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Philadelphia Cops Shoot and Kill People at 6 Times the Rate of the NYPD

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on March 24, 2015

Mother Jones

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Philadelphia, a city with a vastly smaller population than that of New York City, has seen a much higher rate of police shootings in recent years. According to a new report published on Monday by the US Department of Justice, police violence disproportionately affects Philadelphia’s black community, and officers don’t receive consistent training on the department’s deadly force policy.

The 174-page report results from an investigation the DOJ launched in 2013 at the request of Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, during a time when officer-involved shootings, including fatal incidents, were on the rise, even as violent crimes and assaults against the police was on the decline. “Police carry baggage and lack legitimacy in some communities,” Ramsey, who has been appointed to chair the Presidential Task Force on 21st Century Policing, recently told the New York Times. “And for us to change the paradigm, we have to understand why we are viewed in this way.”

The DOJ’s Philadelphia investigation, which examined nearly 400 deadly force incidents between 2007 and 2013, provides a rare close-up of the patterns of officer-involved shootings. The report follows on the heels of another damning report the DOJ published on the city of Ferguson, where federal investigators found systematic racial discrimination among public officials and police.

While it’s nearly impossible to know how much the findings in Philadelphia represent police practices across the country—there is no comprehensive national data on police officers’ use of force, as we reported last year—the DOJ probe does reveal an alarming rate of shootings when compared to other large departments. Philadelphia’s police force, which is one-fifth the size of the NYPD, saw dozens more officer shootings resulting in deaths and injuries than those by the NYPD over the same period.

Here are a few key findings from Monday’s report:

In a city where blacks and whites each make up about 45 percent of the population, almost 60 percent of the officers involved in shootings between 2007 and 2013 were white, while 81 percent of suspects involved were black.

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In nearly half of officer-involved shootings of an unarmed victim, the officer mistook a nonthreatening object for a gun.

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Black suspects were the most likely to get shot because of a misidentified object. White suspects were the most likely to be involved in a physical altercation that resulted in the officer shooting.

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Among officer-involved shootings in which the victim was black, black and Hispanic officers were more likely than their white counterparts to have shot at a suspect after mistaking a plain object for a gun.

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While the overall number of officer-involved shootings declined between 2007 and 2013, the share of victims who were unarmed during those incidents more than tripled, from 6 percent in 2007 to 20 percent in 2013.

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Officers initiated the encounter in 43 percent of officer-involved shootings in 2013, down from nearly 60 percent in 2007 and nearly 70 percent in 2008.

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Out of 382 suspects involved in the shootings between 2007 and 2013, about 88 were killed, 180 injured, and 115 unharmed. The majority of suspects brandished a weapon but did not shoot, held a weapon other than a firearm, or were unarmed. Forty-nine suspects (13 percent) shot at the officer, injuring six and killing one.

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The average time spent on investigating an officer involved shooting has declined from 417 days in 2007 to 264 days in 2013.

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Out of 88 officers who were found to have violated department policy during a shooting incident, 73 percent were not suspended or terminated. Some interviewees told the Justice Department they believed that the department’s board of inquiry undermined findings from internal reviews of officer shootings, resulting in “too little discipline.”

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Philadelphia Cops Shoot and Kill People at 6 Times the Rate of the NYPD

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Happy 90th Birthday, Jimmy Carter

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on October 1, 2014

Mother Jones

President Jimmy Carter celebrates his 90th birthday today, October 1. On the occasion of the 39th President’s birthday, let’s take a look back at his Presidency (and Governorship) with a handful of photos.

Jimmy Carter, touring a display of American-made cars in Detroit is presented with a birthday cake from the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local #900, 1980. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

Graduation of Jimmy Carter from U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, Rosalynn Carter and Lillian Carter Pinning on Ensign Bars, 1946. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

Then Georgia State Sen. Jimmy Carter hugs his wife, Rosalynn, at his Atlanta campaign headquarters in 1966 after making a strong showing in the Democratic primary election for governor of Georgia. AP

Jimmy Carter gets applause and victory signs at his Atlanta campaign headquarters as his mother Lillian Carter looks on, 1970. Carter faced former Governor Carl Sanders in a runoff for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. John Storey/AP

Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, right, and Delaware Governor Sherman Tribbitt say hello to Atlanta Braves Hank Aaron, left, following a rain canceled game with the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 27, 1973 in Atlanta. The cancellation slowed Aaron’s opportunity to tie or break Babe Ruth’s home run record. AP

Jimmy Carter, the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, left, visits with John Denver aboard Carter’s plane en-route to Los Angeles, 1976. AP

Jimmy Carter and Sen. Hubert Humphrey at the Democratic National Convention, New York City. Library of Congress

President-elect Jimmy Carter with Rosalynn and Amy Carter on Inauguration Day. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter dancing at the Inaugural Ball. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

Jimmy Carter and Tim Kraft, the President’s Appointments Secretary, shortly after Carter’s inauguration. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

Jimmy Carter and his mother Miss Lillian Carter, 1977. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

President Carter on television during his first fireside chat at the White House. Library of Congress

Amy Carter and Jimmy Carter participate in a speed reading course at the White House, 1977. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

President Jimmy Carter greets Mohammed Ali at a White House dinner celebrating the signing of the Panama Canal Treaty. Library of Congress

Jimmy Carter at bat during a softball game in Plains, GA, 1977. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, 1977. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

Jimmy Carter with grandson Jason Carter at the White House Easter Egg Roll. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

Jimmy Carter with Andy Warhol during a reception for inaugural portfolio artists. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

President Jimmy Carter and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat surrounded by the media at the White House. Marion S. Trikosko/White House/Library of Congress

President Jimmy Carter and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat have refreshments in the garden of the White House. Marion S. Trikosko/White House/Library of Congress

Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Carter and Menahem Begin examine a canon during a trip to the Gettysburg National Military Park. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

Reporters take notes while watching President Jimmy Carter on television making an announcement about the aborted attempt to rescue U.S. hostages in Iran. Marion S. Trikosko/White House/Library of Congress

Contact sheet of negatives showing meeting with President Jimmy Carter and Ralph Nader. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/National Archives

Photograph of four Presidents (Ford, Reagan, Carter, Nixon) in the Blue Room prior to leaving for Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s Funeral, 1981. National Archives

For those keeping track, Gerald Ford was the longest living president. He lived to be 93 years, 163 days old. Ronald Reagan was just 45 days shy of Ford. George H.W. Bush is the oldest living president. He was born on June 12, 1924, just a few months before Carter.

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Happy 90th Birthday, Jimmy Carter

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Brief Daily Tests Might Be a Godsend for Low-Income College Students

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on December 2, 2013

Mother Jones

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Via Joanne Jacobs, here’s an interesting research tidbit—highly preliminary and tentative, but still interesting. A couple of psychology professors at the University of Texas started giving students in their intro lecture course a brief online quiz in every single class session. They found that average grades went up modestly, both in their class and in other classes, though this was tricky to assess since previous classes had used different grading curves. However, the daily quizzes did unquestionably improve the relative performance of students from low-income homes:

There’s really not enough data from this one study to figure out why the delta between high and low-SES groups compressed with daily testing, but the researchers’ best guess is that the low-SES students benefited more from the daily, immediate feedback:

In our view, the patterns of improved performance across three outcomes (in Introductory Psychology, in other Fall classes, and in subsequent Spring classes) most plausibly reflect changes in students’ self-regulated learning — their ability to study and learn more effectively….In particular, students had to adopt reading, note-taking, and study habits that allowed them to keep up with the material. In talking with students, many noted how they had learned to set aside specific times to prepare for each class–something that they did not initially feel they needed to do for other classes. The repeated testing also broke the material into segments that required students to focus their attention on the relevant content and the immediate feedback after each quiz provided students with a constant and objective means with which to engage in productive self-evaluation. The daily quizzes also encouraged students to attend classes at higher rates.

In other words, the high-SES students had better average study habits to begin with, so the daily testing affected them only modestly. The low-SES students had poor study habits, and the daily testing made them face up to this early in their college careers and do something about it before it spiraled out of control. This affected not just their performance in the psychology class itself, but in the rest of their classes as well.

There are obviously a ton of confounding factors that could be at play here, but it’s an interesting result, well worth following up on.

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Brief Daily Tests Might Be a Godsend for Low-Income College Students

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Yes, You Can (And Should!) Reuse Pickle Juice

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on October 19, 2013

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Yes, You Can (And Should!) Reuse Pickle Juice

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Europe Offers U.S. a Deal, Hoping for Global Rules on Airline Emissions

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on September 5, 2013

green4us

Warhammer 40,000 Altar of War: Space Marines II – Games Workshop

Space Marines are masters of shock tactics and swift assaults, often winning wars before their foes even know they are under attack. The Altar of War missions presents a series of scenarios specifically tailored to the Space Marines and their unique ways of waging war, from lightning orbital drops to brutal assaults against enemy strong points.

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Codex: Space Marines (Enhanced Edition) – Games Workshop

The Space Marines are the chosen warriors of the Emperor, and the greatest fighting force of the Imperium. Each Space Marine is a genetically enhanced super soldier, easily a match for a dozen lesser men, armed with some of the deadliest weapons in the galaxy and encased in formidable power armour. This codex explores the formations and Chapters of the Space […]

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Space Marines Digital Collection – Games Workshop

The Space Marines are the superhuman warriors of humanity, fighting across the galaxy to hold back the Imperium’s endless tide of enemies. Few can stand against these peerless soldiers, and even a single company is often enough to change the fate of a world forever. This digital collection gathers together the brand new Codex: Space Marines, How to Paint Cit […]

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How to Paint Citadel Miniatures: Vanguard Veterans – Games Workshop

A Vanguard Veteran Squad is formed from those members of the 1st Company that completely immerse themselves in the art of close-quarter combat. About this Guide: In this guide demonstrates how to paint Space Marine Vanguard Veterans using the Citadel paint range. The guide covers in detail, the colour schemes of the Ultramarines and White Scars.

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How to Paint Citadel Miniatures: Sternguard Veterans – Games Workshop

Sternguard veterans deploy wherever the battleline is most vulnerable, facing down the most impossible odds with icy calm and precise bursts of bolter fire. They are the very image of what every Space Marine aspires to become, and the pinnacle of any Chapter’s fighting force. About this Guide: In this guide demonstrates how to paint Space Marine Sterngu […]

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Cat Sense – John Bradshaw

Cats have been popular household pets for thousands of years, and their numbers only continue to rise. Today there are three cats for every dog on the planet, and yet cats remain more mysterious, even to their most adoring owners. In Cat Sense , renowned anthrozoologist John Bradshaw takes us further into the mind of the domestic cat than ever before, using […]

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Codex: Space Marines (eBook Edition) – Games Workshop

The Space Marines are the chosen warriors of the Emperor, and the greatest fighting force of the Imperium. Each Space Marine is a genetically enhanced super soldier, easily a match for a dozen lesser men, armed with the some of the deadliest weapons in the galaxy and encased in a formidable power armour. This Codex explores the formations and Chapters of the […]

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How to Paint Citadel Miniatures: Centurions – Games Workshop

Designed as siege breakers and for the close quarters of boarding actions, Centurions are heavy exo-armour suits used by specialist Space Marine formations. Incorporating either close range weapons like siege drills and heavy flamers or heavy weapons like lascannons and heavy bolters making each Centurion a formidable adversary. About this Guide: In th […]

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How to Paint Citadel Miniatures: Space Marines – Games Workshop

The First Founding Space Marine Chapters are the foundation of the Adeptus Astartes, each one distinct with its own iconography, colours and markings. When they march to war the symbols of the Chapter strike fear into their foes, each one heavy with their valorous deeds. In this, our biggest painting guide to date, you will find extensive detail on how […]

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Warhammer 40,000: The Rules – Games Workshop

There is no time for peace. No respite. No forgiveness. There is only WAR. In the nightmare future of the 41st Millennium, Mankind teeters upon the brink of destruction. The galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man is beset on all sides by ravening aliens and threatened from within by Warp-spawned entities and heretical plots. Only the strength of the immortal […]

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Europe Offers U.S. a Deal, Hoping for Global Rules on Airline Emissions

Posted in alo, Citadel, eco-friendly, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, Monterey, Naka, ONA, Routledge, solar, solar power, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Europe Offers U.S. a Deal, Hoping for Global Rules on Airline Emissions

President Obama’s Epically Botched Syria Policy

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on August 30, 2013

Mother Jones

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A couple of years ago Greg Djerejian sort of semi-quit blogging and he pretty much fell off my radar screen. But he still blogs. He just does it infrequently and I haven’t noticed it. But back in the day, there was no one better for firing off a memorable foreign policy rant when he had finally had enough and wasn’t going to take it anymore. Today, via Patrick Appel, it turns out that Djerejian has had quite enough of President Obama’s Syria policy:

The myriad leaks around what type of mission, the palpable trigger-happiness among some, the British debacle (they won’t even have their poodle this time, the cat-calls will ring!) and the ‘shot across the bow’ nonsense showcases an Administration unready for an invigorated course correction of its flailing Syria policy. Frankly, I am astonished by the lack of seriousness and mediocrity on display.

….The incredibly publicized, telegraphed theater around how this will be a deterrent mission to slap bad-boy Bashar’s wrist for his alleged use of CW (as we break international law ourselves via the putative response despite the typical legal mumbo-jumbo lawyers will be commandeered to produce) has been an epic embarrassment….If you mean it for real, however, you quietly go about your business planning a deterrent response that Bashar won’t simply hunker down through, you wait for the UN inspectors to issue their report on reasonable timing (would be graceful, no, at very least given the risks they undertook during their mission?), you at least try to have robust UNSC dialogue….In short, you quietly execute, lay groundwork and let your opponent wonder what the hell is coming after his ostensibly despicable actions, rather than this gussied-up R2P prom-night feel-good gesture. The benefits of protecting the norm are outweighed by the feeble lack of coherence of the contemplated response.

This past 72-96 hours have been a titanic embarrassment for anyone who cares about U.S. foreign policy. It appears a rush job to beat the St. Petersburg summitry on a quiet August weekend that everyone hopes will be quickly forgotten, except for the mighty ‘lesson’ learned. It’s worse than unprofessional and cowardly. It’s contemptible in the extreme. Make it stop. Declare the orgy of speculation and movement of naval carriers have already doubtless ensured the boy dictator will think more carefully in the future using such weaponry. Mission accomplished! Better than risking gross unintended consequences by a team that, alternatively, does not really have the stomach for the fight, or are simply not up to it strategy-wise, and in the President’s case, perhaps both.

That’s a righteous rant. Is it fair? Probably not entirely. There’s always a lot more messiness to these things than we think there should be, and often more messiness than we remember about similar episodes in the past.

Nonetheless, it seems mostly fair to me. It’s pretty plain that Obama has boxed himself in; is conflicted about what to do; has made that conflictedness all too public; has no real long-term strategy in mind; and flatly failed to realize that there would be any real opposition to intervening in Syria. Lack of strategic vision aside (America was firing a “shot across the bow”? Seriously?), it’s the last point that’s most mind-boggling. Obama seemingly didn’t realize that the American public wasn’t on board; Congress wasn’t on board; our allies weren’t all on board; and even his own administration wasn’t entirely on board. I’m not quite sure how a professional politician could have botched this so epically, but he did.

Obama never should have set a red line in Syria in the first place, and once he did he should simply have found a way to weasel out of it. It’s not that hard. Sure, the forever-hawks would have squealed, but they were going to squeal about anything short of Iraq 2.0 no matter what. So who cares what they think?

As near as I can tell, after five years Obama has been entirely captured by the national security establishment. It’s a damn shame. The elite consensus on overseas intervention—and national security more broadly—desperately needed to be challenged after a decade of the Bush/Cheney administration, but after a few nods in the right direction during his early days, he’s mostly just caved in to it. What a wasted opportunity.

POSTSCRIPT: Just for the record, Congress hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory on Syria either. As usual, most members want to retain their freedom to criticize whatever happens while desperately trying to avoid taking any actual responsibility for U.S. military action. It’s pathetic.

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President Obama’s Epically Botched Syria Policy

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Fracking frenzy slows as oil and gas assets plummet in price

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on August 20, 2013

Fracking frenzy slows as oil and gas assets plummet in price

By Claire Thompson

Shutterstock

Yes, we know this isn’t a fracking pump, but it’s way prettier.

You know that domestic oil-and-gas boom that’s been sweeping the country for the past few years, turning places like Williston, N.D., into Sin City? Well, the party’s winding down — or maybe it was never that ragin’ in the first place. Oil and gas shale assets, possibly overvalued to begin with, are plunging in price thanks to an oversaturated market and wells whose production hasn’t always lived up to expectations.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports:

The deal-making slump, which may last for years, threatens to slow oil and gas production growth as companies that built up debt during the rush for shale acreage can’t depend on asset sales to fund drilling programs. The decline has pushed acquisitions of North American energy assets in the first-half of the year to the lowest since 2004. …

North American oil and gas deals, including shale assets, plunged 52 percent to $26 billion in the first six months from $54 billion in the year-ago period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. During the drilling frenzy of 2009 through 2012, energy companies spent more than $461 billion buying North American oil and gas properties, the data show.

Improvements in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) techniques in the early 2000s made drilling possible in previously inaccessible areas. As more frackable shale deposits were discovered, energy companies snapped up property. But the boom started backfiring:

As overseas buyers moved in, booming production soon led to oversupplies, and gas prices plunged to a 10-year low in 2012, forcing companies to write-down the value of some of their assets. Companies were also hurt when some fields thought to be rich in oil proved to contain less than anticipated.

Shell downgraded the value of its North American assets by $2 billion last quarter, and announced that it expects drilling here to remain unprofitable until at least next year. Companies are cutting off drilling in fields where it’s not worth it and selling off properties.

As Philip Bump pointed out in Gristmill earlier this year, what’s happening with fracking is kind of the same as what’s happening to the coal industry — but on a super compressed timeline (think 10 years, not 100). What seemed like a bonanza just four years ago is already struggling to deliver.

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

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Fracking frenzy slows as oil and gas assets plummet in price

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When the Sun Gets Violent, It Shoots Antimatter at the Earth

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on July 10, 2013

The Earth hangs some 93 million miles from the Sun, with the seemingly empty void of space as a backdrop. But space, though vast, is hardly empty. The Earth is bathed in the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that emanates from our star. Once in a while, when the Sun gets uppity, a gigantic solar flare will plow through the solar wind and slam into the Earth. The collision sends a torrent of charged particles arcing along the Earth’s magnetic field and triggers beautiful auroral displays.

But the northern lights aren’t the only thing solar flares bring to the Earth

New observations, says Space, show that solar storms produce a spout of antimatter.

Solar flares were predicted to release some antimatter particles among the deluge of charged particles spat out during these eruptions. But this is the first time researchers have observed antimatter coming from the sun.

Antimatter particles have the same mass and other characteristics as their regular-matter counterparts, but they have opposite charge. When the universe was born about 13.8 billion years ago in the Big Bang, there was probably about as much matter as antimatter, scientists think. Somehow, collisions with matter destroyed most of the antimatter (when matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate), leaving a slight surplus of matter, which became the planets, stars and galaxies in our universe.

The Sun isn’t the only thing spouting antimatter, though. A weird kind of lightning here on Earth, called Dark Lightning, sends a shock of antimatter flying into space.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Dark Lightning Is Just One of the Crazy Types of Lightning You’ve Never Heard Of
What Damage Could Be Caused by a Massive Solar Storm?

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When the Sun Gets Violent, It Shoots Antimatter at the Earth

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The 11 Most Mystifying Things the Tsarnaev Brothers Did

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on April 22, 2013

Mother Jones

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On Monday, it became official: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged with “use of a weapon of mass destruction” and “malicious destruction of property resulting in death,” for his alleged role in last Monday’s bombing of the Boston marathon. The federal criminal complaint comes three days after police captured Tsarnaev in a boat in Watertown, Mass., and four days after a manhunt for these specific suspects began in earnest. For the time being, law enforcement officials believe Dzhokhar and his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed Friday, acted alone.

p.mininav-header-text background-color: #000000 !importantMore MoJo coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings


Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Charged With Using WMD


The 11 Most Mystifying Things the Tsarnaev Brothers Did


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What These Tweets Tell Us About Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev


EXCLUSIVE: Wrestling Photo, Stunned Reactions From Former Classmates of Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Dzhokar and Tamerlan’s motive—or motives—is is still unclear. But that’s not the only unknown. Many of the Tsarnaevs’ actions last week seem baffling in retrospect. Here are some of the most confounding things they did:

  1. Wear a backwards hat and no sunglasses. Unlike his older brother, Dzhokhar made little effort to prevent cameras from capturing his face, making him easier to identify when the FBI released security camera photos on Thursday. Indeed, classmates at UMass–Dartmouth did see him in the photos, but dismissed the similarity because it seemed so far-fetched.
  2. Not react to the explosions. For three days, investigators pored over all available photos and surveillance videos of the blast area searching for abnormal reactions. The complaint filed in federal court on Monday specifically cites Dzhokhar’s reaction to the first explosion as a giveaway; per the complaint, he glanced in the direction of the first blast only briefly.
  3. Leave the car in the shop. The Wall Street Journal reported that Dzhokhar stopped by an auto-body shop in Watertown on Tuesday to pick up the Mercedes he’d brought in for repairs.
  4. Stay in Boston. The second bomb exploded at 2:05 p.m. last Monday. Dzhokhar and Tamerlan carjacked a Mercedes on 2:49 p.m. on Thursday. What did they do in the interim three days? Go to the gym, check in on their busted car, and, in Dzhokhar’s case, go to a party on the UMass–Dartmouth campus. During the three-day window in which their involvement was unknown, they made no attempt to flee.
  5. Kill an MIT police officer. Why did the brothers shoot 26-year-old Sean Collier? The murder at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday set in motion the events that would ultimately lead to their capture.
  6. Run out of cash. When Dzhokhar carjacked a Mercedes on Thursday night, he and his brother had one thing in mind: Get cash, and fast. They emptied $800 from an ATM using their victim’s PIN number, before they reached the account limit. Holding up a stranger for money suggests either a woeful lack of planning on their part (they hadn’t budgeted) that helped alert them to the authorities.
  7. Not understand how ATMs work. After reaching the daily withdrawal limit at one ATM, the Tsarnaevs, apparently not realizing that the machines are part of an interconnected system, decided to try their luck at two different machines. The quest to find a working ATM was how they ended up, coincidentally, at a 7/11 in Cambridge around the same time it was the scene of an armed robbery, and were spotted on the store security camera.
  8. Confess to the hostage. According to the complaint, when Dzhokhar got into the Mercedes, he immediately told the driver, “Did you hear about the Boston explosion? I did that.” That meant their cover would be immediately blown if the driver escaped. Which brings us to…
  9. Stop for snacks. The Los Angeles Times reported that the hostage escaped after the brothers stopped at a gas station on Memorial Drive to buy snacks.
  10. Keep the hostage’s phone. The Tsarnaevs continued on without their hostage—but they did have his phone, which allowed police to track their location via GPS.
  11. Bring a BB gun. The weapons used by the two suspects, according to police: a pressure-cooker bomb, seven IEDs, an M4 carbine, two handguns, and a BB gun. Why a BB gun?

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The 11 Most Mystifying Things the Tsarnaev Brothers Did

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Women Are Dying at Higher Rates in Nearly Half of All Counties

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on April 4, 2013

Mother Jones

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I don’t have acess to the original article, but Bill Gardner, a psychologist who studies the mental health service system for children, links today to a map of female mortality published this month in Health Affairs. It turns out that male mortality mostly improved or stayed the same from the mid-90s to the mid-aughts, but female mortality increased in 43 percent of all counties:

The counties are mapped below: red means that female mortality worsened. You can see a strong regional pattern: just about every county showed had worsened female mortality in several southern states, while no county showed such decline in New England. There are many questions about what explains this pattern. For example, did healthier women migrate out of the south from 1992 to 2006? Nevertheless, the map depicts a shocking pattern of female hardship, primarily in the southeast and midwest.

When I look at the graph, however, I am concerned not just about the women, but also about their children. The mental and physical health of mothers is a key determinant in children’s growth and development. What the map shows is that America has regions of communities with high concentrations of women experiencing substantial hardship. When women are not able to maintain their own health, how well can they nurture their children?

The map is below.

Link – 

Women Are Dying at Higher Rates in Nearly Half of All Counties

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