COVID-19 - Ripple Effects

"Why getting the U.S. back to normal in the next couple months is a ‘fantasy’" PBS NewsHour 4/20/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  As the novel coronavirus pandemic wears on, debate is brewing over how long the associated shutdowns should last.  The New York Times’ Donald McNeil has covered epidemics for close to two decades and reported recently on why American society could continue to be disrupted by COVID-19 for the next two years.  He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the epidemiological and medical realities of COVID-19.

"A sanitation worker’s fears about collecting trash during the pandemic" PBS NewsHour 4/20/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  During the COVID-19 pandemic, the phrase “essential workers” tends to bring to mind first responders and hospital staff.  But a key function of American society is collecting garbage to keep our communities clean.  PBS station WTTW in Chicago is producing a series of conversations about individuals’ pandemic experiences, and they share the story of sanitation worker Sammy Dattulo.

"Why doctors are worried about severe kidney damage in some COVID-19 patients" PBS NewsHour 4/21/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Although the novel coronavirus is known for causing respiratory symptoms, there are new questions about its impact on other parts of the body.  COVID-19 may be linked in some patients with increases in inflammation of the heart as well as injury to other organs and tissues.  William Brangham talks to Yale University's Dr. Alan Kliger about one of the concerning trends: serious kidney damage.

"How Uganda’s history of epidemics has prepared it for COVID-19" PBS NewsHour 4/21/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Poor health care infrastructure in some African countries is making them particularly susceptible to the novel coronavirus.  But the nation of Uganda has only 58 confirmed cases so far, and experts say its experience with previous viral outbreaks, such as Ebola, meant it was already prepared for this pandemic.  Special correspondent Michael Baleke reports from the capital city of Kampala.

"We need a vaccine to vanquish COVID-19.  Here’s how scientists are trying to find it" PBS NewsHour 4/21/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Science correspondent Miles O’Brien has spent the past few weeks in Seattle, reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and producing a film for FRONTLINE about how things unfolded in the city where the disease made its U.S. debut.  He joins William Brangham to discuss the global push to find an effective vaccine and therapeutic treatments, plus shares a preview of the FRONTLINE special on the pandemic.

"Contact tracing may be ‘old-fashioned public health,’ but it works" PBS NewsHour 4/22/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Officials in Northern California’s Santa Clara County now say two residents there died of COVID-19 in early and mid-February -- weeks before what were believed to be the first U.S. fatalities.  Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and now CEO of health initiative Resolve to Save Lives, joins John Yang to discuss how we can contain the virus’ spread.

"Pandemic could mean 260 million people worldwide ‘marching toward starvation’" PBS NewsHour 4/22/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The United Nations World Food Program warned this week that as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the number of people facing food crisis could double -- to 260 million worldwide.  David Beasley, the organization’s executive director, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss how the developing world, already suffering due to climate change and conflict, is faring amid this new disaster of COVID-19.

"Why New York’s health care system is still ‘in a state of shock’" PBS NewsHour 4/22/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  New York state is seeing signs of improvement in its COVID-19 outbreak, including a reduced hospitalization rate.  But in New York City alone, an estimated 35,000 people are hospitalized with the virus -- meaning front-line health care staff still face an enormous challenge.  William Brangham talks to Susan Mangicaro of International Medical Corps, a group assisting city hospitals during the crisis.

"The U.S.-China battle to control COVID-19 narrative — and blame" PBS NewsHour 4/22/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused China of a cover-up during the early days of COVID-19, the latest in the U.S. rhetorical pressure campaign.  China has pushed back, launching an information war that included conspiracy theories and highly publicized sales of medical equipment to other countries -- including the U.S.  Nick Schifrin reports on the roiling confrontation.

"What’s in the latest congressional pandemic relief package — and what’s not" PBS NewsHour 4/23/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  More help is on the way for American small businesses.  The House approved a $484 billion measure aimed specifically at aiding smaller employers and hospitals Thursday.  It comes as another 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment.  Meanwhile, a New York study finds much greater levels of COVID-19 than lab tests have confirmed.  John Yang reports and Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

"Why the pandemic is making U.S. economic inequality even worse" PBS NewsHour 4/23/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds 43 percent of U.S. adults say they or someone in their household has suffered a job loss or pay cut due to COVID-19.  With such widespread impact, it will likely take years for the economy to rebound.  But what will recovery even look like, as the pandemic exacerbates existing inequalities and vulnerabilities in American society?  Paul Solman reports.

"EU ambassador says bloc overcoming slow COVID-19 response with solidarity" PBS NewsHour 4/23/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In Europe, leaders are discussing the same tough questions confronting the United States.  When should pandemic restrictions be lifted?  How hard will the road to recovery be?  The European Union has agreed to create a massive recovery fund to try to rebuild devastated economies.  Nick Schifrin reports and talks to the EU’s Ambassador to the U.S., Stavros Lambrinidis, about the group's "solidarity."

"An infectious disease expert on the dangers of Trump’s ‘non-scientific’ claims" PBS NewsHour 4/24/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The White House spent part of Friday addressing concerns about President Trump’s apparent conflict with his medical advisors at Thursday's Coronavirus Task Force briefing.  Yamiche Alcindor reports, and Amna Nawaz talks to Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy about Trump’s tendency to make claims on a “non-scientific basis.”

"An ICU nurse on wavering between confidence and fear" PBS NewsHour 4/24/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  After a particularly brutal week caring for COVID-19 patients in New York City, ICU nurse K.P. Mendoza considered one final task: writing a will.  He's only 24, but working in the heart of a global pandemic, it felt as if death was stalking him.  William Brangham talks with Mendoza about the psychological impact of seeing so much death and health care workers' struggle to help patients survive.

"Navajo Nation, hit hard by COVID-19, comes together to protect its most vulnerable" PBS NewsHour 4/24/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  COVID-19 is ripping through the Navajo Nation, infecting and killing people at rates that are above U.S. averages.  Located across three states, the Navajo population is already vulnerable, with a high prevalence of underlying disease, a lack of infrastructure and limited access to care and supplies.  Stephanie Sy reports on how the Navajo community has taken on the challenge of caring for its own.

SAUDI ARABIA - "The Crown Prince" Frontline

"How Khashoggi’s murder ‘haunts’ Saudi Arabia’s crown prince" PBS NewsHour 10/1/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In a new Frontline documentary, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman addresses, for the first time, his role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  Frontline’s Martin Smith, who tracked the crown prince down for the film, says Khashoggi’s murder opened a window for journalists to ask more questions.  Smith joins Judy Woodruff to discuss what Frontline uncovered.

TRUMP'S TRADE WAR - Motivation?

"What’s behind Trump’s trade war with China" PBS NewsHour 5/7/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Chinese and Trump administration officials are supposed to meet later this week to hammer out a trade agreement, but the challenge may be more difficult now that Trump has threatened to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods.  NPR’s Laura Sullivan talks to Yamiche Alcindor about how Trump’s more hawkish advisers are influencing his policy to depart from that of previous administrations.

DOCUMENTING HATE - A Win Against Hate

"Once Defiant, All Four White Supremacists Charged in Charlottesville Violence Plead Guilty" by A.C. Thompson, ProPublica 5/6/2019

Guilty pleas last week by two prominent members of the Rise Above Movement [RAM] came after pledges to fight federal charges and claims that those jailed were political prisoners punished for their controversial views.

This story was co-published with Frontline PBS.

Last year, when federal authorities arrested and charged four members or associates of a white supremacist gang for their roles in the infamous 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the men and their supporters struck a defiant tone.

The men proclaimed their innocence, and their backers described them in social media posts as “patriots” and “political prisoners.”  The gang, known as the Rise Above Movement and based in Southern California, set up an anonymous tip line for people to share evidence that might exonerate the imprisoned members, and it established a legal defense fund, with donations taken via PayPal and bitcoin.

But in the following months, the men, one after the other, have pleaded guilty.  Last Friday saw the final two guilty pleas, including one from Ben Daley, 26, one of the group’s leaders.  He was joined by Michael Miselis, 30, a former Northrop Grumman aerospace engineer.  The men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to riot.

“These avowed white supremacists traveled to Charlottesville to incite and commit acts of violence, not to engage in peaceful First Amendment expression,” U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen said in announcing the guilty pleas.  “Although the First Amendment protects an organization’s right to express abhorrent political views, it does not authorize senseless violence in furtherance of a political agenda.”

The Rise Above Movement and its role in the violence in Charlottesville in 2017 and at rallies in other cities was the subject of reporting by ProPublica and Frontline, work the authorities have credited in taking action against the men.  Federal prosecutors in California are pursuing charges against four other RAM members, including its founder, Robert Rundo.

The plea documents filed during Friday’s court proceedings in Charlottesville lay out a detailed narrative of what the authorities say were RAM’s repeated acts of violence two years ago.

The narrative chronicles RAM’s combat training and the visual evidence capturing its members attacking protesters, including in Charlottesville, where, the authorities spell out, they “collectively pushed, punched, kicked, choked, head-butted, and otherwise assaulted several individuals, resulting in a riot.”

In pleading guilty, the authorities said, Daley and Miselis admitted their actions were not in self-defense.

In the contemporary white supremacist scene, RAM had positioned itself as the violent vanguard of the movement, a successor to the volatile and hyper-aggressive skinhead gangs that were prevalent during the 1980s and 1990s.  Since its formation in 2016, the group has recruited several members of the Hammerskin Nation, the largest skinhead gang in the country, which has been tied to numerous killings, including the massacre of six Sikh worshippers at a temple outside Milwaukee.

Though RAM has eschewed the skinhead style — combat boots and bomber jackets — in favor of a more mainstream look, its members have embraced the bloody tactics of the Nazi skinhead gangs.

Miselis, a onetime engineering student at UCLA, was fired from his job at Northrop Grumman after ProPublica and Frontline exposed his membership in RAM.  In a companywide email, then-CEO Wesley Bush said he was “deeply saddened yesterday to see news reports alleging that one of our employees engaged in violence as part of the Charlottesville protests.”  Miselis held a government-issued security clearance while at Northrop, a major defense contractor, though the company has so far declined to say what projects Miselis was assigned to.

Rundo, who was living in Orange County at the time of his arrest, has also portrayed the federal prosecutions as a miscarriage of justice.  “The rioting charges brought against us have not been used in 70 years,” Rundo said in a jailhouse interview posted on YouTube in February.  “This has little to do with rioting and all to do with censorship and silencing anyone that they deem too radical by today’s standards.”

In the interview, Rundo blamed the media for demonizing RAM and described the group as a self-improvement club for white men.

Rundo has pleaded not guilty, and he could be headed to trial.

The RAM prosecutions have become something of a cause celebre for the racist right.  Augustus Invictus, a fringe political figure and attorney, has set up a legal defense fund to solicit donations for the RAM members facing charges.  “The federal government has taken an absolute political hard line against the right wing,” Invictus said in a 53-minute YouTube video discussing the case.  The video has generated more than 22,000 views and nearly 700 comments, most of them sympathetic to RAM and many of them racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic.

One of RAM’s most infamous supporters is Robert Bowers, the Pennsylvania man accused of murdering 11 congregants at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh last October.  Shortly before the massacre, Bowers posted a message decrying the RAM prosecutions on Gab, a far-right social media platform.  Bowers has pleaded not guilty in the unfolding case.

ANTI-VACCINATION MOVEMENT - Consequences of Misinformation

"Washington state’s measles outbreak coincides with low rates of immunization" PBS NewsHour 1/28/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Washington state is experiencing an outbreak of measles, with 35 confirmed cases in a single county.  The disease's flare-up is reinforcing concerns about insufficient immunization in some communities.  Hari Sreenivasan talks to Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health about why measles remains a serious disease and how to address misinformation within the anti-vaccination movement.

REMINDER:  Not vaccinating children endangers other children, not just the parent's own child.

Frontline: "The Vaccine War"

A must view to see the truth, pay close attention to the Denmark study.

FRONTLINE - 'Coal's Deadly Dust'

"Coal miners have been inhaling deadly silica dust for decades.  Now they’re dying" PBS NewsHour 1/22/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  For decades, coal miners have been inhaling silica dust on the job.  The extremely fine particles, generated when the quartz-rich limestone surrounding coal seams is cut, lodge in the lungs, obstructing respiration.  According to a Frontline/NPR report, both the industry and the government understood the hazard for decades but did little to contain it.  Howard Berkes of NPR joins John Yang.

John Yang (NewsHour):  Judy, this is all due to minors inhaling silica dust.

While regulations about monitoring mine dust have been on the books since the mid-1970s, this new investigation finds that federal regulators failed to pay close enough attention to their own data.  Since 2010, the government has counted 115 cases of advanced black lung nationwide.

But the NPR/"Frontline" investigation identified more than 2,300 cases in just five Appalachian states.

TRUMP AGENDA - Focus MS-13

"Why Trump’s focus on MS-13 might be making them stronger" PBS NewsHour 2/6/2018

NOTE:  Jonathan Blitzer mentions that MS-13 started in the U.S.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Trump calls members of MS-13 “monsters” and “animals,” a common talking point for his administration’s crackdown on immigration.  What do we know about the brutally violent gang, its origins and ties to the politics of immigration?  PBS’s Frontline shares a clip from their upcoming film, “The Gang Crackdown,” and William Brangham talks with Jonathan Blitzer of The New Yorker.

VACCINE WARS - The Lie, Vaccines Cause Disorders

There is a war against vaccines that is putting our children in danger.

It is a war from parents who have no scientific evidence that vaccines cause disorders like Autism, their evidence is ONLY coincidental.

Example:  Autism presents during the same period that the triple-shot vaccine is given to children, so some parents make a connection.  But there is NO validated study that supports any connection between Autism and the triple-shot vaccine.  In fact there are studies that prove there is NO connection.

Suggest all who are concerned view the full documentary:

"The Vaccine War" Frontline 3/24/2015


There is also a mistaking idea that the diseases prevented by vaccinations are eradicated.  They are NOT.  The problem is parents who do not understand the medical science that viruses do not go away, they are still in the world and the diseases can come back, and WILL COME BACK if vaccinations are not given.

The younger generations have no experience with diseases that are prevented by vaccinations so they have no idea of the danger they are exposing their children, and children in they community, if they do not vaccinate.

DOJ - Reforming Police Departments

"How the DOJ Reforms a Police Department Like Ferguson" by Sarah Childress, Frontline 4/4/2015

Ferguson, Mo., police officers regularly discriminate against black residents, subjecting them to illegal stops, excessive force and arrests for petty offenses like “manner of walking in roadway,” according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation released on Wednesday.

The DOJ opened a probe into the department in September 2014, one month after police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18 year old.  No criminal charges were brought against the officer, who has resigned from the department.  A civil-rights investigation into Wilson yielded no charges, the DOJ said Wednesday.

The broader DOJ investigation examined whether the Ferguson police department fostered a culture of bias against African-Americans that could have contributed to the circumstances surrounding Brown’s death.

“Of course, violence is never justified,” Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference following the report’s release.  “But seen in this context – amid a highly toxic environment, defined by mistrust and resentment, stoked by years of bad feelings, and spurred by illegal and misguided practices – it is not difficult to imagine how a single tragic incident set off the city of Ferguson like a powder keg.”

The investigation also began amid nationwide protests that erupted over a series of police killings of unarmed black males last year, including Eric Garner, who was choked to death by a New York (NYPD) police officer in July; John Crawford III, gunned down by police in an Ohio Wal-Mart in August; Brown, who was killed a few days later; Akai Gurley, shot to death in a housing project stairwell on Nov. 20 by a NYPD officer; and Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy shot dead in a park by Cleveland police on Nov. 22. Rice had been holding a toy gun.

Their deaths have led to widespread calls for police reform and brought to the surface longstanding sentiments in the African-American community that they are treated with more suspicion and hostility by police.

Policing the Police

The investigation of the Ferguson police department is one outcome of a federal law, passed in the wake of a notorious incident of police violence, the 1991 case of Rodney King, a black man who was beaten by Los Angeles police after being stopped for speeding.  Three years later, Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which included a provision that gave the Justice Department unprecedented power to investigate law enforcement agencies for systemic problems — such as use of excessive force, or racial profiling — and force them to implement reforms.

The law is the only tool that exists to compel widespread change within a police department.  The Justice Department can threaten to sue a department for constitutional violations, forcing it to enter into a negotiated settlement, such as a consent decree.

“It’s often hard to reform police departments without external intervention,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California-Irvine law school, and an expert on constitutional policing.  “Institutions are resistant to change.  None of us like to have somebody outside telling us what to do.  And police departments are especially that way.  They have their own internal culture.”

In the past 20 years, the Justice Department has launched at least 65 so-called “pattern or practice” investigations of law enforcement agencies, 32 of which have led to agreements to reform, according to an analysis of DOJ data by Stephen Rushin, a professor at the University of Illinois Law School who studies police misconduct.

That’s a small number compared to the nearly 18,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Still, the reforms have had an impact: today, nearly one in five Americans is served by a law enforcement agency that has been subject to a DOJ investigation under this law, according to Rushin’s analysis.

Most investigations zero in on whether, when and how officers are allowed to use force, including deadly force.  Also atop the list: a focus on discriminatory policing of minorities — specifically, blacks and Latinos.  The DOJ has also examined allegations of gender discrimination, the treatment of people in the LGBT community, and how officers handle people who are mentally ill.

A New Push for Civil-Rights Investigations

The Obama administration has used its power aggressively to take on widespread problems of police brutality, discrimination and other abuse in local jurisdictions, negotiating more settlement agreements than either the Clinton or George W. Bush administrations.

“In case you haven’t heard, the Civil Rights Division is once again open for business,” said Thomas Perez, the assistant attorney general tapped to lead the division, in a 2010 speech.  Combating police misconduct, he said, had become an important priority — and pattern or practice investigations were a “critical tool” for bringing change.

Under Attorney General Eric Holder, the Justice Department has opened 20 investigations and negotiated agreements to implement reforms in 15 departments, including major cities like New Orleans, La., Portland, Ore., and Newark, N.J.  It currently has nine open investigations.

Even the Justice Department admits flaws in the process.  It’s expensive and can take years to fulfill an agreement.  In Los Angeles, which is widely considered the most successful test case, it took more than a decade for the police to complete the required reforms, at a cost of $15 million.  And the DOJ’s process for choosing departments to investigate, often sparked by a combination of news reports and complaints from local civil-rights groups or public officials, can make the law feel haphazardly applied.

The DOJ assessed its process in 2010, noting that some police chiefs said that federal investigations create a negative stigma that’s difficult to dispel.  They urged a more collaborative approach.

But in some departments, it may be the only way to bring about significant change.  Charles Ramsey was the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. when he asked the Justice Department to investigate in 1999, following a series of stories in The Washington Post that said that the department killed more residents per capita than police in any other major city.  The resulting agreement led to major reforms, significantly reducing the number of police shootings and boosting the department’s credibility in the community, Ramsey said.

“We would not have been able to make the changes we made without the consent decree,” he said at a 2013 conference.  “We would have encountered push back from the union, and we would not have obtained the funding.”

What the Justice Department Found in Ferguson

In its Ferguson investigation, the DOJ was looking for a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing, and examining the department’s use of force.

What it found included routine violations of black residents’ civil rights.  For example, the DOJ found that black drivers were more than twice as likely as white drivers to be searched during traffic stops, but 26 percent less likely to be found with contraband.  Even so, black drivers were more likely to be cited and arrested during a traffic stop.

The report also found that 88 percent of documented police use-of-force cases involved blacks, and in particular juveniles and people with mental health problems or cognitive disabilities.

Some petty offenses appear to be reserved largely for African-Americans.  From 2011 to 2013, a full 95 percent of people charged with a crime called “Manner of Walking in Roadway” were black, as were 94 percent of those charged with “Failure to Comply.”

“Many FPD uses of force appear entirely punitive,” the report concluded.

The city used these kinds of citations to generate revenue, the DOJ found.  In 2015, the city anticipated raising more than $3 million in fines and fees — more than double the total from five years earlier.

“Many officers appear to see some residents, especially those who live in Ferguson’s predominantly African-American neighborhoods, less as constituents to be protected than as potential offenders and sources of revenue,” the report said.

Next Steps for Ferguson

The Justice Department made 26 recommendations for reform in Ferguson and will insist on a court-enforced agreement to make those changes.  The next step for Ferguson will be to decide whether to negotiate or fight federal officials in court.  That process can take months, or even years.

Some departments, like Newark, have cooperated with federal authorities.  In July 2014, the Justice Department found that Newark police had a pattern or practice of disproportionately stopping and arresting black residents and using excessive force against them.  It found that 75 percent of the stops by NPD officers had no justifiable basis, and that some officers stole citizens’ property and money.

The city moved quickly to cooperate with the DOJ, announcing that it would enter into an agreement on the same day federal investigators released their findings.

Others have fought back.  In North Carolina’s Alamance County, Justice Department officials found a pattern or practice of discriminatory treatment by police — in targeting, stops, searches and arrests — of Latino residents.  The department refused to cooperate during the investigation, and has refuted the charges.

The DOJ is now suing Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson in his official capacity for fostering a culture of discriminatory policing.  In the complaint, federal officials said that Johnson told his deputies to “Go out there and catch me some Mexicans,” encouraging them to arrest Latinos, but not others, for minor infractions.  Johnson’s attorney has described the charges as baseless.

Ferguson city officials said in a statement on their website that they were reviewing the findings and would hold a press conference later on Wednesday.  On the website, the city also outlined steps it has taken to improve relations with the community since Brown’s death.  In October, it set up a citizen review board to make recommendations to the mayor.  It also began installing body and dashboard cameras for police officers and launched an effort to recruit officers from more diverse backgrounds.

Next Steps for the Nation

In December, President Barack Obama convened a task force on 21st century policing.  Its preliminary report, released this week, recommended compiling data on officer-involved shootings and establishing independent investigations of such incidents.  It also recommended reducing police use of military equipment during protests, though it stopped short of recommending the widespread use of body cameras for officers, citing privacy concerns.

The task force also recommended that departments work to build trust in communities of color.  A survey it conducted found that 72 percent of whites said they were confident officers would treat people of other races the same way; only 46 percent of Hispanics and 36 percent of blacks agreed.

FRONTLINE - A Very Short History of Death

U.S. ELECTIONS - Cynical Attempt to Suppress Voting

"Why Voter ID Laws Aren’t Really about Fraud" by Sarah Childress, PBS Frontline 10/20/2014

Voters going to the polls in Texas starting this week will have to show one of a few specific forms of photo ID under a controversial new law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court over the weekend.

The Texas law — along with 15 other voter ID laws passed since 2010 — was billed as a way to prevent people from impersonating eligible voters at the polls.

But voter ID laws don’t address what appears to be a more common source of voter fraud:  mail-in absentee ballots.

A FRONTLINE analysis of voting laws nationwide found that only six of the 31 states that require ID at the polls apply those standards to absentee voters, who are generally whiter and older than in-person voters.  And two states with strict photo ID policies for in-person voters — Rhode Island and Georgia — have recently passed bills that allow anyone to mail in a ballot.

Voter fraud generally rarely happens.  When it does, election law experts say it happens more often through mail-in ballots than people impersonating eligible voters at the polls.  An analysis by News21, a journalism project at Arizona State University, found 28 cases of voter fraud convictions since 2000.  Of those, 14 percent involved absentee ballot fraud.  Voter impersonation, the form of fraud that voter ID laws are designed to prevent, made up only 3.6 percent of those cases.  (Other types included double voting, the most common form, at 25 percent, and felons voting when they were prohibited from doing so.  But neither of those would be prevented by voter ID laws, either.)

Mark Obenshain, a Republican Virginia state senator who was the primary sponsor of his state’s voter ID law, said that lawmakers tried to balance improving security with maintaining access to the ballot for elderly and disabled people.

“There are good arguments that there are gaps with absentee ballots,” he said.  “But the issue is, how can we close that gap without unduly burdening the right to vote?”  Obenshain said that these voters might not have access to a scanner or Xerox machine to make a copy of their ID.

And, because absentee ballots must be sent to a voter’s registered address, they are still relatively secure, Obenshain said.  “It doesn’t warrant making the voters jump through unnecessary hoops.”

Who Votes Absentee?

Absentee voters tend to be older and whiter than in-person voters.  In 2012, nearly half, or 46 percent, of mail-in voters were aged 60 and older, and more than 75 percent were white, according to an analysis by Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida who tracks demographic trends in voting.  Older white Americans generally are more likely to vote Republican.

African-Americans, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic, are less likely to use mail-in ballots. Although they make up about 13 percent of the population, only 8 percent voted by mail in 2012.

Either way, most states — nine — of the 16 that have passed stricter voter ID laws since 2010 only allow voters to mail in ballots if they have an excuse, such as an illness, disability or old age.

Who Is Impacted by Voter ID Laws?

Laws that require photo ID at the polls vary, but the strictest laws limit the forms of acceptable documentation to only a handful of cards.  For example, in Texas, voters must show one of seven forms of state or federal-issue photo ID, with a valid expiration date:  A driver’s license, a personal ID card issued by the state, a concealed handgun license, a military ID, citizenship certificate, or a passport.  The name on the ID must exactly match the one on the voter rolls.

African-Americans and Latinos are more likely to lack one of these qualifying IDs, according to several estimates.  Even when the state offers a free photo ID, these voters, who are disproportionately low-income, may not be able to procure the underlying documents, such as a birth certificate, to obtain one.

In Texas, for example, challengers to the law cited an African-American grandmother who could not afford the $25 to purchase her birth certificate to get an ID, and an elderly African-American veteran and longtime voter who was turned away at the polls in 2013 despite having three types of ID, because none qualified under the new law.

And new research from the Government Accountability Office, an independent agency that prepares reports for members of Congress, suggests that voter ID laws are having an impact at the polls.  Turnout dropped among both young people and African-Americans in Kansas and Tennessee after new voter ID requirements took effect in 2012, the study found.

Six of the 16 states that have passed voter ID laws since 2010 have a documented history of discriminating against minority voters.  All but one of those states’ laws were put in place after the Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that required them to seek approval from the Justice Department for any voting-law changes.

Courts have so far blocked three ID laws.  A state judge struck down Pennsylvania’s law earlier this year, determining that it discriminated against low-income and minority voters.  Two weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Wisconsin’s from taking effect for this election, and last week, a state court declared Arkansas’ voter ID law unconstitutional.  Lawsuits are currently pending against similar laws in North Carolina and Alabama, though they won’t be decided before the November elections.

Voter ID laws have all been sponsored by Republicans and passed overwhelmingly by Republican legislatures.  A conservative U.S. circuit judge, Richard Posner, in a recent scathing critique of these laws, calling the expressed concern about fraud a “a mere fig leaf” and that they instead “appear to be aimed at limiting voting by minorities, particularly blacks.”

“There is only one motivation for imposing burdens on voting that are ostensibly designed to discourage voter-impersonation fraud,” Posner wrote, “…and that is to discourage voting by persons likely to vote against the party responsible for imposing the burdens.”

Obenshain, the Virginia senator, said his law wasn’t about keeping voters from the polls.  “There’s only one class of people who are going to be discouraged from voting, and that’s fraudulent voters.”

FORENSICS - Shake-Up Caused by "The Real CSI" Report

"Shake-Up Inside Forensic Credentialing Org" by Leah Bartos, ProPublica 4/11/2014

This story was co-published with Frontline ("The Real CSI" includes full 53:41 video)

There's been a major shake-up in one of the largest organizations that certifies forensic experts.

The group, the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute (ACFEI), quietly put up for sale its forensic accounting division — one of its most prominent programs — prompting the unanimous resignation of that division's entire advisory board.  The volunteer accounting board oversaw ACFEI's certification program for experts in financial investigations.

The upheaval at ACFEI comes in the wake of a series of reports that have raised questions about the credibility of the organization's certification programs, notably the FRONTLINE/ProPublica joint investigation, The Real CSI, which examined the organization's rigor in certifying forensic experts.

Three of the board members who resigned say their efforts to bolster their division's credibility were being stymied.

"I don't think we were getting the support that we needed to carry out our duties.  And from an ethical standpoint, the right thing to do is leave your position when you can't do what you're basically hired to do," said Michael Kessler, a past chair of the accounting board and member of ACFEI since 1994.  Kessler and two other board members said they were never consulted about the sale and were left with no other choice but to resign in protest.

In a statement, ACFEI said it planned to spin off the forensic accounting program for reasons "related to organizational efficiency" and pledged to only sell it to a buyer that would maintain rigorous credentialing standards.

"The company can only develop excellence in so many directions at the same time and is transferring ownership of the credential to accounting professionals to further strengthen it," the statement said.

ACFEI offers certification courses in various other aspects of forensics, including nursing, social work and criminal investigation, and the group has also established related associations offering coursework in other disciplines, including psychotherapy and integrative medicine.  One of the associations, the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security, has garnered support from the U.S. Navy in recent years, which has paid more than $12 million for more than 10,000 sailors to obtain certifications from the ACFEI-affiliate since 2008.

It appears that troubles between ACFEI and the accounting division had been building for some time.

Last year, board members say they were surprised to learn that ACFEI had lost the rights to use a longstanding aspect of its brand, the acronym "Cr.FA" — which signifies Certified Forensic Accountant — as the result of a trademark lawsuit.

According to documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, ACFEI had failed to actively defend its ownership of the title, and essentially let it slip away.

After discovering the loss of the trademark six months after the fact, board members rushed to advise hundreds of forensic accountants around the country to remove the acronym from resumes and business cards.  ACFEI did not respond to FRONTLINE's repeated requests for comment on the trademark litigation.

As FRONTLINE and ProPublica reported in The Real CSI, there are no national standards for forensic experts.  Credentials such as the ones offered by ACFEI are voluntary, but they are often relied upon as a shortcut to assess the credibility of an expert witness at trial.

"It's up to the judge whether a witness is qualified as an expert — which is true —but when you take a look at the dockets, they're jammed," said Suzanne Hillman, a CPA who often testifies in financial fraud cases in the Washington, D.C. area.  "You see certification, it gives you a little bit of a feeling of comfort."

Hillman said she sought ACFEI's Certified Forensic Accountant credential because, "I knew I had a wealth of experience and was seeking to add the credential that would, in essence, summarize that quickly."  Hillman also joined ACFEI's forensic accounting board, but resigned at the end of 2013, similarly disillusioned with the organization.

Hillman has since removed Certified Forensic Accountant from her title.

She believes the lack of regulation on certifying experts damages the entire justice system.  "To the judges, jurors and lawyers, I don't think the message has totally gotten out to them that there's problems with some of these credentials," Hillman said.

Jeannette Koger, vice president of member specialization and credentialing for the American Institute of CPAs said the lax standards also make it harder for people to know the quality of the experts they are hiring, often at a high price.

"This causes confusion in the marketplace and can potentially cause consumers great harm," Koger said in an email.  "If they receive unqualified or poorly qualified representation their expert can be challenged in the courtroom, resulting in an adverse judgment."

HEALTH - Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria

"How societal, economic factors play into rise of drug-resistant bacteria" PBS Newshour 10/22/2013

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Has the age of antibiotics come to an end?  New strains of bacteria are on the rise, landing normally healthy people in the hospital with life-threatening, drug-resistant infections.  Ray Suarez talks to David Hoffman, the journalist who led the investigation for Frontline's "Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria (53:41 full show video)."

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  Next: the mounting worries and public health concerns over the rise of drug-resistant bacteria.  That's the subject of tonight's episode of FRONTLINE.

To tell the story, the program examines three notable cases, including that of Addie Rerecich, an 11-year-old girl in Tucson.  After complaining of a nagging pain in her hip, she ended up fighting for her life in the hospital in 2011.

Here's an excerpt, beginning with her mother's recollection.

SENIORS - Elder Care in Assisted Living Facilities

"Investigation Finds Pattern of Problems for Elder Care in Assisted Living" PBS Newshour 7/30/2013

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour):  Finally tonight, troubling cases of elderly care, or lack of it, at some assisted living centers.

Nearly three-quarters-of-a-million Americans reside in more than 30,000 facilities.  They're the subject of an investigation on tonight's Frontline, done in partnership with ProPublica.

A.C. Thompson is co-author of a series of reports for ProPublica and correspondent on tonight's program.  He joins us now.

Well, welcome to you.

And first, for purposes of definition, tell us what you were looking into.  How are you defining assisted living?

A.C. THOMPSON, Frontline/ProPublica:  So, assisted living is the niche of senior housing that's between living at home on your own and living in a nursing home.

So these are people who need some help, they can't live independently anymore, but they don't necessarily need full-on around-the-clock medical care.  So in an assisted living facility, it's more like a home, it's more like an apartment, and what you're getting typically is help with your medication, help with your meals, help to get to the bathroom or dressing if you need it.

"Life and Death in Assisted Living" (full 53:36 video) PBS Frontline 7/30/2013

AMERICA - Bradley Manning's Trial Starts

"Trial Begins for Bradley Manning Over Leaked Classified Documents" PBS Newshour 6/3/2013

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The court martial of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning opened in Fort Meade, Md.  Three years ago Manning was arrested for allegedly leaking 700,000 U.S. government documents to the website WikiLeaks.  Ray Suarez takes a closer look at the trial with Arun Rath, who has been covering the story for FRONTLINE.

SYRIA - Documentary "Syria Behind the Lines"

"Filmmaker Captures Life for Syrians Whose World Has Been Blown Apart" PBS Newshour 4/9/2013

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  FRONTLINE's latest documentary, "Syria Behind the Lines," (link at bottom) explores the everyday lives of citizens caught in the midst of the country's civil war.  Jeffrey Brown talks with film director and producer Olly Lambert about witnessing daily life in Syria, indiscriminate attacks on civilians and the future of the country.

FRONTLINE "Syria:  Behind the Lines" (53:51)

As to the question, how to change things, a no-fly zone over Syria.

AMERICA - Bradley Manning Pleas Guilty

"Bradley Manning Leaked Classified Documents to Spark 'Debate' on Foreign Policy" PBS Newshour 2/28/2013

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private who is charged with leaking massive amounts of classified material to the Web site WikiLeaks, entered guilty pleas today.

He pleaded guilty to 10 of the 22 charges against him, admitting to violating military regulations, but not federal espionage laws.  Manning spoke for more than an hour in the military courtroom, explaining his reasons for leaking classified information.

He said -- quote -- "I believe that if the general public had access to the information, this could spark a domestic debate as to the role of the military and foreign policy in general."  He added -- quote -- "I felt I accomplished something that would allow me to have a clear conscience."

Later in the day, the judge accepted Manning's pleas.  He still faces trial on the remaining charges.

For more now on Manning's statement, his pleas and what comes next, we are joined by Charlie Savage of The New York Times, who was in the courtroom today, and Arun Rath, who has been covering the Manning case for PBS' FRONTLINE.

POLITICS - Tailored Political Ads

"How Campaigns Amass Your Personal Information to Deliver Tailored Political Ads" PBS Newshour 10/29/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: Political advertisers now have unprecedented access to online browsing data, and the presidential campaigns are using gathered information to slice and dice the electorate and engage with voters on issues that are most relevant to their lives. Hari Sreenivasan reports in collaboration with Frontline, Marketplace and ProPublica.

HARI SREENIVASAN (Newshour): That's me at home surrounded by my digital devices. Like many of you, I'm spending more of my time online. It's how I stay connected. It's where I get my news and entertainment. And TV? I still watch it, but on my own schedule. And like much of America, I have spent the last few months being inundated by political advertising. Seems like no matter where I go, there they are.

WAR ON TERROR - President's 'Kill List'

"How Obama Maintains His Secret 'Kill List'" PBS Newshour 5/29/2012

Excerpt

RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): In recent years, Yemen has emerged as the hottest front in the war against al-Qaida.

Tonight's edition of "Frontline" travels to the heart of the Arabian Peninsula nation.

Guardian journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, reporting for "Frontline," gained rare access to militant strongholds. He visited several towns and met with insurgent leaders and fighters.

Here is an excerpt.

Frontline - Al Qaeda in Yemen (28:28 min)

SYRIA - An Undercover Look

"Journalist Goes Undercover to Report on Syrian Dissidents" PBS Newshour 11/8/2011

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (Newshour): Next, the violence in Syria, where the government of Bashar al-Assad has stepped up its deadly crackdown, one week after agreeing to negotiate with the dissidents. More than 3,500 people have been killed over the last eight months, 60 of them in the last few days in the city of Homs.

Margaret Warner has more.

MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): Only rarely have foreign journalists been able to report from Syria since the uprising began. But independent British-Iranian journalist Ramita Navai entered the country in September with freelance producer Wael Dabbous.

Tonight, our partners at "Frontline" are airing their clandestinely taped documentary (Syria Undercover 31:03) on PBS.

In this excerpt, Navai is holed up in an activist safe house in the town of Madaya.

COMMENT: What is going on in Syria is really horrific. Bashar al-Assad is a mirror of Pol Pot and his sub-human Khmer Rouge regime.

My sincere condolences to the Syrian people.