PAKET UMROH BULAN FEBRUARI MARET APRIL MEI 2018

SUZUKI CARRY OLENG DAN TABRAK PEMBATAS JALAN

saco-indonesia.com, Sebuah minibus jenis Suzuki Carry dengan nomor polisi B 1861 UFQ telah menabrak pembatas jalan yang berada tepat di depan Kompleks Gudang Peluru, Tebet, Jakarta Selatan Kamis (30/1) dini hari. Mobil malang tersebut oleng lantaran kondisi jalan yang rusak parah saat melaju dari arah Kampung Melayu menuju Casablanca.

Akibat serudukan ke pembatas jalan, bagian kanan depan mobil tersebut telah rusak parah. Usai telah menabrak pembatas jalan, mobil ini juga langsung melintang di tengah jalan dalam posisi ke arah sebaliknya.

Sopir yang diketahui bernama Said yang berusia (35) tahun itu telah menderita luka-luka di bagian kakinya dan langsung dilarikan ke Rumah Sakit setempat.

"Pas jalan tiba-tiba mobil itu oleng karena jalanan yang berlubang. Abis oleng langsung nabrak pembatas jalan terus langsung berbalik arah gitu posisinya," ujar salah satu saksi mata, Nur yang berusia (45) tahun saat ditemui di lokasi, Kamis (30/1).

Tak lama setelah kejadian, petugas dari Polsek Tebet pun tiba di lokasi dan memperingatkan sejumlah pengendara yang telah melintas di lokasi akan kondisi jalan yang berlubang akibat banjir.

Editor : Dian Sukmawati

5 Cara Makan Agar Terhindar Sakit Kronis

KOMPAS.com - Beberapa penyakit kronis yang diderita sekarang, seperti diabetes, hipertensi, stroke, jantung dan sebagainya berkaitan erat dengan apa yang kita masukkan ke dalam perut kita, atau apa yang kita makan. Sayangnya, ditengah-tengah kesibukan kehidupan modern sekarang ini, apa yang kita masukkan itu sering luput dari perhatian kita, maka tidak heran penyakit-penyakit itu menjadi pembunuh utama kita sekarang ini.

Beberapa tips di bawah ini mudah-mudahan dapat membantu Anda.

1. Makanlah hanya pada saat lapar

Makanlah saat Anda lapar bukan pada saat Anda sedih, bosan, stres, ada resepsi, undangan, atau hanya karena ada makanan yang gratis, makanan yang kelihatan menggugah selera. Bila Anda makan karena alasan ini, maka makanan yang Anda konsumsi biasanya cendrung tidak sehat, berlebihan, dan apa yang menjadi tujuan dari makan sendiri untuk memelihara tubuh, kenikmatan, kepuasan  memperoleh enerji yang cukup tidak akan tercapai, malah sebaliknya, penyakit yang akan Anda dapatkan. Tapi, bila Anda makan hanya waktu lapar nikmatnya makanan itu akan lebih Anda rasakan. Di samping itu, Anda tidak perlu makan berlebihan, sampai kekenyangan, agar Anda puas, merasa sudah cukup, tapi kalau Anda makan karena sedih, bosan, stres, lagi bersenang-senang, Anda memerlukan makanan yang lebih banyak.

2. Makanlah masakan dari dapur Anda sendiri

Mengkonsumsi makanan yang Anda beli di luar, dengan makanan yang Anda masak sendiri pasti tidak sama kualitas dan pengaruhnya. Makanan yang dari dapur Anda, Anda sendiri yang menentukan apa yang akan Anda masak, mau memasak daging, ikan, sayur, berapa banyaknya, apa bumbunya, berapa garamnya, dan bagaimana memasaknya. Apa yang Anda masak, apa bumbunya, berapa garam yang Anda masukkan, bagaimana memasaknya akan menentukan kualitas makanan yang akan Anda makan. Di samping itu, aktivitas di dapur yang Anda lakukan dapat menjadi sesuatu yang menyenangkan, dan membakar cadangan energi Anda. Bila anda makan di luar, yang menentukan sesuatumya adalah kokinya, tidak hanya cara mengolahnya, tetapi juga apa yang harus Anda makan. Sayangnya, dapur kita sekarang sudah jarang berasap.

3. Pilihlah piring yang lebih kecil

Apa, berapa, dan bagaimana makanan yang Anda taruh dalam piring Anda akan mempengaruhi selera makan Anda, rasa puas, kenyang, dan kesan yang Anda lihat melalui mata juga akan akan mempengarhui porsi makanan Anda. Piring yang lebih kecil yang Anda pilih memberi kesan bahwa makanan yang ditaruh di atasnya kelihatan menjadi lebih banyak. Ini dapat mencegah Anda makan lebih banyak juga

4. Makanlah lebih sedikit, tetapi lebih sering

Dalam keadaan serba sibuk sekarang ini, ada kecendrungan orang makan 1-2 kali saja sehari, tetapi dalam porsi yang besar. Banyak yang tidak sempat makan pagi, kompensasinya mereka makan siang dalam jumlah yang besar atau sebaliknya. Makan dengan pola ini ternyata tidak sehat, memberikan beban belebihan pada perut Anda dalam sekaligus, dengan bermacam keluhan seperti, perut tidak nyaman,  menyesak, mual, muntah, cegukan, dan pengolahan, penyerapan makanan tidak sempurna. Bahkan banyak laporan kejadian serangan jantung akibat pola makan seperti ini.

Di samping itu, makan  banyak sekaligus, apalagi Anda mengkonsumsi makanan yang indeks glikemiknya tinggi, makanan kurang mengandung serat, kadar gula darah Anda dapat naik mendadak, yang kemudian juga memacu pelepasan Insulin dalam jumlah besar. Pelepasan insulin dalam jumlah besar ini mengakibat gula darah turun cepat juga, sehingga menimbulkan gejala seperti letih, mood anda terganggu, mmengantuk dan Anda cendrung mencari makanan ringan yang manis-manis. Sebaliknya, makan lebih sedikit, tetapi lebih sering, disamping sehat untuk sistem pencernaan, juga dapat mempertahankan gula darah Anda lebih stabil. Karena itu kebiasaan ini  bisa mengurangi risiko ancaman diabetes. Jadi, biasakanlah makan dalam porsi lebih kecil tetapi frekwensi lebih sering. Ada ahli yang menganjurkan 4-5 kali dalam sehari lebih untuk Anda.

5. Makanlah dengan rileks, santai, dan pelan-pelan

Karena merasa waktu yang sempit, diburu target, banyak dari kita yang makan sekarang ini,  dibawah tekanan, dalam keadaan stres, saat menonton TV, di depan komputer, di atas meja kerjai, sedang berjalan, bahkan selagi membawa kendaraan. Bila Anda tidak fokus dengan makanan di depan Anda, disamping Anda tidak dapat menikmati makanan itu, sistem pencernaan anda juga akan terganngu. Anda juga cendrung makan dalam porsi berlebihan. Sebaiknya makanlah dalam  keadaan tenang, pelan-pelan. Makan dengan situasi begini memberi Anda kesempatan menikmati makanan lebih baik, mengunyah lebih lama dan sistem pencernaan kita juga berkerja lebih sempurna.

Makan terburu-buru, misalnya 1-2 piring sudah habis Anda santap dalam 10 menit, atau kurang, tetapi Anda masih belum merasa kenyang, puas,  ini disebabkan oleh refleks puas, kenyang yang sampai ke otak kita perlu waktu sekitar  20 menit setelah kita mulai makan. Jadi, kalau Anda makan terburu-buru Anda juga cendrung makan dalam jumlah yang lebih besar. Anda baru tahu bahwa Anda makan berlebihan beberapa saat setelah Anda berhenti makan.

Bila 5 kiat di atas dapat Anda jalani, Insya Allah di samping kemungkinan Anda menjadi penyandang beberapa penyakit kronis, diabetes, hipertensi, jantung, stroke dapat diperkecil, tubuh Anda juga akan lebih cantik dan sehat.

DEFINITION OF EMOTIONAL SPIRITUAL QUOTIENT (SQ)

Emotional Spiritual Quotient (ESQ)

Emotional Spiritual Quotient (ESQ) is a combination of EQ and SQ , the merger between emotional intelligence and spiritual control. The benefits that can be achieved it is a balance between horizontal relationship (human to human) and Vertical (man and God). Emotional Spiritual Quotient (ESQ) is the ability to synergize IQ, EQ and SQ. Emotional Spiritual Quotient (ESQ) can make someone to interpret his life as worship to the God, He is integrative thinking by understanding the overall living conditions. A person who has the ability Emotional Spiritual Quotient (ESQ) tall would think from within, not from the outside and not be affected by interference from outside.

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TANDA-TANDA HAJI MABRUR

Tanda Haji Mabrur

Zuhud Terhadap Dunia

Para ulama kita menyebutkan tanda-tanda haji yang mabrur, diantaranya Imam Hasan Al Bashri rahimahullah berkata: (Haji yang mabrur adalah agar ia pulang dari ibadah haji menjadi orang yang zuhud dalam kehidupan dunia dan cinta akhirat). Allah berfirman yang artinya: “Dan carilah (pahala) negeri akhirat dengan apa yang telah dianugerahkan Allah kepadamu, tetapi janganlah kamu lupa bagianmu di dunia”. (Surat Al-Qashash: 77)

Orang yang zuhud bukan berarti orang yang hanya beribadah di masjid dan tidak mau bekerja mencari harta untuk nafkah anak dan isteri tapi orang yang zuhud orang yang tidak diperbudak oleh hartanya, dunia boleh berada di tangannya tidak di hatinya, aktifitasnya dalam kehidupan dunia tidak melalaikannya dari ingat kepada Allah, melaksanakan shalat yang lima waktu tepat pada waktunya, tidak memutuskan silaturahmi, tetap rajin menuntut ilmu islam lalu mengamalkan dan menda’wahkannya, tidak melupakan tanggung jawab mendidik isteri dan anak-anak. Orang yang zuhud adalah orang yang penghasilannya dari yang halal, bukan dari hasil renten, riba, suap, korupsi, mencuri, judi, pungli, memeras, menipu, memakan hak orang lain. Semoga Allah mengaruniakan kita semua rezeki yang halal, baik dan berkah serta dijauhkan dari segala pendapatan yang haram, amin!

Lebih Baik Dari Sebelumnya Dalam Segala Hal

Ada lagi yang mengatakan diantara tanda haji yang mabrur adalah setelah pulang dari menunaikan ibadah haji, ia menjadi lebih baik dari sebelumnya .

1. Dalam Hal Tauhid

Menjadi lebih baik dalam hal tauhid. Jika ada diantara jamaah haji yang sebelum hajinya masih suka pergi ke dukun untuk minta kekayaan, anak, jodoh, cepat naik pangkat dan lain-lain maka setelah kita haji hendaklah kita tinggalkan hal tersebut dan bertaubat kepada Allah karena Rasulullah bersabda  yang artinya, “Barangsiapa mendatangi tukang ramal atau dukun lalu membenarkan apa yang dikatakannya, maka ia telah kafir dengan apa yang telah diturunkan kepada Muhammad”. (HR. Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidzi, Ibnu Majah, dishahihkan oleh Al-Albani dalam Al-Irwa` no. 2006)

Barangsiapa yang sebelum ia haji, suka menyembelih sapi atau lainnya untuk dijadikan sebagai tumbal atau sesajen maka sekarang harus meninggalkannya dan menyembelih kurban hanya untuk Allah karena Allah berfirman yang artinya: “Maka dirikanlah shalat karena Rabbmu dan berkorbanlah” (Surat Al- Kautsar 2).

“Katakanlah sesungguhnya shalatku, sesembelihanku, hidup dan matiku hanya untuk Allah Rabbul Alamin tidak ada sekutu baginya” (Surat Al-An’aam: 162)

Barangsiapa yang sebelum ia haji, masih mempercayai ramalan bintang maka tinggalkanlah dan bertawakallah kepada Allah semata.

Barangsiapa yang sebelum hajinya masih mengkeramatkan keris dan jimat-jimat, maka sekarang musnahkanlah segala jimat yang kita miliki.

Barangsiapa yang sebelum hajinya masih suka meruwat bumi untuk menghindarkan bencana, maka sekarang bertaubatlah dan tinggalkan upacara syirik itu, bergantunglah kepada Allah karena yang dapat menghindarkan bencana hanya Allah semata.

Barangsiapa yang sebelum hajinya masih mengkeramatkan sapi yang dikeluarkan setiap tanggal sepuluh Muharram bahkan berebut untuk memperoleh kotorannya yang dianggap dapat memberikan berkah, maka ketahuilah itu adalah perbuatan syirik.

Barangsiapa yang sebelum hajinya masih meyakini bahwa nasib sial akan menimpanya jika bepergian hari Selasa atau Sabtu juga untuk menentukan waktu pernikahan harus dihitung secara cermat karena kalau tidak pas harinya akan menimbulkan kesialan, maka itu semua adalah syirik. Allah tidak mengampuni dosa syirik kecuali jika pelakunya bertaubat, sesungguhnya Allah Maha Penerima taubat. Allah mengharamkan surga bagi orang yang berbuat syirik. Adapun orang-orang yang beriman dan tidak mencampur adukkan keimanan mereka dengan kesyirikan maka mereka mendapatkan keamanan dan hidayah dari Allah Taala.

2. Dalam Hal Ibadah

Hendaklah jamaah haji memperbaiki ibadahnya kepada Allah, shalat yang lima waktu jangan sampai ditinggalkan, zakat maal harus dikeluarkan dan shaum di bulan Ramadhan harus dijalankan. Segala ibadah kita laksanakan dengan penuh rasa cinta kepada Allah yang telah memberikan kepada kita nikmat yang tidak terhingga. Kita siap korbankan harta, tenaga dan waktu kita demi menggapai ridha Allah.

3. Dalam Hal Muamalah

Hendaklah kita perbaiki muamalah kita dengan orang tua yang telah melahirkan dan mendidik kita sejak kecil. Jangan sampai kita menyakiti hati mereka dan hendaklah selalu berbakti dan memperlakukan mereka dengan sebaik-baiknya. Jika orang tua kita telah meninggal dunia hendaklah kita selalu mendoakan untuk mereka.

Muamalah Suami Isteri

Bagi para suami hendaklah perbaiki muamalah dengan isterinya jangan mudah marah dan membentak isterinya jika berbuat kesalahan. Lakukanlah hal-hal yang menyenangkan isteri selama tidak bertentangan dengan syariat. Didiklah isteri dengan nasehat, membawanya ke majelis ta’lim, membelikannya buku dan kaset ceramah yang bermanfaat. Juga didiklah isteri dengan memberi keteladanan. Rasulullah bersabda: “Sebaik-baik kalian adalah yang terbaik terhadap keluarganya dan saya adalah orang yang paling baik diantara kalian terhadap keluargaku”.

Bagi para isteri perbaikilah muamalah dengan suami jadilah isteri yang taat. Rasulullah bersabda: “Apabila wanita shalat yang lima waktu, berpuasa di bulan Ramadhan, taat kepada suaminya dan memelihara kemaluannya, maka ia masuk surga dari pintu-pintu mana saja yang ia mau”.

Ketaatan kepada suami dalam hal yang makruf saja adapun dalam hal maksiat tidak ada ketaatan kepada makhluk dalam hal maksiat kepada Allah Al-Khaliq. Ketika suami baru datang dari pekerjaan janganlah disambut dengan berbagai macam problem dan hal-hal yang tidak menyenangkan tetapi sambutlah dengan senyum, sediakanlah makan dan minum serta biarkanlah suami untuk istirahat dulu setelah itu barulah sampaikan segala problem yang ada niscaya suami sudah lebih siap untuk mendengarkannya.

Muamalah Orang Tua dan Anak

Bagi para orang tua perbaikilah dalam pendidikan terhadap anak-anak, mereka merupakan amanat yang kelak kita akan diminta pertanggungjawabannya di hari akhir. Didiklah mereka dengan memberikan contoh yang baik, sekolahkanlah mereka di tempat yang baik, awasilah pergaulan mereka. Selalulah berdoa kepada Allah agar melindungi dan menjaga mereka dari segala kejahatan dan keburukan karena doa orang tua untuk anaknya insya Allah mustajab.

Muamalah Kaum Muslimah

Bagi kaum muslimah perbaikilah dalam hal berbusana, tutuplah aurat anda dan jangan diperlihatkan kepada laki-laki yang bukan mahramnya. Allah berfirman: “Hai Nabi katakanlah kepada isteri-isterimu, anak-anak perempuanmu, dan isteri-isteri orang mukmin, (Hendaklah mereka mengulurkan jilbabnya ke seluruh tubuh mereka). Yang demikian itu supaya mereka lebih mudah untuk dikenal, karena itu mereka tidak diganggu. Dan Allah adalah Maha Pengampun lagi Maha Penyayang”. (Surat Al-Ahzab: 59)

“Katakanlah kepada wanita yang beriman, hendaklah mereka menahan pandangannya, dan memelihara kemaluannya, dan janganlah mereka menampakkan perhiasannya, kecuali yang (biasa) nampak dari padanya. Dan hendaklah mereka menutupkan kain kudung ke dadanya, dan janganlah menampakkan perhiasannya, kecuali kepada suami mereka, atau ayah mereka, atau ayah suami mereka, atau putera-putera mereka, atau putera-putera suami mereka, atau saudara-saudara laki-laki mereka, atau putera-putera saudara laki-laki mereka, atau putera-putera saudara perempuan mereka, atau wanita-wanita Islam atau budak-budak yang mereka miliki, atau pelayan-pelayan laki-laki yang tidak mempunyai keinginan (terhadap wanita) atau anak-anak yang belum mengerti tentang aurat wanita. Dan janganlah mereka memukulkan kakinya agar diketahui perhiasan yang mereka sembunyikan. Dan bertaubatlah kamu sekalian kepada Allah, hai orang-orang yang beriman supaya kamu beruntung”. (Surat An-Nuur: 31)

Rasulullah bersabda: “Ada dua golongan dari penduduk neraka yang belum pernah saya lihat keduanya (sebelum ini), (pertama) suatu kaum yang memiliki cambuk bagaikan ekor sapi yang digunakannya untuk memukul manusia dan (kedua) wanita yang berpakaian tapi telanjang berjalan berlenggak lenggok, kepala mereka seperti punuk unta, mereka tidak masuk surga dan tidak mencium bau surga padahal bau surga itu tercium dari jarak yang sekian dan sekian jauhnya”. (Hadits Shahih, Riwayat Muslim)

Masih banyak diantara jamaah haji wanita yang berpakaian tapi telanjang, belum sempurna menutup auratnya, masih ada yang terlihat lehernya, terlihat lengannya, menutup aurat dengan pakaian yang ketat sehingga membentuk lekak lekuk tubuhnya, berpakaian dengan bahan yang tipis dan transparan sehingga terlihat kulitnya, pada hakekatnya mereka masih telanjang dan diancam tidak masuk surga. Hendaklah jamaah haji wanita menjadi sadar setelah menangis dan memohon ampun kepada Allah pada saat wuquf di Arafah, apakah kita ulangi kembali dosa-dosa kita?

Hendaklah jamaah haji wanita menjadi teladan bagi kaum muslimah di tanah air yang sedang dilanda dekadensi akhlak dan moral, didiklah puteri-puteri kita agar berbusana muslimah, nasehatilah mereka agar tidak keluar rumah dengan menggunakan celana pendek, celana panjang lebih-lebih celana yang sangat ketat dan perutnya terlihat, innaalillahi wa innaa ilaihi rajiuun.

Hendaklah jamaah haji wanita berdandan dan bersolek mempercantik diri, tetapi untuk siapa? Bukan untuk orang-orang diluar rumah tapi untuk suami di rumah, kenyataan yang ada banyak dari kaum muslimah berdandan ketika keluar rumah padahal dilarang oleh Allah yang kita cintai, Allah berfirman: “Dan hendaklah kamu (isteri-isteri nabi) tetap di rumahmu dan janganlah kamu berhias dan bertingkah laku seperti orang-orang jahiliyah yang dahulu”. (Surat Al-Ahzab: 33)

Ayat ini berlaku juga untuk segenap kaum muslimah dan mukminah.

Rasulullah bersabda bahwa seorang wanita yang pergi keluar rumah dengan menggunakan parfum sehingga tercium oleh laki-laki lain, maka sesungguhnya ia itu pelacur. Setiap hari kita berdoa memohon hidayah kepada Allah, maka sudah menjadi kewajiban bagi kita untuk mempelajari jalan-jalan hidayah berupa ilmu yang bermanfaat karena masih banyak diantara jalan-jalan hidayah yang belum kita ketahui dibandingkan yang sudah kita ketahui. Jangan kita menganggap ini adalah hal yang baru kita dengar, kami sudah terbiasa dengan adat kami dan dalih-dalih lainnya yang tidak bisa diterima oleh syariat. Allah berfirman: “Dan apabila dikatakan kepada mereka: lkutilah apa yang telah diturunkan Allah mereka menjawab: Tidak, tetapi kami hanya mengikuti apa yang telah kami dapati dari (perbuatan) nenek moyang kami. (Apakah mereka akan mengikuti juga), walaupun nenek moyang mereka itu tidak mengetahui suatu apapun, dan tidak mendapat petunjuk?” (Surat Al-Baqarah: 170)

Dan firmanNya: “Dan tidaklah boleh bagi laki-laki yang mukmin dan tidak (pula) bagi perempuan yang mukmin, apabila Allah dan RasulNya telah menetapkan suatu ketetapan, akan ada bagi mereka pilihan (yang lain) tentang urusan mereka. Dan barangsiapa mendurhakai Allah dan RasulNya maka sungguhlah dia telah sesat, sesat yang nyata”. (Surat Al-Ahzab: 36)

Muamalah Secara Umum

Hendaklah kita semua memperbaiki diri dalam hal tanggung jawab kita memperbaiki masyarakat. Bentengi aqidah umat dengan menyebarkan ilmu yang bermanfaat, dengan saling nasehat menasehati untuk menepati kebenaran dan nasehat menasehati untuk menetapi kesabaran, dengan saling bekerjasama dalam hal kebaikan dan taqwa. Tidak sedikit umat Islam di Indonesia murtad dari agamanya disebabkan kelengahan dan kelalaian kita. Benar sebab mereka murtad adalah karena lemah iman ditambah lagi dengan lemah ekonomi, tapi apakah boleh kita diam dan berpangku tangan? Tidak, kita harus berbuat sesuai dengan kemampuan kita. Apabila kita tidak bisa mendidik mereka karena keterbatasan ilmu kita, ajaklah mereka untuk menghadiri majelis-majelis ilmu, bagikan buletin dan buku-buku Islam, pinjamkan kaset-kaset ceramah yang bermanfaat. Jika mereka malas bekerja berilah motivasi, jika mereka nganggur carikanlah pekerjaan untuk mereka, jika puteri-puteri kita sudah dewasa carikanlah untuk mereka suami yang baik keislamannya jangan kita biarkan mereka menikah dengan laki-laki kafir.

Apabila anda sebagai pejabat janganlah anda menghalangi dan mempersulit orang-orang yang ikhlas mengajak manusia untuk mentauhidkan Allah dan tidak berbuat syirik, untuk mengikuti sunnah Nabi dan tidak berbuat bid’ah.

Bagi orang tua yang mempunyai anak puteri memakai jilbab atau cadar dukunglah mereka dan banggalah terhadap anak anda yang taat kepada Allah, semoga Allah menghiasi puteri anda dengan akhlak yang baik pula.

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MENGETAHUI PISTOL TAK BERPELURU, WARGA BERANI KEROYOK PENCURI MOTOR

saco-indonesia.com, Garong motor yang berpistol tanpa peluru telah dihakimi oleh massa di Jalan Rajawali, Bandung, Senin malam. Tersangka S yang berusia 30 tahun , telah diselamatkan oleh petugas Polsek Andir saat sedang melakukan patroli. Dalam kondisi wajah babak belur, S kini telah mendekam di kamar tahanan Polsek Andir.

Kapolsek Andir Kompol Janter Nainggolan juga menjelaskan, Senin malam sekitar pukul 22.00 tersangka tertangkap basah saat mencuri motor. Warga telah berhasil mengepung dan menangkap pria tersebut kemudian telah menyiksanya secara berjamaah.

Untuk dapat menyelamat diri, tersangka mencoba mencabut pistol yang dibawanya. Sial, pistol yang akan ditembakkan ke angkasa untuk dapat membubarkan massa ternyata tidak berpelor. Warga terus mengepung dan menyiksanya.“Lagi disiksa di lokasi kejadian anggota patroli tiba dan menyelamatkan tersangka,“ tandas Kapolsek.

Janter juga menuturkan, hasil dari pemeriksaan tersangka sudah belasan kali mencuri motor di kota Bandung. Dia bermain sendirian dan barang hasil curian dijual rata rata Rp 2 juta ke pendahah di Bandung. Modusnya dengan mengincar motor yang diparkir di halaman rumah yang sepi.

Menyinggung senpi, demikian Kapolsek, jenis revolver rakitan. Senpi yang baru enam bulan dibeli dari temannya kini telah diamankan. “ Kami juga berhasil mengamankan senpi, satu motor, dan lima pelor yang ada di saku celana. Pistol itu tak berpelor, karena ada di saku celana,“ tambahnya.

Tersangka S, dalam pemeriksaan mengaku membeli senpi dari temanya Rp 2 juta. Tujuanya, kata dia, hanya untuk dapat menakut nakuti. “ Saya belum bisa menggunakan senpi itu,“ ucap tersangka.

Editor : Dian Sukmawati

Negative View of U.S. Race Relations Grows, Poll Finds

Public perceptions of race relations in America have grown substantially more negative in the aftermath of the death of a young black man who was injured while in police custody in Baltimore and the subsequent unrest, far eclipsing the sentiment recorded in the wake of turmoil in Ferguson, Mo., last summer.

Americans are also increasingly likely to say that the police are more apt to use deadly force against a black person, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll finds.

The poll findings highlight the challenges for local leaders and police officials in trying to maintain order while sustaining faith in the criminal justice system in a racially polarized nation.

Sixty-one percent of Americans now say race relations in this country are generally bad. That figure is up sharply from 44 percent after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown and the unrest that followed in Ferguson in August, and 43 percent in December. In a CBS News poll just two months ago, 38 percent said race relations were generally bad. Current views are by far the worst of Barack Obama’s presidency.

The negative sentiment is echoed by broad majorities of blacks and whites alike, a stark change from earlier this year, when 58 percent of blacks thought race relations were bad, but just 35 percent of whites agreed. In August, 48 percent of blacks and 41 percent of whites said they felt that way.

Looking ahead, 44 percent of Americans think race relations are worsening, up from 36 percent in December. Forty-one percent of blacks and 46 percent of whites think so. Pessimism among whites has increased 10 points since December.

Continue reading the main story

Do you think race relations in the United States are generally good or generally bad?

60

40

20

0

White

Black

May '14

May '15

Generally bad

 

 

Continue reading the main story

Do you think race relations in the United States are getting better, getting worse or staying about the same?

Getting worse

Staying the same

Getting better

Don't know/No answer

All adults

Whites

Blacks

44%

37

17

46

36

16

41

42

15

 

 

The poll finds that profound racial divisions in views of how the police use deadly force remain. Blacks are more than twice as likely to say police in most communities are more apt to use deadly force against a black person — 79 percent of blacks say so compared with 37 percent of whites. A slim majority of whites say race is not a factor in a police officer’s decision to use deadly force.

Overall, 44 percent of Americans say deadly force is more likely to be used against a black person, up from 37 percent in August and 40 percent in December.

Blacks also remain far more likely than whites to say they feel mostly anxious about the police in their community. Forty-two percent say so, while 51 percent feel mostly safe. Among whites, 8 in 10 feel mostly safe.

One proposal to address the matter — having on-duty police officers wear body cameras — receives overwhelming support. More than 9 in 10 whites and blacks alike favor it.

Continue reading the main story

How would you describe your feelings about the police in your community? Would you say they make you feel mostly safe or mostly anxious?

Mostly safe

Mostly anxious

Don't know/No answer

All adults

Whites

Blacks

75%

21

3

81

16

3

51

42

7

 

 

Continue reading the main story

In general, do you think the police in most communities are more likely to use deadly force against a black person, or more likely to use it against a white person, or don’t you think race affects police use of deadly force?

Police more likely to use deadly force against a black person

Police more likely to use deadly force against a white person

Race DOES NOT affect police use of deadly force

Don't know/No answer

All adults

Whites

Blacks

44%

37%

79%

2%

2%

1%

46%

53%

16%

9%

8%

4%

 

 

Continue reading the main story

Do you favor or oppose on-duty police officers wearing video cameras that would record events and actions as they occur?

Favor

Oppose

Don't know/No answer

All adults

Whites

Blacks

92%

93%

93%

6%

5%

5%

2%

2%

2%

 

 

Asked specifically about the situation in Baltimore, most Americans expressed at least some confidence that the investigation by local authorities would be conducted fairly. But while nearly two-thirds of whites think so, fewer than half of blacks agree. Still, more blacks are confident now than were in August regarding the investigation in Ferguson. On Friday, six members of the police force involved in the arrest of Mr. Gray were charged with serious offenses, including manslaughter. The poll was conducted Thursday through Sunday; results from before charges were announced are similar to those from after.

Reaction to the recent turmoil in Baltimore, however, is similar among blacks and whites. Most Americans, 61 percent, say the unrest after Mr. Gray’s death was not justified. That includes 64 percent of whites and 57 percent of blacks.

Continue reading the main story

As you may know, a Baltimore man, Freddie Gray, recently died after being in the custody of the Baltimore police. How much confidence do you have that the investigation by local authorities into this matter will be conducted fairly?

A lot

Some

Not much

None at all

Don't know/No answer

All adults

Whites

Blacks

29%

31

22

14

5

31

33

20

11

5

20

26

30

22

 

 

In general, do you think the unrest in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray was justified, or do you think the unrest was not justified?

Justified

Not justified

Don't know/No answer

All adults

Whites

Blacks

28%

61

11

26

64

11

37

57

6

 

 

Richard Suzman, 72, Dies; Researcher Influenced Global Surveys on Aging

At the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Suzman’s signature accomplishment was the central role he played in creating a global network of surveys on aging.

Dean Skelos, Albany Senate Leader, Aided Son at All Costs, U.S. Says

Over the last five years or so, it seemed there was little that Dean G. Skelos, the majority leader of the New York Senate, would not do for his son.

He pressed a powerful real estate executive to provide commissions to his son, a 32-year-old title insurance salesman, according to a federal criminal complaint. He helped get him a job at an environmental company and employed his influence to help the company get government work. He used his office to push natural gas drilling regulations that would have increased his son’s commissions.

He even tried to direct part of a $5.4 billion state budget windfall to fund government contracts that the company was seeking. And when the company was close to securing a storm-water contract from Nassau County, the senator, through an intermediary, pressured the company to pay his son more — or risk having the senator subvert the bid.

The criminal complaint, unsealed on Monday, lays out corruption charges against Senator Skelos and his son, Adam B. Skelos, the latest scandal to seize Albany, and potentially alter its power structure.

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The repeated and diverse efforts by Senator Skelos, a Long Island Republican, to use what prosecutors said was his political influence to find work, or at least income, for his son could send both men to federal prison. If they are convicted of all six charges against them, they face up to 20 years in prison for each of four of the six counts and up to 10 years for the remaining two.

Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, of Long Island, who serves as chairman of the Republican conference, emerged from a closed-door meeting Monday night to say that conference members agreed that Mr. Skelos should be benefited the “presumption of innocence,” and would stay in his leadership role.

“The leader has indicated he would like to remain as leader,” said Mr. LaValle, “and he has the support of the conference.” The case against Mr. Skelos and his son grew out of a broader inquiry into political corruption by the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, that has already changed the face of the state capital. It is based in part, according to the six-count complaint, on conversations secretly recorded by one of two cooperating witnesses, and wiretaps on the cellphones of the senator and his son. Those recordings revealed that both men were concerned about electronic surveillance, and illustrated the son’s unsuccessful efforts to thwart it.

Adam Skelos took to using a “burner” phone, the complaint says, and told his father he wanted them to speak through a FaceTime video call in an apparent effort to avoid detection. They also used coded language at times.

At one point, Adam Skelos was recorded telling a Senate staff member of his frustration in not being able to speak openly to his father on the phone, noting that he could not “just send smoke signals or a little pigeon” carrying a message.

The 43-page complaint, sworn out by Paul M. Takla, a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, outlines a five-year scheme to “monetize” the senator’s official position; it also lays bare the extent to which a father sought to use his position to help his son.

The charges accuse the two men of extorting payments through a real estate developer, Glenwood Management, based on Long Island, and the environmental company, AbTech Industries, in Scottsdale, Ariz., with the expectation that the money paid to Adam Skelos — nearly $220,000 in total — would influence his father’s actions.

Glenwood, one of the state’s most prolific campaign donors, had ties to AbTech through investments in the environmental firm’s parent company by Glenwood’s founding family and a senior executive.

The accusations in the complaint portray Senator Skelos as a man who, when it came to his son, was not shy about twisting arms, even in situations that might give other arm-twisters pause.

Seeking to help his son, Senator Skelos turned to the executive at Glenwood, which develops rental apartments in New York City and has much at stake when it comes to real estate legislation in Albany. The senator urged him to direct business to his son, who sold title insurance.

After much prodding, the executive, Charles C. Dorego, engineered a $20,000 payment to Adam Skelos from a title insurance company even though he did no work for the money. But far more lucrative was a consultant position that Mr. Dorego arranged for Adam Skelos at AbTech, which seeks government contracts to treat storm water. (Mr. Dorego is not identified by name in the complaint, but referred to only as CW-1, for Cooperating Witness 1.)

Senator Skelos appeared to take an active interest in his son’s new line of work. Adam Skelos sent him several drafts of his consulting agreement with AbTech, the complaint says, as well as the final deal that was struck.

“Mazel tov,” his father replied.

Senator Skelos sent relevant news articles to his son, including one about a sewage leak near Albany. When AbTech wanted to seek government contracts after Hurricane Sandy, the senator got on a conference call with his son and an AbTech executive, Bjornulf White, and offered advice. (Like Mr. Dorego, Mr. White is not named in the complaint, but referred to as CW-2.)

The assistance paid off: With the senator’s help, AbTech secured a contract worth up to $12 million from Nassau County, a big break for a struggling small business.

But the money was slow to materialize. The senator expressed impatience with county officials.

Adam Skelos, in a phone call with Mr. White in late December, suggested that his father would seek to punish the county. “I tell you this, the state is not going to do a [expletive] thing for the county,” he said.

Three days later, Senator Skelos pressed his case with the Nassau County executive, Edward P. Mangano, a fellow Republican. “Somebody feels like they’re just getting jerked around the last two years,” the senator said, referring to his son in what the complaint described as “coded language.”

The next day, the senator pursued the matter, as he and Mr. Mangano attended a wake for a slain New York City police officer. Senator Skelos then reassured his son, who called him while he was still at the wake. “All claims that are in will be taken care of,” the senator said.

AbTech’s fortunes appeared to weigh on his son. At one point in January, Adam Skelos told his father that if the company did not succeed, he would “lose the ability to pay for things.”

Making matters worse, in recent months, Senator Skelos and his son appeared to grow wary about who was watching them. In addition to making calls on the burner phone, Adam Skelos said he used the FaceTime video calling “because that doesn’t show up on the phone bill,” as he told Mr. White.

In late February, Adam Skelos arranged a pair of meetings between Mr. White and state senators; AbTech needed to win state legislation that would allow its contract to move beyond its initial stages. But Senator Skelos deemed the plan too risky and caused one of the meetings to be canceled.

In another recorded call, Adam Skelos, promising to be “very, very vague” on the phone, urged his father to allow the meeting. The senator offered a warning. “Right now we are in dangerous times, Adam,” he told him.

A month later, in another phone call that was recorded by the authorities, Adam Skelos complained that his father could not give him “real advice” about AbTech while the two men were speaking over the telephone.

“You can’t talk normally,” he told his father, “because it’s like [expletive] Preet Bharara is listening to every [expletive] phone call. It’s just [expletive] frustrating.”

“It is,” his father agreed.

ay 4, 2015 ‘Game of Thrones’ Q&A: Keisha Castle-Hughes on the Tao of the Sand Snakes

“It was really nice to play with other women and not have this underlying tone of being at each other’s throats.”

Bruce Alger, 96, Dies; Led ‘Mink Coat’ Protest Against Lyndon Johnson

Mr. Alger, who served five terms from Texas, led Republican women in a confrontation with Lyndon B. Johnson that may have cost Richard M. Nixon the 1960 presidential election.

Ghostly Voices From Thomas Edison’s Dolls Can Now Be Heard

Though Robin and Joan Rolfs owned two rare talking dolls manufactured by Thomas Edison’s phonograph company in 1890, they did not dare play the wax cylinder records tucked inside each one.

The Rolfses, longtime collectors of Edison phonographs, knew that if they turned the cranks on the dolls’ backs, the steel phonograph needle might damage or destroy the grooves of the hollow, ring-shaped cylinder. And so for years, the dolls sat side by side inside a display cabinet, bearers of a message from the dawn of sound recording that nobody could hear.

In 1890, Edison’s dolls were a flop; production lasted only six weeks. Children found them difficult to operate and more scary than cuddly. The recordings inside, which featured snippets of nursery rhymes, wore out quickly.

Yet sound historians say the cylinders were the first entertainment records ever made, and the young girls hired to recite the rhymes were the world’s first recording artists.

Year after year, the Rolfses asked experts if there might be a safe way to play the recordings. Then a government laboratory developed a method to play fragile records without touching them.

The technique relies on a microscope to create images of the grooves in exquisite detail. A computer approximates — with great accuracy — the sounds that would have been created by a needle moving through those grooves.

In 2014, the technology was made available for the first time outside the laboratory.

“The fear all along is that we don’t want to damage these records. We don’t want to put a stylus on them,” said Jerry Fabris, the curator of the Thomas Edison Historical Park in West Orange, N.J. “Now we have the technology to play them safely.”

Last month, the Historical Park posted online three never-before-heard Edison doll recordings, including the two from the Rolfses’ collection. “There are probably more out there, and we’re hoping people will now get them digitized,” Mr. Fabris said.

The technology, which is known as Irene (Image, Reconstruct, Erase Noise, Etc.), was developed by the particle physicist Carl Haber and the engineer Earl Cornell at Lawrence Berkeley. Irene extracts sound from cylinder and disk records. It can also reconstruct audio from recordings so badly damaged they were deemed unplayable.

“We are now hearing sounds from history that I did not expect to hear in my lifetime,” Mr. Fabris said.

The Rolfses said they were not sure what to expect in August when they carefully packed their two Edison doll cylinders, still attached to their motors, and drove from their home in Hortonville, Wis., to the National Document Conservation Center in Andover, Mass. The center had recently acquired Irene technology.

Cylinders carry sound in a spiral groove cut by a phonograph recording needle that vibrates up and down, creating a surface made of tiny hills and valleys. In the Irene set-up, a microscope perched above the shaft takes thousands of high-resolution images of small sections of the grooves.

Stitched together, the images provide a topographic map of the cylinder’s surface, charting changes in depth as small as one five-hundredth the thickness of a human hair. Pitch, volume and timbre are all encoded in the hills and valleys and the speed at which the record is played.

At the conservation center, the preservation specialist Mason Vander Lugt attached one of the cylinders to the end of a rotating shaft. Huddled around a computer screen, the Rolfses first saw the wiggly waveform generated by Irene. Then came the digital audio. The words were at first indistinct, but as Mr. Lugt filtered out more of the noise, the rhyme became clearer.

“That was the Eureka moment,” Mr. Rolfs said.

In 1890, a girl in Edison’s laboratory had recited:

There was a little girl,

And she had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,

She was very, very good.

But when she was bad, she was horrid.

Recently, the conservation center turned up another surprise.

In 2010, the Woody Guthrie Foundation received 18 oversize phonograph disks from an anonymous donor. No one knew if any of the dirt-stained recordings featured Guthrie, but Tiffany Colannino, then the foundation’s archivist, had stored them unplayed until she heard about Irene.

Last fall, the center extracted audio from one of the records, labeled “Jam Session 9” and emailed the digital file to Ms. Colannino.

“I was just sitting in my dining room, and the next thing I know, I’m hearing Woody,” she said. In between solo performances of “Ladies Auxiliary,” “Jesus Christ,” and “Dead or Alive,” Guthrie tells jokes, offers some back story, and makes the audience laugh. “It is quintessential Guthrie,” Ms. Colannino said.

The Rolfses’ dolls are back in the display cabinet in Wisconsin. But with audio stored on several computers, they now have a permanent voice.

Mike Phillips, Half of Kentucky’s ‘Twin Towers’ of Basketball, Dies at 59

The 6-foot-10 Phillips played alongside the 6-11 Rick Robey on the Wildcats team that won the 1978 N.C.A.A. men’s basketball title.

Police Rethink Long Tradition on Using Force

WASHINGTON — During a training course on defending against knife attacks, a young Salt Lake City police officer asked a question: “How close can somebody get to me before I’m justified in using deadly force?”

Dennis Tueller, the instructor in that class more than three decades ago, decided to find out. In the fall of 1982, he performed a rudimentary series of tests and concluded that an armed attacker who bolted toward an officer could clear 21 feet in the time it took most officers to draw, aim and fire their weapon.

The next spring, Mr. Tueller published his findings in SWAT magazine and transformed police training in the United States. The “21-foot rule” became dogma. It has been taught in police academies around the country, accepted by courts and cited by officers to justify countless shootings, including recent episodes involving a homeless woodcarver in Seattle and a schizophrenic woman in San Francisco.

Andrew Lesnie, Cinematographer of ‘Lord of the Rings,’ Dies at 59

The magical quality Mr. Lesnie created in shooting the “Babe” films caught the eye of the director Peter Jackson, who chose him to film the fantasy epic.

Finding Scandal in New York and New Jersey, but No Shame

From sea to shining sea, or at least from one side of the Hudson to the other, politicians you have barely heard of are being accused of wrongdoing. There were so many court proceedings involving public officials on Monday that it was hard to keep up.

In Newark, two underlings of Gov. Chris Christie were arraigned on charges that they were in on the truly deranged plot to block traffic leading onto the George Washington Bridge.

Ten miles away, in Lower Manhattan, Dean G. Skelos, the leader of the New York State Senate, and his son, Adam B. Skelos, were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on accusations of far more conventional political larceny, involving a job with a sewer company for the son and commissions on title insurance and bond work.

The younger man managed to receive a 150 percent pay increase from the sewer company even though, as he said on tape, he “literally knew nothing about water or, you know, any of that stuff,” according to a criminal complaint the United States attorney’s office filed.

The success of Adam Skelos, 32, was attributed by prosecutors to his father’s influence as the leader of the Senate and as a potentate among state Republicans. The indictment can also be read as one of those unfailingly sad tales of a father who cannot stop indulging a grown son. The senator himself is not alleged to have profited from the schemes, except by being relieved of the burden of underwriting Adam.

The bridge traffic caper is its own species of crazy; what distinguishes the charges against the two Skeloses is the apparent absence of a survival instinct. It is one thing not to know anything about water or that stuff. More remarkable, if true, is the fact that the sewer machinations continued even after the former New York Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, was charged in January with taking bribes disguised as fees.

It was by then common gossip in political and news media circles that Senator Skelos, a Republican, the counterpart in the Senate to Mr. Silver, a Democrat, in the Assembly, could be next in line for the criminal dock. “Stay tuned,” the United States attorney, Preet Bharara said, leaving not much to the imagination.

Even though the cat had been unmistakably belled, Skelos father and son continued to talk about how to advance the interests of the sewer company, though the son did begin to use a burner cellphone, the kind people pay for in cash, with no traceable contracts.

That was indeed prudent, as prosecutors had been wiretapping the cellphones of both men. But it would seem that the burner was of limited value, because by then the prosecutors had managed to secure the help of a business executive who agreed to record calls with the Skeloses. It would further seem that the business executive was more attentive to the perils of pending investigations than the politician.

Through the end of the New York State budget negotiations in March, the hopes of the younger Skelos rested on his father’s ability to devise legislation that would benefit the sewer company. That did not pan out. But Senator Skelos did boast that he had haggled with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, in a successful effort to raise a $150 million allocation for Long Island to $550 million, for what the budget called “transformative economic development projects.” It included money for the kind of work done by the sewer company.

The lawyer for Adam Skelos said he was not guilty and would win in court. Senator Skelos issued a ringing declaration that he was unequivocally innocent.

THIS was also the approach taken in New Jersey by Bill Baroni, a man of great presence and eloquence who stopped outside the federal courthouse to note that he had taken risks as a Republican by bucking his party to support paid family leave, medical marijuana and marriage equality. “I would never risk my career, my job, my reputation for something like this,” Mr. Baroni said. “I am an innocent man.”

The lawyer for his co-defendant, Bridget Anne Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, a Republican, said that she would strongly rebut the charges.

Perhaps they had nothing to do with the lane closings. But neither Mr. Baroni nor Ms. Kelly addressed the question of why they did not return repeated calls from the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., begging them to stop the traffic tie-ups, over three days.

That silence was a low moment. But perhaps New York hit bottom faster. Senator Skelos, the prosecutors charged, arranged to meet Long Island politicians at the wake of Wenjian Liu, a New York City police officer shot dead in December, to press for payments to the company employing his son.

Sometimes it seems as though for some people, the only thing to be ashamed of is shame itself.

Advertisement Politics Obama Finds a Bolder Voice on Race Issues

As he reflected on the festering wounds deepened by race and grievance that have been on painful display in America’s cities lately, President Obama on Monday found himself thinking about a young man he had just met named Malachi.

A few minutes before, in a closed-door round-table discussion at Lehman College in the Bronx, Mr. Obama had asked a group of black and Hispanic students from disadvantaged backgrounds what could be done to help them reach their goals. Several talked about counseling and guidance programs.

“Malachi, he just talked about — we should talk about love,” Mr. Obama told a crowd afterward, drifting away from his prepared remarks. “Because Malachi and I shared the fact that our dad wasn’t around and that sometimes we wondered why he wasn’t around and what had happened. But really, that’s what this comes down to is: Do we love these kids?”

Many presidents have governed during times of racial tension, but Mr. Obama is the first to see in the mirror a face that looks like those on the other side of history’s ledger. While his first term was consumed with the economy, war and health care, his second keeps coming back to the societal divide that was not bridged by his election. A president who eschewed focusing on race now seems to have found his voice again as he thinks about how to use his remaining time in office and beyond.

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Obama Speaks of a ‘Sense of Unfairness’

In the aftermath of racially charged unrest in places like Baltimore, Ferguson, Mo., and New York, Mr. Obama came to the Bronx on Monday for the announcement of a new nonprofit organization that is being spun off from his White House initiative called My Brother’s Keeper. Staked by more than $80 million in commitments from corporations and other donors, the new group, My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, will in effect provide the nucleus for Mr. Obama’s post-presidency, which will begin in January 2017.

“This will remain a mission for me and for Michelle not just for the rest of my presidency but for the rest of my life,” Mr. Obama said. “And the reason is simple,” he added. Referring to some of the youths he had just met, he said: “We see ourselves in these young men. I grew up without a dad. I grew up lost sometimes and adrift, not having a sense of a clear path. The only difference between me and a lot of other young men in this neighborhood and all across the country is that I grew up in an environment that was a little more forgiving.”

Organizers said the new alliance already had financial pledges from companies like American Express, Deloitte, Discovery Communications and News Corporation. The money will be used to help companies address obstacles facing young black and Hispanic men, provide grants to programs for disadvantaged youths, and help communities aid their populations.

Joe Echevarria, a former chief executive of Deloitte, the accounting and consulting firm, will lead the alliance, and among those on its leadership team or advisory group are executives at PepsiCo, News Corporation, Sprint, BET and Prudential Group Insurance; former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell; Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey; former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.; the music star John Legend; the retired athletes Alonzo Mourning, Jerome Bettis and Shaquille O’Neal; and the mayors of Indianapolis, Sacramento and Philadelphia.

The alliance, while nominally independent of the White House, may face some of the same questions confronting former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as she begins another presidential campaign. Some of those donating to the alliance may have interests in government action, and skeptics may wonder whether they are trying to curry favor with the president by contributing.

“The Obama administration will have no role in deciding how donations are screened and what criteria they’ll set at the alliance for donor policies, because it’s an entirely separate entity,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Air Force One en route to New York. But he added, “I’m confident that the members of the board are well aware of the president’s commitment to transparency.”

The alliance was in the works before the disturbances last week after the death of Freddie Gray, the black man who suffered fatal injuries while in police custody in Baltimore, but it reflected the evolution of Mr. Obama’s presidency. For him, in a way, it is coming back to issues that animated him as a young community organizer and politician. It was his own struggle with race and identity, captured in his youthful memoir, “Dreams From My Father,” that stood him apart from other presidential aspirants.

But that was a side of him that he kept largely to himself through the first years of his presidency while he focused on other priorities like turning the economy around, expanding government-subsidized health care and avoiding electoral land mines en route to re-election.

After securing a second term, Mr. Obama appeared more emboldened. Just a month after his 2013 inauguration, he talked passionately about opportunity and race with a group of teenage boys in Chicago, a moment aides point to as perhaps the first time he had spoken about these issues in such a personal, powerful way as president. A few months later, he publicly lamented the death of Trayvon Martin, a black Florida teenager, saying that “could have been me 35 years ago.”

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That case, along with public ruptures of anger over police shootings in Ferguson and elsewhere, have pushed the issue of race and law enforcement onto the public agenda. Aides said they imagined that with his presidency in its final stages, Mr. Obama might be thinking more about what comes next and causes he can advance as a private citizen.

That is not to say that his public discussion of these issues has been universally welcomed. Some conservatives said he had made matters worse by seeming in their view to blame police officers in some of the disputed cases.

“President Obama, when he was elected, could have been a unifying leader,” Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican candidate for president, said at a forum last week. “He has made decisions that I think have inflamed racial tensions.”

On the other side of the ideological spectrum, some liberal African-American activists have complained that Mr. Obama has not done enough to help downtrodden communities. While he is speaking out more, these critics argue, he has hardly used the power of the presidency to make the sort of radical change they say is necessary.

The line Mr. Obama has tried to straddle has been a serrated one. He condemns police brutality as he defends most officers as honorable. He condemns “criminals and thugs” who looted in Baltimore while expressing empathy with those trapped in a cycle of poverty and hopelessness.

In the Bronx on Monday, Mr. Obama bemoaned the death of Brian Moore, a plainclothes New York police officer who had died earlier in the day after being shot in the head Saturday on a Queens street. Most police officers are “good and honest and fair and care deeply about their communities,” even as they put their lives on the line, Mr. Obama said.

“Which is why in addressing the issues in Baltimore or Ferguson or New York, the point I made was that if we’re just looking at policing, we’re looking at it too narrowly,” he added. “If we ask the police to simply contain and control problems that we ourselves have been unwilling to invest and solve, that’s not fair to the communities, it’s not fair to the police.”

Moreover, if society writes off some people, he said, “that’s not the kind of country I want to live in; that’s not what America is about.”

His message to young men like Malachi Hernandez, who attends Boston Latin Academy in Massachusetts, is not to give up.

“I want you to know you matter,” he said. “You matter to us.”

Ellen Turner Dies at 87; Opened Kitchen to Feed the Needy of Knoxville

Ms. Turner and her twin sister founded the Love Kitchen in 1986 in a church basement in Knoxville, Tenn., and it continues to provide clothing and meals.

Don Mankiewicz, Screenwriter in a Family Film Tradition, Dies at 93

Mr. Mankiewicz, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter for “I Want to Live!,” also wrote episodes of television shows such as “Star Trek” and “Marcus Welby, M.D.”

Ben E. King, Soulful Singer of ‘Stand by Me,’ Dies at 76

Mr. King sang for the Drifters and found success as a solo performer with hits like “Spanish Harlem.”

William Pfaff, Critic of American Foreign Policy, Dies at 86

Mr. Pfaff was an international affairs columnist and author who found Washington’s intervention in world affairs often misguided.