EFTA02716754

From: Gregory Brown Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2014 2:35 PM To: undisclosed-recipients: Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 12/14/2014 Attachments: Ray Charles bio.docx; Untitled attachment 00073.docx; Untitled attachment 00076.docx; Untitled attachment 00079.docx; Untitled attachment 00082.docx DEAR FRIEND TORTURE: YES WE DID <=p> Tears Apart The CIA's Past Claims... Lied About Brutality, Effectiveness... T=rture Led To Fabricated Info On Critical Terrorist Threats... KEY FINDINGS... 'Well-Worn Waterboard'... Forced Rectal Feeding... 'Nudity, Ins=lt Slaps, Facial Holds, Walling, Stress Positions'... Waterboarding Sessions Brought Off=cers 'To The Point Of Tears'... OBAMA: 'Enhanced Interrogation Techn=ques' Were 'Inconsistent With Our Values'... CIA FURY: 'Too Many Flaws'= In Report... Feinstein: 'Far Worse Than The CIA Represented'... Her Remarks Live=.. FULL REPORT... The U.S. Is A Human Rights Violator Of The First Order Unde= International Law, A Rogue State That Has Explicitly Tortured Innocent People And Never Held Anyone0=A0Legally Respo=sible... 0=A0 On Tuesday the Senate Intelligence Committee rel=ased the highly anticipated 500-page summary of its report on the CIA's <=>post-9/11 torture program, providing a sobering glimpse into one of the darke=t chapters in the U.S. government's history. In the report, a product of a 5=year investigation, Senate investigators reveal sordid details of the systemic a=d individual failures by the agency personnel who ran the "enhanced i=terrogation program" -- the government's euphemism for systematic torture -- during the George W. Bush administratio=. The program involved capturing terrorism suspects and shipping them to secret overseas prisons, where they were subjected to techniques such as waterboarding. The CIA's program has long bee= criticized as un-American and a chilling departure from the nation's values. Opponents alle=e that it resulted in gross abuses and inhumane treatment of detainees, some of whom =ere eventually revealed not to have been involved in terror organizations:0=A° The 6,300-page report may be the most unsanitized official accou=t to date of the agency's program, which the Senate investigators say was misman=ged, poorly conducted and characterized by abuses far more widespread than the CIA previously conveyed to lawmakers. The newly released EFTA_R1_02157300 EFTA02716754 document tears apart the CIA's past claims that only a s=all number of detainees were subjected to the harsh interrogation techniques.=C240 But Senate investigators found that the CIA had actually kept 119 detainees in custody= 26 of whom were illegally held. And despite CIA insistence that the program was limited in scope, Senate investigators conclude that the use of torture was much more widespread than previ=usly thought. The study reveals several gruesome instances of torture by mid-level CIA officers who participated in the program, including threats o= sexual violence using a broomstick and the use of "rectal hydration=quot; in instances of harsh interrogations that lasted for days or weeks on end. And, contrary to the agency'=s prior insistence that only three detainees were subject to waterboarding, the Senate =eport suggests it was likely used on more detainees. The report cites the p=esence of materials typically used for waterboarding being present at certain =i>"blacksites," or secret prisons, where the agency had previously said waterboarding was not used.q=pan> Rather =han wrestling with the morality of the agency's torture program or the operation's damaging effect on the U.S.'=international credibility, Senate investigators instead weighed whether the agency's =attics were effective. Through narrative examinations of 20 separate detainee cases, the panel attempted to make the case that the use of harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding d=d not yield valuable intelligence. "The committee reviewed 20 o= the most frequent and prominent examples of purported counterterrorism 'successe=' that the CIA has attributed to the use of its enhanced interrogation techniques,=quot; Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chair of the intelligence panel, said in = statement Tuesday. "Each of those examples was found to be wrong in fundamental respects." <=yan style="font-size:12ptline-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serir> In some instances, the study find=, the information acquired proved irrelevant to stopping terror threats. In others, the use of the techniques resulted in detainees providing fabricated or inaccurate information, and in still other cases, the information obtained through interrogating the detainees had already been acquired through other techniq=es. Given that the techniques were ineffective, the study says, the agency routinely misled Congress and the White House wh=n it claimed that the use of torture did in fact contribute to intelligence victories. For instance, the Senate report pushes back against the CIA's argument that torture provided the information about Osama bin Laden's courier that helped the U.S. kill t=e al Qaeda leader in 2011. In a 10-page discussion on the subject, Senate investigators say the information that led the U.S. to bin Laden was obtain=d from a detainee while he was in foreign custody, prior to being subjected t= torture. The CIA, however, refutes these conclusions. In a roughly 100-page official response released alongside the intelligence panel4o=99s summary, the agency contends that harsh interrogation techniques were effective.=C240 "The sum total of information provided from detainees in CIA custody substantial=y advanced the Agency's strategic and tactical understanding of the e=emy in ways that continue to inform counterterrorism efforts to this day," the agency said in its rebuttal. The response argues that it's not clear whether the valuable information co=ld have been acquired by means 2 EFTA_R1_02157301 EFTA02716755 other than harsh interrogation techniques, although =he agency concedes that it's possible. "It is impossible =o imagine how CIA could have achieved the same results in terms of disrupting plots, capturing othe= terrorists, and degrading al- Qa'ida without any information from de=ainees, but it is unknowable whether, without enhanced interrogation techniques, CIA or non-CIA interrogators could have acquired the same information from those detainees," the rebuttal said. Still, the CIA is not advocating a return=to the use of torture during interrogations. Rather, it is most concerned with defe=ding itself against charges that it misled Congress and the White House about th= extent and value of the program. The official response vehemently cha=lenges the Senate's allegation that the spies acted outside the limits of what=the White House had allowed the agency to do. The agency has said that th= enhanced interrogations were part of a government-approved program carried out under express orders from within the Bush administration. <= class="MsoNormal">"The image portrayed in the Study of an organization that — on an institutional scale— intentionally=misled and routinely resisted oversight from the White House, the Congress, the Department of Justice, and its own OIG simply does not comport with the record," =he agency's response said. Among the Senate report's 20 main conclusions are tha= the CIA misled Congress, the White House and the Department of Justice, that the ag=ncy ignored internal critiques of the program, and that the CIA's use of th= techniques went far beyond the legal authority bestowed upon it by the Bush White House. In a statement Tuesday, President Barack Obama said, "=he report documents a troubling program involving enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects i= secret facilities outside the United States, and it reinforces my long-held view that these harsh methods were not only inconsistent with our values as nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts or our nati=nal security interests." "That is why I will continue to use my autho=ity as President to make sure we never resort to those methods again," Obama added. "In carryi=g out that program, we did not always live up to the high standards that we set for ourselves and that the American people expec= of us," CIA Director John Brennan said Tuesday in his official respon=e. "As an Agency, we have learned from these mistakes, which is why my predecessors and I have implemented various remedial measures over the years to address institutional deficiencies.&quo=; The agency says it has no intention of revamping the current version of its interrogation program, which was curbed as a result of directives from Obama. "It is Director Brennan's resolute intention to ensure that Agency officer= scrupulously adhere to these directives, which the Director fully supports," the statement continued. "CIA has owned up to these mistakes, learned from them, and taken numerous corrective actions over the years. Further improvements to CIA practices continue to be made today as a result of our review of the SSCI Study," the agency's response=noted, referring to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the intelligence panel's full name. The document's release marks the conclusion of an =xplosive, high-stakes feud that played out between the White House's chief sp=ing agency and its powerful Senate overseers about how much of the report to release publicly. The 3 EFTA_R1_02157302 EFTA02716756 feud revolved around the executive branch's insistence that the committee redact the pseudonyms =sed to identify the mid-level CIA officers involved in the program. Despite = month's long fight, Feinstein was ultimately forced to relent and allow the pseudonyms to remain blacked out =n order to get her study's summary out the door before the panel's in=oming Republican majority takes control of the report in January. The study, which was =irst commissioned by Feinstein in 2009, began as a bipartisan effort with then-ranking member Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.)= Republicans on the panel, though, withdrew from the study just months after=it was commissioned. The document released Tuesday will very likely be the only portion the public sees of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report. Although Feinstein suggested in Ap=il that the full report would be released at a later date, Republicans are not likely t= seek further declassification once they gain control of the committee, given the=r opposition to the investigation. The study set the stage for a dramatic, closed-d=or dispute between the agency and Feinstein, which resulted in deeply personal jabs an= competing referrals to the Justice Department asking for criminal investigations. The CIA accused Feinstein's staff early this year of taking highly sensitive materi=l from the secure agency facility where the investigation was conducted. Feinste=n, meanwhile, insisted the investigators had a right to the document, and further accused the agency o= improperly monitoring the computers her staff used to construct the study.=C2. The Department of Justice declined to investigate either the CIA's or Feinstein's allegations. The CIA ha= since conceded that it did improperly monitor Senate investigators' compu=ers, and is conducting an independent accountability review board to determine what consequences, if any, its employees should face. The Committee makes the following findings and conclusions: <=> The CIA's use of its enhanced interrogation techniques was not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or Gaining =ooperation from detainees. =b>#4:c=pan style="font-size:12ptline-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serir>=C240 The conditions of confinement for CIA detainees were harsher than the CIA had represented to policymakers and others=/p> #5: =he CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate information to the Department of Justice, impeding a proper legal analysis =f the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program. #6: The CIA has active=y avoided or impeded congressional oversight of the program. #7: The CIA impeded effective White House oversight and decision-making. #8: The CIA's Operation and management=of the program complicated, and in some cases impeded, the national security missi=ns of other Executive Branch agencies. #9: The CIA impeded oversight by the=CIA's Office of Inspector General. 4 EFTA_R1_02157303 EFTA02716757 #10: The CIA coordinated the release of classified information to the media, including inaccurate information concerning the e=fectiveness of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques. #11: The CIA was unpr=pared as it began operating its Detention and Interrogation Program more than six months after being granted detention authorities. #12: The CIA's management and operatio= of its Detention and Interrogation Program was deeply flawed throughout the progra='s duration, particularly so in 2002 and early 2003. #13: Two contract psych=logists devised the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques and played a central role in the operatio=, assessments, and management of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Pr=gram. By 2005, the CIA had overwhelmingly out sourced operations related to the program. #14:<=span> CIA detainees were subjected to coercive interrogation techniques that had not been approved by the Department of Justice or had not been authorized by CIA Headquarters. #15: The CIA did=not conduct a comprehensive or accurate accounting of the number of individuals it detained, and held individuals w=o did not meet the legal standard for detention. The CIA's claims about the n=mber of detainees held and subjected to its enhanced Interrogation techniques were =naccurate. <=pan style="font-size:12ptline-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serir>01=: The CIA failed to adequately evaluate the effectiveness of its enhanced interrogation techniques. #17: The CIA rarely reprimanded=or held personnel accountable for serious and Significant violations, inappropriate activitie=, and systemic and individual management failures. #18: The CIA marginalize= and ignored numerous internal critiques, criticisms, and objections concerning the operation and management of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program. Critiques, criticisms, and objections were expressed by numerous CIA officers, includi=g senior personnel overseeing and managing the program, as well as analysts, interrogators, and medical officers involved in or supporting CIA detention=and interrogation operations. #19: The CIA's Detention and Interrogation =rogram was inherently unsustainable and had effectively ended by 2006 due to unauthorized press disclosures, reduced cooperation from other nations, and legal and oversight concerns. #20; The CIA's Detention and Interrogat=on Program damaged the United States' standing in the world, and resulted in other=significant monetary and non-monetary costs. One of the worst myths offic=al Washington and its establishment media have told itself about the torture debate is that the controversy is limited to three cases of waterboarding at Guant4)=Alnamo and a handful of bad Republican actors. In fact, a wide array of torture techniques were approved at the highest level= of the U.S. Government and then systematically employed in lawless US prisons around the world — at Bagram (including during the Obama presidency), CIA black sites, even to US citizens on U= soil. So systematic was the torture regime that a 2008 Senate report concluded that the criminal abuses at Abu Ghraib were the direct result of the torture mentality imposed by official Washington. 5 EFTA_R1_02157304 EFTA02716758 American torture was not confined to a handful of aberrational cases or techniques, nor was it the work of rogue CIA agents. It was =n officially sanctioned, worldwide regime of torture that had the acquiescence, if not explicit approval, of t=e top members of both political parties in Congress. It was motivated b= far more than interrogation. The evidence for all of this is conclusive and overwhelming. And the American media bears much of the blame, as they refused for years even =o use the word "torture" to describe any of this (even as they called these same techniques "torture=E2** when used by American adversaries), a shameful and cowardly abdication that continues literally to this day in many of the mos= influential outlets. None of this has been in any plausible doubt for =ears. Recall that Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led an official investigation into prisoner abuse, said in 2008: "There=is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.Q=9D Gen. Barry McCaffrey said: "We tortured people unm=rcifully. We probably murdered dozens of them during the course of that, both the armed forces an= the CIA." Nobody needs this Senate report to demonstrate that the U.S. government became an official squad of torture (with the American public largely on board). I don't und=rstand why people are so outraged. We have known about rendition, waterboarding, sleep deprivation, forced rectal feeding and other forms of=enhanced interrogation for more than a decade. While at the same time one of the most popular shows on American television was "24" where Kiefer Su=herland as Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) agent Jack Bauer routinely tortured anyone he deemed necessar= in a race against the clock to thwart multiple terrorist plots including presidential assassination attempts, weapons of mass destruction detonations, bioterrori=m, cyber- attacks, as well as conspiracies which deal with government and corporate corruption= We accepted his "ends justify the means" approach, regardless of the morality of some of his actions. So instead of asking ourselves why are these people attacking us? It is has been easier to cast them all as terrorist with us being the g=od guys eradicating cancer wherever we perceive it under an official policy we called — The War Against Te=rorism. And the definition of Torture is simple, "doi=g something to someone that you wouldn't want them to do you or your f=iends." And just in case you still can't figure this ou= feel free to go on the web link below.... An Illustrated A to Z of Torture Web Link:</=pan> <http:/=www.vice.com/read/an-illustrated-a-z-of-torture-cia-284> <=p> =span style="font-size:9ptline-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serir> Krent Able, Words — December 11, 2014 — V=ce.com 6 EFTA_R1_02157305 EFTA02716759 Are These People =razy =1span> Are these people crazy? This was my initial respo=se when I read the article last week in the Washington Post by Nancy Scola — Uber'= not a $40 billion start-up. It's a mid-sized car company — and it is still my b=lief today. In its current round of fundraising, Uber was valued at =40 billion dollars raising $1.2 billion that it closed last week and supporters are claiming that this eye-popping figur= for a six-year-old ride-on-demand company isn't crazy because they claim that Uber8a1=9;s value is based on the bet that it will soon "become a meaningful substitute for people owning cars." Baffled</=pan> by this I s=oke with a knowledgeable friend of mine on Wall Street who not only agreed with me but told me that Goldman Sachs is telling its people that they are coming back to the market next year for more financing at an $80 billion valuation. Are these p=ople drinking Cool-Aid <=p> Uber launched in 2009 in San Francisco as a high-e=d car service. It existed to serve those who wanted, in the words of chief executive Travis Kalanick, a "baller&quo=; way of getting around the city. But somewhat by coincidence, that luxury service also happened to be a perfect match for how masses of people wanted to travel. Young people in the =nited States aren't driving nearly as much as they once did. That has put Uber in a posit=on to suck up some of the billions of dollars that people might otherwise pour into cars,=gas and auto insurance. "Uber's strength is that it has tappe= the mobility needs of a young generation of a networked people at exactly the moment their demands =re changing," says Anthony Townsend, senior research scientist at NYU=#39;s Rudin Center for Transportation. In part, Townsend says, that has to do with the =apid rise of powerful, Internet-connected mobile phones. According to the Pew Rese=rch Internet Project, about 80 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 own a smartphon=, and "they don't want to drive because they want to stare at their screens." Add in that more you=g people in the United States are moving into cities, where Uber's distan=e-dependent pricing is less painful than it would be in the suburbs. And the reas=ning behind this astronomical valuation of $40 billion is that as long as Uber keeps its customer service high and prices within reason, people will find it just as economical and perhaps more enjoyable to use Uber to get around than owning a car. With th=t in mind, considering Uber to be worth a mid-sized car company doesn't s=em so far-fetched. And they claim that there's more. Because they say that Ub=r today isn't just about getting yourself a ride. It's about getting your stuff a ride to =ou. In some of the 51 countries around the globe where it operates, Uber is =ggressively experimenting with flipping the equation so that cars and drivers are delivering everything fr=m packages to flu shots to kitten snuggles. "Thinking of them as a company that transports people from one place to another is one part of the story," says Sundararajan, pausing our phone call to get into an arriving Uber vehicle. "But you wouldn't come up with a 7 EFTA_R1_02157306 EFTA02716760 $40 billion valuation from just that. Their inv=stors are betting on a behavioral change amount where a lot of people are willing=to spend more than they do now to get things on demand." All of this=sound cool except that there is little barriers to entry for competitors, here in America such as Lyft, Zipcar or Ge=Taxi and abroad such as Addison Lee in London and Hailo a British new technology platform that m=tches taxi drivers and passengers through its mobile phone application and is fully available in New York City and has announced the launches of services in Madrid, the rest of Ireland, Barcelona, Washington DC, Tokyo and Osaka by t=e end of the year, as well as stiffening competition from loca= taxi and limousine=C2Qcompanies. Remember Groupon, the deal a day website that featured discounted gift certificates for restaurants, spas and other services and goods. Groupon launched in November 2008, and the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafte= by Boston, New York City, and Toronto. By October 2010 Groupon served more than 150 markets in North America and 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South America and had 35 million registered use=s. <=pan style="font-size:12ptline-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serif5Th= idea for Groupon was created by now- ousted CEO and Pittsburgh native Andrew Mason. The idea subsequently gained the attention of his former employer, Eric Lefkofsky, w=o provided $1 million in "seed money" to develop the idea. In April 2010, the company was valued at $1.35 billion. According to a D=cember 2010 report conducted by Groupon's marketing association and reported in Forbes Magazine and =he Wall Street Journal, Groupon was "projecting that the company is on pace to make $1 billion in sales faster than any oth=r business, ever". However, a report from Forrester Research in October 2011 suggested that the Groupon business model was a "disaster" and that the firm had become an example of how fast an Internet darling can fall. Since then Groupon has been acquiring as many companies as it can to stay alive as fewer and fewer peop=e are using its initial proposition. <=span> In fact some analysts claimed that Groupon =perates "like" a Ponzi scheme, according to interpretation of Initial public offering (IPO) documentation, because it has publicly disclosed that it is losing approximately US$100 million per quarter, has a net negative balance of $230 million, and is usi=g later investors' money to pay off earlier investors. But lets get back to Ube=. Because a $40 billion valuation is significantly more than that of Tesla ($28), Fiat ($16), Mazda ($16) and Subaru ($12). It is just $14 billion les= than General Motors and two-thirds of the value of Ford ($64) which is havi=g its best year ever. And please explain how Uber is worth more than half of BMW ($73) and in the vicinity of half o= the value of Daimler/Mercedes Benz ($90). The Uber model is that it k=eps 20% of the gross revenues with its drivers getting the remainder. Its most optim=stic projection is that Gross Revenues in 2015 will be $10 billion, which after cost would leave the comp=ny netting a little north of $1.2 billion or 33 times gross. =p class="MsoNormal"> And there are already signs of that the big auto =ompanies are getting into the game as competitors to Uber. BMW, for example, has l=unched i Ventures, a venture-capital wing inspired by the idea that "the emerging field =f mobility services is in a continuous state of evolution." That branch of BMW has already put money into a location-aware city 8 EFTA_R1_02157307 EFTA02716761 services app, the onli=e parking marketplace ParkatmyHouse.com and a New York City transportation start-up incubator. I remember in the 90s when Wall Street touted the notion that every dot.com chttp://dot.com= target=> would overwhelm the existing brick and mortar companies. And some did, but most didn't and although Amazon is currently values m=re than $157 billion, it has yet to make a penny of profit.... Yes Uber=is a good company offering a great product/service, but it is difficult fo= me to believe that Uber is really worth $40 billion but then if Amazon is really worth $157.5 =illion today, anything is possible Flooding, dangerous heatwaves, ill health and violent conflicts among=likely risks if the world keeps burning fossil fuels at current rates, IPC= expected to say Whatever deniers are saying Climate Cha=ge is happening, it's almost entirely man's fault and lim=ting its impacts may require reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero thi= century, the U.N.'s panel on climate science said this month. T=e fourth and final volume of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climat= Change's giant climate assessment offered no surprises, nor =as it expected to since it combined the findings of three reports released=in the past 13 months. But it underlined the scope of the climate ch=llenge in stark terms. Emissions, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels,=may need to drop to zero by the end of this century for the world to have = decent chance of keeping the temperature rise below a level that many con=ider dangerous. The IPCC didn't say exactly what=such a world would look like but it would likely require a massive shift t= renewable sources to power homes, cars and industries combined with new t=chnologies to suck greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The report =arned that failure to reduce emissions could lock the world on a trajector= with "irreversible" impacts on people and the environment. Some=impacts already being observed included rising sea levels, a warmer and mo=e acidic ocean, melting glaciers and Arctic sea ice and more frequent and =ntense heat waves. "Science has spoken. There is no amb=guity in their message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side,"=C2QU.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon said at the report's launc= in Copenhagen. Amid its grim projections, the repor= said the tools are there to set the world on a low-emissions path and bre=k the addiction to burning oil, coal and gas which pollute the atmosphere =ith heat-trapping CO2, the chief greenhouse gas. "All w= need is the will to change, which we trust will be motivated by knowledge=and an understanding of the science of climate change," IPCC=chairman Rajendra Pachauri said. The IPCC was set up in 1988 to asse=s global warming and its impacts. The report released Sunday caps its late=t assessment, a mega-review of 30,000 climate change studies that establis=es with 95-percent certainty that most of the warming seen since the 1950s=is man-made. The IPCC's best estimate is that just about all of it is =an-made, but it can't say that with the same degree of certainty..=A0 And only a small minority of scientists challenge the mainstream conclu=ion that climate change is linked to human activity. 9 EFTA_R1_02157308 EFTA02716762 Global Climate Change, a NASA website, says 97 percent of climate scienti=ts agree that warming trends over the past century are very likely due to =uman activities. Yet the American public isn't as convinced. A y=ar-old survey by Pew Research showed 67 percent of Americans believed glob=l warming is occurring and 44 percent said the earth is warming mostly bec=use of human activity. More recently, a New York Times poll said 42 =ercent of Republicans say global warming won't have a serious impact, = view held by 12 percent of Democrats and 22 percent of independents. The rift between developed and developing countries in th= U.N. talks opened up in Copenhagen over a passage on what levels of warmi=g could be considered dangerous. After a protracted battle, the text=was dropped from a key summary for policy-makers — to the disappoi=tment of some scientists. "If the governments are going=to expect the IPCC to do their job," said Princeton professo= Michael Oppenheimer, a lead author of the IPCC's second report, they=C24>shouldn't "get caught up in fights that have nothing to d= with the IPCC." The omission meant the word &qu=t;dangerous" disappeared from the summary altogether.O=A0 It appeared only twice in a longer underlying report compared to seven =imes in a draft produced before the Copenhagen session. In its place=the less loaded word "risk" was mentioned 65 ti=es in the final 40-page summary. "Rising rates and magn=tudes of warming and other changes in the climate system, accompanied by o=ean acidification, increase the risk of severe, pervasive, and in some cas=s irreversible detrimental impacts," the report said.=/p> World governments in 2009 set a goal of keeping the tempera=ure rise below 2 degrees C (3.6 F) compared to before the industrial revol=tion. Temperatures have gone up about 0.8 C (1.4 F) since the 19th c=ntury. Emissions have risen so fast in recent years that the world h=s used up two-thirds of its carbon budget, the maximum amount of CO2 that =an be emitted to have a likely chance of avoiding 2 degrees of warming, th= IPCC report said. "This report makes it clear that if =ou are serious about the 2-degree goal ... there is nowhere to hide,"=C2t>said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocac= group. "You can't wait several decades to address this =ssue." <=span> U.S. Secretary of State John =erry said the report demands "ambitious, decisive and immedia=e action." "Those who choose to ignore or dispute the science so=clearly laid out in this report do so at great risk for all of us and for =ur kids and grandkids," Kerry said in a statement. The=IPCC said the cost of actions such as shifting to solar and wind power and=other renewable sources and improving energy efficiency would reduce econo=ic growth only by 0.06 percent annually. Pachauri said that should b= measured against the implications of doing nothing, putting "=all species that live on this planet" at peril. Bob Ward, policy director at the LSE's Grantham Research =nstitute on Climate Change, said the report made clear it was 4>=804>still technically possible to avoid dangerous climate change"= but that required emissions reductions would "on=y be possible if action starts immediately". "If str=ng action is not well underway by 2020, the chance of avoiding dangerous c=imate change will be very small, if indeed possible at all," =/i>he said. "I think there will be an international =greement in Paris next year, but the commitments by individual countries t= cut emissions will not be consistent with the goal of avoiding global war=ing of more than 2C." "World leaders may wait until =here is even more evidence of the damaging impacts of climate change befor= they accelerate action to cut emissions, but any further delay will incre=se the magnitude of the risks the world faces." 10 EFTA_R1_02157309 EFTA02716763 We are at risk of pushing our climate system toward abrupt, unpredictable= and potentially irreversible changes with highly damaging impacts. =arth's climate is on a path to warm beyond the range of what has b=en experienced over the past millions of years. The range of uncerta=nty for the warming along the current emissions path is wide enough to enc=mpass massively disruptive consequences to societies and ecosystems: as gl=bal temperatures rise, there is a real risk, however small, that one or mo=e critical parts of the Earth's climate system will experience abr=pt, unpredictable and potentially irreversible changes. Disturbingly, scie=tists do not know how much warming is required to trigger such changes to =he climate system while many deniers are now saying that it is too difficu=t and expensive. =/span> W=en was the last time we accepted "It's too hard=E240. as an excuse? Is that what they said in the U.=. when President John Kennedy wanted to go to the moon? Is that what=they said before the Iron Curtain fell in Eastern Europe? Or before smallp=x was eradicated from the face of the earth? No. In just the s=me way, we can't accept "it's too hardt=80. as a reason not to tackle the climate crisis. And the=fact is, the solutions are here, right in front of our eyes. Between=2007-2012, electricity generation from both wind and solar grew by=over 300 percent in the U.S, and are set to continue growing rapidly over =he next two decades. China is already the world's biggest in=estor in low- carbon energy, already has the most renewable energy installe= capacity in the world and is expected to invest an additional $294 billio= through 2015, to counter climate change. Further, the country recen=ly announced it will ban coal use in the dense, smoggy capital of Beijing =y 2020. The transition to clean energy won't happen overnigh=, but it will happen sooner than we think not because we =ant to but because we have to as anymore denial may take us over the tippi=g point. =nside the Nation's Largest Homeless Encampment Web Link: http://youtu.be/pQn1z2HBIrA Last week I did a segm=nt on the explosion of homeless children in America because the number of homeless children had reached a staggering 2.5 million last year, an historic high, according to a new repo=t released by the National Center on Family Homelessness. While during =he same week that the report was released in the city of San Jose, California at the 68-acre shantytown =b>The Jungle, just minutes away from downtown and the high-tech giants that made Silicon Valley one of the world=fB9;s most opulent locations city officials started evicting and shutting down for good. For years, the city turned a blind eye to "the Jungle." But the camp along the muddy bank of Coyote Creek h=s become more crowded in recent years and is awash in rotting trash, rats and human waste — so bad that the endangered steelhead trout have essentially disappeared. 11 EFTA_R1_02157310 EFTA02716764 The sprawling camp has become a major embarrassment, and a potent emblem of Silicon Valley's homeless crisis. In 2013, San J=se and the surrounding Santa Clara County estimated almost 7,600 homeless people, more than in San Franc=sco. And 75% of them were sleeping outside, on sidewalks, in parks and under freeway embankments — a percentage=greater than in any other major U.S. metropolitan area. Officials have blamed soaring housing costs for the displacement. As =ilicon Valley rocketed out of the recession, workers streamed in, driving the average apartment rent within 1= miles of San Jose up to $2,633 in September, from $1,761 two years earlier, according to the rental website RentJungle.com and the median home price is nearly $700,000. "The city really made a good-faith effort," said Claire Wagner, communications director for HomeFirst, which runs a homeless shelter and services agency in San Jose. But while 144 inhabitants have found housing, more than 50 have rent subsidies in han= but nowhere to go. In 2011, the state ended special redevelopment assessments, which essentially brought affordab=e housing construction to a halt, said Ray Bramson, San Jose's homelessne=s response manager. "Encampments are not the problem, homelessn=ss is the problem," Bramson said. "If you have 10 applications=to choose from, nine with stable rental histories and work, and you have somebody liv=ng in a creek; what are you going to do?" Loving added. Last week, some inhabitants of the Jungle were packing up to leave while others said they planned to remain as long as possible. San Jose poli=e and city officials hand out notices warning residents of the homeless encampment known as the Jungle th=t they must vacate the premises. Vp> As today's students face a world filled w=th global conflict, disappearing jobs, skyrocketing education costs, and increasing poverty in America, action is more crucial than ever. We know hunger and homeles=ness are increasing epidemics plaguing the United States — striking Americans of every =ge, ethnicity, and religion, hitting urban and rural communities alike. J=st last year, the national poverty rate rose to include 13.2% of the population. 1 in 7 people were at risk of suffering from hunger in the United States. In addit=on, 3.5 million people were forced to sleep in parks, under bridges, in shelter=or cars. The combination of the high cost of living, low-wage jobs, and high unemployment rates only exacerbate these problems and force countless Americans to choose between food, housing, and other expenses. Studies show that money devoted to food is typically the first to be sacrificed. Families will ofte= pay their fixed payments first, such as rent and utilities, rather than pay=for food. Unfortunately, these problems will only continue to grow if our society does not make it a national priority t= address them in any systemic way. The homeless population includes people from al= walks of life: In the U.S., more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year. • 35% of the homeless population are families with children, which is the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. 12 EFTA_R1_02157311 EFTA02716765 23% are U.S. military veterans. 25% are children under the age of 18 years. 30% have experienced domestic violence. 20-25% suffer from mental illness. In urban communities, people experience homelessness for an average of eight months.=/span> People become homeless for a variety of reasons. =omelessness is primarily an economic problem, and is also affected by a number of social and political factors. 4r=A0The number of people experiencing homelessness exploded in the 1980s, as federal funds were withdrawn from low-income hous=ng and social assistance programs for low-income families and the mentally ill= Current federal spending on housing assistance programs targeted at low-income populations is less than 50% of 1976 spendi=g levels. Lack of Affordable Housing: There is a severe lack of affordable housing in the United States. The growing g=p between wage earnings and the cost of housing in the United States leaves millions of families and individuals unable to make ends meet. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, families across the country w=uld need to earn a "housing wage" of $15.37 an hour, nearly three tim=s the current minimum wage, to afford a two-bedroom apartment at the average =air market rent. Even in West Virginia, the least expensive rental state in the country, a full-time wage earner would have to earn over $8.78/hour-$3 high=r than the federal minimum wage-in order to afford a two bedroom apartment.</=pan> Low Incomes: Many low and minimum wage workers cannot afford food and shelter. Over the past twenty-five year=, wages for the lowest income workers have not kept pace with the increase in living costs, nor the increase in salaries of those in the highest income brackets. The minimum wage has continually decreased in value since the late 1960s; adjusting for inflatio=, the current minimum wage is worth 27% less than it was in 1968. This =eaves the lowest income workers unable to afford necessities like housing, food and medical care. Lack of Affordable Medical Care: The cost of health care and insurance has risen dramatically over past years an= can cost a family up to $8000/year. For families living on low or middle incomes, this cost can be prohibitive.Q=A0 For families or individuals that lack health insurance, a sudden illness, chronic disease, or accident can be financiall= devastating. Political Factors: Cuts in federal assistance for housing programs and social services have coincided with the rise in homelessness in the U.S. During the 1950s and 1960s, federal housing programs and services nearly eradicate= 13 EFTA_R1_02157312 EFTA02716766 homelessness; however, during the 1980s, housing programs were slashed by h=lf and the homeless population in the U.S. began to grow. Programs designed to pro=ide a safety net for people living at or near the poverty line, like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TAN=), have faced changes or cuts that often make it more difficult or impossible =or people at risk of or experiencing homelessness to access services. TA=F components like sanctions, work requirements, time limits, and immigrant restrictions cut many people off f=om benefits. Without a safety net to help, many of the lowest income people must choose between things like food, medi=al care, and housing to make ends meet. </van> Social & Medical Factors: While economic factors are the main causes of homelessness, long-term issues like mental illness, drug addiction, and alcoholism can exacerbate situations of poverty and put people at greater risk of homelessness. Surveys of people experiencing homelessness show that about 25% of the homeless population suffers from some form of mental illness; the high cost of health insurance leaves homeless people without access to proper care to treat mental illnes=. Drug and alcohol addiction affect about 20% of the homeless population who, again, often lack access to proper, affordable care for these illnesses. We can end homelessness in the U.S. by tackling i=s root causes-low wages and a lack of affordable housing-and by improving support services like TANF, housing vouchers, and health care. And as of the =tart of this week there were still people living in The Jungle, not because they want to but because the= have no place else to go. This is a shame, not only because it is =n one of the richest areas in America but because it is in America =C240 The richest country in the world.... A gravedigger at the cemetery of the Ebola treatment UNIT in Suakoko District in Bong County =p class="MsoNormal">The good news is that in Monrovia, Liberia (city o= 1 million) which had become the epicenter of Ebola with more than 100 new cases in August, patients dying o=tside of treatment units filled to capacity with bodies lay rotting in the streets and mathematical models projecting that Liberia would face thousands of new cases weekly by December, by mid November 2014 these grim projections have proven to be wrong. Although the Ebola epidemic is still growing in Sierra Leone and Guinea's numbers ar= swinging up and down, Liberia is now reporting only about 20 new patients a day. Treatment units have hundreds of empty beds, and Liberian President El=en Johnson Sirleaf has lifted the state of emergency put in place in August.q=pan> Now Liberia and the other affected countries face new challenges: rebuilding their shattered Health Care Systems, tampin= down local outbreaks, and looking for ways to drive the number of new cases to z=ro. 14 EFTA_R1_02157313 EFTA02716767 No one is quite sure what has caused the epidemic to =ane. Safe burials may be a big factor, says Katri Jalava, a Finnish veterinarian and an epidemiological consultant to the Wor=d Health Organization. It's a local custom to wash the corpse and then use the same water to wash the hands of the bereaved, she says. "In terms of a disease like Ebola that=is absolutely mad." Most agree that people's everyda= behavior has changed as well. Ubiquitous street signs warn that "Ebola is rea=" and tell Monrovians "Don't be the next ca.e." Outside many HOMES are small hand-washing stations with bleach, and Liberians have stopped hugging and shaking hands.=Yet "this is still a catastrophe," says Kevin De Cock, an epidemio=ogist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. =EVEN 20 daily Ebola cases would have been unimaginable a year ago. And Guinea has shown that success in fighting Ebola can be short-lived: Twice, that =ountry was on the cusp of ending the outbreak, and twice the VIRUS came roaring back. Some have even questioned whether Liberia's r=cent drop in cases is real. At a meeting at the Liberian ministry of health last week, a U.S. Agency for International Development representative said he had been sent specifically to find out i= the numbers can be trusted. "Yes," answered Swedish statistician Hans Rosling, who has spent the past month in Monrovia helping the Liberian government interpret epidemiological data.40=A0 CDC researchers, for instance, have used mouth swabs to test dead bodies in Monrovia for Ebola; about 20% to 30% are now positive, down from close to 90% during the height of the epidemic . The re=I number of cases may be twice the reported number, but not much more, Roslin= says. "We're in a new phase now." The international response has been slow to adapt.40=A0 Although the Pentagon has said it will build fewer new Ebola TREATMENT CENTERS, their construction is ongoing. =quot;That doesn't make sense at all," says Thierry Goffeau, head of =he DOCTORS Without Borders (MSF) mission in Liberia. "It's clearly a waste of human and financial resources." Roslin=, too, says tactics have to change. In September, the main job was building clinics, removing the dead, and keepin= as many patients as possible isolated. Now, it's about setting up a flexible system to respond to new outbreaks, identifying patients quickly, and tracing their contacts to prevent more infections. "What we needed to do in the first phase was rugb=," Rosling says. "Now it is chess." Liberia's medical system, which collapsed under the weight of Ebola, is gearing up ag=in. Doctors are returning to work, clinics are reopening. Goffeau says that is sorely needed: "People are d=ing at home of many other diseases than Ebola, because they have no access to health care." But medical staff still=face an important risk. One in every hundred or thousand patients may carry the Ebola virus=E24,40which could start new cycles of infection. There are reports that doctors at some clinics are now doing surgery and delivering babies in Ebola protection sui=s. At Redemption Hospital in Monrovia, whose inpatient d=partment was closed this summer after several doctors died from Ebola, MSF is trying=to protect staff with a new triage unit, which opened on 19 November. Pa=ients with Ebola- like symptoms are interviewed; if they meet the criteria for a suspect case, they stay in one=of 10 small rooms while their blood is TESTED. Those who test negative c=n enter the inpatient ward, while an ambulance takes Ebola patients to a treatment unit= MSF has also started distributing malaria drugs to hundreds of thousands of people, not just to lower the burden of that disease, which was neglected f=r months, but also to reduce the number of people visiting hospitals with a fever. Reopening Monrovia's schools poses similar quandaries. One idea is to SCREEN pupils' temperature=as they enter the school. "But what do you do if a 10-year-old kid has a hi=h temperature and the other kids start pointing at him and shouting '=bola'?" Rosling says. In a meeting with President Sirleaf, he has argued for a caut=ous approach: Opening some schools and carefully studying what happens.<=p> 15 EFTA_R1_02157314 EFTA02716768 The capital region still serves as a reservoir from w=ich patients travel to rural areas and spark fresh outbreaks, De Cock says4e=804eand now that the rainy season has ended, travel may pick up. In Bong County, =or instance, a few hours northwest of Monrovia, two big outbreaks are spreading, at least one seeded from the capital. The treatment unit in the district of Suakoko, run by the International Medical Corps, is full, a=d new patients are brought in daily. Sambhavi Cheemalapati, the unit Hs PROGRAM coordinator, says she is seeing far more patients than are accounted for in=the official numbers. Aid should focus on spreading prevention messages in thes= remote locales, Goffeau says. "If the people really unders=and what Ebola is and how to avoid infection, we might stop this epidemic," he=says. Such REGIONAL flare-ups make it unlikely that the Liberian epidemic will be over anytime soon, Rosling says. Still, he be=ieves it's possible that the country may see its first day without a single c=se as early as December. Given the cataclysmic projections of just 3 months ago, that would be a remarkable turnaround. <http://il.huffpost.com/gen/2333076/=humbs/n-TORTURE-large570.jpg> =p class="MsoNormal">GENEVA (AP) — Police brutality, military inte=rogations and prisons were among the top concerns of a U.N. panel's report Friday tha= found the United States to be falling short of full compliance with an internatio=al anti-torture treaty. The report by the U.N. Committee Against Torture, its first such review of the U.S. record si=ce 2006, expressed concerns about allegations of police brutality and excessiv= use of force by law enforcement officials, particularly the Chicago Police =epartment's treatment of blacks and Latinos. It also called for restricting the use of taser weapons by police to life-threateni=g situations. But it had no specific recommendation or reaction to a grand ju=y's decision not to indict the white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri who fatally shot a black and unarmed teenager. =br> The report also criticizes the U.S. re=ord on military interrogations, maximum security prisons, illegal migrants and solitary confinement while calling for tougher federal laws to define and outlaw torture, including with detainees at Guantanamo Bay and in Yemen. It also called for abolishing interrogation techniques that rely on sleep or sensor= deprivation "aimed at prolonging the sense of capture." "There are numerous areas in which certain things should be changed for the United Sta=es to comply fully with the convention," Alessio Bruni of Italy, one =f the panel's chief investigators, said at a news conference Friday in Ge=eva. He was referring to the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which took effect in =987 and the United States ratified in 1994. The U.N. committee's 10 independent experts are responsible for reviewing t=e records of all 156 U.N. member countries that have ratified the treaty agai=st torture and all "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." This is my country that they are talking aboutil>=804o. The hope of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Fitzgerald Kennedy,=Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King. It is the home of Jazz, Country and Hip Hop music. It is the country that created the electric light bulb, skyscraper, Airplane, frozen food, credit card, microwave oven, transistor, cell phone,=personal computer, Internet, GPS and Social Media. It created the largest Middle Class in the world, as well as the Greatest Generation that won the war against world dominated tyranny. =lt has 16 EFTA_R1_02157315 EFTA02716769 had its ugly periods — Trail of Tear.... =lavery.... Civil War..... Japanese Internment Jim Crow laws.... Vietnam.... Iraq.... And Af=hanistan to mention a few.... Still this nation of ours create= the greatest country in the world.... So we have to wonder why and how we lost our way We should use this report as a wake-up call and rally against the condition= that resulted in Sandy Hook, Ferguson and the growing inequality in America=and this is my rant of the week.... = > WEEK's READINGS You don't have to be Stevie Wonder to know that t=e world is inching back into a Cold War and one of the biggest reasons is that militar=sts and neocons are pushing Europe to the brink of conflict by building fences around Russia and Putin. Speaking to the Russian state-owned news agency Tass on Monday, the 83-year-old former Sovi=t President said that "triumphalism" emanating =rom Washington had led to rising tensions between East and West, though he added there was still time to res=lve the growing dispute before it led to direct conflict. Reported by =he Telegraph, Gorbachev said: "Now there are once again signs of a Cold War." "This process can a=d must be stopped. After all, we did it in the 1980s. We opted for de-escalation, for reunification (of Germany]. And back then it was a lot tougher than now. So=we could do it again." =/span> Gorbachev warned that building 4>=9Cfences" around Russia would only increase tensions. "=Even Germany which after reunification presented itself very well and called for renovation is now just on the bri=k of a split (from Russia]," he said. "And now nothing takes place without the presence and a push from America." Gorbachev•=804os interview came on the same day that a truce deal between the Ukrainian government and rebels in the Luhans= region came into effect. The conflict, which started in April, has claimed more than 4,000 lives, with Moscow-back=d separatists clashing with forces loyal to Kiev almost daily over the past s=ven months. The ageing statesman, who initiated the policy of perestroika in 1986, which led to a thawing of tensions between the superpowers, added =hat a "tortured" America was responsible for the current standoff. "I don't want to praise =ur government too much," he said. "It has also made quite a few errors= but today the danger comes from the American position. They are tortu=ed by triumphalism." <=span> Didn't we learn from World War 1?=C2* Obviously not. Although the immediate cause for the outbreak of war was generally considered to be Germany's invasion of Poland. The real reason was the seething anger of Germans stoked by 17 EFTA_R1_02157316 EFTA02716770 the Nazis with the Treaty of Versailles. Germany — having surrendered in 1918 — was forced to sign a treaty which included Ge=many taking the blame for World War One, reducing territories, agreeing to disarm and significantly diminish the military, and agreeing to pay roughly 6.6 billio= pounds in reparations. The German people felt this was unduly harsh, and developed a deep-set resentment of the Alli=d victors of WW1 for dealing them this intense punishment leading to the rise=of the Nazis and Hitler who promised to reestablish Germany back to its rightf=l position. Although Ronald Reagan never claimed to have bested the Soviet Union and wining the Cold War. Neocons like to point to Reagan saying, "Tear down this wall,"<=i> as if that kind of rhetoric is effective and somehow caused the coming apart of the So=iet Union. When in fact, that speech was made in 1987, but the wall didn't come down until years later after the=first President Bush refused to make aggressive statements about Gorbachev, who w=s then able to quietly withdraw support from Eastern Europe that led to the a=d of the Berlin Wall. The neocons simply misrepresented what happened and claimed that Reagan had followed their approach in dealing with the So-viet Union. This political rheto=ic taken out of context is both myth and the result of malice and intellectual laziness. =p class="MsoNormal"> Indeed, the very=idea that there was a winner of the decades-long rivalry between the superpowers was a political formulation ra=her than one based on the historical facts. The notion that the United States forced the collapse of the Soviet Union and vanquished communism is not onl= a myth but a dangerous canard, Jack Matlock says in his new book, Super=ower Illusions: How Myths and False Ideologies Led America Astray—and Ho= to Return to Reality. Matlock was a U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R. during the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations. Because Americans are prone to repeating this line, that the Soviet Union lost, there is a widespread belief in Russia of the myth that Gorbachev was tricked by Reagan and Bush Sr. to give away the store and tha= ever since, the U.S. has been set on turning Russia into a colony fit only =or supplying cheap energy and raw materials. In the U.S., the collapse o= the Soviet Union was seen as a military victory, which led to a spirit of triumphalism and a feeling of omnipotence as the "sole superpower." If the U.S.S.R. has indeed been brought to its knees by military pressure, then this would =ean that the U.S. has the means to take down any ideology or political system i= finds dangerous or repugnant. Other countries drew this conclusion, too: If a country had a problem, then the U=S. was expected to set it right. <=1)> The truth is that the Soviet Union didn't coll=pse because of external pressures. Nor did the Cold War end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. It ended because of a nego=iated settlement that was potentially to the benefit of both sides. Communist rule end=d because Mikhail Gorbachev maneuvered it out of exclusive power. It was Gorbachev who ended Communist rule. He did it in the Soviet Union's own interest. The people who present=it as a victory of one country over another are incorrect, but it was the victory of one idea over another. This idea that somehow the U.S. beat the Soviet Union has led to failed policies from Washington but also misunderstandings from other countries, particularly the Russians.</=> 18 EFTA_R1_02157317 EFTA02716771 Do we really=want to go back to the Cold War? Do we really want to go back to the=days that one incident could provoke the total mutual destruction of both the Soviet Union and the United States, as well as much of the rest of the world?Q=A0 Didn't someone think that wooing the Ukrainians away from Russia into the European Union with the possibility of joining NA=O might be interpreted by Putin and the Russian leadership as an aggressive w=y to box them in especially when Neocons are prone to publically celebrate wi=h victory dances? More than anyone on the planet, Mikhail Gorbachev instigated the end of the Cold War and as such we should seriously heed his warning that American triumphalism is bringing ab=ut a new Cold War and this is not good. </=pan> Again is this myth a result of intellectual =aziness or malice? As Alex Kingsbury wrote in U.S. News in 20=0, "it's some of both. One thing to note is that modern =istories of the Cold War start at the end of World War II, which gives a very short and simplified view of history. The histories of the Cold War published in the 1960s started back in 19174=A0 But the modern incarnations of the U.S. victory myth are even more recent. Reagan, for example, never claimed that we won the Cold War. He wrote about i= in his memoirs as a negotiated settlement between partners. In 1992, when George H. W. Bu=h was losing the [presidential] election, he began saying that "we won the Cold War&=uot; on the campaign trail. Since then, a lot of this triumphalist mythology has come from the neocons whose ideas =ere rejected by Reagan, who in the end was more interested in negotiating..=A0 Reagan warned early on that in our negotiations with the Soviets, we should never questio= their legitimacy. That it was important to deal with them with respect. He always did, which is why he was able to accomplish what he did." 4=A0They always talk about class when a football player scores a touchdown a=d doesn't celebrate. Where is our class here in America.... Q=A0 Despite th= nation's improving crime rates, a number of large U.S. cities are still especially dangerous. Nationwide, 368 violent crimes were reported for every 100,000 people in 20=3. Such crimes include murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery. In Ameri=a's 10 most dangerous cities, there were more than 1,300 violent crimes per 100=000 residents. Based on violent crime data published by the FBI's 2013 =niform Crime Report, these are America's most dangerous cities. =p class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align:baseline"> In many of these cities, high murder rates are especially problematic. Three of these cities — De=roit, St. Louis, and Baltimore — had nation-leading murder rates of 45, 38, a=d 37 per 100,000 people, respectively, in 2013. In all, eight of the 10 cities with =he highest violent crime rates were also among the 25 cities with the highest murder rates. 19 EFTA_R1_02157318 EFTA02716772 The econom=es of a majority of the nation's most dangerous cities have been struggling for some ti=e. Median household income in eight of America's most dangerous cities was mo=e than $10,000 below the national median of $52,250 in 2013. Education is another factor related to crime rates. Less than 85% of adults had completed at least a hi=h school diploma in all but one of these cities, versus the national rate of 86.6%. In Cleveland, just 78.2% of adults had completed at least high schoo=. However, reducing poverty and improving education to help fight crime can b= challenging in many cities. There are "structural disadvantages in =hat crime is such a cultural norm that it's hard to fix," Roman said.=/span> The FBI has attempt=d to discourage direct comparisons of crime rates between cities because local factors cause reporting to vary considerably between cities. Despite this characterization, Roman suggested that some comparison can be useful. 40=8040To me it's analogous to saying we shouldn't rank how well schools are=doing. How are you ever supposed to help the lowest-performing schools if you don'= tell them they're the lowest-performing school?" To identify the most dangerous cities in America, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed violent crime rates among the nation's cities with populations of 100,000 or more from the FBIQ=804ks 2013 Uniform Crime Report. Property crime rates also came from the FBI's report.=The data were broken into eight types of crime. Violent crime was comprised of murde= and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault; and, property crime was was made up of burglary, arson, larceny, and motor vehic=e theft. In addition to crime data, we also reviewed median household income, poverty rates, and educational attainment rates from the 2013 Census BureaurE2.4>s American Community Survey. These are the most dangerous cities in America. 10. Birmingham, Ala. <=p> > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,345 > Population: 212,001 > 2013 murders: 63 (25th highest) > Poverty rate: 30.7% (18th highest) > Pct. of adults with high school degree: 84.0% (105th lowest) More than 1,300 violent crimes per 100,000 residents were reported in Birmingham in 2=13, the 10th highest rate in the country. Still, this was an improvement from 2=12, when more than 1,500 violent crimes per 100,000 residents were reported. In 2013, aggravated assault accounted for more than half of the violent crimes=in Birmingham. The city's poor socioeconomic climate may explain the h=gh crime rates. The city's poverty rate was 30.7% in 2013, nearly twice the =ational rate of 15.8%. Additionally, median household income was just $31,152 in 20=3, or more than $20,000 less than national median. Low incomes, in turn, may b= connected to low levels of education. Just 25.9% of Birmingham residents ha= at least a bachelor's degree as of 2013, well below the national rate =f 29.6%. 20 EFTA_R1_02157319 EFTA02716773 9. Milwaukee, Wis. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,364 > Population: 600,805 > 2013 murders: 104 (15th highest) > Poverty rate: 29.0% (29th highest) > Pct. of adults with high school degree: 81.8% (tied-73rd lowest) Violent crime in Milwaukee has been on the rise in recent years, with the number of reported incidents rising from 1,045 per 100,000 residents in 2010 to 1,364=per 100,000 residents in 2013. However, an increase in the number of reported crimes may not mean that Milwaukee has gotten more dangerous. A 2012 report=by the Journal Sentinel, a local Wisconsin newspaper, found that police in Milwaukee had misreported thousands of crimes in prior years, which led to lower crime rates. Further, while Milwaukee reported a large number of viol=nt crimes, its property crime rate was comparatively low, ranking just 83rd am=ng cities with at least 100,000 residents. 8. Rockford, Ill.4=pan> > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,375 > Population: 150,209 > 2013 murders: 19 (82nd highest) > Poverty rate: 23.2% (74th highest) > Pd. of adults with high school degree: 83.6% (95th lowest= Rockford was one of only three cities where the aggravated assault rate exceeded 1,0=0 incidents per 100,000 residents in 2013. The city's murder and nonn=gligent manslaughter rate was 13 per 100,000, much lower than in many other dangero=s cities, but still close to three times the national murder rate of 4.5 per 100,000 residents. Property crimes, too, were slightly less prevalent than =n other dangerous cities. There were just 248 motor vehicle thefts per 100,00= Rockford residents last year, slightly higher than the national rate, but exceptionally low compared to other large cities with high violent crime ra=es. Yet, arson was quite common, with 71 incidents per 100,000 in 2013, more th=n in all but four other cities. 7. Baltimore, Maryland=/b> Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,401 > Population: 622,671 > 2013 murders: 233 (6th highest) > Poverty rate: 23.3% (73rd highest) > Pd. of adults with high school degree: 81.8% (tied-7=rd lowest) The number of violent crimes in Baltimore fell from 9,316 in 2010 to 8,725 last year, coinciding with the nationwide decline in violent crimes in recent ye=rs. However, Baltimore is still among the most dangerous cities. There were jus= 4.5 murders per 100,000 people in the United States last year. In Baltimore= the murder rate was 37 per 100,000 residents, higher than in all but four o=her large U.S. cities. Robberies were a major contributor to the area's=violent crime statistics, as 600 incidents were reported per 100,000 residents, ver=us a national robbery rate of less than 110 per 100,000 residents last year.</=pan> 6. Little Rock, Ark. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,407 > Population: 197,399 > 2013 murders: 35 (49th highest) > Poverty rate: 18.7% (131st lowest) > Pd. of adults with high school degree: 89.9% (80th highest) Little Rock not only had one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation in 2013, it also h=d one of the country's worst property crime rate. Last year, more tha= 1,400 violent crimes and over 7,800 property crimes were reported for every 100,0=0 residents. By comparison, nationwide there were 368 and 2,731 such crimes p=r 100,000 people, 21 EFTA_R1_02157320 EFTA02716774 respectively. Yet, Little Rock's crime rate has imp=oved slightly since 2010, when when more than 1,500 violent crimes were reported=for every 100,000 people. Prison overcrowding remains a major issue for Pulaski County, which includes little Rock. Police have claimed that preventing rep=at offenders from being detained for long enough periods of time may be exacerbating the local crime problem. S. =Cleveland, Ohio > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,478 > Population: 389,181 > 2013 murders: 55 (29th highest) > Poverty rate: 36.9% (3rd highest) > Pct. of adults with high school degree: 78.2% (44th lowest= Low educational attainment and poverty rates among Cleveland residents may explain, in part= the area's high violent crime rate. Just 78.2% of area adults had c=mpleted high school and 16.5% had at least a bachelor's degree as of last y=ar, both among the lower figures nationwide. Also, Cleveland's median househ=ld income of $26,096 was lower than that of every other large U.S. city except for Detroit. Robberies accounted for the bulk of Cleveland's violent cr=me rate, with 897 reported per 100,000 last year, second only to Oakland. The burgla=y rate was even higher. More than 2,100 burglaries — thefts occurring=without the victim present — were documented per 100,000 area residents last ye=r, the second highest rate in the country and more than three times the national r=te of 610. 4. St. Louis, Mo. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,594 > Population: 318,563 > 2013 murders: 120 (12th highest) > Poverty rate: 26.6% (44th highest) > Pct. of adults with high school degree: 83.3% (91st lowest= More than 5,000 violent crime were reported in St. Louis last year, or nearly 1,600 per 100=000 people. Still, much like the rest of the nation, violent crime in St. Louis=has dropped in recent years. In 2010, more than 6,200 violent incidents were re=orted in the city, or 1,747 per 100,000 residents. Despite this improvement, St. Louis still struggles with tragic levels of certain serious crimes. A total=of 120 murders were reported in St. Louis last year, or 38 per 100,000 people, among the worst rates for any large U.S. city. Additionally, according to l=cal news reports, there were considerably more murders this year through Octobe= than during the same period in 2013. 3. Memphis,=Tenn. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,656 > Population: 657,691 > 2013 murders: 124 (11th highest) > Poverty rate: 27.7% (35th highest) > Pct. of adults with high school degree: 82.5% (82nd lowest) There were 7,200 aggravated assaults reported in Memphis last year. This was one of the larg=st figures among U.S. cities and a major contributor to Memphis' high =iolent crime rate of 1,656 per 100,000 residents. In addition to a high violent cr=me rate, Memphis also suffers from high levels of property crimes, which total=ed nearly 40,000. There were 366 arsons in 2013, for example, more than in all=but five other large U.S. cities. Like residents in a majority of the country=E2440s most dangerous cities, Memphis residents are far more likely to live in pov=rty than most Americans. The area's poverty rate of nearly 28% in 2013 =as among the highest rates nationwide. 2. Oakland= Calif. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,977 > Population: 403,887 22 EFTA_R1_02157321 EFTA02716775 > 2013 murders: 90 (20th highest) > Poverty rate: 19.5% (135th highest) > Pct. of adults with high school degree: 80.9% (62nd lowest) Oakland has historically suffered from high crime and last year was no exception. Oakla=d reported nearly 2,000 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2013. Moreove=, the city reported 1,219 robberies per 100,000 residents, the most of any la=ge American city. In addition to violent crime, property crime was also quite =igh in the city, at over 6,200 such incidents per 100,000 residents last year. =y comparison, the national rate was 2,731 per 100,000 residents. However, des=ite its high levels of crime, Oakland is rapidly gentrifying. Gentrification ma= contribute to lower violent crime rates in the long run, according to the U=ban Institute's John Roman. 1. Detro=t, Mich. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 2,072 > Population: 699,889 > 2013 murders: 316 (3rd highest) > Poverty rate: 40.7% (the highest) > Pct. of adults with high school degree: 78.6% (46th lowest= Detroit's violent crime rate of 2,072 per 100,000 residents was the highest in the nation las= year. This is despite the fact that the violent crime rate fell from 2,123 incidents per 100,000 people in 2012. Further, there were a total of more t=an 300 murders in Detroit last year, also among the worst figures nationwide. =ike many other dangerous cities, Detroit residents are quite poor. A typical household earned less than $25,000 in 2013, and nearly 41% of people lived =n poverty, both the worst figures among large U.S. cities. The region4,=99s history of high crime rates may have encouraged residents over the years to take th=ir protection into their own hands. Like in several other Michigan counties, residents of Wayne County, where Detroit is located, are more likely to hav= concealed gun permits than residents in the vast majority of populous areas= The number of applications for permits has risen dramatically in recent yea=s. <=pan style="line-height:13.5pt">No one would have thought that Chicago, N=w York and Los Angeles was safer than Milwaukee, Memphis and Rockford, Ill=nois. And I am sure that Camden, New Jersey (which pro=ably wasn't counted becau=e its population is below 1=0,000) is probably more dangerous than even Detroit. One can see from the =omparison between the safest and the most dangerous cities, the cities wit= the most income inequality and the ones that has large numbers of people =ailing through the safety net into deep poverty tend to be much more dange=ous. And the only way to start addressing this challenge is though early e=ucation of the young and training of the adults. Obviously incarceration hasn't worked and if =e as a society continue to ignore generational poverty things are bound to get worse.<=p> The geographic origin of AIDS is now known IP=A0 <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb=HIV_in_Africa_2011.svg/300px- HIV_in_Africa_2011.svg.png> The AIDS epidemic has sp=ead with the development of transport, including rail, as here in the Republic of Congo in 1967. 23 EFTA_R1_02157322 EFTA02716776 A study publish=d in SCIENCE MAGAZINE reveals for the first time where, when and how the world's=AIDS pandemic originated. Thanks to a statistical analysis of all the genetic data available on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), an international research team has just confi=med that the scourge broke out in 1920 in Kinshasa, the capital of what is now =he Democratic Republic of the Congo. By comparing this result with historical data, researchers explain how, from a single contamination by a chimpanzee, HIV spread to humans. AIDS is one of the mo=t devastating diseases in the history of humanity. Since its transmission to humans by great apes, the pathogen responsible, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has infected 75 million people. However, thirty years after the discovery of its existence, little was known about the chain of events at t=e origin of the global pandemic. An international team, led by the universities of Oxford and Louvain in collaboration with IRD researchers, has just published a new study in Scien=e magazine that reveals where the pandemic broke out and how it spread. Epicent=e of the disease discovered in Kinshasa =br> Thanks to GENOME SEQUENCING of the vir=s and the latest phylogeographic techniques, researchers have recreated the epidemic's g=netic history. Scientists had previously identified chimpanzees from South Cameroon as the source of AIDS. The=e have been several human contaminations by these great apes throughout history, but only one of these cases led to =he spread of HIV to humans. To determine wher= and when the epidemic originated, researchers compared the genetic diversity of the viruses collected in the countries of the Congo Basin, considered potential birthplaces. The r=sult: the origin of the scourge was Kinshasa, the capital of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and dates =ack to 1920. Emergence of a pandemic Once the geographic origin of HIV was determined, scientists were able to link their genetic data on the VIRUS' evolution with histo=ical data, to determine the circumstances that enabled its outbreak in Kinshasa =nd its spread among human populations. Belgian colonial archives on the former Zaire reveal that at the beginning of the century a great deal of trade took place by river (ivory, rubber, etc </=pan> Then between 1920 and 1950, urbanisation and the =evelopment of transport, particularly railways, made Kinshasa one of the most connecte= cities in Central Africa. At the end of the 1940s, over a million people pa=sed through the city each year to reach the north or south of the country or tr=vel to neighbouring countries. This unusual cocktail of factors, combined with the virus' genetic adaptability, led=to its very rapid spread throughout the country (large like 24 EFTA_R1_02157323 EFTA02716777 West Europe) as well as secondary outbreaks as far as South and Ea=t Africa. Later, after the 1960s, other social changes, such as the rise in prostitution and the use of non-sterile needles in public HEALTH initiative=, undoubtedly contributed to transforming small outbreaks of infection into a real pandemic. Social Securi=y: 5 Facts You Must Know S=cial security is a complicated program, yet you cannot afford to NOT know everything you should about your benefits= Even knowing this, it can be hard to find the information you need in order=to make the most informed decisions for you and your family. In the following TOP 5 list below, The Motley Fool's Financial Planning Team reveals five essential, but l=ttle known facts, about the Social Security Program and how it will affect millions of Americans. Although most people expect Social Security to be there for them when they retire, they could be wrong — and by then it might be too=late. Number 5: Social Security is Massive In 2014, over 59 million Americans will receive Social Security. Among them are:</=> 38=million retired workers 9 million survivors and dependents 11 million disabled workers and dependents <=pan style="font-size:l2pt;font-family:Georgia,serif;color:black"> <=span> Number 4: T=e Elderly Could Not Survive Without This Program Many elderly Americans heavily rely on Social Security; it's the major income source for most older Americans.=ln fact, 9 out of 10 people age 65 and older receive Social Security benefits, which at times comprises 38% of income. Even more important, half of marrie= couples and three quarters of singles receive at least half their retiremen= income from Social Security. Number 3: The workforce is shrinking 25 EFTA_R1_02157324 EFTA02716778 Demograp=ics are not in our favor as fewer workers support more retirees. In 1950 there were 16 workers per Soci=I Security recipient. In 1960 there were 5 workers per recipient. By the year 2033, only 2.1 workers will support one retiree. Number 2: The Numbers Just Don't Add Up Social Security relies on its trust fund in order to cover shortfalls between taxes paid and benefits paid. The trus= fund is projected to run out of money in 2033. Once that happens, retirees =an only expect to receive about 75% of the benefits they would have received.<=span> Number 1: T=e #1 Way to Increase Your Benefits Every year you wait to claim social security benefits until age 70 you will boost your annual payouts by 8%. Waiting until you're 70 will give you 32% more in benefits than if you =ook them at age 66 and you can receive 76% more than taking them at age 62. If =ou can afford to delay benefits until age 70 and if you live past age 82, you =ill receive more in lifetime income from Social Security than if you had waited=until full retirement age. The smart way to get more income in retirement Getting a part-time job is one way to increase your income in retirement, but it isn't the smart way. In = brand-new free report, our retirement experts explain a straightforward strategy that people are already using to get more income in retirement. The method is so simple you'll be shocked you didn't think of it yourself. T= access this free report instantly, simply click here now. By: Jordan Di Pietro — Nov. 28, 2014 — The Motley Fool THIS WEEK's QUOTE Wanting something is =ot enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely comp=lling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your wa=. les Brown <http:=/www.brainyquote.comiquotes/quotes/l/lesbrown401284.html> Black-White Wealth Gap Has Reached=A 24-Year High 26 EFTA_R1_02157325 EFTA02716779 The =conomy is recovering, but not the bottom line for black Americans, according to new figures from the Pew Research Center. The median wealth of black households dropped an astonishing 34 percent from 2010 to 2013, according to Pew's analysi= of Federal Reserve data. That of white households grew slightly over the same period. In dollars, that meant the median white household was worth $141,900, while the median black household was worth just $11,000. Wealth was d=fined here as the difference between the value of the household's assets -- like a house and stocks =- and its liabilities. =br> Anothe= way to look at it: The median wealth of white households was 13 times higher than the median wealth of black househ=lds last year. That's the widest gap measured since 1989, when white people's fortunes were 17 times big=er. Between then and now, the gap was at its narrowest in 1998 and 2001, when white households were six times as wealthy as black households. For many middle-c=ass Americans, wealth is tied to the value of their homes. When the housing mar=et crashed in 2007, the value of Americans' assets took a beating across r=cial groups. Yet in the recovery, blacks have not bounced back as well as whites= =p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center"> Black homeownership rat=s in the U.S. have historically been lower than white homeownership rates for a variety of reasons, but primarily due to a long history of racist housing policies tha= legal reforms have not entirely erased. During the housing boom of the last decade, blacks were more likely to get stuck with high-cost subprime mortga=e loans than whites. In the crash, blacks were more likely to lose their home= than whites. The gap between white and Hispanic households, meanwhile, was at a 12-year high in 2013. According to Pew's report, white households' median net worth was about 10 times=that of Hispanic households: $141,900 vs. $13,700. And Hispanics' median wealth=had fallen 14 percent from 2010 to 2013. Over the same period, median income for black, Hispanic and other minority households plunged 9 percent. Median income for white households fell just = percent. =/p> BEST VIDEO OF THE WEE= For=the Engineer in all of us! 27 EFTA_R1_02157326 EFTA02716780 Hope you enjoy this.... It's an engineer thing! But even a Non-Engi=eer can understand it after watching the full demo. It is even so simple that=an disbarred lawyer can understand it!!! Web Link: http://showyou.com/v/y-pNe6fsaCVH/craz=-circle-illusion?u=multimotion <http://showyou.com/v/y- pNe6fsaCVtl/crazy-circle-illusion?u=mul=imotion> Enjoy=8040.. Enjoy.... Enjoy 41)=ACI Q=AOTRULY AMAZING JUGGLERS =span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:107%;font-family:Georgia,seritco=or:red">Enjoy Enjoy..... Enjoy THIS WEEK's MUSIC Ray Charles =/div> =/td> was an American singer-songwriter, musician and composer known as Ray Charles and sometimes referred to as "The Gen=us". He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm =nd blues, gospel, and blues styles into early performances recorded by Atlanti= Records. He also helped racially integrate country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success=on ABC Records, most notably with his two Modern Sounds albums. While wi=h ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be given artistic control by a mainstre=m 28 EFTA_R1_02157327 EFTA02716781 record company. Frank Sinatra called Charles "the only true genius in show business", although Charles downplayed this notion. He =as blind from age seven. His best friend in music was South Carolina-born James Brown, the "Godfather of Sou=", and like Charles an active lifelong Republican. The influences upon his music were mainly jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and country artists of the day including Art Tatum, Louis Jordan, Charles Brown, and Louis Armstrong, thou=h he maintained that he was most influenced by Nat King Cole. His playi=g reflected influences from country blues, barrelhouse and stride piano styles. Rolling Stone ranked Charles as number ten on its list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time"= in 2004, and number two on their November 2008 list of "100 Grea=est Singers of All Time". In honoring Charles, Billy Joel noted: "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley". Charles possessed one of the most recognizable voices in American music. In the words of musicologist Sinatra, and Bing Crosby before him, had been masters of words. Ray Charles is a master of sounds. His records=disclose an extraordinary assortment of slurs, glides, turns, shrieks, wails, breaks, shouts, screams=and hollers, all wonderfully controlled, disciplined by inspired musicianship, =nd harnessed to ingenious subtleties of harmony, dynamics and rhythm... =t is either the singing of a man whose vocabulary is inadequate to express what is in his heart and mind or of one whose feelings are too intense for satisfactory verbal or conventionally melodic articulation. He can't tell it to you. He can't even sing it to you. He has to cry out to you, or shout to you, in tones eloquent of despair — or exaltation. The voi=e alone, with little assistance from the text or the notated music, conveys the message. In 1979, Charles was one of the first o= the Georgia State Music Hall of Fame to be recognized as a musician born in the state. =ay's version of "Georgia On My Mind" was made the off=cial state song for Georgia. In 1981, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was one of the first inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural ceremony in 1986. He rec=ived the Lifetime Achievement and the President's Merit Award, is a recipient of the Presidential Medal For the Arts, Kennedy Center Honors in 1986, Grammy Lifetime A=hievement Award in 1987 and France's Legion of Honor, r=ceived the NAACP Image Awards "Hall of Fame Award in 2004, =nd is one of the original inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1991, he was inducted to the Rhyt=m & Blues Foundation. In 1993, he was awarded the National Meda= of Arts. In 1998 he was awarded the Polar Music Prize to=ether with Ravi Shankar in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2004 he was inducted to the National Bl=ck Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame. The Grammy Awards of 2005 were dedicated to Charles. He was presented with the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, during the 1991 UCLA Spring Sing. In 2003, Charles was awarded an honorary degree by Dillard University. Upon his death, he endowe= a professorship of African-American culinary history at the school, which is =he first such chair in the nation. A $20 million performing arts center at Morehouse College was named after Charles=and was dedicated in September 2010. The United States Postal Service =/b>issued a forever stamp honoring Ray Charles as part of it Musical Icons series on September 23, 2013. 29 EFTA_R1_02157328 EFTA02716782 During a career that spanned some 58 ye=rs, Charles performed a total of more than 10,000 concerts, and starred on over 100 albums, many =f them top sellers in a variety of musical genres. He appeared in movie= such as "The Blues Brothers," and starred in commercials for Coca-Cola, =iet Pepsi and California Raisins, among numerous others. In 2004, the biopic Ra= was released for the world to see the historic life and times of the "Genius.Q=804 The movie garnered six Academy Award nomination=, including Best Picture, and Jamie Foxx took home the Best Acto= award for his portrayal of Ray. Charles' last public pe=formance was on July 20, 2003, in Alexandria, VA. In 1998, Charles received the Polar Music A=ard, an award given for significant achievements in music. Charles also appeared at two Presidential inaugurations in his lifetime. Referring to his gift Charles once said= "I don't call myself a blues singer or a jazz singer or a country singer. I just call myself a sin=er that can sing the blues, a singer that can sing jazz, a singer that knows how to sing country music, but in my own way." With this sai= this week I invite you to enjoy the musical genius and one of the best there ever was <=>Mr. Ray Charles Ray Charles — (Live At Montreux 1997) -- </=pan>http://youtu.=e/lumnmhnPJKQ<http://youtu.be/lumnmhnPJKQ> Ray Charles —= Song For You (1994) -- ht=p://youtu.be/JSIv_n-gBmk <http://youtu.be/JSIv_n-gBmk> Ray Charles —=C24, I Can't Stop Loving You -- http://youtu.be/aQXsM1=2wZ8 Ray Charles —= Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying -- =/span>http://yout=.be/rHUrkdqCopA chttp://youtu.be/rHUrkdqCopA> Ray Charles Just For A Thrill -- http://youtu.be/N3QT97g1Sncaspan> Ray Charles & Chaka Kha= — I'll Be Good To You -- http://youtu.be/d42LumKHGlY <http://youtu.be/d4Z1=mKHGIY> Ray Charles —= I'm Busted -- http://youtu.be/VLWoiC-3b60 <http://=outu.be/VLWoiC-3b60> Ray Charles —= What'd I Say -- http://youtu.be/vzkLs7ymZqU <http:=/youtu.be/vzkLs7ymZqU> </=pan> Ray Charles —= You Don't Know Me -- http://youtu.be/6GX8UalMq8k<=a> Ray Charles —= I Got A Woman -- http://youtu.be/Bbqks4aG0m8 <http://youtu.b./Bbqks4aG0m8> Ray Charles —= Oh What a Beautiful Morning -- http://youtu.be/8cjk-m78IBQ<=a> Ray Charles — http://youtu.be/1OTRRzSuWrochttp://youtu=be/1OTRRzSuWro> an= http://yo=tu.be/I3xk1P1913y0 <http://youtu.be/8xk1P1913y0> Ray Charles with Ruben Stud=ard & The Harlem Gospel Singers — Imagine -- <=pan style="font-size:l0pt;line- height:107%;font-family:Georgia,serif'>http://youtu.be/b87=O718cR1 <http://youtu.be/b87sO7I8cRl> Ray Charles & George Mi=hael — Blame It On The Sun -- http://youtu.be/lyrjloUbib4 <http://youtu.be/lyrjl=Ubib4> 30 EFTA_R1_02157329 EFTA02716783 Ray Charles & John Lege=d — Touch -- http://youtu.be/8UlayxFO=Mk Ray Charles & Joe Cocke= — You Are So Beautiful -- http://youtu.be/PaolYRw3TMI <http://youtu.be/Pa=lYRw3TMI> </=> <=div> 31 EFTA_R1_02157330 EFTA02716784