Society's ChildS


Bullseye

Kansas will kick 20,000 people off of food stamps

Sam Brownback
© R-KSGov. Sam Brownback
Kansas plans to throw more than a fifth of its nearly 90,000 unemployed residents off of the food stamp rolls by reinstating federal work requirements for the program that are normally waived during times of unusually high unemployment. The state's Department for Children and Families announced the move Wednesday and projected that 20,000 unemployed Kansans currently on food assistance will be affected.

The federal rules for food assistance require that able-bodied recipients who do not have dependent children - a very small subset of the food stamp population - work at least 20 hours per week in order to receive the aid for longer than three months. But states can waive that requirement when jobs are especially scarce, and nearly every state has done so during the Great Recession and gradual recovery. Kansas will be the fifth state to reinstitute the work requirement, and Oklahoma and Wisconsin are reportedly poised to follow suit shortly.

Nationwide, there are more than 3 job seekers for every job opening. Critics of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's (R) decision to reinstate the work requirements, such as Annie McKay of the Kansas Center for Economic Growth, noted that the state can't change that scarcity of work through sheer willpower. "Taking someone off food stamp assistance isn't going to suddenly create jobs for them," McKay told the Kansas City Star. Chad Manspeaker, a city councilman in Topeka, told the Huffington Post that unemployment is a long-term problem and "we don't solve it by starving them."

Fish

Fisherman catches fish with knife in it

Knife in Fish
© Jackie Carmichael, Managing Editor of The Westerly News
Here's one for Ripley's. Fishing guide Gil DiCesare wasn't expecting to get into a knife fight when he began gutting a 16-pound Chinook in July, but amazingly that's what he got.

After a guest reeled the fish in off Meares Bluffs in Barkley Sound, DiCesare took the it to the fish cleaning station on the back of his boat and began cutting it open.

He said everyone on the boat was "totally flabbergasted" when the fish cut back.

"I put my knife back in there to cut and it was like metal on metal. I go 'What the hell is this?

"I went to gut it, opened it up and put my hand in to take the entrails out and I got cut right through my gloves on my forefinger," he said.

"I opened up the stomach and sure enough there was a full size fillet knife in it, razor sharp, as sharp as any knife I've got on my boat."

Handcuffs

Moscow gun rampage killer gets life sentence

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© RIA Novosti. Vladimir AstapkovicMoscow Gun Rampage Killer Gets Life Sentence
A Russian court sent to prison for life Monday a man who shot dead six of his colleagues last year.

The court found Dmitry Vinogradov guilty of six counts of murder.

Vinogradov, 30, went into the Moscow office of the pharmaceutical company where he worked as a lawyer on the morning of November 7 and opened fire on his colleagues with two hunting rifles, killing three men and two women and wounding a fourth man who later died in hospital.

Hours before the shooting, Vinogradov, dubbed the "Russian Breivik" by media, posted a rambling message on a social network about his hatred for the human race, stating that the only way to make the world better was to kill as many people as possible.

In his message, Vinogradov wrote: "Evolve! At last become aware of your real meaning and place in this world! Understand that you are aliens here, you are the genetic rubbish which should not be here, the rubbish which appeared by accident, as a result of a mistake in evolution, the rubbish which must be destroyed."

Psychiatric experts confirmed his sanity during the investigation.

Arrow Down

Nearly half of new Harvard students admit to cheating

Harvard
© The Independent, UK
Nearly half of new students starting at Harvard this year have admitted to cheating in their studies before starting at university.

A tenth of the incoming class have cheated on an exam, while 42 per cent admit to doing homework dishonestly, according to the results of a survey by the university's own newspaper The Harvard Crimson.

Athletic students were most likely to cheat, with 20 per cent confessing to chicanery in tests, compared to nine per cent of those who do not play a varsity sport. Men are twice as likely to have cheated.

Pistol

American Police State: 107 year old man shot dead by police SWAT team


A stand-off on Saturday left one man dead. S.W.A.T. Officers shot and killed the suspect after a standoff at a Pine Bluff home.

Lt. David Price told channel 7 that when officers arrived at the home they learned that an aggravated assault had occurred against two people. The suspect, Monroe Isadore, who authorities say is 107-year-old old, pointed a weapon at them.

Authorities asked the two victims to leave the home and walked up to the bedroom door where Isadore was supposed to be. When officers identified themselves to the suspect he shot at them through the door but no officer was injured. Police then asked for backup. Police supervisors began negotiating with the suspect as soon as they arrived. Meanwhile, S.W.A.T. was also called out.

Negotiations continued for some time and when S.W.A.T. arrived they were able to insert a camera into the room and confirmed Isadore had a handgun. They released gas into the room, after negotiation proved unsuccessful, in hopes Isadore would surrender peacefully. Once gas was released into the room, the suspect fired at the S.W.A.T. Officers. Shortly after, a S.W.A.T. entry team entered the room and Isadore continued to shoot. Officers fired back, killing him.


Che Guevara

Flashback CNN online poll: 89% of Americans believe there's been a 9/11 cover-up

On Wednesday, November 10th, Anderson Cooper featured Kyle Hence and Jimmy Walter regarding the latter"s TV ad campaign to expose 9/11 truth around WTC 7 and the Pentagon strike. Although Cooper also introduced "official story" apologist Gerald Posner to discredit the ads (with already stale and discredited excuses), viewers were apparently not impressed and 89% of over 10,000 respondents to the show"s online poll still maintain there"s been a government cover-up.', 'On Wednesday, November 10th, Anderson Cooper featured Kyle Hence and Jimmy Walter regarding the latter"s TV ad campaign to expose 9/11 truth on WTC 7 and the Pentagon strike. Although Cooper also introduced "official story" apologist Gerald Posner to discredit the ads (with already stale and discredited excuses), the viewers were apparently not impressed and 89% of respondents to the show"s online poll remain convinced there"s been a government cover-up.
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© CNN

Eye 2

UK: Python bites Swansea woman as she heads home from the pub

A Swansea woman was rushed to hospital after being bitten by a python on her way home from the pub.

Sue Cull was attacked as police were hunting the eight foot snake in Dyfatty.

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Sue Cull who was rushed to hospital after being bitten by a python on her way home from the pub
The 47-year-old, from Griffith John Street, took a short cut across the grass near to where she lived when she suddenly felt a stinging sensation on both legs.

Ms Cull believed she had walked through stinging nettles. But when she got home her partner Kay noticed there was blood streaming from both her legs.

Snakes in Suits

The man who made Femen: new film outs Victor Svyatski as the mastermind behind the protest group and abuser of its members

femen
© Olivier Hoslet/EPAA Femen activist is arrested by Belgian police outside the EU council headquarters in Brussels
It's the Ukranian feminist group that embarrassed President Putin. Its activists have staged many protests against sexual and political repression by stripping to their waists in carefully choreographed media stunts.

"Our mission is protest, our weapons are bare breasts," runs their slogan. Now, a new documentary screening at the Venice Film Festival has revealed that Femen was founded and is controlled by a man.

Ukraine is not a Brothel, directed by 28-year-old Australian film-maker Kitty Green, has "outed" Victor Svyatski as the mastermind behind the group. Mr Syvatski is known as a "consultant" to the movement. According to the Femen website, he was badly beaten up by the secret services in Ukraine earlier this summer because of his activities on behalf of the group.

Star of David

The Most Telling Poll of All: Israelis want US, Europe to attack Syria, but against IDF

Two-thirds of respondents to Gal Hadash poll concerned American attack on Syria would lead to Israeli involvement in war.

IDF Drill
© REUTERSIDF SOLDIERS take part in a drill on the Golan Heights, near the Syrian border, yesterday.
The US and European countries should attack Syria, but Israel should not be involved in the assault, two polls in weekend Hebrew newspapers found.

While polls in the US and United Kingdom have found overwhelming opposition to their countries attacking Syria, a Gal Hadash poll published in Israel Hayom found that 66.6 percent of respondents would be in favor of American and European military intervention in Syria.

Only 17% opposed a US/EU strike and 16.4% did not know.

When asked whether they thought such an attack would take place, 72.8% said yes, 15.8% no, and 11.4% did not know.

Asked whether they were concerned that American intervention in Syria would lead to Israeli intervention in the war, 66.8% said yes, 28.7 said no and 4.5% did not know. Regarding what Israeli intervention there would be, 57.4% said limited IDF activity, 14.1% said Syria would attack Israel but the IDF would not respond, 12.9% said there would be all out Middle East war, and 15.6% did not know.

A separate Ma'agar Mohot poll published in Friday's Ma'arivfound that Israelis overwhelmingly oppose an Israeli strike on Syria. If America does not intervene in Israel's northeastern neighbor, 77% of respondents who expressed an opinion said Israel should not get involved militarily, 11% said the IDF should, and 12% said they did not know and other answers.

People

Hundred thousand attend Syria peace vigil at Vatican

Syria Peace vigil
© AP Photo/Riccardo De LucaPeople hold Syrian flags and signs against a possible attack to Syria, prior to the start of a vigil for peace attended by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013. Tens of thousands of people have answered Pope Francis' call and massed in St. Peter's Square for a 4-hour-long prayer vigil for peace in Syria. It was believed to be one of the first, and certainly the largest popular rally in the West against U.S.-led plans to strike Syria following the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus.
Tens of thousands of people filled St. Peter's Square for a four-hour Syria peace vigil late Saturday, answering Pope Francis' call for a grassroots cry for peace that was echoed by Christians and non-Christians alike in Syria and in vigils around the world.

The Vatican estimated about 100,000 took part in the Rome event, making it one of the largest rallies in the West against proposed U.S.-led military action against the Syrian regime following the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus.

Francis spent most of the vigil in silent prayer, but during his speech he issued a heartfelt plea for peace, denouncing those who are "captivated by the idols of dominion and power" and destroy God's creation through war.

"This evening, I ask the Lord that we Christians, and our brothers and sisters of other religions and every man and woman of good will, cry out forcefully: Violence and war are never the way to peace!" he said.

"May the noise of weapons cease!" he said. "War always marks the failure of peace, it is always a defeat for humanity."

In Damascus, a few dozen Syrian Christians attended a service in the al-Zaytoun Church, joining Francis' invitation for a global participation in the day of fasting and prayer and to oppose outside military intervention in the conflict.