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As Arizona burns, state plans to help firefighting ex-cons turn into professional firefighters

Craig Bannister
CNS News
Mon, 10 Jul 2017 19:03 UTC
arizona wildfires
Arizona is letting inmates out of prison to fight fires, and now it wants to help them turn that experience into a career.

After successfully using work-release inmates to fight fires, Arizona will now spend $1.5 million to create a professional ex-con fire crew, Gov. Doug Ducey (R-Ariz.) has announced. "I want it to be easier for individuals released from prison to stand up and protect their communities," Gov Ducey says in a July 7 opinion piece for Tucson.com:

"That's why the new state budget I signed a few weeks ago is investing $1.5 million to create a post-release fire crew. (The existing program enlists current inmates; the new program enlists released inmates.) We're giving Arizonans a real second chance to turn their lives around in a meaningful and productive way."
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Whistle

Thinking he's a suspect, UK cops taser their own race relations advisor


RT
Tue, 11 Jul 2017 19:46 UTC
taser
© Carl De Souza / AFP
A police officer has been charged for allegedly tasering her force's own race relations advisor after she reportedly mistook him for a criminal suspect.

PC Claire Boddie has been charged with assault for allegedly tasering Avon and Somerset Police's race relations advisor, Judah Adunbi, during an incident in January.

Adunbi, a 63-year-old grandfather, was initially arrested for assaulting a police officer, but the case was dropped within days.

Boddie and her partner were searching for a suspect when they encountered Adunbi.

After an altercation, Boddie used the 50,000 volt electroshock weapon she had been issued to subdue him from close range.
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USA

Less work, more video games: The state of young men in America

Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse Blog
Tue, 11 Jul 2017 19:35 UTC
video game
If you could stay home and play video games all day, would you do it? According to a brand new report that was released by the National Bureau of Economic Research on Monday, American men from the ages of 21 to 30 are working a lot less these days. In fact, on average men in this age group worked 203 fewer hours per year in 2015 than they did in 2000. So what did they do with all of that extra time? According to the study, a large portion of the time that young men used to spend working is now being spent playing video games.

It is certainly no secret that young men like video games. But the study found that in recent years the amount of time young men dedicate to gaming has shot up dramatically...
Comparing data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) for recent years (2012-2015) to eight years prior (2004-2007), we see that: (a) the drop in market hours for young men was mirrored by a roughly equivalent increase in leisure hours, and (b) increased time spent in gaming and computer leisure for younger men, 99 hours per year, comprises three quarters of that increase in leisure. Younger men increased their recreational computer use and video gaming by nearly 50 percent over this short period. Non-employed young men now average 520 hours a year in recreational computer time, sixty percent of that spent playing video games. This exceeds their time spent on home production or non-computer related socializing with friends.
Those are some absolutely staggering numbers.

But how can these young men get away with spending so much time playing video games? After all, don't they have bills to pay?
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Ambulance

Yemen reports sharp increase of cancer-related deaths and birth defects caused by British-made cluster bombs

Al Mayadeen - translated by Samer Hussein
Fort Russ News
Tue, 11 Jul 2017 19:23 UTC
Saudi bombing in Yemen
Alia Faisal Abdullatif Al Shaba, Yemeni Human Rights Minister and a member of the Houthi-led Supreme Political Council cabinet, confirmed the increased number of cancer-related deaths and birth defects, resulting from the British-made cluster bombs, that are being dropped by the Saudi aviation on the Middle East's most impoverished country.

During a meeting with the High Commissioner for Human Rights Office in the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa, Laith Al Amud, she expressed her condemnation of the ruling of the British High Court to continue allowing the export of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. The two also discussed the humanitarian situation in the country.

Comment: Good grief! Yemen's population is severely suffering: Yemen's cholera outbreak 'spiraling out of control' amid Saudi war

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Life Preserver

Unprecedented: State of Oregon plans to decriminalize all drugs, including heroin and methamphetamine

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 09 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC
war on drugs
In an unprecedented move, Oregon is on its way to becoming the first state to decriminalize small amounts of hard drugs such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy, while also lowering the penalty from a felony to a misdemeanor in some drug-related cases.

Two groundbreaking bills were passed by the Oregon legislature this week, and will go to the state's Democratic governor, Kate Brown, for approval. House Bill 3078 reduces drug-related property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. It passed in the state House with a vote of 33-26, and in the Senate with a vote of 18-11.

House Bill 2355 seeks to decriminalize at least six hard drugs, as long as the user does not have any prior felonies or more than two prior drug convictions. It passed in the state House with a vote of 36-23, and in the Senate with a vote of 20-9.

Comment: It's well past time to try a new tactic as the War on Drugs has been a complete failure having only served to enrich the prison-industrial complex while destroying the lives of millions.

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Question

Woman bites into fellow diner's arm at New York steakhouse

Jaclyn Weiner
New York Post
Mon, 10 Jul 2017 19:17 UTC
Peter Luger steakhouse
© Bryan Pace/NY Daily News
The chomping perp gnawed on the victim's right forearm at the prominent Williamsburg restaurant on Broadway near Driggs Ave.
What, the steak wasn't good enough?

A woman eating lunch at Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn took a bite out of another diner's arm Sunday, cops said.

The incident unfolded around 4:10 p.m. inside the South Williamsburg staple as stunned patrons were chowing down on its succulent cuts and famous sauce, according to police.
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Attention

Texas teen electrocuted using her cell phone in bathtub

Amber Stegall & Presley Fowler
KCBD
Mon, 10 Jul 2017 19:08 UTC
Madison Coe

Madison Coe, 14, was electrocuted when grabbing her phone while in the bathtub.
A 14-year-old girl from Lubbock died early Sunday morning after being electrocuted in a bathtub.

Madison Coe's mother and grandmother tell us she was in the bathtub, and either plugged her phone in or simply grabbed her phone that was already plugged in. It happened at her father's house in Lovington, NM.

Madison just graduated from the 8th grade from Terra Vista Middle School in Frenship ISD.

"It is with heavy hearts that Frenship ISD mourns the loss of Madison Coe. We wish to share our heartfelt sympathy with her family and friends as we carry the burden of this tragedy together," officials with FISD said.

Madison was expected to attend high school in Houston, as her family was in the process of moving.

"I call her my shining star," her grandmother, Donna O'Guinn, said.
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Hearts

Amazing human chain rescues drowning family on Florida beach

Eryn Dion
NWF Daily News
Mon, 10 Jul 2017 20:39 UTC
human chain rescues drowning family florida beach
© Panama City News Herald
Beachgoers formed a human chain near the M.B. Miller County Pier on Saturday afternoon off Panama City Beach to rescue nine swimmers who were drowning.
It was supposed to just be a quick trip to the beach, but the Saturday afternoon diversion to the water almost ended in unspeakable tragedy for Roberta Ursrey and her family.

Ursrey and her husband, mother, nephews and sons were enjoying the sun and yellow-flag conditions near the M.B. Miller County Pier. Ursrey herself had just left the water, but when she turned around to look for her sons, she noticed they were much farther from shore than she remembered. Concerned, she started walking down the beach.

And then she heard their screams.

"They were screaming and crying that they were stuck," Ursrey recalled in an interview Monday. "People were saying, 'Don't go out there.' "

Unwilling to watch them drown, Ursrey and her family swam out to them, but the rip current was much stronger than they realized and despite her best efforts to escape, they were trapped as well. All in all, Ursrey said there were nine people stuck in about 15 feet of water, including her mother, who suffered a massive heart attack during the ordeal and very nearly died.
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Heart - Black

New footage of cop beating unarmed woman with baton causes police brutality case to be re-opened

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 11 Jul 2017 18:57 UTC
cop beats woman
Katie McCrary is, is a homeless woman doing whatever she can to survive. But while she may have a criminal history, she, like other law-breakers, still deserve to be treated humanely and with some sense of decency. But that didn't happen, according to critics, when a Dekalb County police officer struck her with his baton nearly too many times to count.

Police were called to the scene of a local convenience store at the corner of Glenwood and Line St. in Decatur last month. McCrary had been propositioning patrons for money. Others say she's frequently there and may have mental issues.

But when the unnamed DeKalb County officer arrived, McCrary allegedly pushed him and would not follow his commands. That's when bystanders say he began beating her with his baton.

"Like one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, that's excessive," customer Calvin Smith said.

The incident happened on June 4, and a complaint of "excessive use of force" was filed as a result of the officer's actions. The department investigated, and came to the following conclusion which exonerated the officer.
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Roses

Asma Al-Assad: How Western Propaganda Turned "A Rose in the Desert" Into "A Cheerleader For Evil"

Sarah Abed
American Herald Tribune
Sun, 09 Jul 2017 17:45 UTC
Asma al-Assad

Asma al-Assad
In early March 2011, right before the carefully calculated and planned imposed war and invasion in Syria, Vogue Magazine published a surprisingly positive article titled: Asma al-Assad: A Rose in the Desert.
"Asma al-Assad is glamorous, young, and very chic—the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies. Her style is not the couture-and-bling dazzle of Middle Eastern power but a deliberate lack of adornment. She's a rare combination: a thin, long-limbed beauty with a trained analytic mind who dresses with cunning understatement. Paris Match calls her "the element of light in a country full of shadow zones." "She is the first lady of Syria".
The article gave readers an inside view of what life was like for the Assad's In Syria. It didn't exaggerate, or misrepresent information and had a seemingly unbiased tone.
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