Hasta La Gadget!

by Lorraine C. Ladish

I live in fear of disease. I’m terrified by a deadly disease that runs in my family — stroke.

I’ve taken myself to the emergency room a few times while suffering terrible headaches, suspecting that I might be on the verge of having a stroke. I’ve even had CAT scans and MRIs to rule out a brain aneurysm. Fortunately, they’ve turned out to be nothing more than migraines. But these experiences scared me.

When my oldest daughter, now 14, used to complain about bad headaches, I was scared it was a sign of an approaching stroke. Eventually, her headaches subsided. She seems to be fine now and is active.

My lifelong fear of stroke is because my mother had a massive one caused by a brain aneurysm when she was only 28. As a child, she battled headaches so painful that she’d cry.

I didn’t get to meet my mother’s father. He died of a stroke the year I was born.

My dad raised me after my parents separated when I was 6, so I didn’t understand what had happened to my mother a couple years later.

I did learn that doctors told her she’d never recover. Her peripheral vision is gone forever, and she is considered disabled. But with determination and all kinds of physical therapy, my mom figured how to do most things with her left hand and learned to read and write again.

Her stroke has not slowed her down. She uses public transportation to get around town. And once, when I visited her, I accompanied her on a hike. I was impressed by her endurance. She’s swam, biked and traveled abroad on her own.

My mother is a Stroke Hero. She has never let her stroke define her. Once when she was visiting me in Seville, Spain, I asked her whether she was scared of having another stroke. She said that once you’ve been so close to death, you just don’t think about it anymore. You simply keep on going. And that’s exactly what she’s done.

Yes, my fear is still real. But I’m overcoming it by fighting stroke. And I’m raising awareness — especially among Hispanics. Here’s why:
• Hispanic women are less likely to know most of the warning signs of a stroke.
• Spanish-speaking Hispanics are less likely to know all stroke symptoms than English-speaking Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites.
• Hispanics and Latinos are at a greater risk of stroke because of higher rates of obesity and diabetes. Unfortunately, stroke prevalence is projected to increase by 29 percent in Hispanic men by 2030.

So don’t be paralyzed by fear or lack of knowledge. Learn the signs of stroke. If you recognize them and call 9-1-1 immediately, you could save someone’s life — including yours.

May is American Stroke Month. To learn more about stroke risks, symptoms, and prevention, visit the American Stroke Association.

Lorraine C. Ladish, founder of VivaFifty.com, is a volunteer for the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

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The extent, nature and consequences of drug use in criminal behavior are well known and well documented in the literature. The Monitoring the Future Survey along with many other state youth drug use surveys provide needed information to determine the extent of the youth drug use problem and its association to criminality in the United States. Various data suggest there is a growing problem while other sources illustrate drug use among youth is overall down nationally.

According to the National Center for Children in Poverty (2011) in 2009 ten percent of youth from the ages of 12 to 17 were illicit drug users. The top drug use was marijuana followed by prescription type, inhalants, hallucinogens and cocaine. In the same year, rates for alcohol use was 3.5 percent of persons aged 12 to 13. Thirteen percent for persons aged 14 to 15 and 26 percent for those 16 to 17 years of age (http:www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_1008.pdf).

An alarming six percent of those aged 16 to 17 reported driving while under the influence of alcohol and 17 percent of those 17 to 18 years of age. In terms of risk, about half of those reporting noted that it was fairly easy or very easy to obtain marijuana and they so desired and 15 percent reported that they had been approached to purchase drugs in the last 30 days.

Alcohol is far more the accessible and used gateway drug available. In this same report, 55.9 percent of underage drinkers had reported that their last drink of alcohol was consumed in someone else’s home. Among those who did not pay for their alcohol directly, 37.1 percent noted that they had another person of legal age purchase it for them, 19.9 percent received it from an underage person and 20.6 percent were provided alcohol by their parents, guardians or adult family member (http:www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_1008.ed).

What does all this mean in relationship to drug abuse, primarily alcohol? Well, we know that alcohol is the most accessible and often the first drug of choice as one begins to experiment with mood altering substances. How and at what point is the problem of drug use or alcohol linked to criminality? Does alcohol provide a pathway to criminality? Some studies suggest that not only does alcohol inhibit our sense but youth may also become more risky, impulsive and defiant.

There are several noted reasons why youth take drugs and these can be categorized around the risk domains. Siegel and Welsch (2012) identify social disorganization as a factor which is linked to poverty, growing up in a disorganized urban environment. Peer pressure was also noted as a reason and this reason was primarily linked to friends who also used drugs. It was through friends association and peer pressure that children would be more likely to indulge. Certainly family factors are important in understanding why youth take drugs. Poor family life which could include harsh punishment, neglect and poor family management increased the likelihood of youth drug use.

Genetic and environmental factors and traits linked to parent’s drug abuse have a predisposing element to potential youth drug use and their life trajectory. Emotional problems associated with feelings of inadequacy, failure and blame position youth for the use of drugs. An extension of this problem is the problem behavior syndrome where drug use is one of many problem behaviors within the context of the youths’ world. Finally, the rational choice concept associates certain perceived benefits with being impaired, which indicates that people often feel more relaxed, normal and creative when under the influence of a controlled substance. However, some researchers suggest that crime may even be the instrument of the drug trade. Drug users may also commit more crimes to pay off their debts to avoid physical harm or death to themselves or their family members. When it comes to drug related crimes, cash was the obvious draw and accounted for a majority of those types of cases. The relationship and empirical link between youth, drugs and delinquency are well established as well.

McCurley and Snyder (2008) found that higher levels of youth problem behaviors and delinquency, which included school suspensions to major theft to gun carrying, were all associated within the literature to suggest that over 70 percent of arrest cases in the greater Miami area resulted in drug use and multiple arrest of the same youth time and time again.

The research by Elliot and colleagues (1985 )suggest that drug use and delinquency seemed to reflect developmental problems or a result of a disturbed lifestyle. The research revealed the following key outcomes in this area.

• Alcohol appeared to be the cause of marijuana and other drug use since most drug use starts with the use of alcohol as mentioned earlier. Also kids who do not start using alcohol usually do not use other drugs.
• Marijuana was the precursor to multiple drug usage. In other words about 95 percent of youth who use marijuana ended up using more serious drugs with a small percentage that never used marijuana.
• Of the youths who commit felonies, they started with minor delinquent acts.

Others studies have supported these as a basis and continue to find a relationship between delinquency, drugs and crime. Generally, those kids who drank at an early age were more likely to be delinquent, engage in petty crimes and engage in violent acts. These factors may also be associated with family background, lifestyle education, lack of job skills and training, limited social skills and a pattern of engagement with the law. Therefore, alcohol would have to be the primary and most popular drug connected to criminality followed by marijuana. Alcohol has been documented in many violent crimes like robbery, homicides, assault and rape.

According to Anderson (2001) drug use is greater among female arrestees than among males. She contends that in the past ten years, the arrest rates from women drug offenders has more than tripled and these offenders are more likely to be non-violent as compared to their male counterparts. Consistent with the work of Elliot and colleagues (1985) the vast majority of female offenses had a history of alcohol and marijuana use with a good percentage reporting using heroin. She noted that men and women differ in the type of delinquent activities and criminal acts. Males are more likely to be involved with selling drugs and engage in known street crimes, women generally, shoplift and may get involved in a few property type crimes.

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Remember back when the Republican National Committee felt that the 2012 primary season was a terrible mess of too many candidates and too many debates, all of which badly spiraled out of control and ended up ruining Mitt Romney’s chances of winning the White House? That was an actual thing the RNC got bugged out about, and that they’ve gone to great lengths to avoid repeating in 2016.

But today, they’ve unleashed an online presidential straw poll on the world, and boy howdy, it’s like they haven’t learned a thing.

As the Weekly Standard reported this morning, there are 36 names on their straw poll. Thirty-six! It’s like they swung a stick backstage at CPAC and included everyone who got whacked. It would actually be easier for me to tell you who is not on the list than it would for me to list all the people they’ve included. Basically, not making the cut are 1) Michele Bachmann, 2) John McCain and 3) Democrats.

The people who have acknowledged that they are running for president, or who are running and just haven’t made it official because of various campaign finance reasons, have all made the list. That would be eight names (Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker), which is a pretty good size for a straw poll. You’d think that it might be useful for the RNC to know where their voters’ early sympathies realistically lie, right?

But wait! There are a bunch of people currently huddled near the sidelines of the GOP nominating contest who could join this mix in the next few months or so. That would take us to 14 names with six plausible additions (Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum). And there was a time when New York Rep. Peter King insisted he was going to jump in, so we’ll include him. And because I’m feeling really plucky today, we’ll throw George Pataki on the pile as well. That’s 16 people. Surely this is enough?

No, not by a long shot. Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, the living embodiments of the flashes-in-the-pan that the RNC wanted to avoid gaining attention this time out, are on the straw poll. Sarah Palin, who would lose badly, is on the straw poll. Ron Paul is on the straw poll. I mean, what if you think Rand Paul is just “aiiight”? What if you want someone older, who’s published more controversial newsletters? The RNC has got you covered, for some reason.

Also on the straw poll:

• Mitt Romney: a guy who’s already declined to run.
• John Thune: a guy who didn’t run in 2012 because his wife, smartly, didn’t want to be ridiculed in sexist fashion by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.
• Tim Pawlenty: a guy whose most memorable moment as a presidential candidate was that time he quit being a presidential candidate.
• Donald Trump: a sack of wet shoes left outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

There is also a guy named “Mark Everson” on this list, of whom the Weekly Standard’s Michael Warren says, “Who’s Mark Everson, you ask? Beats me.” (He is a “former IRS commissioner.” Come on, Michael, it’s right there beneath his name.)

As Warren goes on to point out, the makers of this online poll didn’t want to alienate any participant, and so they’ve given everyone the option to write in a candidate. So, here’s hoping that the winner of this year’s prestigious RNC Straw Poll is “Weedlord Bonerhitler.”

Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not?

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While the nation watches as the city of Baltimore awaits justice from the investigation of the role of Baltimore police in the death of Freddie Gray, Chicago has just made history in holding police accountable for abuse.

From 1972 to 1991 over 100 people, nearly all African-American men, were subjected to unspeakable torture at the hands of the Chicago Police operating under the direction of Commander Jon Burge. Men were tied to chairs and given electric shocks. The police put plastic bags over the men’s heads and made them think they were going to suffocate. Mock executions, in which an unloaded rifle was forced into a man’s mouth while police pulled the trigger, were used to coerce confessions. Racial slurs often accompanied the horrific abuse.

In many cases, these confessions, even to murder, were false, though the very use of torture taints every conviction. People lost decades of their lives in prison. Eleven suspects went to death row. Such was the brutality of Burge and his detectives that prisoners were willing to admit to anything just to make the torture stop.

Burge’s crimes are not in dispute but justice has been difficult to obtain. But now the Chicago City Council has taken a historic step to show the country, and the world, that there should be no expiration date on reparations for crimes as heinous as torture. Last week, it passed landmark legislation that will provide financial compensation to survivors of Burge’s torture and their families.

The ordinance will also provide a formal apology from the city; specialized counseling services to survivors and their families at a dedicated center on the city’s impoverished South Side; free enrollment and job training in city colleges; a requirement that the Burge torture cases and police brutality be taught as part of Chicago Public Schools history curriculum; and a permanent public memorial to torture survivors.

The ordinance will also create a $5.5 million dollar fund, meant to ensure that living survivors of Burge torture will receive some measure of the financial compensation they deserve. The ordinance is the first of its kind, in that it provides reparations for rehabilitation and restitution.

This historic step forward is due, in large part, to the perseverance of the torture survivors themselves. Men like Darrell Cannon and Anthony Holmes spent decades decrying torture by Burge and his detectives and maintaining their innocence. Chicago authorities are no longer ignoring their claims, but planning to memorialize their pain and struggle.

The vast majority of Burge’s survivors were never compensated for their ordeal, and not a single survivor has ever received adequate reparations. Burge and his detectives were never held accountable for the crime of torture. Because of a statute of limitations, they could not be prosecuted for torture. Burge was convicted for lying about his activities under oath, but not for the actions themselves. He walked free this year after serving four years for perjury.

The vote in Chicago is an exceptional event. United States courts and governing bodies rarely enact penalties on police officers, even when they are caught in the most egregious violations of individuals’ rights. It is rarer still for a city not only to recognize responsibility for police abuses, but also to enshrine an apology for torture in a city resolution and publicly memorialize wrongdoing.

Torture survivor Anthony Holmes speaks at an Amnesty International USA rally in Chicago. (c) Scott Langley / Amnesty International

But even for survivors of torture under Burge, no police officer was held accountable for years of torture, and reparations finally began to move forward decades after abuses first came to light. Chillingly, it seems that little has changed. As we’ve seen countless times, investigations of white police officers harassing, beating or killing young unarmed black men too frequently end in favor of law enforcement.

The use of unnecessary or excessive force by law enforcement, especially against unarmed black men, continues to be a human rights crisis in the United States. The systemic flaws in the U.S.’s approach to law enforcement and the racism that permeates daily interactions between police officers and communities that they are sworn to protect means that any change will be slow-moving at best.

Reparations and a modicum of closure have arrived at the end of needlessly long journey for Darrell, Anthony and other survivors of Burge’s abuse; it could be the beginning of something truly noteworthy for others who’ve suffered at the hands of law enforcement. While the Chicago City Council cannot undo the crimes of the past, it has set a significant precedent for greater accountability for police abuses.

Amnesty International USA activists march for police accountability on the Brooklyn Bridge. (c) Amnesty International

The families of Rekia Boyd, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley, Eric Garner and countless others are still seeking answers for the loss of their loved ones to police force. But in Chicago, we saw a promising sign that, in the end, the fight for accountability can be won.

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CHICAGO (AP) — Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the debt of both the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District on Wednesday, a day after it downgraded the city’s bond rating to junk status.

Moody’s has given a Ba3 rating to the school district’s debt, down from a Baa3 rating, saying the district faces “increased strain on its precarious financial position” due to last week’s Illinois Supreme Court decision overturning state pension reform. It reduced the Chicago Park District’s rating to from Baa1 to Ba1, one notch below investment grade.

The rating service’s moves affect the school district’s $6.2 billion in general obligation debt and the park district’s $616 million in general obligation debt.

Jesse Ruiz, interim CEO of Chicago Public Schools, said the court’s decision shouldn’t have impacted the school district’s credit rating, noting the rating agency did not downgrade the state when the court ruled the Legislature’s restructuring of Illinois’ pension obligations violated the state constitution. However, Ruiz said Moody’s action reaffirms why lawmakers must make changes to help the school district address its financial crisis.

“Despite cutting more than $740 million from the central office and operations, we are projecting a deficit of $1.1 billion, driven by $700 million in pension costs,” Ruiz said.

Moody’s acknowledges school officials are working to find ways to cover increased pension payments but said “solutions remain uncertain.”

A park district spokesman did not immediately return telephone calls for comment.

The bond rating determines how much governmental agencies must pay to borrow money, with a lower rating increasing the cost of borrowing.

When Moody’s lowered the city’s bond rating on Tuesday, it noted Chicago’s tax base is “highly leveraged by the debt and unfunded pension obligations” of the city and overlapping governments.

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