January 16, 2013

NY charter school founder cheated state out of $70,000. Failed to pay taxes 2005-2010

He made $1.4 million dollars, much of which was public taxpayer money. He did not pay taxes he owed.

A sticky-fingered founder of three Brooklyn charter schools pleaded guilty Friday to cheating the state out of taxes for six years, while pulling in a half-million dollar salary.

Eddie Calderon-Melendez admitted to bringing in some $1.4 million in compensation, but skipping on filing tax returns between 2005 and 2010, which would have amounted to $70,000.

"While earning a six-figure salary funded largely by taxpayer dollars, the defendant robbed the state of New York," said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman whose office handled the case.

Calderon-Melendez will have to repay over $200,000, which include penalties and interest and faces 5 years probation plus 200 hours of community service when he's sentenced next month.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/charter-school-founder-admits-tax-cheat-article-1.1238458

He was charged in April by Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman.

A.G. Schneiderman Secures Indictment Of Former Brooklyn Charter School Network Founder And CEO

NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced his office has secured an 11-count indictment of Eddie Calderon-Melendez, the founder and former CEO of the beleaguered Williamsburg Charter High School and Believe High Schools Network, a charter management organization. According to the Attorney General's indictment, Calderon-Melendez received over $1.4 million in compensation from 2005 to 2010, yet he never filed a tax return and failed to pay over $70,000 in taxes.

Nearly all of Calderon-Melendez’s compensation during that period came, directly or indirectly, from taxpayer-funded charter schools. Mr. Calderon-Melendez then attempted to cover up his tax crimes by creating and submitting false New York tax returns to the Office of the Attorney General.

“While earning a six-figure salary funded largely by taxpayer dollars, the defendant robbed the state of New York of much-needed revenue when he failed to pay his taxes for six years in a row. He then compounded his crime by creating false evidence to throw investigators off his trail,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “The charges announced today send a strong message that tax cheats and those who tamper with investigations will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Calderon-Melendez was known for moving charters into public schools and taking over their space for the charters.

NY public school students get limited use of school library so 3 charter schools can use it.

"It's unfair," said JHS 126 parent association President Janeen Echevarria. "Kids need to get in there to get books out to do their reports, to read, to further their education."

Access to the library for more than 400 middle schoolers will be restricted to one side of the space for less than two hours each day, with an extra hour on Wednesdays. Eddie Calderon-Melendez, founder of the Believe High School Network, which runs the charters, said the use of shared space is negotiated every year.

"We figure out what's in the best interest of all the children in the building," Calderon-Melendez said.

While he was shoving public school students around, he was taking public money and failing to pay taxes on it.

It is good to see an attorney general go after some of this fraud against public schools. More states need to do so.

I have trouble understanding why people are not concerned about the harm being done to public education as money is given to "reformers", thus depriving the schools of their due.

January 15, 2013

Google cache of The Atlantic's David Miscavige scientology ad that looked like an article.

The Atlantic Posts Sponsored Article on Scientology, Then Pulls It

Last night The Atlantic posted a sponsored article on Scientology titled “David Miscavige Leads Scientology to Milestone Year.” It was exactly what it sounds like — a celebratory ad for Scientology, complete with overwhelmingly positive comments from readers.

The article was also formatted exactly like any other Atlantic piece — save “sponsor content” written at the top — so people started questioning the ethics of it. And just as soon as people started criticizing the article, the Atlantic yanked the piece (here is a Google cache version of it).

Mediabistro updates the article with the apology from The Atlantic:

UPDATE (12:20 pm):
We just received this official statement from The Atlantic:

We screwed up. It shouldn’t have taken a wave of constructive criticism — but it has — to alert us that we’ve made a mistake, possibly several mistakes. We now realize that as we explored new forms of digital advertising, we failed to update the policies that must govern the decisions we make along the way. It’s safe to say that we are thinking a lot more about these policies after running this ad than we did beforehand. In the meantime, we have decided to withdraw the ad until we figure all of this out. We remain committed to and enthusiastic about innovation in digital advertising, but acknowledge — sheepishly — that we got ahead of ourselves. We are sorry, and we’re working very hard to put things right.

Here's the google cache:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fsponsored%2Fscientology%2Farchive%2F2013%2F01%2Fdavid-miscavige-leads-scientology-to-milestone-year-%2F266958%2F&oq=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fsponsored%2Fscientology%2Farchive%2F2013%2F01%2Fdavid-miscavige-leads-scientology-to-milestone-year-%2F266958%2F&sugexp=chrome,mod=16&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8



The title is "David Miscavige Leads Scientology to Milestone Year"

The subtitle:

"Under ecclesiastical leader David Miscavige, the Scientology religion expanded more in 2012 than in any 12 months of its 60-year history."

2012 was a milestone year for Scientology, with the religion expanding to more than 10,000 Churches, Missions and affiliated groups, spanning 167 nations--figures that represent a growth rate 20 times that of a decade ago.

The driving force behind this unparalleled era of growth is David Miscavige, ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion. Mr. Miscavige is unrelenting in his work for millions of parishioners and the cities served by Scientology Churches. He has led a renaissance for the religion itself, while driving worldwide programs to serve communities through Church-sponsored social and humanitarian initiatives.

David Miscavige spearheaded a program to build every Church of Scientology into what Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard termed "Ideal Organizations" (Ideal Orgs). This new breed of Church is ideal in location, design, quality of religious services and social betterment programs. Each is uniquely configured to accommodate the full array of Scientology services for both parishioners and the surrounding community. Ideal Orgs further house extensive public information multimedia displays that introduce every facet of Dianetics and Scientology, along with libraries, course and seminar rooms for an introduction to and study of Scientology Scripture. Chapels serve to host Sunday Services and other congregational gatherings.

The Atlantic was right on one point. They should have figured out their mistake before all the outcry about an ad that looked like an article. Misleading on purpose.

January 13, 2013

Mother Crusader, NJ parent blogger, has righteous rant about ed reformers. Good read.

This is a parent who got fed up with the way reformers are taking over New Jersey public education.

A Foot Soldier In Rhee's Army Giving Orders To New Jersey

She speaks of the "sheer hubris and arrogance" of the reformers.

I was dragged into this ed reform cesspool almost 2 years ago now, when a group of people with little to no connection to the schools of my community attempted to open a charter school. Despite the lack of community support, they were able to get the backing of a demi-billionaire, the NJDOE and the USDOE. We had to fight like hell to keep "reforms" the majority of our parents and educators didn't want OUT of our district.

She writes about how Michelle Rhee and her group gave a report card in which New Jersey got a D in spite of Chris Christie's massive "reform" efforts. In fact the only two states which got Bs were Florida and Louisiana with the worst test scores and poorly paid teachers.

This morning, when I read John Mooney's NJ Spotlight piece, all of the anger I felt when outside forces were threatening to damage the great schools in my community, came right back up to the surface.

The piece is about the newly launched StudentsFirst rating system, which in reality is nothing more than Rhee throwing a Toddlers & Tiaras worthy temper tantrum that States aren't adopting the policies she advocates. Her rating system has already been decimated by Diane Ravitch and Jersey Jazzman as complete buffoonery.

Here is a link to the Mooney article referred to in the paragraph above.

NJ Touts Educational Reforms But Earns D on One Nationwide Report Card

He had this to say about Rhee's report card:

“It’s clearly an ideological report and not about student achievement,” he continued. “If it was, we’d rank at the top. All it does is measure the Legislature’s willingness to follow Michelle Rhee’s agenda, and obviously that's not selling very well."

Scroll down to the end of the post. She has a picture of the head of the NJ chapter of Students First making gang hand signs. He posted them in an album on Facebook.

There is a post in the comments that sums up the stupidity of such an action.

I blacked out the identifying information, but the comment ON the photo is from the student IN the photo. Her comment is hysterical, and absolutely appropriate.

I hope you are not doing that on the streets, you'll get your ass shot.

It's a good read because parents are fed up now as well. Darcie Cimarusti is a strong and outspoken leader. True grassroots.

January 9, 2013

I can't imagine having to fight to keep a foreign company from taking my land without permission.

That's seems to be what's happening in Texas right now. That's what Eleanor Fairchild was doing in October when she was arrested on her own property for protesting TransCanada’s construction of its Gulf Coast tar-sands pipeline.

But she had been fighting this intrusion on her property for a while. This video was uploaded March 2011.

Here is more from October this year when she and Darryl Hannah were arrested.

Texas grandmother arrested for trespassing on her own land to protest Keystone

Who’s Eleanor Fairchild? No one you’ve heard of. The important part isn’t who she is, it’s why she was arrested and where she was when it happened. Fairchild was arrested for trespassing. And when it happened, she was standing on her own property.

.."The pipeline being built is the last stretch of a connection from Alberta to the Gulf Coast. After the government signed off on construction, TransCanada moved quickly to secure right-of-way. In the process, it has faced strong resistance from landowners. Even some who signed lease deals with TransCanada believe the company misrepresented its intent. And when landowners wouldn’t sign deals, TransCanada successfully persuaded Texas to seize private land for the project.

That’s exactly what happened to Fairchild. According to TarSandsBlockade.org, Fairchild “never signed a contract with the Canadian pipeline company, who, in turn, proceeded to expropriate her ranch through Texas’ lax eminent domain legal proceedings.” In the eyes of the state of Texas, the land, condemned, isn’t Fairchild’s. Fairchild seems justifiably inclined to disagree.

Please note the company's statement about their arrest. They referred to out-of-state activists who were choosing to break the law.

“It is unfortunate Ms. Hannah and other out-of-state activists have chosen to break the law by illegally trespassing on private property,” David Dodson, a spokesman for TransCanada, said in an email. He also said protesters were “putting their own safety and the safety of others at risk.”

I know this has been written about here before, but I ran across this video of Eleanor Fairchild and her fight to keep her land. She mentions that 87 acres of her land will no longer be accessible to her.

Kudos to her for trying.

There is a good post in the comments section. Seems once again the world is watching.

We read about you in the big national papers in Sweden, Europe, and I think that you are such a brave woman!

January 8, 2013

Esquire writes about Michelle Rhee and the empire she built.

The education reform efforts of Michelle Rhee are finally getting attention in some media, and it is not always the glowing praise she is used to receiving.

And Frontline tonight. Hope they are fair and honest.

The Empire Michelle Rhee Built

The author speaks of the problem with the education "reform" movement...."it is shot through root and branch with patent-medicine remedies pitched by for-profit grifters and hustlers."

They have their own genre of richly financed propaganda, like 2010's Waiting for Superman and this year's Won't Back Down. There are an awful lot of hedge-fund gunslingers involved in the movement toward charter schools, a phenomenon about which, to his eternal credit, Bob Somerby — who actually has taught in the public schools — has been banging his tin drum at The Daily Howler for some time now. (It should also be said that Somerby's knee does not jerk. He readily gives some reform programs, and even some of Rhee's work, the props he thinks they deserve.) Some of the hustlers, alas, have the ear of this administration, and one of those people is Michelle Rhee.

Rhee's entire (and very lucrative) career as a proponent of educational "reform" is based on her time as chancellor of the public schools in Washington, D.C. Between 2007 and 2010, she did everything that sends a thrill up the leg of the "reform" community. She bashed teachers, scapegoated principals, and shined up her own armor for public consumption every chance she got. She also instituted a system of standardized testing by which Michelle Rhee would be able to judge the awesome awesomeness of Michelle Rhee.

The article is very blunt about the standardized testing industry.

Standardized testing is a crack cocaine of education. It is rife with problems. It is also a multimillion industry without which might not exist, among other things, The Washington Post. A reliance on standardized testing as a metric for progress is generally a reliable "tell" that "reform" has ended and that the grift has begun. A reliance on standardized testing as a metric for progress — and, it should be said, as a Procrustean scoreboard to judge whether a teacher, an administrator, or a school system are doing their jobs properly — almost guarantees that some finagling with the numbers will take place. It is a sub rosa way to install a corporate model on public education and, since the corporate model for everything in this country right now is a moral and ethical quagmire, it encourages cheating on a massive scale. Hence, the very real possibility that the empire built by Michelle Rhee, tough-talking "reformer," may be built upon a wilderness of crib sheets.

The ending paragraph really hit home for me as a retired teacher.

The current model for education "reform" in this country — a corporate model with transparency problems and severely decreased political accountability — is broken. Handing over "our" schools to hedge-fund managers, and to the people like Michelle Rhee who volunteer as well-remunerated middle managers, privatizes public education without having the basic cojones to admit that it's happening. This is not the way it's supposed to work.

Another of the "reformers" whose policies tend to be punitive toward teachers, had this to say in 2009 on Arne Duncan's appointment as Secretary of Education.

Eli Broad: "with election of Obama and his appointment of Duncan, the stars are aligned"

The election of President Barack Obama and his appointment of Arne Duncan, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, as the U.S. secretary of education, marked the pinnacle of hope for our work in education reform. In many ways, we feel the stars have finally aligned.

With an agenda that echoes our decade of investments—charter schools, performance pay for teachers, accountability, expanded learning time and national standards—the Obama administration is poised to cultivate and bring to fruition the seeds we and other reformers have planted. (emphasis added)

Crossposted at Daily Kos

January 8, 2013

Michelle Rhee's group gave D and F grades to most states in this country for their school policies.

First may I say that I would not trust this group to judge education in all the states. Well, they call it judging education "policy", but basically it does judge those states by Michelle Rhee's criteria of education reform.

Just picture this Students First group's credibility after watching this ad against public education in America which aired during the Olympics.

Michelle Rhee's group defends offensive ad that targets schools and overweight people.

How much credibility can you possibly give to a group that defends ridiculing teachers and public education during the Olympics on TV.

Here is the ranking and grades of the states given by Michelle Rhee's group Students First.

Report Card by Students First

43 Alabama F 0.67
39 Alaska D- 0.75
8 Arizona C- 1.85
26 Arkansas D 1.15
41 California F 0.69
9 Colorado C- 1.83
18 Connecticut D+ 1.35
11 Delaware C- 1.75
4 District of Columbia C+ 2.40
2 Florida B- 2.73
15 Georgia D+ 1.42
7 Hawaii C- 1.88
40 Idaho D- 0.71
29 Illinois D 1.13
3 Indiana C+ 2.46
45 Iowa F 0.58
36 Kansas D- 0.83
35 Kentucky D- 0.88
1 Louisiana B- 2.88
21 Maine D 1.23
17 Maryland D+ 1.38
14 Massachusetts D+ 1.54
6 Michigan C- 1.94
26 Minnesota D 1.15
32 Mississippi D 1.00
34 Missouri D- 0.94
48 Montana F 0.44
48 Nebraska F 0.44
21 Nevada D 1.23
41 New Hampshire F 0.69
21 New Jersey D 1.23
26 New Mexico D 1.15
21 New York D 1.23
32 North Carolina D 1.00
51 North Dakota F 0.40
10 Ohio C- 1.77
13 Oklahoma D+ 1.58
37 Oregon D- 0.81
19 Pennsylvania D+ 1.33
5 Rhode Island C+ 2.33
30 South Carolina D 1.02
44 South Dakota F 0.60
11 Tennessee C- 1.75
30 Texas D 1.02
25 Utah D 1.21
46 Vermont F 0.48
38 Virginia D- 0.77
16 Washington D+ 1.40
48 West Virginia F 0.44
20 Wisconsin D+ 1.31
46 Wyoming F 0.48

There is also a map.

Report Card Students First

The Baltimore Sun has an article about this. I think they should have been stronger in their opposition to such a biased group grading all the states.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bal-michelle-rhees-organization-gives-maryland-reform-a-d-20130107,0,6349395.story?track=rss

Michelle Rhee's education group gives Maryland a D.

A controversial set of national report cards issued this week by StudentsFirst--the advocacy and lobbying organization started by former Washington, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee-- gave Maryland's educational policies and reforms a grade of D+ in a state-by-state analysis.

The report cards were issued in an interactive map on the StudentsFirst website. The organization analyzed three key areas, and several sub-groups, assessing states' ability to 1.) empower parents, 2.) elevate teachers, and 3.) spend wisely and govern well.

Maryland received an overall grade of D or D+ in those three umbrella categories. You can see the state's full report card by clicking here.

The categories reflect and encompass several policy approaches championed by Rhee and that align with the StudentsFirst organization's platform. The organization issued Rhee's old stomping ground, Washington D.C., a grade of C+. The highest grades of B- were issued to Louisiana to Florida.

To paraphrase:

By "empowering" parents they put the blame only on teachers. Parents and students off scott free. By "elevating" teachers they mean tying their pay and job security on how the students score on a multiple choice test. By "spending wisely and governing well" they mean merit pay and getting rid of continuing contracts given after 3 to 5 years to good teacher. In other words making sure that other states like Florida no longer offer tenure to teachers.

These are the policies of our national Department of Education.

People like Michelle Rhee get away with it because it IS policy. And because no one wants anyone else to be critical of that policy.

And that's a shame.

January 6, 2013

Massachusetts, meet your new Secretary of Education.

Broad Disciple with Checkered Past Becomes New MA Ed Chief

Teachers scoring a 2.77 out of 5.0 on the new evaluation schemes proliferating across the U.S. would face some extra "professional development" to grind out some higher scores next year. If you are MA superintendent getting that score, however, and if you have been one of Eli Broad's "chosen" rock stars for the past decade, then you could find yourself selected by the governor to become the chief ed official in your state. Such is the fate of Matt Malone (Broad Class of 2003), who recently escaped the likelihood of being canned by the Brockton School Committee just in time to be appointed Secretary of Education by Governor Patrick. Malone's brief stay in Brockton followed a rocky tenure at Swampscott, where he received a no confidence vote (136-8) by Swampscott teachers.

Florida just got the failed education commissioner from Illinois, Tony Bennett. And in 2011 Rahm appointed Jean-Claude Brizard to run Chicago schools.

He left Rochester with a huge vote of no confidence by teachers there. He already left Chicago under a shadow.

Seems not to matter about reputations of superintendents or commissioners of education. There's a national trend now to just move them from place to place, no matter if they have failed in their jobs.

How to tell if your district is infected by the Broad Virus

Be aware though it is not just the Broad-trained superintendents. Other foundations like Gates and Skillman have their share of those who are harmful to public education.

From last year:

Chicago has just learned that it will inherit Rochester, New York’s controversial and unpopular school superintendent, Jean-Claude Brizard (Broad Superintendent’s Academy Class of 2007). Those of us who have experienced the “leadership” of L.A. billionaire Eli Broad’s trained superintendents send Chicago our condolences. We have been there, done that, with scars to show for it, and nothing in the way of real academic or positive gains for our schools and kids.

In fact, the Broad brand has been seriously tarnished lately, to the point where it really should be considered a liability rather than an asset. Here are just a few examples of Broad superintendents who have been ousted or left their districts in a cloud of controversy: LaVonne Sheffield (Broad Superintendents Academy “Class of 2002? – resigned), Rockford, Ill.; Maria Goodloe-Johnson (Broad “Class of 2003? - fired), Seattle, Wa.; Matthew H. Malone (Broad “Class of 2003? – resigned) former superintendent of Swampscott, MA; Deborah Sims (Broad “Class of 2005?- resigned), Antioch, CA. From The Broad Report Blog

Meanwhile, Detroit can’t seem to shake its power-hungry Emergency Financial Manager Bob Bobb (Broad Academy “Class of 2005) whose illegal control of the Detroit School District was stopped in court, but has been recently ratified by a law signed by extremist Republican Governor Rick Snyder.

..."What’s striking is the similarity of the reigns of terror and error of these Broad ‘graduates.’ Disturbingly so, in fact. Many of the above earned No Confidence votes from their district’s teachers, and from parents too. All meted out a top-down dictatorial approach. Most alienated parents. Many closed schools. A number had questionable audits on their watch. More than one had false or questionable data to support their reforms. All commanded large salaries with perqs, while at the same time slashing services for kids and closing schools in the name of financial scarcity. A number of them avoided informing the elected school board of their plans or actively withheld information from them, effectively bypassing democracy.

Accountability appears to be only for public school teachers. Parents, students, educational leaders seem exempt from criticism. Public schools, public school teachers pay the price when there is no political party taking their side.

January 6, 2013

DCF Wants Unlicensed Religious Children's Home Closed

Source: The Lakeland Ledger.

State officials asked a judge Friday to shut down an unlicensed Port St. Lucie children's home that for years has been allowed to operate despite evidence it has hurt kids in its care.

In an 80-page petition, attorneys for the Department of Children and Families cataloged more than a dozen incidents in which its investigators found evidence children were neglected, injured or otherwise mistreated while in the care of Alan Weierman, the self-professed "colonel" who runs Southeastern Military Academy.

The agency says the home must be shut down because it operates with no state license and has failed to get other state-recognized credentials, such as private school accreditation.

The state's action was prompted by a Tampa Bay Times investigation that chronicled Weierman's more than two decades running religious homes in Florida.

Read more: http://www.theledger.com/article/20130105/NEWS/130109700?p=all&tc=pgall

---

Here is an earlier article about the abuse in these Florida centers exempted from regulation because of religious reasons.

The article is long, but it is important reading. I am listing links to two videos at the end. One boy's foot is swollen and cut, and his urine was bloody. They told him he was okay.

Children were reportedly hurt at nearly a dozen Florida facilities.

The sun had not yet risen over the Christian military home when Samson Lehman collapsed for the sixth time. Still, he said, they made him run.

The screaming, the endless exercise, it was all in the name of God, a necessary step at the Gateway Christian Military Academy on the path to righteousness.

So when Samson vomited, they threw him a rag. When his urine turned red, they said that was normal.

By Day 3, the 15-year-old was on the verge of death, his dehydrated organs shutting down.

Two videos of the abuse. It was not just the Florida School for Boys at Mariana, Florida, it is still going on. They shut down the School for Boys, and now they are realizing it is still going on.

http://bcove.me/jcxi7srh

http://bcove.me/rr0j49vr

January 4, 2013

Public schools in TX lay off staff, cut programs, etc while charters get millions. Video, article.

http://www.kvue.com/news/Federal-grants-put-funding-into-hands-of-some-school-districts-184847831.html

"When Texas lawmakers slashed education funding in the last session, school districts took a hit. Many of them were forced to close programs, lay off employees or shut down campuses.

With state funding running low, some Texas districts looked to a federal program called Race to the Top for help. In its first year to accept applications from individual school districts, educators took advantage.

"They need something to happen. Austin needs something to happen to keep us competitive," Rae Nwosu with Education Austin said.

About 117 applications came into the Race to the Top program from Texas districts alone, including Austin. But the competition was tough. About 372 applications came in nationwide, but only 16 won grants."

January 4, 2013

Baltimore Sun: Why Al Jazeera buying Current TV is a good thing for media, country.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-al-jazeera-current-gore-good-thing-20130103,0,6761063.story

A few quotes from the article.

The lack of access to Al Jazeera English on cable TV makes me wonder what kind of sheep we are as media consumers -- and what kind of mice we have as media critics that cable companies can get away with not offering this option even as they they offer a sea of channels devoted to shopping and reruns of lame network shows from previous decades.

Philip Seib, author of "The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics," had a one-word answer when I asked him why the channel is not available in cities like Baltimore: "Politics."

..."El-Nawawy, an associate professor at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina, explains the lack of access in part by saying, "The cable carriers are afraid to carry it, because they don't want to alienate their constituents, they don't want to alienate their viewers, they don't want to go out of the box, they want to stay in their comfort zone. They play it safe."

"Viewership of Al Jazeera is going up in the United States because it's real news," Hillary Clinton told a Senate Foreign Affairs panel in 2011. "You may not agree with it, but you feel like you're getting real news around the clock instead of millions of commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which, you know, is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners.

I have read the Brighthouse and Time Warner are not going to carry the channel.

It appears that "Comcast, Dish, DirecTV, Verizon and AT&T have agreed to the switch from Current to Al Jazeera America."

Good for them.

Here is a page from their online site. It is called Inside Story Americas

A few of the articles:

Does spying on Americans protect the US?

What is behind the fiscal cliff standoff.

Have US police forces become too militarised?