School Cartoon

California lawmakers advance bill requiring vaccinations for most schoolkids

SACRAMENTO, Calif. –  California lawmakers on Wednesday advanced a bill that would require schoolchildren in the state to be vaccinated amid impassioned pleas from parents and doctors, even activist Robert Kennedy Jr.
Under the proposal, parents would no longer be able to send unvaccinated kids to school with waivers citing religious or personal beliefs. Exemptions would be available only for children with health problems.
Supporters say the measure would increase the number of vaccinated young people and improve public health.
Ariel Loop told lawmakers that such a plan could have prevented her child from contracting measles at Disneyland. "My infant shouldn't have had to suffer. He shouldn't, still months later, be having complications with his eyes," she said. "I shouldn't have had to fear for his life."
Opponents, however, say vaccines can be as dangerous as the diseases they aim to fight and that the bill would trample parental rights.
Karen Kain said her daughter died of injuries from a mercury-tainted vaccine. "I stand here today before you to share my story so you can all see and hear what happens when vaccines go wrong," she said. "Who gets to make the choice now of whose babies are more important? Because there is risk, there must be choice."
The measure, SB277 from Sen. Richard Pan, was in the earliest stages of the legislative process. But it drew large crowds, including parents who brought their children. During the emotionally charged hearing, one opponent threatened to put a curse on lawmakers who voted for the bill and another woman was removed after an outburst.
The bill passed out of the Senate Health Committee on a 6-2 vote Wednesday.
If the bill passes the Legislature and signed by the governor, California would join Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states with such strict vaccine rules.
Similar efforts to reduce exemptions were proposed elsewhere after a measles outbreak in December that started at Disneyland and sickened more than 100 people across the U.S. and in Mexico. In Oregon and Washington state, however, such proposals were rejected recently.
Opponents include Kennedy, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy.
Kennedy has been promoting the film "Trace Amounts" and is editor of a book called "Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak," linking autism to the vaccine preservative thimerosal. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the mercury-containing chemical has been removed from routine childhood vaccines since 2001.
The Sacramento Bee reported that when Kennedy asked the crowd at a screening of the film on Tuesday how many parents had a child injured by vaccines, numerous hands went up.
"They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone," Kennedy said. "This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country."
At a rally ahead of Wednesday's legislative hearing, Kennedy said he had all six of his children vaccinated, but he remains concerned the pharmaceutical industry profits immensely when governments make vaccines mandatory.
Dr. Dean Blumberg, a pediatrician who testified on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the California Medical Association, said childhood vaccination has been so successful that it's easy to overstate their risks and dismiss the diseases they prevent.
"Unfortunately, there's much misinformation about vaccine safety and effectiveness," Blumberg said. "Let me be clear: There is no scientific controversy about vaccine safety and vaccine effectiveness. ... This is not open to dispute among mainstream doctors and scientists."
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, California is among 20 states that allow for exemptions based on personal belief and 48 that allow for religious exemptions.
Public health officials believe an immunization rate of at least 90 percent is critical to minimizing the potential for a disease outbreak. California's kindergarteners met that threshold at the start of this school year, according to state statistics: 2 percent were exempted because of their parents' personal beliefs and another half a percent were exempted because of their parents' religion.

University of Michigan reverses decision, will show 'American Sniper' as scheduled

The University of Michigan said late Wednesday that it will show the film "American Sniper" as originally scheduled after a protest by students and staff caused the screening to be scrapped.
University Vice President for Student Life E. Royster Harper called the decision to cancel the Friday night showing a "mistake" in a statement.
"The initial decision to cancel the movie was not consistent with the high value the University of Michigan places on freedom of expression and our respect for the right of students to make their own choices in such matters," Harper said. "The movie will be shown at the originally scheduled time and location."
Harper added that the university will also screen the family-friendly film "Paddington" as an alternative.
"American Sniper", which stars Bradley Cooper as former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, was originally scheduled to be shown as part of a university-sponsored social event called UMix. However, the screening was canceled after a protest letter garnered more than 300 signatures.
"The movie 'American Sniper’ not only tolerates but promotes anti-Muslim and anti-MENA [Muslim, Middle Eastern and North African] rhetoric and sympathizes with a mass killer," the letter read in part. "Chris Kyle was a racist who took a disturbing stance on murdering Iraqi civilians."
"Watching this movie is provocative and unsafe to MENA and Muslim students who are too often reminded of how little the media and world value their lives," the letter continued.
The cancelation drew a strong reaction, and The Michigan Daily reported that a third-year Law School student named Rachel Jankowski circulated a petition calling on the university's Center for Campus Involvement to restore "American Sniper" to the UMix schedule. The university's football coach, Jim Harbaugh, weighed in on the controversy by tweeting that he would watch the movie with his team.

Before Harper's statement, the Center for Campus Involvement had announced plans to show "American Sniper" in a separate location from the UMix program, in what it said would be "a forum that provides an appropriate space for dialogue and reflection." It was not immediately clear whether the "forum" would be part of the revived Friday night screening.

ICE, Homeland Security arrest more than 1,200 in nationwide gang raids

EXCLUSIVE: Targeting gangs across the country, teams from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested more than 1,200 people, while seizing weapons and drugs directly used by international crime syndicates.
Members and associates from 239 different gangs were arrested in 282 cities across the U.S. during what’s been called Project Wildfire, a six-week operation that included 215 state, local and federal law enforcement agencies. Already at least 913 people have been charged with criminal offenses as a result of the operation, which began in mid -February. Those arrested include 650 with violent criminal histories, including 19 individuals wanted on active warrants for murder and 15 for rape or sexual assault. There were 200 foreign nationals arrested in the raids.
“This is where grassroots law enforcement starts. This is how we get a baseline read of what’s happening… it all builds on itself…this is what federal agencies, investigative agencies like HSI, are doing to target transnational criminality,” Homeland Security's Greg Mandoli said as he, and a team of officers that included local agencies, returned from raids in Placentia, Calif.

“We’re looking to prevent, deter and protect communities."- Greg Mandoli, of Homeland Security

The operation targeted transnational criminal gangs and others associated with transnational criminal activity.
“We’re looking to prevent, deter and protect communities. The public doesn't realize what’s happening in a federal investigative agency like HSI and the breath of the investigations that we’re doing. So, with Project Wildfire, we’re looking to take ground information and feed them back into the collective pool... working with our local partners to identify community threats as we look to prevent, deter and protect the homeland,” said Mandoli.
The majority of those taken into custody were affiliated with the Sureños, Norteños, Bloods, Crips, Puerto Rican-based gangs and several prison-based gangs, with the greatest activity taking place in the San Juan, Puerto Rico; Dallas, El Paso, Los Angeles and Detroit HSI areas. Those arrested during the Project Wildfire raids came from 18 countries in South and Central America, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean. Agents also seized weapons, vehicles, currency and counterfeit merchandise totaling $1 million, as well as drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.
This operation was part of HSI’s overall plan dubbed Operation Community Shield, which globally targets crime and combats the growth and proliferation of transnational criminal street gangs, prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs in the United States and abroad. According to agents, since 2005, more than 36,000 have been arrested and linked to more than 2,600 different gangs.

Kerry says US won't 'stand by' in Middle East as Iran steps up Yemen involvement

Secretary of State John Kerry warned Iran over its increased involvement in Yemen's civil war Wednesday, vowing that the U.S. would not "stand by" as the Middle East became destabilized.
Meanwhile, Iran President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday that a Saudi-led campaign of airstrikes against Yemen's Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, was a "mistake." Rouhani did not single out any country in particular but said, "You learned that it was wrong. You will learn, not later but soon, that you are making mistake in Yemen, too."
Speaking on the "PBS Newshour" Wednesday, Kerry said that Tehran was "obviously" supplying the rebels, whose military advances forced Yemen's U.S-and Saudi-backed president to flee last month. In response, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have been carrying out airstrikes against Houthi targets since March 26.
"Iran needs to recognize that the United States is not going to stand by while the region is destabilized or while people engage in overt warfare across lines — international boundaries — in other countries," Kerry said. "We have an ability to understand that an Iran with a nuclear weapon is a greater threat than an Iran without one. And at the same time we have an ability to be able to stand up to interference that is inappropriate or against international law, or contrary to the region’s stability and interest and those of our friends."
Kerry's interview was broadcast on the same day that Iran said it was sending a destroyer and another naval ship to the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait. Iranian Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari was quoted as saying that the ships were part of an anti-piracy campaign to "safeguard naval routes for vessels in the region" by the English-language state broadcaster Press TV.
The comments by Kerry and Rouhani, as well as the Iranian naval maneuvers underscore the growing international tensions surrounding the chaotic fighting in Yemen, with the U.S. shoring up the Saudi-led forces on one side and Iran allegedly backing the Houthis on the other – though Iran and the rebels deny any direct military assistance.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Wednesday he could not say whether “Iranian money or equipment” has been delivered to the Houthis, but “we know the Iranians are partnered with the Houthis and they are working together.”
On PBS, Kerry said, "There are obviously supplies that have been coming from Iran. There are a number of flights every single week that have been flying in."
The fighting and international involvement threaten to hang over ongoing nuclear talks, which yielded a deal framework last week in Switzerland. The U.S., Iran and five other world powers are trying to strike a final deal by June – though critics have pointed to Iran’s involvement in Yemen and elsewhere as a serious cause for concern.
The unrest has also provided cover for Al Qaeda's Yemen branch, which the U.S. considers the world's most dangerous wing of the group, to make "great gains" on the ground. That in turn has caused Washington to rethink how it prevents it from launching attacks in the West.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met with Pakistan's prime minister in an effort to to push for peace talks to resolve the crisis.
"We need to work together in order to put an end to the crisis in Yemen," said Zarif, who also called for the imposition of a humanitarian cease-fire. "We need to find a political solution in Yemen, a comprehensive political solution leading an inclusive government through Yemeni dialogue."
Zarif's visit came as Pakistan's parliament is debating whether to contribute forces to the Saudi-led air campaign. The airstrikes against the Houthis and their allies, including loyalists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, have so far failed to stop the rebels' advance on Aden, Yemen's second-largest city, which was declared a provisional capital by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi before he fled to Saudi Arabia.
Humanitarian groups in Yemen say they are running out of supplies and have called for a temporary halt to the fighting to allow aid into the country. The World Health Organization said Tuesday at least 560 people have been killed in the past weeks and 1,768 have been wounded, many of them civilians. It said another 100,000 have fled their homes.