Area Groups Urge State Legislature, Milwaukee To Take Action
Tuesday, August 2, 2016, 9:20am
By Chuck Quirmbach
Prominent civil rights groups have banded together to ask Wisconsin and Milwaukee to take steps to improve police-community relations in Milwaukee.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, the Jewish Community Relations Council and the League of United Latin American Citizens have formed a civil rights coalition calling for change.
Fred Royal, president of the NAACP Milwaukee chapter, said the state Legislature should create a diverse board of Milwaukee citizens to oversee investigations and make recommendations pertaining to officer-involved shootings and other “critical incidents.” The board would be different from the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, Royal said.
“I think a community-driven board that is non-partisan, that does not have ties to the appointing person – frankly the Mayor – would be a much more open and transparent practice to use,” he said.
Royal also wants to replace retiring police officers with a more diverse group of local recruits.
“Bring people in? No. Hire people from within who understand the cultural competencies, who aren’t afraid of black men, of brown men,” Royal said.
The coalition is also asking Milwaukee to evaluate the impact of surveillance technology like body cameras and to allow the public to testify before a city council panel that’s looking at public safety issues.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he appreciates the efforts to improve police-community relations, and looks forward to discussing the ideas.
Many of us believe that Big Pharma must be held accountable for this dangerous opioid trend, especially since several have been caught lying about the benefits and risks of their drugs.
As noted by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), the drug industry has “fostered the opioid addiction epidemic” in several ways, by:
Introducing long-acting opioid painkillers like OxyContin, which prior to reformulation in 2010 could be snorted or shot. Many addicts claimed the high from OxyContin was better than heroin. In fact, from a chemical standpoint, OxyContin is nearly identical to heroin, and has been identified as a major gateway drug to heroin.
Changing pain prescription guidelines to make opioids the first choice for lower back and other pain conditions that previously did not qualify for these types of drugs. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) has had a hand in this problem, although it restricted its promotion of narcotic painkillers to cancer patients.
Promoting long-term use of opioids, even though there’s no evidence that using these drugs long term is safe and effective
Downplaying and misinforming doctors and patients about the addictive nature of opioid drugs. OxyContin, for example, became a blockbuster drug mainly through misleading claims, which Purdue Pharma knew were false from the start. The basic promise was that it provided pain relief for a full 12 hours, twice as long as generic drugs, giving patients “smooth and sustained pain control all day and all night.”However, for many the effects do not last anywhere near 12 hours, and once the drug wears off, painful withdrawal symptoms set in, including body aches, nausea and anxiety. These symptoms, in addition to the return of the original pain, quickly begin to feed the cycle of addiction.7
A 2015 article in The Week does a great job revealing the promotional strategy developed by Purdue, and backed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), that has led to such enormous personal tragedy.
As noted in this article: “The time-release conceit even worked on the FDA, which stated that ‘Delayed absorption, as provided by OxyContin tablets is believed to reduce the abuse liability of a drug.’”
Other recent research has found that medical marijuana lowers prescription drug use.
The Big Q: Could that be why it hasn’t been rescheduled?
There are no other truly compelling reasons why addictive narcotics like OxyContin are legal, while marijuana, which is extremely unlikely to kill even if one take very high amounts is not.
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Read Full Article – http://www.livetradingnews.com/big-pharma-promotes-legal-drug-addiction-10406.html#.V6F8KZMrKRs
On the streets of Rome crime doesn’t pay – or at least not like it once did.
One of the city’s most feared local mafia clans has been forced to cut spending after 37 of its alleged members were arrested by police in recent raids.
The Cordaro clan has cut daily payments to drug pushers and financial aid for jailed members and their families, according to prosecutors involved in the latest chapter of Rome’s ‘Mafia Capitale’ investigation.
The clan, known for its violent domination of Rome’s Tor Bella Monaca district, has been linked to several murders and major drug trafficking by police and prosecutors.
Disgruntled associates have been recorded by police complaining about cutbacks ordered by Natasha Cordaro, who took over the clan’s financial operations after her husband, Valentino Iuliano, was arrested on July 5.
Thirty-year-old Cordaro began by cutting clan payments to the families of jailed members from €150 a week to only €50 a week, according to the Italian daily, Il Messaggero.
“€150 plus 150 makes €300 a fortnight,” Michela Bucceri complained on a visit to her jailed mother, Elena, in a telephone tap recorded by police. “I am missing out on €200, they have taken it off me.”
Cordaro also cut daily payments from €80 to €70 per day to drug pushers who work for the clan in the crime-ridden neighborhood on the city’s outskirts.
“I have responsibilities,” Cordaro reportedly told pushers. “I am counting on €3,000 but you are only bringing me €900, what should I do? I have 15 families I’m carrying on my shoulders.”
She was recorded threatening one subordinate who complained.
“It is a crisis, it’s better you realise that. If not I will cut your throat,” she said.
Thirty-seven alleged members of the clan were arrested in dawn raids in the crime-ridden neighbourhood on July 5.
Read Full – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/25/cash-strapped-italian-mafia-cuts-spending-on-police-bribes/
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Yelp is trying to ease consumers’ worries about posting a negative review of a business online.
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CBS2’s Alice Gainer reported Yelp issued a new type of consumer alert of the pages of businesses that have threatened customers with legal action.
The alert reads in part: “This business may be trying to abuse the legal system in an effort to stifle free speech. Reviewers who share their experiences have a First Amendment right to express their opinions on Yelp.”
Last summer, Dr. Nima Dayani, an endodontist, filed a defamation lawsuit against a reviewer after the patient called the doctor “curt” and “dismissive,” said there was a long wait time and gave a three-star review. However, the reviewer also stated the doctor was genuinely interested in finding a cause of the pain.
It wasn’t the first time Dayani sued a reviewer.
In a statement, Dayani said he readily accepts criticism, but when he sees a review that contains an assertion that he says is not true, he first asks the reviewer to take it down, and if they don’t, then he takes legal action.
Dayani’s listing on Yelp is the third to get this kind of consumer alert.
A Texas pet sitting service and a Florida moving company also have them. Michelle Douchouquette and her husband were sued when Prestigious Pets in Dallas said the couple violated a non-disparagement clause.
“When I say it out loud, saying I’m getting sued up to $1 million over this review, I can’t believe it,” she said. “I don’t think it was hateful. It didn’t have bad intent. It’s my opinion of a business.”
Civil rights attorney Normal Siegel said what Yelp is doing is a good thing.
“We need to encourage people to speak their mind,” Siegel said.
However, Siegel added that reviewers must be stating the “absolute truth.”
“When you’re speaking your mind make sure what you’re saying is the absolute truth,” he said. “It it’s not truthful, they do run a risk that a business can claim their reputation has been injured and they could bring a defamation lawsuit, although it’s hard to win a defamation lawsuit.”
Siegel also said that Yelp should change its wording of the alerts and take out First Amendment.
“Because the First Amendment is only applicable to government action, so when you’re dealing with a private business the First Amendment doesn’t kick in,” he said. “What kicks in is our concept of the right to express yourself.”
Two bills have been introduced in Congress: the “Right to Yelp Bill,” also known as the Consumer Review Fairness Act, and the Speak Free Act. It would prevent businesses from suing over negative reviews.
Full Read – http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/07/26/yelp-consumer-alert/
Rafael Mares, a vice president at the Conservation Law Foundation, said he filed the complaint because the MBTA needs to make up for the loss of late-night service as soon as possible.
“Some of the T’s most vulnerable customers were affected by the termination of late-night service,” he said. The MBTA “chose not to do anything about it. The service that’s so important for late-night shift workers has been terminated since March, and nothing else has been put in place.”
The complaint doesn’t ask the MBTA to restore late-night service, but the coalition wants it to fully vet alternative routes that could help the minority and low-income riders affected by the cancellation. Until a permanent decision is made, the complaint asks the MBTA to temporarily put other services into place to help those riders.
Spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the T does not comment on pending litigation, but wrote that the Federal Transit Administration “has informed the MBTA that the equity analysis on Late Night Service is properly documented and has met their requirements.”
The FTA in May responded to a complaint about the cancellation, saying that the MBTA “demonstrated the need to eliminate late-night service, and explained why alternative proposals were not feasible.”
Federal officials wrote that the MBTA would not have to take further steps to mitigate the cancellation, and that the service was eliminated in a way that complied with federal rules.
The MBTA initially offered late-night service on a trial basis, and then extended it for nearly two years. Under federal guidelines, a transit system must complete a civil rights analysis before cutting service if the service has been in place for more than a year.
In February, the T’s fiscal control board voted to end late-night service, saying it was not “cost-effective.” The T spent about $14 million annually to extend service for subway lines, popular bus routes, and the paratransit service from 12:30 a.m. to about 2 a.m. every Friday and Saturday night.
Initially, The Federal Transit Administration rebuked the MBTA for voting to get rid of the late service without completing a required analysis that would have shows whether minority and low-income riders would be hurt disproportionately. That research is supposed to determine whether the T must take extra steps to make up for the effects on those riders.
The T completed the analysis later, but said that it found “mixed results” as to whether the cuts would be discriminatory.
Tuesday’s complaint, however, says the T’s civil rights analysis was flawed because of the way it used population data to measure who would be affected. Instead of limiting data to smaller geographic areas with larger concentrations of minority and low-income riders, the study included all of Boston’s population, for example, which includes many higher-income and less-diverse areas.
The advocacy organizations allege that if the T had used the proper federal guidelines, it would have found that canceling the service placed a disparate burden on minority riders and a disproportionate burden on low-income riders.
MBTA officials have said they plan to revisit alternatives for late-night service, including an all-night bus service. But Tuesday’s complaint says the T should consider such changes to be mandatory, not voluntary.
The Conservation Law Foundation is joined in the complaint by Alternatives for Community & Environment, a Boston-based environmental advocacy organization that opposed T fare hikes, and the Greater Four Corners Action Coalition, also of Boston.
Supporters of late-night service said they do not expect the same hours and levels of service to be restored. But Stephen Clark, director of government affairs at the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said late-night workers who have fewer transit options deserve some help.
