Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Charged with murder: Missouri jail nurse allegedly poisoned husband, set house on fire in bid to marry inmate

Amy Murray on was arrested
© Miller County, Missouri Sheriff's OfficeAmy Murray on was arrested on Thursday, Feb. 07, 2019, in connection with the December death of her husband.
Police charged a jail nurse in Missouri with murder after she allegedly poisoned her husband and tried to cover it up by setting their home on fire -- all in a bid to marry an inmate.

Amy Murray was arrested on Thursday in connection with the December death of her husband, Joshua Murray, who she allegedly set on fire and poisoned with antifreeze, according to a probable cause statement.

She allegedly set the couple's bedroom on fire and left with her 11-year-old son and dogs to go to McDonald's, according to the statement. As an alibi, Murray said she found the house on fire when she returned and the smoke was too heavy for her to go inside, according to a probable cause statement.

Police said the fire was set intentionally and autopsy results indicated that Joshua Murray died before the fire began, according to the Miller County Sheriff's Office.

Stock Down

Paul Krugman: US wildly unprepared for imminent recession

paul krugman economy
© Bloomberg NewsPaul Krugman
Nobel laureate Paul Krugman is possibly the world's most famous Keynesian economist thanks to his position on the New York Times editorial board. And he just joined the growing chorus of voices calling for a US recession in the next two years.

The US economy is struggling for two reasons: The scope for a powerful monetary and fiscal response is limited, and the current "leadership" under President Trump lacks the competence to adequately respond to a crisis, during an interview with Bloomberg in Dubai.

But moving past the US, Krugman echoed the IMF's finding that the world is "dangerously unprepared" for the coming global recession, citing the slowdown in China, and a Europe inching ever-closer to a eurozone-wide recession, as the two biggest risks the global economy.

Comment: Some see even worse:

Several red flags warning us that we're speeding towards an economic collapse - RIGHT NOW


Family

How 'asymmetrical multiculturalism' has generated a populist blowback

trump supporter rally
© Carlos Barria/ReutersSupporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign event in Harrisburg, Pa., in 2016.
Toward a solution for the rising distemper in the West

Right-wing populism and left-wing identity politics have risen in tandem since 2013. Why?

The connecting thread is the contradictions of multiculturalism, which encourage a "common enemy" form of minority identity while repressing even moderate expressions of majority identity. The former produces antagonistic identity politics on the left, while both contribute to populist blowback on the right.

In the high culture, the advent of social media helped the cultural Left experience its Third Great Awakening, matching the waves of enthusiasm of the late '60s and late '80s. Meanwhile, multiculturalism's half-century sway has presided over profound ethnic shifts, producing mounting conservative discontent. By narrowing the space for debating immigration, progressive taboos prevented mainstream liberals and conservatives from reaching a settlement on the issue. We are now reaping the results.

Arrow Down

At least 99 dead, many hospitalized after consuming toxic alcohol in India

Toxic alcohol
© AFP Photo/STRCheap, locally-made liquor is common in parts of rural India, where bad or adulterated batches can have deadly effects for poor consumers.
At least 99 people have died and scores have been hospitalised in northern India after drinking toxic alcohol, triggering a crackdown against bootleggers, officials said on Monday (Feb 11).

News of the deaths in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand has trickled in over the past three days, with police suspecting the moonshine had been cut with methanol.

Cheap, locally-made liquor is common in parts of rural India and bootleggers often add methanol - a highly toxic form of alcohol sometimes used as an anti-freeze - to their product to increase its strength.

If ingested in large quantities, methanol can cause blindness, liver damage and death.

In one district of Uttar Pradesh 59 people had died after consuming toxic alcohol, police spokesman Shailendra Kumar Sharma told AFP.

Chart Bar

New student radicals find violence more acceptable than those with non-college degrees

violent students
Revisiting a previous post on the expressed tolerance for violence as a means of achieving a better society, another interesting demographic angle I didn't cover now jumps out at me. The idea of using violence is far more popular among those with college educations than among those without one. Percentages, by age and educational attainment, who agree that "to achieve my idea of a better society, violent acts are acceptable":

student radicals

Black Cat 2

Animal activists demand ban on declawing cats in Russia

Cats
Based on a successful online petition calling for a ban on declawing, Moscow lawmakers have advanced a proposal that would protect cats from this painful surgery on the owners' whim.

If approved by the Lower House, the bill would prohibit veterinarians from performing declawing surgeries unless they're necessary for medical reasons, such as the removal of cancerous nail bed tumors. Currently, some owners declaw their cats to keep them from scratching people and ruining furniture.

Declawing, or onychectomy, is a surgical procedure that removes the claws on either both front feet or all four on a cat, by cutting off the last toe joints. If performed on a human being, declawing would be like cutting off each finger at the last knuckle.

Books

From the trenches: Public education's dirty secret - it's an abysmal failure

school hallway
Bad teaching is a common explanation given for the disastrously inadequate public education received by America's most vulnerable populations. This is a myth. Aside from a few lemons who were notable for their rarity, the majority of teachers I worked with for nine years in New York City's public school system were dedicated, talented professionals. Before joining the system I was mystified by the schools' abysmal results. I too assumed there must be something wrong with the teaching. This could not have been farther from the truth.

Teaching French and Italian in NYC high schools I finally figured out why this was, although it took some time, because the real reason was so antithetical to the prevailing mindset. I worked at three very different high schools over the years, spanning a fairly representative sample. That was a while ago now, but the system has not improved since, as the fundamental problem has not been acknowledged, let alone addressed. It would not be hard, or expensive, to fix.

Comment:


Arrow Down

Shameful: TSA slammed for 'invasive groping' of triple-amputee US veteran

TSA officers
The online community has been outraged by the "shameful" and "disgusting" treatment of a triple-amputee Purple Star veteran of Iraq, who was subjected to an "invasive" search by a TSA agent in Arizona over the weekend.

Strong words of support were voiced for Brian Kolfage after a video surfaced showing the 37-year-old Air Force veteran being "groped" by a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer during an invasive frisk on Saturday in Tucson International Airport.

"They groped and searched under his hips and buttocks, his groin and his half-arm, searching for what?" YouTube user James Hoft wondered in the comments to his video of the incident.

Heart - Black

Man accused of murdering pregnant girlfriend spared abortion charge thanks to Cuomo's new law

Anthony Hobson Jennifer Irigoyen
© Dennis A. Clark/FacebookAnthony Hobson and Jennifer Irigoyen
Prosecutors initially included a charge of abortion against the Queens man arrested Friday in his pregnant girlfriend's murder - but rescinded it because of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's new Reproductive Health Act.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown sent out a press release saying Anthony Hobson, 48, would be charged with second-degree abortion as well as murder in Sunday's fatal stabbing of Jennifer Irigoyen, 35.

But a DA spokeswoman later told The Post that the abortion charge "was repealed by the Legislature, and this is the law as it exists today."

Comment: Also see: Defying God: Governor Cuomo declares abortion a constitutional right


USA

Conservative artist Joy Villa wears 'build the wall' dress to 2019 Grammys

Joy Villa build the all dress
© Jordan Strauss/Invision/APJoy Villa arrives at the 61st annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Los Angeles.
Conservative artist Joy Villa has done it again.

Her third year in a row making a political statement at the Grammy Awards, the singer showed up to this year's red carpet in Los Angeles on Sunday wearing a dress tailored to look like President's Trump planned border wall.

The gown featured a design with white bricks and black mortar. Resting on Villa's shoulders was a ring of barbed wire, complementing a steel crown on her head. On her back in red letters read the message: "Build the wall."