By Andrea Nicolas

7News Adelaide (Australia)

April 28, 2014, 6:31 pm

https://au.news.yahoo.com/sa/a/23036893/exploration-company-believes-it-may-have-found-mh370/

Author Deborah Dupre, Human Rights Examiner

VOD Editor’s Note: VOD featured an earlier story from Examiner.com by  Deborah Dupre which appears to tie this recent discovery to an earlier hypothesis. That story said Flight MH370 crashed as it tried to land at the Pulau Langkawi Airport off the Straits of Malacca, not thousands of miles away from its original destination. According to this latest story, after the crew passed out, the plane may have continued past Pulau Langkawi on autopilot to what GeoRenosance says it believes to be the crash site in the nearby Bay of Bengal.

FIRST ON 7: An Adelaide-based exploration company believes it may have located the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, 5000km away from where authorities have been looking.

The company, GeoResonance, says its research has identified elements on the ocean floor consistent with material from a plane.

Six weeks have now passed since the plane disappeared and extensive searches in the Indian Ocean have failed to locate any wreckage.

Today, Prime Minister Tony Abbott admitted the chance of finding debris on the surface is slim to none.

Air search for MH370 called off: Abbott

Malaysia MH370 Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah with family. Dupre’s story said he was a “beloved and respected human rights defender.”

He said efforts will not focus on the ocean floor, but GeoResonance believes authorities have been looking in the wrong place.It started its own search for the missing aircraft on March 10.

“The technology that we use was originally designed to find nuclear warheads, submarines… our team in the Ukraine decided we should try and help,” David Pope from GeoResonance said.

The company surveyed over 2,000,000 square kilometres of the possible crash zone, using images obtained from satellites and aircraft.

Scientists focused their efforts north of the flight’s last known location, using over 20 technologies to analyse the data including a nuclear reactor.

They could not believe what they found in the Bay of Bengal.

“Our team was very excited when we found what we believe to be the wreckage of a commercial airliner,” Mr Pope said.

Pavel Kursa from GeoResonance told 7News: “We identified chemical elements and materials that make up a Boeing 777… these are aluminium, titanium, copper, steel alloys and other materials.”

The images showing chemical elements detected in the area the company believes it has located MH370. Photo: FIRST ON 7.

The images showing chemical elements detected in the area the company believes it has located MH370. Photo: FIRST ON 7.

An initial report was sent to authorities while the black box still had two weeks of battery power.

The team then verified its findings by analysing images from the same area on March 5, three days before the plane disappeared.

“The wreckage wasn’t there prior to the disappearance of MH370,” Mr Pope said.

The full report was delivered on April 15.

“We’re not trying to say that it definitely is MH370, however it is a lead we feel should be followed up,” Mr Pope told 7News.

7News tried to contact the office of search co-coordinator Angus Houston today but there was no response.

Earlier article from Examiner.com by Deborah Dupre:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/03/19/expert-pilot-tracks-malaysian-plane-with-plausible-but-tragic-scenario/

VOD: see map below showing proximity of Bay of Bengal to Straits of Malacca, off which the airport at Pulau Langkawi is located.

Rev. Edward Pinkney (center) leads rally against Whirlpool-sponsored PGA tournament in Benton Harbor May 26, 2012

Rev. Pinkney arrested, charged in effort to stop recall election May 6 

Activist faces up to 20 years in prison; is under house arrest; judge has banned his computer use 

Hearing on whether recall will proceed set for Tues. Apr. 29 at 9 a.m.

By Diane Bukowski 

April 26, 2014 

Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower at reception in Whirlpool HQ.

BENTON HARBOR – The Rev. Edward Pinkney, a longtime fighter against Whirlpool’s impoverishment of this majority-Black city and Gov. Rick Snyder’s emergency management, was arrested April 25 and charged with five felony counts of election fraud, each carrying up to five years in prison, and six misdemeanors. His supporters say it is an attempt to stop the May 6 election recall of Whirlpool ally Mayor James Hightower.A SWAT team composed of Berrien County sheriffs, Michigan State police, and Benton Harbor Township police surrounded and stormed Pinckney’s home April 24, just after he left with his wife to celebrate her birthday.

“I guess they came to kill,” Rev. Pinkney told VOD in a phone interview. “The phone started blowing up with neighbors telling us what was going on. We spent the night in Kalamazoo. My attorney Ted Parrish called police and said I would turn myself in Monday April 28, but they insisted they wanted me immediately. They spent that night driving all over Benton Harbor looking for me.”

Youth lead march against Whirlpool and PGA May 26, 2012.

Rev. Pinkney turned himself in the next morning with his attorney at the Berrien County County Courthouse, where he was arraigned on the charges. Circuit Court Judge James LaFata placed him under house arrest and banned him from using his computer.

“I don’t even think that’s legal,” Pinkney said. He said supporters will still conduct his Sunday evening radio call-in show at 5 p.m. Callers can reach them at 347-994-3644. 

Benton Harbor citizens, including James Cornelius, who initiated the recall campaign and also faces one charge, say they want Hightower recalled because he opposed a city income tax that would include Whirlpool, the mammoth appliance corporation headquartered in Benton Harbor.A website for Rev. Pinkney’s organization BANCO (Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizations), describes Hightower’s alliance with Whirlpool.

Rally in Benton Harbor.

“Mayor James Hightower . . . says the Whirlpool Corporation should not pay taxes – only the residents of the city of Benton Harbor should foot the bills,” the BANCO site says. “Whirlpool Corporation’s profit last year was more than ten billion dollars, and it paid no taxes to the city of Benton Harbor where the headquarters resides.“Mayor James Hightower and the Whirlpool Corporation fought extremely hard [in Nov. 2013] to defeat the city income tax which would have provided $3.5 million dollars the very first year and every year after.  Residents and those who work in the city would pay the income tax. Corporations would, too.”

The site says the income tax would have charged residents and businesses 1 percent, and non-residents, who make up 90 percent of those who work in Benton Harbor, 0.5 percent.

After residents voted the income tax down, Hightower took out a $2.3 million loan to finance city expenses, pushing the economically-strapped city further into debt.

Over the past decades, Whirlpool has shut down numerous plants in the city that once employed residents, and has been conducting a massive take-over of choice Benton Harbor land, including that surrounding the gorgeous Lake Michigan beach which is part of the public Jean Klock Park.

Gov. Rick Snyder is taunted by hundreds of protesters during Benton Harbor’s Blossom Time Parade, where he presided as Grand Marshal. Here he passes by construction of new Whirlpool HQ.

Whirlpool has put their brand new headquarters on riverfront property in Benton Harbor, and built a luxury golf course and residential development directly off the Klock Park beach.

BANCO has called for a “Mass Demonstration against Voter Suppression in Benton Harbor,” to be held May 24, 2014 at 11 a.m at Benton Harbor’s City Hall, 200 Wall Street. A press conference is set for 10:30 a.m. There will be other protests planned for Rev. Pinkney’s court appearances.

“Voter suppression is led by the Whirlpool Corporation and the Berrien County Sheriff Department,” the organization says. “Protest all injustices being forced on our town, your town and all around the country! It is not one thing it is everything. The murder of Benton Harbor residents, gentrification by Whirlpool, Governor Snyder’s Emergency Manager dictatorship. Find it on the ActivateHub community calendar!”

Rev. Pinkney has broad support across the country, for his battles not only against Whirlpool and Snyder, but also against police brutality and Berrien County’s racist courts. During one of those battles, he was incarcerated for quoting the Bible to a judge.

On Oct. 7, 2013, BANCO sponsored a well-attended Justice Fund dinner whose speakers included actor Danny Glover and Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein/

For further information, call Rev. Pinkney at 269-925-0001, or go to the BANCO website at www.bhbanco.org/.

Related stories:

http://www.wndu.com/news/headlines/Actor-Danny-Glover-stops-in-Benton-Harbor-for-Justice-Fund-Dinner–226625521.html

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/16/rev-pinkney-fights-latest-attempt-to-topple-him-from-bh-naacp-post/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/05/28/whirlpool-and-em-move-to-take-control-of-benton-harbor-parks/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/31/benton-harbor-body-of-timothy-bulldog-allen-found-in-lake-last-seen-in-police-custody/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/31/benton-harbor-a-poem/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/31/benton-harbor-a-poem/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/22/occupy-the-pga-in-benton-harbor-may-23-27-2012-ems-must-go/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/04/16/pastor-fights-state-naacp-takeover-of-benton-harbor-chapter-says-whirlpool-engineered-grab/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/13/occupy-the-pga-in-benton-harbor-may-23-27-2012-maddow-show-features-bh-em-putting-citys-public-radio-station-on-e-bay/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/07/01/benton-harbor-emergency-manager-wants-you-off-the-lawn-and-the-beach/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/06/25/hundreds-rally-in-benton-harbor-on-8th-anniversary-of-uprising-against-police-murder-of-terrance-%e2%80%9ct-shirt%e2%80%9d-shurn/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/05/12/benton-harbor-blossom-time-%e2%80%98recall-rick%e2%80%99/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/05/03/get-up-benton-harbor-and-michigan-stand-up-for-your-rights/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/04/22/benton-harbor-takeover-sparks-furious-reaction-em-is-joe-harris-former-detroit-auditor-general/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2010/09/12/benton-harbor-protests-whirlpool-golf-course-opening/

Rev. Pinkney leads first march against EM takeover under Public Act 4, that of Benton Harbor under Joe Harris.

BAMN at affirmative action March on USSC in Washington, D.C.

BY BAR EXECUTIVE EDITOR GLEN FORD

April 24, 2014

“Black folks have no rights that white majorities are bound to respect.”

That’s the message from the U.S. Supreme Court, which declared diversity programs an option that white majorities can legally ban. The High Court also safeguards the right of the rich to dominate elections. This week’s ruling shows that the Roberts Court “knows how to serve both majorities of whites and Big Capital, too.”

“Majoritarian rule becomes a crude legal redoubt of white supremacy.”

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the decision.

White majorities have the constitutional right to create laws that selectively lock racial minorities into inferior status. So decreed the United States Supreme Court, in a 6 to 2 vote [8] upholding Michigan’s prohibition against affirmative action in public higher education. Although race-conscious admissions polices remain legally permissible, voters may close the door to such remedies to historical discrimination, at will, as set forth in Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s controlling opinion: “There is no authority in the Constitution of the United States or in this court’s precedents for the judiciary to set aside Michigan laws that commit this policy determination to the voters.”

In plain English, Black folks have no rights that white majorities are bound to respect.

Hitler salutes like Anthony Kennedy.

It’s “a racist decision,” the modern equivalent to the Supreme Court’s 1896 Plessy v Ferguson ruling sanctifying racial segregation, said Shanta Driver [9], lawyer for Detroit-based By Any Means Necessary, the losing party in the case. The decision “makes clear that this Court intends to do nothing to defend the right to equality in politics, opportunity, rights, hopes and aspirations of its Latina/o, black, Native American and other minority citizens” said Driver. “At the very moment that America is becoming a majority minority nation this Court is declaring its intention to uphold white privilege and to create a new Jim Crow legal system.”The circling of black robes around the inviolability of the principle of one person-one vote is a supreme historical irony, given that the Constitution originally counted Black slaves as “three-fifths [10] of all other Persons” for the purpose of apportioning the Congress. White majorities were slim or non-existent in the slave-intensive states, whose reconstruction to electoral “democracy” remains incomplete to the present. Yet, in the waning days of a national white majority, an era projected to end around the year 2043 [11], majoritarian rule becomes a crude legal redoubt of white supremacy.

Child pronounces Jim Crow dead at MLK Day march in Detroit, 2011.

“This Court intends to do nothing to defend the right to equality.”

Back in 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action at the University of Michigan served a compelling public interest in spreading “diversity” in the upper echelons of U.S. society. As I wrote in The Black Commentator [12] at the time, the Court was not addressing Black historical grievances, which had already gone by the legal wayside. Rather, it ruled that the programmatic inclusion of non-whites at elite public universities created benefits for society as a whole. This week’s ruling sweepingly proclaims the right of white majorities (58 percent of “the voters” in a 2006 Michigan referendum) to forgo such benefits, at their pleasure, as have [13] California, Florida, Texas, and Washington.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. civil rights march.

Affirmative action, as understood by President Lyndon Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is long dead [12]. It is “diversity” as public policy that was mortally wounded by the Roberts court, this week. Diversity is now an option that can be outlawed by white voter fiat – which will no doubt occur at a quickening pace given that majorities of whites believe they are the main objects of discrimination in American life. A 2011 study [14] by researchers at Harvard and Tufts Universities, titled “Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing,” showed whites “believe that anti-white bias is more prevalent than anti-Black bias” and that “Black progress is linked to a new inequality” – at white expense.

It is difficult to imagine a greater mass cognitive dissonance. The racism that has always been endemic to the U.S. drove whites crazy, and majorities of them remain nuts – dangerous people, capable of…anything. The High Court has given its benediction to the righteousness of their insanity.

“Diversity is now an option that can be outlawed by white voter fiat.”

The judicial system is, of course, even more consistent in building a body of legal precedent for the supremacy of money in electoral politics, than of the primacy of majorities – the two being antithetical in principle. In practice, however, the U.S. Supreme Court knows how to serve both majorities of whites and Big Capital, too. The post-Civil War Supreme Court elevated corporations to personhood, smoothing the way for the Gilded Age, and plunged Blacks into the depths of Constitutionally-sanctioned Jim Crow, simultaneously creating all-white electorates and one-party rule by the most backward elements of the bourgeoisie in Dixie.

In Michigan, where white majority opinions and prejudices are deemed sacred by the High Court and a racist referendum is dubbed a “Civil Rights Initiative [15],” more than half of Black voters have been effectively disenfranchised under the dictatorship of state-imposed emergency financial managers. In jurisdictions like Detroit, Flint and Benton Harbor, where Blacks are the bulk of the population, majorities mean less than nothing; they are dangerous, and must be politically neutered for the general public good, while Wall Street picks Detroit’s bones in a federal bankruptcy court.

Where racism is endemic, all kinds of things are possible – and constitutional.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com

Source URL: http://blackagendareport.com/content/supreme-court-white-majorities-%C3%BCber-alles

Links:

[1] http://blackagendareport.com/category/african-america/reverse-racism

[2] http://blackagendareport.com/category/african-america/plessy-v-ferguson

[3] http://blackagendareport.com/category/african-america/diversity-programs

[4] http://blackagendareport.com/category/african-america/any-means-necessary

[5] http://blackagendareport.com/category/african-america/affirmative-action

[6] http://blackagendareport.com/category/political-economy/corporate-personhood

[7] http://blackagendareport.com/sites/www.blackagendareport.com/files/Affirmative-Action-demonstration.jpg

[8] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/us/supreme-court-michigan-affirmative-action-ban.html?ref=us

[9] http://www.bamn.com/social-justice/statement-from-bamn-plaintiffs-on-scotus-ruling-in-schuette-v-bamn

[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromise

[11] http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/13/18934111-census-white-majority-in-us-gone-by-2043?lite

[12] http://www.blackcommentator.com/49/49_cover.html

[13] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/06/24/us/affirmative-action-bans.html

[14] http/ase.tufts.edu/psychology/sommerslab/documents/raceInterNortonSommers2011.pdf

[15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Civil_Rights_Initiative

[16] mailto:Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com

[17]http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblackagendareport.com%2Fcontent%2Fsupreme-court-white-majorities-%25C3%25BCber-alles&linkname=Supreme%20Court%3A%20White%20Majorities%20%C3%9Cber%20Alles%20

BAMN supports Affirmative Action on the steps of the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan.

STATEMENT FROM THE BAMN PLAINTIFFS ON THE SUPREME COURT’S RULING IN SCHUETTE V COALITION TO DEFEND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, INTEGRATION AND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND FIGHT FOR EQUALITY BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY

April 22, 2014 

Shanta Driver at press conference Nov. 15, 2012 after Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals victory.

DETROIT — Shanta Driver, national chairperson of BAMN, the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary, was also the attorney who argued for minority political rights at the Supreme Court in Schutte v BAMN. Her comments on today’s decision follow:“Today’s Supreme Court decision upholding the ban on affirmative action in Michigan is a racist decision. It is this Court’s Plessy v Ferguson. The decision of the Court today makes clear that this Court intends to do nothing to defend the right to equality in politics, opportunity, rights, hopes and aspirations of its Latina/o, black, Native American and other minority citizens. At the very moment that America is becoming a majority minority nation this Court is declaring its intention to uphold white privilege and to create a new Jim Crow legal system.

Young marchers from BAMN protest outside Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s home near Ann Arbor, MI against his takeover of majority-Black cities in Michigan through PA 4, the first Emergency Manager Act.

This decision allows a white majority electorate, state legislature, state courts and other political and legal entities to pass laws that create inequality in political rights and most immediately, access to higher education. The new civil rights and immigrant rights movement is the only force that can restore progress in this society and stop the resegregation of higher education. It took the last civil rights movement to overthrow the old Jim Crow, and the young leaders of the new civil rights/immigrant rights movement will defeat the new Jim Crow.

The aim of state bans on affirmative action is to encourage public universities to discriminate against the right of Latina/o, black and Native American applicants to attend this nation’s most prestigious public universities. Any university that claims to use a holistic admissions policy cannot turn a blind eye to the effects of institutional racism and inequality in K-12 education, and must consider the real-life experiences and obstacles that its minority applicants face. BAMN encourages any Latina/o, black and Native American student who applied to the University of Michigan, deserves to be at the University of Michigan, and was rejected, to contact BAMN and fight for your equal right to attend the university.”

http://www.bamn.com/

Constitution Check: Has the Supreme Court ended affirmative action at the college level?

April 24, 2014 by Lyle Denniston

Lyle Denniston looks at the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on affirmative action, other historical decisions on it, and the next case about the subject heading toward the Justices.

THE STATEMENTS AT ISSUE:

“Today, by permitting a majority of the voters in Michigan to do what our Constitution forbids, the Court ends the debate over race-sensitive admissions policies in Michigan in a manner that contravenes constitutional protections long recognized by our precedents.”

– Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissenting opinion on Tuesday as the Supreme Court upheld Michigan’s voter-approved ban on the use of race in selecting students to enter the state’s public colleges and universities. The ruling came in the case of “Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action.”

“A majority of the Justices not only overturned a decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which had struck down Michigan’s measure, but also made clear that they would reject any similarly argued challenge to the bans on race-conscious admissions adopted by voters in Arizona, California, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Washington.”

– Peter Schmidt, Washington reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education, in an online story on Tuesday about the scope of the Supreme Court’s decision.

WE CHECKED THE CONSTITUTION, AND…

Racial equality disputes, it is fair to say, have been a source of deep and growing constitutional controversy within the Supreme Court for at least the past decade, and the basic notion of “affirmative action” has been increasingly moving to the center of disagreement. The court, however, has just raised the prospect that this approach may be facing new and significant narrowing, at the least.

 

While the use of race as a key factor in shaping public policy and government programs has been used for hiring public workers and placing government contracts, its most frequent use – and its most controversial – has been in the field of education. Indeed, the effort to rid the public schools of racial segregation, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 1954 and 1955 rulings in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, led directly to the creation of the concept of “affirmative action” as a remedy for ongoing racial bias. (Some historians suggest that it may actually have had its origins in an order by President Harry Truman in 1948, desegregating the U.S. military.)

At the college level, the Supreme Court applied the idea in 1977 to uphold voluntary use of race as a factor in selecting students to attend the University of California’s medical school, in the decision of California Regents v. Bakke. But the continuation of that approach never was far from controversy, and when the Supreme Court reopened the issue in 2003, in two cases from the University of Michigan (one in the law school, one for undergraduate admissions), it was not at all clear that it would survive fully intact.

It did survive, but only by a 5 to 4 vote, in the case of Grutter v. University of Michigan – the law school case. There were clear warning signs: the four dissenters argued that the admissions program was a thinly veiled version of a quota system. Among those dissenters were Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who would continue on the court after several changes in its membership.

Those three, in fact, formed the core of a five-Justice majority four years later that struck down a voluntary public school affirmative action plan in a case involving the Seattle school district. They were joined by then-new members, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. That was the clearest sign yet that “affirmative action” was definitely in deepening trouble constitutionally. Chief Justice Roberts reinforced that impression, with a now-famous comment in one of the opinions for the majority: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

Only Justice Kennedy, who made clear at that time that there were some situations in which race could still be used in defining education policy, kept the Seattle decision from going further.

Then, in 2013, the Supreme Court returned to “affirmative action” at the college level for the first time in ten years and, once more, there were fairly common assumptions that this approach to racial equality in education would again be in peril. This was the case of Fisher v. University of Texas, involving a white applicant’s rejection for admission at the university’s flagship Austin campus.

This time, Justice Kennedy wrote the lead opinion. It spoke for a 7-1 majority (with only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissenting). But the ruling totally supplanted the Grutter decision from a decade earlier, and created a new form of constitutional analysis that almost certainly would make it more difficult for public universities to justify the use of race in their admissions policy.

The ultimate outcome of that case remains uncertain, because it is currently going through a new round in a federal appeals court, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That court held a hearing on the case on November 18, and is now pondering a decision.

That case appears most likely to be the next test of the Supreme Court’s view on “affirmative action” at the college level.

But two days ago, the Supreme Court fundamentally altered the outlook for the use of race in educational policy with its decision in another Michigan college case, Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action. In a 6-2 decision (with Justice Elena Kagan not taking part), the court ruled – for the first time – that the voters of a state may bar their public officials from any use of race in admissions to public colleges.

Although the court’s lead opinion, written by Justice Kennedy, stressed that the court was not ruling on whether race-based admissions policies themselves were unconstitutional, the ruling created an opening for states to scuttle “affirmative action.” It said explicitly that issues of racial policy in America can be handled quite competently at the polling place.

Almost certainly, the skepticism that the Kennedy opinion expressed in that opinion about the role of the judiciary in overseeing America’s debate about racial issues will be studied by the appeals court judges as they prepare to write their ruling in the new round in the University of Texas case.

In fact, on Tuesday, lawyers for the University of Texas brought the new decision to the appeals court’s attention, to try to persuade those judges that the Supreme Court, in fact, had not undermined the constitutional premises of “affirmative action.” The challengers to Texas’s admissions policies very likely will take a different view.

Lyle Denniston is the National Constitution Center’s adviser on constitutional literacy. He has reported on the Supreme Court for 55 years, currently covering it for SCOTUSblog, an online clearinghouse of information about the Supreme Court’s work.

Recent Constitution Daily History Stories

Podcast: The affirmative action controversy at the Supreme Court

The Schuette decision and constitutional deliberation

Supreme Court allows states to ban affirmative action

Plan of Adjustment proposes $650 Million in “Financial Recovery Bonds,” most for UBS AG and Bank of America

POA slashes retirees’ annuity savings by alleged $273 million, in addition to pension and health care cuts; state pension “trusts” can increase cuts later 

Detroit lost $732.2 million in state revenue sharing 2003-14 

Retirees campaign to VOTE NO on POA, protests set for Wed. April 30 against PA 436, and Thurs. May 1 to “SHUT DOWN DETROIT” 

By Diane Bukowski 

April 21, 2014 

DETROIT—Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr wants to finance his Bankruptcy Plan of Adjustment (POA), filed April 16, by borrowing $650 million in “Financial Recovery Bonds,” to satisfy “certain claims of unsecured creditors” at interest rates of 4 to 5 percent over 30 years.

Cecily McClellan at N’namdi meeting.

At the same time, he proposes to exact brutal cuts from Detroit residents and taxpayers, workers, and retirees, including slashing annuity savings funds by a total of $273 million. The City of Detroit has already lost a total of $732.2 million in state revenue-sharing funds, from 2003-14, according to a recent Michigan Municipal League report.

“It’s the funky filthy rich hedge funds who are behind this, who want to put us in poverty,” retiree Cecily McClellan said at during a meeting of the Detroit Concerned Citizens and Retirees at N’namdi’s in Highland Park April 16.

She and other retirees, members of the Detroit Concerned Citizens and Retirees, are leading a VOTE NO campaign on the Plan of Adjustment. McClellan is also Vice-President of the city union the Association of Professional and Technical Employees (APTE).

UBS AG and Bank of America, who face dozens of major lawsuits and criminal charges for fraudulent practices across the globe, would get about $580 million of the recovery bonds under a proposed 40 percent “COPS Settlement” included in the POA.

That is 40 percent of $1.45 billion, the outstanding principal on the predatory $1.5 Billion “Certificates of Obligation” (COPS) loan the banks foisted on the city in 2005-06. According to a Citizens Research Council of Michigan report, the total amount outstanding in 2010, including interest, hedge fund profits, and other payments, was $2.9 billion. The COPS settlement does not say whether the city would be liable for the remainder.

Joe O’Keefe of Fitch Ratings and Stephen Murphy of Standard and Poor’s press $1.5 billion POC deal on City Council Jan. 31, 2005.

Orr previously called the entire COPS transaction “void ab initio, illegal and unenforceable” in a Jan. 31 lawsuit, because it violated the city’s state-imposed debt limit, and used phony “Service Corporations” to sponsor the debt. He asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes to cancel any remainder owed.

“This Court stated earlier and states again that it will not participate in or permit the city to perpetuate the very kinds of hasty and imprudent financial decision making that led to the disastrous swaps and COPS transactions,” Rhodes said Jan. 16, in denying Orr’s second proposed swaps deal with the two banks. “They have already caused great harm to city creditors and citizens.”Orr has said priorities in Detroit’s bankruptcy include public safety, streetlights, and blight removal, but paying the city’s debt clearly remains its chief goal.

But U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven W. Rhodes on April 11 approved a related $85 million interest-rate “swaps” settlement with the UBS and Bank of America, which actually totals $385 million with monies already paid out by the city. The main COPS settlement does not provide for the return of hundreds of millions the city has already paid under the 2005-06 deals, which have caused it to default on its debt three times since then.

Judge Rhodes (3rd from l) chaired one-sided forum on Chapter 9 and Emergency Managers Oct. 10, 2012, featuring (l -r) Edward Plawecki, Douglas Bernstein, Judy O’Neill and Charles Moore. Headen has led dozens of state takeovers of municipalities; Bernstein and O’Neill are EM trainers, with O’Neill a co-author of PA 4; Moore of Conway McKenzie is a key witness for EM Orr at the Detroit bankruptcy trial.

Rhodes’ April 11 decision opened the floodgates for the current Plan of Adjustment. In its wake, some Unlimited Tax General Obligation (UTGO) bondholders happily agreed to settle for 76 percent of their original debt, or $272 million, instead of the 15 percent Orr originally proposed.

The plan as it now stands converts the city’s two Retirement Systems into “irrevocable trusts,” none of whose voting Trustees “may be an employee, contractor, agent or affiliate of the City or any labor union representing employees of the City, a member of any such labor union, or a Member or Beneficiary of the Retirement System,” according to the POA.

“Retirees are only looking at what they’re reading in the newspapers, about their pension cuts being reduced to 4.5 percent,” retiree Hassan Aleem said at the N’namdi’s meeting.

Retiree Hassan Aleem (speaking with others including Carl Williams (r) at N’namdi meeting.

“They’ve got to understand, their systems will be in a trust totally controlled by the state. The Governor will appoint the trustees. How many people trust Rick Snyder with your pensions? They’re saying, ‘We’ve got your money and we’re not going to give you a damn thing.’ But this is our money and the retirement systems have a right to give it back to us.”

Aleem estimated that the POA as it stands now actually involves 50 to 60 percent cuts, not 4.5 percent. Currently, retirement system trustees are elected by their membership. The so-called “expert” trustees appointed in their stead will have complete control over the trusts’ funds, investments, employment of advisors and actuaries, as well as pay-outs to retirees, leaving proposed POA cuts to retirees essentially open-ended.

Gov. Rick Snyder and Kevyn Orr announce bankruptcy filing July 19, 2013.

“The disclosure statement says anything they agree to now they have the right to revoke later, and not even notify you, even if they take us to the poverty level,” said retiree Carl Williams during the meeting.

The Plan, while reducing DGRS retirees’ pensions by 4.5 percent instead of the originally proposed 26-34 percent, mounts a severe attack on their Annuity Savings Funds. Most city workers have contributed 3 percent, 5 percent, or 7 percent of their own wages on a voluntary basis throughout their employment to this plan.

They plan to recover from each GRS member’s monthly pension check the alleged amount of interest “overpayment” from 2003 to 2013, for a total of $273 million, according to Jones Day attorney Bruce Bennett.

Jones Day and Kevyn Orr want to CLAW-BACK interest from retirees’ savings accounts.

Even members who rolled their annuities over into private plans upon retirement will be affected, with the cut coming out of the pension portion of their check. The amount would be individually calculated for each retiree. The POA suggests that if retirees vote no on the plan, or persist in opposing the Emergency Manager Act or the city’s bankruptcy eligibility, their pensions will be cut 29 percent.The chart below, from the CRC 2010 report, shows that rates of return for the city’s retirement systems from 2005 to 2010 actually far exceeded the S&P 500 index, except for the disastrous years of 2008-09, during the global economic meltdown caused chiefly by Wall Street’s predatory lending practices.

Investment Returns; Total Fund Composite Return

S&P 500 Market Returns, DPFRS and DGRS  (Citizens Research Council)

So, retirees at the meeting asked, does Orr also plan to increase the annuity portion of retirees’ monthly checks to compensate them for the systems’ prosperous years, during which they got only a 7.9 percent return instead of returns as high as 17.4 percent?

In a Reuters blog from Aug. 2013, Cate Long says “Orr has said many times that Detroit’s two pension funds have overstated their funding levels and used inappropriate assumptions in their valuations. But guess what? The state of Michigan uses almost identical assumptions as Detroit. Michigan’s Employee Retirement System is funded at a 10 percent lower level than Detroit’s General Retirement System (the lesser funded of the two systems).

Tina Bassett, spokesperson for the Detroit General Retirement System (DGRS), denied published reports that the DGRS has agreed to the POA.

“We have only agreed to the 4.5 percent reduction in monthly checks,” she told VOD. “None of the rest is acceptable, except the 20 percent cap on any Annuity Savings Fund reductions. How that will proceed is still being worked out. There has been no deal yet. We are still in negotiations. When there is one we will hold informational meetings with the membership. We are trying to get the best deal possible. It will still be up to the retirees to vote it up or down.”

Leeland and Tina Bassett of Bassett and Bassett

She said the deadline for mailing ballots to retirees has been moved from May 1 to May 12. Each individual ballot would contain the cuts individual retirees will face, which will differ according to Annuity Savings Fund calculations.She said no matter how retirees vote, however, Judge Rhodes still has the final say-so, with a cram-down provision included in Chapter 9 open to him.

Funds from the Detroit Institute of Arts funders and the state of Michigan proposed in the plan, a total of $850 million, allegedly to aid retirees, are contingent on the acceptance of the plan by all retirees and all groups representing them, including the retirement systems, the unions, the Official Committee of Retirees and others.

POA threatens retirees who vote NO with further cuts.

 Approval of the plan by voting “Yes” on ballots to be mailed out means agreeing that Article 9, Section 24 of Michigan’s Constitution does NOT protect public pensions from being “diminished or impaired,” which that section DOES say.

It also includes an agreement to withdraw all legal challenges to the POA, Detroit bankruptcy eligibility, and the Emergency Manager Act, PA 436. Bassett said the DGRS is still pursuing its Sixth Circuit challenge if and until a palatable settlement is reached and approved.

However, neither the DIA funders nor the State Legislature have yet given their approval to the funds, saying it is contingent on retirees’ approval first.Seven entities representing city workers and retirees currently have bankruptcy eligibility appeals pending at the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Protesters demand an end to PA 436 emergency management.

A class action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of PA 436, which has redacted references to the City of Detroit to get Rhodes to remove his stay on lawsuits against state officials, is pending before U.S. District Court Judge George Caram Steeh. A hearing on the state’s motion to dismiss that lawsuit is set for Wed. April 30 at 10:30 A.M. at the federal courthouse at 231 W. Lafayette.Opponents of PA 436 plan to demonstrate outside at 9 a.m. The following day, Thurs. May 1, a broad coalition is sponsoring a “Shut Down Detroit” day of protest.

In his statement approving the swaps pay-out, Judge Rhodes clearly denigrated the hundreds of retirees and their supporters who have repeatedly demonstrated against pension cuts and the dismantling of Detroit since the bankruptcy filing.

Retirees protest cuts outside bankruptcy court April 1, 2014.

“It is apparent each of parties is waging an orchestrated PR campaign,” Rhodes said. “This case is not about who wins in court of public opinion . . . It’s about enhancing both city’s future and creditor recoveries by using the most efficient and effective avenues available. In this case, that avenue is certainly not a PR campaign nor is it a litigation campaign for years at great expense. That [right] avenue is a campaign of all-out good faith mediation and negotiation as demonstrated by parties to the swap settlement.”

U.S. District Court Chief Judge and Mediator Gerald Rosen, a member of the Federalist Society.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge and Mediator Gerald Rosen, a member of the Federalist Society.

He said U.S. District Chief Judge Gerald Rosen, who is a member of the right-wing Federalist Society, has a “fervid commitment” to resolution of the case through mediation. Mediation is still ongoing on various matters, including the proposed dissolution of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, the city’s most valuable asset, through regionalization or privatization.

Chapter 9 differs from Chapters 11 and 13 in the Bankruptcy Code because it does not allow creditors to call for liquidation of a municipality’s assets. However, it contains a caveat.

“Section 904 [of Chapter 9] limits the power of the bankruptcy court to “interfere with – (1) any of the political or governmental powers of the debtor; (2) any of the property or revenues of the debtor; or (3) the debtor’s use or enjoyment of any income-producing property” unless the debtor consents or the plan so provides.” (Click on Municipality Bankruptcy Chapter 9for full U.S. Courts document.)

Rhodes ruled early on that EM Orr IS the debtor, the City of Detroit. Detroit is the only city across the country in Chapter 9 bankruptcy that is in control of an Emergency Manager (read dictator); others still have ELECTED OFFICIALS who so far have held off on public employee pension cuts, particularly in California.

(VOD—more to come on Plan of Adjustment analysis in separate stories.)

Read Complete Second Amended Plan of Adjustment and Disclosure Statement by clicking on:

http://www.mieb.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/detroit/docket4140.pdf

http://www.mieb.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/detroit/docket4141.pdf

Charles and Aiyana Jones

Charles Jones: “All you’re doing is trying to cover up my daughter’s death because of a reckless officer.” 

Inside source: “It makes me sick to see prosecutors like Moran knowingly lie to put innocent people in jail. I still know good people in Kym Worthy’s office who feel the same way I do.” 

Source says deal in works to let killer cop Weekley off

Aiyana’s mother Dominika Jones leaves court after hung jury in Weekley trial.

By Diane Bukowski

April 18, 2014 

DETROIT – Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Richard Skutt sentenced Charles Jones, father of Aiyana Jones, killed by Detroit police nearly four years ago, to 40-60 years in prison for second degree murder today. A jury earlier acquitted him of gun charges in the killing of Je’rean Blake, 17, the primary basis for the murder charge. Two jail-house snitches had testified that Jones gave Owens the gun to shoot Blake.

Skutt also sentenced Jones to 10 to 20 years for perjury.

“All you’re doing is trying to cover up my daughter’s death because of a reckless officer, but like Aiyana I refuse to be a victim,” Jones told Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Moran, as Aiyana’s mother Dominika Jones wept uncontrollably in the courtroom. “I hope you go after him like you did after me. Here you are judging me like I’m not human.”

He told Blake’s mother Lyvonne Cargill, “As the father of a murdered child, I know how you are feeling, but I had nothing to do with your son’s murder.” He told his family he loved them and thanked them for being in the courtroom to support him.

Rafael Jones, 14, leads march for Justice for Aiyana and Charles Jones April 23 2012 at Frank Murphy Hall in downtown Detroit, grandmother Mertilla Jones at left, aunt LaKrystal Sanders at right.

Moran is also prosecuting Detroit officer Joseph Weekley, who shot Aiyana to death with an MP-5 submachine gun during a military-style post-midnight raid on the family’s east-side home May 16, 2010, as cameras from A&E’s “The First 48” rolled. Many have questioned Moran’s dual role, saying it is a conflict of interest.

Joseph Weekley as star on previous AE DETROIT SWAT website.

Weekley was tried last year in August, but a jury deadlocked on the verdict.Jones’ attorney, Leon Weiss of the law offices of Geoffrey Fieger, said they are appealing the conviction and sentence. He told family members they began working on the appeal the day Jones was convicted Feb. 13.Judge Skutt delayed Jones’ sentencing four times.Chauncey Owens, Aiyana’s “uncle,” who lived upstairs from the Jones family, was earlier sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder Feb. 13.

Meanwhile, an inside source with contacts in the Prosecutor’s office has told VOD that a deal is in the works for Weekley that would involve no re-trial and no jail time. He would plead guilty to reckless use of a firearm causing injury or death, while felony involuntary manslaughter charges would be dropped.

“It makes me sick to see prosecutors like Moran knowingly lie to put innocent people in jail,” the source said in a letter. “I still know good people in Worthy’s office who feel the same way I do. . . .My friend fears the prosecutor may be trying to pass the blame of Aiyana’s death onto the Jones family. . . .Please give the Jones family my deepest sympathies and condolences for their tragic loss. I only hope they can find peace in God.”

The source also said, “I realize this is a theory based on hearsay, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring more perjury charges against other family members.”

Kym Worthy testifies at state legislature hearing with Moran at her side.

Court records show that a new “pre-trial” for Weekley was held in March, with a trial date set for Sept. 15, 2014. Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s spokesperson Maria Miller was not available for comment due to the Good Friday holiday. Since his arraignment, Weekley has not spent one day in jail.

Along with Aiyana, her parents, two of their toddlers, and her grandmother and great-aunt were sleeping when Detroit police dressed in assault gear poured out of an armored car into their home. Her cousin Mark Robinson, who had gone out to walk his dogs, cried out to police that children were in the home. Photos taken by police who had been surveilling the house all day showed numerous toys in the front yard.

Police also testified that Chauncey Owens, the target of their search, left the home at least twice during the day, during which they could have arrested him.

Firearms expert testifies that Weekley could not have accidentally discharged gun.

Weekley discharged his weapon within seconds of entry, according to testimony at his trial. A firearms expert testified that it would have taken five to eight pounds of pressure to pull the trigger and that it was unlikely the gun could have been accidentally fired.

Police forced Charles Jones to crawl from the back bedroom where he had been sleeping with Dominika and their two babies, through broken glass and his daughter’s blood and brain matter, to sit on the bloody couch where she was killed, after they took over the home.

He was not charged in the Blake death until 17 months later, although Owens was charged directly after his arrest.

Mertilla Jones and grandbabies after police raid on their home in 2012.

The major media is now falsely reporting that police were looking for Jones when they raided the house. In fact, court records, all trial testimony and all previous trial coverage indicated that they had a search warrant not for Jones, but for Chauncey Owens, Aiyana’s “uncle,” who lived in an upstairs flat at the location.

Owens also has denied guilt in Blake’s killing.

Mertilla Jones said police have continued harassment of other males in the family since they killed Aiyana, arresting three who are now free. They invaded the family’s new home last year again as Charles’ young sons cowered in their grandmother’s arms.

Charles Jones has six other children besides Aiyana, all boys.“They are steady taking everyone from us, and they’ve taken Charles from his children,” Mertilla Jones said. “Moran tried to say Charles was not a real father to his children, but Charles has often talked to them over the phone and helped them do their homework since his arrest.”

Charles Jones’ wife Dominika Jones maintains a Facebook Page for her husband at https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/238941762835005/.

Related articles:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/02/22/attorneys-vow-appeals-in-convictions-of-aiyana-jones-dad-chauncey-owens/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/02/10/who-killed-detroits-jerean-blake-17-and-aiyana-jones-7/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/02/01/did-another-man-kill-jerean-blake-17-before-police-killed-aiyana-jones-7-in-2010/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/01/29/trial-in-jerean-blake-killing-begins-with-contradictory-testimony/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/01/27/jury-finds-jailhouse-snitch-jay-schlenkerman-informant-vs-aiyana-jones-dad-guilty-of-3-more-felonies-sentencing-feb-6/

Tamikia McGruder (top l) and Arthur Simmons (top r), whose children have been seized by CPS, with supporters Cornell Squires (top center), Helene and Diane (holding banner). Photo by Debbie Williams.

McGruder family court date adjourned until April 28, 1:30 p.m. after referee Mona Youssef sees VOD story on child’s attempted suicide and Risperdal Rx

By Diane Bukowski

April 13, 2014

Foster father Timothy Searcy left the courtroom after press was allowed back in. He is shown here outside the courtroom. Photo by Debbie Williams.

DETROIT — On April 3, Wayne County Family Court referee Mona Youssef adjourned a status review and permanency planning conference on the illegal seizure of six children of Tamikia McGruder, with Arthur Simmons the father of four, until Monday, April 28 at 1:30 p.m.

During their kidnapping, the couple’s 12-year-old child attempted to hang himself in the home of his foster father according to medical records from Hawthorn and Children’s Hositals. The foster father, Timothy Searcy, according to hospital records, did not call 911 but instead resuscitated the child, who was not breathing, himself and took him to CHM.

CPS supervisor Samantha Burks went to CHM after Searcy first talked to her on the phone, according to the child’s family. Both biological parents went to the hospital, but Burks told CHM personnel to remove Simmons from his son’s presence and instead have the foster father, Searcy, in the room instead. The child told his parents during an interview with Burks present at the Hamilton office of the Department of Human Services that he was sexually abused in the foster home.

Tamikia McGruder with three of her sons at DHS vist.

Supporters of the family, including members of We the People for the People and and other community groups, packed the small courtroom but were removed to make space for the foster parents, who have no legal standing in the case. This reporter was also temporarily removed until after Referee Youssef read the VOD story (none of the incidents in the story had been reported in court proceedings until then), and top court personnel cleared the presence of the media.

After the adjournment, Squires and Debbie Williams helped the parents file to get the full court file on their case. The parents then went to the Detroit Police Department Central District to file a police report with the Sex Crimes unit on the 12-year-old child’s alleged abuse.

Alpolion Smith with his dad Arthur Simmons at DHS visit. He ran outside to greet him, shouting, DADDY, DADDY!!

Supporter Debbie Williams has herself been campaigning to get her grandchildren back for years, now represented by attorney Roger Farinkha, who represented the father of Ariana Godboldo-Hakim in the world-renowned kidnapping of that child and jailing of her mother Maryanne Godboldo for resisting police seizure of her daughter. Part of Williams’ story is detailed below; more will be forthcoming. The McGruder family and their supporters are calling for everyone to turn out at the new court hearing Monday April 28, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. in the courtroom of Referee Mona Yousseff, Room I-F.

VOD: following is a letter from grandmother Debbie Williams just sent to the “Guardian ad Litem” (GAL) assigned to her grandchildren, who were forcibly removed by Michigan Child Protective Services and adopted out. Ms. Williams, like Tamikia McGruder and Arthur Simmons, subject of an earlier VOD story, is battling to bring her grandchildren back into the loving arms of their family. VOD will be reporting on this case more extensively in the future.

Today’s date is April 14, 2014. Good Morning, James M. Kincaid (GAL): You did not give Mr. Roger Farinha my Home Assessment in court on 2-06-14. I am requesting a copy of my Home Assessment before you make any decision to adopt my grandchild Sanaya M. Jones (Tucker). I am informing you I did not abuse or neglect my children in 1992 or 1993. And I was expunged in June of 2009, from the charges; If you used that kind of information knowingly to omit me as a party to adopt or to have guardianship of my relative grandchild you are incorrect. (Professionals Please Read What Is (Kidnapping) Court Actors at http://unhappygrammy-grandparentsblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/cps-case-law-cases-no-immuntity-for.html.

Debbie Williams is at left in this photo with mother Maryanne Godboldo and her sister Penny Godboldo (to her right), and Ariana Godboldo-Hakim’s father Mubarak Hakim behind them. Also shown are Sandra Hines and Ruyihah Shabazz.

I sent you documentation a few years ago that I was expunged from the Central Registry of false charges. James Kincaid and I sent you documentation about Malik Tyler Tucker, and this video. You was involved with the denial of me getting Malik Tyler Tucker, when I sent the documents and this Youtube.com video Washtenaw CPS Corruption, before Malik Tyler Tucker was adopted.‏

DUE PROCESS IS THE LEGAL REQUIREMENT THAT THE STATE MUST RESPECT ALL OF THE LEGAL RIGHTS THAT ARE OWED TO A PERSON.
DUE PROCESS HAS ALSO BEEN FREQUENTLY INTERPRETED AS LIMITING LAWS AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

ALL OF THE ABOVE COPIED PARTIES USED THE HOME ASSESSMENT IN A COURT OF LAW WITHOUT ME VIEWING THE HOME ASSESSMENT AND REFUTING ANY FALSE ALLEGATION. AND I NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO VALIDATE THE HOME ASSESSMENT.

JAMES M. KINCAID IT APPEARS AS LONG AS MY GRANDCHILDREN HAVE BEEN IN YOUR CARE YOU HAVE MISUSED THEIR DUE PROCESS. IT APPEARS YOU HAVE DISTORTED THEIR CASES AND REPORTS AND LIED ON THE RECORD OVER AND OVER WITH YOUR COURT ACTORS ABOUT ME.

For more information, see Debbie Williams’ page at http://miparentalrights.ning.com/. Also call We the People for the People at 313-460-3175. Other useful national sites include  http://fightcps.com/ and http://familyrights.us/how_to/fight_cps.html. Also http://familyrights.us/info/law/index.html  and http://www.americanbar.org/groups/child_law.html,

Related article: http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/03/26/12-year-old-child-hangs-himself-after-rubber-stamped-cps-seizure-from-family-prescription-of-drug-risperdal/.

 March 29, 2014

DETROIT — UIN, a Detroit-based Internet TV subscription service and online movie distributor, is launching a crowd funding campaign through Indiegogo. UIN is the parent company of Detroit IPTV. Not all high tech companies are based in the Silicon Valley.

As you may know, 2013 was the first time there was a drop in subscribers of the combined cable and dish networks. In essence 2012 was the peak year for cable subscribers. Many of those viewers are finding their way to the Internet. The reason for the migration is that the Internet offers so much more for so much less.

UIN has been compared to Netflix and Hulu. What makes UIN different is the fact that UIN offers locally produced shows that highlight local issues.

Funds from this campaign will be used to buy equipment to update the websites and promote the business. With the potential merger of giant cable companies, the UIN network will offer a platform for local communities to have a voice and promote their interest.

To make a contribution from $1 to $1,000 or more, click this link: https://www.indiegogo.com/project/preview/f9a11cf5

ABOUT UIN

UIN LLC is an Internet TV Subscription Service. There are affiliates in several major cities. The movie distribution arm features a platform for Independent movie producers to market the product outside of Film festivals.  For more information, go to:

www.uintv.net

info@detiptv.com

313 574 8075

Duong Chi Dung (C-front), 56, former chairman of Vinalines, and his accomplices listen to the verdict at a local People’s Court in Hanoi on December 16, 2013. Two top executives were sentenced to death for embezzlement as authorities try to allay rising public anger over corruption. Three corrupt bankers have also recently the death sentence. (Staff/AFP/Getty Images)

Others just get life behind bars.

Patrick Winn

April 3, 2014 00:33  Global Post

BANGKOK — For the most part, American bankers whose rash pursuit of profit brought on the 2008 global financial collapse didn’t get indicted. They got bonuses.

Odds are that scandal would have played out differently in Vietnam, another nation struggling with misbehaving bankers.

The authoritarian Southeast Asian state doesn’t just send unscrupulous financiers to jail. Sometimes, it sends them to death row.

Amid a sweeping cleanup of its financial sector, Vietnam has sentenced three bankers to death in the past six months.

One duo now on death row embezzled roughly $25 million from the state-owned Vietnam Agribank. Their co-conspirators caught decade-plus prison sentences.

In March, a 57-year-old former regional boss from Vietnam Development Bank, another government-run bank, was sentenced to death over a $93-million swindling job.

According to Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre news outlet, several of his colluders were sentenced to life imprisonment after they confessed to securing bogus loans with a diamond ring and a BMW coupe. And last week, in an unrelated case, charges against senior employees from the same bank allege $47 million in losses from dubious loans.

None of this would impress Bernie Madoff, mastermind of America’s largest ever financial fraud scheme. The combined amount from all three Vietnamese cases adds up to less than 1 percent of his purported $18-billion haul.

But these death sentences nevertheless are high profile scandals in Vietnam.

That’s the point. Human rights watchdogs contend that splashy trials in Vietnam are acts of political theater with predetermined conclusions. The audience: a Vietnamese public weary of state corruption. But these sentences also sound loud alarm bells to dodgy bankers who are currently running scams.

“It’s a message to those in this game to be less greedy and that business as usual is getting out of hand,” said Adam McCarty, chief economist with the Hanoi-based consulting firm Mekong Economics.

“The message to people in the system is this: Your chances of getting caught are increasing,” McCarty said. “Don’t just rely on big people above you. Because some of these [perpetrators] would’ve had big people above them. And it didn’t help them.”

Like most nations that crush dissent and operate with little transparency, Vietnam is highly corrupt.

According to a World Bank study, half of all businesses operating within the communist state expect that gift giving toward officials is required “to get things done.” Transparency International, which publishes the world’s leading corruption gauge, contends Vietnam is more corrupt than Mexico but not quite as bad as Russia.

Unlike in America, where judges can’t sentence white-collar criminals to death, Vietnam can execute its citizens for a range of corporate crimes.

Amnesty International reports that death sentences in Vietnam have been handed down to criminals for running shady investment schemes, counterfeiting cash and even defaulting on loans. This is unusual: United Nations officials have condemned death for “economic crimes” yet Vietnam persists with these sentences — as does neighboring China.

Part of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which global corporations and banks are continually violated. The U.S. did not sign on to this agreement, or the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child.

Though statistics on Vietnam’s opaque justice system are scarce, a state official conceded that more than 675 people sit on death row for a range of crimes, according to the Associated Press.

It’s still unclear how the bankers will be killed. Vietnam’s traditional means of execution involves binding perpetrators to a wooden post, stuffing their mouths with lemons and calling in a firing squad. The nation wants to transition to lethal injections. But European nations refuse to export chemicals used in executions (namely sodium thiopental) to governments practicing capital punishment.

Fraudulent bankers are receiving heavy sentences at a moment when Vietnam is enacting major financial reforms.

For decades, Vietnam has been slowly transforming its communist-style, state-run market into a more open and competitive arena. In the post-reunification era, the government owned every bank in Vietnam. Today, state-run banks control only 40 percent of all assets.

This push to bank in a more Western style has ushered in improvements as well as temptations to swindle. According to the UN economist Vu Quang Viet, Vietnamese credit laws passed in 2010 “simply copied the lax US law now widely believed to be at least partially responsible for the financial debacle in 2008.”

Campaigns to root out corruption are promoted as a way to entice foreign investment, which could help prop up Vietnamese banks whose growth has slowed from a sprint to a jog.

But the recent death sentences aren’t really intended to prove the reformers’ sincerity to the outside world, according to McCarty.

“They don’t care about foreigners. It’s all internal politics,” McCarty said. Foreign banking honchos wouldn’t be impressed by a few executions anyway. “If you really want to want to resolve the problem, you can’t just arrest people,” he said. “You’ve got to improve accountability and transparency in the entire system.”

A leading Vietnamese newspaper, Thanh Nien, is also pushing for system-wide cleanup in lieu of showcase trials against a few corporate criminals.

An op-ed in the paper recently compared death sentences for corruption to fighting fire with fire. The preferred approach would be dousing corruption before it burns through public funds. “It is better to prevent corruption,” the paper opined, “than deal with it after the fact.”

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/vietnam/140402/vietnam-s-solution-corrupt-bankers-firing-squads

VOD commentary: Vietnam and other previously socialist-led countries across the world have been thoroughly undermined by the United States through economic manipulation and military intervention. But clearly some of their peoples’ original sentiments remain and have forced the above measures. During the Chinese revolution in its then predominantly agricultural economy, landlords faced firing squads; now Vietnam is subjecting banksters to the same fate.

The World Bank, quoted in the article above, has been responsible for the suffering and deaths of millions across the world through its demands for debt payments instead of human services. (See video above.) Economic crimes of the magnitude committed in the U.S. by global banksters, including millions of illegal foreclosures based on predatory lending and the decimation of municipal economies have most certainly led to the actual deaths of many through homelessness, stress and hunger.

Instead of focusing on these mass murderers, the U.S. prefers to send 2.5 million mostly poor people to prison, many for life, and many at ages as young as 14 and 15.  It accounts for 25 percent of the incarcerated population in the world, but only 5 percent of the total global population.

Related article:  http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/04/09/detroit-bankruptcy-swaps-agreement-huge-cramdown-cuts-for-retirees-residents-billions-for-banks/

(L to R) BOA CEO BRIAN MOYNIHAN, DETROIT EM KEVYN ORR, MICH. GOV. RICK SNYDER, UBS CEO SERGIO ERMATTI

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes to rule Fri. April 11 on total $385 million “swaps” proposal 

“Settlement Agreement” bars cancellation of $1.45 BILLION in outstanding, illegal city COPS debt to UBS AG, BOA 

Banks would approve EM Orr’s Plan of Adjustment, including huge cuts to workers and retirees pensions, annuities, health care 

Orr speeds to final judgment Oct. 15 while Sixth Circuit and U.S. District Courts dally on appeals 

By Diane Bukowski 

April 9, 2014 

Judge Rhodes at pro-EM, pro Ch9 forum Oct. 10, 2012.

DETROIT – U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven Rhodes is to rule April 11 on a “Settlement Agreement” between the City of Detroit (EM Kevyn Orr as imposed by the state) and UBS AG and Bank of America (Merrill Lynch). The city proposes to pay $85 million to the banks to write off interest “swap” agreements related to a $1.5 billion “Pension Obligation Certificate” (POC) loan from the two banks.

The amount is down from $230 million and $165 million in earlier agreements rejected by Judge Rhodes, the last on Jan. 16. It is being touted as a bargain for the city by the major media, which cites the alleged swaps debt as $288 million.

Attorney Jerome Goldberg, representing retiree David Sole.

But Attorney Jerome Goldberg told Judge Rhodes during a hearing April 3, “It was very clearly the court’s holding on Jan. 16 that the city is reasonably likely to succeed in invalidating the swap agreements [in litigation], and would have the potential to recover the $300 million already paid to the swap counterparties. What the banks are receiving is actually $385 million including what they have already taken. That’s more like a 67 percent payout on a total of $588 million, not 30 percent as EM Orr testified.”

Noting proposed retiree cuts including pensions, annuities, COLA and health care amount to 50-60 percent, he said, “The City has the potential to recover money from the banks, not pay them. Equity plays a role in this courtroom, and when you combine the legal claim with equities I don’t see any way that this court can OK this settlement any more than others. Since this settlement, the SEC launched a lawsuit in February Feb. against UBS and BOA for LIBOR fraud. A leader of BOA’s municipal securities division was jailed in February. This is symptomatic of the problem with the swaps and part of the overall crisis brought on by banks through their fraudulent practices.”

Marcher demands city collect millions on swaps during April 1, 2014 protest outside bankruptcy court.

The agreement also essentially bars further claims on the two banks to cancel the $1.45 BILLION still outstanding in POC principal and interest. In a Jan. 31 filing, Orr asked Rhodes to cancel that debt, saying it was “void ab initio, illegal and unenforceable” because it constituted an end run around the city’s debt limits under state law among other factors.

Prof. Wallace Turbevile of Demos speaks at WSU forum April 8, 2014.

“UBS and Merrill Lynch (BOA) did the swaps, and were the managers of the COPS deal, all stuck together,” Prof. Wallace Turbeville explained during a forum at Wayne State University April 8. “They told the city they have a right to grab 20 percent of city revenues and keep them until all of the termination rate gets paid. The city agreed quickly to settle, three days before filing bankruptcy, for 80 cents on the dollar. The bankruptcy judge said no, that’s too high. The EM burst out of the courtroom and renegotiated. The good thing was he had to work during Christmas, but the court said the new amount was still too high. In this third time, the payment of $85 million includes a release for UBS and Merrill Lynch from any liability associated with the [overall] COPS deals.”

Turbeville authored the Nov. 13 Demos report on Detroit’s bankruptcy, which denied the city should be in bankruptcy at all and challenged the legality of the COPS deals.

Settlement Agreement pushes for “cramdown” resolution by Judge Steven Rhodes.

For the first time in this third agreement, UBS AG and BOA pledge to approve Orr’s “Plan of Adjustment” (POA), including cuts to workers and retirees, likely water privatization with increased rates, and other measures that will hurt city residents.  Objectors say judicial approval of the settlement agreement would make it immune from challenge during the POA trial.

The parties make it expressly clear that a chief purpose of the settlement is to facilitate a “cramdown” by Judge Rhodes of the POA if the majority of creditors do not approve it.

“ . . .the Swap Counterparties have similarly agreed to support and vote in favor of a plan that is consistent with the compromise, which will facilitate the City’s ability to confirm a plan of adjustment, including, if necessary, a cramdown plan of adjustment over the objection of a dissenting class or classes,” says Section 51 of the 79-page agreement. (See link below for entire agreement.)

Protester denounces dictator Kevyn Orr during April 1, 2014 march.

During his appearance in bankruptcy court March 3, Orr said the city’s attorneys from Jones Day and Pepper Hamilton had drafted a lawsuit in the event that UBS AG and BOA did not agree to drop their payment demands below $100 million.

“There was a complaint, a motion for an injunction, a brief that accompanied the injunction, a new city ordinance, an EM order to effectuate, orders revoking letters of instruction to casinos, and my affidavit,” Orr testified on direct exam. “There were 17 counts in the complaint, including void ab initio, unjust enrichment, superior knowledge, fraud [et al.]”

Orr alleged litigation would be too time-consuming and costly, despite the fact that most of the documents were already drawn up.

Orr said the $85 million agreement in lieu of $288 million claimed by the banks was in line with cuts of 70 to 80 percent proposed for other city creditors, in particular the pension funds.

Retirees of all ages and abilities participated in protest April 1, 2014.

“The parties agree to use their best efforts not to attempt to sue, to make sure casino revenue is not trapped,” he said. In other words, the swaps are still out there and casino revenue is still at stake, despite state law which bars its use for anything other than “Quality of Life” city services, as Judge Rhodes noted in his Jan. 16 ruling.

Meanwhile, as Orr, Jones Day, and the rest of their highly paid consultants rush to judgment day, matters on pending lawsuits challenging Rhodes’ bankruptcy eligibility ruling and the constitutionality of Public Act 436, the “Emergency Manager Act,” are proceeding at more of a snail’s pace.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to bypass U.S. District Court and hear eligibility appeals from seven creditor groups representing city retiree and union members on Feb. 21, 2014, but not on an expedited basis as requested by the appellants.

At the same time, the Sixth Circuit sent a letter to the appellants indicating it would be in touch with U.S. District Court Chief Judge Gerald Rosen, a right-wing Federalist Society member, who is acting as mediator in the bankruptcy case, to assess the progress of mediation without disclosing specifics.

The appellants on March 7 asked that their filings be forwarded directly to the panel members in the case. A Sixth Circuit Court Clerk told VOD that the court does not disclose the identity of panel members until actual hearings are scheduled.

April 1, 2014: Cancel the debt!

The panel selection is key because the Sixth Circuit’s Chief Judge Alice Batchelder, an appointee of President Reagan’s, designated Judge Rhodes to hear the Detroit bankruptcy case in accordance with protocol.

As VOD revealed in earlier stories, Judge Rhodes chaired a forum on Chapter 9 and Emergency Managers Oct. 10, 2012. Five of the six speakers advocated both. One was a co-author of PA 436’s predecessor PA 4, two trained emergency managers, and another, Charles Moore of Conway McKenzie, has been a chief witness for Orr/Jones Day in the bankruptcy trial.

Protester April 1, 2014.

In U.S. District Court, a lawsuit originally filed by Catherine Phillips of Michigan AFSCME Council 25 et. al. against Gov. Rick Snyder and other state officials which challenges the constitutionality of PA 436 is finally being heard before U.S. District Court Judge George Caram Steeh, a Clinton appointee. In order to get Judge Rhodes to lift the stay protecting state officials from lawsuits, the City of Detroit was removed as a plaintiff and the lawsuit now covers only cities in the rest of the state.

Detroit is the only major city facing bankruptcy that is not under elected rule. Under Chapter 9 provisions, creditors cannot demand liquidation of a municipality’s assets “unless the debtor agrees.” The unelected Orr has already said he plans to privatize Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department if a regional authority is not established. Negotiations on that matter are ongoing as part of the bankruptcy proceedings, frequently held at the New York City offices of Jones Day instead of in Detroit where water workers and rate payers cannot be present.

A hearing before Steeh on the state’s motion to dismiss the PA 436 case is scheduled for April 30, 2014.

On a positive note, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction preventing health care cuts to City of Flint retirees on Jan. 3. The Court earlier made a similar ruling regarding City of Pontiac retirees.

Related documents:

DB Settlement agreement ppf 3 3 14

DB Sole objection to 3rd swaps 3 17 2014

DB BOA exec Sole 3 17 14

DB OCR objection to 3rd swap 3 17 14

DB AFSCME obj to 3rd Swap 3 17 14

Related articles: 

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2014/01/health_care_cuts_halted_again.html

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/04/07/detroit-parking-war-on-the-poor-orr-jacks-up-fines-ends-10-day-grace-public-hearing-mon-apr-14-3-p-m/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/04/02/thousands-of-retirees-residents-march-at-detroit-bankruptcy-court-send-out-call-to-shut-city-down-may-1/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/03/28/rally-file-peoples-objections-to-bankers-attack-on-detroit-tues-april-1-10-a-m-hundreds-have-already-filed/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/03/28/detroit-declares-war-on-pensioners-proposed-cuts-amount-to-70/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/03/26/the-great-6-2-b-revenue-sharing-heist-michigan-municipal-league-report/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/03/17/the-plot-against-pensions-pewarnold-foundation-alec-support-banksters-attack/