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From: Gregory Brown Sent: Sunday, March 8, 2015 8:53 AM To: undisclosed-recipients: Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 3/08/2015 DEAR FRIEND =/span> Robert Reich: America is headed full speed back to the 19th century =p class="MsoNormal" align="center"> <https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X8zdBnkSz6c/TyxEQET_kGI/AAAAAAAAA=8/kf53HntQwTc/s1600/ChildFactoryPoster.jpg> I recently ran across an artic=e in Salon Magazine by Former labor secretary Robert Reich =E244, America is headed full speed back to the 19th century — on the dangers of on-demand jobs and our growing intolerance for labor unions. The growth of on-demand jobs like Uber is making life less predictable and secu=e for workers. The problem is that these new jobs are low-paying with much less security. On the other side, a Forbes Magazine contributor, for example, writes that jobs ex=st only "when both employer and employee are happy with the deal being made." So if the new jobs are minimum wage and irregular, too bad. As Robert Reich points out =hat much the same argument was voiced in the late nineteenth century over alleged "freedom of c=ntract." Any deal between employers and workers was assumed to be fine if both sides voluntarily agreed to it. It was an era when many workers were "happy" to toil twelve-hour days in =weat shops for lack of any better alternative. It was also a time of great wealth for a few and squalor for many. And of corruption, as =he lackeys of robber barons deposited sacks of cash on the desks of pliant legislators. Finally, after decades of labor strife and political tumult, the twentieth century brought an understanding that capitalism requires minimum standards of decency and fairness — workplace safety, a minimum wage, maximum hours (and tim=-and-a-half for overtime), and a ban on child labor. We also learned that capita=ism needs a fair balance of power between big corporations and workers. We achieved that through antitrust laws that reduced the capacity of giant corporations to impose their will, and labor laws that allowed workers to organize and bargain collectively. By the 1950s, when 35 percent of private-sector workers belonged to a labor un=on, they were able to negotiate higher wages and better working conditions than employers would otherwise have been "happy" to provide..=A0 And as Robert Reich points out again.... now we seem to be heading back to nineteenth century. EFTA_R1_02077677 EFTA02703043 Corporations are shifting f=ll-time work onto temps, free-lancers, and contract workers who fall outside the labor protections established decades ago. The nation's biggest corporations and Wall Street banks are larger and more potent than ever. And labor union membership has shrunk to less than 6 percent of the private-sector workforce. So it*=99s not surprising we're once again hearing that workers are worth no more =han what they can get in the market. But as we should have learn=d a century ago, markets don't exist in nature. They're created by human beings. The real question=is how they're organized and for whose benefit. In the late nineteenth century they were organized for the benefit of a few at the top. But by the middle of the twentieth century they were organized for the vast majority. During t=e thirty years after the end of World War II, as the economy doubled in size, so did the wages of most Amer=cans — along with improved hours and working conditions. Yet since around 1980, even=though the economy has doubled once again (the Great Recession notwithstanding), the wages most Americans =ave stagnated. And their benefits and working conditions have deteriorated.Q=A0 This isn't because most Americans are worth less. In fact, worker productivity is higher than ever. It's because big corporations, Wall Street, and some enormously rich individuals have gained political power to organize the market in ways that have enhanced their wea=th while leaving most Americans behind. That includes trade agreeme=ts protecting the intellectual property of large corporations and Wall Street's financial assets, =ut not American jobs and wages. Bailouts of big Wall Street banks and their executives and shareholders when they can4,=99t pay what they owe, but not of homeowners who can't meet their mortgage =ayments. Bankruptcy protection for big corporations, allowing them to shed their debts, including labor contracts. But no =ankruptcy protection for college graduates over-burdened with student debts. Antitrust leniency toward a vast swathe of American industry — incl=ding Big Cable (Comcast, AT&T, Time-Warner), Big Tech (Amazon, Google), Big Pharma, the largest Wall Street banks, and giant retailers (Walmart). With less tolerance toward =abor unions — as workers trying to form unions are fired with impunity, and more states adopt so-called 40=804oright-to-work" laws that undermine unions. We seem to be heading full speed back to the late nineteenth century. Robert Reich, "So what will be the galvanizing force for change this time?" 25 years ago a month from today, the New York Times ran its first profile of Barack Obama 2 EFTA_R1_02077678 EFTA02703044 =p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center"> Twenty-five years ago last month, the New York Times<A> ran its first profile of Barack Obama. On February 6, 1990, it ann=unced (in a headline that's now pretty dated), "First Black Elected to H=ad Harvard's Law Review," and explained that the 28-year-old's new role=was considered the "highest student position" at the school. Of course, no one was using the term back them, but Obama went out of his way =o make clear that his election shouldn't be interpreted as ushering in a post-racial era on the law review staff or in the country. '&#=9;The fact that I've been elected shows a lot of progress," he t=ld the Times. "It's encouraging." But, he added, "it's important that stories like mine aren't u=ed to say that everything is O.K. for blacks. You have to remember that for ev=ry one of me, there are hundreds or thousands of black students with at least equal talent who don't get a chance." "IT'S IMPORTANT THAT STORIES LIKE MINE AREN'T USED TO SAY THAT EVERYTHING IS =.K. FOR BLACKS." Barack Obama There's a hint in the piece that the news was=fraught with tension over whether Obama truly deserved his new role. The Times quo=es former law review president Peter Yu, who says Obama's election "was a choice on the merits, but others may read something into it." =C2*For anyone who was around in 2008, that should sound familiar. And although a lot has change, in many ways little has changed. In America we are yet to live in a post-racial society and almost every person of color will agree with me.4>=A0 Attached please find the original New York Times article if it is diffi=ult to read the above graphic. ***itil.<1 => Defending the Crusades =/p> 3 EFTA_R1_02077679 EFTA02703045 In a recent article in The New Republic, Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig pointed out t=e newest lunacy of the Right After President Barack Obama noted du=ing the last National Prayer Bre=kfast that Christians have commi=ted acts of violence in the name of Christianity, there are a lot of direc=ions conservatives could have gone. The sanest direction would have been to accept that Christians=have done terrible things under the banner of faith — even religio=s we find familiar and comforting can be contorted under the right conditi=ns. This was undoubtedl= the point the president was attempting to make, in an effort to maintain =ome semblance of fairness as he addressed the problem of Islamic terrorism= Instead, a number of conservatives tried to defend =he Crusades herein lies the lunacy.... At National Review Onlin=, a popular conservative blogging platform, Jonah Goldberg argued that the=Crusades were essentially justified in the context of what he identifies a= Muslim aggression. "For starters," the Crusades—despite their terrible o=ganized cruelties — were a defensive war." Note t=at the plural "Crusades" transforms by th= end of the sentence into the singular "a ... war*=800: Goldberg was closer to the mark at the start of the senten=e than at the end, as there were multiple Crusades, and each of them were =istinct affairs. Some, for example, were initiated by the papacy; others w=re initiated by kings against the wishes of the Church, and some, like the=C24>Children's Crusade, now appear to be at least somewhat myt=ological. More slippery is the tantalizingly italicized word Q=800defensive," which conservatives also periodically ap=Iy to the Civil War with similar intentions of historical whitewashing.Q=A0 As David Perry points out at The Guardian, a ho=t of other conservative defenses of the Crusades have accompanied Goldberg=E244>s: from spirited justifications to softer arguments. Louisiana Gov=rnor Bobby Jindal's claim, for instance, was that the Crusades hap=ened so long ago as to be irrelevant in all modern contexts, and that the =ime spent discussing them in Obama's speech could have been put to bet=er use combatting ISIS. One =ould interpret these bizarre defenses as evidence that, for a certain bran= of Christian, the fact that Christians can and do pervert religion in the=service of evil deeds is literally unbelievable. But this would=seem a remarkable stretch, given that even Judas Iscariot has a place in t=e Christian economy of salvation. In other words, Christians ca= usually fathom, when thinking rationally, the idea that terrible things a=e a part of our collective history. Perhaps conserva=ives merely found the criticisms of the Crusades cynical, given that their=historical distance makes any genuinely felt implication on the president=E244s behalf unlikely. In this case, the defense of the Cru=ades reads as a reflexive measure, meant to press Obama into more compromi=ing territory, where he might have the courage to remark on a Christian at=ocity he himself feels guilty about. Yet it seems unlikely that=offering examples of more recent Christian evils — such=as racism and slavery, the conquest of the Americas, the Bosnian War, or c=mplicity in the Rwandan Genocide — would have won Obama any points=for sincerity. Each would most likely be respectively dismissed=as race baiting, as anti-American, as arguably legitimate, and as irreleva=t. It's likeliest that the conservative de=ense of the Crusades is directly related to their status as a touchstone o= American civic religion. When the Crusades are represented in =merican culture now, they are a symbol of Christian gusto, whether positiv= or negative. They resonate with the idea of a robust, aggressi=e Christianity, a faith with the masculine 4 EFTA_R1_02077680 EFTA02703046 energy to face Islam head-on..C2* This is why the Crusades occupy a special place in the conserva=ive id, and it is why conservatives appear willing to defend them on gener=l principle, with little regard for historicity. It is also why criticizing the Crusade= is presented by some conservatives as an alternative to fighting ISIS, as=though if Obama had simply omitted that remark from his speech at the Nati=nal Prayer Breakfast, the Islamic terror group would now be vanquished.4>=A0 Of course, no remark made at that breakfast, or any other breakfas=, will be sufficient to undo the brutality ISIS has already inflicted upon=innocent people. Nor will feverish dreaming about a mythologica= Christian military history rooted in contemporary American appropriations=of the past advance that goal. Obama's remark was meant=to cool interfaith hostilities by pointing out no religion has perfect adh=rents; his political opponents have instead decided to double down on the =isuse of Christian sentiment the president intended to point out, which, i= nothing else, is proof of the worthiness of his remark. And claimin= that the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, Slavery and Jim Crow are defensibl=40=A0is the height of hypocrisy =font face="Georgia, serir> Deadly Force, in Black and White ProPublica analysis of federally collected data on fatal police shoo=ings young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead b= police than their white counterparts — 21 times greater. The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while jus= 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police.=C24, One way of appreciating that stark disparity, ProPublica's analysis shows, is to calculate how many more whites over =hose three years would have had to have been killed for them to have been at equ=l risk. The number is jarring —185, more than one per week.</=> ProPublica&U=9;s risk analysis on young males killed by police certainly seems to support what has been an article of faith in the African American community for decades: Blacks are being killed at disturbing rates when set against the rest of the American population. Their examinati=n involved detailed accounts of more than 12,000 police homicides stretching from 1980 to 2012 contained=in the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Report. The data, annually self-=eported by hundreds of police departments across the country, confirms some assumptions, runs counter to others, and adds nuance to a wide range of questions about the u=e of deadly police force. As a result the data is incomplete because a vast number of the country's 17,000 police departments don't file fatal police shooting reports at all, and many h=ve filed reports for some years but not others. Florida departments haven'= filed reports since 1997 and New York City last reported in 2007. Who Gets Killed? <=span> 5 EFTA_R1_02077681 EFTA02703047 The finding that young black men are 21 tim=s as likely as their white peers to be killed by police is drawn from reports filed for th= years 2010 to 2012, the three most recent years for which FBI numbers are available. The black boys killed can be disturbingly young. There were 41 teens 14 years or younger reported killed by police from 1980 to 2012. 4,=A027 of them were black iii; 8 were white; 4 were Hispanic and 1 was Asian. That's not to say officers weren't killing white people. Indeed, some 44 perce=t of all those killed by police across the 33 years were white. =p class="MsoNormal">Who is killing all those black men and boys?</=> Mostly white=officers. But in hundreds of instances, black officers, too. Black officers account for a little more than 10 percent of =11 fatal police shootings. Of those they kill, though, 78 percent were black.=C2* White officers, given their great numbers in so many of the country's police departments, are well represented in al= categories of police killings. White officers killed 91 percent of the whites who died at the hands of police.=C24> And they were responsible for 68 percent of the people of color killed. Those people of color represented 46 percent of=all those killed by white officers. =/p> What were the circumstances surrounding all these=fatal encounters? There were 151 instances in which police noted that teens the= had shot dead had been fleeing or resisting arrest at the time of the encounter. 67 percent of those killed in such circumstances were black. That disparity was even starker in the last couple of years: of the 15 teens sho= fleeing arrest from 2010 to 2012, 14 were black. The problem with the=e numbers is that police don't always list the circumstances of the killings because there w=re many deadly shooting where the circumstances were listed as "undetermine=." 77 percent of those killed in such instances were black. Certainly, there were instances where police truly feared for their lives. As the data shows that police reported that as the cause of their actions in far greater numbers a=ter the 1985 Supreme Court decision that said police could only justify using deadly force if the suspects posed a threat to the officer or others. =From 1980 to 1984, "officer under attack" was listed as t=e cause for 33 percent of the deadly shootings. Twenty years later, looking at data from 2005 to 2009, "officer under atta=k" was cited in 62 percent of police killings. Another disturbing trend is that the data shows p=lice are increasingly using something other than a standard handgun with the Los Ang=les Police Department standing out in its use of shotguns. Most police ki=lings involve officers firing handguns. But from 1980 to 2012, 714 involved the use of a shotgun. The Los Angeles Police Department has a special claim=on that category. It accounted for 47 cases in which an officer used a shotgun= The next highest total came from the Dallas Police Department: 14. So if you want to know why the African American community is upset when young Black men are killed by Police is because it happens far too ofte=.... <http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-HF2=0_NETANY_G_20150303124804.jpg> 6 EFTA_R1_02077682 EFTA02703048 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he steps to the lectern prior to speaking befor= a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2015. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, left, and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Uta=) applaud. Over the past almost 30 years I have traveled the world extensively, first, as a Uni=ed States Marine and then later as a private businessman. On numerous occasion=, especially while traveling through Europe, the Middle East and North Africa= I have had multiple heated arguments over the years with people regarding the actions and policies of the United States government. Whether it was Pres. =ill Clinton, George W Bush or Barack Obama, whether I supported the respective =olicy or not, I constantly defended the actions and policies of my government and pushed back against any foreigner criticizing the leader of my country. It =id not matter if the person was a private citizen on the street, a diplomat, a government official or a Head of State, there was no way I could ever allow=an "Outsider" to criticize or insult my government without getting b=th barrels from me. I've always believed that as Americans we don't ai= our dirty laundry in public. We can debate these issues amongst ourselves privately a=d respectfully. But we must show a united front to the world. Don't ask m= why I'm this way, I just am. What I witnessed today inside the US Congress =as anathema to all I believe. Shameful in fact. Allowing the leader of a forei=n country to openly criticize our president's foreign policy in front of =ur Congress is an open insult to all Americans and not just Pres. Obama. I pla=e this dishonorable act squarely on the shoulders of our congressional legislators many of whom I know to be honorable people. As Americans we sho=ld expect and demand better from our elected leaders. The eyes of the world ar= upon us and we should conduct ourselves accordingly. Thomas Coleman — March 4, 2015 <1=> Like ThomasQ=A0Col=man and many o=her Americans, I was appalled this week at the reception that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received by t=e Republicans when he spoke in front of a joint session of Congress on Tuesda=. As Chris Mathews bluntly said, "This was a takeover=attempt by Netanyahu with his complying American partners to take American foreign pol=cy out of the hands of the president." Chris Matthews, HARDBALL host: Well,=that's -- you know, I'll get to the heart of this speech now. This man from a foreign government waked into the United States legislative chamber and tried to take over U.S. fore=gn policy. He said, 'You should trust me, not your president on this. I am the man you should trust, I'm your tru= leader on this question of U.S. geopolitics. To protect yourself you must listen t= me and not this president.' Let's be honest here Netanyah= is not interested in peace. He is not interested in peace with Iran and he is not interested in peace with the Palestinians. Th=s is the same person who along with the necons pushed America into an unprovoked war in Iraq, claiming that Saddam Hussein was destine to use Weapons of Mass Destruction (which he knew wa= not true because Mossad interrogated Saddam son-in-law who had run =he program and defected to Jordan before 7 EFTA_R1_02077683 EFTA02703049 returning back to Iraq where he w=s killed)40=A0 to destroy Israel and the West and by taking him out of power would add to the stability of =he entire Middle East. What a crock.... And although he was =orn in Tel Vivi he was raised in Pennsylvania, yet he has push the expansion of Jewish settlements=(mostly European immigrants) in the West Bank displacing Palestinian families who h=ve been living there for hundreds if not thousands of years. Netan=ahu doesn't believe in a two-state solution. Remember that this is the=same person who started an unnecessary war in Gaza last summer that killed over 2000 Palestinians, including over 500 innocent children. He is a bully with 200 nuclear weapons himself, telling a country that he has threaten to overthrow that t=ey shouldn'tl>=A0also have a bomb. This is a person who doesn't try to hide that it might be a good thing to bomb Iran even though they are not a threat to America. Hey, if I was Iran I would b= trying to develop a bomb too because Netanyahu is a war monger who is hellbent to des=roy your country's leadership. And on Tuesday he asked that the =merican people trust him instead of their President. And the Republicans in Congress applauded him Wow.... =C2. As Chris Mathews said, nowhere in the world would this have happened. Definitely not in China or Russia but also not in the UK, France or Germany either. In many countries i= would be called sedition. But in their zeal to discredit America40=804>s first President who is a Person of Color, the Republican opposition invited=a foreign leader with the goal of demeaning the President's foreign p=licy and undermine his administration's attempts to negotiate a treaty with =ran that would keep them for pursuing a nuclear weapon for at least ten years. =It would be one thing if Netanyahu a solution other than don't tru=t your President and you definitely can't trust the Iranians. But he has no solution.... Other than war.... And do we really w=nt to be part of another unnecessary war in the Middle East? Chris Matthews, Thomas Coleman and I are not alone as=170 former military officials and intelligence officials, including 6 decorated generals =ho publicly exc=riated Netanyahu for giving the speech, emboldening Iran and poisoning the relationship between Israel and=the United States. And this response is not limited to the United States, =s yesterday tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in =el Aviv Square under the banner "Israel wants change" and calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be replaced in March 17 national elections. Saturday night's rally at Rabin Square is the highest profile demonstration yet in the run-u= to the election. It is organized by a non-profit organization seeking to chang= Israel's priorities and refocus on health, education, housing and the c=untry's cost of living. The rally's keynote speaker is former Mossad chief Meir Dagan who recently slammed Netanyahu Hs conduct and called him "the person who has caused the greatest strategic damage to Israel." While many of Netanyahu'= opponents were quick to stress that they share his views on the nuclear deal with Iran currently on the table, critics denounced the prime minister's speech as a political stunt mean= to bolster his election chances. "Is the speech, as Netanyahu in=ists, truly and solely about an Iranian atomic bomb?" asked Bradley Burston in an op-ed ca=led "A Special Place In Hell" for the left-wing newspaper Haar=tz. "The speech is intended to be a game changer. But the game in question increasingly appears to be that of helping Netanyahu to re-election in 2015." 8 EFTA_R1_02077684 EFTA02703050 "Bibi is there speaking while we're here winning," former justice minister Tzipi Livni tweeted, according to a translation by Jeremy Pressman. Isaac Herzog, the leader o= the Zionist Union Party and Netanyahu's main challenger in the upcoming election, told a crowd of supporters on Tuesday that while he understands Netanyahu's fears about=a nuclear Iran, he was "here, not in Washington," according =o The Times of Israel. Herzog also criticized Net=nyahu's tactics, arguing that while "there is no doubt that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows how=to deliver a speech, it will not stop the Iranian nuclear agreement," Echoing comments by U.S. President Barack Obama, some in Israel argued that Netanyahu's speech repeated a number of familiar acc=sations against Iran and denunciations of the nuclear agreement, but offered few pr=ctical solutions. Michael Oren, Israel's former ambassador to the U.S., =aid on a televised panel Tuesday that Netanyahu "did not offer any new ideas." In the weeks leading up t= the speech, several Israeli politicians had warned that Netanyahu's presence in Washington could da=age the alliance between Israel and the United States. Eitan Cabel, a member of the Knesset for the Zion=st Union party, reiterated those concerns on Tuesday, calling the speech an act of <=>"political pyromania." Cabel argued that Netanyahu But as Chris Matthews said, it's a remarkable=day when the leaders of the opposition in Congress allowed this to happen. Think it throug=. Again.... what country in the world would let a foreign leader come in and attempt to wrest from the president control of U=S. foreign policy? And that's what the applause was about. That was what the battle of applauses was about -- to take power away from the president.,=A0 It may succeed and we may see that there's going to be a lot more legislative intent here in terms of any treaty, a stronger push by Congress to insist on a vote, up or down on any treaty.4)=A0 But clearly that was what was going on here. Again, this was a ta=eover attempt by Netanyahu with his compliant American partners to take American foreign pol=cy out of the hands of the president. And this is my rant of the week WEEK's READINGS Why Are So Many Americans in Prison? 9 EFTA_R1_02077685 EFTA02703051 Inmates at the Mule Creek State Prison interact in a gymnasium that was modified to house priso=ers due to overcrowding in 2007 in lone, California. =span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:12ptline-height:107%">C=nsider the following facts: <=i>With only 4.4% of the world's population, the U.S. has 22% of the world's prison population — that makes us the world*=804,s largest jailer. ▪ Since 1970, our prison population=has risen 700%. • One in 99 adults are living behind bars rn the U.S. This marks the highest rate of imprisonment in American history. One=in 31 adults are under some form of correctional control, counting prison, jail, parole and probation populations. • =he U.S. incarcerates more people — in absolute numbers and per capita — than any other nation in the world, including the far =ore populous China (which rates 2nd) and Russia (which rates 3rd). * Incarceration and related=costs have quadrupled over the past 20 years and now account for a staggering 1 out of every 15 state discretio=ary fund dollars. We incarcerate young African American men a= a rate of 1 in 9 — higher than any other group of Americans. We in=arcerate Latinos at almost twice the rate of their white counterparts. • If you released every person in prison on a=drug charge today, our state prison population would drop from about 1.5 million to 1.2 millio=. The incarceration rate of the United States of Am=rica was the highest in the world, at 716 per 100,000 of the national population. While =he United States represents about 4.4 percent of the world's population, i= houses around 22 percent of the world's prisoners. Imprisonment of America's 2.3 million prisoners, costing $24,000 =er inmate per year, and $5.1 billion in new prison construction, consumes $60.= billion in budget expenditures. The dramatic, unprecedented rise in incarceration rates should be a source of g=eat concern to all Americans, because today our country is less free — =nd more locked down — than at any point in American history. =p class="MsoNormal"> In the 1980s, the rising number of people incarcerate= as a result of the War on Drugs and the wave of privatization that occurred unde= the Reagan Administration saw the emergence of the for-profit prison indust=y. Prior to the 1980s, private prisons did not exist in the US.Q=A0 In a 2011 report by the ACLU, it is claimed that the rise of the for-profit prison industry is a "major contributor" to mass incarceration, along with bloated state budge=s. Louisiana, for example, has the highest rate of incarceration in the world with the majority of its prisoners being hous=d in privatized, for-profit facilities. Such institutions could face bankrupt=y without a steady influx of prisoners. A 2013 Bloomberg report states that in the past decade the number of inmates =n for-profit prisons throughout the U.S. rose 44 percent. 10 EFTA_R1_02077686 EFTA02703052 Corporations who operate prisons, such as the Correct=ons Corporation of America and The GEO Group, spend significant amounts of mone= lobbying the federal government along with state governments. The two aforementioned companies, the largest in the industry, have been contributo=s to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which lobbies for poli=ies that would increase incarceration, such as three-strike laws and "truth-in-sentencing" legislation. Prison companies a=so sign contracts with states that guarantee at least 90 percent of prison beds be filled. If thes= "lockup quotas" aren't met, the state must reimburse the prison company for the unused beds. Prison companies use the profits to expand and put pressure on lawmakers to incarcerate a certain number of people. This influence on the government by the private prison industry has been referre= to as the Prison-industrial complex. =span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><=r> The "War on Drugs" is a policy that was ini=iated by Richard Nixon with the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act =f 1970 and vigorously pursued by Ronald Reagan. By 2010, drug offenders=in federal prison had increased to 500,000 per year, up from 41,000 in 1985. Drug related c=arges accounted for more than half the rise in state prisoners. 31 million people have been arrested on d=ug related charges, approximately 1 in 10 Americans. After the passage of Reagan's Anti-Drug Abuse Act=in 1986, incarceration for non-violent offenses dramatically increased. The Ac= imposed the same five-year mandatory sentence on users of crack as on those possessing 100 times as much powder cocaine. This had a disproportionate effect on low-level street dealers and users of crack, who were more common=y poor blacks, Latinos, the young, and women. Courts were given more discreti=n in sentencing by the Kimbrough v. United States (2007) decision, and the disparity was decreased to 18:1 by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. A= of 2006, 49.3% of state prisoners, or 656,000 individuals, were incarcerated for non-violent crimes. As of =008, 90.7% of federal prisoners, or 165,457 individuals, were incarcerated for non-violent offenses. =p class="MsoNormal"> By 2003, 58% of all women in federal prison were conv=cted of drug offenses. Women of color are disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs. African American wom=n's incarceration rates for all crimes, largely driven by drug convictions, have increased by 800% since 1986, compared to an increase of 400% for women of other races. Accor=ing to the American Civil Liberties Union, "Even when women have minimal or no involvement in the drug trade, they are increasingly caught in the ever-widening net cast by current drug laws, thr=ugh provisions of the criminal law such as those involving conspiracy, accompli=e liability, and constructive possession that expand criminal liability to re=ch partners, relatives and bystanders." These new policies also disproportionately affect Afr=can-American women. According to Dorothy E. Roberts, the explanation is that poor women,=who are disproportionately black, are more likely to be placed under constant supervision by the State in order to receive social services. They ar= then more likely to be caught by officials who are instructed to look specifically for drug offenses. Robert= argues that the criminal justice system's creation of new crimes has a =irect effect on the number of women, especially black women, who then become incarcerated. 11 EFTA_R1_02077687 EFTA02703053 Increasingly long prison sentences, which have been a=opted by many states over the past 20 years, have had a negligible effect on reducin= crime rates. More importantly there is little evidence that higher incarceration rates result in lower crime rates=in the first place. More than half of all people released from prison return within three years. One reason for=this is that imprisonment, especially for lengthy sentences, destabilizes individuals, families and en=ire communities, which can create a dangerous recipe for higher crime rates.,=A0 On top of this, upon release most convicts return to society without sufficient skills and training enabling them to secure meaningful employment. <=p> Even though white Americans constitute the majority o= the population and commit crimes at comparable rates to that of people of color= African Americans and Latinos overwhelming and disproportionately bear the brunt of mass incarceration. The result is that people of color constitute 60% of our prison population while remaining a distinct minority of our general population. Sadly, our criminal justice system perpetuates racial and economic divisions. If our children see minorities treated unfairly and nothing bein= done about it, stereotyping and injustice are carried into future generatio=s. Prisons should be the last resort. We must stre=gthen proven alternatives to prison, especially for low-level and non- violent drug offenses. Incar=eration should be eliminated as a penalty for certain classes of low-level, nonviolent offenses. =e must distinguish between those in prison who are ready to re-enter society and t=ose who continue to pose threats to public safety. Cost-effective alterna=ives to incarceration and drug treatment programs must be strengthened, and regular, systemic evaluations of our criminal justice systems should be required. And w= need to incorporate education so that when convicts are released they have meaningful skills and trades.</=> In America, our criminal justice system should keep communities safe and treat people fairly, regardless of the color of their =kin or the size of their bank account. In order for our system to do a good job, it must be cost-effective by using o=r taxpayer dollars and public resources wisely, in an evidence-based rather t=an fear-based manner. But our criminal justice system is not doing a good job. It has failed on every count: publi= safety, fairness and cost-effectiveness. For another prospective feel free to look at the attached Slate arti=le by Leon Neyfakh — Why Are So Many Americans in Prison? <=pan style="font-size:Upt;line-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serir> Breaking Down President Obama's Point About Christian Crusades and Islamic Extre=ism <http://=ww.thegospelcoalition.orgiblogs/kevindeyoung/files/2015/02/crusades.jpg> <=pan style="font-size:12ptline- height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serif"> 12 EFTA_R1_02077688 EFTA02703054 The=conservative Twitterverse is all riled up because at Thursday's (Feb. 5) National Prayer Breakfast (an event founded and run=by the secretive Christian organization known as The Fellowship), President Obama =aid that Christians, as well as Muslims, have at times committed atrocities:O=A0 <=pan style="font-size:12ptline-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serir>Hi= words: Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique t= some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, pe=ple committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slaver= and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.<=p> This would s=em to be Religious History 101, but it was nonetheless met with shock and awe. "Hey, American Christians-Obama just thr=w you under the bus in order to defend Islam," wrote shock jock Michael Graham. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., called the comments "dangerously irresponsible." The Catholic League's Bill Donohue said: "Oba=a's ignorance is astounding and his comparison is pernicious. The Crusades were=a defensive Christian reaction against Muslim madmen of the Middle Ages."= More=thoughtfully, Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, called Obama's comment= about Christianity an unfortunate attempt at a wrongheaded moral comparison... The evil actions that he mentioned were clearly outside the moral parameter= of Christianity itself and were met with overwhelming moral opposition from Christians. Really? 1. The Crusades The Crusades lasted almost 200 yea=s, from 1095 to 1291. The initial spark came from Pope Urban II, who urged Christians to recapture th= Holy Land (and especially the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem) from Muslim rule= Like the promise of eternal life given to Muslim martyrs, Crusaders were promised absolution from sin and eternal glory. 13 EFTA_R1_02077689 EFTA02703055 Militarily, the Crusades were at =irst successful, capturing Jerusalem in 1099, but eventually a disaster; Jersualem fell in 1187. Successive Crusades set far more modest goals, but eventually failed to ach=eve even them. The last Crusader- ruled city in the Holy Land, Acre, fell in 129=. Along the way, the Crusaders massacred. =o take but one example, the Rhineland Massacres of 1096 are remembered to this day as some=of the most horrific examples of anti-Semitic violence prior to the Holocaust. (Why go to the Holy Land to fight nonbelievers, many wondered, when they li=e right among us?) The Jewish communities of Cologne, Speyer, Worms, and Main= were decimated. There were more than 5,000 victims. And that was only one example. Tens of thousands of people (both soldiers and civilians) were killed in the conquest of Jerusalem. The Crusaders themselves suffered; historians estimate that only one in 20 surv=ved to even reach the Holy Land. It is estimated that 1.7 million people died i= total. 2. The In=uisition While most of us regard "The Inquisition" as a particular event, it actually refers to a set of institutions within the Ro=an Catholic Church that operated from the mid-13th century until the 19th cent=ry. One actually still survives, now known as the Congregation for the Doctrine=of the Faith, which was directed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before his 2005 election as Pope Benedict XVI. <=p> These institutions were charged with prosecuting h=resy -- and prosecute they did, executing and torturing thousands of suspected witches, converts from Judaism (many of whom had been forced to convert), Protestant=, and all manner of suspected heretics, particularly in the 15th and 16th centuries. Historians estimate that 150,000 people were put on trial by the Inquisition, with 3,000 executed. Arguably, the Islamic State's methods of ex=cution -- including crucifixion, beheading, and, most recently, burning a prisoner al=ve -- are as gruesome as the Inquistion's, with its infamous hangings and =urnings at the stake. ISIS is also committing systematic rape, which the Inquisitio= did not, and enslaving children. As for torture, however, it's hard to do wor=e than the Inquisition, which used torture as a method of extracting confessions. Meth=ds included starvation, burning victims' bodies with hot coals, forced over-consumption of water, hanging by straps, thumbscrews, metal pincers, a=d of course, the rack. Believe it or not, all of this was meant to be for the victim's own good: better to confess heresy in this life, even under du=ess, than to be punished for it in the next. 14 EFTA_R1_02077690 EFTA02703056 Contrary to Moore's statement, the In=uisition was not "outside the moral parameters of Christianity itself and ... met with =verwhelming moral opposition from Christians." Though Moore may distinguish betwee= 'Christianity' and the Roman Catholic Church, for all intents and p=rposes the Roman Catholic Church WAS Christianity at the time, or at least claimed to =e. <=pan style="font-size:14ptline-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serir>3.=C2* Slavery and Jim Crow Of course, there was also o=ganized Christian opposition to slavery and to Jim Crow, and Christianity is at least as much the property =f the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as of the segregationists and slaveholder= of the Old South. But this was precisely Obama's point: All religions have=their hateful extremists, and their prophets of justice. What about popularity? Do more=Muslims support the Islamic State today than Christians supported Jim Crow in the past? No. At the heig=t of the KKK's popularity in the 1920s, approximately 15 percent of white=male Americans were members. That number is eerily similar to the 12 percent of Muslims worldwide who support terrorism today. In other words, not only is Obama =actually correct that Christian extremism across history has been at least as bloody as Muslim extremism today, it is also factually true that such extremisms have been equally popular. True, as Rush Limbaugh points out, the Crusades were "=a thousand years ago," the Inquisition ended 200 years ago, and Jim Crow legally ended in the 1960s. But the president specifically noted that "humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history." Which is the real point. There are two narratives about radical Islamists, and indeed about enemies of any sort, that coexist in American culture. According to one, they are different from us -- Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis, Communists, you name it. Thus, in the battle agains= Islamic extremism, Islam is, in part at least, the enemy. The other narrative is =hat all peoples, all creeds, all nations contain elements of moderation and extremism. Thankfully, racist Christian extremists are today a tiny minority within American Christianity= But only 100 years ago, they were as popular among American Christians as t=e Islamic State is among Muslims today. Thus, in the battle against Islamic extremism, it is extremism that is the enemy. Hysterical commentary notwithstanding, no one is suggesting that Christians are just like the Islamic State. But Obama did suggest that Christianity is like Islam; both faiths have the capacity to be exploited b= extremists. 15 EFTA_R1_02077691 EFTA02703057 Christians should not be insulted by the facts of history. Rather, all of us should be inspired by them to recognize the dangers of extremism -- wherever they lie. =span style="font-size:lOpt;line-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serif">1=y Michaelson — 02/07/2015 — Religion News Service Rever=e Home Mortgages — good or not? If you watch commercial television like I do you have obviously seen the many ads promoting Reverse Home Mortgages. These c=mmercials often show an older white couple in some sort of casual activity basking in the sunshine. And a=though these ads suggest a passive sell, the repetition makes them among the hardest selling products being touted o= television. So seeing a Pros and Cons Guide disguising an ad, I thought that I would try to figure out exactly what Reverse Mortgage =re.... =p class="MsoNormal">Wikipedia: A reverse mortgage is a home loan that provides cash payments based on home equity.=C24, Homeowners normally "defer payment of the loan until they di=, sell, or move out of the home." Upon the death of homeowners, their heirs either give up ownership to the home or must refinance the home to purchase=the title from the reverse mortgage company. Specific rules for reverse m=rtgage transactions vary depending on the laws of the jurisdiction. I would describe=Reverse Mortgages a little different. They are credit facility that =nables homeowners to pawn their homes. And it does it in a way that the borrower doesn't sense the accruing debt, which are monthly interest payments that continue to grow until death. Generall= Reverse Mortgages are cap at 50% of the equity in the home and limited to $625,500. In a Reverse Mortgage= your actual loan amount is determined by a calculation that uses the appraised value of your home, =he amount of money you owe on the home, your age and current interest rates. <=span> <=p> 16 EFTA_R1_02077692 EFTA02703058 Eligibility =equirements vary by lender. To qualify for a reverse mortgage the borrower has to be over a certain age, usually 60 or 65 years =f age; if the mortgage has more than one borrower, the youngest borrower must meet the age requirement and the borrower must own the property, or the existing mortgage balance must be low enough that it will be paid off with =he reverse mortgage proceeds. class="MsoNormal"> The money from a reverse mortgage can be distribu=ed in several different ways: as a lump sum, in cash, at settlement as an annuity, with a cash payment at regular intervals as a line of credit, similar to a home equity line of credit as a combination of these. A reverse mortgage comes due — the loan plus =nterest must be repaid — when the borrower dies, sells the property, moves out of t=e house, or breaches the contract in some way. Depending on the terms some Reverse Loans can be repaid but the borrower may incur penalties or fees. Important: "come providers offer a 'no negative equity guarantee'. This means that i= the balance of the loan exceeds the proceeds of sale of the property, no claim =or this excess will be made against the estate or other beneficiaries of the borrower." Lenders say that with Reverse Mortgage you will never owe more than your home's value at the time the loan is repaid, even if the Reve=se Mortgage lenders have paid you more money than the value of the home. =Obviously this is an advantage if you secure a Reverse Mortgage and then home price declines. But one has to alway= look at the fine print as there are caveats; for instance, if you live somewhere other than the mortgaged home longer than allowed by the loan agreement the lender can foreclose on =he homeowner. And delinquent taxes or maintenance which are the responsibility of the borrower can also cause a f=reclosure. Borrowers should be weary of sales pitches that include goods or services, like home improvement services, and then suggest that a revers= mortgage would be an easy way to pay for them. And if you decide you need what's being offered, shop around before deciding on any particular seller. Keep in mind that the total cost of the product or service is the price the seller quotes plus the costs — =nd fees — tied to getting the reverse mortgage. Some may try to pressure you to buy other financial products, like an annuity or long term care insurance. Resist that pressure. You don'= have to buy any products or services to get a reverse mortgage (except to maintain =he adequate homeowners or hazard insurance that HUD and other lenders require)= In fact, in some situations, it's illegal to require you to buy other =roducts to get a reverse mortgage. 17 EFTA_R1_02077693 EFTA02703059 Reverse Mortgage are not for everyone. First of all= people who receive low-income assistance from the Federal or State government (like Medicaid), usually ar=n't able to qualify for Reverse Loans. And if you don't plan to stay in your home Reverse Mortgages are not fo= you. Lenders claim that there are numerous potential Estate and Retirement Planning benefits but one should be extremely careful=if you want to leave your home to your heirs, refinance and pay off the mortga=e or sell the home if the home is worth more than the amount owed on it...A0 And since the home is usually the largest asset in one's estate, get comparisons and read the fine print with=a lawyer. =/span> ./P> The Minority Retirement Crisis <=mg src="cid:ii_14b188cf20b49cc4" alt="Inline image 7" width="472" he=ght="216"> There is a growing retirement crisis in America.=C2. Nearly a third of Americans over the age of 18 have no retirement savings. Twenty-three percent of those between the ages =f 45 and 59 have no savings or pension. But a key part of this problem: Minorities are in far worse financial shape than white Americans. And=this is the finding of a new analysis from the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C...A0 A team of five researchers put the data narrative together, which consists of nine graphs that outline why the retirement crisis is so much worse for African- Americans and Hispanics. The largest reason for this gap is that Hispanics and African-Americans build u= less wealth than white families over their lifetime. The gap is only =etting worse. In 1983, the median white family had more than $100,000 in wealth, compared to less than $13,000 for African-American fami=ies — an eight-fold difference. By 2013, the median white family had 12 times the wealth of the median African-American family. The same is true of Hispanic families. By age 61, the median white person has earned $2 million over their lifetime. The median African-American and Hispanic have earned $1.5 million and $1 million, respectively. T=e higher lifetime earnings allows white to save more, and those savings earn more interest—wealth begets more =ealth. This gap is also apparent in average liquid retirement savings, which the researchers define as including "d=llars in accounts as 401(k), 403(b) and IRAs." These are common vehicles for retirement. The Fed study found that 43 percent of Americans are using a 401(k), 403(b) or other defined contributi=n pension plan through an employer. Another 23 percent of Americans have an IRA (some have both). It's im=ortant for families that they have some liquid retirement savings. It's always great to build up wealth in a house. But you don't want to h=ve to sell the house to afford basic needs during retirement. The Urban Institute report r=veals just how little African-American and Hispanic families have in liquid retirement savings, particularly compared to white families. In 2013, the average white f=mily had more than $130,000 in liquid 18 EFTA_R1_02077694 EFTA02703060 retirement savings, compared to $19,000 for the ave=age African-American family and $12,000 for the average Hispanic family. =n some ways, this understates the retirement crisis for everyone—African-American and Hispanic families, as well=as whites. The Urban Institute also looked at liquid retirement savings for the median family, not the average. That's i=portant because a few very rich people at the top of the income distribution can distort the statistics: Say 20 people are in a bar, each of whom make $50,0=0 a year. Then Bill Gates walks into the bar. Suddenly, the average income of e=ch person in the bar skyrockets. But that's just a result of Gates's exorbitant income, not everyone in the bar=getting richer. Using the median overcomes this problem. And that's where the =iquid retirement savings data is most alarming. The median white family has just $5,000 in liquid retirement savings, up from $1,500 in 1998. For=African-American and Hispanic families, the median is zero. Minority families have trouble saving for retirement for two other reasons outlined in the Ur=an Institute study. First, they have lower homeownership rates, which, while not a liquid savings vehicle, is one of t=e most common ways that Americans save. More than 20 percent of Americans over the age of 60 have savings in real estate=or land. But the homeownership rate for whites is more than 50 percent larger =han the rate for African-American and Hispanic families — and the gap h=s stayed constant for the past 30 years. =/P> Second, African-Americans families have more =tudent debt than whites. In 2013, 42 percent of African-American families had student debt, compared to just 28 percent of whites and 16 percent of Hispanics. And, as the Urban Institute authors note, African-Americans have lower graduatio= rates than whites and "people of color disproportionately attend for-profit schools, which have low graduation rat=s." That means that African-Americans aren't just taking on more in debt. They also aren't always getting a degree for that de=t. The gap in retirement savin=s can't only be blamed on access to, or participation in, retirement savings vehicles. "In 2013, 47 percent of whites participated in employer retirement plans,•=9D McKernan said, "and 40 percent of blacks and 28 percent of Hispanics (didj.•=A0 Part of those difference in participation rates is access. But what surprised us is that while only 28 percent of Hispanics are participating in a plan, the=r average liquid retirement savings weren't as different as African-A=ericans as we thought they'd be. "It suggested to us that employers offering a retirement account isn't necessarily g=ing to fix it," she added. "There needs to be ways to mak= those savings automatic." McKernan and her co-authors recommend six=ways to increase retirement savings for African-Americans and Hispanics. They propose automa=ic IRA plans so that employers who don't offer pensions automatically =educt a portion of their employee's paycheck and deposit it in an IRA.4k=A0 The Obama administration has already approached such a proposal. A year ago, the president announced the c=eation of myRA accounts that would allow employers to offer retirement accounts to their workers (but not auto-enrol= them in them). The program is just getting underway, but could provide an important way to get all Americans t= save more. 19 EFTA_R1_02077695 EFTA02703061 The Urban Institute authors also want to limit the mortgage interest deduction, whose benefits accrue mostly to the top 40 percent of earners, and use the money for a tax credit for first-time homebuyers.Q=A0 Fans of limiting the mortgage interest deduction say that it encourages buyers to take on more debt and buy bigger houses. They are also hesitant to use that money to offer a first-time homebuyers credit, because it can also pro=ote excessive homeownership and larger homes. That money could certainly =e put to good use in other ways to ensure Americans have secure retirements. Another proposal i= to offer a universal children's savings accounts. The specifics of such a program can vary. In 2012, Phillip Longman, writing in The Washington Monthly, argued for accounts that the government automatically creates for the child at birth. Grandparents= parents and children can contribute to those accounts, with contributions capped at 52,000 per year.=C24> The funds would build up over time, accruing interest over the course of the person's life. They wouldn'=t be a solutio= to the retirement crisis — particularly for living Americans today without such accou=ts — but they could provide another level of protection in the future. class="MsoNormal"> Most of McKernan and her co-author's reco=mendations are focused on helping retirement savings for all Americans, not just minoritie=. That's not a bad thing, but there are other things that the federal government could do that would help African-America=s and Hispanics in particular, like getting the economy back to full employme=t or ending the drug war. Millions of African-Americans are disproportionatel= locked up each year for non-violent drug offenses. Those criminal records m=ke it much harder to find a job—and that makes it far harder to build =avings and wealth over time. The report suggests that if Congress is looking for a way =o close this racial gap in retirement savings, that would be a good place to start.=/span> The Ideal Woman/Man According to a 200= study by hygiene-products Swedish company SCA, 84 percent of both men and women say that the "ideal woman=E24,4k shaves her legs. Seventy percent said it was important =or her to wear perfume, but only 51 said the "ideal man" wears cologne. The ideal woman also apparently "has long hair" but "does not wear it up." Meanwhile, the top tasks required of "the ideal man" were to cut his hair and nails short. Sounds pretty onerous. When com=ared across cultures, researchers found that "Russian women have to contend with the biggest demands for the attributes of beauty—jewel=y, makeup and shaved legs—from those closest to them. The survey also ind=cated that Russian women value these attributes the most for their well-being.Q=A0 Whereas women in Sweden say that they bath the least, chose to not shave their legs=and wear less make-up than their counterparts elsewhere in the industrialized w=rld. 20 EFTA_R1_02077696 EFTA02703062 =/div> <=iv style="text-align:center">THIS WEEK's QUOTE =/div> "There's a rhetoric in this country. It's been on the ascent for almost a ge=eration or more. And that is individual freedom, government interference, stay out of =ur lives, leave us alone, anything from Washington, you have to oppose, a fede=al mandate. And, you know, that has become the rhetoric. And that was their response. The realit= is quite simple. Americans do feel that the government is a pain in the neck a=d too much red tape and keep them out of their lives. But a trace of botulism found in one can of tuna fish outside of Pocatello, Idaho, and the universa= American reaction is, where the hell is the federal government? I wan= a report in my office in 24 hours, or heads will roll. </=pan> We want a small, effective, efficient federal government on our side 24 hours a day, cheap. In 1988, there were 350,000 cases of polio in this world. In 2=12, there were 213. That's because of vaccination. Tha='s because of Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin and the federal government and the public — public effort in health=" =/b> Mark Shields — February 6, 2015 -40=A0 PBS Newshour BEST VIDEO OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK's MUSIC Do=ald Byrd 40=A0 21 EFTA_R1_02077697 EFTA02703063 <http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pic=ures/2013/2/8/1360285140689/Donald-Byrd-008.jpg> Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 — =ebruary 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz music=ans of his generation, Byrd was best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remain=ng a jazz artist. He recorded prolifically as both a leader and sideman from the mid -'50s into the mid-'60s, m=st often for Blue Note, where he established a reputation as a solid stylist with a clean tone, clear articulation, and a knack for melodicism. Toward th= end of the '60s, Byrd became fascinated with Miles Davis' move into fusion, and started recording hi= own forays into the field. In the early '70s, with the help of brothers Lar=y and Fonce Mizell, Byrd perfected a bright, breezy, commercially potent take on fusion that was distinct from Davis, incorporating tighter arrangements and more of a smooth soul influence.t>=A0 As a bandleader, Byrd is also notable for his influential role in the early career of renowned keyboard player and compos=r Herbie Hancock. Byrd was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father, a Met=odist minister, was an amateur musician, and Byrd was already an accomplished trumpeter by the time he finished high school having performed with Lionel =ampton. After playing in a military band during a term in the United States Air For=e, he obtained a bachelor's degree in music from Wayne State University an= a master's degree from Manhattan School of Music. While still at the Manhattan School, he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, as replacement for Clifford Brown. In 1955, he recorded with Gigi Gryce Jackie McLean and Mal Waldron. After leaving the Jazz Messengers in 1956, he performed with many leading j=zz musicians of the day, including John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Mo=k, and later Herbie Hancock. Byrd's first regular group was a quintet that he co-led from 1958-61 with barito=e saxophonist Pepper Adams, an ensemble whose hard-driving performances are captured "live" on At the Half Note Cafe. In the mid-'60s, Byrd focused more of his energie= on teaching, and worked diligently to make jazz and its history a legitimate p=rt of the college curriculum. He taught at Rutgers, Hampton, New York Universi=y, and Howard in the late '60s, and the last one remained a steady associa=ion for much of the '70s. In the meantime, Byrd continued to record occasionall=, cutting a final spate of hard bop albums over 1966-1967 that included and Blackjack. Byrd also began to study African music, inspired partly by the emerging black-consciousness movement, and became interested in Miles Davis' efforts to woo a younger audience (includ=ng Byrd's own students) by experimenting with electronics and funk rhythms. Released in 1969, Fancy Free found Byrd using electric piano for the first time, with a spacy sound that recalled Davis' In a Silent Way. Issued in 1970, Electric Byrd had=more of a Bitches Brew flavor, and the jams on 1971's Ethiopian Knights=/b> were longer, funkier, and more aggressive. Byrd truly came into his own as a fus=on artist when he hooked up with the Mizell brothers, who began to handle production, writing, and some musical support duties. Their first collabora=ion was 1972's Black Byrd, an upbeat, funky blend of jazz and=R&B. As a side note to his musical career, Byrd finished l=w school in 1976, and went on to teach at North Carolina Central University. 1= 1982, Byrd received his Ph.D. from Columbia Teachers College and thentaught at a variety of postsecondary institutions, including Rutgers University, the Hampton Institute, New York University, Howard University, Queens College, Oberlin College, Cornell University, North Carolina Central University, North Texas State and Delawa=e State University. Byrd returned to somewhat straight-ahead jazz later in his career, releasing three albums fo= Orrin Keepnews' Landmark Records, and his final album Touchstone, a qui=tet. In the late '80s and early '90s, Byrd returned 22 EFTA_R1_02077698 EFTA02703064 to the hard bop of his early days on several sessions for the Landmark labe=. He participated in rapper Guru's Jazzmatazz project in 1993, and with the advent of the jazz-rap movement and England's acid jazz revival, his '70s albums became hu=ely popular sources for samples. In the meantime, Byrd continued his activities as a jazz educator. My personal Donald =yrd composition and his signature piece is "Cristo Redentor." He died=in February 2013 at the age of 80. With this I invite you this week =b>to enjoy the music of one of the greatest Jazz trumpeters of his generation Mr= Donald Byrd </=> Donald Byrd — Cristo Redent=r http://youtu.be/mAzX65ChVT8 chttp://youtu.be/mAzX65Ch=T8> Donald Byrd — Here Am II>=A0 http://youtu.be/tBbph3Umo2A<http://youtu.be/tBbph3Umo2=> Donald Byrd - Where Are We Going =- http://youtu.be/myPZb3A-VE4 Donald Byrd -Theme For Malcolm -= http://youtu.be/8u-8HLS5VhY Donald Byrd — Jeanine -- http://youtu.be/trGmyDgdRxg Donald Byrd — Funky Mama4k=A0 http://youtu.be/YS0al9z5IR8 Donald Byrd - Low Life40=A0 http://youtu.be/-Ow7Vb7ddr4 Donald Byrd — Mustang -- http://youtu.be/WUAIvNrtCsE Donald Byrd — Hush --=/i> http://youtu.be/yC6Hwv7sOyk Donald Byrd — Blackbyrd .=A0— at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1973 -- http://youtu.be/lB9Z-OQTSfs <http://you=u.be/lB9Z-OQTSfs> Donald Byrd — Change (Makes=You Want To Hustle) -- http://youtu.be/s8rblH8QLz8 <http://youtu.=e/s8rblH8QI28> Donald Byrd quintet Cannes 1958 -- http://youtu.be/X=wuLs5hCRE <http://youtu.be/XEwuLs5hCRE> Donald Byrd — Fancy Free4>=A0 http://youtu.be/IHnjxPZGEmM Donald Byrd — Places and Sp=ces http://youtu.be/LpJTE2Xroiw Donald Byrd — Kofi --=/i> http://youtu.be/YwO-oMdMecA Stan Getz & Donald Byrd — Fontessa=C24> http://yo=tu.be/81tACwaVKYk <http://youtu.be/81tACwaVKYk> I hope that you have enjoyed this weeks offerings and wish you and those whom you love a great week.... Sincerely,</=> Greg Brown</=> 23 EFTA_R1_02077699 EFTA02703065 Gregory Brown Chairman & CEOGlobalCast Partners, LLC 24 EFTA_R1_02077700 EFTA02703066