posted — even though more than 40 customers had also reported the product was a fire hazard, caused damage to their home or belongings or described other dangers. What should we investigate next? Email us: [email protected]. Amazon pulled the item from its site in 2019, weeks after CNN began looking into it, but did not appear to provide any notification to customers, including to the reporters who purchased the device. And the company did not post any message on its site about why it was taken down.Amazon declined to comment on the CPSC investigations, only saying that it continues to evaluate every report of a potential safety concern and take appropriate action and that none of the products featured in CNN's investigation have been recalled or discontinued for safety reasons.

Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-05-17 13:16:29

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/17/us/hospital-lawsuits-pandemic-invs/index.html

Community Health Systems: One of America's largest hospital chains has been suing patients during the pandemic - CNN

One of America's largest hospital chains, Community Health Systems, has filed at least 19,000 lawsuits against patients in the last year, a CNN investigation finds.

us, Community Health Systems: One of America's largest hospital chains has been suing patients during the pandemic - CNN

'There's no way I can pay for this:' One of America's largest hospital chains has been suing thousands of patients during the pandemic

(CNN)As the coronavirus spiked in Missouri last fall, a wave of cases hit a nursing home in the state's rural heartland. Robin Bull, a part-time nurse, remembered an ambulance "coming and going constantly" on one especially scary morning, rushing residents to Moberly Regional Medical Center, the local hospital. But even as Bull was helping send patients to Moberly Regional, the hospital was in the process of suing her and at least one other former employee at the nursing home. They were two of more than 600 former patients that the hospital has sued over medical bills during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a CNN analysis of court records.Moberly Regional sued Bull last May for $9,281, costs that Bull said came from an emergency room visit for food poisoning several years ago. After a judge ruled in the hospital's favor late last year, the company filed a motion to start garnishing part of her roughly $850-per-month salary. Bull, who also receives disability payments, said she and her husband both contracted Covid-19 last summer, and they've struggled to pay their bills each month. "I tried to reason with the lawyers and tell them there's no way I can pay for this, but nothing worked," Bull said. "Having this huge bill looming over my head -- it's been stressful, it's been heart-sickening." Read More We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. Bull's experience is hardly unique. Hospitals owned by Community Health Systems, Inc., one of America's largest hospital chains, have filed at least 19,000 lawsuits against their patients over allegedly unpaid medical bills since March 2020, even as other hospitals around the country have moved to curtail similar lawsuits during the coronavirus pandemic, a CNN investigation found.The company's 84 hospitals, which are concentrated in the South and stretch from Alaska to Key West, Florida, have taken their patients to court for as little as $201 and as much as $162,000. They say litigation is a last resort.CNN's review of court filings across 16 states the company operates in found that most of the patients sued by CHS -- like Bull -- didn't hire a lawyer or fight the lawsuits, and judges often ruled in the company's favor by default. In some states, defendants' debts piled on with attorney's fees and interest. Elsewhere, the hospital chain's subsidiaries quickly moved to garnish defendants' paychecks after a judgment. Advocates say those hardball collection tactics can leave low-income patients in financial ruin -- especially considering the lawsuits were filed in the middle of the Covid-fueled economic collapse. "I can't think of a worse thing a hospital system can be doing than suing patients for medical bills during a pandemic and a recession," said Caitlin Donovan, the spokeswoman for the National Patient Advocate Foundation, a patients' rights group. CHS in 2020 enjoyed its most profitable year in at least a decade, even as it was suing patients during the pandemic. The company made $511 million in net income last year, a big swing after four straight years of annual losses. That strong financial result led to the company's top executives earning millions of dollars worth of bonuses, according to documents it has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. One reason for the success: CHS has been buoyed by taxpayer support. It received $705 million in pandemic-related aid from the federal government's CARES Act and other state and local programs in 2020, not including additional government loans it will have to pay back, according to its 2021 annual report to shareholders. In a statement to CNN, CHS said its hospitals only sue a "small fraction" of the patients they treat every year, and that they work to provide assistance for those who can't afford their bills.JUST WATCHEDLabor secretary on unemployment numbers: We're still recoveringReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHLabor secretary on unemployment numbers: We're still recovering 04:30"Legal action is always the last resort," the company said. CHS hospitals only file lawsuits, it said, "after it is determined the patient appears to have some ability to pay based on credit record and employment status or if the patient has been non-responsive" following repeated attempts to discuss their bill. The company said its hospitals do not "initiate litigation against any patient we know lost his or her job because of the pandemic," and that under a new policy it adopted earlier this year, it would withdraw lawsuits against anyone making less than 200% of the federal poverty level -- $25,760 for an individual. But many patients failed to fill out a form outlining their finances that could make them eligible for those reprieves or other aid, it said. Patients being sued and lawyers who work on the cases say that the company's rhetoric doesn't always hold up. CNN interviewed more than a dozen people sued by CHS hospitals. Most said they had tried to communicate with the company's lawyers, collections agents or the hospitals directly and found them unresponsive or unwilling to agree to a settlement they could afford. Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins University professor who has studied hospital lawsuits around the country, said CHS was far more litigious than most hospital groups, and that the company's financial aid policy didn't go nearly far enough. "It's like Marie Antoinette saying, 'if somebody came to me begging for food, I would give them cake,'" Makary said. "It's completely blind to the relentless, aggressive, predatory nature of debt collection on the ground."A huge caseloadCHS, which is based in a Nashville suburb, is a for-profit company that was founded in 1985. At its peak in 2014, it operated more hospitals across the U.S. than any other company, according to Modern Healthcare, a trade publication. It has sold off some of its facilities since then but is still ranked among the 10 largest hospital chains in the country. The company's practice of suing patients isn't a new development: Many of its hospitals have brought large numbers of patients to court for years. The total number of lawsuits filed dipped in the spring of 2020, as many courthouses shut down in the early days of the pandemic, but then picked up again in the summer and fall. While the lawsuits were filed during the pandemic, they are typically over years-old medical bills. Judge says CDC doesn't have authority to issue an eviction moratorium. It's unclear what happens nextTo identify cases, CNN searched court records for lawsuits brought by a list of about 100 CHS subsidiaries, including those operating the company's 84 current hospitals and others that ran more than a dozen facilities that CHS sold or closed during 2020 and early 2021. CNN found about 24,000 lawsuits filed by the company's hospitals, including more than 19,000 filed on or after March 13, 2020, when the federal government declared a national emergency over Covid-19. The review only included cases in which the hospitals sued individual people, as opposed to insurance companies. In states where information about cases was available online, CNN limited its review to lawsuits marked as related to debt, collections or monetary claims. The company's six Alabama hospitals filed at least 4,900 lawsuits during all of 2020 and the first four months of 2021, but the state's court case search system does not make it possible to identify how many were filed after the pandemic gripped the U.S. or how many were debt-related. The other top states CHS hospitals filed lawsuits in were Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Texas. Nationwide, roughly three-fourths of the company's hospitals have filed at least a dozen lawsuits against patients since March 2020. CNN was able to obtain court records from most but not all counties where CHS operates a hospital, so the findings are likely an undercount.CHS is hardly the only hospital group that has sued patients, but experts say its aggressive legal strategy stands out. Makary, the Johns Hopkins professor, said his research had found "a pattern across the U.S." that CHS hospitals are among the most litigious. In Texas, for example, a Johns Hopkins study co-authored by Makary that covered about a fourth of the state's counties found that only 7% of local hospitals sued any patients between January 2018 and February 2020. Nine of the top 10 most litigious hospitals in the state identified by the researchers were owned by CHS. CHS questioned the report's methodology, saying it was skewed because the researchers included counties where the company's hospitals operate and not all counties in the state. Makary said the research did not target CHS hospitals. Spokespeople for three other of the largest national hospital chains -- HCA Healthcare, LifePoint Health and CommonSpirit Health -- said their hospitals do not sue patients over unpaid bills. Trinity Health, another large chain, suspended collections activity in March 2020 due to the pandemic and has "significantly limited any pursuit of legal action involving past due accounts," a spokesperson said, although she declined to provide more details. Other hospitals around the country have publicly said they will avoid suing patients during the coronavirus pandemic. In New York, the state government ordered publicly run hospitals not to sue over medical debt during the pandemic, and most of the state's privately-owned facilities followed suit. One large New York hospital group, Northwell, sued several thousand patients but changed its policy and dropped those cases after The New York Times wrote about its legal practices in January. CHS said that its hospitals don't sell medical debt to third-party companies that then file lawsuits against patients, while some other hospitals do -- a decision it said "skews any attempt to compare" its legal practices to other hospital groups. 'Doing my best not to drown'The ambulance bay at the CHS-owned Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.Most of the patients being sued by CHS who spoke to CNN said that they couldn't afford to pay what the hospital was asking for. And letters to courts in cases around the country also raise questions about the company's claims that it only tries to collect from patients who can afford to pay. After being sued by Lake Granbury Medical Center, a CHS hospital outside of Fort Worth, Texas, Richard Piper wrote to a judge in August asking for relief from the $34,894 in medical debt the hospital was demanding. "I am [writing] this response to inform you of my inability to [pay] this outstanding medical debt," wrote Piper, who works at a salvage yard. "I only bring home a check of 525 dollars a week and have [been] helping two daughters with my grandkids... my prayer to you is please relieve some of this debt and help out the average person." Instead, the judge entered a default judgment against him, ordering him to pay the full amount as well as nearly $3,500 in attorney's fees for the hospital's lawyers -- bills from a 2018 hospital stay. Piper said in an interview that his bill came after the hospital kept him longer than he had wanted, and that he was supporting his daughter's family after she lost her job as a teacher due to Covid-19."I don't think it's fair," Piper said. "I can't afford $35,000 -- I don't even make that in a year." In another letter to an Oklahoma court in October, a former patient being sued by CHS hospital AllianceHealth Clinton wrote that her partner had been laid off because of pandemic shutdowns, she was working part-time at a job that offered no health insurance, and she was struggling to pay each month's rent.Homeless relief is on the way, but the crisis could get worse as evictions loom "I am currently doing my best not to drown," the woman wrote. "I do not have anything left to give. If you take my check from me, I would have no place to live." The hospital continued with the lawsuit. Two months after she wrote the letter, the court entered a judgment against her -- ordering her to pay the hospital her $781 debt and nearly doubling it by tacking on $400 in attorney's fees and $304 in court costs.CHS said it could not comment on specific cases due to privacy regulations but that after reviewing the accounts of several patients who spoke to CNN, it is "satisfied that our hospitals followed their regular processes."Many defendants were either uninsured or owed large co-pays or deductibles. Jennifer Alegria, a chef and manager at a cafe in North Carolina, didn't have health insurance when she found a lump in her breast several years ago. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and received a double mastectomy at the CHS-owned Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville -- and then a sheriff's deputy showed up on her doorstep last June to serve her with a $146,000 lawsuit from the hospital.Jennifer Alegria was sued for $146,000 by a CHS-owned hospital in North Carolina.Alegria relied on funds from a GoFundMe fundraiser started by her daughter to settle the case, agreeing to pay about $20,000, she said -- still a huge sum for a single mother of three making less than $40,000 a year. She said she also fell behind on medical bills from other health providers during her cancer "nightmare," but the CHS hospital was by the far the most aggressive in trying to collect, and the only one to sue her."It felt like extortion," Alegria said. "I was scared, and I just scrambled and tried to get some money together to pay it off."Once a court rules against a defendant, the hospital can move to put a lien on property they own, such as a house, or garnish part of their wages, depending on regulations that vary from state to state. In Missouri, for example, CHS's three hospitals moved to garnish defendants' wages in more than half of the pandemic-era cases that resulted in a judgment. Many garnishments were for people working at relatively low-wage employers -- the most common was Walmart. In its annual report, CHS acknowledged -- in legal speak -- that the pandemic is taking a toll on patients' ability to pay their hospital bills. "We have observed deterioration in the collectability of patient accounts receivable for uninsured patients in comparison to pre-pandemic levels as the result of adverse economic conditions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic," the company wrote.Former CDC director: Direct Covid-19 vaccines to where they're needed mostChristi Walsh, another Johns Hopkins researcher who has studied hospital lawsuits, said that it was typical for hospitals that sue patients to only make a tiny fraction of their revenue from those lawsuits. "It's not keeping the lights on for the hospitals -- they don't need to be doing this," Walsh said. "But for the patients, some of them go bankrupt, some of them have money taken directly out of their paychecks ... They're choosing between medical care and food." In its statement to CNN, CHS defended its collections practices. In 2020, the company's hospitals provided patients about $1 billion worth of "charity care," which is not paid for, it said. Every patient is "given the option" to complete an application for financial assistance that could entitle them to free or discounted care -- but many patients don't fill out the form, the company said. "The challenge often is that patients do not respond to the hospital's attempts to talk to them about their bills, so we do not know what impact, if any, the pandemic has had on a patients' ability to pay for medical care," CHS said. It urged defendants in lawsuits who have lost income during the pandemic or fallen below the poverty threshold to contact its collections office. "Sometimes, legal action is the only path through which patients will engage in a conversation about the amount they owe for healthcare services that have already been received," it added. But Daniel Moore, a lawyer in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, who has defended dozens of low-income defendants sued by the CHS-owned Poplar Bluff Medical Center, laughed out loud when a reporter read him the company's claim that it doesn't try to collect from people who can't afford to pay."That's total horseshit," Moore declared. "Most of the people being sued are exactly those people... it just rains economic havoc down on them."No legal defenseIn most states, the lawsuits by the healthcare giant are a well-oiled machine. Local lawyers file claims for bills, including an affidavit from a hospital custodian of records. In many cases, the defendants never respond to the complaint or hire a lawyer, and CHS files for a default judgment against the defendant, which they are typically granted. Other cases see the hospital dismiss the lawsuit in exchange for defendants agreeing to a payment plan. On a Monday morning last month in Okaloosa County, a rural swath of the Florida panhandle, a judge held status conferences for 26 collections lawsuits brought by a CHS hospital, North Okaloosa Medical Center, in a hearing conducted over Zoom. Four of the defendants called in, smartphone videos showing them sitting in their cars or living rooms, and listened as Judge Jim Ward patiently explained what a judgment would mean: the potential for garnished wages, a lien on their property, and debts collecting interest. A lawyer for the hospital told them how much they owed. "I'm real behind on a lot of things," Christine McCullough, one of the defendants, told Ward. According to the hospital, she owed $1,642 for an X-ray she received after a car accident. She told CNN in a later interview that that was the portion her insurance hadn't covered -- and as a hairstylist, she had seen her income drop during the pandemic, making her unable to afford the charge. Here's what's getting more expensiveTwo defendants ended up agreeing to payment plans with the hospital, preventing a judgment from being filed against them unless they missed a bill. McCullough and another defendant had trial dates set. The rest of the cases were postponed, giving the hospital an opportunity to file for default judgment, or dismissed because the hospital had been unable to find the defendants to serve them with the lawsuit. None of the more than two dozen defendants whose cases were being heard that day had a lawyer. But around the country, some of the handful of defendants who hire lawyers found that they won their cases fairly easily. After Lake Norman Regional Medical Center sued Marianne Jurgens and her husband Robert for a $2,943 bill from Robert's 2018 stay at the Mooresville, North Carolina, hospital, a court entered a default judgment against the couple. Jurgens said she told the hospital's lawyers that the charges should have been covered by Medicare, but that they wouldn't agree to drop the case. So she hired a lawyer who filed a motion to overturn the default. Several months later, the hospital admitted it had made a mistake. "After conducting an investigation into Defendant's claims, Plaintiff believes there was an error in coding at the time of the procedure such that the Defendant should not be liable" for the payment, a lawyer for the hospital wrote in a filing in November, asking the court to throw the case out. Stimulus checks and pandemic aid make it even more important to file a 2020 tax returnL. Ragan Dudley, the lawyer who represented the Jurgens, said he wondered whether the hospital would have discovered other billing errors in the dozens of other lawsuits it filed last year if more of the patients being sued had lawyers. But in the U.S. defendants only have a right to legal representation in criminal cases, not civil lawsuits. Some of the other former patients sued by Lake Norman said they had no way to afford a lawyer. In September, the hospital sued Jeffery Turgeon for $20,784, costs that his fiancée Jennifer Matheson said stemmed from a four-day stay in 2019 as he suffered from stomach pain. Instead of a legal motion questioning the charges, Turgeon sent the court a handwritten letter on a sheet of notebook paper asking the hospital to settle the case.In February, Turgeon ended up agreeing to a judgment for the entire bill, plus $180 in court costs. The couple asked the hospital to let them pay $50 a month, but Matheson said they were told the minimum payment was $100 a month. Matheson says she lost her hospice care job due to the pandemic, and that the couple is barely able to make ends meet with the new expense. "Even something as simple as taking our kids to eat at McDonald's, we can't do that anymore," she said.At the rate they're paying now, it would take the couple 17 years to pay off the court judgment -- and that doesn't include the annual 8% interest that will continue to accrue. By the time the debt is repaid, "he's going to be old," Matheson said of her fiancé. "It feels like it's never going to go away." The hospital closed, but the lawsuits continuedBayFront Health in St. Petersburg, Florida. In recent years, CHS has been selling off many of its less profitable hospitals in an effort to pay down debt from its $7.6 billion acquisition of another hospital chain in 2014. But even after the company pulled out of hospitals, it didn't stop suing its former patients. In St. Petersburg, Florida, CHS acquired Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, the city's oldest and largest hospital, as part of the 2014 merger. Six years later, CHS sold the hospital to a nonprofit hospital group, Orlando Health, in a deal that was completed on October 1, 2020. But under the terms of the acquisition, CHS held onto the rights to claim all bills for medical services during its ownership of the hospital, an Orlando Health spokesperson said. The company's lawsuits against patients spiked after it sold: It sued more than 400 patients in October, by far the highest number of lawsuits it had filed in any month since at least January 2017. Overall, Bayfront was among the most litigious hospital companies in the CHS network, filing more than 800 debt-related lawsuits since mid-March 2020.Orlando Health, the new owner, said in a statement that it has not sued any Bayfront patients over unpaid bills. But the flow of lawsuits from the CHS subsidiary -- which still describes itself in court documents as "doing business as Bayfront Health St. Petersburg" -- has continued, with new lawsuits filed as recently as last week. Other CHS subsidiaries in Florida, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas also continued to sue former patients after the hospitals they ran were sold to other companies over the last year. The new owners of eight of those hospitals told CNN that CHS had held onto the billing rights for past cases under the terms of their sales. One CHS hospital closed completely last year. Shands Lake Shore Regional Medical Center, which has served the small northern Florida community of Lake City since 1911, shut its doors as the number of patients declined over the years -- and as the pandemic put a financial strain on many small and rural hospitals. The only part of the hospital that seems to have continued operating: its collections operation. The CHS subsidiary has sued 86 patients since mid-March 2020, including more than a dozen after the hospital ceased operations on August 31. Some of the defendants in cases brought by hospitals sold off by CHS told CNN that they hadn't realized they were being sued by a company that no longer operated the hospital that treated them. Rashad Huntley, a maintenance worker and father of four young children in St. Petersburg, was sued by the CHS subsidiary that ran Bayfront hospital last month for $777.50 plus court costs -- the amount his insurance didn't cover after he received a half dozen stitches to a cut on his hand, Huntley said. Huntley said he and his wife make less than $71,000 a year and have four kids, which would appear to qualify them for CHS' policy not to sue patients whose incomes are less than two times the poverty rate. But no one from the hospital had mentioned the policy to him until CNN told him about it last week, he said."They don't try to work it out or anything, they just demand the money," Huntley, 30, said of the collections workers who had called him. "We've got car payments and rent and daycare fees, and still got to pay the lights and water." "I understand it's a business," he added, "but I wish, during this time, they'd be more understanding."The portrait in this story was taken remotely using a mobile app.

Bob Ortega, Kyung Lah and Stephanie Becker, CNN

2021-05-16 09:02:15

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/16/politics/arizona-audit-money-invs/index.html

Arizona audit funding cloaked in secrecy - CNNPolitics

Three weeks into the Arizona Senate's unorthodox audit of the 2020 presidential election results, one potential winner seems to be emerging, regardless of any count: Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based consulting firm being paid to lead the analysis of the votes in populous Maricopa County.

politics, Arizona audit funding cloaked in secrecy - CNNPolitics

Arizona audit funding cloaked in secrecy

(CNN)Three weeks into the Arizona Senate's unorthodox audit of the 2020 presidential election results, one potential winner seems to be emerging, regardless of any count: Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based consulting firm being paid to lead the analysis of the votes in populous Maricopa County.Private fundraisers have boasted that they're funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to the effort led by the security consulting firm, a company not previously known for election auditing. But there's little or no scrutiny on where that money is going or how it's being used. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. A CNN review of state records shows no contractual provisions or safeguards controlling how much money Cyber Ninjas can accept from private contributors, how it can be spent, or even whether it needs to account to the Senate for those funds. In fact, the Senate's spokesman for the audit acknowledged that the Senate isn't exercising any oversight or control over Cyber Ninjas' use of the private funds, which are expected to support the majority of the auditing efforts. The way the funding for the work is structured appears to skirt state transparency laws, CNN's review found.Meanwhile, with few restrictions on the scope of its work, Cyber Ninjas, which presents itself as primarily focused on application security, has dived into baseless conspiracy theories, such as looking for bamboo traces in ballots to determine whether ballot boxes were stuffed with fraudulent votes from an unknown Asian country. Read MoreAlong the way, it has made fundamental blunders in the way election audits are traditionally conducted, such as initially providing workers with blue-ink pens that can alter how tabulators read ballots; security lapses that allowed people access to what should have been secure areas before the audit began; allowing a former lawmaker who appeared on the ballot to be involved in verifying them; and planning door-to-door canvassing of voters before the Department of Justice warned such a move could violate federal laws against voter intimidation. Senate President Karen Fann, a Republican, told the DOJ that the Senate would "indefinitely defer" the planned canvass.A hidden stream of funds2020 ballots relocated in semi trucks as Arizona election audit pauses over space availabilityThe GOP-controlled Arizona Senate allocated $150,000 to the audit, one third paid up front. But that money was expected to cover just a fraction of the work. Now, as state officials project that the audit will continue into the summer, with just 500,000 of the 2.1 million ballots hand-counted to date, the costs keep climbing.To fuel that effort, Ken Bennett, the Senate's audit liaison, Fann and others have welcomed private donations. And Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists have jumped in, publicly stumping for funds and claiming to have funneled more than $1.6 million to the audit, while offering scant information about where that money is flowing.Having the audit funded by "undisclosed private money, especially from people who back conspiracy theories about the conduct of the 2020 election, is extremely worrisome," said Rick Hasen, author of "Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust and the Threat to American Democracy." "It suggests those people are funding this because they want to see a particular result." Two prior publicly-funded audits of Maricopa County ballots and election machinery used in the November election found no evidence of widespread fraud or voting irregularities. President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes, his narrowest margin of the states he won. Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 general election are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-based Cyber Ninjas, on May 6, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)Even as Fann and other audit leaders say they're focused on improving future elections, former President Donald Trump and his allies -- including some Arizona legislators -- are treating the audit here as, in effect, the first domino in amplifying claims of electoral fraud in states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, among others. On a local TV program May 5, Fann said first that the audit is "not about overturning the election;" then, a minute later, added, "I think we're going to find some irregularities, that it's going to say... 'yeah, there's this many dead people that may have voted, or this many people that voted that don't live here anymore.' We're going to find those. We know those exist." Arizona law covering state bodies that receive public and private funding requires the recipient to report the sources of the private donations and any strings attached; to deposit private funds in a separate account with the State Treasurer; and to account for every expenditure with the state's Department of Administration. In this case, however, the Senate is arguing that the audit isn't subject to these provisions -- because the donations are being channeled straight to Cyber Ninjas. The Senate's attorney, Greg Jernigan, told CNN in an email that the state's funding law doesn't apply because the Senate, itself, is not accepting the private funds. Bennett, the state spokesman for the audit and a GOP politician who served as Arizona's secretary of state from 2009 to 2015, said that the release of the total cost "is really not the Senate's responsibility." He said it's up to Cyber Ninjas whether to disclose how much in funds it's receiving and from where. So far, Cyber Ninjas has not done so, nor responded to CNN requests for that information. Bennett did say, "we're working on it.""They are receiving money from opaque sources, and they are not disclosing that money," David Becker, a former voting-rights attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice and executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, said of the Senate. "They can say it isn't coming to the Arizona Senate, but they're facilitating it; this would never have happened but for the Arizona Senate." Becker said it should be concerning that the Senate "handed ballots over to an inexperienced out-of-state firm and then said, 'fundraise off this, get as much money as you can.'" The people ostensibly fundraising for the audit and/or saying they've made contributions include, at a minimum:The America Project, a non-profit run by Overstock founder Patrick Byrne, who met with Trump in the Oval Office in December to discuss tactics for overturning the election results, according to The Washington Post. The America Project claims on its fundraising website to have raised $1.6 million, with a goal of $2.8 million, for the audit. At a press conference on April 28, Bennett called on people to donate to the audit through the America Project's website. Neither Byrne nor the America Project responded to repeated requests for interviews by CNN, nor to questions about whether it has forwarded donations and to whom. Voices and Votes, a website established by One America News personality Christina Bobb, who said on Twitter April 15 that she'd received two pledges totaling $150,000 to support the audit. Charles Herring, president of OAN's parent company, told CNN that OAN hasn't contributed to Voices and Votes and isn't soliciting or receiving contributions. "We are aware of efforts by staff members to raise funds for numerous causes from the Girl Scouts to audits," Herring said in an email. Neither Bobb nor Voices and Votes responded to CNN queries about whether it has forwarded donations for the audit, how much or to whom. L. Lin Wood, who, along with attorney Sidney Powell, filed numerous failed lawsuits on behalf of Trump baselessly claiming fraud in the 2020 election. In an April 7 post on Telegram, Wood said a nonprofit he leads was donating $50,000 to Bobb's Voices and Votes group for the audit. Wood didn't respond to CNN requests for an interview. Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder and a leading proponent of debunked election conspiracy theories. Lindell, in a phone interview, declined to say whether he's contributed to the Arizona audit, and said he hasn't been in touch with Cyber Ninjas or its CEO, Doug Logan. But asked if he's encouraged others to donate to the audit, he said, "One hundred percent, one thousand percent. I've done events where I spoke via Zoom and stuff, so yeah. I've been very much promoting."The state Senate could have put up more of its own funds or perhaps paid entirely for the audit. As first reported by the Arizona Mirror, thanks to spending far less during the pandemic, the Senate entered May with $8.1 million in unspent funds for the fiscal year that ends June 30. Doubts about transparencyJustice Department warns Arizona Senate president of civil rights violations in 2020 election auditIn an interview Wednesday, Bennett said the Senate's purpose in relying on private funding for the audit is "to save taxpayer money, not hide where the funding came from, but you and others may assume different." Bennett said that the sources of the funding don't affect the work of the audit. By taking itself out of the process of accepting the funds, the Senate has bypassed the transparency requirement in the state's public finance law, ARS Sec. 35-149, which requires it publicly identify the sources of money being used on government-sponsored projects. "Obviously, the spirit of the statute is being violated," said Jim Barton, general counsel for the Arizona Democratic Party. "The statute is about transparency and making sure that just what is happening right now doesn't happen... when the money isn't actually received by the government entity, but everyone knows, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, we're going to give it to Cyber Ninjas to get the work done." Even before the audit began, critics questioned the choice of Cyber Ninjas, whose CEO, Doug Logan, repeatedly tweeted in support of the Stop the Steal movement and claimed the election had been rigged against Trump. Arizona Democrats sued over whether voter information, machines and ballots were being adequately protected; the news media sued to gain access to the audit, after initially being blocked from observing; Cyber Ninjas fought in court unsuccessfully to keep its audit processes secret. While Fann said the audit will improve future elections, the GOP-controlled Arizona legislature hasn't waited for its outcome to move forward on bills making it harder to vote, including one signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey May 11 that purged infrequent voters from permanent early voting lists.Becker, the voting-rights attorney, called the audit corrosive. "It's fueling the false beliefs of those who don't believe the election was secure, and fueling the idea that elections are never truly over."On Thursday, Cyber Ninjas paused its review of ballots until May 24, temporarily removing them from the Coliseum at the state fairgrounds to make way for 16 high school graduations, a yearly event at the Coliseum that the Senate somehow overlooked. Bennett said the ballots would be kept under 24-hour guard at the Wesley Bolin Building at the south end of the fairground's premises. Bennett said that guards would be posted to keep people visiting the fair's Crazy Times Carnival, being held between the Coliseum and the Bolin Building, from accessing the area where the ballots were to be housed. They're needed since the outside section of the building is being used for the carnival's public toilets.

Bob Ortega, CNN Investigates

2021-04-12 11:26:53

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/12/politics/biden-challenge-immigration-visa-backlog-invs/index.html

Huge immigrant visa backlog poses challenge for Biden - CNNPolitics

Biden administration wrestling with massive backlog of nearly 2.6 million immigrant visa applications, caused by restrictions from Trump policies and covid-19 pandemic.

politics, Huge immigrant visa backlog poses challenge for Biden - CNNPolitics

Huge Trump-era and pandemic immigrant visa backlog poses challenge for Biden

(CNN)Even though President Joe Biden has moved to reverse many of his predecessor's anti-immigration policies, the consequences of those restrictive measures linger and have contributed to a massive backlog of nearly 2.6 million visa applications.The backlog includes nearly half a million applicants who are "documentarily qualified" and ready for interviews, according to a recent legal filing by the State Department. Backlogs in some immigrant-visa categories are 50 or even 100 times higher than they were four years ago, at the start of the Trump administration. Biden revokes Trump executive order sanctioning International Criminal Court officialsSome of the backlogs are due to restrictions imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. But some also spring from pre-pandemic Trump policies or actions that the Biden administration hasn't unwound. The Biden administration is still reviewing or hasn't fully reversed some measures that slow or block processing, such as heightened background checks and questionable terrorism designations. In a policy reversal just Thursday, the State Department said that in places that are subject to regional pandemic travel restrictions, it will now let people seeking immigrant and fiancee visas go ahead and apply. Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined that "it is in the national interest" to exempt those applicants from the restrictions, a spokesman said.Read MoreThen, too, the effects of a Trump-era freeze on State Department hiring have left its consular sections short-staffed. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. Meanwhile, Biden has come under fire from Democrats for not, as of Friday, raising the refugee cap for this fiscal year to 62,500, as his administration proposed back in February. Biden also proposed a target cap of 125,000 for the fiscal year starting in October, up from Trump's 2020 cap of 15,000, the lowest level ever.At a briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that Biden remains committed to raising the cap to 62,500 by the end of the fiscal year, September 30, but she did not say when he'll do so.Expect impact into next yearBiden has revoked immigration restrictions ranging from a travel ban targeting mostly Muslim-majority countries to, on April 1, reversing a policy under which certain asylum or immigration applications were rejected if the applicant had left any blank spaces on their forms. But immigrants and asylum seekers are discovering that the effects of the obstacles the Trump administration erected are likely to continue choking the flow into the US of legal immigrants and asylum seekers well into next year.Leon Rodriguez, who served as director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2014 to 2017, said he thinks it will take the Biden administration "a long time" to return to or surpass pre-Trump levels of immigration and refugee admissions. "I don't think you've ever had ... as focused an effort on all fronts by the executive branch to reduce levels of immigration as you did from the Trump administration," he said. Sarah Bahiraei, a US citizen, married Afshin Bahiraei, from Iran, in 2017. They have been living in Turkey with their daughter, Esther, while trying to get a spousal visa for Afshin to emigrate to the US.Melanie Nezer, a senior vice president at HIAS, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees, put it this way: "Picture a door like in New York City in the '70s, with a hundred locks. The Trump administration locked all those locks. The Biden administration has to find all those keys, unlock those locks, and they can't open the door until all that is done." The State Department, in an email to CNN, said that "backlog numbers will continue to fluctuate" depending on pandemic conditions at various embassies and consulates, and on the rate at which Homeland Security and US Citizenship and Immigration Services "approve additional petitions."Pandemic effectTo understand the challenges, consider the visa process. In March 2020, citing the Covid-19 pandemic, the State Department suspended routine visa services at embassies and consulates around the world. The next month, then-President Trump issued and twice extended a proclamation suspending the entry of most immigrants who didn't already have valid visas until March 31, 2021. The State Department interpreted the bar on entry as also stopping it from issuing most immigrant visas, according to lawsuits against the agency. Although, by July, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo began letting consulates and embassies reopen for limited visa operations at the discretion of their local chiefs of mission, most stayed closed for all but emergency services, State Department legal filings show. For security reasons, "you can't adjudicate visas or passports from home," said Michele Thoren Bond, a former State Department assistant secretary for consular affairs. "Anything passport, anything visa-related, you have to be in the office to do it; and to initiate visa cases you have to bring the applicants into the embassy for interviews, too. Even if you reopen, you can't let them come in the numbers that would have been normal, pre-Covid." In legal filings, the State Department said that because of illnesses and other issues, after Pompeo gave posts the option to reopen, that next month, August, more than two thirds of the 143 US consular posts didn't schedule a single immigrant visa interview. Even by January, a third of consulates and embassies still were unable to schedule a single interview. A look at family-preference visas, which are issued to people seeking to join a relative already in the US, show how hard the pandemic restrictions hit a system already slowed by other Trump-administration moves.In February 2017, just after Trump took office, there was a backlog of 2,312 family-preference visa applications, according to Rebecca Austin, assistant director of the National Visa Center at the State Department. Each of the next three years, that backlog more than doubled and doubled again, reaching 26,737 by Feb. 8, 2020. Then, due to the pandemic closures, by February 8 of this year, the backlog leaped to nearly 285,000, she said in a declaration to a federal court in California. Visa interviews plummetDocuments filed in a visa lawsuit show that during the month of January 2020, before the pandemic, the State Department scheduled 22,856 family-preference visa interviews, worldwide. This past January, it scheduled 262 -- a drop of nearly 99%. Immigration attorneys in several visa lawsuits said the State Department continued to use temporary pandemic bans on entry from certain regions as a reason not to issue visas -- even though a federal judge told the State Department last September that plaintiffs seeking to overturn that policy "are likely to succeed" in their claim that it isn't in accordance with law. The department reversed that policy for immigrant and fiancée visa applicants on Thursday. White House lifts Trump order that temporarily banned certain immigrant visas during pandemicIn a written response to queries from CNN, the State Department said that "embassies and consulates are working to resume routine visa services on a location-by-location basis as expeditiously as possible in a safe manner," but that "We do not expect to be able to safely return to pre-pandemic workload levels until mid-2021 at the earliest." Officials said health and safety measures would force them to "prioritize the most urgent and mission-critical cases" while scheduling fewer interviews than was normal before the pandemic. Efforts to get back to pre-pandemic visa levels face another obstacle: Last fall, Pompeo expanded a pandemic hiring freeze on consular officers, saying that with fewer people traveling to the US, the State Department wouldn't need them. State Department officials declined CNN requests to discuss the extent of the consular shortfall; but in January, Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the department had about 1,000 fewer employees than it had at the start of the Trump administration. Because the Bureau of Consular Affairs relies mostly on visa and passport fees to fund its operations, the State Department said that the sharp drop in fee revenue from the pandemic "will have continuing effects on our staffing and available resources for several years, which means even when post-specific conditions improve, many posts will not be able to immediately return to pre-pandemic workload levels."House and Senate Democrats have proposed a budget that would let the State Department hire about 1,200 new Foreign Service officers, including consular officers. But even if that budget is adopted, hiring and training new consular officers can take a year and a half or longer, especially for those learning challenging languages."It's a very, very big hole," said Bond, the former assistant secretary for consular affairs. "It is super challenging. You are not issuing library cards here, you have to examine every application, in many cases you have to interview the applicant ... there are checks that are being performed back in Washington; the whole interagency process, it is something that takes time."Lottery winners' worriesState Department visa delays particularly worried those waiting to get or use diversity visas -- up to 55,000 immigration visas a year that are awarded by lottery to qualified people from countries with low levels of immigration to the US. Winning a diversity visa is always a long shot; in fiscal 2018, for example, nearly 14.7 million people applied for the lottery, giving each one odds of 1 in 267 of being selected and then getting a visa. Diversity visa lottery winners from countries blocked by Trump hope for another chance under BidenBy law, diversity visas expire if they aren't processed and issued in the same fiscal year. But as the pandemic closed US consular sections, the diversity-visa clock kept tickingAja Tamamu Mariama Kinteh, 33, a statistician from Banjul, capital of The Gambia, was thrilled when she won the visa lottery on her second try, in May 2019. (The diversity visa included her husband, a software designer, and their three children). She was offered a visa interview at the US embassy in neighboring Dakar, Senegal, on April 21, 2020, according to legal filings in a lawsuit against the State Department. But then the pandemic closure pushed her interview to August. And then the Trump administration extended the immigration ban through the end of 2020 -- far past the September 30 deadline for her to get her visa. "I was devastated," she said in a court declaration. "My whole family became heartbroken." They'd sold their car and other property to pay for their fees and travel costs. Kinteh eventually joined a visa lawsuit in the US and got a court-ordered interview in September. But it wasn't until February 19, when the federal district court in Washington D.C. issued an emergency injunction preserving and extending the validity of most fiscal year 2020 diversity visas, that Kinteh could be sure she and her family could actually come to the US. They arrived in March, and are now in the state of Washington, her attorney said. On February 24, Biden revoked parts of the three presidential proclamations that had blocked entry of most immigrants. The next day, the State Department announced it would start processing immigrant visa applications again, and that it would reconsider cases of those who qualified for visas but had been denied because of the Trump-era proclamations. Iran's compulsory military service But thousands of immigrant visa applicants from one country face yet another holdover obstacle.An April 2019 Trump presidential proclamation declared the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be a terrorist organization. That proclamation -- which the Biden administration has not, so far, revisited -- bars anyone who's served in the revolutionary guards from being granted a US visa. Iran makes military service compulsory for men; conscientious objection isn't allowed. Men who don't serve aren't allowed to marry, to get passports, or to hold most jobs. Men have no choice in what military branch they're assigned to -- including the revolutionary guards, said Paris Etemadi Scott, legal director of the Pars Equality Center, an immigration services non-profit based in San Jose, California. Separated by the travel ban, these couples are taking to video to plead their case"We're on board with banning terrorists and keeping IRGC on the terrorist organization list, but not with keeping a husband from joining his spouse because 40 years ago he did mandatory service with IRGC, and by way they don't get to choose," she said.Ehsan Orojlou, 36, and a civil engineer in Tehran who is currently waiting for his diversity visa, is one of those hoping the Biden administration will clarify the terrorist organization designation of the IRGC so that it won't prevent issuing visas to those, like him, who served in the guards only because they had no choice. Orojlou said in a phone interview that he spent his obligatory military service typing letters and filing paperwork for the IRGC in Karaj, a suburb of Tehran, 14 years ago; and he said there are plenty of others like him. "Most of us are engineers, doctors," he said. "We have not killed a cockroach; how on earth can we be terrorists, I don't know." Sarah Vosseteig Bahiraei, a US citizen, was teaching in Turkey's Cappadocia region when she fell in love with Afshin Bahiraei, a Christian refugee from Iran. They married in 2015; and, as CNN reported two years ago, their application for a spousal visa got caught up in Trump's travel ban. Now, they have a daughter, Esther, born in Turkey -- and they're still waiting, because Afshin Bahiraei, too, did his obligatory military service with the IRGC. He suspects that's why his visa application remains in the limbo of administrative processing. The State Department declined to say whether it is re-examining who should fall under the bar on visas for members of the IRGC.Some face other obstacles. Because the US and Iran don't have diplomatic relations, Iranians have to travel to a neighboring country to apply for a US visa. Negar Bayati, a legal permanent resident who moved to the US in 2016 on a diversity visa, said that her husband Pooria's March 2020 spousal-visa interview, scheduled at the US embassy in Abu Dhabi, was canceled by the pandemic closure. Now the US embassy has started issuing visa appointments again -- but Abu Dhabi and the other emirates have their own pandemic travel bans from Iran and many other countries; and the US embassy there has turned down Bayati's and her husband's request to have the case moved to another US embassy in that region, she said. "It's a crazy situation," Bayati said. "It's been a horrible year for me. I thought my husband was going to be here last March."

Evan Perez, Paula Reid, Scott Glover and David Shortell, CNN

2021-04-23 20:02:04

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/politics/gaetz-probe-public-corruption-medical-marijuana/index.html

Gaetz probe includes scrutiny of potential public corruption tied to medical marijuana industry - CNNPolitics

Federal authorities are looking into whether a 2018 trip to the Bahamas involving Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz and several young women was part of an orchestrated effort to illegally influence Gaetz in the area of medical marijuana, people briefed on the matter told CNN.

politics, Gaetz probe includes scrutiny of potential public corruption tied to medical marijuana industry - CNNPolitics

Gaetz probe includes scrutiny of potential public corruption tied to medical marijuana industry

(CNN)Federal authorities are looking into whether a 2018 trip to the Bahamas involving Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz and several young women was part of an orchestrated effort to illegally influence Gaetz in the area of medical marijuana, people briefed on the matter told CNN. Prosecutors with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section are examining whether Gaetz took gifts, including travel and paid escorts, in exchange for political favors, the sources said.As part of an ongoing probe into Gaetz, investigators are examining whether he engaged in a relationship with a girl that began when she was 17. In pursuing evidence of potential public corruption, sources tell CNN that investigators are also scrutinizing Gaetz's connections to medical marijuana, both in terms of legislation he's sponsored and his connections to people involved in the industry, searching for so-called pay-to-play arrangements. Gaetz has a long history of advocating for medical marijuana and has introduced several pieces of legislation seeking to loosen laws regulating the drug, both as a state representative in Florida and as a member of Congress. A number of his close associates have ties to the industry, including Jason Pirozzolo, a Florida doctor who founded a medical marijuana advocacy group and has in past news coverage in Florida been described as a "marijuana investor." According to reports, Pirozzolo accompanied Gaetz on the 2018 trip to the Bahamas that investigators are scrutinizing.Neither Gaetz nor Pirozzolo has been accused by Justice Department officials of wrongdoing or charged with a crime. Read MoreCNN reported last week that Gaetz attended parties in the Orlando area with other prominent Republican officials involving young women, drugs and sex, according to two women in attendance. CNN has since learned that one of Gaetz's associates, Joel Greenberg, a former county tax commissioner indicted last year on multiple federal charges, has been providing federal investigators with information about these parties and encounters he and Gaetz had with women who were given cash or gifts in exchange for sex. Women detail drug use, sex and payments after late-night parties with Gaetz and others According to receipts reviewed by CNN, Gaetz and Greenberg used digital payment applications to send hundreds of dollars to at least one woman who attended the parties. Gaetz has denied ever paying for sex and over the past several weeks has sought to frame the allegations against him as the result of political bias in the justice system and the media.He has also accused investigators of twisting his generosity toward women into something criminal."Providing for flights and hotel rooms for people that you're dating who are of legal age is not a crime," Gaetz said in an interview with Fox News late last month.A spokesman for Gaetz told CNN, "Matt Gaetz is a long-time policy expert on the subject and passed legislation on the matter as far back as 2013. To suggest he needed anyone else nudging him along is risible."A lawyer representing Pirozzolo declined to comment.Details about the marijuana-related pay-to-play aspect of the probe provide a fresh perspective on the investigation, which has been conducted largely in secret since last year. Reports that federal agents seized Gaetz's phone and that of a former girlfriend this winter are indicative of the seriousness of the government's pursuit of evidence. Friends from Florida Pirozzolo, an Orlando hand surgeon and amateur pilot, has over the last several years become a well-known figure at the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee and an active advocate for medical marijuana in the state. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Pirozzolo has volunteered as "doctor of the day" for lawmakers and staffers at the state Capitol 30 times since 2011. In this screengrab from video, Dr. Jason Pirozzolo from Orlando Hand Surgery Associates explains tennis elbow and provides exercises for rehabilitation. In 2018, Pirozzolo paid $50,000 to be listed as a chair of a reception for then-Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, according to an ad for the event. He contributed to Gaetz's congressional campaign as well, though more modestly. Records show Pirozzolo made a pair of $1,000 contributions to Gaetz in 2016 and 2017. The connection between Gaetz and Pirozzolo goes back years. In Gaetz's 2020 book, "Firebrand," he referred to Pirozzolo as one of "my best friends." Pirozzolo's access to the congressman is on display in a 2018 video viewed by CNN in which he is seen landing a helicopter near his sprawling home in a suburb of Orlando and Gaetz emerges as his passenger. The two men are greeted warmly by several women, one of whom hugs Gaetz. In 2014, Gaetz, then a state representative in Florida, introduced medical marijuana legislation. The bill, a version of which eventually became law, allowed Florida residents and doctors access to a non-euphoric strain of marijuana that is designed to help alleviate symptoms like seizures. It can also be used to treat patients suffering from ailments like cancer or Lou Gehrig's disease. One week after the legislation passed, Pirozzolo launched a medical marijuana consulting company, as first reported by the Orlando Sentinel. Two years later, in 2016, Pirozzolo co-founded an advocacy group called the American Medical Marijuana Physicians Association. The group says it is devoted to educating doctors about medicinal marijuana and expanding research into its safe use, including as a pain management alternative to opioids. Gaetz has attended or spoken at AMMPA events at least two times in recent years, according to social media postings and an interview with a former member of the group. He also honored the AMMPA's board of directors from the House floor in 2018 as being "instrumental" in raising awareness of medical marijuana as a valid treatment option. Gaetz goes to WashingtonShortly after arriving in Washington in 2017, Gaetz began introducing medical marijuana-related legislation, though none was ultimately successful. In April of that year he proposed a law to classify marijuana as a schedule III controlled substance, which would ease federal marijuana restrictions related to medical prescriptions and research. Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, questions witnesses at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the impeachment of President Donald Trump, December 4, 2019. A year later, in April 2018, Gaetz introduced the Medical Cannabis Research Act, a bill designed to establish a new, separate registration process for manufacturers of cannabis for research. Before introducing it, Gaetz hand-delivered a fully written draft of the bill to his staff, a source told CNN, suggesting that Gaetz's staff did not play a role in crafting it. The legislation overlapped significantly with the agenda Pirozzolo's group had been pushing to ease federal limitations on research involving medical marijuana. Three months after Gaetz introduced the bill, Pirozzolo appeared on a podcast called Ganjapreneur to talk about the need to lift restrictions on medical research of marijuana. He singled out Gaetz for his efforts in Congress. "Congressman Matt Gaetz is in the process of working on legislation up in Washington, D.C., that will help facilitate research on a nationwide level," he told listeners. In 2019, Gaetz reintroduced his bill in the House and put out a news release echoing some of the same points Pirozzolo had made on the podcast. The House approved by voice vote a different bill expanding medical marijuana research from Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, in December. Gaetz was a co-sponsor. The congressman, the doctor and a former modelOne person summoned to testify by federal prosecutors in Florida last summer has connections to Gaetz, Pirozzolo and Greenberg. Megan Zalonka, a former model and friend of Gaetz, simultaneously worked for both Pirozzolo and Greenberg, the indicted former tax commissioner who is currently in jail. Zalonka was subpoenaed to testify in August by the same prosecutor who had indicted Greenberg two months earlier, records show. There is no indication the subpoena was related to Gaetz. In 2018, Zalonka began working as the director of communications for Pirozollo's AMMPA group. At the same time, she was contracting to provide public relations services at the Seminole County Tax Collector's office run by Greenberg. A subsequent review questioned $7,000 in payments to Zalonka's company by Greenberg. An audit performed by a private firm for the Seminole County tax collector's office last year included the payments in a list of "questioned or unaccounted for purchases." A spokesperson for the tax collector's office said the office has no record of any work the company, MZ Strategy, did for Greenberg. Zalonka played a highly visible role with AMMPA, often appearing in photos at the group's events, including one with Gaetz. Zalonka had a personal connection to the congressman as well. Gaetz took Zalonka as a date to multiple political functions in Florida dating back to at least 2019, according to a person familiar with the matter. The two also traded Instagram messages about a get-together involving Zalonka, a male companion and Gaetz and his fiancée and plans to do it again. In the helicopter video viewed by CNN, Zalonka is among the women who greet Gaetz and Pirozzolo.Zalonka has not been accused of wrongdoing. Multiple attempts by CNN to reach her via phone calls, texting and in-person visits to addresses linked to her were unsuccessful. Another person whose association with Gaetz and his circle of friends is under scrutiny by investigators is Chris Dorworth, a former Florida state representative. 'He's not a team player': Republicans steer clear of Gaetz amid DOJ investigation Earlier this month, Dorworth resigned from a prominent lobbying firm after The New York Times reported his name had come up in the Gaetz probe in connection with an alleged scheme to run a so-called ghost candidate in a local election. Dorworth has denied any wrongdoing and previously told CNN he did not recall talking with Gaetz about running a third candidate and pointed out that he didn't believe it would have been illegal if it did occur. Before resigning, Dorworth was a registered lobbyist for various clients including a Florida-based cannabis company that opened its first dispensary after the Florida Legislature passed the Gaetz-sponsored marijuana bill in 2014. According to multiple people familiar with the matter, Dorworth attended some of the parties where Gaetz was present. Dorworth did not respond to a request to comment on his attendance at those parties. He has not been charged with any crime.A hazy financial pictureIt's unclear what, if anything, Pirozzolo stands to gain financially from loosened marijuana laws. He has been described in past news coverage in Florida as a "marijuana investor." But there is scant publicly available information detailing his precise financial stake in the industry. Records show that in 2018, a business Pirozzolo formed with a fellow doctor acquired a stake, then valued at $2.1 million, in a Miami-based medical marijuana company called Cansortium Holdings. It is unclear what became of his investment. Additionally, Pirozzolo formed two companies linked to the AMMPA group, according to filings with the Florida secretary of state. A former business partner told CNN that Pirozzolo also has a consulting firm that helps marijuana-related businesses acquire licenses from the state. On the Ganjapreneur podcast, Pirozzolo told host TG Branfalt he saw AMMPA as being on the forefront of medical marijuana advocacy. "We're going to put together some evidence and research and see if we can safely move this industry forward," Pirozzolo said. He pointed out that Florida law places restrictions on doctors from benefiting financially from referrals to medical marijuana dispensaries or from ownership stakes in the supply side of the business. "One way to mitigate the risk here in the state of Florida is to avoid any situation that would even result in any perception of impropriety," Pirozzolo said. This story has been updated to include a comment from a spokesman for Gaetz.CNN's Curt Devine, Ryan Nobles and Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.

Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-04-21 19:10:21

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/21/politics/minneapolis-police-force-black-people-invs/index.html

Minneapolis police still use force on Black people at disproportionate rate - CNNPolitics

In the months after George Floyd's death, Minneapolis Police Department officers reported using force on far fewer people -- but then use of force spiked late last year, a CNN analysis of department data found.

politics, Minneapolis police still use force on Black people at disproportionate rate - CNNPolitics

Minneapolis police still use force on Black people at disproportionate rate

(CNN)In the months after George Floyd's death, Minneapolis Police Department officers reported using force on far fewer people -- but then use of force spiked late last year, a CNN analysis of department data found.And after Floyd's death, Black people are still subject to use of force by Minneapolis officers at a highly disproportionate rate.RELATED: How Minneapolis Police first described the murder of George Floyd, and what we know nowThe analysis, which comes as the Justice Department announced Wednesday it would open an investigation into the MPD's practices, suggests that the prosecution of former officer Derek Chauvin in Floyd's death hasn't led to a sustained reduction in use of force by Minneapolis officers -- or the racial disparities in who is subject to police force.Justice Department to investigate Minneapolis policing practices after George Floyd's deathCNN reviewed cases in which the race of the person police used force on was recorded. Between January 2008, when the data begins, and May 25, 2020, when Chauvin killed Floyd, 64.6% of people who police used force on were Black. Since Floyd's death, 62.6% were Black. Read MoreThat's in a city that is just 19% Black, according to US Census records. According to the latest version of MPD's policy manual, use of force is defined as intentional "bodily contact that causes pain or injury or restricts someone's movement," or threatening that conduct. It includes the use of a weapon, physical strikes, or displaying a weapon while interacting with a suspect. The most common type of force officers reported using both before and after Floyd's death was a "body weight pin." Other commonly used types of force include joint locks, punches, takedowns, and personal mace. Overall, the MPD data shows that police use of force dropped significantly immediately after Floyd's killing last May. Officers reported using force on 32 people in June and 31 people in July -- the lowest totals of any month since the beginning of the data in 2008. But later in 2020, there was a pronounced spike. Officers used force on 204 people in September, 232 in October and 221 in November -- the highest monthly totals in the dataset. Since then, use of force has dropped, but is still elevated compared to previous years. Police used force on 115 people in March 2021 -- more than any month in 2017, 2018 or 2019. The data does not include officer-involved shootings, which are reported separately.MPD has not responded to CNN's request for comment.How Minneapolis Police first described the murder of George Floyd, and what we know nowPolice reported using a "neck restraint" in only a single case since Floyd's killing, in which Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck. An officer put a 26-year-old Black man arrested for burglary in a neck restraint in August 2020, according to the data. The man was listed as assaulting an officer. The city banned all neck restraints and chokeholds by police in June.CNN reported last year that Minneapolis police reported using neck restraints on hundreds of people in the years before Floyd's death, two-thirds of whom were Black. Chauvin's use of force on Floyd does not appear to be listed in the dataset -- there are no recorded uses of force on May 25, 2020.In addition, officers appear to be recording less complete data about the race of the people they used force on. Since Floyd's death, 19% of people who officers used force on were listed with an "unknown" or "not recorded" race, compared to less than 4% in the years before his death. It's possible that that discrepancy could be because some of the more recent cases are still being investigated.

Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN

2021-03-26 02:20:53

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/25/business/covid-loan-fraud-criminal-charges-james-polzin/index.html

Fake tax preparer exposed by CNN charged with Covid-19 loan fraud - CNN

An Arizona businessman who secured more than $1 million in Covid-19 relief funding and then purchased a Porsche and a new home is now facing federal fraud charges. James Polzin, 47, is accused of filing fraudulent applications for government loans by claiming "nonexistent employees and revenues for businesses he supposedly owned and operated."

business, Fake tax preparer exposed by CNN charged with Covid-19 loan fraud - CNN

Fake CPA hit with criminal charges for Covid-19 loan fraud

(CNN)An Arizona businessman who secured more than $1 million in Covid-19 relief funding and then purchased a Porsche and a new home is now facing federal fraud charges. James Polzin, 47, is accused of filing fraudulent applications for government loans by claiming "nonexistent employees and revenues for businesses he supposedly owned and operated." CNN revealed earlier this month that Polzin obtained at least six loans worth roughly $1.2 million from the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was intended to help companies pay workers during the pandemic. Polzin applied for the loans under similar or identical business names and was approved for the money last year despite a string of disgruntled clients and a court injunction barring him from illegally masquerading as a CPA. What should we investigate next? Email Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken The criminal charges stemmed from three additional loans adding up to around $450,000 granted under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, another SBA initiative intended specifically for businesses that lost revenue due to Covid-19. The same businesses that obtained these loans also received PPP loans, and the government cited CNN's reporting in its complaint, but Polzin has not been specifically charged with PPP loan fraud. Read MoreThe government alleges that Polzin purchased an Arizona house in June with nearly $400,000 in cash, at least partially funded by proceeds from both EIDL and PPP loans, according to the government. Polzin bought a Porsche the same month, according to government filings, which did not specify whether Covid-19 relief funds were used for this purchase. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit are investigating Polzin, who is now in federal custody, according to a press release. The government convinced a judge that Polzin was a flight risk, noting in court filings that Polzin is married to a Ukrainian citizen and spends much of his time overseas. He allegedly sold his Porsche for $120,000 the day before he was arrested last week, around two weeks after CNN's investigation, while he was on his way to the airport with a one-way ticket to Ukraine.Fake tax preparer gets six Covid-19 bailout loans worth more than $1 million "Polzin could easily flee the country and use any funds he has stashed overseas to live out the remainder of his life as a fugitive," the government stated in its motion to detain him. The government investigation did not find evidence of legitimate business operations, and many former clients told CNN that Polzin took their money and never submitted their taxes or filed them incorrectly. He has upset so many people that a Facebook group dedicated to his alleged misdeeds has garnered more than 100 members. One client said that Polzin had put his wife's immigration status abroad in jeopardy. Another received a bill from the IRS demanding nearly $20,000 after she hired Polzin. They were outraged when they saw that he had received multiple loans backed by the federal government.Polzin previously did not respond to CNN's requests for comment. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the recent allegations and has not yet filed an official response to the complaint.In a filing earlier this week, Polzin's attorney fought his client's detention."Uninvestigated allegations of other alleged acts mined from the internet should not form the basis of a federal law enforcement agent's affidavit," Polzin's attorney wrote in reference to the government's use of CNN's reporting about Polzin's PPP loans and allegations from clients. "Polzin and his company have prepared hundreds of tax returns and it should not come as a surprise that some customers have complaints."What should we investigate next? Email us: [email protected]. CNN's Bob Ortega contributed to this report.

Fredreka Schouten, Casey Tolan and Kelly Mena, CNN

2021-03-05 17:22:43

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/05/politics/cnn-analysis-weekend-voting-restrictions-in-georgia-would-strike-at-black-voters/index.html

CNN analysis: Georgia's proposed weekend voting restrictions would strike at Black voters - CNNPolitics

A review of state data shows how reducing weekend voting could affect a crucial Democratic voting bloc -- as Republicans in Georgia move swiftly to erect news barriers to voting after losing key contests.

politics, CNN analysis: Georgia's proposed weekend voting restrictions would strike at Black voters - CNNPolitics

CNN analysis: Georgia's proposed weekend voting restrictions would strike at Black voters

(CNN)Black Georgians disproportionately cast their ballots on the weekend days that Republican lawmakers want to eliminate as options in future elections, according to a CNN analysis of voting data from last November's general election.A measure moving swiftly through the Georgia legislature would reduce the number of weekend days available for in-person early voting and ban casting ballots on the final Sunday of the early voting period. Voting rights activists say the move attacks the "Souls to the Polls" programs that help drive turnout among Black churchgoers, a key Democratic constituency.More on Voting RightsAnalysis: Why Republican voter restrictions are a race against time'Cologne on Jim Crow': Georgia GOP drives toward new restrictionsAt least 45 states have seen bills aimed at voter suppression. Here's whyMichelle Obama, celebrities urge Americans to support voting rights billOnly 26.9% of the voters who cast in-person early ballots in Georgia during the general election were Black, state voting records showed. But CNN's analysis shows Black voters made up 34.6% of the voters who cast early ballots on the three weekend voting days that could be eliminated under the proposal from Georgia lawmakers -- about 48,000 people, significantly more than President Joe Biden's victory over former President Donald Trump in the state. Biden won Georgia by just shy of 12,000 votes.Georgia sits at the epicenter of a nationwide battle over voting rights -- following repeated and baseless claims by Trump that he lost the White House last fall because of fraud. Around the country, Republican-controlled state legislatures now are relying on election falsehoods to mount aggressive changes to voting rules. As of February 19, lawmakers in more than 40 states had introduced more than 250 bills that included voting restrictions, according to the liberal-leaning Brennan Center of Justice at New York University, which is tracking the bills. Georgia stands out for expansive Republican efforts to erect new barriers to voting, after the GOP lost the presidential election and two Senate contests. The Democratic victories in the state helped send Biden to the White House and gave Democrats a narrow majority in the US Senate.Read MoreA sweeping package of new election rules that recently passed the Georgia House would -- in addition to reducing the number of weekend days for early voting -- restrict absentee voting, end automatic voter registration and limit access to drop boxes that voters use to return their absentee ballots.The bill has moved to the Georgia Senate, which is weighing its own list of new restrictions -- including ending no-excuse absentee voting.Cliff Albright of the Georgia-based Black Voters Matter Fund called his state "the voter suppression capital of the country.""The breadth of this attack and the speed with which it's coming is unlike anything we've seen since Jim Crow," Albright told CNN this week.Georgia Rep. Barry Fleming, the primary author of the package that passed the Georgia House, declined to comment for this story. But Fleming, who chairs a special House committee on elections, has said the provisions would address voter perceptions that they couldn't trust Georgia's election results."The challenge for the legislature is to see what kind of changes we can make in our election system to try to increase that public confidence," Fleming said during a recent online discussion organized by the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. "Because if one thing we probably know, going forward in Georgia, we're going to have close elections."Black early votingIn the voting package passed this week, Republican lawmakers in the Georgia House retreated from an initial plan to ban Sunday voting entirely, amid public outcry. But the measure still cuts down on weekend voting.Under current law, local registrars in Georgia are allowed to offer in-person early voting on any of the four weekend days during the state's nearly three-week early voting period. The bill that passed the Georgia House this week would restrict that, only allowing early voting on two weekend days: either the first Saturday or Sunday of the early voting period -- a decision left up to the registrar -- as well as the second Saturday.In the leadup to the 2020 general election, roughly 138,000 voters cast in-person early ballots on the three days of early voting that could have possibly been eliminated had the new bill been in effect -- the first Saturday and Sunday of the early voting period, October 17 and October 18, and the final Sunday of early voting, October 25.Those days saw disproportionately high rates of Black and minority turnout as compared to other early voting days, according to absentee voting records published by the Secretary of State's office. More broadly, White Georgians were less likely to vote on weekends than those from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. Only 8.6% of White voters who cast early in-person ballots did so on a weekend, compared with nearly 12% of Black and Latino voters and almost 15% of Asian voters. The CNN analysis used a copy of the Georgia voter file that includes voters' race, which was provided by Michael McDonald, a University of Florida professor who studies elections. Georgians self-report their race and ethnicity when they register to vote. Racial and ethnic data were not available for about 7% of voters who cast early in-person ballots in the 2020 general election.Shawanda Williams, a hospital administrator who lives in the Atlanta suburb of Conyers, cast her ballot on the last Sunday of the early voting period -- a day that the House bill would exclude from early voting in future elections. In an interview with CNN, Williams said she appreciated the opportunity to cast her vote that day because she usually got home from work after her local early voting site had closed.On the last Sunday of early voting, she said, "Football was on, I figured nobody's going to be there -- and I was able to run in and out."Without the opportunity to vote that day, Williams, who supported Biden, said she would have made time to cast her ballot -- but it would have been a much bigger hassle. "It does seem like they're trying to change the rules to make it harder for people to vote," she said. "It's like voter suppression."Having multiple weekend voting options is particularly important for working-class Georgians, said Atlanta City Councilman Antonio Brown, who founded a social-justice group, The People's Uprising."Most working families are working two or three jobs, and don't have the capacity to be able to vote, like a normal person working a normal job where the hours of that job kind of coincide with their ability to go into a voting precinct and actually cast the ballot," Brown said. And across Georgia, Black churchgoers have a tradition of heading to the polls together after Sunday services -- driving to the polls or riding in church vans to cast their ballots during the early voting period.Bishop Victor Powell is active in voting rights as pastor of the Rhema Word Cathedral in Albany, Georgia -- in the heart of the state's rural "Black Belt."He said the "Souls to the Polls" push on the final Sunday of early voting offers convenience. "You've got a ready-made audience that you can talk to and say, 'Before you go to dinner, go to the polls.' "But Powell said he's always encouraged his congregation and the broader community to use every available path to the franchise. "We don't wait until the last day" to vote, he said. "Anything can happen."Falsehoods persistGeorgia's push to restrict paths to voting comes as Republicans around the country -- led by Trump -- continue to promote the falsehood of election fraud. Speaking to activists over the weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump repeatedly made false claims about the election and called for more restrictions, including proof of citizenship to cast a ballot and limits on mail-in voting.This week, former Vice President Mike Pence joined the criticism, taking aim at a Democratic bill that passed in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday that would set uniform standards for voting. The bill, dubbed The For the People Act, would deliver the biggest overhaul to US election law in decades. Among other provisions, it would mandate automatic voter registration, expand mail-in voting and restore voting rights to former felons. In an op-ed in The Daily Signal, Pence claimed the 2020 election was "marked by significant voting irregularities" and described the work under way in state legislatures as needed "reform to restore public confidence in state elections."There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would have changed the outcome of the 2020 election.Allegations of voter fraud are "just code for historic Black turnout," said Sherrell Byrd, who helps run SOWEGA Rising, a community organization in southwest Georgia."That's what's being attacked right now," she said. "The things we fought for. That our grandparents were fighting for. They said, 'Fine, we'll give you those rights.' We exercised those rights. We did what we were supposed to do, and it worked.""So, they continue to try to change the game," Byrd said of Georgia lawmakers.Black voters in Georgia helped propel Democrats to big wins. Exit polls show 88% of the Black electorate supported Biden last November. And in January, Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock saw even bigger support, capturing 92% and 93% of the Black vote in their runoff elections, respectively.Warnock, who won a special election, is on the ballot again in November 2022.Faced with the barrage of bills moving through the Georgia legislature, activists are turning to other forms of public pressure.This week, Black Voters Matters Fund launched an advertising effort with other voting-rights groups that calls on corporations in Georgia to speak out against the voting restrictions. And this weekend, the NBA is teaming with a group founded by Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James to promote voting rights during Sunday's All-Star Game in Atlanta.Powell, the pastor from Albany, said he's hopeful that Black voters in the state and elsewhere won't retreat, even if Georgia's proposed voting restrictions become law. "An awakening has taken place, not only in places like Georgia, but in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin," Powell said, ticking off battleground states that saw strong Black voter turnout last year. "People will find a way because they witnessed what happens when we get engaged and come together."

Ray Sanchez, Paul Murphy, Blake Ellis and Amir Vera, CNN

2021-03-23 16:16:55

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/23/us/boulder-colorado-shooting-suspect/index.html

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa: What we know about the Boulder, Colorado, mass shooting suspect - CNN

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was identified by authorities Tuesday as the gunman who opened fire at a King Soopers grocery store in Colorado, killing 10 people, including a Boulder police officer.

us, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa: What we know about the Boulder, Colorado, mass shooting suspect - CNN

Here's what we know about the Boulder, Colorado, mass shooting suspect

(CNN)Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was identified by authorities Tuesday as the gunman who opened fire at a King Soopers grocery store in Colorado, killing 10 people, including a Boulder police officer. The name of the 21-year-old suspect, who is in custody, was released at a news conference by Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold, who did not disclose a possible motive for Monday's bloodshed. A young grocery store manager and a heroic officer were among the 10 Boulder shooting victimsA search of the suspect's suburban Denver home turned up other weapons, a senior law enforcement source said Tuesday. The weapon used in the attack was an AR-15-style pistol modified with an arm brace, according to the source.Authorities have said they believe Alissa was the only person involved and that there was no additional threat to the community. The suspect has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and one charge of attempted murder, according to his arrest warrant. His first court appearance is scheduled for 8:15 a.m. (10:15 a.m. ET) Thursday, according to Colorado Judicial Branch online records.Read MoreThe warrant described Alissa as being armed with either an assault rifle or "black AR-15" and wearing a "tactical" or "armored" vest. A senior law enforcement source told CNN on condition of anonymity the shooter used a Ruger AR-556 pistol, modified with an arm brace, and was also carrying a 9 mm handgun, according to the source.The Boulder Police Department released the booking photograph of suspected gunman Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa. The suspect had "removed all of his clothing and was dressed only in shorts" when he was taken into custody, the affidavit said. Outside the store, the document said, Alissa wouldn't tell police whether there were other suspects, but he did ask to speak to his mother.Using law enforcement databases, the affidavit said, investigators determined Alissa had purchased a Ruger AR556 pistol on March 16.A law enforcement official told CNN Alissa was not previously the subject of any FBI investigation and said it appears nothing in the federal system would have prohibited Alissa from buying a firearm.Michael Dougherty, Boulder County district attorney, said Alissa is a resident of Arvada, between Boulder and Denver, who has "lived most of his life in the United States." Brother says he believes suspect was 'paranoid' Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was taken into custody after the mass shooting.Alissa, whose family emigrated from Syria, may have been suffering from mental illness, according to his 34-year-old brother, Ali Aliwi Alissa.The brother told CNN on Tuesday that in high school bullies made fun of Alissa's name and for being Muslim and that may have contributed to him becoming "anti-social." "People chose not to mess with him because of his temper, people chose not to really talk to him because of all -- how he acted and things like that. So yeah, he was very alone," said Damien Cruz, who said he has known Alissa since the fifth grade.Alissa had become increasingly "paranoid" around 2014, believing he was being followed and chased, according to his brother. At one point, the young man covered the camera on his computer with duct tape so he could not be seen, said the brother, who lives with Alissa."He always suspected someone was behind him, someone was chasing him," Ali Alissa said."We kept a close eye on him when he was in high school. He would say, 'Someone is chasing me, someone is investigating me.' And we're like, 'Come on man. There's nothing.' ... He was just closing into himself," the brother added. Here is what we know about the mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, that left 10 deadAlissa's Facebook page, the authenticity of which was confirmed by his brother and a high school classmate, shows posts saying he believed his former high school had been hacking into his phone."Just curious what are the laws about phone privacy because I believe my old school (a west) was hacking my phone," Alissa wrote in a March 18, 2019, Facebook post. He made a second post on July 5, 2019, also claiming that people were hacking his phone, saying, "let me have a normal life I probably could." When his Facebook friends questioned how he knew the school was hacking his phone, Alissa said: "I believe part racism for sure. But I also believe someone spread rumors about me which are false and maybe that set it off." The profile claims Alissa attended Arvada West High School. Cameron Bell, Jefferson County Public Schools spokesperson, confirmed Alissa was a student there from March 2015 until he graduated in May 2018. Alissa was not very political or particularly religious, according to his brother, who said he never heard the young man threaten to use violence. "The entire thing surprised me," Ali Alissa said of the Monday's shootings. "I never ever would have thought he would do such a thing. I never thought he would kill. I still can't believe it. I am really sad for the lives that he wasted, and I feel sorry for all those families. ... We lost a brother even if he is the killer." Aside from a knife he used for cooking, Ali Alissa said he did not know his brother to carry any weapon, including a firearm. Sister-in-law says she saw suspect playing with a gunAccording to the arrest warrant, a woman identified as the suspect's sister-in-law "stated that (Ahmad Al Aliwi) Alissa was seen playing with a gun she thought looked like a 'machine gun' about 2 days ago. She did not believe the gun looked like the rifles she has seen in old Western movies. . . . Alissa had been talking about having a bullet stuck in the gun and was playing with the gun."The woman's name was redacted from the document.Ali Alissa said he doesn't know why his brother went to King Soopers on Monday. Police interrogated him and another brother, according to Ali Alissa, who said authorities searched their home in the predawn hours Tuesday. 'Gun, gun, gun! Run, run, run!' Grocery store witnesses describe the deadly rampage in Colorado"They searched every corner," he said, "every piece of clothing." The family emigrated from Syria in 2002, the brother said. They have lived in the Arvada area since 2014. Facebook has shut down Facebook and Instagram accounts belonging to the suspect, a company spokesperson said Tuesday. Alissa was found guilty of assault in 2018Alissa was sentenced to one year probation and 48 hours of community service after being found guilty of third-degree assault in 2018 for an incident that occurred the previous November, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's database. The case stemmed from a incident in which a then-18-year-old Alissa was accused of attacking a classmate at Arvada West High School.A report from a police officer included in the case file says Alissa "got up in (a) classroom, walked over to (the) victim & 'cold-cocked' him in the head." Alissa "got on top of (the victim) & punched him in (the) head several more times," the report says, adding that the victim "had bruising, swelling & cuts to (the) head, as well as pain.""No witnesses could see or hear any reason" for the attack, and Alissa said the victim "had made fun of him & called him racial names weeks earlier," the officer wrote.Shooting comes 1 week after Atlanta massacreThe mass shooting suspect has made statements to investigators, Dougherty said. "We're collecting those statements now and we'll be providing those in the weeks ahead," Dougherty said.Herold said the suspect was wounded in the leg during "an exchange of gunfire." The suspect was taken into custody about 3:30 p.m. Monday and transported to a hospital, where he was in stable condition.He was booked into Boulder County Jail early Tuesday afternoon, according to the jail's records.The Colorado attack is the 7th mass shooting in 7 days in the USThe massacre at the King Soopers store occurred less than a week after shootings at three spas in the Atlanta area left eight people dead. In the past week in the US, there have been at least seven shootings in which at least four people were injured or killed.The slain Boulder officer, 51-year-old Eric Talley, was the first to respond to the scene, according to Herold. Talley had joined the force in 2010, she said.The victims were ordinary Coloradans going about their daily lives -- picking up groceries, waiting in line for a coronavirus vaccine. They ranged from 20 to 65 years old. CNN's Konstantin Toropin, Artemis Moshtaghian, Donie O'Sullivan, Nadeem Muaddi and Whitney Wild contributed to this report.

Scott Glover, Curt Devine and Audrey Ash, CNN

2021-03-18 21:29:58

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/18/politics/frank-artiles-arrested-sham-candidate-invs/index.html

Former state senator Frank Artiles charged in spoiler candidate scheme - CNNPolitics

A former Florida state senator who resigned in disgrace four years ago was charged Thursday with campaign finance violations related to a hotly contested state Senate race in the 2020 election, authorities said.

politics, Former state senator Frank Artiles charged in spoiler candidate scheme - CNNPolitics

Former Florida state senator charged in spoiler candidate scheme

(CNN)A former Florida state senator who resigned in disgrace four years ago was charged Thursday with campaign finance violations related to a hotly contested state Senate race in the 2020 election, authorities said.Frank Artiles, 47, turned himself in to authorities in Miami one day after his home was searched by investigators with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. The county's top prosecutor, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, accused Artiles at a news conference on Thursday afternoon of paying an old friend almost $45,000 to mount a fake candidacy intended to illegally sway the election.Artiles, a Republican operative with a reputation for a foul mouth and sharp elbows, is accused of financing a sham candidate whose candidacy was intended to siphon votes from a legitimate Democratic candidate in a state Senate race in South Florida's 37th District. The candidate has the same last name as then-Democratic incumbent Jose Javier Rodriguez but did not actively campaign for the seat and has since admitted being recruited as a spoiler.That man, Alexis P. Rodriguez, 55, was also charged in connection with the scheme.Read MorePolice remove items from Artiles' homeArtiles and Rodriguez face identical charges: making or receiving two or more campaign contributions over or in excess of the limits; conspiracy to make or receive two or more campaign contributions over or in excess of the limits and false swearing in connection with voting or elections."We are alleging these various payments blatantly violated Florida election laws," Fernandez Rundle said. "These payments were intended to influence the outcome of the election."The Republican candidate, Ileana Garcia, an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, narrowly won the race by just 32 votes.Fernandez Rundle said there was no evidence that Garcia had any knowledge of the scheme. A spokeswoman for Garcia said the newly elected senator had never met Artiles.In a text to a CNN reporter shortly before Artiles surrendered, his defense attorney, Greg Chonillo, said his client "has been cooperative since the inception of this investigation as well as during the execution of the search warrant. Due to the nature of the charges and potential litigation, we will not comment on any information related to this matter. We fully intend to defend any charges in Court."A dark money mystery in Florida centers on the campaign of a spoiler candidate who appeared to help a Republican win by 32 votesAttorney William Barzee, who represents candidate Rodriguez, told CNN: "Frank Artiles and his co-conspirators knew they couldn't beat Jose Javier Rodriguez in a fair election so they rigged it. Artiles cynically targeted and used a vulnerable 'friend' with a great name to run in the race in order to confuse voters and steal the election. Alex Rodriguez deeply regrets allowing himself to be used in this way and hopes that by coming forth with the truth he can help to right these wrongs."Rodriguez was also taken into custody in connection with the case, a corrections official in Miami-Dade County told CNN.Questions began swirling last year in Florida media and political circles about the 37th District election, as CNN reported in November.Even before his arrest, Artiles was a controversial figure in Florida politics.According to the Miami Herald, in 2014 he was secretly recorded referring to Muslims as "hajis," and then later, in 2017, he used the n-word and other derogatory language while speaking to Black Florida senators.Artiles later apologized for the remarks, the first of two incidents that ultimately forced him to step down as state senator. CNN's Drew Griffin contributed to this report.

Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN

2021-03-05 14:43:04

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/05/business/polzin-tax-preparer-ppp-loan-invs/index.html

Fake tax preparer gets six Covid-19 bailout loans worth more than $1 million - CNN

His past clients say he's a scammer who ran off with their money, and a judge barred him from illegally masquerading as a certified public accountant after government officials caught on to his scheme. But none of that stopped him from getting six PPP loans.

business, Fake tax preparer gets six Covid-19 bailout loans worth more than $1 million - CNN

Fake tax preparer gets six Covid-19 bailout loans worth more than $1 million

(CNN)His past clients say he's a scammer who ran off with their money, and a judge barred him from illegally masquerading as a certified public accountant after government officials caught on to his scheme. But none of that stopped James Polzin and companies linked to him from seeking -- and being granted -- at least six Covid-19 bailout loans from the federal government in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the fact he is not licensed or authorized to prepare taxes, according to state and federal data, Polzin was able to secure around $1.2 million for tax firms and related businesses between April and June of last year -- all backed by the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). While the government assistance successfully helped many companies stay afloat and pay workers during the pandemic, it has also been plagued by questionable lending and flat-out fraud. What should we investigate next? Email Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken As the agency begins to dole out a second round of bailout funds, Polzin's case illustrates some of the program's vulnerabilities and shows just how much work the government has to do if it wants to identify abuse of the program and hold borrowers accountable. Read MoreUnder SBA rules, individual businesses were only supposed to receive one PPP loan during the first phase of the program. The agency told CNN that while there were no measures to screen out fraud during the approval process for the first draw because of how quickly the money needed to be distributed, the agency has implemented more than 80 fraud checks this time around.Polzin, who has gone by a number of different first names, applied for some of the loans under similar business names and addresses and sought funding from a variety of banks. One of his companies, which was also specifically cited by an Arizona judge as operating unlawfully months earlier, received multiple loans despite using the exact same name on the applications. This company, Transparen CPAs, is now listed as inactive in state business filings.Earlier data showed two more loans Polzin's companies had been approved for, worth at least $350,000, but those loans no longer appear as active. The SBA said these loans could have been canceled, but could not comment on why. It is also unclear whether Polzin has made repayments on any of the loans. The door to Transparen CPAs in Mesa, Arizona was closed and locked when a CNN reporter visited last month.Each of Polzin's six active loans were for around $200,000. Under SBA rules, monthly payroll for these companies combined would need to be at least $480,000 a month, or nearly $5.8 million annually. It is unclear if his businesses currently have any physical operations or employees, and despite listing most as different companies, Polzin reported the exact same number of employees, 16, for all of the entities that received loans and claimed to have a combined monthly payroll of more than $1 million. In reviews online and accounts shared with CNN, former clients said Polzin never actually filed their taxes or filed them incorrectly and then disappeared after they paid him hundreds of dollars for his services -- only to later receive alarming letters from tax authorities and large bills, including penalties and unpaid taxes. One former customer said she was never able to track him down after being told she owed thousands of dollars in back taxes, penalties and interest, and a man from Germany said his wife's naturalization is now in jeopardy because of the three years' worth of back taxes and late fees they ended up owing. More than 100 people currently belong to a private Facebook group called "Victims of Ted/James Polzin at Transparen CPAs" where they have shared horror stories and attempted to help each other track Polzin down. After receiving this letter, Betsy Livecchi and her husband worked with the watchdog arm of the IRS to sort out the situation and ended up getting the late fees abated. (CNN has blurred portions of this image to obscure personal information). After determining that Polzin was breaking the law by posing as a CPA, the Arizona State Board of Accountancy convinced a judge to issue a permanent injunction in January 2020 that barred Polzin from using any title indicating that he or his firms are authorized to practice as CPAs.Polzin did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A CNN reporter visited the Arizona addresses listed for his various businesses, and several were apartment buildings or houses where no one appeared to be home. At one apartment, someone answered the door but said Polzin was not there and he didn't know when he would be back. Another address was located in a basement of a building among a row of offices that were all closed and locked -- though there was a sign for Transparen CPAs on the door.The SBA told CNN it could not comment on individual borrowers and that it is up to lenders who are actually giving out the money to confirm an applicant's need and eligibility to receive PPP loans, and the agency regularly checks employer identification numbers to make sure the same entity hasn't applied for multiple loans. The agency also said a review of all loans approved during the first round of funding resulted in more than 200,000 loans, or nearly 4%, being flagged -- though the affected loans have not been publicly disclosed. These borrowers will not be eligible for more funding this round or for loan forgiveness unless they address the issues identified, and they could be referred for criminal investigations if necessary. Gas station secured small business bailout money, then paid for Trump billboardsFormer New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino said that identical or similar-sounding entities receiving multiple large loans should attract the attention of the federal government. He also said that if Polzin is engaging in illegal activity, such as unlawfully posing as a CPA, receiving PPP money may be in violation of SBA regulations. "This is something that we would have taken a good hard look at, and I suspect if the federal regulators are advised of it, they will want to make inquiries," said Porrino, who now represents businesses facing civil and criminal charges involving banking and consumer fraud.The fake CPA The website for Polzin's accounting firm, which has been taken down, claimed that Transparen Certified Public Accountants offered "fast, simple and affordable tax filing for US expats." Yet, he is not listed by the IRS as an authorized tax preparer, according to agency data, and the Arizona State Board of Accountancy said in a legal filing against him that it investigated him after being contacted by Chad Mangum, a tax preparer who had been hired by a former Polzin client to review a tax return prepared by Polzin. "The tax return was a mess," Mangum told the board, according to the complaint, saying Polzin told his client the IRS wouldn't care about the irregularities on the return. "I am highly concerned about the misrepresentation of the CPA designation used by Ted/James/Thomas, as well as his competence and legal practices performed for any individuals he is in contact with. He seems to have an incorrect understanding of accounting practices and tax knowledge."Tax preparer Chad Mangum filed a complaint with the Arizona accounting board after reviewing a tax return completed by Polzin. When contacted by CNN, Mangum described how he first became alarmed about Polzin when he saw him marketing himself to a large American expat community on Facebook and appeared to be giving them tax advice that ran afoul of the law, based on his conversations with some of Polzin's clients. He said he places some of the blame on Arizona business regulators for allowing Polzin to register multiple businesses with CPA in the name despite not having the necessary licenses to use that title. Accountancy Board documents show how one of Polzin's relatives told investigators that Polzin had been using the relative's expired CPA license number from another state as his own and that he had asked Polzin to stop using his credentials. "I have communicated directly with Ted and he is apologetic for his mistakes...(he) assured me that he would not do that again," the relative also wrote in a message to Mangum cited by the investigation. Officials have been unable to serve Polzin with the injunction, in one case visiting his office last year only to find that the business was closed -- with someone in the same complex saying that the office is almost never open. This was the same office that was closed when CNN attempted to find him. Once Polzin is officially notified of the injunction, he could face fines and other penalties, including criminal charges, if he continued to use the CPA designation.PPP fraud was inevitable Ethan Smith, an attorney who has specialized in SBA lending and compliance for the last two decades, said that while he could not speculate about a specific borrower, some level of fraud within the program was inevitable. Both the SBA and lenders, he said, were under incredible pressure to get a massive amount of money out within a matter of weeks when the pandemic first hit. "There was no way to put the controls in to ferret out [fraudsters] without punishing people who weren't committing fraud," he said. "At a certain point, it was an emergency. It wasn't the perfect solution, but it was the best solution we could come up with at the time." The Department of Justice has already filed a string of criminal actions against borrowers it says illegally gamed the system, such as a 29-year-old Florida man who allegedly purchased a Lamborghini with some of his $3.9 million in PPP loan money. In another case, the DOJ alleges that a group of seven individuals raked in about $16 million in PPP funds through more than 80 fraudulent loan applications. The SBA referred 91 cases to federal prosecutors for criminal prosecution in the 2020 fiscal year -- an increase of more than 700% from only 11 referrals the prior year, according to data from Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The TRAC data shows that prosecutors already declined to press charges in some of these cases, while others remained under review. Use CNN's database of Paycheck Protection Program loans to see where billions in pandemic relief loans went. Search Smith said it's hard to know just how much fraud remains under the radar, and that, ultimately, it is the federal government that will be on the hook if ineligible borrowers abscond with the funds. He said lenders were told by the SBA to rely on a borrower's self-certification to move as quickly as possible. As a result, the typical backgrounding done for traditional SBA loans did not apply to the PPP program.Banks, Smith said, were in a difficult situation of not knowing how much due diligence they should do. The SBA's updated online loan application and servicing system will help the agency detect red flags in real time, before a loan is approved. "It's going to be harder for the fraudsters to make it through the net," said Smith.While it is more likely to catch loan applications from the same address or under the same name during this second round of funding, it is unclear whether it would automatically uncover more obscure warning signs such as injunctions.Smith cautioned that fraudsters have also had time to prepare more sophisticated schemes to attempt to evade detection and said he wouldn't be surprised if fraud investigations were still being launched years after the PPP program ends. 'Quite infuriating'Betsy Livecchi, a former client of Polzin's, was livid when she saw his name in an online search of PPP loans. She said she moved from the United States to Europe in 2018 when her husband took a teaching position there, and the couple hired Polzin because their taxes had become more complicated. She paid him $400 and thought everything had been handled until she heard from the IRS. Betsy and her husband Ron Livecchi haven't been able to reach Polzin after learning he hadn't filed their taxes correctly."Upon receiving a letter that we owed over $19,000 in back taxes, penalties and interest we attempted to contact the man who supposedly prepared them," she said, providing CNN with the letter from the IRS, a Facebook Messenger exchange with Polzin, an invoice and correspondence with the state accounting board. "Of course, we have been unable." Livecchi then began researching Polzin herself, setting up a whiteboard where she mapped out his sprawling web of businesses and associates. She then found the injunction from the state court in Arizona, and finally stumbled upon the multiple PPP loans he had obtained -- saying she couldn't believe that someone with his record qualified for a single government-backed loan, let alone six. Livecchi said she filed a complaint with Arizona officials and the SBA inspector general. Another former client, Peer Gopfrich, hired Polzin after moving back to Germany from the United States. He said his German tax returns were never filed, even though Polzin charged him for them and sent him copies of the returns he claimed to have submitted, showing that Gopfrich didn't owe any additional taxes. But when his wife applied for naturalization in Germany, the government informed them that they owed three years' worth of back taxes and late fees to the German government, and his wife's application had been placed into jeopardy because of their delinquent status. He said the decision to hire Polzin ended up costing them an extra $3,000 (or roughly 2500 euros) -- including the amount they paid him to file the taxes that were never submitted, the late fees and interest they were later hit with and the cost of refiling. On top of all that, they also owed more than $6,000 (or around 5,500 euros) in taxes, his records show. "Hearing that the person who has cheated us out of our money, potentially jeopardized my wife's ability to remain in Germany and has a permanent injunction against him in Arizona received over one million dollars in government help is quite infuriating," Gopfrich said. Is there something else you think we should investigate? Email us: [email protected]. CNN's Bob Ortega contributed to this report.

Rob Kuznia, Majlie de Puy Kamp, Sara Sidner and Mallory Simon, CNN

2021-02-19 12:27:25

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/19/us/extremism-cryptocurrency-profiting-off-hate-invs/index.html

How White nationalists evade the law and continue profiting off hate - CNN

Weeks before the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, a burly and bearded neo-Nazi told a CNN reporter on camera that "Jews are terrorists."

us, How White nationalists evade the law and continue profiting off hate - CNN

How White nationalists evade the law and continue profiting off hate

This story contains racist and derogatory language, and may not be suitable for all audiences. (CNN)Weeks before the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, a burly and bearded neo-Nazi told a CNN reporter on camera that "Jews are terrorists." At the rally -- which turned deadly -- he participated with gusto, carrying a banner that, according to court documents, said, "Gas the kikes, race war now!" during a march past a synagogue. But when Robert Warren Ray was indicted in June 2018 for using tear gas on counter-protesters at the event, police discovered he was nowhere to be found. The fugitive, known in far-right circles as a prolific podcaster under a Bigfoot-themed avatar and the name "Azzmador," has vanished -- at least from real life. However, Ray's podcast, which he calls The Krypto Report, later appeared on a new gaming livestreaming service that has become a haven for right-wing extremists who have been deplatformed from YouTube and other mainstream social media channels. Read MoreCalled DLive, the live-streaming platform with a blockchain-based reward system allows users to accept cryptocurrency donations -- another perk for extremists barred from using services such as PayPal or GoFundMe, or who want to raise money internationally. Ray, a 54-year-old Texan, was a hit. He quickly became one of the top 20 earners on DLive, according to an analysis by online extremism expert Megan Squire of Elon University in North Carolina, who studied the period from April 2020 -- the earliest data available -- through mid-January 2021. Robert Warren Ray, pictured in 2017, is a neo-Nazi known as "Azzmador."It's not just the police who are searching for Ray. Since September 2019, he has been flouting court orders and missing appearances in a civil case that names him as one of 24 defendants accused of conspiring to plan, promote and carry out the violent events of Charlottesville. "(Ray) has failed to communicate with Plaintiffs and the Court in any manner --even while continuing to participate on social media, post articles on the website of The Daily Stormer, and publish podcasts," said plaintiffs' attorneys in court documents filed in June. As for the criminal case, which charges Ray with maliciously releasing gas, authorities have labeled him a fugitive since his 2018 indictment. To be sure, Ray -- who mysteriously stopped podcasting from DLive a few months ago -- didn't get rich on DLive. But while he was ignoring court summonses for his alleged role in organizing Unite the Right, he earned $15,000 on the platform in just six months, according to Squire's analysis. He cashed most of it out, she said. "The idea that he's wanted for all of this stuff, but then just gets to sit at home behind a microphone and make money on the side -- I thought that was just not good at all," Squire said. Experts say the story of Ray and DLive underscores a reality about people who get chased into the shadows by lawsuits or deplatforming crusades: There will almost always be an entrepreneur who is willing to provide a venue for exiled promoters of hate. "Where there is demand, eventually supply finds a way," said John Bambenek, a cyber security expert who tracks the cryptocurrency accounts of extremists. A game of cat and mousePublic scrutiny drives alt-right personalities deeper into the bowels of the internet, reducing their visibility. And while their retreat to ever more obscure corners can make it more difficult to monitor the chatter, Michael Edison Hayden, a spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, says the game of whack a mole is ultimately worthwhile. "I have seen firsthand the degree to which figures who were...extremely successful in radicalizing large numbers of people, become extraordinarily marginalized, extraordinarily fast in so-called dark corners of the internet," he said. There are few neo-Nazi figures who have been as widely deplatformed as Andrew Anglin, publisher of The Daily Stormer, one of the web's most notorious hate sites -- and where Ray gained prominence as a writer and podcaster. Anglin's Daily Stormer was dumped by Google and GoDaddy after Anglin in a post mocked the protester who was killed in Charlottesville as a "fat, childless 32-year-old slut." Andrew Anglin is the founder of The Daily Stormer website. This made it more difficult for laypeople to find his site, though it has managed to stay on the internet, partially through the work of an adroit webmaster. "There was just this ongoing battle of what (the webmaster) would do in order to keep Anglin's voice online," Hayden said. Like Ray, Anglin is on the lam. He has evaded attorneys since the summer of 2019, when he lost a spate of lawsuits. In the biggest judgment against him, Anglin was ordered by a judge to pay $14 million to a Jewish woman in Montana who had endured anti-Semitic harassment and death threats from Anglin's "troll army" of supporters. (One voicemail said: "You are surprisingly easy to find on the Internet. And in real life.") Anglin, who did not respond to CNN's request for comment, has said in court documents that he isn't living in the country. The woman, Tanya Gersh, recently told CNN that she has yet to receive a dime of the judgment and is appalled that people are profiting from hate. "If knowing that doesn't disgust you, we have really, really been led astray in our country," she said. Tanya Gersh says harassing messages reached her in every corner of her life. Founded in 2017, DLive, which is owned by a 30-year-old Chinese national named Justin Sun, takes a 20% cut of its streamers' revenue, according to its website. Although DLive initially allowed far-right figures -- including Ray -- it has purged several amid scrutiny in the wake of the deadly riot at the Capitol on January 6. That day, Anthime "Tim" Gionet, better known as "Baked Alaska," used the service to live-stream his role in the incursion. In the video, he curses out a law-enforcement officer, sits on a couch and puts his feet on a table, and can be heard saying, "1776, baby," according to an FBI affidavit. Gionet was suspended from the site, as was Nick Fuentes -- part of a White nationalist group of young radicals called the Groypers -- who was also at the January 6 rally, though he says he did not enter the Capitol. Both had already been permanently jettisoned by YouTube and other social media outlets, though Fuentes remains on Twitter. "DLive was appalled that a number of rioters in the U.S. Capitol attack abused the platform to live stream their actions," and when its moderators become aware of the live streams, they shut them down, the company said in a statement to CNN. "All payments to those involved in the attack have been frozen." Ray's DLive account, too, has been suspended, a company spokesman said, although the action did not publicly appear on his page until a couple of days after CNN reached out to the company on February 5. The DLive spokesman said the decision to sanction his channel was unrelated to CNN's inquiry, and that the suspension amounts to a permanent ban. In any case, Ray stopped posting to DLive about four months ago, around the time a judge in the Unite the Right case found him in contempt. He did not respond to CNN's requests for comment. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. Gionet was arrested in Houston last month, but Fuentes and Ray have both since popped up elsewhere online. Fuentes -- DLive's top earner, who took in about $114,000 in six months ending in January -- has been scrambling to keep his podcast streaming since DLive booted him. For a few weeks, he'd figured out a way to keep using YouTube, even though the platform had dropped him, largely by using intermediaries to embed a livestream from other YouTube channels on his own website.Squire said she spent those weeks engaged in a game of cat and mouse with him, repeatedly finding the 22-year-old Illinois native and notifying the third parties, and YouTube, of Fuentes' actions. The third parties have mostly acted swiftly and banned Fuentes' content, Squire said. And while YouTube didn't act on all of Squire's initial reporting, the company took action when CNN flagged it. "We've terminated multiple channels surfaced by CNN for attempting to circumvent our policies," a YouTube spokesperson said last week. "Nicholas Fuentes' channel was terminated in February 2020 after repeatedly violating our policies on hate speech and, as is the case with all terminated accounts, he is now prohibited from operating a channel on YouTube. We will continue to take the necessary steps to enforce our policies." Following YouTube's crackdown, Fuentes began experimenting with other blockchain based technologies that enable him to stream his nightly program without being deplatformed. His recent moves have left Squire frustrated. "I don't have an answer on how to do the take downs -- I just don't know," she said.Ray, meanwhile, appears to have retreated to another obscure streaming site, called Trovo, which is so new it is still in beta mode. In the chat section of what appeared to be Ray's new Azzmador page on Trovo, a follower said "we missed u Azz" on January 15. Ray has yet to livestream any podcasts on Trovo. But in recent days -- after several months of silence -- a Telegram account bearing Azzmador's logo with a link to his DLive channel burst back onto the platform with a series of racist and anti-Semitic messages. "Harriet Tubman and MLK are both fake historical figures who had Communist Jew handlers/promoters," read one February 7 message. Insurrection fueled by conspiracy groups, extremists and fringe movementsSome startups see the deplatforming of online firebrands as a recruitment opportunity. "Hey @rooshv, so sorry to see you get censored!" a Canadian company called Entropy -- which targets YouTubers and other streamers seeking to avoid censorship -- tweeted at Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh, an online personality in the so-called "manosphere," who has touted misogynistic ideas such as that women are intellectually inferior and that rape should be legal on private property. Valizadeh -- who authored an online post called "Why are Jews behind most modern evils?" -- had just been dumped by YouTube less than a week prior, on July 13. "We would be honored to support your streams," the tweet added. In March 2019, Entropy's three young founders were interviewed by a podcaster about their new product, and excitedly touted their first big-name user, Jean-François Gariépy, an alt-right YouTuber who frequently featured White nationalists on one of his shows. "He was actually the first streamer to try us out," said co-founder Rachel Constantinidis. "He tried us out for a number of months, and we were able to really improve the stability of the platform based on his feedback." In an email to CNN, Gariépy denied a CBC news article's characterization of him as supporting "ideas of white superiority and white 'ethnostates,'" saying, "no proper context was provided by the journalist to understand the circumstances in which I discussed these subjects in the past." Fuentes and Gionet did not respond to CNN's requests for comment, and Valizadeh declined an interview. How cryptocurrency comes into play Just as far-right provocateurs are driven underground to more niche sites when they are booted from mainstream platforms, so, too, do they often gravitate towards cryptocurrency such as bitcoin when banished from using online payment services like PayPal and GoFundMe. "Cryptocurrencies are indispensable to them at this point," said Squire. Because many of them were early adopters -- and because bitcoin's volatile value has recently skyrocketed -- some are now sitting on vast sums. Most successful in this realm has been Stefan Molyneux, a Canadian vlogger who has promoted ideas of non-White inferiority and has said, "I don't view humanity as a single species." Molyneux, dropped by PayPal in late 2019, starting taking bitcoin donations in 2013 and is holding onto a chunk of the cryptocurrency that amounted to more than $27 million as of Thursday morning, said Bambenek, the cyber security expert. When they spotted a familiar face at the Capitol riots, they reported it to authorities(Molyneux -- who is still on Facebook and Instagram -- has also been expelled from YouTube, and has since shown up on lesser-known platforms such as BitChute, DLive and Entropy, where his audience is considerably diminished. Molyneux told CNN in an email that he stopped covering politics last year, and is now writing about parenting. He declined to answer any questions about his finances.) BitChute, Trovo and Entropy did not respond to CNN's requests for comment. By publishing their wallet IDs online and urging followers to donate through cryptocurrency, extremists have -- perhaps unwittingly -- provided unprecedented insight into their financials. In an attempt to cut out the middleman and combat fraud, bitcoin transactions -- including sender and recipient identifiers -- are all recorded in a public ledger, available to anyone. Individual donations to far-right personalities mostly appear to have been small, and Bambenek said they are shrinking on the whole. One exception: Nick Fuentes received a single donation of 13.5 bitcoin, at the time worth about $250,000, in December from a person whom researchers believe was a computer programmer in France who apparently killed himself shortly afterward, according to a Yahoo News exclusive report. Another notable cryptocurrency enthusiast is Anglin of The Daily Stormer who, in addition to owing Gersh of Montana $14 million, has another $4.1 million judgment against him for falsely branding comedian and CNN contributor Dean Obeidallah -- an American Muslim -- as a terrorist. He also owes money to Taylor Dumpson, who, after becoming the first Black female student body president at American University, endured a harassment campaign orchestrated by The Daily Stormer. That $725,000 judgment is against Anglin, the site and one of the site's followers. Anglin, who claims on his website to be banned from PayPal, credit card processors and even his PO Box, has been directing his donations to bitcoin since 2014. Over the years, he received more than 200 bitcoin, but most appear to have been cashed out, according to Bambenek, who said Anglin is holding on to at least 10.1 bitcoin, worth more than $525,000 as of Thursday morning. But Anglin's cryptocurrency holdings are becoming more difficult to monitor. While Anglin was embroiled in the Gersh lawsuit, his website started advertising donations through a more obscure cryptocurrency called Monero, which -- contrary to crypto's ethos of transparency -- keeps transactions private. Azzmador and Anglin sued by Charlottesville victims Demonetizing and deplatforming aren't the only way to defang groups and individuals who espouse identity-based hate. "You also need to sue them," said Amy Spitalnick, executive director of Integrity First for America, a nonprofit civil rights group. Ray and Anglin are among a couple dozen defendants named in a lawsuit underwritten by Spitalnick's group on behalf of several activists who are Charlottesville victims. The two men are accused of being part of the leadership team that not only planned the Unite the Right rallies on August 11 and 12, 2017, but primed the pump for violence. Four of the 10 plaintiffs in the civil rights lawsuit, which is scheduled to go to trial in October, were struck by the car driven by a neo-Nazi into a throng of counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer, whose physical appearance Anglin would later disparage. Their injuries ranged from broken bones to concussions to torn ligaments. The other plaintiffs in the suit say they have suffered emotional distress either from physical injuries inflicted during the event or from psychological trauma and have missed work as a result. In the days leading to the Unite the Right rally, much of the planning and coordination happened on The Daily Stormer, which -- with Anglin and Ray as principal authors -- began to take on a menacing tone, according to the suit. On August 8, the suit says, Anglin and Ray said the purpose of the upcoming rally had shifted from being in support of a Confederate monument of Robert E. Lee, "which the Jew Mayor and his Negroid Deputy have marked for destruction" to "something much bigger...which will serve as a rallying point and battle cry for the rising Alt-Right movement." "There is a craving to return to an age of violence," Anglin wrote, according to the suit. "We want a war." The Daily Stormer advertised the rally with a poster depicting a figure taking a sledgehammer to the Jewish Star of David. "Join Azzmador and The Daily Stormer to end Jewish influence in America," it said. Prior to the event, the suit says, Ray and Anglin wrote on The Daily Stormer that "Stormers" were required to bring tiki torches and should also bring pepper spray, flag poles, flags and shields. Anglin did not attend the rally in Charlottesville, but Ray did. During the march past the synagogue, the suit alleges, he yelled at a woman to "put on a fu**ing burka" and called her a "sharia whore." The suit says he then proclaimed: "Hitler did nothing wrong." Fast forward three-and-a-half years. By January, Ray's once-prolific podcast had been dark for several months. His fans began to notice. On a forum called GamerUprising, somebody started a thread on January 25 called "What happened to Azzmador????" "He just disappeared and no one even seems to care," wrote the user, who goes by "Creepy-ass Cracker." But there are signs that Ray plans a return to podcasting as Azzmador. On February 3, a fan on his Trovo page asked when Azzmador would begin streaming. He responded in a word: "soon."CNN's Julia Jones contributed to this story.

Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN

2021-02-18 12:03:51

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/18/us/nursing-homes-penalties-osha-worker-safety-invs/index.html

Government action took months as nursing home workers died during the pandemic - CNN

OSHA, the federal agency responsible for protecting workers did little to hold nursing homes accountable for dangerous conditions during the coronavirus pandemic until it was too late, its own records show.

us, Government action took months as nursing home workers died during the pandemic - CNN

Government action took months as nursing home workers died during the pandemic

(CNN)The federal agency responsible for protecting workers did little to hold nursing homes accountable for dangerous conditions during the coronavirus pandemic until it was too late, its own records show. A CNN analysis of violation data reveals that by the end of 2020, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and state worker safety programs approved by the agency had cited around 200 long-term care facilities which are currently facing roughly $2.6 million in penalties related to Covid-19. But the vast majority of these citations -- issued to nursing homes, assisted living centers and continuing care facilities -- didn't come until the last four months of the year. This was long after long-term care facilities had become an epicenter of the pandemic. Prior to September, only six facilities had been penalized, according to agency data. Nursing home worker deaths going unscrutinized by federal government OSHA data also shows the investigations that triggered penalties were mainly linked to employee deaths and hospitalizations, not complaints from workers about unsafe conditions.Hundreds of long-term care facilities were subject to worker safety complaints that were closed by the agency without any inspection -- meaning that OSHA deemed no further action was necessary.Read MoreAmid an unprecedented public health crisis and massive shortages of crucial protective equipment and Covid-19 tests, even the best nursing homes have struggled to provide a safe environment for both residents and staff. But workplace safety experts say that OSHA should have been proactively monitoring nursing homes and checking on staff from the very beginning of the pandemic to ensure proper precautions were being taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19 before outbreaks and deaths occurred. What should we investigate next? Email Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken "This all really amounts to a tiny, tiny amount of enforcement," Deborah Berkowitz, director of the worker health and safety program at the National Employment Law Project, said of CNN's data analysis. Berkowitz, who previously served as chief of staff and then a senior policy adviser for OSHA, described the average penalty of around $13,000 per facility as a slap on the wrist. She said that in most cases it should not take months for a citation to be issued once problems are identified and that the agency's failure to swiftly crack down on those nursing homes that weren't doing enough to try to protect workers allowed problems to fester. Nursing home resident: 'I feel as though I am in #DeathCamp2020'OSHA's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor James Frederick said in a statement that the Biden administration has committed to increase the number of inspectors at the agency and that "OSHA is working to strengthen its enforcement effort" and to "re-affirm its commitment to worker safety and re-establish trust that the agency is advocating for workers."CNN's previous reporting showed how long-term care workers had lodged complaints with OSHA since February of last year. Many warned about dangers at facilities that went on to experience major Covid-19 outbreaks. By the end of the year, more than 1,000 facilities where workers turned to OSHA and state programs for help were subject to only cursory inquiries, typically via phone or email, and the complaints were closed after operators denied the claims or promised to address alleged issues, according to agency data. Concerns raised to OSHA included worker deaths and outbreaks being covered up, proper protective equipment such as N95 masks being hidden from staff, employees being forced to work while sick and learning that they were caring for Covid patients only after possible exposure.It took two months for OSHA to open an inspection after the death of a nurse at Life Care Center of Nashoba Valley in Massachusetts. Even as deaths mounted, with federal data showing that more than 1,000 nursing home employees died from Covid-19 last year, CNN found that OSHA had opened investigations into only a fraction of nursing homes where workers had died. The roughly 200 facilities penalized represent less than 1% of the country's more than 40,000 long-term care facilities. Of course not all of these locations necessarily required the agency's scrutiny, but the main regulator of nursing homes, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, had fined more than 3,400 nursing homes as of the end of July for infection control violations and failing to properly report Covid-19 cases. The majority of the violations identified by OSHA and state safety regulators by the end of 2020 at long-term care facilities were related to N95 respirators -- such as not teaching employees how to wear the masks correctly. OSHA guidance said the agency would use discretion when issuing citations if employers could prove they had made "a good faith effort" to obtain N95 masks and had properly monitored and prioritized supplies. More than 40 facilities, meanwhile, were cited for failing to report workplace deaths and hospitalizations to OSHA within the required time period. CNN previously compared state and federal death data to OSHA inspection data, revealing that the agency was physically investigating only a fraction of worker deaths in nursing homes -- in part because of the confusion over reporting requirements. OSHA, tasked with enforcing workplace safety laws, issued guidance in May that gave employers permission to not report deaths to the agency if a "reasonable and good faith inquiry ... cannot determine whether it is more likely than not" that an employee's Covid-19 infection was linked to exposure at work.One of the facilities highlighted in CNN's investigation was Complete Care at Hamilton Plaza in Passaic, New Jersey. A nurse there, Victor Sison, had posted photos of himself wrapped in what appeared to be garbage bags in April, saying "LORD HELP ALL MY FELLOW FRONTLINERS." Victor Sison, a nurse at Complete Care at Hamilton Plaza in New Jersey, posted photos of himself on Facebook shortly before he died of Covid-19.He died of Covid-19 that same month. The facility told CNN in July that it hadn't reported Sison's death to OSHA. It wasn't until after CNN contacted the agency that a government inspection was launched. OSHA eventually cited the nursing home more than five months after Sison's death. The agency found numerous violations, including providing inadequate protective equipment, according to citation documents obtained by CNN through a public records request. It also cited the home for failing to report Sison's death and that of another worker within the eight hours required. The agency initially proposed that the facility pay $22,555 in fines, which would amount to one of the higher penalties the agency has imposed on nursing homes so far related to Covid-19. Complete Care fought the penalties and told CNN that it "settled the matter amicably" -- receiving a 40% reduction in fines. "The agreement was not deemed an admission of any allegations contained within the citation," the facility's operator said. Nursing home workers warned government about safety violations before Covid-19 outbreaks and deathsMarissa Baker, an assistant professor of occupational health at the University of Washington, said that OSHA's delays in action and limited investigations are likely driven by a significant lack of agency resources, as well as the agency's failure to issue enforceable standards specifically related to Covid-19. "OSHA is woefully understaffed to adequately respond to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Baker. "Of course this is problematic, because it allows problems to compound instead of being prevented. It leads workers and the public to feel that things must be ok otherwise OSHA would be acting. It also shows workers that they are expendable and their concerns may not be acknowledged or addressed. ... OSHA could be doing more. Much more." In New Jersey, state data shows that two employees died at a facility that made headlines when a Covid-19 outbreak became so bad that bodies of residents were discovered in a makeshift morgue at one of the buildings. But Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center I and II, which didn't respond to a request for comment, weren't cited by OSHA until six months after this discovery. Andover Subacute and Rehab Center II in New Jersey made headlines with the discovery of 17 bodies in the facility's morgue in April.It took two months for OSHA to open an inspection after the death of a nurse at Life Care Center of Nashoba Valley in Massachusetts, where the National Guard was summoned to assist with testing. The nursing home has since become the subject of an ongoing investigation by the state attorney general related to its handling of Covid-19. The corporate owner of the facility told CNN that it is contesting the citations and that the violations cited by OSHA were addressed early in the pandemic. It also said it is cooperating with the attorney general's investigation. In other complaints lodged to safety regulators last year, workers from facilities in three states reported that employees were being told the flu shot would protect them from coronavirus, to keep working with a fever or that staff deaths didn't need to be reported to authorities. Yet all three facilities avoided citations when the agency deemed that inspections weren't necessary -- as did a New Jersey chain of long-term care facilities that has been the subject of at least three different worker complaints, which were all closed. At least seven workers have died of Covid-19 among the chain's 16 facilities, but it has not been subjected to a single OSHA inspection. Do you have anything to share about Covid-19 or vaccination efforts in nursing homes? Is there something else you think we should investigate? Email us: [email protected]. CNN's Casey Tolan contributed to this report.

Curt Devine, Mark Morales and Drew Griffin, CNN

2021-02-10 18:02:26

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/10/politics/oath-keeper-minuta-stone-invs/index.html

Man in far-right militant group joined Capitol mob after appearing with Trump ally Roger Stone - CNNPolitics

An Oath Keeper who appeared to be providing security for political operative Roger Stone on January 6 later joined an angry mob outside the Capitol, according to video and images reviewed by CNN and four sources who confirmed his identity.

politics, Man in far-right militant group joined Capitol mob after appearing with Trump ally Roger Stone - CNNPolitics

Man in far-right militant group joined Capitol mob after appearing with Trump ally Roger Stone

(CNN)An Oath Keeper who appeared to be providing security for political operative Roger Stone on January 6 later joined an angry mob outside the Capitol, according to video and images reviewed by CNN and four sources who confirmed his identity.Hours after being seen with Stone outside a Washington hotel, Roberto Minuta was photographed on steps at the eastern side of the Capitol wearing goggles and other equipment. Video shows Minuta pointing and yelling at police next to other individuals wearing logos associated with the Oath Keepers, an anti-government, far-right militant group.Two videos show a man wearing goggles and clothing identical to that of Minuta inside the Capitol during the riots.Roberto Minuta and others flank political operative Roger Stone on the morning of January 6th.Someone who answered the phone at Minuta's tattoo shop declined to comment to CNN and hung up. Minuta's wife told ABC News that Minuta had not entered the Capitol, but she confirmed he was "another patriot" outside the building "standing up for freedom." Minuta has not been charged with a crime. Before the Capitol incident, Minuta flanked Stone outside a hotel, as shown in a video first reported by ABC News. He and other men appeared to be serving as bodyguards as Stone greeted his supporters and took pictures with them. Read MoreMinuta had also walked alongside former national security adviser Michael Flynn at a rally in Washington on December 12 and was interviewed by Alex Jones for his InfoWars program in a video posted on January 19, 2020, before a gun-rights rally in Virginia.Minuta has previously received support from the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes.Last May, when Minuta decided to reopen the tattoo parlor he runs in Newburgh, New York, in defiance of the governor's Covid-19-related order to close nonessential businesses, Rhodes called on all Oath Keepers members within driving distance to attend a rally at Minuta's shop. "Anytime a patriot stands up in defense of liberty, we need to be standing right there with him, shoulder-to-shoulder," Rhodes said in a statement about the planned rally posted on the Oath Keepers website.Alleged Oath Keeper charged in Capitol riot says he once worked for FBI and holds security clearanceStone did not respond to CNN's request for comment about Minuta but has said on Telegram that he had nothing to do with the Capitol riot because he wasn't there and knew nothing about it in advance. Sidney Powell, an attorney for Flynn, whose appearance close to Minuta in Washington was previously reported by the Daily Beast, said Flynn does not know Minuta and "could not pick him out of a lineup." The Oath Keepers, who generally believe that former military and police can defend the Constitution as a self-styled militia against parts of the government that they view as corrupt, have come under scrutiny for activity related to the Capitol incident. A statement posted on the group's website on January 4 said, "All Patriots who can get to DC need to be in DC. Now is the time to stand." The post said members would provide security for speakers and attendees at events on January 5 and 6. Roberto Minuta protests outside the US Capitol on January 6th.The Justice Department has indicted three individuals in connection with the Capitol riot who are allegedly affiliated with the Oath Keepers. One of them, Thomas Caldwell of Virginia, said in a court filing Monday that he previously worked for the FBI and has held a "Top Secret"-level security clearance for decades.Prosecutors have called Caldwell an apparent leader of the Oath Keepers but Oath Keepers leader Rhodes previously denied that to CNN. Caldwell's defense attorney denied in a court filing that Caldwell is an Oath Keeper and argued that prosecutors have no proof he was inside the Capitol on January 6.Rhodes did not respond to CNN's questions about Minuta. "It's deeply troubling that a group which already has some conspiracy indictments for what happened at the Capitol was also pulling security for Roger Stone just that morning," said John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab who has worked with others to identify individuals who participated in the Capitol riots. Roberto Minuta, on right with goggles, joins demonstrators on the steps of the eastern side of the US Capitol.Scott-Railton said he believes there's more to learn about the scope of Oath Keepers members' activity surrounding the Capitol incidents.The videos of Minuta were first analyzed by volunteers including Scott-Railton and a research group called the Capitol Terrorists Exposers.On a podcast in May, Minuta explained his decision to reopen his tattoo shop despite the governor's order to remain closed."I've been watching the erosion of our rights on so many different levels that at what point do you draw that line in the sand, you know?" he said.CNN's Ben Naughton contributed to this report.

Curt Devine and Drew Griffin, CNN

2021-02-04 23:29:16

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/04/politics/anti-vaxxers-stop-the-steal-invs/index.html

Leaders of the anti-vaccine movements used 'Stop the Steal' to crusade to advance their own conspiracy theories - CNNPolitics

As the Trump faithful gathered around the Capitol on January 6, two conspiracy theories peddling in government mistrust converged: The fraudulent belief that the election was stolen, and the dangerous narrative that Covid-19 vaccinations are wildly unsafe.

politics, Leaders of the anti-vaccine movements used 'Stop the Steal' to crusade to advance their own conspiracy theories - CNNPolitics

Leaders of the anti-vaccine movement used 'Stop the Steal' crusade to advance their own conspiracy theories

(CNN)As the Trump faithful gathered around the Capitol on January 6, two conspiracy theories peddling in government mistrust converged: The fraudulent belief that the election was stolen, and the dangerous narrative that Covid-19 vaccinations are wildly unsafe. "We're being led off of a cliff," Del Bigtree, an anti-vaccine activist, told the crowd at the "MAGA Freedom Rally D.C." about a block from the Capitol."I wish I could tell you that Tony Fauci cares about your safety..." he said. "I wish I could believe that voting machines worked... but none of this is happening."In the wake of Trump's electoral defeat, some leaders of the anti-vaccine movement latched onto the "Stop the Steal" crusade, advancing their own conspiratorial claims and, in some cases, promoting private business ventures, CNN has found. Some prominent anti-vaxxers say they directly coordinated with organizers of the DC rallies in January and pushed their message at other MAGA demonstrations, and on pro-Trump podcasts and social media platforms.The anti-vaccine message may have found a particularly receptive audience among some fervent Trump supporters, many of whom flout wearing masks and contend the lethality of the virus is overblown. Read More"It's marketing at a basic sales level," said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which has analyzed the strategies of anti-vaccine advocates. "Conspiracism that allows you to connect anything together if you want to, because it doesn't require fact."Contrary to the statements of vaccine critics, the two vaccines authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration have been shown to be safe and effective. But public health experts warn that anti-vaccine messages now pose a unique threat to the nation's health given the urgency for widespread coronavirus vaccination. "One of our big concerns is that because people are seeing this anti-vaccine rhetoric we may not be able to reach levels of herd immunity we really need to stop virus proliferation," Tara C. Smith, an epidemiology professor at Kent State University, told CNN. A national poll published this week from Monmouth University found 24% of people in the US will avoid getting the coronavirus vaccine if they can help it. The poll also found that willingness is driven more by political leanings than demographics. The rally at the US Capitol featuring Bigtree, advertised as "The MAGA Health Freedom Event of the Century," included other notable vaccine conspiracy theorists such as Mikki Willis, the filmmaker behind "Plandemic," which falsely suggests Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was responsible for the creation of the coronavirus.Del Bigtree, an anti-vaccine activist, speaks at "MAGA Freedom Rally" on January 6, 2021.Bigtree, who says he's "not anti-vaccine" but rather "pro-science" and neither a Republican nor a Democrat, told CNN he did not speak at the rally to promote or benefit from "Stop The Steal" but rather to share his own message. "Wherever there is an audience, I want to get the message across that our bodies are ours. We should be in control of what's injected into them," he said. The event was organized in part by a political action committee run by Ty and Charlene Bollinger, a married couple who run websites and sell documentaries that claim to reveal "the truth about vaccines" and range in price from $199 to $499. They also market alternative health books and other products.The Bollingers have engaged for years in what they describe as health-freedom activism. But in recent months they took up another cause.In early November, they co-authored a post about "voter fraud and election meddling" for the website of political operative Roger Stone, who has taken credit for coining the phrase "Stop the Steal" to help then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016. Last November, Stone wrote in a webpost that he "strategized" with the Bollingers.Blending conspiracy theoriesOn November 21, the Bollingers spoke at a "Stop the Steal" rally in Nashville and blended election conspiracy theories with claims that then President-elect Joe Biden planned to force vaccinations."There is no pandemic. It's all BS," Ty Bollinger told onlookers.Ty and Charlene Bollinger sell documentaries that claim to reveal the "truth about vaccines."In a video posted on January 4, Charlene Bollinger said she was working with other organizers on plans for the January 6th protests including "Ali" -- an apparent reference to Ali Alexander, a leader of the broader "Stop the Steal" movement.Two days later, Charlene Bollinger introduced the speakers at her group's rally near the US Capitol, plugged her documentaries and blasted what she called, "the forced Covid vaccine, such a scam." She also told attendees that her husband Ty wasn't with her because he had gone to join the siege. "I told him... they are storming the Capitol, and he looked at me and said, 'Do I need to stay here?' I knew he wanted to go. I said, 'Honey go,' so he did," she said.Charlene Bollinger added that Ty texted her and said he was "outside" the Capitol. She then prayed "for the patriots that are there now inside. They're trying to get inside that Capitol. Lord, use these people to eradicate this evil, these swamp creatures."The Bollingers did not respond to CNN's phone calls and emails that requested comment.While outlandish claims of a stolen election may appear disjointed with vaccine fearmongering, their union at recent political rallies does not surprise Ahmed, of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.Ahmed said fulltime anti-vaccine advocates often search for new audiences within other fringe movements with which they can build alliances. And he said it's not a coincidence that some of these professionals sell products like health supplements. A July report by Ahmed's organization CCDH unpacked what it described as the "Anti-Vaxx Industry." The report noted that fulltime anti-vaccine campaigners expand their reach by appearing on conspiracy-theory-based YouTube channels and also lend their audiences to anti-vaccine entrepreneurs who seek to sell them products. "What you're talking about is old fashioned snake-oil salesmen," Ahmed said.Alex Jones and InfoWarsAnother promoter of the stolen-election conspiracy theory is Alex Jones, who has long peddled falsehoods about vaccines and mainstream medicines on his show InfoWars. The show frequently advertises Jones' dietary supplements and survival products.In April, the FDA warned Jones to take down a number of products marketed on his site as possible coronavirus treatments, such as "Superblue Fluoride Free Toothpaste." Those products no longer appear on his site.Jones, who previously said a "form of psychosis" made him believe events like the Sandy Hook massacre were staged, has continued to promote other supplements next to segments on his show that stoke fears about coronavirus vaccines. In recent months, he has woven in false allegations of widespread election meddling.On January 3, Jones referenced "pure evidence of election fraud" just before a "news" alert about "forced inoculations" and other coronavirus claims. The video remains online next to an ad for "DNA Force Plus" supplements. The InfoWars Store includes a disclaimer that the products are "not intended for use in the cure, treatment, prevention or mitigation of any disease..."Jones also traveled to Washington and spoke at a pro-Trump rally on the eve of the Capitol siege. There, he blasted what he falsely described as the "engineered virus that Bill Gates owns."InfoWars did not respond to CNN's request for comment.Spreading theories on social mediaOther vaccine skeptics have promoted election conspiracy theories on social media. Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a physician, supplement salesperson and author of the books such as "Saying No To Vaccines," repeatedly promoted the January 6 Washington protests on Telegram. A January 5 post, for example, included a "call to action" and quoted the founder of the Oath Keepers extremist militant group as saying, "Get to DC and STAND!" Those posts were interspersed among her more usual anti-vaccine content.Tenpenny also shared the "Stop the Steal" hashtag on Twitter in a quote tweet of a post about the DC rally from Dr. Simone Gold.Gold, who founded the group America's Frontline Doctors, made headlines last summer for her appearance in a video that was later removed from social media for coronavirus misinformation. Trump retweeted the video, which also featured Stella Immanuel, who said in the past that DNA from space aliens is used in medicine.Dr. Simone Gold speaks at pro-Trump rally on January 5, 2021.On January 5, "Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander introduced Gold at a Washington rally and reminded attendees that they weren't just fighting for the election but also against "medical tyranny."Gold then took the stage and told the crowd, "If you don't want to take an experimental biological agent deceptively named a vaccine, you must not allow yourself to be coerced!"The next day, Gold and her colleague entered the Capitol building during the siege, according to an affidavit for a criminal complaint against her. She was later arrested, according to the Department of Justice.America's Frontline Doctors told CNN in a statement that Gold is not a political organizer and "did not participate in any incident that involved violence or vandalism and has categorically rebuked any such activity" by others. The statement added that America's Frontline Doctors' physicians have recommended vaccines to patients but said the organization believes "more study and greater transparency are needed with respect to COVID-19 vaccines."Since the riot, she has continued to spread her message. "Definitely you should not be calling this the Covid-19 vaccines. The reason is, whatever you call it, it's experimental. It's not been approved as a vaccine," Gold said in a video posted January 14 that showed a talk she gave at a Tampa, Florida-based church led by a pastor who has appeared on Alex Jones' show. Alex Jones, the founder of right-wing media group Infowars, addresses a crowd of pro-Trump protesters after they storm the grounds of the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.While some audiences may have concerns after hearing anti-vaccine messages that reference actual instances of allergic reactions or other anecdotes, context is key, says Smith of Kent State University. "You've had a handful of allergic reactions as compared to 4,000 people dying a day from actual coronavirus infection," she said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that severe allergic reactions to Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccines are rare. Smith said that when anti-vaccine activists' claims about coronavirus vaccines are put in the larger context of scientific literature, "all of those concerns are just dwarfed." While the momentum of the "Stop the Steal" movement may have died down, vaccine skeptics and far-right political groups will likely continue to trade audiences and ideas, which could translate into more public demonstrations, says Devin Burghart, executive director of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights.Burghart, who tracks far-right groups, said he has watched these two movements develop an increasing symbiotic relationship during the coronavirus pandemic. "There is a larger constituency that is mobilized and they have adopted a far more destructive view of vaccines than they had before, and they have united with far-right paramilitaries and others," he said. CNN's Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Benjamin Naughton and Scott Bronstein contributed to this report.

Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN

2021-02-01 13:02:33

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/us/capitol-rioters-non-voters-invs/index.html

They stormed the Capitol to overturn the results of an election they didn't vote in - CNN

They were there to "stop the steal" and to keep the president they revered in office, yet records show that some of the rioters who stormed the US Capitol did not vote in the very election they were protesting.

us, They stormed the Capitol to overturn the results of an election they didn't vote in - CNN

They stormed the Capitol to overturn the results of an election they didn't vote in

(CNN)They were there to "Stop the Steal" and to keep the President they revered in office, yet records show that some of the rioters who stormed the US Capitol did not vote in the very election they were protesting.One was Donovan Crowl, an ex-Marine who charged toward a Capitol entrance in paramilitary garb on January 6 as the Pro-Trump crowd chanted "who's our President?"Federal authorities later identified Crowl, 50, as a member of a self-styled militia organization in his home state of Ohio and affiliated with the extremist group the Oath Keepers. His mother told CNN that he previously told her "they were going to overtake the government if they...tried to take Trump's presidency from him." She said he had become increasingly angry during the Obama administration and that she was aware of his support for former President Donald Trump. Donovan Crowl was one of the members of an Ohio militant group charged in the Capitol riot.Despite these apparent pro-Trump views, a county election official in Ohio told CNN that he registered in 2013 but "never voted nor responded to any of our confirmation notices to keep him registered," so he was removed from the voter rolls at the end of 2020 and the state said he was not registered in Ohio. A county clerk in Illinois, where Crowl was once registered, also confirmed he was not an active voter anywhere in the state. Crowl was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of destruction of government property and conspiracy for allegedly coordinating with others to plan their attack. He remains in custody after a judge said, "The suggestion to release him to a residence with nine firearms is a non-starter." In an interview cited by the government, Crowl told the New Yorker that he had peaceful intentions and claimed he had protected the police. Crowl's attorney did not provide a comment about his client's voting record.Read MoreDonovan Crowl was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of destruction of government property and conspiracy. Many involved in the insurrection professed to be motivated by patriotism, falsely declaring that Trump was the rightful winner of the election. Yet at least eight of the people who are now facing criminal charges for their involvement in the events at the Capitol did not vote in the November 2020 presidential election, according to an analysis of voting records from the states where protestors were arrested and those states where public records show they have lived. They came from states around the country and ranged in age from 21 to 65. To determine who voted in November, CNN obtained voting records for more than 80 of the initial arrestees. Most voted in the presidential election, and while many were registered Republicans, a handful were registered as Democrats in those jurisdictions that provided party information -- though who someone votes for is not publicly disclosed. Public access to voter history records varies by state, and CNN was unable to view the records of some of those charged. What should we investigate next? Email Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken Among those who didn't vote were a 65-year-old Georgia man who, according to government documents, was found in his van with a fully-loaded pistol and ammunition, and a Louisiana man who publicly bragged about spending nearly two hours inside the Capitol after attending Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally. Another was a 21-year-old woman from Missouri who prosecutors say shared a video on Snapchat that showed her parading around with a piece of a wooden sign from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. And a Florida man previously convicted of attempted murder who was accused by the government of refusing to leave the Capitol likely did not have the option to cast a ballot because of his unpaid court fines. Jessica Stern, a Boston University professor who has spent around 30 years researching extremists, said that while she hasn't spoken with the individuals involved in the events at the Capitol, from her interviews with other violent extremists, she believes a number of factors could have been at play. They could have believed the system was rigged, as the "Stop the Steal" movement claims, in which case there would be no point in voting. They could be more attracted to the theater, violence or attention they would get from a demonstration like the one at the Capitol than to actually achieving their purported goal -- in this case, different election results. They swore to protect America. Some also joined the riotStern speculated that it was a combination of these reasons, adding that feelings of anger and humiliation often draw people to extremist groups and violence. She said that for someone to actually cast a vote, "you would have to believe in the ethic of voting more than you thought it was a waste of time...and see it as a moral imperative. You have to believe the system works for everyone, that it's for the good of the country." Jack Griffith, a 25-year-old from Tennessee, trumpeted his arrival in Washington DC with a Facebook post saying, "THE CAVALRY IS COMING!!!!," using the hashtag "#MAGA," according to court documents. Shortly after leaving the Capitol on January 6, he posted a message of disappointment. "I hate to be that guy, but The New World Order beat us," he wrote. "Trump was our greatest champion, and it still wasn't enough. He tried his very best. He did so much, but he's only one man...I even helped stormed(sic) the capitol today, but it only made things worse...Why, God? Why? WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN US? Unless...Trump still has a plan?" "THE CAVALRY IS COMING!!!!," Jack Griffith posted on Facebook about going to D.C., according to court records. These online missives describing his participation in the Capitol siege were later used by the Department of Justice to build a criminal case against him. Griffith faces a number of charges, including violent entry or disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.Election data from Tennessee and Alabama, where public records show Griffith had lived, showed that he had voted in the 2016 and 2018 elections but not the 2020 presidential election. The public defender who initially represented him declined to comment. Another attorney listed as representing him now did not respond to requests for comment. Jack Jesse Griffith is facing federal charges in relation to the Capitol riots. Court records detail how University of Kentucky senior Gracyn Courtright posted a series of images on Instagram showing herself marching with a large American flag and another with her arms raised in triumph outside the Capitol, with the caption, "can't wait to tell my grandkids I was here." Later, she posted a photo of herself in a belly baring shirt with the caption, "Infamy is just as good as fame. Either way I end up more known. XOXO."An Instagram photo posted by Gracyn Courtright shows her on Capitol grounds and was included in federal court records.Courtright, who was charged with crimes including knowingly entering a restricted building, was also identified on surveillance footage lugging a congressional "Members Only" sign around the Capitol, according to court records. "idk what treason is," she wrote in a conversation shared with the FBI by a tipster, who had confronted the college student in a series of Instagram messages. Courtright is not registered in Kentucky, where she attends school, according to election officials. She is registered in her home state of West Virginia, but records show she did not vote in the 2020 election. Her attorney told CNN that Courtright did not dispute the fact that she did not vote in the election but declined further comment. In an image taken from surveillance video, Gracyn Courtright is seen walking up the steps near the Senate Chamber carrying a "Members Only" sign.In a string of social media posts he shared straight from the Capitol, Edward Jacob Lang of New York portrayed himself as ready for a revolution. "1776 has commenced," he wrote in one that was cited by the government, showing him standing on the steps of the Capitol. "I was the leader of Liberty today. Arrest me. You are on the wrong side of history," read another. After leaving the Capitol, he continued to encourage followers to join the "patriot movement" with him. "GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH," he posted.Federal prosecutors said that video footage from January 6 shows Lang attempting to attack police officers with a baseball bat, donning a gas mask and riot shield. He now faces a variety of federal charges, including assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers or employees, civil disorder and violent entry. A recent ProPublica story also revealed how Lang had used the online messaging app Telegram in an attempt to radicalize "normies" and convince them to join local militia groups -- encouraging people in the days after the Capitol riot to stock up on guns and prepare for war. Prosecutors said in court documents that the man pictured in a gas mask appears to be Lang. Though state records show that Lang is registered to vote and had participated in a couple of past elections, county and state officials confirmed to CNN that he did not vote in the November election. Lang's attorney said in a statement that Lang claimed from jail that he submitted an absentee ballot, saying, "Mr. Lang has always represented himself as a Libertarian...He is not a devout Trump supporter, but believes that those taking office will not uphold citizens' First and Second Amendment rights."Insurrection fueled by conspiracy groups, extremists and fringe movementsNew York law requires absentee ballots to be postmarked by election day and received within the following week in order to be counted. When asked about Lang's claim that he sent in an absentee ballot, the Sullivan County Board of Elections directed CNN to file an open records request in order to receive any information. The request had not been responded to before the time of publishing. Lang's attorney also said the 25-year-old was a "naive, impressionable young man" who had been provoked by Trump's rhetoric. He cited Senator Mitch McConnell's statement that "the mob was fed lies" and said he hoped that Lang and others would not be considered guilty "due solely to their associations, beliefs and presence."A man who identified himself with the name of Lang's father refused to talk with a reporter, saying, "We hate CNN. We're pro Trump, goodbye." In a statement to a local newspaper, Lang's father attributed his son's actions at the Capitol to "a substance abuse problem."Edward Jacob Lang posted a string of social media posts from the Capitol riots that were cited by prosecutors.Arie Perliger, a professor at University of Massachusetts Lowell who specializes in right-wing domestic terror, said that he was not surprised to hear some of the rioters had not voted, particularly militia members like Crowl, since militia membership is often rooted in a distrust of government. Still, he said he was concerned that it could reflect a growing erosion of faith in the American democratic process, which is a "risk we need to think about." "When we see that significant ideological groups are stopping participating in the Democratic process, that may mean they are looking for other ways to participate, and those other ways could be more violent," said Perliger, who oversees a database of right-wing extremist acts of violence in the United States. "We should be concerned if we see a growing number of ideological groups are reducing their involvement in electoral politics."What should we investigate next? Email us: [email protected]. CNN's Curt Devine, Sara Sidner, Anna-Maja Rappard and CNN Editorial Research contributed to this report.

Rob Kuznia and Curt Devine, CNN

2021-01-27 01:26:12

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us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/us/vaccine-rollout-problems-biden-invs/index.html

Vaccine rollout stumbles as a 'Hunger Games' approach leaves states and counties to fend for themselves - CNN

Eighty-year-old Belma Requejo of Los Angeles County is trapped in her home with her 83-year-old husband and two other elderly relatives.

us, Vaccine rollout stumbles as a 'Hunger Games' approach leaves states and counties to fend for themselves - CNN

Vaccine rollout stumbles as a 'Hunger Games' approach leaves states and counties to fend for themselves

(CNN)Eighty-year-old Belma Requejo of Los Angeles County is trapped in her home with her 83-year-old husband and two other elderly relatives. They are waiting for a coronavirus vaccine. Every day for a week, her daughter, Maria -- who lives in the same household with her two children -- has tried to get on the county's website to make an appointment. And every time, Maria is told there is no availability.Meanwhile, Covid-19 has ravaged their densely populated section of Long Beach; just last week the disease claimed the life of a neighbor. "I can't even walk in the park -- I'm afraid," Requejo said. "We are surrounded by Covid."As Covid-19 continues its rampage across the country -- and as new variants pose the threat of increased transmissibility -- the urgent campaign to vaccinate Americans has been frustratingly sluggish.Read MoreJUST WATCHEDJohnson & Johnson vaccine might soon ease the shortageReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHJohnson & Johnson vaccine might soon ease the shortage 03:37Earlier this month in Fort Myers, Florida, seniors spent a night lined up outside a local health office for the chance to get their coronavirus vaccine. In Phoenix, computer glitches sent health workers driving across the state to remote vaccination locations. Many states -- including New York, South Carolina, Hawaii and Florida -- have had to cancel or delay thousands of vaccination appointments. Although the reasons for the holdups vary depending on the state and county, the primary causes boil down to two problems: a shortage of supply and the unpredictability of shipment sizes, say more than a dozen experts and health officials who spoke with CNN. Meanwhile, there is concern among state and local health officials that the supply crunch will leave people who have gotten one dose of the vaccine unable to get the second and final dose in time. Some chalk up the logistical nightmare to the lack of a central message from Operation Warp Speed, the federal initiative to inoculate Americans. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. "It feels like the feds' plan stopped at the state borders, and the states expected the feds' plan to stop at people's arms," Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, chief clinical officer for Providence health system, which includes 51 hospitals, told CNN. "I think having a federal plan would absolutely stop the kind of 'Hunger Games' approach to every individual state, every individual county scrambling for their own set of rules."President Joe Biden has said he intends to ramp up vaccinations in the coming weeks. Six weeks into the rollout, 23.5 million shots have been administered, according a tracker from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The pace of vaccination has been accelerating. Until last week, the US was administering about 462,000 doses a day. That rose to nearly a million over the last week.On Tuesday, Biden's Covid coordinator, Jeff Zients, informed governors on a call that Covid-19 vaccine allocations for states would increase by 16% starting next week, according to a source with knowledge of the call.And the administration announced that while it remains committed, for now, to delivering 100 million doses in the first 100 days -- an average of 1 million a day -- it will boost weekly supply, increase transparency and purchase additional vaccine from the two companies with circulating vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna.The goal of the plan is to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans by summer's end and achieve herd immunity, in which the percentage of the immunized population is so high that person-to-person transmission becomes unlikely.Vaccine demand outpacing supplyBut vaccine expert Peter Hotez says to achieve herd immunity by summer, the US will need 3 million doses a day. Noting the dangerous new variants, Hotez said time is of the essence, and stressed that other vaccines in addition to the two versions in use need to quickly be authorized. "The variant seems to be accelerating and is scaring the crap out of everyone, including me," said Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.JUST WATCHEDCoronavirus cases and hospitalizations plateau across USReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCoronavirus cases and hospitalizations plateau across US 02:20Both vaccine makers -- Pfizer and Moderna -- say they are on track to provide the federal government 200 million doses each by July 31, as outlined in their contracts. "Production and releases are not linear and we have explained that we have been successfully scaling up our production yields over time," said a Moderna spokesperson.Still, the granular, day-to-day realities of getting vaccines into the arms of people has been a logistical nightmare for many providers across America. Officials in Louisiana say they could be vaccinating more people were it not for one major, overarching problem. "We are simply limited by the supply we get," said Dr. Joseph Kanter, the state's top health officer and the lead physician with the state's department of health. "There is simply much more demand than there is vaccine available. There are many more people eligible and who want the vaccine than there is vaccine we have to give."Inside Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the mass vaccination center could be inoculating up to 2,000 people a day. But on Monday, it had just 150 appointments. "We're preserving the appointments for how many doses are available," Sarah Apatov, a volunteer who was administering doses, told CNN.Health officials in Georgia said they are pushing out the vaccine as quickly as possible. Dr. Lynn Paxton, Fulton County district health director, said her team has the capacity to vaccinate 50,000 people a week, but have had to settle for around 10,000."We have to be very judicious in how we schedule our appointments," she said. "And the important thing I want everyone to know is that we are in no way hoarding these vaccine doses."Unpredictable shipments impair planningSome officials told CNN that the size of the dose shipments they've received have been wildly out of step with expectations, crippling their efforts to adequately plan. "The things that the federal government said it was going to do, which was to allocate vaccines to states and give them a sense of how many doses they would get based on their population size, that seems itself not to even play out the way that they said," said Jen Kates, senior vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. "States to counties to facilities don't have predictability or visibility on the number of doses they're going to get, either like in a week or two out or even the next month."Compton-Phillips of Providence health said the planning challenges have forced hospitals to turn away even people who are over 65 with heart disease. California revamps Covid-19 vaccine delivery system amid criticism over slow rollout"We're saying, 'We're sorry, but we don't have a vaccine for you today and we're not really sure what our supply is going to be and not sure when we can give it to you,'" she said. "So, it's a really uncomfortable position to be in."Lori Tremmel Freeman, of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, calls the situation a "world of uncertainty.""This becomes just a tremendous issue when they're trying to plan mass vaccination clinics, drive-through clinics, scheduling for all these priority groups and ... really getting things rolling," she said.In Washington state, a surprise change of plans will likely force thousands of residents to find a new location to get their second dose."We had a clinic in downtown Seattle that's been running for the past couple of weeks doing over 2,200 immunizations a day," said Compton-Phillips of Providence. "We heard last week that our allocation would be cut back by 90 percent so that they could take the same amount of vaccine that the state is getting and spread it out. ... How are we going to get everybody dose two?"Everyday activities are more dangerous now that new Covid-19 variants are circulating, expert saysSome state officials are so frustrated with the supply shortage they're tapping into the second-dose reserves. Last week, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis directed providers "to use all the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine they have including the ones that were designated as second doses to use them as first doses this week." The directive applied to those ages 70 and up."Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures," Polis said at a January 19 news conference.Similarly, in Utah, officials will redesignate second doses for people who haven't shown up to get them within a week as first doses. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Biden should order governments across the country to reassign second doses as first doses immediately. "Start using them right now," he said on MSNBC, adding that sitting on them "doesn't make sense."A former Trump administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to comment publicly, said states that want a more predictable cadence of supply can solve the problem by stockpiling the vaccine for three or four weeks. "But I don't think states or local public health departments would like that either, because the goal is to get vaccine out as quickly as you can," the official said. "So, in that environment where you are shipping doses out on the edges of them coming off the lines, there is just inherent uncertainty."CNN's Drew Griffin, Nelli Black, Scott Bronstein, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Benjamin Naughton and Casey Tolan contributed to this report.

Majlie de Puy Kamp and Scott Glover, CNN

2021-01-20 01:28:06

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us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/19/us/give-send-go-extremism-invs/index.html

Proud Boys, right-wing extremists and their supporters use Christian website GiveSendGo to raise funds - CNN

Before Proud Boys member Nick Ochs was arrested and charged in connection with the insurrection at the US Capitol, he raised $300 on the Christian-oriented website GiveSendGo.com to help get him to DC.

us, Proud Boys, right-wing extremists and their supporters use Christian website GiveSendGo to raise funds - CNN

Right-wing extremists and their supporters use Christian website to raise funds

(CNN)Before Proud Boys member Nick Ochs was arrested and charged in connection with the insurrection at the US Capitol, he raised $300 on the Christian-oriented website GiveSendGo.com to help get him to DC.Following Ochs' arrest, a supporter turned to GiveSendGo to raise money for his legal defense, a campaign that has garnered nearly $20,000 for the member of the right-wing extremist group. The campaigns for Ochs weren't the only controversial causes on the site. A CNN review found more than two dozen fundraisers related to protesting the outcome of the presidential election, raising travel funds to attend the January 6 protest in Washington and other right-wing causes.Among the campaigns and their beneficiaries: Ali Alexander, a Stop the Steal organizer who raised money for a "security and administrative team." As of today, he's reached 75% of his $40,000 goal on the platform. Friends and family of Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, have raised more than $113,000 for his legal defense on GiveSendGo.com. Tarrio was arrested two days before the insurrection at the Capitol and charged with destruction of property for burning a Black Lives Matter banner after a protest in December and with possessing high-capacity firearm magazines. Jim Hoft, founder of the conservative news outlet Gateway Pundit, is currently the beneficiary of two campaigns on GiveSendGo.com, totaling more than $135,000, intended to fund an investigation into alleged voter fraud in Michigan and to "take on the tech giant censorship of conservative voices."At least five other campaigns that collectively raised nearly $200,000 are tied to self-described Proud Boys members looking for funds for "protective gear," travel expenses to the January protest in Washington, DC, and medical costs after a December rally in the capital turned violent. Requests for comment from Alexander, Tarrio and Hoft went unanswered. Read MoreFormer Trump campaign staffers worked on National Mall rally the day of the Capitol riotThough the money raised through GiveSendGo for extremists and other controversial causes "get a lot of limelight," the company's co-founder said the site hosts "thousands" of other campaigns that are in no way contentious.Still, the site has emerged as an alternative fundraiser for those who have been kicked off -- or shunned by -- larger crowdfunding platforms, such as GoFundMe. Jacob Wells, the co-founder of GiveSendGo, told CNN just because a cause may be unpopular it doesn't mean a person shouldn't have an opportunity to raise money from like-minded supporters. He said the decision at GiveSendGo about whether to allow someone to raise funds on the site is focused on the two-pronged question of whether it's legal and, if so, whether there's anything in its stated goal that's "derogatory to anybody."GiveSendGo's terms and conditions prohibit any "abusive or hateful language" on its platform, as well as campaigns for "items that promote hate, violence and racial intolerance." How Trump allies stoked the flames ahead of Capitol riot "We're not here to take sides," Wells said in an interview with CNN. "We don't necessarily condone on our platform a campaign any more than when you tweet on Twitter that Twitter somehow agrees with you," Wells said.Wells, who said he is a "Jesus guy" as opposed to someone motivated by politics, likened the decision to host campaigns for groups or people that some may find unsavory to a missionary looking to save souls in a brothel."As best we can, we're going to represent the hope of Jesus in every situation to people who use our platform," Wells said. "We're going to cover it all with grace."Critics, however, say GiveSendGo and others in the tech industry enable extremists by refusing to take a firm stand against them.The Proud Boys and other groups like them need "an architecture through which they can meet, recruit and finance themselves," said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate."Big tech has not just made it easy," Ahmed added. "It has turned a blind eye to extremist activities." Michael Hayden, a spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks alleged hate groups, offered this blunt take:"We want to limit the capacity of these groups being able to get money in any way," he said. "Repeatedly, we've seen if the money is not there, the presence will not be there either." We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. Hayden brushed aside extremist groups' claims that their fundraising is protected free speech as a "slanted and corrupted" interpretation used to "vilify those who seek to limit their power."Not every company's view on who can raise money is as charitable as GiveSendGo's.PayPal, for example, said it no longer provides services to GiveSendGo, citing unspecified violations of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy. But Wells told CNN it was GiveSendGo that cut ties with PayPal rather than adhere to its demand that the company not cater to certain clients."This is really coming down ideological lines," Wells said. "We're not just going to cut off one half of the population's ability to espouse their ideas or desires because the other side yells at us to do it."CNN did not independently authenticate all the campaigns or verify whether the funds reached their designated recipients. In many of the controversial cases, the campaigns remained on the GiveSendGo website but the ability to donate had been suspended. Wells said that action was not taken by GiveSendGo; rather, he said, it was the result of third-party vendors in charge of processing payments or the individual administrating the account. Not all the contributions on GiveSendGo are monetary. For folks inclined to give spiritual support, rather than financial, there is "pray now" button. The campaign for Help Storm the Captial (sic) Patriots Legal Defense, for example, got $10 from one anonymous donor, but received 12 prayers. Many of the fundraising campaigns GiveSendGo supports are of the sort Wells envisioned when he co-founded the giving platform with his sister seven years ago: A scholarship in the name of a beloved coach. A child in need of surgery. Five hundred dollars for "cat supplies" for a disabled couple caring for 14 rescued felines. The site exploded in popularity among the right over the summer when it began hosting a fundraiser for the legal defense of Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teen charged with killing two people amid the unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As first reported by the Daily Beast, GiveSendGo allowed the Rittenhouse fundraiser after it was banned by GoFundMe. Rittenhouse claimed he was there to protect people and property from rioters and opened fire in self-defense. Prosecutors charged the 17-year-old with two felony charges of homicide.While the case had a polarizing effect, Wells told CNN, "In my opinion, the media tried to paint a very one-sided story about what happened."Since launching the GiveSendGo fundraising effort, Rittenhouse's supporters have exceeded their stated goal of half a million dollars, raising $585,940 from more than 13,000 donors, according to the website. GiveSendGo has also provided a platform for a number of police officers involved in controversial uses of force, Wells said, including the police officer charged with killing George Floyd, an officer who pulled the trigger in the raid on Breonna Taylor's apartment, and the Wisconsin officer who shot Jacob Blake. Authorities have since declined to file criminal charges against any officers for Taylor's death or for the shooting of Blake. The officer charged with Floyd's killing is awaiting trial.Wells said GiveSendGo's growing popularity has coincided with improved financial performance. Once "a labor of love" that made little money, he said he expects campaigns on the site to bring in $20 to $30 million in 2021, from which the company takes a cut of at least 3%.Along with its increased popularity, the site has drawn additional scrutiny from the media, including in a recent article by The Washington Post about fundraising related to the Proud Boys and other controversial causes.Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who specializes in First Amendment issues, said there was nothing illegal -- or, in his view, immoral -- about GiveSendGo's business."Whatever you might think about Kyle Rittenhouse, I hope we can agree that he is entitled to a criminal defense," Volokh said. "If people want to help hire lawyers, in part because of their ideological views, that's something that is constitutionally protected."Ochs, the Proud Boys member, charged in connection with the siege on the Capitol, did not return a phone call seeking comment for this article. He previously told CNN that he was working as a professional journalist when he entered the building, and that he didn't go into any congressional offices or the chambers."We didn't have to break in, I just walked in and filmed," he said hours after the siege. CJ Grisham, a Proud Boys member from Texas, who raised funds on GiveSendGo for tactical gear so the group can be "ready at a moment's notice to protect our communities," said the Proud Boys should be entitled to raise funds just like anyone else. He said his fundraising campaign brought in nearly $5,000 for a cause he explicitly stated was nonviolent, but that he has so far been denied any money because a third-party vendor that processes payments for GiveSendGo decided his campaign was "too risky.""Who gets to decide what a good cause is?" Grisham asked. "Are we gonna let big tech decide what a good cause is?"

Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-01-19 15:54:43

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/19/politics/capitol-riot-permits-trump-campaign-invs/index.html

Former Trump campaign staffers worked on National Mall rally the day of the Capitol riot - CNNPolitics

After the deadly sacking of the US Capitol this month, President Donald Trump's reelection campaign has insisted it had nothing to do with the National Mall rally that preceded the riot and featured a speech from the President.

politics, Former Trump campaign staffers worked on National Mall rally the day of the Capitol riot - CNNPolitics

Former Trump campaign staffers worked on National Mall rally the day of the Capitol riot

(CNN)After the deadly sacking of the US Capitol this month, President Donald Trump's reelection campaign has insisted it had nothing to do with the National Mall rally that preceded the riot and featured a speech from the President.But many of the individuals who helped put on the bombastic rally that day had worked to stage other Trump rallies just a few months earlier. Ten of the 12 people listed as onsite emergency contacts on the government permit approving the January 6 rally have previously worked for or been paid by Trump's reelection campaign, according to a CNN review of Federal Election Commission records, and several worked in the Trump White House. The rally, billed as a "March for Trump," was organized by Women for America First, a conservative nonprofit group founded by a longtime Tea Party activist. The National Park Service approved a permit for an event that the group predicted would attract 30,000 people to The Ellipse on January 6, the day Congress certified Trump's electoral defeat to President-elect Joe Biden. Later that day, a mob of Trump supporters -- some of whom had attended the rally -- stormed the Capitol, killing a police officer and leaving four others dead in the mayhem.JUST WATCHED'Stop the Steal' organizer says GOP lawmakers helped himReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH'Stop the Steal' organizer says GOP lawmakers helped him 02:11Trump spoke at the rally, encouraging his supporters to "fight like hell" and airing debunked conspiracy theories about the election. Other speakers included his sons Eric and Donald Jr., his daughter-in-law Lara, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and political allies like Reps. Mo Brooks and Madison Cawthorn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Read MoreThe permit shows that numerous former Trump campaign staffers were also involved in running the rally behind the scenes, although the campaign says they were acting on their own. Of the 12 people listed on the permit as onsite contacts, seven were on the Trump campaign's payroll during the 2020 election, according to campaign finance records -- many of whom worked in roles that involved event planning or production. They include Justin Caporale, the Trump campaign's director of advance and a former director of operations for first lady Melania Trump, who was listed on the permit as the project manager for the rally; Megan Powers, who worked as director of operations for Trump's campaign through January 2021, according to her LinkedIn page, and was listed as an operations manager for the rally; and Maggie Mulvaney, the niece of former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and the director of finance operations for the Trump campaign, who was listed as the rally's VIP lead. JUST WATCHEDLawmakers' fiery language under scrutinyReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHLawmakers' fiery language under scrutiny 03:48In addition, two other rally staffers were paid by the campaign for event consulting last year. They include Tim Unes, whose event planning company, Event Strategies, Inc., helped produce Trump rallies and has worked on numerous Republican campaigns, and who served as stage manager for the January 6 rally. Unes told CNN that he and his company had nothing to do with the march to the Capitol or the riot."Our job here was to work on the rally specifically on the Ellipse -- we did not have anything to do with the march," Unes said. "Like any other good American, I am disgusted by what I saw of those people breaking into the Capitol."Trump campaign denies ties to with the rallyA tenth staffer, Hannah Salem, who was listed on the permit as an operations manager for the January 6 rally, was paid by the Trump campaign for event consulting in 2018 according to campaign records and also worked as Special Assistant to the President and director of press advance, according to a biography on her event management company's website. The biography said she helped plan summits between Trump and foreign dignitaries such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, the Queen of England, and Pope Francis.Some of the rally staffers' previous work for the Trump campaign and the White House was first reported by the Associated Press. Altogether, the Trump campaign paid the 10 staffers who worked on the January 6 rally more than $1.4 million in salaries, consulting fees, and reimbursements between 2015 and November 2020, according to a CNN analysis of the FEC data. A spokesperson for the Trump campaign said that the staffers were working on their own, and that the campaign had no ties with the rally. "The Trump campaign did not organize, operate or finance the event," campaign spokesperson Jason Miller told CNN in a text message on Monday. "No campaign staff was involved in the organization or operation of the event. If any former employees or independent contractors for the campaign worked on this event they did not do so at the direction of the Trump campaign." We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. Other than Unes, none of the other staffers or contractors who worked on the Trump campaign and the rally responded to requests for comment sent to emails, LinkedIn accounts, or phone numbers listed in public records. One person close to the organization of the rally, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to share details about the event's planning, also said that the Trump campaign had not been involved. Many of the former Trump campaign staffers were junior level employees, they said."Hiring former campaign workers was really just a matter of getting the logistics done," the person said. "Young campaign staffers who were let go after the election are out of work and familiar with the work ... they're kids and they don't have paychecks, that's why they were hired." The group that planned the rally, Women for America First, did not respond to repeated requests for comment from CNN. The group was founded by Amy Kremer, who previously worked as an executive of the conservative group Tea Party Express, and her daughter Kylie Jane Kremer is listed on the permit as the "person in charge" of the event.In the permit approved days before the rally, the organizers referred to the possibility of other events at the Capitol that day but said their group wouldn't be involved. "Women for America First will not conduct an organized march from the Ellipse at the conclusion of the rally," the permit read. "Some participants may leave to attend rallies at the United States Capitol to hear the results of Congressional certification of the Electoral College count."Trump leaves America at its most divided since the Civil WarOther conservative figures and groups that were involved in organizing the rally have stressed that they planned a peaceful protest and have argued that they shouldn't be held responsible for the violent actions of the rioters that followed. "Any suggestion that Stop the Steal participated in, led, or breached the Capitol building, itself, is defamatory and untrue," Ali Alexander, an organizer with the Stop the Steal group, told CNN in an email. "We cannot control the broader public any more than Nancy Pelosi does Antifa."Meanwhile, other prominent conservative groups also helped promote the rally. The Rule of Law Defense Fund, a nonprofit associated with the Republican Attorney Generals Association, released robocalls urging supporters to march on the Capitol."At 1:00 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal," the robocall said, according to a recording first reported by the news website Documented. "We are hoping patriots like you will join us to continue to fight to protect the integrity of our elections." Adam Piper, the executive director of the attorneys general group, resigned last week amid controversy over the call.The group's chairman, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, told the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper that he had not authorized the robocalls and the group is "engaging in a vigorous review" of the incident. Charlie Kirk, the founder and president of influential conservative group Turning Point USA, tweeted two days before the rally that his organization Students for Trump was "sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president." He declared that the rally supporting Trump "will likely be one of the largest and most consequential in American history."Kirk later deleted the tweet, which was saved in a snapshot on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine and was first reported by the news website The Daily Dot. A spokesperson for Turning Point Action, a political group affiliated with Turning Point USA, told CNN that Students for Trump only sent seven buses of students to the rally, and that the buses took the attendees out of the area after Trump finished speaking.

Rob Kuznia, Curt Devine and Drew Griffin, CNN

2021-01-19 01:48:36

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/18/politics/trump-bannon-stone-giuliani-capitol-riot-invs/index.html

How Trump allies stoked the flames ahead of Capitol riot - CNNPolitics

Steve Bannon evoked the beaches of Normandy. Michael Flynn drew comparisons to Civil War battlefields and spoke of Americans who died for their country. Roger Stone called it a struggle "between the godly and the godless, between good and evil." Rudy Giuliani called for "trial by combat." Ali Alexander said it would be a "knife fight."

politics, How Trump allies stoked the flames ahead of Capitol riot - CNNPolitics

How Trump allies stoked the flames ahead of Capitol riot

(CNN)Steve Bannon evoked the beaches of Normandy. Michael Flynn drew comparisons to Civil War battlefields and spoke of Americans who died for their country. Roger Stone called it a struggle "between the godly and the godless, between good and evil." Rudy Giuliani called for "trial by combat." Ali Alexander said it would be a "knife fight." As 2020 faded into 2021, some of President Donald Trump's most influential supporters -- among them members of his inner circle who were in direct contact with the President -- spoke in ominous and violent terms about what was coming on January 6. Even as anxious eyes turn toward the Inauguration Day on January 20, the words of these firebrands in the leadup to the riots at the Capitol raise crucial questions about the relationship between the rhetoric of far-right figureheads and the violence that unfolded on January 6. "All hell is going to break loose tomorrow," Bannon, Trump's former top White House adviser, promised listeners of his podcast -- called "War Room" -- on January 5. The next day, Trump himself gave a rambling speech near the White House where he claimed the election "was stolen from you, from me and from the country," and called on supporters to "walk down to the Capitol."Read MoreIn this January 6, 2021 photo, supporters listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Washington that preceded the deadly assault on the US Capitol by his supporters."We are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women," he added, "and we are probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you will never take back our country with weakness." Soon after, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, killing a police officer and assaulting others before charging inside -- some carrying weapons and zip-tie handcuffs."What we have is influential, powerful people influencing the President and pushing out messages that are radicalizing large chunks of the population," said Heidi Beirich, chief strategy officer for the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, a nonprofit organization that monitors extremism around the world. "It's very dangerous." To be sure, as a rule most speech that doesn't convey a direct threat or incite "imminent lawless action" is protected under the First Amendment.But experts told CNN they believe Trump and his most visible allies bear a great deal of responsibility for stoking the flames that led to the January 6 uprising. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. "When you are an adviser to a President, formal or informal, you need to think about the impact of anti-democratic rhetoric," said John Hudak, an expert on governance studies at the Brookings Institution. "And the President himself, and a lot of the President's supporters and certainly his children, seem to believe that it is responsible for a President and his advisers and family to be anti-democratic. That's a real problem. And we haven't really experienced that in our history."Trump has already paid a historic price for his words, with the US House on Wednesday voting to make him the only American president to have been impeached twice -- this time for "incitement of insurrection." But while much attention has been paid to Trump's words in the run up to the breach of the US Capitol, less talked about is the fiery rhetoric of his most high-profile champions.Bannon and Giuliani did not respond to requests for comment. Stone rejected CNN's questions as "defamatory attempts to say that my belief in God and my view of the last election in apocalyptic terms is somehow inciting violence." Alexander argued he had "no involvement in the breach of the US Capitol." Flynn attorney Sidney Powell, who herself is facing a defamation lawsuit over her claims about the election (she's denied the allegations), insisted that Flynn "encourages patriotism and lawful political action," and to suggest otherwise is "absolutely ludicrous."Bannon's menacing metaphorsFormer White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon exits the Manhattan Federal Court on August 20, 2020 in the Manhattan borough of New York City. In the weeks between the election and that day, Bannon and his guests and co-hosts on his "War Room" podcast relentlessly promoted conspiracy theories of election fraud and cast the fight to overturn the election results in war-like and often apocalyptic terms.Bannon's menacing metaphors first landed him in hot water a few days after on Election Day, when he suggested in a video that posted to several of his social media accounts that, if he were in charge, he wouldn't merely fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and Anthony Fauci -- the US government's top infectious disease expert -- but would put their heads on pikes "as a warning to federal bureaucrats." Twitter permanently suspended his account.In December, Bannon's co-host tweeted a video of Bannon speaking on "War Room" overlaid with cinematic music and dramatic images from the famous D-Day battle scene of "Saving Private Ryan." In it, he spoke of the "moral obligation" Trump supporters have to "the kids that died at Normandy." He added that if they allow Biden -- "that feckless old man" -- to win, "I want you to explain that to the 20-year-old kid in the first wave on D-Day."JUST WATCHEDAvlon: Here's a way to turn down the 'MAGAphone'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHAvlon: Here's a way to turn down the 'MAGAphone' 03:07On December 28, Bannon insisted that patriotic Trump supporters had to be ready to fight in the spirit of George Washington's soldiers during the American Revolution and American soldiers on D-Day in World War II. "That's our DNA, that's where we come from," Bannon said.Bannon began promoting the upcoming DC protests of January 6. "l'll tell you this," Bannon said the day before the riot. "It's not going to happen like you think it's going to happen. OK, it's going to be quite extraordinarily different. And all I can say is, strap in ... You have made this happen and tomorrow it's game day. So strap in. Let's get ready."The podcasts also pointed to close coordination with Trump's team. "You and me were talking almost every day, many times, you know, 10 times a day," Trump campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn said to Bannon on December 28.Meanwhile, a senior Trump adviser confirmed that the President and Bannon have been in communication in recent weeks, discussing Trump's conspiracy theories about the election.'You either fight with us or you get slashed'Roger Stone, former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, is flanked by security during a rally at Freedom Plaza, ahead of the U.S. Congress certification of the November 2020 election results, during protests in Washington, U.S., January 5, 2021. Just before Christmas, Alexander -- a political activist who has organized pro-Trump rallies, including one of the demonstrations that converged on the Capitol lawn on January 6 -- used violent metaphors to hint at what was to come in January when speaking to followers of his livestream channel on the social media platform Periscope. In his freewheeling monologue, Alexander credited Roger Stone, a veteran Republican operative and self-described "dirty trickster" whose 40-month prison sentence for seven felonies was cut short by Trump's commutation in July. (He was given a full pardon in December). "This is something Roger and I have been planning for a long time," Alexander said. "And finally, he's off the leash. So, you know, it's a knife fight and your two knife fighters are Ali Alexander and Roger Stone, and you either fight with us or you get slashed. So I'll let you guys know more about what that means as we evolve." Alexander has helped turn the "Stop the Steal" slogan that Stone launched on Trump's behalf during the 2016 primaries into a rallying cry for conservatives around the country.At a DC rally on the night of January 5, Stone took the stage clad in one of his trademark pinstripe suits as a dance track titled "Roger Stone did nothing wrong" blared from the speakers.JUST WATCHED15 hours of chaos that led to Trump's impeachmentReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH15 hours of chaos that led to Trump's impeachment 04:47After repeating the falsehood that the election was stolen from Trump, Stone, 68, rallied the faithful with an us-versus-them battle cry. "This is nothing less than an epic struggle for the future of this country between dark and light, between the godly and the godless, between good and evil," he said. "And we will win this fight or America will step off into a thousand years of darkness. We dare not fail. I will be with you tomorrow shoulder to shoulder." Stone also has bumped elbows with extremist groups, most notably the Proud Boys. In September he endorsed the congressional candidacy of Nick Ochs, who founded the Hawaii chapter of the far-right organization. Ochs, whose bid for the US House came up short, was arrested for his role in the Capitol siege. Law enforcement was alerted to it by the photo Ochs posted on Twitter of himself enjoying a cigarette in the building, and by the comments he made to a CNN reporter. Long a dispenser of supercharged rhetoric, Stone was not muted by his recent run-in with the law, and was talking about election fraud even before November.In September, he went on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' show, InfoWars, and the two mused discursively about "fake ballots," Big Tech and the Clintons."If someone will study the president's authority in the Insurrection Act in his ability to impose, impose martial law," Stone said, "if there is widespread cheating, he will have the authority to arrest (Mark) Zuckerberg, to arrest Tim Cook, to arrest the Clintons, to arrest anybody else who can be proven to be involved in illegal activity."War analogies aboundFormer US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn speaks to supporters of President Donald Trump during the Million MAGA March to protest the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in front of the US Supreme Court on December 12, 2020 in Washington, DC. For his part, Jones has joined "Stop the Steal" efforts since the November election and used inflammatory, dark rhetoric to bolster the movement's false claims.Two days after election day, Jones said, "We are in the attempted overthrow of our country." When a guest on the show mentioned people showing up in person to protest the counting of votes, Jones drew a comparison to World War II. "It's like when Hitler was bombing London, most Brits were against a war because they had World War I. But once Hitler bombed them, over 95% said let's go to war," he said. "This is a war. This is not regular times."Jones did not respond to CNN's request for comment.Also employing war analogies is another beneficiary of Trump's pardon powers -- Michael T. Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser.JUST WATCHEDFact Check: The lies that could define Trump's legacyReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFact Check: The lies that could define Trump's legacy 04:09Speaking to a fired-up crowd at the DC rally on January 5, Flynn -- who was pardoned by Trump in November after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a Russian diplomat -- managed to pack election-fraud conspiracy theories, violent innuendo and a call to action into a couple of sentences. "In some of these states, we have more dead voters than are buried on the battlefields of Gettysburg, or the battlefields of Vicksburg, or the battlefields of Normandy," he said. "Those of you who are feeling weak tonight, those of you that don't have the moral fiber in your body, get some tonight because tomorrow, we the people are going to be here, and we want you to know that we will not stand for a lie."Much of the rhetoric leading up to the riot has been draped in the language of existential threat. Speaking at a January 6 rally just before the siege, Rudy Giuliani -- Trump's personal attorney -- spoke in grandiose terms about the stakes at hand. "This is bigger than Donald Trump," he said. "It's bigger than you and me. It's about these monuments and what they stand for. This has been a year in which they have invaded our freedom of speech, our freedom of religion, our freedom to move, our freedom to live. I'll be darned if they're going to take away our free and fair vote. And we're going to fight to the very end to make sure that doesn't happen."His mention of "trial by combat" was cited by the New York State Bar Association, which has launched an inquiry into Giuliani to determine whether he should be expelled from the group."Mr. Giuliani's words quite clearly were intended to encourage Trump supporters unhappy with the election's outcome to take matters into their own hands," the group said in a statement. "Their subsequent attack on the Capitol was nothing short of an attempted coup, intended to prevent the peaceful transition of power."Experts concerned that incitement is far from overJohn Scott-Railton, a researcher at University of Toronto's Citizen Lab who now works with others to identify extremist groups who were part of the Capitol mob, said the rhetoric plays into the fantasies of armed protesters who have been gunning for a civil war."They're ready -- it's what they've been prancing around in the woods, playing dress up, preparing for," he said. "I'm just terribly worried that they weren't satisfied with what happened on the sixth, and they're going to come back for more." As for Bannon, the tenor of his podcast took a turn once the violence started unfolding. On the morning of January 6, before the rally and march on the Capitol, Bannon echoed Stone's words by saying the day would be a battle between "the children of light and the forces of darkness." But the podcast's tone shifted sharply as footage of the violence at the Capitol was broadcast nationwide. Even as Bannon and his co-podcasters continued to describe Vice President Mike Pence as a traitor, they absolved Trump and themselves from any responsibility for fomenting violence. "What's going on right now was choices made by individuals who are fed up with what they've seen happen," said right-wing activist Ben Bergquam on a War Room episode later that same day. "When I'm talking to people on the ground, that is what I'm hearing over and over and over again, it has nothing to do with President Trump's words." Oren Segal, vice president of the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, said anyone paying attention knew the events on January 6 would be a magnet for angry people. The violence of extremists, he added, has historically been sparked by a fear that something is being taken away -- be it a White majority, guns or a way of life. "Whether it's illegal or not, people have gotta know better," he said. "You don't have to be a genius to know how people are incited by words."CNN's Nelli Black, Scott Bronstein, Bob Ortega, Benjamin Naughton and Yahya Abou-Ghazala contributed to this report.

Curt Devine, Majlie de Puy Kamp and Scott Glover, CNN

2021-01-16 04:33:39

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/politics/giuliani-unfounded-antifa-claim-invs/index.html

Giuliani uses unfounded 'Antifa' argument to defend Trump - CNNPolitics

President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has been working to bolster conspiratorial claims that left-wing agitators played a dominant role in the last week's Capitol riot.

politics, Giuliani uses unfounded 'Antifa' argument to defend Trump - CNNPolitics

Giuliani uses unfounded 'Antifa' argument to defend Trump

(CNN)President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has been working to bolster conspiratorial claims that left-wing agitators played a dominant role in the last week's Capitol riot. Giuliani claimed in a tweet on Friday that has since been removed by Twitter that the Capitol siege was carried out "by groups like ANTIFA trained to riot." Attorney for the President, Rudy Giuliani, speaks at a news conference in the parking lot of a landscaping company on November 7, 2020 in Philadelphia.Giuliani has zeroed in on self-described leftist activist John Earle Sullivan of Utah, who was charged in federal court Thursday on three counts related to the Capitol riot, and has argued that the presence and statements of Sullivan and other unidentified rioters indicate that the storming was driven by forces opposed to Trump. "We have people who invaded like Mr. Sullivan and his apparently Black Lives Matter directed group of rioters and looters and whatever else they are," Giuliani said in a Thursday episode of his podcast titled "Another FRAME UP." What we know about potential armed protests ahead of Joe Biden's inaugurationHe also claimed that the riot was something "that the President had nothing to do with." Read MoreThe "Antifa" argument is just one of a number conspiracy theories Giuliani has pushed on behalf of Trump since the November election. Giuliani, who is still expected to play a role in Trump's impeachment defense even though the President has told staff not to pay him, did not respond to CNN's requests for comment. Giuliani's tweet was first reported by the Emptywheel blog, a site specializing in national security and civil liberties issues.In the now-removed Tweet, Giuliani included a screenshot of a text purportedly from Sullivan's brother James in which the sender claimed to be working with the FBI "to expose and place total blame on John" and more than 200 members of Antifa. Neither Giuliani nor James Sullivan have produced evidence to support the claim that Antifa was involved in the January 6 riot. Federal law enforcement officials have said they have found no evidence suggesting Antifa played a significant role in the insurrection.John Sullivan and his brother James appear to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum.James Sullivan is an ardent Trump supporter, according to his Facebook page. He is also the co-founder of Civilized Awakenings, a civil rights organization that seeks to help Black conservatives "find real solutions to the problems the Black Americans are facing." In a brief interview with CNN, a spokesperson for Civilized Awakenings confirmed Sullivan had spoken at a Proud Boys rally in Portland but stressed neither he nor Civilized Awakenings are part of that group. The spokesperson also confirmed Sullivan has been in contact with Rudy Giuliani, but declined to discuss the details. James Sullivan declined comment.Neither John Sullivan nor the attorney representing him on the charges stemming from the Capitol siege could be reached for comment Friday evening. Attorney Peter Kern, who represents Sullivan in a separate criminal case filed this summer in Utah declined to characterize any political affiliations Sullivan may have.275 cases open in Capitol riot investigation, US prosecutors sayDuring the siege, John Sullivan recorded the mayhem and provided commentary on what was going on. He was charged with disorderly conduct, interfering with law enforcement, and knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building, according to a criminal complaint. He was taken into custody in Utah, where he lives.According to the complaint, Sullivan told the FBI he was an activist and journalist who filmed protests and riots, "but admitted that he did not have any press credentials." He told agents he was wearing a ballistic vest and gas mask and entered the building through a broken window, the affidavit states. While standing outside the Capitol building before entering, he proclaimed, "Let's burn this sh*t down."Once inside, he can be heard on audio arguing with police and telling them to stand down or that they might get hurt, according to the affidavit."You are putting yourself in harm's way," he allegedly told officers. "The people have spoken." The arrest affidavit also says that as a crowd attempted to open doors to one part of the Capitol, Sullivan can be heard on the video saying, "Hey guys, I have a knife. I have a knife. Let me up."Federal authorities have not identified John Sullivan as a member of Antifa, and he denied supporting Antifa in an interview with a Utah newspaper last week. Sullivan said in the same interview that he didn't encourage violence or vandalism.When asked about some of the things he said during a 40-minute video he recorded of the incident, he said, "When you're in a massive crowd like that, you have to blend in."The paper, The Deseret News, also reported in July that Sullivan is part of a group called "Insurgence USA" and took part in a protest in June in which he and others demonstrated in opposition to a scheduled pro-law enforcement demonstration. The paper reported he was arrested after the protest and booked into jail for investigation of "rioting, making a threat of violence and criminal mischief."That case is pending, online court records show. Kern said Sullivan's arraignment had been postponed and he had yet to enter a plea. In August, Sullivan was in Washington, DC, speaking to a gathering at Black Lives Matter Plaza, according to a video on YouTube."We [expletive] about to burn this [expletive] down," he told the crowd. "We got to rip Trump right out of that office over there."He then led the crowd in a chant of, "It's time for a revolution."In the aftermath of last week's siege on the capitol, Sullivan appeared on CNN's AC360 and ABC's Good Morning America, commenting on dramatic footage he shot inside the Capitol."By no means am I there on the Trump side or the Biden side," he told Anderson Cooper.

Casey Tolan, Curt Devine, Drew Griffin and Scott Bronstein, CNN

2021-01-13 00:04:18

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/politics/gop-lawmakers-fiery-language-under-scrutiny-invs/index.html

Some GOP lawmakers' speeches helped set the tone for Capitol riot. Now that rhetoric is drawing blowback from colleagues. - CNNPolitics

Some GOP lawmakers' speeches helped set the tone for Capitol riot. Now that rhetoric is drawing blowback from colleagues.

politics, Some GOP lawmakers' speeches helped set the tone for Capitol riot. Now that rhetoric is drawing blowback from colleagues. - CNNPolitics

GOP lawmakers' fiery language under more scrutiny after deadly Capitol riot

(CNN)As he fired up a crowd of Trump supporters gathered at Arizona's state capitol last month, Rep. Paul Gosar falsely assured them that the election results could still be overturned. "Once we conquer the Hill," the six-term Republican declared to a wave of cheers, "Donald Trump is returned to being the president."Two and a half weeks later, Gosar was repeating baseless claims about stolen ballots and rigged voting machines in a speech to Congress when he found himself interrupted by chaos on the House floor. Within minutes, lawmakers were being evacuated out of the chambers as rioters advanced through the heart of American democracy -- spurred by the same rhetoric Gosar and some of his fellow Republicans had espoused. The first part of Gosar's prediction, at least, had come true: Capitol Hill had been conquered. The insurrection last week that left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer, has spurred a new move to impeach President Donald Trump and a wave of criticism for the most prominent senators who voted to block President-elect Joe Biden's victory. But Gosar and several other of his GOP colleagues in the House are also facing new scrutiny for their incendiary language in the hours, days and weeks before the siege. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., objects to certifying Arizona's Electoral College votes during a joint session of the House and Senate convenes to count the electoral votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)One of the top organizers of the movement that aimed to overturn the election results has claimed he worked closely with Republican congressmen. Ali Alexander, a leader of the "Stop the Steal" group, said in several Periscope livestream videos last month that he planned the rally that preceded the riot in conjunction with Gosar and two other congressional Republicans, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Andy Biggs of Arizona, as CNN first reported last week.Read More"We're the four guys who came up with a January 6 event," Alexander said in one video in December. "It was to build momentum and pressure and then on the day change hearts and minds of Congress peoples who weren't yet decided or saw everyone outside and said, 'I can't be on the other side of that mob.'" Brooks, a staunch conservative and one of Trump's closest congressional allies, was one of the first speakers at the National Mall rally that preceded the riot, and his fiery language helped set the tone for what came next. "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass!" the six-term Republican shouted to the assembled protesters. "Our ancestors sacrificed their blood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes and sometimes their lives... Are you willing to do the same?"Hours later, when some of the same people Brooks had spoken to were smashing windows at the US Capitol, the lawmaker livetweeted as he and his colleagues were being evacuated from the House chambers. "Tear gas dispersed in Capitol Rotunda," Brooks wrote in a tweet posted from his iPad. "Congressmen ordered to grab gas masks under chairs in case have to leave in haste!"Brooks was the first member of Congress to say publicly that he would object to the certification of the electoral votes for Biden. The day before the Jan. 6 rally, he tweeted that Trump had "asked me personally to speak & tell the American people about the election system weaknesses that the Socialist Democrats exploited to steal this election."Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Alabama, speaks Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, at a rally in support of President Donald Trump called the "Save America Rally." (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)After the insurrection, while Brooks condemned rioters and called for them to be "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," he has also repeatedly suggested on social media and in interviews that at least some of the people who stormed the Capitol were members of the left-wing group Antifa -- a baseless claim that has been widely debunked. Like Trump, who said Tuesday that his remarks at the rally, when he urged supporters to "fight like hell," were "totally appropriate," Brooks has denied responsibility for the riot, telling a radio show host the day after the attack that he "absolutely" had no regrets. He later argued in a statement Tuesday that his remarks could not have been the cause of the violence. "No one at the rally interpreted my remarks to be anything other than what they were: A pep talk after the derriere kicking conservatives suffered in the dismal 2020 elections," Brooks wrote.Gosar has closely associated himself with the Stop the Steal movement for months. He tagged or replied to Alexander in more than two dozen tweets since Election Day, sharing false rumors about mysteriously appearing ballots and deleted vote counts, and spoke at the December 19 rally at the Arizona state capitol that Alexander organized. He penned an online open letter last month titled "Are We Witnessing a Coup d'etat?""Biden should concede," Gosar tweeted on the morning of last week's congressional vote, sharing a photo of the pro-Trump protesters gathered in front of the Washington Monument. "I want his concession on my desk tomorrow morning. Don't make me come over there."As the insurrection was still going on, Gosar shared divergent messages about the rioters. In one tweet with a photo of people scaling the walls of the Capitol, Gosar wrote "let's not get carried away here," adding that "if anyone on the ground reads this and is beyond the line come back." But on the right-wing social media network Parler, which has since gone offline, Gosar posted the same image with a different caption: "Americans are upset."Even Gosar's family members say his language has gone too far. Several of his siblings -- who recorded a viral campaign ad for one of his opponents in 2018 -- have argued he should resign or be removed. "My brother swore an oath to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic," the congressman's younger brother Tim Gosar, a private investigator in Fort Collins, Colorado, told CNN this week. "And he has blatantly broken that oath."Gosar's office did not respond to a request for comment. UNITED STATES - DECEMBER 3: Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., is seen after a news conference with members of the House Freedom Caucus to call on Attorney General William Barr to release findings of an investigation into allegations of 2020 election fraud, outside the Capitol on Thursday, December 3, 2020. (Photo CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)At the Arizona Stop the Steal rally with Gosar, Alexander played a video that he said Biggs, the chair of the conservative Freedom Caucus, had sent for the crowd."Andy Biggs here," the Arizona congressman said in the recording. "I wish I could be with you. I'm in the DC swamp fighting on behalf of Arizona's residents and freedom fighters all over the country." The crowd responded with a chant of "Biggs! Biggs! Biggs!" The Arizona Republic first reported the video on Monday. A Biggs spokesperson told CNN that the congressman recorded the video at the request of Gosar's staff, and had never worked with Alexander."Congressman Biggs is not aware of hearing of or meeting Mr. Alexander at any point -- let alone working with him to organize some part of a planned protest," the spokesperson said. "He did not have any contact with protestors or rioters, nor did he ever encourage or foster the rally or protests."Biggs was one of several Republican members of Congress who refused to wear masks in a secure room where lawmakers were staying during the riot, according to a video posted by the congressional news site Punchbowl. Several Democratic members have said in recent days that they tested positive for Covid after being in the room. Other congressional Republicans also painted their efforts to oppose Biden's victory in sweeping, historic terms. In the days before the riot, Freshman Reps. Laura Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia both called the Wednesday electoral vote certification a "1776 moment." And speaking at the same rally as Brooks and Trump, Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, another newly elected member, told the crowd that "the Republicans are hiding and not fighting" and "they are trying to silence your voice." "I want you to chant with me so loud that the cowards in Washington DC that I serve with can hear you," he declared. Newly elected U.S. Rep Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) speaks as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather by the White House ahead of Trump's speech to contest the certification by the U.S. Congress of the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. REUTERSA Cawthorn spokesperson said the congressman condemned the violence during the riot and has criticized Trump for "directing protestors toward the Capitol."Two Democrats have introduced a resolution to censure Brooks for his comments at the rally, and others have argued for expelling Gosar and other congressional Republicans who backed efforts to overturn the election. Democratic leaders have not made plans yet to vote on a censure resolution, but the subject has been discussed repeatedly during private conference calls, Democratic sources say."Mo Brooks and others like him should resign," Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, said on CNN Monday. "They should have the decency to resign. They don't belong in this institution. They have demonstrated a contempt for democracy and for freedom."Denver Riggleman, a moderate Republican who lost his primary nomination last year to a more conservative challenger, said that he thought GOP leaders needed to have a "come to Jesus" moment and hold the congressmen who fanned the flames of insurrection accountable. But he said he doubted that the GOP base would punish members like Gosar or Brooks when they were back on the ballot."Those elected officials probably will get reelected, and that's that's the issue that we have right now," Riggleman said. "I think that's what scares me the most."CNN's Nelli Black, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Ben Naughton, Bob Ortega contributed to this report.

Rob Kuznia and Ashley Fantz, CNN

2021-01-12 23:30:09

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/us/military-extremism-capitol-riot-invs/index.html

Military vets were among the Capitol Hill rioters, protesters - CNN

Among the mob of extremists and Trump supporters that invaded the US Capitol last week in a deadly riot were former members of the very institution that is supposed to protect America from invasion: the US military.

us, Military vets were among the Capitol Hill rioters, protesters - CNN

They swore to protect America. Some also joined the riot

(CNN)Among the mob of extremists and Trump supporters that invaded the US Capitol last week in a deadly riot were former members of the very institution that is supposed to protect America from invasion: the US military.They included 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who'd become infatuated with the QAnon conspiracy theory and on Wednesday was fatally shot by US Capitol Police as the mob tried to force its way toward the House chamber. They included Larry Rendell Brock -- a 53-year-old retired Air Force Reserve officer from Texas -- who could be seen roaming the Senate chamber sporting a military helmet, green tactical vest and black-and-camo jacket while clutching a white flex cuff, which is used by law enforcement to restrain or detain subjects. He's been charged with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct, according to the Justice Department.Larry Rendell Brock is seen in the Senate Chamber on January 6.And attending the demonstrations that day was Joshua Macias, 42, a six-year Navy veteran from Virginia and co-founder of the group Vets for Trump who had recently been released from jail. On January 5 -- the day before the siege -- Macias appeared in a Facebook live video with a Virginia state senator; he says he did not enter the building the next day. "The enemy is here, it's not just at the gate," Macias said in the now-removed video, according to The Washington Post. "It's within, we see it everywhere."Read MoreThe radicalization of military veterans has long worried experts who monitor extremism online and elsewhere. And though it isn't known whether soldiers and veterans are disproportionately vulnerable to radicalization, their association with extremist groups has been enough of a concern over the years for hate-group watchers to study the matter and lobby Congress to take action to counter it. In February, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups urged the US House Armed Services Committee ensure the military branches vet enlistees for signs of white nationalistic beliefs, such as by reviewing their social media accounts, creating a tattoo database and performing psychological screenings."It was well-received, but nothing really changed," Lecia Brooks, chief of staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told CNN. The US Army is now taking steps to detect extremism in its ranks ahead of the January 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. In a written statement to CNN on Tuesday, an Army spokesperson said the branch is working with the Secret Service to determine whether there are soldiers who will be part of the National Guard contingent providing security at the inauguration who require additional background screening."The D.C. National Guard is also providing additional training to service members as they arrive in D.C. that if they see or hear something that is not appropriate, they should report it to their chain of command," according to the statement. Why extremists try to recruit veteransFrom their tactical and organizational skills to their wide networks of friends with whom they served, veterans are an appealing group for extremists to recruit, experts say. "The military is so beloved -- the American public polls at something close to 75 percent confidence in the armed forces," said Jim Golby, a University of Texas at Austin researcher who studies military and civilian relations. "And consider the way special ops are portrayed in popular culture, in movies. There is an identity that [extremist] groups want to have. They want to emulate the way military members dress, the way they carry weapons because that portrays an image of confidence and credibility." Indeed, mixed in with the motley crew of protesters and rioters on Wednesday was a body-armored band of Oath Keepers, an anti-government militia group intent on stoking civil war that claims to include many law enforcement members and military veterans.A man wearing an Oath Keepers hat is among the mob inside the US Capitol on January 6 in Washington, DC. The Oath Keepers is a pro-Trump, far-right, anti-government group that tries to recruit members from active or retired military.Extremist groups play on veterans and service members' deeply felt sense of patriotism to recruit them, said retired Army Lt. General David Barno, former head of Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan."For some of these groups, they clearly portray an idea of super patriotism -- waving the American flag, saying we believe in the flag," he said.The groups, he said, also provide a sense of camaraderie and shared viewpoints. "This connection ... that's one thing I know almost all veterans miss when they leave the military," Barno said.And veterans and service members follow leaders. When they see members of Congress -- such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has embraced QAnon conspiracies, or Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley raising doubts about the legitimacy of the election -- they can be swayed, he said.Decoding the extremist symbols and groups at the Capitol Hill insurrection "The military services will have to take a hard look at this," said Barno, who is currently a visiting professor of strategic studies and senior fellow at the Merrill Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. "The fact that there were officers and enlisted and retirees [at the Capitol siege] is jarring and shocking and appalling. And even if that was a small number of people, the question [for top brass] is how much a tip of the iceberg is that? How prevalent is this kind of extremist activity among members and veterans?"There is scant data available on why, how and how often veterans are radicalized to believe extreme views, Golby said. There are several reasons for that, he explained. It's generally a challenge for researchers outside the military system to be allowed to survey active members. Active-duty members are always being surveyed about quality of life, their commanders and so on. "They [the Department of Defense] rightfully try to protect members from being overly surveyed," Golby said. And there's also hesitation from active-duty members and veterans to be completely honest in surveys -- just as it sometimes is when they are polled about suicide. If a service member or veteran admits to subscribing or leaning toward extremist ideology, will that disclosure hurt their military career or legacy? And determining whom to poll in a population of 1.3 million active-duty personnel and approximately 18 million veterans is also tricky. Do you target Gulf War veterans? Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans? "But there's no question that it should be done," Golby said.Retired Gen. Flynn evokes bloody Civil War battle Former Gen. Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's recently pardoned national security adviser, speaks during a protest of the outcome of the election outside the Supreme Court on December 12.While the scale of radicalization in the military remains unclear, there is at least one decorated general who has embraced extremist views: Michael T. Flynn. In July, the retired general and former national security adviser posted a short video of himself taking an oath and uttering a phrase -- "Where we go one, we go all!"— associated with QAnon, an online movement that subscribes to the delusional belief that Trump is battling a cabal of Democrats and elitists who are pedophiles and worship Satan. In December, Flynn -- who was pardoned by Trump in November after his conviction of lying to the FBI about his conversations with a Russian diplomat -- tweeted a press release from an Ohio organization calling on Trump to "immediately declare a limited form of martial law, and temporarily suspend the Constitution and civilian control of these federal elections, for the sole purpose of having the military oversee a re-vote."Martial law, which has been invoked only a handful of times in US history, essentially puts the military in charge of the government after a breakdown of civil order following a foreign attack or natural disaster.On January 5 -- a day before the insurrection at the US Capitol -- Flynn gave a pep talk to Trump supporters laden with lies about a stolen election and violent imagery associated with war. "In some of these states, we have more dead voters than are buried on the battlefields of Gettysburg," he said. "Those of you who are feeling weak tonight, those of you that don't have the moral fiber in your body, get some tonight because tomorrow, we the people are going to be here, and we want you to know that we will not stand for a lie."Last week, Twitter permanently banned Flynn and other high-profile Trump allies who have promoted QAnon. Brock -- the man in the green military helmet seen wandering the Senate floor clutching the zip-tie cuffs -- was arrested Sunday and charged with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, according to the Justice Department. Family members told the New Yorker his views had grown more extreme over the years, and more informed by white supremacy. Brock denied he holds racist views in an interview with the magazine, and repeated Trump's groundless assertions of election fraud. Macias -- the veteran who shot the Facebook video -- had been arrested on November 5 along with another man on suspicion of carrying unpermitted handguns in Philadelphia, where authorities say the men had traveled due to their concerns about "fake ballots." Macias was released on November 26 after posting $75,000 of his $750,000 bail. Philadelphia prosecutors accused Macias of trying "to interfere with the counting of lawfully cast votes." This image provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Joshua Macias. Prosecutors now want Macias' bail revoked."My office is prepared to argue that this defendant's participation in the seditious, outrageous, and deadly invasion of the U.S. Capitol on [January 6] in order to help a criminal president remain in office unlawfully meets the definition of violating terms of bail," said Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner in a statement.Macias, who says he has left the Vets for Trump group he co-founded, maintains that he did not enter the Capitol building, and so did not violate bail, his attorney, William J. Brennan, told the Washington Post.Macias has a personal website that thanks supporters for raising $160,000 for his legal defense. Another veteran, Emily Rainey, a former Army officer assigned to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, is under investigation by the US Army for her involvement in last week's events.In this image taken from video provided by WRAL, then-Capt. Emily Rainey speaks during an interview in Southern Pines, North Carolina, in May 2020. Rainey led about 100 people from North Carolina to the demonstration, though she told the Associated Press she did not breach the building. Rainey, who resigned her post before the siege for unrelated reasons, posted a video in May of herself ripping down caution tape at a playground that was closed because of North Carolina's coronavirus restrictions, according to CNN affiliate WRAL in Raleigh. Brock, Macias and Rainey and their attorneys could not be reached for comment.Capitol Hill officer killed also a veteranSome experts caution that it is critical not to paint a broad brush when trying to learn why some veterans are drawn to Trump, extremist views or nationalist movements. "I would challenge the premise that veterans are any more susceptible to propaganda than anyone else," said Paul Rieckhoff, the founder and former CEO of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "We are a slice of the population." We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. He added: "Remember that the Capitol Hill cop who died was a veteran," referring to Brian Sicknick, who succumbed to injuries he suffered in the riot.Consider the lawmakers who are veterans, trying to make their way to safety: Rep. Ruben Gallego, a former Marine; Rep. Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger; Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who suffered severe wounds in Iraq.When it comes to the attack on the Capitol, those who perpetrated the siege who happen to be veterans are going to make more headlines because of their past service. It's a quick -- and sometimes too easy -- way to qualify them, Rieckhoff said. "Ashli Babbitt was a veteran, but she was a lot of other things. There are a million factors in someone's life that leads them down the path she took," he said. "It's dangerous waters right now because we (veterans) are fighting stereotypes," he noted. "When we talk about recruitment of veterans to these groups, I think what that says simply is that veterans are powerful, period."Conspiracy theories aboundThomas Speciale, an Army Reservist who served in Afghanistan, was at the Capitol on Wednesday, but said he stayed outside. Speciale, who made an unsuccessful run for the Senate and has served as the national spokesman for Vets for Trump, told CNN that he doubted Trump supporters started the assault on the building -- breaking windows and charging inside. That explanation is too simple for him. There must be something more sinister at work, he asserted. "I believe there were professional instigators, professional agitators," he claimed. "The enemies of the Trump movement want us to fight with the cops."Vlad Lemets, a US veteran from Florida and the director of Vets for Trump, said it had members of the organization at the Capitol. He stressed that he wasn't there. JUST WATCHEDExtremists and conspiracy theorists search for new platforms onlineReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHExtremists and conspiracy theorists search for new platforms online 02:47The group has what he estimates are over a million members and its communication is run mostly through Facebook. Lemets had trouble a few years ago when Macedonian trolls hijacked the group's page and spread information intended to rile up posters. But, still, today, back in their American hands, the page includes posts that have been flagged by Facebook for falsehoods.Lemets disagreed that Trump has been lying about the election results or anything else. Rather, he insisted, Trump has delivered on vows he made to Americans when he launched his campaign for the White House."Promises made, promises kept," said Lemets, a Florida sometime-real estate agent who was born in Russia and said he served in the Iraq War. He asserted that one of the big reasons his organization's followers like Trump is because Trump focused on border security. "A lot of veterans retired from service -- we find ourselves in government jobs, police, and border patrol," he said. "In border patrol, they say they went to fight [in Iraq and Afghanistan] in what were civil wars. We were stuck in the middle of other people's civil war. They find that the same people they are trying to kill over there are coming across the border to kill them."Lemets, echoing false claims from Trump in 2018, believes that Middle Easterners are sneaking across the border to commit violence. Trump claimed that "unknown Middle Easterners" were coming into the US from Central America in a migrant caravan. Pressed by CNN's Jim Acosta for proof of that, Trump answered, "there's no proof of anything, but they could very well be." Veterans targeted by foreign trollsKristofer Goldsmith, the former chief investigator for the Vietnam Veterans of America, spent years researching how disinformation -- including Pro-Trump propaganda -- has targeted veterans. That project began when he noticed a fake Facebook page for the VVA had been set up -- he would later learn by digital trolls in Bulgaria and other countries -- to post fake information targeting veterans with anti-democracy propaganda. The messages were intended, Goldsmith said, to provoke anger. Goldsmith wrote a 200-page paper about his findings, including that foreign admins at one point controlled the Facebook page Vets for Trump JUST WATCHEDTrump makes false claim about US Capitol riotReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHTrump makes false claim about US Capitol riot 02:40One of the most powerful and popular memes shared among veterans online during the last several years, Goldsmith said, was a doctored image of four female Democratic representatives -- known as the Squad -- posing in front of an ISIS flag, an "impeach Trump" sign and portrait of Osama bin Laden. "I was shocked to see -- if you look at comments -- just how many people believed that was real," he said. The Vets for Trump page is today filled with disinformation and falsehoods about the presidential election.In 2018, Goldsmith tried to call national attention to the problem in a Wired op-ed and said the VVA asked the US Department of Veterans Affairs to take a more proactive role in helping veterans disseminate fact from fiction. The VA has not done that, Goldsmith said. Asked whether the VA has taken action to help veterans decipher propaganda online or to improve their media literacy, spokesperson Christina Noel emailed, "Policing or regulating online content is not part of the department's mission."Goldsmith understands firsthand how easy it is to believe in what others might see as crazy.When Goldsmith came home from fighting in Iraq, he was lost. He was 16 when 9/11 happened, inspiring him to enlist the first chance he got. He was soon deployed to Iraq. "I turned 20 sitting on top of the Sheraton hotel in Baghdad watching car bombs," he said. The trauma he experienced at war, especially one itself started by the misinformation floated by the US government about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, made him want to find the "real" truth. Goldsmith was drawn in by a trilogy of films that present a myriad of government conspiracy theories. He spent what little money he had burning CDs of the films and putting them in random people's mailboxes."Next thing I know I'm out spray painting on my town's train station 'Ron Paul Revolution,'" he said, inspired by Paul's libertarian takes and the former politician's rejection of the Iraq war. "I thought it was my duty to spread the truth and fight for what was right and just," Goldsmith said. "But I didn't have great media literacy. I didn't know how to weigh evidence. When I realized that the war I was fighting wasn't popularly supported, it made me feel like I'd lost my belief system."Deeply concerned, his mother intervened and pushed him toward the VA, where he underwent helpful therapy sessions and was eventually able to direct his drive and intellectual curiosity toward becoming an investigator at the Vietnam Veterans of America."I was given access to mental health care that helped me let go of anger and regret," he said, "the emotions that can drive some of what we saw Wednesday."

Curt Devine and Scott Bronstein, CNN

2021-01-10 21:53:09

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/10/politics/man-camp-auschwitz-sweatshirt-capitol-riot-identified/index.html

Robert Keith Packer: Man in 'Camp Auschwitz' sweatshirt during Capitol riot identified - CNNPolitics

A rioter who stormed the US Capitol Wednesday wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the phrase "Camp Auschwitz" has been identified as Robert Keith Packer of Virginia, according to three sources who spoke with CNN.

politics, Robert Keith Packer: Man in 'Camp Auschwitz' sweatshirt during Capitol riot identified - CNNPolitics

Man in 'Camp Auschwitz' sweatshirt during Capitol riot identified

(CNN)A rioter who stormed the US Capitol Wednesday wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the phrase "Camp Auschwitz" has been identified as Robert Keith Packer of Virginia, according to three sources who spoke with CNN.An image of Packer inside the Capitol, whose sweatshirt bore the name of the Nazi concentration camp where about 1.1 million people were killed during World War II, has evoked shock and disbelief on social media. The bottom of his shirt stated, "Work brings freedom," which is the rough translation of the phrase "Arbeit macht frei" that was on the concentration camp's gates.A rioter wearing a sweatshirt with the phrase "Camp Auschwitz" has been identified as Robert Keith Packer of Virginia, according to three sources who spoke to CNN.Packer did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.One Virginia resident, who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, described Packer as a long-time extremist who has had run-ins with the law. Man seen chasing Black Capitol police officer in video faces charges"He's been always extreme and very vocal about his beliefs," the resident said.Read MoreAnother source familiar with Packer described him as an "off-beat" character who has expressed frustrations with the government, though this source did not recall Packer ever talking about President Donald Trump or false allegations of voter fraud.A third source said Packer previously worked as a welder and pipe-fitter.Virginia court records show that Packer has a criminal history that includes three convictions for driving under the influence and a felony conviction for forging public records. In 2016, he was charged for allegedly trespassing, though that case was dismissed. CNN's Drew Griffin and Paul Murphy contributed to this report.

Casey Tolan, CNN

2021-01-09 02:47:28

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/us/dc-police-arrests-blm-capitol-insurrection-invs/index.html

DC police made far more arrests at height of Black Lives Matter protests than during Capitol clash - CNN

Washington, DC's Metropolitan Police Department made roughly five times as many arrests during the height of last June's Black Lives Matter protests compared to the US Capitol insurrection on Wednesday, a CNN analysis of the police department's data found.

us, DC police made far more arrests at height of Black Lives Matter protests than during Capitol clash - CNN

DC police made far more arrests at the height of Black Lives Matter protests than during the Capitol clash

(CNN)Black Lives Matter protesters in Washington, DC, last summer found themselves facing a massive show of force: military helicopters hovering over the city, National Guard troops patrolling the streets and tear gas filling the air.When a mob of President Trump's supporters broke into the US Capitol on Wednesday, they were confronted by a far smaller police presence -- and by the end of the day, far fewer of the rioters ended up in custody.DC police arrested more than five times as many people at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests last summer than they did during the day of insurrection at the Capitol, according to a CNN analysis of Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) data. And many of those arrested amid this week's unrest were detained on less serious charges. The stark disparity in arrests came even though more DC officers were injured during the Capitol mayhem, which left five people dead, including a police officer.The District's police made 61 "unrest-related" arrests on Wednesday, compared with 316 on June 1, when protesters and rioters filled city streets a week after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. That was the same day as Trump's infamous Bible-holding photo op, when law enforcement officers dispersed mostly peaceful protesters with tear gas.Left: Police officers push back demonstrators and shoot tear gas next to St. John's Episcopal Church outside of the White House on June 1, 2020. (Jose Luis Magana/AFP/Getty Images) Right: President Donald Trump holds up a Bible outside the church, minutes later. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)Read MoreEven including 14 additional people who were arrested by the US Capitol Police, a separate agency, the number of people both agencies arrested amid Wednesday's tumult was less than a fourth of those detained by city officers alone on June 1.Activists in DC said they were shocked that a deadly assault on the heart of American democracy led to far fewer people in police custody than the clashes that erupted during protests over law enforcement brutality."It's so, so insulting to racial justice activists that have been bringing attention to Black lives that have been lost," said Anthony Lorenzo Green, one of the activists leading the Black Lives Matter DC group. "The way they chose to secure the Capitol was to let everybody go -- they let these people back on our streets."If Black Lives Matter protesters had tried to enter the Capitol instead of the predominantly White pro-Trump crowd, Green said, "we would be shackled, we would be carried away, we would be shot, we would be dead."Supporters of President Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)Fewer arrests, more officer injuriesThe arrest disparities are especially stark considering that more MPD officers were injured this week. The department said 56 of its officers were injured while responding to the insurrection on Wednesday. In comparison, the department told local news station WUSA in June that 21 officers were injured over the 10 days between May 29 and June 7.Then-Attorney General William Barr has said that including federal troops and agents sent to the city, about 150 law enforcement personnel suffered injuries in DC over a multi-day period during the protests.The Capitol attack was also deadlier than the summer protests: Brian Sicknick, a Capitol Police officer, died Thursday night "due to injuries sustained while on-duty" as he was "physically engaging with protesters,"according to his department. Sicknick's death has prompted a federal murder investigation. Four other people also died Wednesday, including a woman shot by another Capitol officer and three others who suffered what authorities described as "medical emergencies." No law enforcement officers died in DC while responding to the protests and riots over the summer.Of course, the protests during the summer and the Capitol insurrection this week were very different events -- for example, there were likely far more protesters spread out over a wider area of the city last summer than there were on Wednesday.Kristen Metzger, an MPD spokeswoman, said the department didn't make more arrests Wednesday in part because, unlike during the summer protests, the city's curfew wasn't announced in advance of the incident."When we announce (a curfew) in advance, we have enough resources to get people into the vans and we're ready to make mass arrests," Metzger told CNN. "Since this was done so late in the day, we weren't ready to make mass arrests like that until the curfew was put in place later that afternoon."Metzger also noted that the Capitol is the jurisdiction of the US Capitol Police and that the district's police were only called for assistance after demonstrators breached the building's security."At that point, it was just controlling the situation and getting them out of the Capitol building," she said.Racial justice leaders are reeling from the 'hypocrisy' in the police response to the US Capitol riotsBut Monica Hopkins, the executive director of the ACLU of DC, said she couldn't believe the department wasn't more prepared -- especially because pro-Trump figures had been openly planning their riot for weeks, and the MPD had just arrested a leader of the far-right Proud Boys group in DC days before the Capitol insurrection."We are a city that deals with mass demonstrations all the time," Hopkins said. "For any law enforcement agency in this city to say they were caught flat-footed or they didn't know what was coming is just incredibly false."Capitol Police spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment, but said in a statement that the attack on the building was unprecedented and that the agency would review its security planning. Steven Sund, the department's chief, announced Thursday that he would resign next week.There will likely be additional arrests connected with the Capitol intrusion. Michael Sherwin, the acting US Attorney for DC, said Thursday that federal officials plan to review social media footage from the bedlam and arrest people they identify. Federal prosecutors have already charged 15 people, Sherwin said.US Capitol Police detain rioters outside of the House Chamber during a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)Capitol protesters facing less harsh chargesSo far, at least, there are also notable disparities in the seriousness of charges facing the Capitol arrestees and those arrested during the summer protests.Most of the people arrested Wednesday were held on misdemeanor curfew violations or unlawful entry charges. DC police arrested only one person on a charge they specifically listed as a felony: a 39-year-old man accused of rioting and unlawful entry at the Capitol. His arrest doesn't necessarily represent all felony arrests made Wednesday, since DC police did not always include this information in its data. It's possible that more people could face felony charges as prosecutors move forward with their cases.At least 29 people were arrested on felony charges on June 1, most of whom faced burglary and rioting charges, the MPD data showed. On another night of Black Lives Matter protests — August 14, when demonstrators chanted the names of people killed by the local police department before clashing with officers — police arrested at least 37 people on felony rioting charges.DC Mayor Muriel Bowser's office did not respond to requests for comment about the disparity in arrests and the charges. Bowser has criticized the federal response to the insurrection, noting at a press conference Wednesday that "we saw a different posture used" by federal officials as compared to the highly militarized response to the summer protests. While many of the demonstrators who filled the streets during protests over the death of George Floyd were peaceful, there was also rioting and looting in the city over several days in late May and early June. Sporadic protests continued throughout the rest of the year — there were five other days later in 2020 when DC police made more than two dozen unrest-related arrests. Some of the arrests from December appear to be tied to another pro-Trump rally. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. President-elect Joe Biden focused on the racial disparities in a speech Thursday, saying "no one can tell me that if that had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn't have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol."The data released by the police department also shows that the people arrested during the Black Lives Matter protests were more local than those arrested this week, most of whom flocked to the capital from elsewhere around the country.Among arrestees whose state of residence was available, police data showed 94% of those arrested between late May and August were from DC, Maryland or Virginia. Only 25% of those arrested Wednesday or early Thursday morning were from the same region.Hopkins, the ACLU executive, said that the disparity between the treatment of "White supremacists coming to our city" and Black protesters was a textbook example of the disparities in policing.The events show that police reformers should be paying attention to "not only what police do," she said, but also "when officers choose to do something and when they choose to do nothing."

Rob Kuznia, Curt Devine, Scott Bronstein and Bob Ortega, CNN

2021-01-09 01:47:18

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/us/online-extremism-inauguration-capitol-invs/index.html

Extremists intensify calls for violence ahead of Inauguration Day - CNN

In the weeks before the riot at the US Capitol, the warning signs were clear: online posts from hate groups and right-wing groups agitating for civil war and attacks on law enforcement. Experts are warning that the calls for violence have only intensified ahead of Inauguration Day, when President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as commander in chief.

us, Extremists intensify calls for violence ahead of Inauguration Day - CNN

Extremists intensify calls for violence ahead of Inauguration Day

(CNN)"Trump or war. Today. That simple.""If you don't know how to shoot: You need to learn. NOW.""we will storm the government buildings, kill cops, kill security guards, kill federal employees and agents, and demand a recount."In the weeks, days and hours ahead of Wednesday's siege on the Capitol by President Donald Trump's zealous supporters, the warning signs were clear: online posts from hate groups and right-wing provocateurs agitating for civil war, the deaths of top lawmakers and attacks on law enforcement.And now, as the dust settles and the country struggles to make sense of the violence that left five dead -- including an officer with the US Capitol Police -- experts warn that the calls for violence have only intensified ahead of Inauguration Day, when President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as commander in chief.Read More"We are seeing ... chatter from these white supremacists, from these far-right extremists -- they feel emboldened in this moment," said Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks and counters hate. "We fully expect that this violence could actually get worse before it gets better."Supporters of President Donald Trump break into the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.Wednesday's chaos -- which erupted during a protest to dissuade Congress from certifying the results of Biden's unambiguous win -- showed a loss of control and sudden breaking of the bond that for four years had held Trump, his supporters and the Republican leadership together in lockstep.After rioters charged through a barricade, assaulted police officers, shattered windows and stormed into the hallowed building that was torched by the invading British military in 1814, Trump made a tepid plea for them to go home -- although he repeated the falsehood that the election had been stolen. Republican leaders that night -- including Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- condemned the rioters in the strongest terms.But it all appeared to have little effect on the radicalized right."Trump WILL be sworn in for a second term on January 20th!!," said a commenter on thedonald.win, a pro-Trump online forum, on Thursday, the day after the siege. "We must not let the communists win. Even if we have to burn DC to the ground. Tomorrow we take back DC and take back our country!!"Security concerns ahead of Biden's inaugurationJohn Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab -- a group at the University of Toronto that monitors cybersecurity -- said he is "terribly concerned" about the inauguration."While the broader public was aghast at what happened (Wednesday) at the Capitol, in certain corners of the sort of right wing conversation, what happened ... is viewed as a success," he told CNN.In the days and weeks before the attack on the Capitol, signs that the protest could spiral into violence were in abundance.Pro-Trump supporters storm the US Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6.Advance Democracy, Inc., a nonpartisan governance watchdog, highlighted red flags on social media. In the six days leading up to the event, for instance, there were 1,480 posts from QAnon-related accounts that referenced the event and contained terms of violence. On Parler, the report said, multiple posts referenced war, including statements like "the war begins today."Ali Alexander, a political activist who has organized pro-Trump rallies, including one of the demonstrations that converged on the Capitol lawn Wednesday, accused the left of "trying to push us to war." In late December, Alexander told followers on Periscope that he and three GOP congressman -- Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona and Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama -- were planning something big.Insurrection fueled by conspiracy groups, extremists and fringe movements"It was to build momentum and pressure and then on the day change hearts and minds of Congress peoples who weren't yet decided or who saw everyone outside and said, 'I can't be on the other side of that mob,'" Ali said, though he did not call for violence.CNN reached out to the offices of all three congressman, but only Biggs responded, with a statement from a spokesperson denying that he worked in any way with Alexander or any protestors."Congressman Biggs is not aware of hearing of or meeting Mr. Alexander at any point -- let alone working with him to organize some part of a planned protest," the spokesperson said. "He did not have any contact with protestors or rioters, nor did he ever encourage or foster the rally or protests. He was focused on his research and arguments to work within the confines of the law and established precedent to restore integrity to our elections, and to ensure that all Americans -- regardless of party affiliation -- can again have complete trust in our elections systems."Watchdogs issued warnings ahead of Capitol siegeSeveral organizations that monitor extremism online issued warnings beforehand.On January 4, the ADL published a lengthy blog post detailing threats of violence pertaining to the upcoming rally."In response to a user who wondered what happens if Congress ignores 'evidence' that President Trump won the election, a user wrote, 'Storm the capitol,'" the ADL's blog post says. We offer several ways to reach our journalists securely. The post went on to say while it wasn't aware of any credible threats violence planned for January 6, "if the past is any indication, the combination of an extremist presence at the rallies and the heated nature of the rhetoric suggests that violence is a possibility."Also on January 4, a risk analysis by the security firm G4S stated that "current rhetoric suggests that there will be attendees who have violent intent, including armed militia groups" between January 6 and Inauguration Day.The analysis cited numerous posts in recent weeks advocating violence on the right-wing site thedonald.win, including one from late December that said, "We will have to achieve an actual tactical victory like storming and occupying Congress, to have the intended effect."Another said, "Patriots who STILL, AT THIS POINT IN TIME, are too cowardly to condone violence, are part of the problem." Security experts said they were puzzled by the flat-footed response of law enforcement."The surprising part of it is why it was so much less aggressively policed," said Jonathan Wood, director of global risk analysis for London-based Control Risks. "Many security analysts were surprised by the lack of security, and by the lack of a robust security response."Law enforcement caught by surpriseFederal and local law enforcement officials insist they had no idea the siege would happen."There was no intelligence that suggested there would be a breach of the US Capitol," said DC Police Chief Robert Contee at a press conference Thursday. Steven A. Sund, who is resigning as chief of the US Capitol Police amid criticism over the apparent lack of preparedness to deal with the violent mob, said in a statement that the department had a robust plan to address "anticipated First Amendment activities."Trump supporters clash with police as they storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. "But make no mistake -- these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; they were criminal riotous behavior," he said Thursday.As for security on Inauguration Day, the Secret Service issued a statement saying its plans for the event have been long in the making. "The inauguration of the President of the United States is a foundational element of our democracy," the agency said in a statement. "The safety and security of all those participating in the 59th Presidential Inauguration is of the utmost importance."Law enforcement missed key signs ahead of riot on US CapitolRobert Dodge, president of corporate risk services at G4S -- which issued the January 4 warning -- said in the months leading up to January 6, he saw "a lot of concerning and hostile rhetoric, which in our world we call a threat indicator."He added that the US Capitol building seemed to lack the proper fortification."Did people approaching the Capitol see a proper level of physical barriers, of psychological barriers such as signs saying do not cross this line or you will be arrested?" he said. "You saw the glass windows being broken in. Why weren't some of those reinforced? It looks like there were some serious physical security challenges that got left to the Capitol police to mitigate."Americans swept up in disinformationTrump supporters try to break through a police barrier on January 6 at the Capitol.It isn't just the fringe elements who have gotten swept up in the current fervor. Mingling with the crowd of militia groups, white nationalists and high-profile conspiracy theorists on the Capitol lawn on Wednesday were other citizens who made the trip to challenge the certification.One was Texas resident and former mayoral candidate Jenny Cudd, whose campaign slogan was "Jenny for Mayor."After railing against what she described as voter fraud and a stolen election, she called for the death of those who have committed treason."All we need is one public hanging, and then people will start acting right -- kind of like it would be useful if we still had the firing squad for the death penalty," Cudd said. "We shall see if there will be a public hanging in our future because it is still considered a valid form of death for treason."Cudd posted a video the night before the protests, where she talked about how the next day was going to be a "ruckus.""I don't know what y'all think about a revolution, but I'm all for it," she said. "Nobody actually wants war, nobody wants bloodshed, but the government works for us and unfortunately it appears that they have forgotten that, quite a lot, so if a revolution is what it takes then so be it."JUST WATCHEDDale: 'Boatload of bad information' about Capitol riotsReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHDale: 'Boatload of bad information' about Capitol riots 04:42Right-wing news network OANN posted a photo of Cudd on Twitter Wednesday afternoon showing her inside the Capitol, wearing a Trump flag around her as a cape. And that evening, she posted a video from her hotel, where she drank a beer and choked back tears as she took her followers through what had happened that day."When Pence betrayed us is when we decided to storm the Capitol," she said.On Friday, Cudd told a local TV news outlet that she did nothing illegal."I pretty well walked up the steps and then there was an open door to the Capitol," she said. "I personally did not tear down anything, destroy anything."In response to a CNN request for comment Friday, Cudd texted a link to a video of herself repeating a version of the statement she made to the local outlet, saying, "cancel culture is in full force," and that she has "received several death threats, along with thousands of one-star reviews" for her business.Joel Finkelstein, director of the Network Contagion Research Institute at Rutgers University, said conspiracies on the web have mushroomed from smaller, obscure sites like 8kun frequented by adherents of QAnon to more mainstream sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The result, he said, is that many of the people drawn to the protests Wednesday were not extremists but rather ordinary Americans who did not understand that they had been lied to."These are our neighbors -- these are these are our neighbors and friends," he said. "They are people we all know. They were doing it on Facebook. They were doing it on Twitter. The threats to our democracy aren't coming just from 8chan. And they're not coming just from QAnon."Some of the more disturbingly violent chatter on social media reflects what appears to be a growing hostility toward Republican leaders on the part of Trump supporters."I'm fairly certain seeing Pelosis and Mitch the Bitch swinging bodies from a rope will get more attention from sheeple who normally don't follow or care about politics," said a commenter Wednesday on thedonald.win.And as law enforcement has begun to take a heavier hand with right-wing extremist groups -- Proud Boys leader Henry "Enrique" Tarrio was arrested by DC police ahead of the January 6 protest -- experts are noticing a growing antipathy for police in these circles, which have tended to consider themselves allies of men and women in uniform."That creates a pretty dangerous situation," said Southern Poverty Law Center senior research analyst Cassie Miller. "Because not only might there be violent encounters with leftists but it kind of increases the potential that there's going to be a violent confrontation with cops as well."CNN's Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Nelli Black, Blake Ellis, Drew Griffin, Melanie Hicken and Benjamin Naughton contributed to this report.

Casey Tolan, Rob Kuznia and Bob Ortega, CNN

2021-01-07 06:00:03

news

us

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/us/insurrection-capitol-extremist-groups-invs/index.html

Insurrection a stunning show of force for conspiracy groups, extremists and fringe movements - CNN

The mob of Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday included conspiracy theorists linked to QAnon and the Proud Boys -- two right-wing extremist factions that President Trump repeatedly refused to condemn during his election campaign last year.

us, Insurrection a stunning show of force for conspiracy groups, extremists and fringe movements - CNN

Insurrection fueled by conspiracy groups, extremists and fringe movements

(CNN)The mob of Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday included conspiracy theorists linked to QAnon and the Proud Boys -- two right-wing extremist factions that President Donald Trump repeatedly refused to condemn during his election campaign last year. The insurrection at the heart of America's democracy, egged on by Trump's rhetoric, represented a stunning show of force for the fringe movements and their adherents. Four people were left dead during the mayhem, according to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, including one woman shot by a U.S. Capitol Police officer and three other people who had medical emergencies.One of the most recognizable figures in the videos and photos of the chaos on Capitol Hill was a man in his 30s with a painted face, fur hat and a helmet with horns.The protester, Jake Angeli -- known by followers as the QAnon Shaman -- quickly became a symbol of the bizarre and frightening spectacle as photos circulated of him roaming the Capitol halls holding an American flag affixed to a spear in one hand and a bullhorn in the other, and even standing shirtless atop the Senate dais.Jake Angeli and others confront US Capitol police outside the Senate chamber on January 6.Angeli, who lives in Arizona, couldn't be reached for comment, but his cousin, Adam Angeli, confirmed that the man in the horns was his relative in a brief call with CNN Wednesday. Adam Angeli said he thought his cousin might be between jobs and that "he's a patriot, he's a very big United States of America type of a person."Read MoreJake Angeli's Facebook page is filled with posts evoking the conspiracy theories of QAnon, whose adherents believe in a ludicrous theory that there is a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who have infiltrated the highest reaches of American government and are being opposed by President Trump.Some of Angeli's Facebook posts have a violent edge, such as a meme declaring "we shall have no real hope to survive the enemies arranged against us until we hang the traitors lurking among us." One photo on Angeli's Facebook page depicts him adorned in the fur and horns, taking aim towards the camera with a rifle.In recent months, Angeli has been a regular presence at pro-Trump protests in Arizona, including demonstrations outside the Maricopa County vote-counting center.Other rioters photographed at the Capitol wore clothing with QAnon icons and held signs with slogans associated with the bizarre movement.CNN has highlighted Nick Ochs in a crowd of protesters storming the Capitol building during a joint session of Congress on January 6.The rioters who filled the Capitol also included Nick Ochs, the founder of Proud Boys Hawaii, a chapter of the far-right group. "Hello from the Capital lol," Ochs tweeted Wednesday, with a selfie of himself smoking a cigarette in the building."We didn't have to break in, I just walked in and filmed," Ochs told CNN in an interview Wednesday night. "There were thousands of people in there -- they had no control of the situation. I didn't get stopped or questioned."Ochs ran an unsuccessful campaign for the state legislature last year, winning an endorsement from Trump confidant Roger Stone, who recorded a video with him. He claimed in the interview with CNN that he was working as a professional journalist when he entered the Capitol, and that he didn't go into any congressional offices or the chambers. A far-right activist who was at the Capitol Wednesday was Tim Gionet, who livestreamed video of himself inside the building for more than 25 minutes, according to multiple screenshots of the recording shared on Twitter. Gionet, a prominent extremist voice who goes by the pseudonym "Baked Alaska" online, attended the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, said Hannah Gais, a senior researcher with the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center. Gais said she monitored the livestream as it was airing.Gionet has been suspended or barred from various online platforms. He could not be reached for comment. Richard "Bigo" Barnett sits inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on January 6.One of the most widely shared photos from the chaos showed Richard "Bigo" Barnett, the leader of a pro-gun rights group in Gravette, Arkansas, lounging in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office with his feet up on a desk.Barnett, 60, later showed reporters outside the Capitol an envelope that he said he took from Pelosi's desk. "I didn't steal it," he said of the envelope, which was addressed to another member of Congress, in a video posted on Twitter by a New York Times reporter. "I put a quarter on her desk even though she ain't f**king worth it." He said he also left a note on her desk that said "Nancy, Bigo was here you b*tch" and claimed that he was Maced. Facebook videos that appear to have been posted by Barnett on Wednesday show him walking near the Capitol. A photo posted that morning, where he is carrying an American flag, was captioned, "it's time," and he previously asked for prayers "as we do our best to protect our patriots in DC." Barnett could not be reached for comment.CNN's Blake Ellis, Melanie Hicken, Curt Devine, Scott Glover and Yahya Abou-Ghazala contributed to this report.

Julia Horowitz, CNN Business

2021-08-24 16:56:36

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/24/business/maersk-carbon-neutral-ships/index.html

Maersk just ordered 8 carbon neutral ships. Now it needs green fuel - CNN

Shipping giant Maersk is taking big strides to decarbonize its fleet with an order for eight new "green" container ships.

business, Maersk just ordered 8 carbon neutral ships. Now it needs green fuel - CNN

Maersk just ordered 8 carbon neutral ships. Now it needs green fuel

London (CNN Business)Shipping giant Maersk is taking big strides to decarbonize its fleet with an order for eight new "green" container ships.The only problem? There's not enough carbon neutral methanol to power the vessels.Maersk said Tuesday that it would spend $1.4 billion on eight large ships that will have the capacity to travel on green methanol as well as traditional fuel. The ships, which will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries and be able to transport approximately 16,000 containers, are expected to start operating in early 2024.They cost 10% to 15% more than standard vessels. Yet the Danish company needs to transition its fleet within the decade in order to meet its goal of net-zero carbon emissions from its operations by 2050. Container ships typically have a lifespan of between 20 and 25 years.The key challenge will be sourcing the green methanol needed to power the new ships sustainably. Maersk hopes that the size of its order will help jumpstart the market for cleaner fuel, but conceded this will be difficult.Read More"Sourcing an adequate amount of carbon neutral methanol from day one in service will be challenging, as it requires a significant production ramp up of proper carbon neutral methanol production," the company said in a statement.Shipping is one of the dirtiest industries, requiring drastic action if the world plans to rein in the accelerating climate crisis. Maritime emissions account for almost 3% of global carbon dioxide output, according to the International Maritime Organization."The time to act is now, if we are to solve shipping's climate challenge," CEO Soren Skou said. "This order proves that carbon neutral solutions are available today across container vessel segments and that Maersk stands committed to the growing number of our customers who look to decarbonize their supply chains."The company said that more than half of its 200 largest customers have set, or are in the process of setting, targets to cut the carbon intensity in their supply chains, pointing to retailer H&M and consumer goods behemoth Unilever (UL). That will require cooperation from Maersk, the world's largest container shipping line.Adding the ships to the company's fleet as it retires older vessels will save 1 million metric tons in annual carbon dioxide emissions, the firm estimates. In 2020, Maersk ships emitted about 33.9 million metric tons of CO2 from its fleet of around 700 vessels, according to its sustainability report.Last week, Maersk announced that it had secured partners to produce the green fuel needed to power its first ship to run on carbon neutral methanol, which is due to launch in 2023. But that vessel is significantly smaller than the ones the company just ordered.

Ana De Oliva, CNN

2021-12-22 11:19:10

news

europe

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/22/europe/exotec-robots-warehouse-spc-intl/index.html

Shelf-climbing robots are helping warehouses meet the holiday rush - CNN

French company Exotec has created robots able to help warehouse staff pick items from shelves up to 12 meters high.

europe, Shelf-climbing robots are helping warehouses meet the holiday rush - CNN

Shelf-climbing robots are helping warehouses meet the holiday rush

(CNN)In a warehouse south of Paris, days before Christmas, Santa has a different kind of helper. Instead of Rudolph, Dasher and Dancer, there is Fylu, Lane and Ruqi -- to name just a few. They may not have a red nose but what they do have in common with Santa's reindeer is the ability to fly -- well, almost.These autonomous robots, created by French company Exotec, are designed to help warehouse staff pick items from shelves up to 12 meters high. While there are other robots working in warehouses across the globe, what makes these different is that they move vertically.There's a shortage of truckers, but TuSimple thinks it has a solution: no driver needed"When they climb in the rack, they go at 1.5 meters per second, so this is a very fast piece of equipment," says Gilles Baulard, Exotec's executive vice president of sales. Baulard says that being able to collect items from these heights means a warehouse needs less space to fulfill its orders.Read MoreRead: Giant inflatable sails could make shipping greenerThis particular warehouse is operated by Monoprix, one of France's largest retailers, processing 45 million sales each year. Exotec's system is designed to easily adapt to peak times, like the holidays. When sales are high, it's a matter of just calling in reinforcements."They doubled their fleet of robots to face the surge of throughput during that season," explains Baulard. "Putting (in) more robots is a bit like hiring new temporary employees."Partnering with brands like Gap in the US and Uniqlo in Japan, Exotec's system currently operates in 24 facilities, with 17 others being installed worldwide. So, if you like your gifts this year, thank Santa, but maybe also Pahe, Mozu and Goku for making sure they were delivered in time for the holidays.Watch the video to find out more

Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN Business

2021-12-06 13:00:41

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/06/business/doordash-15-minute-delivery/index.html

DoorDash thinks speedy delivery is the future. Will it work? - CNN

On Monday, DoorDash is offering 10-15 minute delivery from a new Dashmart, which stocks groceries, home goods and packaged restaurant products, in New York City.

business, DoorDash thinks speedy delivery is the future. Will it work? - CNN

DoorDash thinks speedy grocery delivery is the future

New York (CNN Business)DoorDash is jumping on the speedy delivery trend. Starting Monday, the company is offering 10- to 15-minute delivery in New York City from a new Dashmart, which stocks groceries, household goods and packaged restaurant products. Customers within the delivery zone will see the new option under a "convenience" tab in the app or on the DoorDash website. With the launch, DoorDash is following a model that has been embraced by a number of startups trying to upend delivery in urban areas. Companies like GoPuff, Gorillas and Fridge No More have been setting up and stocking warehouses in major cities around the world, with promises of super-fast delivery. DoorDash is offering rapid delivery in just one location to start, but it's hoping to scale up in other areas. As it considers settings that are more spread out than New York City, the company will rethink what it can offer, said DoorDash president Christopher Payne.DoorDash is offering 10-15 minute delivery in a New York City neighborhood. "In New York, the density is such [that] you can have a really tight radius around ... the store and deliver in 10 to 15 minutes," he said. "You're not going to have that type of density if you go into the suburbs, but you could deliver rapidly," he said. "Instead of 10 to 15 [minutes], it might be 20 to 30," he said. Read MoreThe pandemic has accelerated online grocery shopping, with more customers warming up to the idea of having that type of food delivered. And with the new option, DoorDash is banking on what it sees as a long-term trend toward speed and convenience. "There's a massive long arc of consumer expectations rising," said Payne. "Bringing goods and services to consumers in minutes, not hours or days ... is going to be a trend that will last for many, many years to come."To stand up the new service, DoorDash is hiring about 60 people, said Payne. Employees who work on rapid delivery will have set schedules. In addition to delivering, they'll conduct other tasks like packing grocery orders, customer service and more. Competition and pushback Speedy delivery in New York City is a competitive market. To set itself apart from the herd, DoorDash is hoping to attract customers that already use it for other services. Customers who use Dashpass, a monthly subscription that entitles members to free delivery other perks, will also get free delivery for the new service. In addition to competitors, DoorDash may also have to contend with unhappy local businesses. New York City bodega owners have decried the new startups, saying that they can't compete with VC-backed services and prompting Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer to call for an investigation into the new delivery warehouses. "As we work out the the capabilities required to do 10 to 15 minute delivery at scale, we will open that up as a platform and offer that to bodegas, corner shops and other stores where it fits their needs," Payne said, adding that it works with local shops on some of its platforms already, and that it is creating a small business advisory council in New York City.

Rochelle Beighton, CNN

2021-08-25 08:38:28

news

world

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/25/world/yara-birkeland-norway-crewless-container-ship-spc-intl/index.html

World's first crewless, zero emissions cargo ship will set sail in Norway - CNN

The Yara Birkeland is what its builders call the world's first zero-emission, autonomous cargo ship.

world, World's first crewless, zero emissions cargo ship will set sail in Norway - CNN

World's first crewless, zero emissions cargo ship will set sail in Norway

(CNN)A Norwegian company has created what it calls the world's first zero-emission, autonomous cargo ship.If all goes to plan, the ship will make its first journey between two Norwegian towns before the end of the year, with a reduced crew on board to test the autonomous systems. Eventually, all movements will be monitored from three onshore data control centers.It's not the first autonomous ship -- an autonomous ferry launched in Finland in 2018 -- but it is the first fully electric container ship, say its makers. Developed by chemical company Yara International, the Yara Birkeland was designed to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, which are toxic pollutants and greenhouse gases, and carbon dioxide, as well as moving freight away from roads to the sea.The Yara Birkeland is scheduled to make its first journey before the end of the year.The shipping industry currently accounts for between 2.5% and 3% of global greenhouse gases emissions, according to the International Maritime Organization.Nearly all of Norway's electricity is generated by hydroelectric power, which is generally considered to have much lower carbon emissions than burning fossil fuels, although it still produces greenhouse gases.This 'nano factory' fits inside a shipping container Read MoreFirst conceptualized in 2017, the ship was created in partnership with technology firm Kongsberg Maritime and shipbuilder Vard. Capable of carrying 103 containers and with a top speed of 13 knots, it will use a 7 MWh battery, with "about a thousand times the capacity of one electrical car," according to Jon Sletten, plant manager for Yara's factory in Porsgrunn, Norway.He says it will be charged at the quayside "before sailing to container harbors along the coast and then back again, replacing 40,000 truck journeys a year." Uncharted territoryAs well as providing a greener option compared to conventional cargo ships, Sletten says being crewless means it will be more cost effective to operate.Initially, loading and unloading the ship will require humans, but according to Sletten, all loading, discharging, and mooring operations, including berthing and unberthing the vessel, will also eventually operate using autonomous technology. That will involve developing autonomous cranes and straddle carriers -- vehicles that place containers onto ships.A model launch of the zero-emission ship Yara Birkeland.The Yara Birkeland was originally slated to set sail last year, but the Covid-19 pandemic coupled with logistical challenges delayed its launch."We overestimated the scope of it in the beginning and started with too many activities in parallel," says Sletten.After shifting the project from a fast track to a more step-by-step approach, Sletten hopes the ship will transport its first container from the town of Herøya to Brevik this year.The project has also required regulations to be developed together with the Norwegian maritime authorities to allow an autonomous ship to navigate the country's waterways for the first time. From container to commercialRudy Negenborn, a maritime and transport technology professor at Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands, says fully autonomous vessels like the Yara Birkeland are the future. But he adds that there are many challenges to overcome before autonomous ships can be used for commercial long sea journeys. He says navigating traffic in large ports (unlike the relatively quiet inland ports the Yara Birkeland will sail to) could be a major obstacle. This swarm of robots gets smarter the more it works"At some point, these ships will have to start interacting with each other so they can exchange information and create paths that are not conflicting," he says.Negenborn adds that without a crew onboard to carry out maintenance checks, autonomous ships would need built-in self-diagnosing systems with the ability to detect and fix problems, or call for human assistance.Besides technical issues, he says there are also legal implications when looking at traveling between countries."The Yara Birkeland operates along the Norwegian coast, but if it went further, then it might encounter other territorial regions with perhaps different rules and regulations that need to be met," says Negenborn. "Who is liable if something goes wrong?" Although Yara International has no plans to add more autonomous ships to its operations, Sletten says we may see more elements of AI technology used on commercial ships in the future."On overseas vessels is perhaps a step too far, but I think elements are already being used in shipping today when it comes to mooring and to the voyage," he says. "I think we'll see more partly autonomous elements added." This story has been updated with additional details about the ship's inaugural launch.

Stephanie Bailey, CNN

2021-06-24 03:02:44

news

europe

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/23/europe/nano-factory-shipping-container-spc-intl/index.html

This 'nano factory' fits inside a shipping container - CNN

Consumer goods giant Unilever has developed a fully functioning production line inside a shipping container.

europe, This 'nano factory' fits inside a shipping container - CNN

This 'nano factory' fits inside a shipping container

(CNN)When you think of a factory, you might imagine a giant facility with huge chimneys belching steam. But consumer goods giant Unilever has developed a fully functioning production line inside a shipping container.The company has over 300 factories in 69 countries, but this is its first experiment with what it calls a "nano" or "travel" factory. Mass production lines allow manufacturers to make large quantities of products but using the same facilities to produce smaller batches of goods -- to test new ideas or to meet seasonal demand -- can be wasteful and inefficient.Because of its size, the 40-foot container can be transported by cargo ship or truck to any location, says Unilever. It just needs a source of water and access to electricity to begin production. The nano factory is currently in the Netherlands, in the middle of its first trial producing liquid bouillon, a cooked stock packed in a bottle. Unilever says the factory is making around 300 tons of bouillon per eight-hour shift.Read More Photos: The robots running our warehousesRobots are an increasingly familiar presence in warehouses. At the south-east London warehouse run by British online supermarket Ocado, 3,000 robots fulfill shopping orders. When an order is sent to the warehouse, the bots spring to life and head towards the container they require. Scroll through to see more robots that are revolutionizing warehouses.Hide Caption 1 of 8 Photos: The robots running our warehousesIn response to the coronavirus pandemic, MIT collaborated with Ava Robotics and the Greater Boston Food Bank to design a robot that can use UV light to sanitize the floor of a 4,000-square foot warehouse in just 30 minutes. Hide Caption 2 of 8 Photos: The robots running our warehousesSeven-foot "Model-T" robots produced by Japanese startup Telexistence have been stacking shelves in two of Tokyo's largest convenience store franchises. Featuring cameras, microphones and sensors, the Model-T uses three "fingers" to stock items such as bottled drinks, cans and rice bowls. The robot is controlled by shop staff remotely.Hide Caption 3 of 8 Photos: The robots running our warehousesUS company Boston Dynamics has become known for its advanced work robots. "Handle" is made for the warehouse and equipped with an on-board vision system. It can lift boxes weighing over 30 pounds. Hide Caption 4 of 8 Photos: The robots running our warehousesStretch is the latest robot from Boston Dynamics and can work in warehouses and distribution centers. Designed to keep human workers out of harm's way, Stretch's tentacle-like grippers mean it can manipulate boxes. Hide Caption 5 of 8 Photos: The robots running our warehousesAlthough not specifically designed for warehouses, Boston Dynamics' dog-like robot "Spot" can lift objects, pick itself up after a fall, open and walk through doors, and even remind people to practice social distancing. Hide Caption 6 of 8 Photos: The robots running our warehousesThis robot is used to plant seeds and check plants at the "Nordic Harvest" vertical farm based in Taastrup, Denmark. The indoor farm is one of the biggest in Europe.Hide Caption 7 of 8 Photos: The robots running our warehousesRobots sort packages at a warehouse run by JD.com -- one of China's largest e-commerce firms, in Wuhan, China, ahead of the annual Singles Day online shopping bonanza, in 2019.Hide Caption 8 of 8 Greater flexibilityAccording to Marc Engel, Unilever's chief supply chain officer, the whole manufacturing process happens inside the container, starting with processing the raw ingredients, and including packaging the finished product. As the equipment has been specifically developed for small spaces, he says there are some differences to a standard factory, such as using electricity for heat instead of steam.Engel says the nano factory is fully digitized and has sensors that send live production data to a central control room. While some processes are fully automated, he says three on-site operators are required per shift -- two to activate the production and manage the line and one to manage packaging and take away the final product. For Engel, one of the most important features of the nano factory is that it's mobile. This allows for greater flexibility to tailor to demand in local markets and to source local ingredients, meaning resources and emissions aren't wasted shipping ingredients and products from faraway, he says.Unilever's nano factory being maneuvered into position in Wageningen, Netherlands. "Having the nano factory in a shipping container lets us get our production to where it needs to be," Engel says. "Products can be rolled out faster and scale can be ramped up or down quickly to match consumer trends." Scaling up The trial of the nano factory started in June, after delays due to Covid-19 restrictions, and will run for the next few weeks, according to Engel. This swarm of robots gets smarter the more it worksIf the trial is successful, he says Unilever hopes to use the factory to make other products, as well as looking to create new nano factories. "This small-scale production approach can definitely go beyond liquid bouillon and be used to produce mayonnaise, ice cream and even beauty or home care products," he says. "We are also exploring plans to lease, rent or sell these units to young entrepreneurs." Richard Wilding, professor of supply chain strategy at Cranfield University, in England, says that if rolled out in greater numbers, these kinds of nano factories could help make manufacturing networks stronger and more specialized, but could also create problems further down the line. "You are distributing your manufacturing base and that is going to be more resilient, particularly in a Covid world," he says. "But one of the things you have to think about is once the items are actually produced, how do you manage the supply chain to the actual customers?"Wilding adds that nano factories will require workers to have new skills, which may be challenging to find in some locations. However, he can see a future for these kinds of facilities responding to local needs.A robotic 'Ironhand' could protect factory workers from injuries"What we could start envisaging, if you've got a large retail outlet or retail complex, why not have a nano factory located at the complex? So it is producing precisely what the customer wants -- more or less on demand," he says. Engel says a network of nano factories with local supply lines and a centralized controller could be part of Unilever's future. "The purpose of the nano factory is not to match the output of a big factory with large-scale facilities, but a network of these nano factories would give Unilever greater innovation flexibility," he says. "The future could potentially see a new, dynamic model with local, distributed production lines all over the world, run from a central mothership."

Moira Ritter, CNN Business

2021-06-15 21:45:37

business

tech

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/15/tech/amazon-fresh-cashierless/index.html

Amazon wants to make your life easier. Here's how it's changing grocery shopping - CNN

Amazon wants to make grocery shopping as efficient as possible. So it's eliminating checkout lines.

tech, Amazon wants to make your life easier. Here's how it's changing grocery shopping - CNN

Amazon wants to make your life easier. Here's how it's changing grocery shopping

(CNN Business)Amazon wants to make grocery shopping as efficient as possible. So it's eliminating checkout lines.The company announced Tuesday that will introduce what it calls Just Walk Out technology — which allows customers to pay for their groceries without waiting in line for a cashier — at its newest Amazon Fresh store. That store is set to open June 17 in Bellevue, Washington. (Customers are not obliged to use it, and can still check out the old-fashioned way.)Amazon's grocery chain is growing. It isn't Whole FoodsAmazon (AMZN) wants to showcase the software's "continued ability to scale and adapt to new environments and selection," said Dilip Kumar, the company's vice president of Physical Retail and Technology, in a statement. As they enter the new Fresh store's entrance, customers who want to use the Just Walk Out option will be prompted to scan a QR code from their Amazon app, scan their palm or insert the payment card linked to their Amazon account. Anyone with an Amazon account can use the technology.Some analysts see this as a play for Amazon to increase Prime membership and keep customers coming back. Read MoreUntil this week, the cashier-less option was implemented only at the company's smaller convenience stores, Amazon Go and Amazon Go Grocery, Amazon Fresh stores in the UK and third-party retailers. Implementation at the new Fresh store, which is 25,000 square feet, marks the first time the technology will be used in a full-size grocery store.The average supermarket was 42,415 square feet as of 2019, according to the Food Marketing Institute.According to Amazon's website, there are 22 Amazon Go locations in the United States and a single Amazon Go Grocery in Seattle.The new Fresh store, its 14th location in the United States, marks one of Amazon's latest forays into the grocery industry. Whole Foods, Amazon's organic grocery chain, targets a wealthier clientele, and its smaller Go and Go Grocery stores have limited offerings. The Fresh stores, however, are targeted at lower- and middle-income customers and function as full-sized grocery stores.While Amazon is ahead of other grocery retailers in developing and implementing cashierless technology, it remains to be seen if its smart shopping options are viable for larger stores, especially after earlier technologies had lackluster results. Amazon has introduced other smart shopping technologies in recent years, although the Dash Cart — which allows shoppers to scan groceries, link to online shopping lists and check out their groceries — will not be available at the new Fresh store. Customers can use Amazon One, the palm scan, when they opt in to Just Walk Out.David Bishop, a partner at consulting firm Brick Meets Click, notes that "the level of engagement that they're getting with the Dash Cart is far lower than it should be if it was based on the percentage of prime members shopping inside their store." Customers don't perceive that the benefits are "enough to justify or motivate the customer to use it," he added.The company's cashierless technology relies on computer vision, sensors, and deep learning to monitor what goes in and out of customers' carts. It can tell when an item leaves the shelf and is placed into a customer's cart, or if it's replaced on the shelf if the customer changes their mind. When a customer finishes shopping, they can just walk out of the store with their purchases, and the app automatically charges the selected payment method and sends customers their bill.You can now get Amazon groceries delivered inside your garageIn addition to saving shoppers time, Amazon wants to minimize customer contact within the stores, Kumar said in the statement. Just Walk Out allows customers to shop and checkout without interacting with anyone.Correction: This story previously misstated which Amazon customers can use the technology.

Nell Lewis, CNN Business

2020-09-15 01:10:54

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/14/business/robots-japan-supermarkets-spc-intl/index.html

Robots are stacking shelves in Tokyo convenience stores - CNN

Japan's convenience stores are turning to robots to solve their labor shortage.

business, Robots are stacking shelves in Tokyo convenience stores - CNN

Seven-foot robots are stacking shelves in Tokyo convenience stores

London (CNN Business)Japan has the oldest population in the world, and that's causing an acute labor shortage. With almost a third of the population aged 65 and above, finding workers can be a challenge.Increasingly, companies are turning to technology as a solution — including two of the biggest convenience store franchises in Japan, FamilyMart and Lawson.This week, Lawson deployed its first robot in a convenience store, in Tokyo. FamilyMart trialled the same robots last month, and says it plans to have them working in 20 of its stores by 2022. FamilyMart has trialled a shelf-stacking robot at a Tokyo branch.Both chains are deploying a robot named Model-T, developed by Japanese startup Telexistence. Seven feet tall when extended to its full height, the robot moves around on a wheeled platform and is kitted out with cameras, microphones and sensors. Using the three "fingers" on each of its two hands it can stock shelves with products such as bottled drinks, cans and rice bowls."It is able to grasp, or pick and place, objects of several different shapes and sizes into different locations," Matt Komatsu, head of business development and operations at Telexistence, tells CNN Business. Read MoreThis sets it apart from other robots used in stores, such as those used by Walmart to scan shelf inventory, or the ones used in warehouses to stack boxes. Warehouse robots "pick up the same thing from the same place and place it on the same platform — their movement is very limited compared to ours," says Komatsu.Remote controlThe Model-T robot — named after the Ford automobile that pioneered assembly line production in the early 20th Century — is controlled by shop staff remotely. A human "pilot" wears a virtual reality (VR) headset and special gloves that let them "feel" in their own hands the products the robot is holding. Microphones and headphones allow them to communicate with people in the store.Telexistence does not plan to sell the robots and VR systems directly to stores, but will provide them for a fee. It would not disclose the price but said it would be cost-competitive with human labor. In theory, the robot could be controlled from anywhere in the world, says Komatsu. During a trial in August at a FamilyMart store in Tokyo, the pilot operated the robot from a VR terminal at the Telexistence office around five miles away. This makes recruitment easier and offers potential for hiring overseas in places with lower labor costs, says Komatsu. He adds that controlling the robot is straightforward and would not require skilled pilots.The artificial skin that allows robots to feelStores would also be able to operate with fewer workers. "A remote-controlled robot allows one person to work at multiple stores," says Satoru Yoshizawa, a representative of FamilyMart.Yoshizawa says that many of the company's stores find it especially difficult to hire people for short periods of three to five hours a day for shelf stacking. With a robot, they could employ a single operator to work across multiple stores, and focus on hiring humans to work at cash registers, he says. Lawson faces the same problem. "We have been trying to solve the labor shortage in some of our stores and through this experiment we are going to examine how the robots will help," Ken Mochimaru, of Lawson's corporate communications division, tells CNN Business. If it proves effective, he says that Lawson will consider rolling out the robots across more of its branches. Compared to other countries, Japan's labor shortage means there's less concern that the deployment of robots will result in human job losses. Prior to Covid-19, according to a 2020 report by management consulting firm McKinsey, Japan was on track to automate 27% of existing work tasks by 2030. Although that could replace the jobs of some 16 million people, the report said, it would still leave the country short of 1.5 million workers. Apple's newest iPhone feature aims to replace the car keyImmigration could also help to fill the shortfall. The government has made some moves to open up Japan to foreign workers, but experts argue that Japan lags behind other industrialized countries in extolling the benefits of immigrants to its population. Gee Hee Hong, an economist at the International Monetary Fund, tells CNN Business that immigration is unlikely to rise enough to compensate for the aging population anytime soon.Embracing "labor-saving technology" is part of the solution, says Hong, but she adds that there are still hurdles to overcome before the widespread adoption of robots in daily life. Japan will need to work out a "legal framework for the use of such technologies alongside the general population," she says, including consumer protection and data protection.She adds that there needs to be "strong and effective social nets" in place to minimize negative impacts on unskilled workers.Covid-19 accelerating automationThe pandemic has boosted interest in automation, one reason being that robots could help to reduce human-to-human contact. Komatsu says that Telexistence has received increased interest from potential partners and customers. The robots will be remotely operated at first, until their AI learns to copy human movements.However, the Model-T robot still has a way to go before it operates to the same standard as a human worker. It takes the robot eight seconds to put one item on a shelf, whereas it takes around five seconds for a human to do the same. So far, the bot can only handle packaged products, not loose bakery items or fruits and vegetables. Telexistence, which launched in 2017, is working to improve these limitations. Using AI, the company hopes to teach the robot to copy human movements automatically, so that it can operate without a pilot.

Robert Playter for CNN Business Perspectives

2020-09-10 12:18:10

business

perspectives

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/perspectives/robots-future-of-work-boston-dynamics/index.html

Robots won't take away our jobs. They will make work safer and more efficient (opinion) - CNN

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, industries that did not previously pose a health and safety risk to workers -- such as package and food delivery, travel, hospitality and even energy, transportation and construction -- now do.

perspectives, Robots won't take away our jobs. They will make work safer and more efficient (opinion) - CNN

Robots won't take away our jobs. They will make work safer and more efficient

Robert Playter is CEO of Boston Dynamics. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, industries that did not previously pose a health and safety risk to workers -- such as package and food delivery, travel, hospitality and even energy, transportation and construction -- now do. Many of these jobs can't be accomplished through Zoom, requiring a physical presence. So employers are looking to technology to help protect their workers from infection. They are relying on technologies like mobile agile robots to do the myriad of jobs that require a physical presence so human workers don't run the risk of getting sick.This pandemic-inspired partnership of people and machines is one that I believe will long outlast the pandemic itself and redefine the future of work.Pairing robots that can do the physical work with humans that provide true intelligence, perception and the ability to make decisions can enable work to continue in environments that would otherwise be unsafe or simply unpleasant for humans.Robot dogs join US Air Force exercise giving glimpse at potential battlefield of the futureThe result of this pairing is only as effective as the robot itself. An organizing principle of our work at Boston Dynamics has been to create machines that have some of the physical intelligence that we humans tend to take for granted. Negotiating a cluttered room without tripping, climbing stairs, opening a door or stacking boxes becomes automatic to us humans once we grow beyond the toddler stage. But these basic physical skills have been beyond the capability of most mobile robots until recently. In understanding both the capabilities and limitations of robots, we can better visualize a role for them within the workplace that augments, rather than replaces, human labor. There are already a number of applications in which robots and humans work in tandem, with robots assuming the risky, tedious or physically demanding parts of the job while a human co-worker, possibly located remotely, provides critical judgment and guidance. Ford, for example, is pairing a robot with engineers to map its facility and create digital blueprints. Aker BP, an oil exploration and development company, is exploring how robots can assume risky tasks on offshore operations. Read MoreHealth care is an obvious, but impactful use of robotic technology as well. Robots can't get sick so using them in certain circumstances could help protect both health care workers and patients. First responders, for example, can now use robots to interact with Covid-stricken households and collect vital signs.Retail and delivery companies have explored using robots and drones to sort or deliver packages for years. With Covid risks, the need for this technology became immediate. Using robots to handle the last-mile delivery of packages and limit human interaction, for example, not only helps protect drivers, but it also reassures customers. Last year, DoorDash announced the use of a food delivery robot and FedEx announced a rollout of an autonomous delivery robot. Health concerns will only accelerate such adoption of robotic technology. Amazon gets closer to drone delivery with FAA approvalEssential services, like electricity generation and construction, are also now using robots for repetitive and tedious inspection tasks while reserving critical judgment for a human operator located safely in a remote control center. They are incorporating robotics with unprecedented speed and integrating the technology into the regular responsibilities of site managers and project leads. The impact has been profound: What often amounted to weeks or months of work can now be streamlined into days.Rather than seeing robots as threats to manual labor and entry-level positions, the pandemic is requiring us to think about how technology can augment and even improve our current jobs. When a solution -- like agile mobile robots -- proves to be useful for today's health and safety challenges, but is also versatile enough to be easily adapted for tomorrow's need for a scaled workforce, it is well positioned for widespread and sustained adoption. The pandemic may have sped up the partnership between robots and humans, but businesses will ultimately see the long-term payoff of keeping this technology in place long after the pandemic is over.

Alaa Elassar, CNN

2021-04-19 12:33:40

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/19/business/compton-vertical-farm-plenty-trnd/index.html

A giant, indoor vertical farm aims to bring jobs and fresh produce to Compton - CNN

An innovative agriculture startup plans to open an indoor vertical farm in Compton to help bring more jobs and loads of fresh produce to the California city.

business, A giant, indoor vertical farm aims to bring jobs and fresh produce to Compton - CNN

A giant, indoor vertical farm aims to bring jobs and fresh produce to Compton

(CNN)An innovative agriculture startup plans to open an indoor vertical farm in Compton to help bring more jobs and loads of fresh produce to the California city.Plenty, the company behind the project, said it will condense 700 acres of farmland into a 95,000 square foot warehouse in Los Angeles County, where food-bearing plants will grow vertically and in abundance. The Compton site will be the company's second and largest vertical farm. Plenty opened its first vertical farm in San Francisco in 2018, and maintains a research and development farm in Laramie, Wyoming.By building farms vertically, Plenty said it is able to grow healthy, quality produce without harming the environment. The unique layout will also make it possible to establish farms in urban areas, where land resources are limited and food insecurity is widespread.An innovative approach to farmingRead MorePlenty uses a range of technologies to realize its goal of more productive and Earth-friendly farming -- including vertical plant towers, LED lighting and robots to plant, feed and harvest crops.The farms are able to grow plants faster, with greater nutritional density, and without the help of pesticides, the company said. To create them, the company said it does not clear lands or pollute grounds, and only uses a fraction of the water that traditional farming requires."It is very impactful from a climate change perspective," Shireen Santosham, Plenty's head of strategic initiatives, told CNN. "Eighty to 90% of water used around the world is for agriculture. Because we grow our plants using precise nutrient recipes, we can use a very small solution of water."Workers packing products at Plenty's vertical farm in South San Francisco.Traditional farms are usually only able to harvest crops a few times a year, said Santosham. But because Plenty's farms are free of constraints like seasonal and weather changes, harmful pests and natural disasters, they can produce food all year long. The company said it also prioritizes health and cleanliness. Its crops are cultivated in a hyper clean environments, where staff dress in full personal protective equipment and robots do much of the picking. The first time produce is touched by bare hands is when a consumer opens a food package at home, the company said.Plenty said it's all part of its mission "to improve the lives of Plants, People and our Planet."Helping to uplift the Compton communityWith its Compton farm, Plenty said it aims to tackle issues of unemployment and food insecurity."Plenty looks at food justice as racial justice, so it's important to us that the nutritious products we're producing are available locally in Compton," Santosham said. "We will also donate products to various organizations that combat food insecurity."The company has already partnered with Alma Backyard Farms, a local community garden, to distribute hundreds of meal kits to residents during the pandemic.Why a new generation of Black farmers is getting into the businessThe number of people living with food insecurity in Los Angeles County increased exponentially following the coronavirus pandemic, jumping from 1 in 5 people to 1 in 4 people now needing food assistance, according to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.Plenty said it's also committed to hiring 50 full-time employees from Compton, and is partnering with local workforce development groups to build its team."Jobs are dignity, jobs are pride, and we want to make sure we're lifting up individuals in the community when we go into a new city," Santosham said.Plenty also plans to partner with the local school district to teach students about agriculture. Compton Mayor Aja Brown has welcomed Plenty to the city and praised it for engaging with the community."We are happy to see the Plenty farm start to grow its roots in the community during the build out process," Brown said in a statement. "The vegetables Plenty produces will be proudly grown and managed by Compton residents, and we look forward to creating a solid partnership with them."Brown told CNN affiliate KABC that she believes Plenty's "mission to combat food insecurities is right in line with our vision that we have for Compton."The new farm will be complete by the end of 2021, Plenty said, and will service more than 100 grocery stores in California.

Chris Isidore, CNN Business

2021-05-29 13:16:25

business

economy

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/29/economy/truck-driver-shortage-pay-hikes/index.html

Truckers are getting big pay hikes, but there's still a shortage of drivers - CNN

America's truck driver shortage is driving pay higher. But it's not solving the scarcity of truckers.

economy, Truckers are getting big pay hikes, but there's still a shortage of drivers - CNN

Truckers are getting big pay hikes, but there's still a shortage of drivers

New York (CNN Business)America's truck driver shortage is driving pay higher. But it's not solving the scarcity of truckers.Massive increases in online ordering during the pandemic have sent demand for delivery truck drivers through the roof. That's increased competition for those willing to be long-haul truckers, forcing those trucking companies to hike pay. But that hasn't persuaded enough people to take the long-distance driving jobs that the industry needs to fill.Huge turnoverThe pay hikes are instead prompting many drivers to bounce from company to company. The average annual turnover rate for drivers is about 95% for truckload carriers, the segment of the industry that moves trailer-size shipments long distances. Truckload carriers are experiencing the industry's most severe driver shortages.Read MoreDrivers appreciate the increased pay, but they're keeping an eye on what's being offered elsewhere, said Daniel Walton, a 47-year-old truck driver at Roehl Transport, a Wisconsin-based trucking company with 2,300 drivers,"Everybody loves getting more money," said Walton. "You hear numbers thrown at you, there is a temptation to go elsewhere." Recently he had one friend go to Walmart (WMT), another to FedEx (FDX), which have more regular routes and time at home for their drivers. The opposite effectIronically, rising pay itself may be exacerbating the shortages it's designed to solve. Many drivers are using the larger paychecks to cut down on their driving. "Drivers want to be home more. They have expressed that to us," said Tim Norlin, vice president of driver employment at Roehl.Walton said he knows drivers who are using the increased pay to cut back their time on the road."You see guys with young children, they were out there working," he said. "This affords them the opportunity to be home a little more with their children."A tough life on the roadWalton is on the road about four weeks out of every five, but after a 22-year career in the merchant marine before becoming a truck driver, he said his family is used to him being away for long stretches. And while Walton says he enjoys life on the road, he acknowledges it's not for everyone. He helps train new drivers at Roehl, and he's had drivers quit soon after joining because of stress or homesickness.Daniel Walton, a truck driver for Roehl Transport, said some of the other drivers at his company are using two recent pay increases to drive less and be at home more."In a truck you are alone, and it takes a fair amount of fortitude," he said. The greatest shortage of truckers is in the segment known as truckload carriers, which move trailer-size shipments of freight long distances. Drivers working for those companies are often on the road for weeks at a time, taking one load after another, driving the maximum hours allowed and sleeping in their trucks when they're off. So companies like FedEx, UPS, Amazon and Walmart that can offer more regular routes and time at home have an edge beyond pay when competing for those drivers.Another source of competition for drivers comes from the hot construction market, where workers don't have to be on the road. Rising pay to stay competitiveTrucking companies are boosting pay to keep drivers on their payrolls. This week, Roehl put in place its second pay increase of this year, which together should increase driver pay at the company about $4,000 to $6,000 a year, or about 9% to 11%. "We have to offer that addition pay to be competitive," said Norlin..Another truckload company, CR England, announced in April its third pay hike in the last three years, increasing its drivers' pay by more than 50% compared to 2018.The trucking companies are charging higher rates to customers and taking on more work when the drivers are available."Our customers have been very understanding that it's necessary to raise rates," said Norlin. "I could literally hire 500 to 1,000 more drivers -- we have the business offerings from customers to keep them busy."Walton said that he's seen his pay increase from about $40,000 a year a few years ago to probably $70,000 this year. Drug tests and teenage driversComing this summer: Gas stations running out of gasOne factor that has reduced the supply of drivers is a new federal clearinghouse that alerts carriers to drivers who have failed drug tests, DUIs or other substance abuse problems on their records. Some 54,000 drivers have been barred from driving since the clearing house went into effect in early 2020. "We are in favor of the clearinghouse. We do not want those people on the road," said Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations.What his group really wants, however, is a roll back of federal law prohibiting anyone younger than 21 from driving heavy trucks."Why are 18, 19 and 20-year olds able to drive tanks and fly planes in the military and they can't drive trucks?" he said. The industry is concerned that those graduating high school are precluded from considering a career as a driver for three years, prompting them to seek other jobs and choking off the pipeline of potential drivers."If we got to them earlier, we might be able to attract more drivers to the job," he said.But even that change wouldn't be enough to stem the shortfall. "There's no one reason for the driver shortage, so there's no one solution," Costello said.

Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business

2021-01-21 15:48:05

business

success

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/21/success/self-driving-car-technology-2021/index.html

The real self-driving revolution remains years away - CNN

This year, new technologies will enable more drivers to take their hands off the wheel while on the road. But that doesn't mean their cars will be fully self-driving -- that day still remains far in the future.

success, The real self-driving revolution remains years away - CNN

The real self-driving revolution remains years away

(CNN)This year, new technologies will enable more drivers to take their hands off the wheel while on the road. But that doesn't mean their cars will be fully self-driving -- that day still remains far in the future. Automakers like General Motors (GM), Ford (F) and Stellantis (the company formed in the recent merger of Fiat Chrysler and Groupe PSA) are introducing -- or upgrading existing -- technologies that allow drivers to completely take their hands off the steering wheel and pull their feet away from the pedals for long stretches of time. But these systems will still be limited in their capabilities. Drivers will still be required to pay constant attention to the road, for instance. In the words of automated driving experts, these systems are "feet off" and "hands off," but they will not be "eyes off" or "mind off." For the time being, these systems will only be used on limited-access divided highways with on-ramps and off-ramps. On these roadways, there are no pedestrians, bicyclists, or double parked trucks. Vehicles with this technology will be able to drive at relatively high speeds, but only in simple traffic situations.First introduced on the Cadillac CT6, General Motors' Super Cruise technology allows for hands-free driving on highways. An improved version is coming out this year.Bryan Reimer, a transportation researcher with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AgeLab, said it will be decades before people can buy truly self-driving cars in which humans ride solely as passengers.Read MoreUntil then, people will experience greater levels of "collaborative driving," in which people still play a critical role by overseeing the computers and machinery operating the vehicle and by driving themselves in complex situations, he said. Keep your eyes on the roadStill, the technology that will be rolled out by the major automakers this year will do more than most so-called Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, or ADAS, do now. Tesla's Autopilot -- currently considered one of the most advanced systems -- still requires drivers to regularly grasp the steering wheel, even though the car will hold a lane, change lanes and even take highway interchange ramps on its own. Driver assistance systems in cars from other automakers like Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Nissan, also require drivers to regularly grip the steering wheel.Tesla's new Autopilot is amazing. But please keep your eyes on the roadGM's Super Cruise system allows drivers to completely let go of the steering wheel while driving on selected highways. It was introduced in 2017 on the Cadillac CT6 sedan, which was discontinued last year. An improved version is coming this year on the Cadillac Escalade SUV and the Cadillac CT4 and CT5 sedans.This new Super Cruise system will handle lane changes on its own when requested by the driver using the turn signal. It will also be easier to turn the system on, according to GM.Super Cruise only works on highways that have been previously laser-mapped in three dimensions by the company. That detailed 3D map data is combined with "regular" digital maps to allow the vehicles to stay in their lanes even while navigating curves and avoiding other vehicles. GPS positioning and the vehicles' radar sensors and cameras are used to enable drivers to unhand -- and unfoot -- all the controls.Drivers still need to pay attention, however. A camera above the speedometer and tachometer makes sure the driver is looking at the road at all times. Or, at least, almost all the time. If the driver looks away from the road for more than a few seconds, the system will stop working.That's important because Super Cruise, like other ADAS, isn't intended to replace a human driver. It's just supposed to relieve the driver of the mundane tasks of maintaining a lane position and avoiding other cars. But it can be tempting to think the machine has it all under control."We're human. I mean, I'm no longer fully engaged in this," said MIT's Reimer. "I'm willing to, you know, perhaps trust the automation a little more than I should until something goes disastrously wrong."Ford's electric Mustang will offer hands-free driving technology next yearThere have been fatal crashes when Tesla drivers ignored warnings to keep their hands on the wheel while using Autopilot. With Super Cruise, Reimer said, GM has done a good job of guarding against driver inattention by requiring that drivers watch the road. Tesla cars do not have the sort of driver monitoring in place.Consumer Reports has ranked the Super Cruise system as the best and safest of the ADAS they've tested, largely because of that driver-facing camera, said Kelly Funkhouser, head of connected and automated vehicles at the consumer group. Tesla's Autopilot would rank higher than Super Cruise, she said, if Tesla vehicles also directly monitored driver attention. A similar system, called Active Drive Assist, will be introduced by Ford on the new F-150 and Mustang Mach-E. Stellantis, which makes Jeep vehicles, will offer its own hands-free driving system on the new Jeep Grand Cherokee L later this year. This system also seems like it will operate largely the same way as Super Cruise, although Stellantis is not revealing technical details yet.Too good to be true?These hands-free driving systems are probably as close as car buyers will get to a real self-driving vehicle for a long time -- despite some automakers' claims to the contrary, experts say.Tesla has said it will roll out its Full Self-Driving software in the early part of this year and has been beta testing a version of the software. But Tesla's claim has been met with skepticism by many. Tesla has blown past several of its self-imposed deadlines before and there are doubts about whether the technology will even be "self-driving.""They will oversell their features for sure," Funkhouser said. Tesla has claimed that its Full Self-Driving software, which adds capabilities to Autopilot, will allow a vehicle to steer itself even in urban environments.For now, Tesla still warns that drivers must pay attention at all times while any of its vehicles' driver assistance systems are operating.Microsoft joins in a new $2 billion investment in GM's self-driving car companyReimer said the sensors in Tesla's cars simply will not allow for genuine self-driving in complex environments in the near future. Specifically, Teslas lack the lidar sensors most experts say are needed for a true self-driving car. Lidar bounces laser light off surrounding objects, and times how long the light waves take to return to sensor. In this way, it builds a three-dimensional image of a vehicle's surroundings moment-by-moment. Radar does the same thing with radio waves, but lidar provides a much more detailed picture."To complete the ability, to get what I would call a robust and reliable model of the environment around the vehicle, you would need to add a fourth sensing technology, in addition to cameras, radar and ultrasonics," said Kay Stepper, senior vice president for automated driving and driver assistance engineering at the auto parts supplier Bosch. "Now [you'd have to add] lidar."MIT's Reimer agrees. Without the accuracy of lidar, it just isn't possible to completely release humans from the task of driving."Doing it successfully nine out of 10 times is probably feasible," said Reimer. "Doing it reliably enough that I'm willing to walk on the street [with these cars around]? Different story." GM and Ford's hands-free systems do not use lidar sensors, but they still require a human driver to pay attention at all times. 'I'm not drunk, it's my car:' Tesla's 'full self-driving' gets mixed reviewsTesla, which generally does not respond to media inquiries, did not answer emails and calls about its plans for its Full Self-Driving system. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said in the past, though, that the system will be reliable and safe thanks to advanced artificial intelligence software that has "learned" from the millions of miles driven by Tesla vehicles. With drivers' permission, Tesla's self-driving software runs continuously in a background "shadow mode.""They will not release an actual full self-driving product for some time, possibly several years, barring major breakthroughs," Brad Templeton, an autonomous driving industry consultant, said of Tesla. "Even with a major breakthrough they won't do it this year or next."Funkhouser pointed to Tesla's other recent advancements, such as giving its cars the ability to recognize and respond to stoplights and stop signs. In Consumer Reports' testing, she said that technology was found to be unreliable, failing to stop at some stop signs and then slamming to a halt needlessly at some yield signs. She expects Full Self-Driving to be something similar."So what I have been expecting to see is a little bit more of this gimmicky type of stuff that's not actually very useful," she said.

Jacopo Prisco, CNN

2021-04-26 07:57:21

news

world

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/26/world/ocado-supermarket-robot-warehouse-spc-intl/index.html

Why online supermarket Ocado wants to take the human touch out of groceries - CNN

Ocado's warehouses are run by super-efficient robots, and it's licensing the technology to grocers including Kroger, Casino and Coles.

world, Why online supermarket Ocado wants to take the human touch out of groceries - CNN

Why online supermarket Ocado wants to take the human touch out of groceries

(CNN)In a warehouse larger than three football fields, 3,000 bots scuttle along at 13 feet per second, swerving to avoid each other in a complex dance governed by artificial intelligence. Their goal? To get your groceries much faster than humanly possible. The south-east London warehouse is run by British online supermarket Ocado and features the latest in its automation technology. The company started out developing the Ocado Smart Platform (OSP) for its own use, but the system has proved so successful it licenses it to other supermarkets. Playing chicken with robotsThe bots -- which look like washing machines on wheels -- move on top of a grid, like pieces on a chessboard. Beneath the floor, each square hides a stack up to 21 containers deep. The containers are filled with some of the 50,000 products offered by Ocado, stored according to an algorithm that predicts when they will be needed. When an order is sent to the warehouse, the bots spring to life and head towards the container they require, passing within five millimeters of each other.Read More"We basically play chicken with them: they go on a collision course only to divert at the last moment," says Alex Harvey, chief of advanced technology at Ocado Technology. An Ocado warehouse bot.The bots are not autonomous but orchestrated by a system that works like air traffic control, planning their routes for them. Armed with a grabbing mechanism, the bots can pick up one container each. If a product is stored five containers down, for example, four bots will first remove the containers above it, clearing the way for a "hero" bot that is fulfilling an order. Once the "hero" bot has grasped a container, it takes it to a picking station, where a person (or another robot, depending on the technology installed in each warehouse) will select the item and add it to an order. The finished order is then moved -- by bots -- to a van for delivery. Improving accuracy, cutting wasteWhen Ocado launched 21 years ago, it used a more traditional system of conveyor belts and cranes, similar to the ones used for handling luggage in airports. This type of system is prone to congestion. "One order can take over three hours to pick, because delivery containers have to wind their way around over 15 miles on conveyor belts," says Harvey. "The new system can pick an entire order in less than 15 minutes." OSP, which was launched six years ago, has other advantages according to Simon Mayhew, an analyst at British market research firm IGD, who is unaffiliated with Ocado: "Its order accuracy tracks at 99%, and its fulfilment centers use a first-in, first-out approach," he says, so food is fresher and waste is minimized.Mayhew estimates most good retailers achieve 97% to 98% order accuracy. Ocado's might seem like a small improvement, but it can make a big difference in terms of convenience and shopper experience, he says.However, Mayhew notes that building Ocado's large fulfilment centers is a slow process, and they cater only to online shopping. Some other retailers have built micro-fulfilment centers inside retail stores. Although they can't handle as many orders they deliver them more quickly, because they are close to shoppers' homes. Ocado is looking to increase its automation.Now a fully-fledged tech company, as well as an online shop, Ocado has licensed OSP to several major grocers around the world, including Kroger in the US, Casino in France and Coles in Australia, through deals based on revenue sharing. A publicly traded company, Ocado has a stock market valuation of over $22 billion. The company says that at 563,000 square feet, its south-east London premises is the largest automated warehouse for groceries in the world.Ocado is pursuing even more automation. Currently, most of the picking -- the final stage of an order in which items are placed in bags -- is still done by humans, but the company has started using robotic arms. Last year, it spent nearly $300 million acquiring two US companies, Kindred Systems and Haddington Dynamics, to increase its expertise in robotic arms and sorting systems."Labor costs are one of the key driving factors in the cost of groceries," says Harvey, "and our goal is to try to automate these very repetitive, not particularly exciting human operations in the warehouse." Critics of automation point to its impact on employment opportunities. Up to 20 million manufacturing jobs around the world could be lost to robots by 2030, according to market forecasting company Oxford Economics.Harvey says that when Ocado builds new facilities for international retailers from scratch, it creates jobs that didn't exist before. In existing facilities where picking is becoming automated, for example, the company has retrained human pickers to supervise the robots instead. The ultimate goal, however, is a warehouse run entirely by robots, Harvey says. "The vision we have is being able to receive groceries in the warehouse, do all the putting away, and then do all the picking and deliver them out the door without a single human touch."

Allen Kim, CNN

2020-07-04 04:01:18

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/04/tech/mit-csail-coronavirus-robot-scn-trnd/index.html

MIT designs a robot that can disinfect a a warehouse floor in half an hour -- and could one day be employed in grocery stores and schools - CNN

MIT has designed a robot that is capable of disinfecting the floor of a 4,000-square foot warehouse in only half an hour, and it could one day be used to clean your local grocery store or school.

business, MIT designs a robot that can disinfect a a warehouse floor in half an hour -- and could one day be employed in grocery stores and schools - CNN

MIT-designed robot can disinfect a warehouse floor in 30 minutes -- and could one day be employed in grocery stores and schools

(CNN)MIT has designed a robot that is capable of disinfecting the floor of a 4,000-square foot warehouse in only half an hour, and it could one day be used to clean your local grocery store or school.The university's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) worked with Ava Robotics -- a company that focuses on creating telepresence robots -- and the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) to develop a robot that uses a custom UV-C light to disinfect surfaces and neutralize aerosolized forms of the coronavirus.Best way to reduce coronavirus transmission is by wearing a face mask, study findsDevelopment on this project began in early April, and one of the researchers said that it came in direct response to the pandemic. The results have been encouraging enough that the researchers say that autonomous UV disinfection could be done in other environments such as supermarkets, factories and restaurants.Covid-19 mainly spreads via airborne transmission, and it is capable of remaining on surfaces for several days. With states across the US reporting a surge in cases and no concrete timetable for a possible vaccine, there is currently no near-term end to the pandemic. That leaves schools and supermarkets looking for solutions to effectively disinfect areas.MIT's robot is capable of cleaning a 4,000-square foot warehouse in approximately 30 minutes.While household cleaning solutions are able to reduce the spread of the virus, an autonomous robot capable of quickly and efficiently cleaning large areas such as warehouses or grocery stores could prove to be essential. The researchers used the base of one of Ava Robotics' mobile robots and modified it with a custom UV-C light fixture.Read MoreUV-C light has proven effective at killing bacteria and viruses on surfaces, the researchers said. However, it is harmful to humans. The robot was built to be autonomous without the need for any direct supervision or interaction.The team tele-operated the robot to teach it to navigate around the warehouse by setting up predefined waypoints, and the team said that it is currently exploring how to use the robot's onboard sensors to adapt to changes in the environment.These are the states requiring people to wear masks when out in publicThe goal is for the robot to become capable of adapting to our world to dynamically change its plan based on estimated UV-C dosages. The UV-C array affixed to the top of the mobile robot emits a short-wavelength ultraviolet light that kills microorganisms and disrupts their DNA in a process called ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, the researchers said. This process is typically used in hospital or medical settings to sterilize rooms and stop the spread of microorganisms.While the team is currently focused on a single robot that is deployed at the food bank, the team said that they are exploring what "multi-robot solutions may look like in the future."

Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business

2020-06-16 17:23:40

business

tech

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/tech/boston-dynamics-robot-dog-spot-sale/index.html

Boston Dynamics' robot dog is now for sale - CNN

Want a dog without the pain of house training it? Boston Dynamics has the solution for you with Spot, its robotic dog, is up for any task without the need for treats.

tech, Boston Dynamics' robot dog is now for sale - CNN

Boston Dynamics' robot dog is now on sale for $74,500

New York (CNN Business)Want a dog without the pain of house training it? Or feeding or walking it? Well, you still can't have one, but Boston Dynamics has begun selling Spot, its robotic dog, to businesses. Spot is up for any task without the need for treats. The company announced that businesses can pre-order Spot for a mere $74,500. The four-legged agile robot has garnered attention for the tasks it can perform, which include running, climbing stairs, and even reminding people to practice social distancing in the Covid-19 era.Tuesday's announcement opens availability up for the dog, which was previously used exclusively by "domestic and international businesses and research facilities," the website said. It's generally used for inspections on construction sites or similar situations."The combination of Spot's sophisticated software and high performance mechanical design enables the robot to augment difficult or dangerous human work," Marc Raibert, chairman and founder of Boston Dynamics, said in a release. "Now you can use Spot to increase human safety in environments and tasks where traditional automation hasn't been successful."Spot is quite athletic. It can run about 5.2 feet per second, has cameras for eyes that give it a 360-degree range of vision, is dust- and water-proof, and can operate in temperatures ranging from -4 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Read MoreThe dog will ship in 6 to 8 weeks.Spot's historyBoston Dynamics first introduced Spot in 2015. An introductory video collected 7.3 millions views, and additional videos about Spot have continued to draw attention over the years. After all, this robotic canine can twerk and moonwalk, and received an outpouring of sympathy on social media when its creators released a video of researchers kicking the dog to demonstrate its balance.Boston Dynamics started in 1992 as a spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was purchased by Google in 2013. Four years later, Google (GOOGL) sold the company to Japan's SoftBank -- one of the firms behind Pepper, which is billed as the world's first robot capable of reading human emotions.--CNN's Michelle Toh and Jessie Yeung contributed to this report.

Ana Moreno, CNN

2021-08-26 08:49:35

news

middleeast

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/26/middleeast/dubai-icba-future-food-spc-intl/index.html

This center in Dubai is growing 'future-proof' food in the desert - CNN

The International Center of Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) is transplanting and growing salt-loving superfoods in an effort to expand food diversity in the region.

middleeast, This center in Dubai is growing 'future-proof' food in the desert - CNN

This center in Dubai is growing 'future-proof' food in the desert

Dubai (CNN)Rising temperatures and extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change are making farming conditions increasingly challenging and disrupting food distribution. But scientists in some of the world's driest places are coming up with solutions to boost local food production by introducing plants that thrive with less-fertile soil and seawater. In the Dubai desert, farmers must contend with intense heat, limited freshwater and sandy soil. Here, the International Center of Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) is transplanting and growing salt-loving superfoods in an effort to expand food diversity in the region. "Freshwater is becoming more and more scarce," explains Dionysia Angeliki Lyra, agronomist at the ICBA. "We have to focus on how we can utilize low-quality, saline water resources for food production." Growing superfoods in the desertDesert farming has existed for thousands of years, but not all desert plants provide the nutrition needed to feed the growing population. The ICBA, a not-for-profit initiative launched in the United Arab Emirates in 1999, embarked on a mission to find highly nutritious crops all over the world that could adapt to and survive in extreme weather conditions -- and thrive when grown using seawater and brine from desalination projects. Read MoreToday, the ICBA boasts a unique collection of over 13,000 seeds. The program has introduced non-traditional crops to the desert, such as quinoa from the South American Andes.Quinoa grows in the Dubai desert.Its scientists tested over 1,200 varieties of quinoa, of which five can grow in these extreme conditions. Farmers in more than 10 countries in the Middle East and North Africa are already producing the superfood, and the ICBA is now introducing it in rural communities in Central Asia.Making water in a desert, from sunlight and airLittle-known beyond some parts of Europe and North America, salicornia is a plant from the southern US that needs saline water to grow. It has also been transported to the Dubai desert, where it is thriving. The center deems it the "desert superhero" thanks to its adaptability and versatility. The crop is used for food production and is being tested as a biofuel.The ICBA currently produces about 200 kilograms of quinoa and 500 kilograms of salicornia for research and seeding, while also working with a food company in Dubai to develop salicornia-based food products with the aim to increase consumer adoption. Lyra believes rethinking the types of foods farmers grow can have a long-term impact in these environments. Adapting for the future The work of ICBA is part of a global effort to find alternate ways to produce food, with total food demand expected to increase between 59% to 98% by 2050. But with the effects of climate change already being felt around the world, Joshua Katz, partner at consulting firm McKinsey & Company, believes that more than one system will be needed to provide food security in the future."Feeding the world, establishing food security, providing nutritious food in a sustainable manner -- there's a lot that we're asking of the food system," he says. "In order for us to deliver that to our growing population, with evolving diets and increasing focus on things like sustainability and health, we're going to need multiple types of production systems to meet all those different needs or different requirements of the food system."Salicornia-based burgers in Dubai.The United Nations estimates 41 million people are currently on the brink of famine. With only 11% of the world's land surface used for crop production, desert agriculture is becoming a real option in harsh environments, as millions live in lands turning into desert. Countries like the UAE, which are highly dependent on food imports, are progressively relying on different technologies such as indoor vertical farms and smart greenhouses in the desert to increase local food production. This Dubai-based company wants to revolutionize how ports operateJoshua Katz sees efforts like ICBA's as an example of how governments can use technologies to improve local production and prepare for the future. "Countries and businesses will make choices about how they want to incorporate different growing systems into solving (challenges), whether it's their food security or just providing local food," he says. "I think we're going to have a role for almost every different type of cropping system and every different growing technique in different parts of the world." The ICBA is now looking into adapting its technique in Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, with the aim to bring crop diversification and water use productivity to areas with severe salinity issues.

Bijan Hosseini, CNN

2021-07-02 10:05:55

news

middleeast

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/02/middleeast/lockstock-app-students-dubai-spc-intl/index.html

An app is rewarding students for staying off their phones during class - CNN

There are endless distractions keeping young people glued to their cell phones, but Lock&Stock is incentivizing students fight their digital addiction.

middleeast, An app is rewarding students for staying off their phones during class - CNN

An app is rewarding students for staying off their phones during class

Dubai (CNN)From calling and messaging friends and family to scouring memes on social media, there are endless distractions keeping young people glued to their cell phones.Craig Fernandes is on a mission to change that. "When I was in university, I noticed that a lot of students in class were always on their phones," he says, "and I wanted to do something about that."Fernandes, 24, is the co-founder and CEO of Lock&Stock, a free app that rewards students for staying off their phones during class. Users collect in-app currency called "keys" -- earning one key for every minute their phone is locked. These keys can be redeemed for prizes, discounts and offers. Fighting digital addiction"Lock&Stock was actually launched to help students fight digital addiction," says Fernandes, who is based in Dubai. With more than 100,000 registered users from over 25 countries, Fernandes says the app has evolved into making education "more accessible and affordable for students."Palm Jumeirah, Dubai's iconic man-made islands, turns 20 Read MoreStudents can save up their keys to apply for a scholarship at one of the 1,200 universities partnered with Lock&Stock. These include nearly every university in the United Arab Emirates, half the universities in Malaysia and Turkey, 300 in the US and 300 in Canada.Fernandes says an application costs around 300 keys and the average scholarship takes roughly 10% off tuition fees, but can save as much as 50% over four years. The app issued more than $1 million in scholarship funds in 2020 alone. "We tell students, 'you don't have to put your dreams on hold because you can't afford to study where you want to study. We will help you," Fernandes says.Read: 'Microchip manicure' turns your nails into business cardsGershwyn Lobo is a 21-year-old student at the American College of Dubai. He's been using Lock&Stock since 2018. "I use the app daily to study," he says. "If I have work I lock my phone so nobody can disturb me." Lobo says he applied for university through the app because it offered him a 25% discount on his school fees. "It reduced a huge chunk and made it affordable for me," he says. Earning rewardsFernandes says the average user locks their phone for 51 minutes at a time, and that Lock&Stock users have racked up 1,151 years of offline time since the app launched in 2017.Craig Fernandes, co-founder and CEO of Lock&Stock.Lock&Stock isn't the first company to incentivize students to stay off their phones. Other apps like Pocket Points, in the US, and Hold, from Norway, offer students discounts for locking their phone.Lock&Stock is currently partnered with more than 1,000 brands, including Adidas, beauty retailer Sephora, and fast food chain Tim Hortons, and students can redeem keys for a range of discounts. Reward costs can vary, but a buy-one-get-one free offer for coffee at Tim Hortons, for example, would cost around 60 keys. Fernandes says most of Lock&Stock's revenue comes from universities who pay for exposure on their platform, as well as promotional campaigns and marketing activities with partner brands.Read: Is Baraka the Middle East's answer to Robinhood?"The ages of (between) 14 and 24 is a notoriously hard demographic to target," Fernandes says. "All partners who work with Lock&Stock, from coffee shops to cinema chains to e-commerce companies to universities and colleges, are all working with us for better exposure and performance within the student demographic." Young entrepreneur, young team Fernandes, who grew up in Dubai, was just 20 years old when he started Lock&Stock. "Back then, I didn't even have facial hair. I was 20, but I looked like I was 15," he laughs. Because of his age, Fernandes says finding investors and universities to partner with was a challenge. "If you're an entrepreneur they expect you to be older, 40, 45, 50 (and) have 20 years of experience."Making water in a desert, from sunlight and airHe reflects on his meeting with large companies like Amazon and Starbucks. "They would look at me and go, 'who is this guy?" Four years later, Fernandes says he still gets the same reaction. "It's just an uphill battle that you have to climb," he says.Fernandes says he takes pride in his team's youth. "To build a company and to build products for students, we have to keep the heart and soul of this company young," he says. The employees' average age is 23. "I'm 24, but I'm one of the oldest people in the company," Fernandes jokes.It hasn't been an easy ride, but Fernandes believes he's making an impact through Lock&Stock. "I have not had two consecutive days off in four years," he says. "Do I regret it? No, because every day when we get to work ... when we tally up our numbers and we look at the number of lives that we have actually impacted [it] makes it all worth it."

Bijan Hosseini, CNN

2021-03-01 10:01:50

news

middleeast

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/01/middleeast/adam-ridgway-one-moto-dubai-electric-vehicles-spc-intl/index.html

This company wants our motorcycles to be electric - CNN

Dubai-based One Moto makes electric vehicles. Its mission is to transform city commutes and last-mile deliveries.

middleeast, This company wants our motorcycles to be electric - CNN

This company wants our motorcycles to be electric

(CNN)In the heart of Dubai's Sustainable City neighborhood you'll find Adam Ridgway's humble office. It's small, but packed front to back with brand new scooters and bicycles -- ready to be sold. Adam Ridgway is the CEO and founder of One Moto -- a company that manufactures electric vehicles. "Even the guitars are electric," he laughs as he points to the instruments on his office wall. Ridgway launched One Moto in 2016. His mission is to transform the way we commute and receive deliveries, by replacing gas-powered motorcycles and scooters with more sustainable, electric transportation. Ridgway says his first priority is to replace the 15,000 motorcycles that are on the road every day in Dubai. "Those 15,000 produce 16,500 tons of CO2," he says. For one year, this man is eating only what's grown at Dubai's Sustainable CityThat amount of CO2 would take around 270,000 trees 10 years to capture. Delivery motorcycles are often overlooked as a source of greenhouse gases because they're an inexpensive and accessible forms of transportation, he says. But with 270 million motorcycles around the world, their emissions add up. Read MoreMicromobility is the future, according to Ridgway. The term refers to lightweight, often electric individual transport intended to cover short distances. Read:Could a 258mph electric hypercar help Dubai ditch its gas guzzlers?Consulting firm McKinsey & Company estimates that the market may be worth $300 -- $500 billion within 10 years. There are challenges associated with a micromobility transformation. The most pressing matter is that many cities don't have the proper infrastructure, according to a report from accounting firm EY. It adds that problems can arise if these new electric modes of transportation take away from pedestrian and bicycle traffic, creating more congestion and possible safety hazards. Already operating in the UAE, UK, Saudi Arabia and Kenya, and fresh from securing a seven-figure investment, Ridgway plans to take his company global. He wants to replace 1,500 motorcycles on Dubai's roads by end of 2021 and by 2024, have 100,000 vehicles on the road in 100 cities around the world."I just want to make change," he says. "I just want to make, ideally, a big difference in this little planet of ours."

Bijan Hosseini, CNN

2020-12-18 13:01:55

news

middleeast

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/18/middleeast/israeli-cowboy-modernizes-livestock-industry-beefree-agro-gitex-dubai-spct-intl/index.html

BeeFree Agro hopes cattle-herding drones will modernize the livestock industry - CNN

Noam Azran and his company BeeFree Agro hope to modernize the livestock industry by using autonomous drone technology.

middleeast, BeeFree Agro hopes cattle-herding drones will modernize the livestock industry - CNN

An Israeli cowboy hopes cattle-herding drones will modernize the livestock industry

Dubai (CNN)Move over John Wayne, there's a new sheriff in town. Noam Azran, a cowboy from Israel, says his autonomous technology will bring cattle ranching "into the 21st century." His start up, BeeFree Agro, uses patented autonomous drone technology to scan terrain and plan the best possible route for cattle herding.Azran began using drones six years ago to give himself a better perspective of managing large areas for cattle grazing. "Pretty quickly, I discovered that there's an interaction between the drone and the cows," he says. The drone is seen by the cows as a threat. "For them, a predator is a predator. It doesn't matter if it's a cowboy on a horse, if it's a herd dog, or if it's a drone." That instinct allows the drone to maneuver the cows. Read: Global Grad Show highlights design innovations Using his "simple app," ranchers choose the destination they want their animals to get to and the drone does all the work, Azran says. "It maps the cows where they are, plans the route and then executes all the movements it needs to make, to take your herd from where it is to where you want it to be."Read More A single drone can move up to 1,000 cows without any human intervention at all, according to Azran. Spreading the wordMuch like his hi-tech herding app does for cows, Azran is busy plotting the best path for his startup. He founded BeeFree Agro in 2020, right before the coronavirus pandemic gripped the world. Since then, cross-country travel has been almost non-existent, but that hasn't stopped Azran from setting his sights on expansion beyond Israel. He's been adapting his drone algorithms to suit industries all across the Middle East, from sheep to dairy cows and even camels. At the start of December, for the first time this year, Azran got the opportunity to travel to another country and share his business with investors from around the world.Azran was in Dubai -- bolo tie, cowboy hat and all -- participating in the GITEX Technology Week -- one of the few in-person global tech events this year. Photos: Autonomous robots, flying vehicles and virtual reality at Dubai's GITEXVisitors from around the world flocked to Dubai for its annual GITEX technology summit, where everything from autonomous robots to virtual reality was on display. (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)Hide Caption 1 of 8 Photos: Autonomous robots, flying vehicles and virtual reality at Dubai's GITEXVisitors stand next a concept flying car at the Dubai World Trade center. GITEX was held from December 6 to December 10. (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)Hide Caption 2 of 8 Photos: Autonomous robots, flying vehicles and virtual reality at Dubai's GITEXThis autonomous-driving concept car was on display.Hide Caption 3 of 8 Photos: Autonomous robots, flying vehicles and virtual reality at Dubai's GITEXVisitors participate in a virtual reality autonomous flight simulation.Hide Caption 4 of 8 Photos: Autonomous robots, flying vehicles and virtual reality at Dubai's GITEXRobots are displayed next to a concept flying car. (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)Hide Caption 5 of 8 Photos: Autonomous robots, flying vehicles and virtual reality at Dubai's GITEXA self-driving autonomous vehicle.Hide Caption 6 of 8 Photos: Autonomous robots, flying vehicles and virtual reality at Dubai's GITEXNoam Azran, CEO of BeeFree Agro, pitches his startup at the GITEX Supernova Challenge, where startups from around the world competed for $200,000 in prize money.Hide Caption 7 of 8 Photos: Autonomous robots, flying vehicles and virtual reality at Dubai's GITEXThe winners and runner-ups at the GITEX Supernova Challenge.Hide Caption 8 of 8More than 300 startups from 40 countries were present. Azran and his team competed in the GITEX Supernova Challenge -- the region's biggest startup pitch competition, with $200,000 in prize money up for grabs.What architecture could look like after Covid-19 Although he didn't win the big one, Azran headed back to Israel $10,000 richer after finishing in 4th place. "We came here first of all for the experience and to participate in something we haven't done before ... of course it would have been nice to get first place, but we're working on it and hopefully next time around we'll get something better," he said. Azran says his company goes far beyond making life easier for ranchers -- for him, it's about preserving a way of life. "We have to make this industry appealing for the next generation, who's really leaving this lifestyle and going to the city," he says. By making cattle herding less time-consuming, and giving ranchers the tools to manage a "normal life, with normal hours," Azran hopes he can convince the next generation to stick with the job and give this industry the boost it needs continue for years to come.

Stephanie Bailey, CNN

2021-04-14 09:06:13

news

middleeast

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/14/middleeast/uae-lunar-rover-ispace-scn-spc-intl/index.html

UAE is partnering with Japanese company ispace to launch a moon rover in 2022 - CNN

Japanese lunar robotics company ispace will deliver a rover built by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the moon in 2022, it announced Wednesday.

middleeast, UAE is partnering with Japanese company ispace to launch a moon rover in 2022 - CNN

The UAE is partnering with Japanese company ispace to launch a moon rover in 2022

(CNN)Japanese lunar robotics company ispace will deliver a rover built by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the moon in 2022, it announced Wednesday. A team of engineers and scientists from Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), in Dubai, are building the rover, while ispace will transport it on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.The rocket will launch from Florida, with the aim of reaching an area of the moon that has not previously been explored. It will be ispace's first moon mission. The Japanese startup says it will also provide the UAE with communication technology on the lunar surface. It will also supply the lander that transports the rover from the moon's orbit to the lunar surface, according to Adnan AlRais, MBRSC's Mars 2117 program manager.Landing on the moon Read MoreOnly three nations -- the US, Russia and China -- have successfully landed a spacecraft on the moon. The UAE had originally planned to send its rover to the moon in 2024, but AlRais tells CNN that MBRSC "saw an opportunity to launch even earlier with ispace."The UAE mission hopes to learn more about lunar dust, the moon's soil, and airless bodies -- space objects that lack an atmosphere. AlRais says one of the experiments could also help determine the kinds of materials used in space suits or the landing systems used to put humans on the moon. The landing site will be announced soon, he adds.The United Arab Emirates has announced its first female astronautNamed Rashid, after the former ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the rover will carry six instruments and weigh under 22 pounds. It will gather and send data and images back to scientists on Earth, using two high-resolution cameras, a microscopic camera, and a thermal imaging camera. Among the challenges it faces is coping with the harsh environment on the moon, where the temperature can reach minus 200 degrees Celsius. NASA is on track to send a $250 million rover called VIPER to the south pole of the moon in 2023. Other countries, including the UK, Russia and Japan, also have lunar missions planned.ispace says its vision is to build a settlement on the moon by 2040 and that its first step is to search for water. A settlement on Mars The Emirates Lunar Mission is part of a wider strategy for the UAE to reach Mars by 2117. Scientists say the unmanned moon mission could be a building block towards this project. Last year, the UAE successfully launched the Hope Probe, the country's first Mars mission. In February, the probe reached the red planet and entered orbit on its first attempt. In 2019, the UAE sent the first Emirati to space. "The moon is our gateway to Mars," says AlRais. "The Mars 2117 strategy is our long-term vision to build a settlement on the surface of Mars."In order to do that, we need to focus on the development of certain science and technologies," he adds. "We will use the moon to test those technologies."

Ashley Strickland, CNN

2021-01-29 11:47:14

news

world

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/29/world/uae-hope-probe-mars-arrival-scn/index.html

The UAE's Hope Probe will be the first of 3 missions to arrive at Mars this month - CNN

The United Arab Emirates' first mission to Mars is almost ready for a rendezvous with the red planet.

world, The UAE's Hope Probe will be the first of 3 missions to arrive at Mars this month - CNN

The UAE's Hope Probe will be the first of 3 missions to arrive at Mars this month

(CNN)The United Arab Emirates' first mission to Mars is almost ready for a rendezvous with the red planet.The Emirates Mars Mission, known as the Hope Probe, will go into orbit around Mars on February 9. The mission was one of three that launched to Mars from Earth in July, including NASA's Perseverance rover and China's Tianwen-1 mission. Hope will orbit the planet, Tianwen-1 will orbit the planet and land on it and Perseverance will land on Mars.All three missions launched around the same time due to an alignment between Mars and the Earth on the same side of the sun, making for a more efficient journey to Mars. The Hope Probe will be the first of these missions to arrive at Mars. The UAE Space Agency will share live coverage of Hope's arrival on February 9 beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET on its website. Read MoreWhen the spacecraft arrives, the Hope Probe will mark the UAE as only the fifth country in history to reach the red planet. The ambitions of the mission don't stop there. The probe, along with its three scientific instruments, is expected to create the first complete portrait of the Martian atmosphere. The instruments will collect different data points on the atmosphere to also gauge seasonal and daily changes. The UAE has successfully launched the Arab world's first Mars missionThis information will provide scientists with an idea of what climate dynamics and weather are like in different layers of the Martian atmosphere. Together, this will shed light on how energy and particles, like oxygen and hydrogen, are moved through the atmosphere and how they even escape Mars. "We've learned from past missions that the loss of the atmosphere over time over Martian history is important," said David Brain, deputy principal investigator for MAVEN orbiter, or the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, at the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. "We need to do more to quantify that loss and to understand how the rest of the atmosphere influences that loss from a global perspective."UAE hopes this tiny lunar rover will discover unexplored parts of the moonThe mission team said the spacecraft is very healthy and behaving exactly as it's supposed to in the days before arrival during a press conference Thursday. Ramping up for the mission's arrival at Mars has been an emotional roller coaster, said Her Excellency Sarah bint Yousef Al Amiri, chairperson at the UAE Space Agency and minister of state for advanced sciences in the UAE. "Every point of celebration is followed by several points of worry waiting for the next points of celebration," she said. "On the other hand, one of our mission objectives was to stimulate a lot of students and an entire society within STEM. And we've seen a large shift with the mindset of students, first and foremost, within the Emirates. But we've also seen a lot of keen engagement within the region, a region that is typically known to be unstable, and that has triggered a lot of thoughts with regards to what is possible."Arrival at MarsThe Hope Probe is moving with such speed toward Mars that if it doesn't slow down appropriately upon arrival, the spacecraft will literally use Mars' gravity to slingshot it through deep space. Almost half of the spacecraft's fuel will be used to slow it down enough for the spacecraft to be captured by Mars' gravity and go into orbit. By firing its thrusters for 30 minutes before reaching Mars, it will slow down from a speed of more than 75,185 miles per hour to 11,184 miles per hour. How the Hope Mars mission will make history in the UAEFor reference, when the Perseverance rover arrives to land on Mars on February 18, it will hit the top of the Martian atmosphere at more than 12,000 miles per hour and only has seven minutes to decelerate for a soft landing on the surface. The Hope Probe's team considers this phase of the spacecraft's arrival at Mars, called the Mars Orbit Insertion phase, just as critical and risky as launching the spacecraft. And much like Perseverance will essentially land itself on Mars without any interference from NASA, Hope will be able to react to any issues and take care of itself, to some degree. Once Hope has established an orbit around Mars, it will make contact with Earth through a ground station in Spain. One-way light time between Mars and the Earth takes between 10 and 11 minutes, so the signal will be slightly delayed. "Less than half of the spacecraft that have been sent to Mars have actually made it successfully," said Pete Withnell, program manager for the mission at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. "But this is a highly practiced, highly simulated and highly analyzed event. I cannot imagine being better prepared than we are right now."Capturing a new viewAfter the gravity of Mars captures Hope, it will enter an elliptical orbit around the planet, coming as close as 621 miles above the Martian surface and as distant as 30,683 miles from it. It will take Hope about 40 hours to complete one orbit. The probe will send back its first image of Mars during this time. Hope will stay in this phase, called the capture orbit, between February and mid-May during the transition stage of the mission, according to Brain. During this transition, the ground teams will send some commands to the spacecraft to test the instruments and make observations of Mars to see if any of the instruments need tweaking. Then, it will be time to maneuver Hope into the science orbit which will allow the probe's instruments to begin capturing scientific data of Mars.Hope will complete one scientific orbit of the planet every 55 hours. This orbit will provide the first global picture of weather and atmospheric dynamics on Mars, which will be shared with the scientific community via the mission's data center. After '7 minutes of terror,' NASA's Perseverance rover will begin an 'epic journey' on Mars next monthThe mission is expected to last for two years, with the possibility of being extended for a third year. The probe will be in a different orbit from past spacecraft that have visited Mars. "It's a very high altitude orbit, much higher than any other Mars science missions," Brain said. "In that high altitude orbit, where our instruments observe Mars from the global perspective, will always be seeing roughly half of Mars no matter where we are in the orbit when we look at the planet."The orbit will take the probe fairly close to parallel with the Martian equator, which will enable the spacecraft to capture different times of day on the planet. And the fact that it's an elliptical, or oval-shaped, orbit means that observations will be captured close to as well as distant from Mars. "It can observe many geographic regions at a single time of day when the whole probe gets close to Mars and speeds up, and it can match the speed at which Mars is spinning on its axis," Brain said. "It can hover above a single geographic region like the big volcano, Olympus Mons, and study the atmosphere there at many times of day."Every nine days of the mission, the probe will have completely captured a picture of the Martian atmosphere. "We will have observed every geographic region at every time of day, every nine days," Brain said.

Jacopo Prisco, CNN

2020-11-25 02:16:26

news

middleeast

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/24/middleeast/uae-moon-rover-mission-scn-spc-intl/index.html

UAE mission to target unexplored parts of the moon - CNN

The United Arab Emirates aims to join an elite space club of just three nations, with an unmanned moon mission planned for 2024.

middleeast, UAE mission to target unexplored parts of the moon - CNN

UAE hopes this tiny lunar rover will discover unexplored parts of the moon

(CNN)It is an elite club of just three nations: the US, Russia and China -- the only countries to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. Now, the United Arab Emirates is trying to join them, announcing an unmanned moon mission planned for 2024.The UAE's mission is designed as a stepping stone towards the exploration of Mars, which the Gulf nation is targeting with its Mars 2117 project. Earlier this year, the project took off with the launch of a probe -- named Al Amal, or "Hope" -- due to reach the red planet's orbit in February 2021.The new lunar mission involves a small rover, to be built entirely at Dubai's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC). Inaugurated in 2006, the center has already designed and built Earth-orbit satellites under an all-Emirati team, but the rover is its most ambitious technological undertaking to date.Architects have designed a Martian city for the desert outside Dubai"We have experience with orbiters, but this will be the first mission in which we are landing on another celestial body," says Adnan Al Rais, who leads the Mars 2117 program at the MBRSC."We are working on the development of the science and technologies that will enable us one day to send humans to Mars," explains Al Rais. "In order to do that, we looked into the gaps that we currently have in our knowledge; space robotics and robotic technologies are among those gaps, which we are addressing by developing a lunar rover."The Hope Probe scientists say the spacecraft has a mass of 1,350 kg -- about the size of an SUV. Read MoreMoon rushThe rover -- named Rashid in honor of the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, former ruler of Dubai and father of the current sheik -- is currently in the design phase. It will be built in 2022 and tested the following year, ahead of the 2024 mission launch. With just four wheels and a weight of 10 kilograms (22 pounds), it's much smaller than the latest rover to successfully land on the moon, China's Yutu-2, which has six wheels and weighs 140 kg (310 lbs). It dwarfs in comparison to Curiosity, NASA's only currently active Mars rover, which is as large as an SUV and weighs 899 kg (1,982 lbs).China's Yutu-2 moon rover is currently exploring the lunar surface.Lunar rovers aren't especially common -- there are more rovers on Mars than on the moon -- but recent findings about the presence of water reserves and the prospect of establishing future mining operations have led to a new moon rush.NASA is currently on track to send VIPER, a $250 million rover, to look for water ice around the satellite's south pole in 2023, and plans to send "the first woman and the next man" to the moon by 2024 -- returning humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.Several countries, including the UK, Russia and Japan, also have missions involving lunar rovers planned over the next few years, some of which are scheduled to land before the UAE's 2024 mission. An illustration of NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER).Unexplored locationThe planned rover will land in a previously unexplored area of the moon, close to the equator. "We will provide images from the surface for that particular area for the first time, and scientists from around the world will be able to study the data," says Al Rais.It will be equipped with two high-resolution cameras, as well as a microscopic camera to capture small details and a thermal imaging camera. The rover will also carry a Langmuir probe, designed to study the moon's plasma, a layer of electrically charged gas that blankets its surface. It might help explain why moon dust is so sticky, a major nuisance during the Apollo missions and a potential problem for future ones.Read more: Dubai's Global Grad Show highlights design innovations"We're going to have these sensors on the surface of the moon for the first time. They were supposed to be on a previous lunar mission that unfortunately failed, because it didn't manage to land," says Al Rais, referring to India's Chandrayaan-2 mission, which crash-landed on the moon in September 2019.The orbiter vehicle of Chandrayaan-2 a few months before its launch. Earlier the same year, in April, an Israeli spacecraft named Beresheet also crashed on the moon's surface, showing how tricky a soft landing can be even with today's technology."Landing is very critical. Space is always risky and looking at the statistics, more than 50% of missions that attempted a landing on the surface of the moon have failed," says Al Rais.A manned mission?The UAE does not plan to build its own lander, the part of the spacecraft that houses the rover while it touches down on the moon's surface. Instead, it's looking for partners to work with; "NASA and other space agencies are developing landers to send them to the surface of the moon, so we are currently exploring all those options," explains Al Rais.The first Emirati in space: How Dubai is reaching for the starsThe choice of lander will likely also determine the choice of rocket and launch site, as the UAE does not have its own launch pad. In the recent past, it has launched its spacecraft from Russia and Japan.The UAE Space Agency hopes that the data gathered from the mission will help in building a research station on the moon and answer questions related to the formation of the solar system."The mission will also cover a strategic objective: enhancing the research and development capabilities of the country, as well as encouraging a young generation to get into STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education," says Al Rais.The UAE Space Agency sent an Emirati astronaut, Hazzaa Ali AlMansoori, to the International Space Station in 2019. If everything goes to plan, a manned mission could be next. "We hope to one day have our Emirati astronauts on the surface of the moon," Al Rais adds."Our ultimate goal is to send humans to Mars, and going to the moon will be the first step."

Stephanie Bailey, CNN

2020-05-19 08:11:27

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middleeast

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/19/middleeast/space-mars-hope-probe-uae-spc-scn-intl/index.html

UAE's Hope Probe prepares for launch to Mars - CNN

The UAE is set to launch a mission to Mars, with a probe it hopes can help unlock secrets of the Red Planet's climate.

middleeast, UAE's Hope Probe prepares for launch to Mars - CNN

UAE's Hope Probe prepares for launch to Mars

CNN's series often carry sponsorship originating from the countries and regions we profile. However, CNN retains full editorial control over all of its reports. Our sponsorship policy. (CNN)In Tanegashima, Japan, a spacecraft named Hope is being prepared for its launch towards Mars.If all goes to plan, the UAE's Mars Hope Probe (or "Al Amal" in Arabic) will blast off this summer, reaching the Red Planet in February 2021.Not only will the arrival of the 1,350-kilogram probe coincide with celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the UAE, but it will also mark the first time the country orbits Mars. Hope's scientists, from Dubai's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC), plan to send the craft into space at the same time as NASA's Perseverance Rover and China's first Mars mission, Tianwen 1. They are aiming to launch during the biennial window, when Earth and Mars are closest together, starting in July 2020 and going into early August.MBRSC says the Hope Probe is 1,350kg. Although the coronavirus pandemic has forced the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) team to adjust plans, it says it is still on track to launch on schedule. Read More'Almost ready to launch' "When Covid-19 came into the equation, it definitely took the complexity to a different level," says Omran Sharaf, EMM Mission Lead. Hope was shipped to Japan three weeks earlier than planned, while a team was sent two weeks prior, allowing them time to quarantine, he says. However, this shouldn't impact the launch of the mission, he adds. JUST WATCHEDThe first Emirati in spaceReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHThe first Emirati in space 02:24"Are were ready to launch? We're almost there," Sharaf says. "We continue testing until the last minute." To help build the spacecraft, the EMM team partnered with a team in the US, at the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. According to MBRSC, Hope will travel some 493 million kilometers, and star trackers will help position the autonomous craft into orbit. Across a distance so vast, and with so many factors outside of the team's control, Sharaf acknowledges there is a risk of failure. Read more: Evidence of ancient rivers spotted on Mars, study says"Mars is risky and Mars is difficult," he says. "The mission was five times more complex than missions we have worked on before." Probes have been sent to Mars from Earth since the late 20th century. Recent missions include NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been snapping photographs of the Red Planet since it landed in 2012. The Hope Probe will launch from Tanegashima, Japan, using an MHI H2A launcher, as shown in this image. The Hope Probe is one of several space projects Dubai's MBRSC has been working on in recent years, including the launch of two satellites, sending the first Emirati into space and the ambitious goal to build a human settlement on Mars by 2117. Climate change on Mars To find a novel science objective for Hope's upcoming mission, EMM scientists consulted the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), a forum created by NASA to plan explorations of Mars.EMM's Science Lead, Sarah Al Amiri, says the team settled on the goal of building the first full picture of Mars' climate throughout the Martian year, because there is a gap in data and understanding."There hasn't been a mission before that has taken full data sets about the Mars weather system ... throughout an entire day and at all times of day," she explains.Studying its weather system, including changes in the atmosphere and climate, could help lead to an understanding of how Mars -- a planet that used to share characteristics with Earth -- went from having rivers and lakes to having no water on its surface, she says."One of the reasons that Mars evolved to the state that it is in is atmospheric loss, and that's also one of the reasons why liquid water can't be stable on the surface," says Al Amiri. "To us, water is the source of life and it's a bit of a worry that there is a planet out there in our solar system and that its climate or atmosphere started changing, and water was lost from the surface." Part of plans to build a settlement on Mars by 2117, the UAE has said it will build Mars Science City, as seen in this rendering, in the desert outside Dubai. To piece together the puzzle, the probe will aim to take a variety of measurements, allowing to explore different theories. Al Amiri says the team is especially interested in a possible link between dust storms and the loss of hydrogen and oxygen -- the building blocks of water -- from the Martian atmosphere.Reaching for the stars In addition to addressing national challenges such as water security, Al Amiri, who is the Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, says the EMM has the wider goal of inspiring the UAE's youth to be interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).Read more: UAE looks to Mars for STEM inspirationPrior to the EMM, she says people with science backgrounds had fewer career opportunities -- often limited to education or research -- but the mission has opened up a variety of new possibilities."The mission created a mindset for the youth that there are opportunities for them to work in areas that they never thought they can work in," she says. Young people will be important to try to transition the UAE's economy away from oil, she explains."For us, the EMM was a catapult for the UAE venturing into space," Al Amiri adds. "It's a transition from a natural and service-based economy to one that's based on creativity and knowledge."