Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

San Francisco elementary school teacher told to pay for substitute teacher while on medical leave for cancer

Natalie Dreir
News965
Thu, 09 May 2019 17:35 UTC
San francisco teacher cancer
Normally teachers get 10 sick days a year, but can take 100 days of medical leave. That leave comes at a cost directly from the regular teacher’s paycheck.
A teacher in San Francisco who was diagnosed with breast cancer was told she has to foot the bill for the substitute who will fill in for her while she's on medical leave.

The second-grade teacher, who was not identified by KGO, works at Glen Park Elementary school.

She is on leave through the end of the school year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Normally teachers get 10 sick days a year, but can take 100 days of medical leave. That leave comes at a cost directly from the regular teacher's paycheck, KGO reported.

A substitute's salary runs from $174.66 to $240.26 a day, the Chronicle reported.

Comment: California is generous in its support of illegal immigrants, yet this largesse apparently does not extend to it's own citizens. One of the many reasons people are leaving the state in droves.

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Star of David

One dead, 30 injured as Palestinians clash with IDF near Gaza Strip border


Sputnik
Fri, 10 May 2019 19:38 UTC
Man shot
© AP/Adel HanaElderly man shot by IDF troops
A Palestinian died and at least 30 others were injured on Friday in clashes with Israeli troops near the Gaza Strip border, the Gaza Health Ministry spokeswoman, Wafaa Yagi, told Sputnik.

"A 24-year-old Palestinian died and 30 Palestinians were injured during clashes with the Israeli army on the eastern borders of the enclave," the spokeswoman said. Earlier, it was reported that 14 Palestinians were injured during Friday's clashes.

The Gaza border area has been a scene of violent clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli military when the Palestinians launched their anti-Israeli campaign, dubbed the Great March of Return.

The scope of the protests has noticeably decreased in the last month due to the fact that the parties to the conflict have managed, with the mediation of Egypt and the UN, to agree on easing the blockade of the Gaza Strip and other measures of social and economic support.
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NPC

When the left goes too far - the dangerous doctrine of equity in the workplace

Jordan Peterson
The National Post
Sat, 11 May 2019 17:24 UTC
female construction worker equality
© Getty Images
Do we really believe that these large-scale equity interventions are necessary and, even more naively, that they would solve more problems than they would cause, Jordan Peterson asks.

The mantra of Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity (DIE) perhaps constitutes the primary identifying factor of the tiny minority of radical collectivist ideologues that nonetheless have come to dominate the humanities and social sciences in Western universities (and, increasingly, the HR departments of corporations). Of these three, equity is the most egregious, self-righteous, historically-ignorant and dangerous. "Equity" is a term designed to signal "equality," in some manner, and is a term designed to appeal to the natural human tendency toward fairness, but it does not mean the classic equality of the West, which is equality before the law and equality of opportunity.

Equality before the law means that each citizen will be treated fairly by the criminal justice and judicial systems regardless of their status - and that the state recognizes that each individual has an intrinsic value which serves as a limit to state power, and which the polity must respect. There is likely no more fundamental presumption grounding our culture.

Comment:

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No Entry

Compromise or censorship? London gallery caves, covers artwork after blasphemy complaints


RT
Fri, 10 May 2019 16:58 UTC
Saatchi Gallery
© Reuters / Luke MacGregorThe Saatchi Gallery in London
London's Saatchi Gallery covered two paintings which showed the text of shahada, one of the five pillars of Islam, after complaints from Muslim visitors. RT UK guests debate over whether it was the right call.

The artist SKU used the holy Arabic text, which professes belief in God and acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet, in two works, both of which allude to the design of the US national flag and one also shows a nude woman. Some visitors complained about the pieces and called for their removal, but the gallery refused. SKU suggested a compromise solution: keep his work on display but cover them with sheets.

Comment: And yet:

South Africa magistrate rules 'F*ck White People' art not racist

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Laptop

Silicon Valley giants collaborate with the US government on Venezuela

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Sat, 11 May 2019 00:01 UTC
guaido social media
Whenever you speak out on a public forum against internet censorship, like the recent Instagram/Facebook banning of Louis Farrakhan, Infowars, and several right-wing pundits, you always offend two major political groups. The first group are the power-serving authoritarians who identify with the left side of the political spectrum; they argue that it's good and right to trust Silicon Valley plutocrats to regulate political speech on giant monopolistic platforms. The second group are the capitalism cheerleaders who believe there's a free market solution to every problem; they argue that these Silicon Valley giants are private companies which are completely separate from the government, so it's not accurate to refer to what they do with their own property as censorship.

Is that really true, though? Is it really accurate to claim that these sprawling corporations that nobody's been able to compete with are simply private companies, separate and distinct from the government of the nation they're based in? If you look at their behavior, it certainly doesn't seem like it.

Comment: The power of Big Tech to control the narrative is well-documented at this point, yet people still don't seem to realize it. While many decry the banning of high-profile agitators from social media (and rightly so) the very state of reality is being messed with on a masive scale.

See also:

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Pistol

There have been 15 school shootings in the US so far this year

Michelle Lou and Christina Walker
CNN
Thu, 09 May 2019 19:15 UTC
florida school shooting
Nineteen weeks into 2019, there have already been 15 school shootings in the US in which someone was hurt or killed.

They have occurred across the country, from Georgia to California, at elementary, middle and high schools and on college and university campuses.

Since there is no single definition for what qualifies as a school shooting, CNN set the following parameters:
  • The shooting must involve at least one person being shot (not including the shooter).
  • The shooting must occur on school property, which includes but is not limited to, buildings, athletic fields, parking lots, stadiums and buses.
  • We included accidental discharge of a firearm as long as the first two parameters are met, except in instances where the sole shooter is law enforcement or a security officer.
  • We included injuries sustained from BB guns, since the Consumer Product Safety Commission has identified them as potentially lethal.

Comment: Just for some context, this Wikipedia article lists the following numbers of school shootings within the US in recent years (note the Wikipedia article includes any incident that involved the discharging of a weapon, however, even tallying only the events that involved injuries or fatalities, the numbers are similar):

26 in 2013
34 in 2014
21 in 2015
15 in 2016
11 in 2017
37 in 2018

So, all in all, 2019 seems to be shaping up to be a pretty typical year for the US school shootings post 2010.

See also:

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Handcuffs

Former Florida officials charged with racketeering, extortion and drug conspiracies

John McCarthy
Florida Today
Fri, 10 May 2019 15:42 UTC
Dave Isnardi
© WKMG News 6Former Palm Bay Deputy city manager Dave Isnardi being led into the Brevard County Detention Center Friday afternoon.
Former Palm Bay Deputy City Manager Dave Isnardi has been arrested on charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy to possess controlled substances, including oxycodone.

Isnardi is the husband of Brevard County Commission Chair Kristine Isnardi.

Dave Isnardi is being represented at his initial appearaby Bryan Lober, an attorney who also is the County Commission vice chair. Lober said he told the Isnardis not to comment on the case to the media, and he noted that being accused of something is not the same as being guilty.

A second man, Jose Aguiar, a former candidate for the Palm Bay City Council, also was arrested Friday morning and charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. In 1997 in Massachusetts, Aguiar was convicted of conspiracy to sell cocaine and was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison.
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Attention

Tanker and two barges collide spilling gasoline into the Houston Ship Channel

Cory McCord
Click 2 Houston
Fri, 10 May 2019 15:15 UTC
barge split
An outbound tanker collided with two barges in the Houston Ship Channel, releasing an unknown amount of gasoline product into the water, according to authorities.

The crash happened around 3:15 p.m. Friday, just east of Barbours Cut. One barge capsized. The other was damaged and leaked the product into the water. Both were carrying about 25,000 barrels of reformate.

The Houston Ship Channel was closed from Light 61 to Light 75.

Officials initially said about 25,000 barrels of reformate entered the water, but later said they were not sure how much was released.

Reformate is a refined product that is blended with gasoline to boost octane to achieve levels needed for commercial sales. It is an extremely flammable liquid and vapor and can be fatal if it is swallowed. Reformate is toxic to marine life.
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TV

NBC Law & Order episode slammed for Covington teen & Ilhan Omar similarities


RT
Sat, 11 May 2019 11:43 UTC
NBC building
© Reuters / Mike BlakeNBC offices
NBC is facing backlash for an episode of Law & Order SVU featuring characters that resemble the Covington teenager and Rep. Ilhan Omar. The show aired days after the real teen sued the network for $275 million.

The episode aired on Thursday featured a teenager wearing a red cap that resembled Covington high school student Nicholas Sandmann, who was accused of starting an abusive argument with an older Native American, Nathan Phillips, in Washington DC in January.

Sandmann is suing NBC for $275 million for defamation over its reporting on the misleading viral video. He has also filed suits against the Washington Post and CNN.
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Dollar

Teva Pharmaceuticals at the heart of a drug price-fixing conspiracy investigation

David McLaughlin
Bloomberg
Fri, 10 May 2019 14:37 UTC
medications
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. helped mastermind a sweeping conspiracy among generic drugmakers to raise prices for medicines, according to a new antitrust lawsuit filed by states that stems from a five-year investigation of the companies.

More than a dozen current and former executives at top generic-drug makers, including Mylan NV and a unit of Pfizer Inc., were sued on Friday by more than 40 states led by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong.

"We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multi-billion dollar fraud on the American people," Tong said in a statement Friday. "We all wonder why our health care, and specifically the prices for generic prescription drugs, are so expensive in this country - this is a big reason why."

Comment: See also:

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