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theadmiringbog · 5 years

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At Kickstarter, we had maintained our idealism and independence by not financially maximizing.

The goal of a brick-and-mortar business is to be a right turn at the right time of day. Before-work businesses like coffee shops should be on the right-hand side of morning traffic. After-work businesses like grocery stores should be on the right-hand side of evening traffic.

The no-left-turn rule is an example of a hidden default. An unseen influence on our behavior.

Game theory uses mathematical models to determine the optimal, rational strategies in games and other strategic conflicts.

In The Compleat Strategyst, a book published by RAND about game theory in 1954, the author writes that game theory “takes the position that there is a definite way that rational people should behave.”

It goes on: The notion that there is some way people ought to behave does not refer to an obligation based on law or ethics. Rather it refers to a kind of mathematical morality, or at least frugality, which claims that the sensible object of the player is to gain as much from the game as he can, safely, in the face of a skillful opponent who is pursuing an antithetical goal. This is our model of rational behavior.”

For Adam Smith, self-interest was a vehicle for trust.

You could trust the butcher to do what was best for the butcher.

Now that same idea was used to justify the rationality of distrust. How much could you actually trust the butcher? What goes on in there anyway? You’re foolish to trust anyone but yourself.

This mind-set guided the United States’ strategy toward the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Which, considering the stakes, was probably wise. But it wasn’t long before the philosophy spread into everyday life, just as the game theorists predicted.

When they make prestige TV they’re not financially maximizing, they’re reputationally maximizing.

American entrepreneurship rates today are, per capita, half of what they were in the 1970s. You read that right: half. This is analogous to the drop in smoking rates over the same time span.

In recent years, many American companies have invested less in R&D than they’ve spent on stock buybacks.

For every extra dollar a candidate spends versus their opponent, the candidate’s share of the vote increases an equal amount. The analysis shows that every US congressional election between 1980 and 2014 except one fit this model.

The same researchers collated a variety of sources on political giving to see where this money came from. They found that most of the money came from the largest corporations, their executives, and the top 1 percent of wealthiest Americans. The Maximizing Class and the wealthiest of the wealthy are the dominant force in American politics.

My darkest fear was always the same. That an unforeseen event would blow it up because I failed to do something that a better CEO would know to do.

Bby the time you get to what you thought was the Promised Land, a voice will shout, “No, wait, it’s over here!” and you’ll start all over again trying to get somewhere else.

The researchers found that people whose life goals were “extrinsic”—meaning external goals like wealth, physical appearance, or recognition—were less satisfied by achieving those goals than people whose goals were “intrinsic”—focused on learning, improving, or helping others. Achieving “profit goals,” as researchers called them, was less satisfying than achieving “purpose goals.”

When our expectations go up for purpose-oriented goals—like wanting to be better at our profession, wanting to know more about a subject, or wanting better relationships—that drive produces fruitful and lasting outcomes: a calling, steps toward mastery, and a stronger community around you.

Spirit of service through industry

Spirit of fairness

Spirit of harmony and cooperation

Spirit of striving for progress

Spirit of courtesy and humility

Almost eighty years later, many of Panasonic’s offices still began their days by reading these spirits aloud.

The research found that up until a salary of $75,000 this was the case. But once someone made more than that, the impact of more money on their emotional well-being was much smaller.

Each of these spaces impacts us and is impacted by us. Their perspectives are in our rational self-interest. I call this way of seeing Bentoism. “Bento” as in a bento box, the Japanese packed meal.

Adele tried a different approach. The algorithm wasn’t financially maximizing, it was fairness maximizing.

When Adele found an algorithm that would help her most loyal fans see her play, she was in pursuit of community, not money. When NBA teams started shooting threes, they were optimizing for winning the game rather than making a basket.

To achieve high standards yourself or as part of a team, you need to form and proactively communicate realistic beliefs about how hard something is going to be.

There is biological, historical, and sociological evidence that suggests thirty years is the right amount of time to think about substantive change. By “substantive change” I mean significant movement in the majority point of view.

People alive today will be a minority of the total people alive thirty years from now. In thirty years, a third of the people alive now will be dead and half of the larger population will be new.

In the 1960s someone running outside for exercise was so out of the ordinary that people called the police. Strom Thurmond, the South Carolina segregationist, was stopped by police while running in 1968.

Change happens in response to a crisis. The rise of television inspired the rise of exercise. Lister experimented with antiseptics because people kept dying after surgery. Without the disease, there’s no need for the cure.

It’s a hard thing for our egos to deal with. That’s why serious changes to address climate change will ultimately come from generations who have less responsibility for the crisis. It’s easier to fix somebody else’s problems than your own. Even in the sweeping forces of history, human nature still plays a starring role.

On that piece of paper, I drew a Bento box. Inside each box I wrote a question that got to the heart of what that Bento was about, and next to them I wrote each Bento’s core values, too. The questions were straightforward: What do I want and need? What does my future self want and need? What do we want and need? What does future us want and need? I gave myself five minutes to brainstorm responses to the questions. I tried not to overthink it. I wrote whatever came to mind. Here’s what came out: I spent more time looking for similarities and themes in what I’d written.

#This Could Be Our Future #books

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alexsmitposts · 5 years

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This Outlaw Power On June 4th the Chinese government issued a travel alert for Chinese tourists thinking of visiting the United States, a day after it issued a similar advisory to Chinese students thinking of studying in the US over concerns for their safety and security. Chinese in the US are reporting harassment and interrogations by US immigration authorities and many now have the impression they are not welcome in the US. The Global Times, speaking on behalf of the government stated, “The Chinese people find it difficult to accept the fact that they are being taken as thieves. The US boasts too much superiority and has been indulged by the world. Due to its short history, it lacks understanding of and respect for the rules of countries and laws of the market. The Americans of the early generations accumulated prosperity and prestige for the US, while the current US administration behaves like a wastrel generation by ruining the world’s respect for the US.” It seems to me they are being generous to the US since the “early prosperity” of the US was built on the backs of slave labour, extermination of the indigenous peoples and theft of their lands, colonization and exploitation of other countries, including China, and two hundred years of continual warfare to secure the resources and markets of first the western hemisphere, then the world. Their “prestige” comes out of the barrel of a gun. The US economic and military aggression against those nations that refuse to obey American demands to serve their interests ever increases and never abates. A few days ago Mike Pompeo stated, with feigned innocence, that the US was willing to talk to Iran “without preconditions” when the real conditions Iran faces include an almost total embargo of its trade and threats of immediate attack by US forces, including nuclear attack. The Iranians quickly rejected this hypocrisy. In the Balkans the US and its NATO war machine have again stirred up problems in Serbia where, in the NATO occupied province of Kosovo-Metohija, Serbs and Russians were detained and beaten up by Albanian security forces designed to put further pressure on Serbia to fall into the NATO camp so that the NATO machine will have complete control of the Balkans to complete the encirclement of Russia. The war goes on in Syria, goes on in Ukraine, goes on in Afghanistan. The terrible situation of the Palestinians becomes even worse as the US plans the final solution for them-their disappearance as a people to be absorbed as citizens of other states, while Israel continues its aggressive expansion and acts as agent of the US bully in the region; the threats against Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea continue. But the principle preoccupation of the US is still China and Russia. On May 30th the US Department of Defense released its strategy paper for the Indo-Pacific region in which, after several pages of lies about its role in the world as savior and benefactor, set out America’s intentions to dominate China and Russia. It is another item of evidence that the United States government and its allies are conspiring to commit crimes against peace by planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression against those nations. These designs by the American leadership reflect not only the desire of the owners of capital in the US to dominate the world. They also reflect the Americans’ preoccupation with themselves as “exceptional” people, as the “exceptional” nation, above all others, answerable to none, which has been a characteristic of their culture since its foundation. The aggressive objectives of the successive American governments were and are not accidents or mistakes arising out of immediate political circumstances but are a deliberate and necessary part of American foreign policy. From its inception the American political leadership has claimed to unite the American people with a consciousness of their mission and destiny to dominate the world. War is seen as inevitable or highly probable to accomplish these objectives where intimidation and bribery fail. To accomplish its objectives the United States has done all it can to disrupt the world order established after World War Two when world nations joined together for world peace in the United Nations Charter in 1946. Within 3 years the US set up the NATO military alliance to threaten the Soviet Union, soon waged wars across south east Asia and overthrew governments the world over. The rise to power of President Trump has resulted in the United States withdrawing from a series of treaties designed to reduce the threat of war and of nuclear armaments, or promote free trade, in order to free the United States from its obligations under the treaties involved to allow it to pursue its objectives using any means necessary. They have rejected international law and diplomacy in interstate relationships and now rely on threats and violence. The Indo-Pacific Strategy Report, of June 1, 2019 begins with the claim that, “Inter-state strategic competition, defined by geopolitical rivalry between free and repressive world order visions, is the primary concern for U.S. national security. In particular, the People’s Republic of China, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, seeks to reorder the region to its advantage by leveraging military modernization, influence operations, and predatory economics to coerce other nations.” Time and again the Report ascribes to China the actual behavior of the United States for is it not the United States that has sought to reorder the world since it became a world power; has it not used all these methods and more to coerce other nations? The world knows it. Yet once again their sense of being exceptional makes them blind to their stupefying arrogance and hypocrisy. The Report then warns that, “We will not accept policies or actions that threaten or undermine the rules-based international order – an order that benefits all nations. We are committed to defending and enhancing these shared values”. What they mean by “rules based international order” is not the order of international law as accepted by the world governments in the United Nations Charter and other international agreements but a US imposed international order, – an order that does not yet exist except in the fantasies of these gangsters-but which they never stop trying to impose on the world, an order of militarism, fear, and tyranny for the rest of the world. The balance of the Report sets out their strategy of building up a “networked region” that is, a US controlled system of vassal states to prepare for war with China by prepositioning ammunition, equipment, logistics supplies, transportation networks, intelligence sharing and rapid deployment of forces to threaten China. The vassal states; Japan, South Korea, Australia New Zealand, Canada, Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, are all patted on the head for assisting the United States and promised they will be rewarded with peace and prosperity so long as they accept their subservient role to the saintly United States. Other southeast Asia nations are referred to as potential “partners” for the future as they try to brag that they have Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Laos and Cambodia on their side when all they have are courtesy arrangements and cooperation on a low level that all nations have with each other. Their vision of their influence is greater than the reality. But the three targets remain the same for according to the Report, China is a “Revisionist Power, ”Russia is a “Revitalized Malign Actor,” while the DPRK, keeps its status as a “Rogue State,” all of which the Americans claim are intent on challenging their fictional “rules based order.” There then follows, in each case, paragraph after paragraph of distortions of the facts about the nature and behavior of these three nations so that one feels compelled to break into laughter when reading these ludicrous labels that seem to come from a very bad 1950’s Hollywood film script. But finally, after all the verbiage, they get down to it and set out their real objectives by referencing the US Defense Strategy of 2018 which sets out the four pillars of their hegemonic designs: 1. Defend the Homeland; This is a curious phrase we have been seeing the past number of years in American parlance, this concept of ‘homeland,” but in contradistinction to what is never stated. Well, the to the rest of the world, of course, which they now consider their lands as well, their outlands, and so the need for a phrase to identify the US as the “homeland”. What could more display their colonial mindset than the use of this phrase? 2. Remain the preeminent military power in the world; This is a threat to the world, to humankind, and can only be maintained by the pauperization of its own people. 3. Ensure the balances of power in key regions remain in our favour; Meaning that they intend to keep playing one nation off against another and create chaos where necessary, to play both sides against the middle, whatever it takes so that the United States maintains the ruling hand, 4. Advance an international order that is most conducive to our security and prosperity And here we have their principle objective, meaning that, despite all the rhetoric about shared values, shared goals and friendships with its vassal allies, the world is meant to enrich and serve the United States. To make sure the world knows of their power and what they are willing to do with it the Report states, “In the region, US INDOPACOM currently has more than 2,000 aircraft; 200 ships and submarines; and more than 370,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, DoD civilians, and contractors assigned within its area of responsibility. The largest concentration of forces in the region are in Japan and the ROK. A sizable contingent of forces (more than 5,000 on a day-to-day basis) are also based in the U.S. territory of Guam, which serves as a strategic hub supporting crucial operations and logistics for all U.S. forces operating in the Indo-Pacific region. Other allies and partners that routinely host U.S. forces on a smaller scale include the Philippines, Australia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom through the island of Diego Garcia”. Other bases are planned in Australia and New Guinea. In describing its relations and military cooperation with its vassal allies it places special emphasis on Taiwan and uses language that in direct terms violates the One China Policy of China, which the US pays lip service to. It is tantamount to a declaration that Taiwan is a US protectorate instead of an integral part of China. They state, “The objective of our defense engagement with Taiwan is to ensure that Taiwan remains secure, confident, free from coercion, and able to peacefully and productively engage the mainland on its own terms.” So when US, Australian, French, or British naval forces claim they are traversing the Straight of Taiwan as an exercise in “freedom of navigation” we know that what they are really doing is using force to divide China, to treat it as if it were still the weak China of the 19th century when American gunboats until as late as 1949 ran up and down the Yangtze River as if they owned it; to slap it in the face, to dare it with insults. The situation has become so tense that the Global Times on June 6,th in an op ed by Wei Jianguo, said, “China is able to withstand US maximum pressure, due to the country’s economic resilience, and Chinese people’s resolute determination. Suffering from a century of humiliation, the Chinese nation has been accustomed to such pressure, as shown in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, as well as the Korean War or the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. The unity of Chinese people is a vital reason for the country’s fundamental victory in history.” The Peoples’ Daily stated, “America is the enemy of the world.” Russia and China, in their defence, are intensifying their economic and military cooperation but the threat remains and is increasing. The answer may lie in the fact that the US strategy is ultimately self-defeating. The more they try to dominate the world, the more intense the resistance becomes. Even their alliances are coming apart at the seams as the thieves bicker about their share of the loot. But the question remains, what to do about this enemy of the world, this outlaw power.

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rolandfontana · 5 years

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‘Cultural Healing’ and the Search for Justice in Tribal Lands

Soon after Michelle Anderson was appointed Sixth District Judicial Judge in Minnesota’s Iron Range region, where she operates a hybrid court that offers alternatives to jail for individuals with substance abuse problems, she found herself presiding over the case of Jason Drift.

A 44-year-old enrolled member of the Bois Forte band of Chippewa, Drift was pleading for a stay of adjudication to one felony count of fifth-degree possession of methamphetamine.

But there was something special about his plea to the court.

Two of the leading players in developing new approaches to tribal justice in Minnesota: Megan Treuer, chief judge for the Bois Forte Tribal Court (L) and Sixth District Judge Michelle Anderson. Photo courtesy Hibbing Daily Tribune

“He spoke about how he damaged his relationship with his tribe,” Anderson recalled.

“Our treatment court team started talking about the need for a cultural advisor, because we aren’t set up the best we can be to manage his goals.”

That conversation was one of the factors that persuaded Anderson to discuss with leaders of the Bois Forte reservation establishment of a court that would address that offer “cultural healing” in tandem in place of traditional judicial approaches.

Planning for such a ‘Wellness Court,” tailored to the needs of Native Americans, is now underway.

As a former county prosecutor, Anderson had recognized the “distrust from Native defendants in the state system.” She participated in “training on historical trauma” during bench meetings on the Fond du Lac Reservation near Duluth, the seat of St. Louis County.

The training sparked an idea of having Drift “work with tribal elders, rather than doing standard community service” on the Iron Range.

The idea has now taken wing among state authorities, police and tribal elders.

The idea of restorative justice has long been a topic of conversation among band members, especially as they and other tribes across the state face increasing numbers of alcohol, drug and mental health-related cases.

This year alone, the state of Minnesota reported that Native Americans were six times more likely to die from drug overdoses than the general white population statewide.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan

Tribal Chairwoman Cathy Chavers and other have been building trust with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan — the first indigenous woman to hold statewide office — who promised to provide millions of dollars in funding for traditional healing to combat opioid addiction.

In June, Chavers joined tribal council members and David Bryant, manager of community member development for SMSC at a ribbon-cutting event to unveil a long-needed new courthouse for the Bois Forte band.

“Everyone wants this place to be a place of healing,” said Megan Treuer, the chief tribal judge on the Chippewa reservation.

In the state of Minnesota, there are seven Anishinaabe — Chippewa and Ojibwe — reservations and four Dakota — Sioux — communities. The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa is set north of the horizontal sliver of iron-ore mining cities of the Iron Range, roughly 45 miles south of the U.S.-Canadian border.

Since entering into treaties in the mid-1800s with the American government, the band has lived on 200 square miles of a reservation divided into three sections of Deer Creek, Vermilion and Nett Lake.

https://ift.tt/306xsIY

Chippewa elders

The namesake of the Bois Forte comes from the French words “strong wood” used to define the band which survives in the densest forests spread across what has become Koochiching, Itasca and St. Louis counties. Today, less than 1,000 people reside here on land painted with maple trees and wild rice where they own and operate Fortune Bay Resort Casino.

Band members say they hold true to their culture and traditions in the celebratory forms of powwows and sacred ceremonies. They have made advances to the reservation when it comes to improving infrastructure and educational needs. They are striving to expand their economic opportunities, while improving connections to medical and internet options.

In the isolation of the Northland, the band continues to make great strides, but also struggles with a lack of resources.

For example, they do not have an addiction treatment court. But when considering options for a wellness court, they do have the benefit of looking to their westbound neighbors in Leech Lake, where more than 10,000 people live on a reservation covering 1,309 square miles of land across four counties.

In 2006, when Leech Lake made the historical jump in partnering with Cass County to create the first, joint-government wellness court in the nation for both tribal and non-tribal members. In 2007, Leech Lake opened a second collaborative wellness court in Itasca County.

The wellness courts are similar to treatment courts throughout the state, using intense supervision and rehabilitation in an attempt to stop the revolving door of people with misdemeanors or felonies related to alcohol and drug offenses from wasting away in jails and prisons.

Sweat Lodges for Rehabilitation

However, some of the main differences with the joint efforts include the courts using tribal culture in the forms of sweat lodges and other ceremonies to help rehabilitate people suffering from substance abuse issues and multi-generational trauma.

A Bois Forte Wellness Court would address the complicated jurisdictional issues that arise in dealing with justice-involved native Americans.

Map of Chippewa lands, Minnesota. Courtesy Kmusser

In 1953, U.S. Congress passed Public Law 280, which gave Minnesota and at least five other states criminal jurisdiction over all the reservations, except the Red Lake Reservation. In 1973, the state approved the retrocession of the Bois Forte Reservation from the law.

Aside from the two reservations, all of the other federally-recognized tribes in the state are subject to state criminal jurisdiction.

For context, here is one report from the Minnesota Legislature trying to explain the matter of jurisdiction:

“The federal government has criminal jurisdiction over federal crimes of nationwide application on all American Indian lands and felonies committed by an American Indian against an American Indian or non-Indian, or by a non-Indian against an American Indian on the Red Lake or Bois Forte Reservations…

The state has criminal jurisdiction over any state crime committed by a non-Indian against a non-Indian on American Indian lands and, with certain exceptions, any state crime committed by or against an American Indian on American Indian land, except on Red Lake or Bois Forte Reservations…the tribal governments…have criminal jurisdiction over misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors committed by an American Indian against an American Indian on land owned or controlled by the bands.”

The complications extend to the lines drawn between native law enforcement and state police.

The county sheriff’s office currently has a cooperative law enforcement agreement with the Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, whose police have concurrent jurisdiction with his office on tribal lands and in some instances of that land. They can enforce state statutes and can lodge arrested individuals in the St. Louis County Jail.

“Our attorney’s office prosecutes crimes that occur there on behalf of the band,” St. Louis County Sheriff Ross Litman wrote to the Hibbing Daily Tribune.

“They have some of their own ordinances which they handle. The FDL Tribe is an open reservation and they agree to subject themselves to Minnesota law.”

Competing Jurisdictions

On the other hand, the Bois Forte “is not an open reservation” and remains only subject to federal laws and federal law enforcement agencies in the form of its police governed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In some cases, the Federal Bureau of Investigation takes on their cases.

“Neither can enforce nor arrest under Minnesota statutes,” Litman wrote. “They do not use our jail or lockups to house their detainees. We are in the process of negotiating a contract to allow them to. Our deputies can arrest on tribal lands but only under certain circumstances.

“We use a matrix basically to determine which agency handles a situation and which prosecutorial division handles it—either the county attorney or the U.S. attorney.”

Treuer represents the band’s best hope for kick-starting a wellness court.

A descendant of the Leech Lake band, she grew up under the roof of her late father, Robert Treuer, an Austrian-Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, who taught on the reservation, and her mother, Margaret Seelye Treuer, a Leech Lake tribal member who went to nursing school before becoming the first female Indian attorney in the state of Minnesota, the first Native American judge in the U.S. and mother of four accomplished children.

Treuer now presides over 50-plus cases spread over three sessions per month in the new Bois Forte courthouse.

“The bulk of the cases are criminal and child protection and then we do domestic violence orders for protection,” she told the Tribune.

She also works part-time for the Leech Lake and Fond du Lac bands and even does some “conflict work” on the White Earth Reservation in western Minnesota.

The joint efforts between Leech Lake and Cass and Itasca counties are “pretty groundbreaking,” she says.

“All of our tribes and all our communities are facing the same problems with addiction and the resulting crimes that come from it,” she added. “Most of the people committing crimes in our communities are addicted or have a mental health disorder and still have historical trauma to overcome.”

As Truer points out, “Everybody is looking for new approaches.”

For the people of Bois Forte, the Wellness Court is an approach whose time has come.

Eric Killelea, assistant editor of the Hibbing (Minn.) Daily Tribune, is a 2018-2019 John Jay/Rural Justice Reporting Fellow. This is a condensed and edited version of a story produced for his fellowship reporting project, the last in a six-part series examining the state of rural justice in Minnesota. The full story is available here. Other articles in the series can be accessed here.

‘Cultural Healing’ and the Search for Justice in Tribal Lands syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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thechasefiles · 6 years

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 7/10/2018

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Tuesday 10th July 2018. Remember you can read full articles by purchasing Daily Nation Newspaper (DN), via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS).

IDEAS4BARBADOS FORUM NOW LIVE – Members of the public are invited to register on the ideas4barbados forum, which is now live at https://labour.gov.bb/ideas4barbados. During her presentation of the Mini-Budget last month, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley stated that Barbadians would be allowed to play their part in the rebuilding of the country. Subsequently, persons were encouraged to submit suggestions on how to improve Barbados by emailing [email protected]. Network administrator at the Ministry of Labour and Social Partnership Relations, Paul Mayers, explained that the ideas submitted by email were read and categorised in the forum according to the duties of the specific Ministry. “The public is not allowed to create topics on the forum but to comment. Topics are created by the moderators based on the ideas submitted by email, and representatives from each Ministry will moderate the forum for their respective Ministry,” he stated. Mayers added that persons could also visit https://labour.gov.bb, and click on the logo on the left under “Additional Features”, to access the forum. (BGIS)

HOPE FOR SQUATTERS – Over 100 squatters in a St John community are hoping their dreams of owning land there will become a reality. On Sunday evening, residents of Welch Village and surrounding districts turned up at Victory Wesleyan Holiness Church to a town hall meeting organised by parliamentary representative and Minister in the Ministry of Housing, Charles Griffith. It was to make good on promises during the recent General Election in which Griffith, of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), won the seat that had been held by the Democratic Labour Party since 1958. He told them they would be able to purchase the land at ten cents per square foot, with Government footing the remainder of the bill. Residents were asked to complete a Tenantries Freehold Purchase Act form which, after submission to the ministry, would expedite the process. Myrico Morris, of the Welch/Bath Land Community Group, said land ownership was among the pressing problems in the community. “We have attended previous meetings with the previous administration who have also promised similar notions. So we are willing and ready to submit the forms to be able to regularise the status, and to also go forward and have our own names placed on property. “It wasn’t done with the last administration; hopefully it will be done with this one. But either way, the people of St John really want this process completed,” he said. (DN)

CALL FOR BARBADOS LAW SCHOOL – Barbados is being urged to set up its own law school. The proposal has come from principal of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill, Professor Eudine Barriteau. She made the request during a courtesy call with Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Dale Marshall, Permanent Secretary Yvette Goddard and Deputy Permanent Secretary Charles Piggott at the ministry in Wildey, St Michael yesterday. Director of Institutional Planning at the UWI, Gale Hall, was also present. Barriteau explained that she saw the establishment of a law school as not only being able to cater to Barbadians, but those from across the Caribbean and as far as England. She asked the Attorney General to “consider it seriously”, adding she would also raise the topic with the Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw and Prime Minister Mia Mottley. The principal stressed that she would like Barbados to be seen as the hub for education in the Caribbean. In response, Marshall said there were a number of issues to be considered in the proposal, but he also wanted to hear the opinion of the Council of Legal Education on the matter. During the courtesy call, other matters discussed included the establishment of a Centre for Food Security and Cooperation, and an upcoming symposium on biosecurity issues. UWI currently has the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago and the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica. (BGIS)

NOW CALLS FOR FULL AND THOROUGH PROBE INTO ALLEGED POLICE HARASSMENT CASE – The national spotlight was today turned on the operations of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) with the National Organization of Women (NOW) calling on the top brass of the Force to ensure that an alleged case of harassment of two females was fully investigated. However, when contacted the Force’s Public Relations Officer Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss was tightlipped on a reported incident on Saturday night in which two lawmen are accused of harassing a group of three women at the Soca Legends event at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. According to one newspaper report, one of the women was approached by one of the two officers and asked for a dance. However, after he was denied, both he and his colleague, who were said to be operating under the influence of alcohol, responded in an aggressive manner to the women. Police were summoned and the two cops were taken to District ‘A’ Police Station for interviews. However, up to today the names of the officers were still not released and no charges were laid against them, with Inniss reporting that the matter was still under active investigation. In response, NOW Public Relations Officer Marsha Hinds told Barbados TODAY the two officers in question needed to be held accountable for their actions, as she issued a call for lawmen to take another look how they deal with harassment cases. “I hope that what has happened over the weekend becomes a turning point in our discussion about the police force and about the responses to patriarchy within the police force,” she said, adding that “these things are open secrets so it will be interesting to see how this case plays out because police officers protect their own”. Hinds also called for a full and thorough investigation into the matter, while lamenting that in criminal cases involving lawmen, “you never get names or [find out] what happens with these investigations or if the people are brought to account. “We are hearing too many of these accounts,” she said. Insisting that Saturday’s incident was not an isolated one, she recounted a personal experience of going to report a domestic abuse case and being “hit on” by an officer. “We have heard about police officers using that [domestic abuse complaints] as an opportunity for a dating service,” she said, while pointing out that “it is a reason why some victims in domestic violence situations do not go to the police to report because of the response they get – that not being the matter being trivialized, but overtures that are made by police officers.” However, while making it clear that it was not all officers who were engaging in the worrying practice, the NOW spokeswoman said her organization was concerned that there were still too many instances of police officers using their influence to prey on the vulnerable. “We also have complaints from men that after having gone through a police circumstance they then find themselves on the outside of the relationships because the officers were having relations with those same women,” Hinds charged, while warning that there was a bigger issue of the Force and what had become its culture. She is therefore calling for a change in how the RBPF operates. “The culture has to change, but the culture belongs to an overall society where women are not valued and domestic violence is still not seen as a real complaint,” she said. (BT)

GUILTY AS CHARGED – It took a bar manager almost four years to own up to three drug charges. And for his crime, Jerry Ricardo Baker, of Middlefield Road, Princess Royale Avenue, St Michael, will have to find $1,200 in one week or spend a month at HMP Dodds. When the case was called before Magistrate Douglas Frederick today the accused pleaded guilty to possession, possession with intent to supply and possession with intent to traffic 65 grammes of cannabis on July 29, 2014. Station Sergeant Samuel Hinds said the illegal substance was found in a garbage bin on the aforementioned date when police executed a search warrant at Baker’s residence. Appealing for leniency on behalf of her client, attorney-at-law Sukeena Maynard told the magistrate Baker had been doing well and had also not been before the court in over 18 years. However, pointing out that the accused did have antecedents of a similar nature, the magistrate told Baker: “In your position . . . you can’t afford to have those types of convictions.” He then imposed the fine on the possession charge and reprimanded and discharged Baker on the other two. (BT)

FEUDING BROTHERS BACK IN COURT – Feuding brothers Kirt and Paul Alleyne were back before the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court today. Last week Paul, who accused his brother of assaulting him on June 28, was given the task of bringing his mother to court. “My mother said she is not coming here,” Paul told Magistrate Douglas Frederick this morning. Kirt replied: “It’s because he refused to let me speak to my mom because you gave the order that I stay away from the house.” However, the magistrate asked the brothers not to go into the details as the case, which was first logged in court on July 3, had not reached the evidence stage. Frederick also removed a bond preventing Kirt from going to his mother’s house after she failed to appear in court. The assault case, in which the 36-year-old Kirt, of Bridge Gap, Small Land, St Michael, has maintained his innocence, continues on September 5. (BT)

CADOGAN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN DODDS – A Bridgetown magistrate has given a 41-year-old man, who said he had nowhere to lay his head, a place to stay for the next three years. That’s how long Steven DeCarlo Cadogan will spend at HMP Dodds for committing four burglary charges. Cadogan pleaded guilty to entering the storage rooms at Kensington Oval on June 25 and to stealing a weed whacker and back pack blower worth $3,099 belonging to the Oval, as well as two wrenches, two pliers, one spanner, nine wrench sets, a hack saw and a frame, two set of Allan keys, four screwdrivers and a measuring tape worth $400 belonging to Matthew Burrowes. He also admitted to burglarizing the Oval three days later on June 28 – this time stealing 378.54 litres of diesel worth $1,004. 06. Cadogan further pleaded guilty to stealing six cases of drinks worth $228 belonging to Roseanne Alleyne and having a number of articles in his possession that could be used in connection with theft between June 24 and July 3. Sergeant Vernon Waithe told Magistrate Graveney Bannister that the accused, who is well known to the court, was caught on CCTV climbing over the Herman Griffith gate at the Oval before he was arrested. In his defence Cadogan explained that he had a drug problem. He explained that he sold the drinks and spent the money on several items, including alcohol and cocaine. He was therefore ordered by the magistrate to undergo drug rehabilitation and counseling while serving his time at the St Philip penitentiary. (BT)

CROP OVER REVERSAL – It’s back to Friday for the Pic-O-De Crop calypso finals. And even though reigning Calypso Monarch Ian iWeb Webster is yet to decide whether or not he will defend his crown, he immediately gave the thumbs up to the National Cultural Foundation’s (NCF) announcement today that after consulting with stakeholders, the island’s biggest calypso competition would revert to the final Friday, instead of the final Saturday leading up to the annual Crop Over climax in Grand Kadooment. “I am delighted. I don’t know why it was moved in the first place,” he told Barbados TODAY following the announcement which came as music to the ears of reigning the calypso king. He explained that Pic-O-De-Crop finals on Friday not only held traditional value for Barbadians, but made good business sense for artistes. “What it now allows is for persons like myself that have party songs that are doing well to leave Pic-O-De-Cropand work. Last year and the years when it was held on Saturdays, you couldn’t do any fetes and you could not do gigs because you had to preserve your vocals for the competition. But on Friday it is the last competition, you can do your gigs and enjoy Foreday Mornin’. “I have never enjoyed Fore Day Mornin’ [so] I am happy; very, very happy,” he said. The reigning calypso monarch, who previously won the title in 2013 and 2014 and who has already generated significant interest with this year’s offerings, including M.I.A and Best In Me, was however unable to say whether the change would convince him to defend his 2017 crown. iWeb, who is also a finalist in this year’s Party Monarch and Sweet Soca contests, said he would make the announcement next week. “By next Friday I will definitely announce what I intend to do,” he told Barbados TODAY. In 2014, the finals had to be pushed back by 24 hours as a precaution against Tropical Storm Bertha which threatened the island with heavy showers and winds. The following year, the then Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, announced that the change would be permanent, with the popular Foreday Mornin’ Jam and Pic-O-De-Crop finals taking place on separate days. That year, there were 54 bands registered for Foreday Mornin’ compared to 37 so far this year, with Lashley suggesting that “so phenomenal has been the growth that it is now abundantly clear that it is necessary for this event to be held on a separate day in order to allow for more efficient and effective management of this event”. He also said at the time that notwithstanding the fact that the 2014 decision to postpone the Pic-O-De-Crop finals was in reaction of impending bad weather, “we had an opportunity to give this a test run. And after consultation with our stakeholders, we have decided that in 2015, Foreday Mornin’ Jam will be held on Friday, July 31, and the Pic-O-De-Crop Finals will take place on Saturday, August 1”. However, following the May 24 general elections in which Lashley’s Democratic Labour Party was swept from power and a new minister – former calypso monarch John King – has taken control of the NCF, the organizers seem to have had a major change of heart. This time around, once the 2018 calypso monarch is crowned on Friday August 3, revellers will take to the streets at 1 a.m. for the popular Foreday Mornin’ Jam, which will end at 7 a.m. on Saturday, August 4. While assuring patrons that all tickets previously purchased for the Pic-O-De Crop Final would remain valid. The NCF said this change was expected to have a favourable impact on the annual Bridgetown Market, which will offer patrons extended hours this year, running from noon on Saturday, August 4 to 5 a.m. on Sunday August 5. The market will reopen on 2 p.m. until midnight on Sunday and end on Monday, August 6, after Grand Kadooment. In the meantime, the recently introduced room rate levy may well be the straw that broke the backs of Grand Kadooment bandleaders, some of whom are complaining about cancellations from their regular overseas patrons this season, since the additional tax took effect on July1. Head of the Barbados Association of Masqueraders (BAM) Chetwyn Stewart told Barbados TODAY the levy had made the already high cost of playing mas in Barbados higher, during a time when tourists were finding better value for money from other carnivals across the region. “The new levy is just one of many things that would affect the festival. When you add all of these things together, the impact is really telling because Barbados is already expensive,” Stewart said. However, the BAM president’s solution to the problem was not a removal of the tax but rather an upgrade of the festival so that visitors could feel as if they were paying a premium price for a premium product. “The reason why we are getting a big hit is because we have not paid enough attention to the Crop Over brand,” he lamented. “So a lot of other countries have caught up with Barbados because they are putting attention into their carnival because they value the overseas money that it brings in. So you find places like Jamaica and Vincy Mas [St Vincent carnival] being more appealing and it has gotten to a stage where people just decide to skip Barbados because the price has gotten so high,” Stewart said. “At the end of day even if you have a product that costs a little more, as long as it is good, people will come. Barbados has always been an expensive destination but people always say how much they love it and want to come back. So the same thing goes for Kadoomen. We have to make sure that we refresh and upgrade the quality of the festival so that people don’t feel as if they are shortchanged,” the Power X Four band leader stressed. Fellow masquerade bandleader, Anthony Martin of Kontact, concurred with Stewart’s assessment saying he had noticed a drop in overseas patronage since the introduction of the tax. “Our people that jump with us are telling us that it costs them $3, 000 to come to Barbados from the United States. Now we have the additional room levy and it is causing us some pain,” he said. Barbados TODAY contacted the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association for a fuller picture of the cancellations. However, officials said they had just begun to compile the data. During her Budget last month, Prime Minister Mia Mottley revealed that the mandatory room rate levy would be applied across the board. In a follow up notice, the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport said the levy, which is to be paid by guests, would be applied to the Villa sub sector and all other vacation rental properties, as well as luxury class hotels at a maximum of USD $10.00 per night ; “A” class hotels at USD $5.00 per night and “B” class hotels, apartments and guest houses at USD $2.50 per night. (BT)

COME AGAIN - Go back to the drawing board on the semi-finals of the Party Monarch and Sweet Soca competitions. This is the call by some artistes to the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), following last weekend’s drawn-out Phenomenal Friday show at Kensington Oval put on by 4D Entertainment in collaboration with the NCF. It featured the International Bashment Soca finals, and the Party Monarch and Sweet Soca semis. The show was scheduled to start at 10 p.m. but only got underway at 11:20 p.m. after artistes in the Party Monarch and Sweet Soca took issue with their dressing room conditions and refused to perform until they were rectified. It ended after 6 a.m. Saturday. Seasoned entertainer Adrian AC Clarke said the night was too long and was a disservice to the competitors. He said while he understood that performing at early morning hours was supposed to be a norm for entertainers, it was entirely different when one was competing. “Going on stage at 4 a.m. at a concert or show is a different thing from going on a stage to perform in a competition. If it’s a show, fine, you just come, sing to the audience and go. But you’re out there in competitive mode and vying against 15 people in each competition. “I think it is a disservice to the competitors. You have artistes that are taking part in at least two competitions, in some cases you could even have three; that’s not fair to them,” he told the DAILY NATION. “I’m not just talking about us the competitors, but I’m talking about the judges who may be up there tired too because they are there from early to judge this show.” Clarke, who performed in Sweet Soca after 4 a.m. Saturday, said patrons were also not up for the long show, evident in the dwindling numbers as the morning went on. He suggested that the NCF rethink the structure for the show and come up with something better suited for everyone. (DN)

AC BACK TO COOL THINGS DOWN - If you missed Adrian Clarke last year, it was because he took a mental break. “Taking time ain’t laziness. Last year I didn’t record any party music per se. I didn’t have any drive to do it, and the only recording I remember doing was for Deepu Panjwani of Lethal Studios. He did a track that included Stabby, Holla Bak. Gabby was featured with Square One and Alison Hinds, and I did a song called More Gyal,” Clarke told EASY during an interview in Maxwell, Christ Church. Describing the song as a “bashment rhythm with an Indian feel”, he said he had since heard the rhythm played, but didn’t remember ever hearing his song being played. “I’ve chalked it down to nobody expected me to be singing on that rhythm. I have wondered if when DJs see my name on it, they think that it isn’t a social commentary, so just put it one side and not play it. I don’t dig,” he said shrugging nonchalantly. Another part of him having missed last year’s competition was the anticipation of the birth of his granddaughter Zakyrah, who he refers to as Zoe. “She got me chupid. It feels like when I had my daughter Azizi, and was a father for the first time. I love every minute of being a granddaddy-o. Zoe is very smart at nine months; and, if I’m not home to see what she does, I get a video a few minutes later. Right now my storage is almost to capacity with all of her photos and videos,” he said smiling broadly. AC, as he is known on the calypso stage, decided on two recordings for this year’s sweetest summer festival. And last Friday he would have competed in the Sweet Soca arena with Soca Her, and at EASY magazine press time the competition was still ongoing. “The ragga soca, which was composed second, was the first one to be recorded. The party song he Band Coming was written last year, and I decided not to record it because of time. The response to Soca You has been good. The last time I was in Sweet Soca semis was 2016,” he said, laughing, adding that he did not make the cut for Party Monarch this year. AC, whose signature song is Nice Time, said he liked writing songs that made people draw their own conclusions. “I got the idea walking from the bathroom to my closet. The melody started to come, and the hook kept ringing in my ears; so I kept playing with it until I got what you hear now,” he said. The consensus regarding the song was that of a provocative nature, but he said it was open to interpretation. Referring to a song he wrote in 2003 called Hot, he said that song was considered provocative as well. “In Barbados, once it’s soca and it has any sort of provocative connotations, it can be deemed not suitable for airplay; and that’s where an artiste’s craftiness has to come into play. Soca You has no words or verses that would get the song banned,” he stressed. “I guess Soca You is one of those songs that draw on people’s imaginations. There ain’t one single line in there that is naughty, although I’ve had people coming to me and saying the song is nice but naughty. And I’m saying to myself: ‘Wunna too wutless-minded. That is the problem’. The song from start to finish tells a story, and if people listen they would understand that,” AC said, winking slyly. He added that part of the inspiration for the song came after listening to the offerings from this year’s Trinidad and Tobago Carnival season. “All the songs that have lower beats per minute stand out – Kes, Machel, Voice and Margaret Blackman. But the one that did it for me was Shal Marshall’s Splinters,” he said. This year is also a milestone for the two-time Pic-O-De-Crop king as he celebrates 25 years in the arena. “This year I have a song called Post Mortem. It is a political post mortem of the recent General Election. I was talking with [Red Plastic] Bag and told him I had a song called Election Review, and I wanted something completely different. After hearing it, he said Post Mortem and I said thanks. “I didn’t want the song to be too serious. People don’t want to be bombarded by the sad news that goes on. They like a little comic relief at some point, and you can do that without being a clown. So I got some ideas from Carl ‘Alff’ Padmore, passed by Gabby and wrote the song over,” AC said, adding that competition was very stiff this year. Pressed for an idea of what he had planned for judging night tomorrow, he said he only hoped to make the finals as he did last year. “I was hitting really hard in 2000 with a song called Search For Intelligent Life and came fourth. I was hitting really hard in 1995 with a song called Nice Time; I came fourth. I don’t intend to be just another number in the competition this year. And for 25 years I better try and make the finals too, because it would look real bad that I made it all the other years, and at 25 years my stumps go flying,” he said. (DN)

HARD-FOUGHT CENTURY – Joseph Nathaniel Gittens has travelled the hard road to becoming Barbados’ newest centenarian, but you could not tell today by his upbeat mood and spirited personality. Gittens was the centre of attention at his Haggatt Hall, St Michael residence this morning as he was paid the traditional visit by Governor General Dame Sandra Mason in celebration of his remarkable milestone. Flanked by his 93-year-old wife Lillian, to whom he has been married to for 58 years, and with whom he has two children, the attractively clad Gittens – dressed in a lily white shirt, grey trousers, tie and black shoes – entertained the Governor General, as well as family members, friends and well-wishers, who gathered for the memorable event. On more than one occasion during the brief gathering, Gittens sang the Joseph Niles song, Hard Road to Travel, which, according to his 73-year-old daughter Vivienne St Hill, has recently become one of his favourites. “Recently, he has been singing that [song] every morning with mum, that is why it stick in his memory. But, he was never a singer or dancer. Mum is the singer, not daddy,” she jokingly stated. St Hill added that her dad, who was a joiner and carpenter in his youthful days, had followed in his family’s footsteps with his love for the trades. “We have lots of memories with him. All of his uncles were in the furniture business and he followed as well. They were all into building furniture. Up to one year ago he was still sawing wood with an electric saw and we had to beg him to stop. He also would tell us stories about when he was a teenager and he drove cane trucks to Lower Estate,“ the daughter said, adding that her dad still maintained a decent appetite even at 100. “He was never one who would be picky about eating. Very seldom would he dislike a certain food.” St Hill also reminisced on Gittens’ love for cricket, stating that he would always dress in the sharpest gear when stepping onto the field of play. “His sport was cricket. I remember he played until he was in his forties. He would play at Lower Estate on Sheffield pasture. He would put on his white suit every Saturday evening and he would go down spick and span. That is what he loved.” As she reminisced on life with her parents, St Hill said her dad was a stickler for discipline, although her mother was even stricter. “Oh yes, very much so, but mum even more so. If you blinked she would be down on you. I got more discipline through her. She was harder on us than him. Daddy would normally just speak to us and leave it for another time, but mum was much stronger in discipline. “He was strong as well because he would even discipline my cousins who lived next door and they could tell you,” she recalled. Gittens also has a 76-year-old son, Clarence Carter, seven grandchildren and eighteen great grandchildren. (BT)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 174 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles #dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

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rolandfontana · 5 years

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‘Cultural Healing’ and the Search for Justice in Tribal Lands

A 44-year-old enrolled member of the Bois Forte band of Chippewa, Drift was pleading for a stay of adjudication to one felony count of fifth-degree possession of methamphetamine.

But there was something special about his plea to the court.

“He spoke about how he damaged his relationship with his tribe,” Anderson recalled.

“Our treatment court team started talking about the need for a cultural advisor, because we aren’t set up the best we can be to manage his goals.”

Planning for such a ‘Wellness Court,” tailored to the needs of native Americans, is now underway.

The training sparked an idea of having Drift “work with tribal elders, rather than doing standard community service” on the Iron Range.

The idea has now taken wing among state authorities, police and tribal elders.

This year alone, the state of Minnesota reported that Native Americans were six times more likely to die from drug overdoses than the general white population statewide.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan

“Everyone wants this place to be a place of healing,” said Megan Treuer, the chief tribal judge on the Chippewa reservation.

Since entering into treaties in the mid-1800s with the American government, the band has lived on 200 square miles of a reservation divided into three sections of Deer Creek, Vermilion and Nett Lake.

https://ift.tt/306xsIY

Chippewa elders

In the isolation of the Northland, the band continues to make great strides, but also struggles with a lack of resources.

Sweat Lodges for Rehabilitation

A Bois Forte Wellness Court would address the complicated jurisdictional issues that arise in dealing with justice-involved native Americans.

Map of Chippewa lands, Minnesota. Courtesy Kmusser

Aside from the two reservations, all of the other federally-recognized tribes in the state are subject to state criminal jurisdiction.

For context, here is one report from the Minnesota Legislature trying to explain the matter of jurisdiction:

The complications extend to the lines drawn between native law enforcement and state police.

The county sheriff’s office currently has a cooperative law enforcement agreement with the Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, whose police have concurrent jurisdiction with his office on tribal lands and in some instances off that land. They can enforce state statutes and can lodge arrested individuals in the St. Louis County Jail.

“Our attorney’s office prosecutes crimes that occur there on behalf of the band,” St. Louis County Sheriff Ross Litman wrote to the Hibbing Daily Tribune.

“They have some of their own ordinances which they handle. The FDL Tribe is an open reservation and they agree to subject themselves to Minnesota law.”

Competing Jursidictions

“We use a matrix basically to determine which agency handles a situation and which prosecutorial division handles it—either the county attorney or the U.S. attorney.”

Treuer represents the band’s best hope for kick-starting a wellness court.

A descendant of the Leech Lake band, she grew up under the roof of her late father, Robert Treuer, an Austrian-Jewish survivor of the Holcaust, who taught on the reservation, and her mother, Margaret Seelye Treuer, a Leech Lake tribal member who went to nursing school before becoming the first female Indian attorney in the state of Minnesota, the first Native American judge in the U.S. and mother of four accomplished children.

Treuer now presides over 50-plus cases spread over three sessions per month in the new Bois Forte courthouse.

“The bulk of the cases are criminal and child protection and then we do domestic violence orders for protection,” she told the Tribune.

She also works part time for the Leech Lake and Fond du Lac bands and even does some “conflict work” on the White Earth Reservation in western Minnesota.

The joint efforts between Leech Lake and Cass and Itasca counties are “pretty groundbreaking,” she says.

As Truer points out, “Everybody is looking for new approaches.”

For the people of Bois Forte, the Wellness Court is an approach whose time has come.

‘Cultural Healing’ and the Search for Justice in Tribal Lands syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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