Society's ChildS


Cardboard Box

How broke are Millennials? Pretty broke when you look at the data

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© iStock
If you type in "characteristics of the Millennial generation" into trusty Google you will find a list of interesting headlines. Some of the titles given to Millennials are: Generation Y, Generation WE, The Boomerang Generation, and The Peter Pan Generation. Part of this stems from the way many were raised by baby boomers who were promising their kids the world. Many felt that leaving college with any degree would be enough for a high income and an avalanche of jobs hitting their email box. None of this really materialized. Unrealistically high expectations.

Denmark, which typically ranks among the "happiest" countries in the world carries one interesting trait - have low expectations. In fact, most Millennials are struggling in the current economy. The Millennial generation leads the way in the amount of student debt it carries. Many are stuck in low wage jobs earning so little, they are living with their parents deep into adulthood. How broke are Millennials? Pretty broke when you look at the data.

Blame it on income

A very high number of Millennials don't even work or if they are working, are stuck in a low wage job. Close to half of recent college graduates are working in jobs that don't even relate to their undergraduate degree. Not a problem when you pay little for college but this can be an issue when you are going into tens of thousands of dollars of debt to finance your studies.

Income for Millennials has fallen across virtually all employment sectors:
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It should be noted that the Great Recession officially ended in the summer of 2009 yet somehow, incomes continue to go down for Millennials
. This is why younger Americans are angered and keenly focused on issues like income inequality and student debt.

Millennials are the poorest income group in the United States:
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Comment: Exceptionalism at its best: 21 facts about the explosive growth of poverty in America that will blow your mind


Alarm Clock

Active shooter situation reported at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs; at least 1 dead, 3 injured

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© Google
An active shooter situation is in progress at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic. At least three policemen and an unknown number of civilians have been injured after a gunman opened fire. Police have surrounded the area.

The gunman shot multiple people, including a police officer, then barricaded himself inside Planned Parenthood, according to Mike Violette, the executive director for the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police. At least three officers have been injured, and police are unsure if any civilians have been hit, Commander Kirk Wilson of Colorado Springs PD told reporters. Police do not know if there have been any fatalities. One person is reported dead in the parking lot, according to the police scanner. The gunman is firing at passing cars, KRDO reported.

Two of the injured officers have been moved to safety, while police are still trying to move the third out of harm's way, KXRM's Kody Fisher reported. An officer said on his radio that he was trying to "get a look at" the gunman, when the back window of his police cruiser was shot out, the CS Gazette reported. The injured police officer was shot in the hand, and a second officer has been injured, law enforcement told KKTV.

The gunman is a white male who is about 6 feet tall with a white beard wearing a hunting outfit, boots and a tan hat, a witness told police, according to the scanner traffic. Law enforcement on the scene must also battle the elements with snow starting to accumulate on top of police vehicles. It is currently 17 degrees Fahrenheit (-8 degrees Celsius).


Alarm Clock

According to new study: American hunger-related healthcare costs exceeded $160 billion in 2014

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© Brandon Warren
Food insecurity, especially for children, remains near record high despite the Great Recession's official end.

While the official end of the Great Recession is a full five years behind us, there are now nearly 12 million more Americans who lack enough resources to access adequate food than there were in 2007, a number that has only improved slightly since United States food insecurity peaked at over 21 percent in 2009. These statistics alone are disturbing. But as detailed in a new study released today as part of Bread for the World Institute's 2016 Hunger Report, absence of food security in the U.S. carries enormous healthcare costs, more than $160 billion in 2014.

Comment: Hungry in America: Ten cities where a shocking number of people don't have enough food


V

Black Friday protests over Laquan McDonald shooting shut down major Chicago shopping district

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On one of the busiest U.S. retails days, thousands of people took to Chicago's most prestigious downtown shopping district on Friday to protest last year's shooting death of a black teenager by a white policeman and the city's handling of the case.

About 2,000 people with signs reading "Stop Police Terror" gathered in a cold drizzle for the march on Chicago's "Magnificent Mile" on the Black Friday shopping day, which closed the major city street of Michigan Avenue to traffic.

Organizers said the rally, led by activist-politician the Rev. Jesse Jackson and several state elected officials, is a show of outrage over the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, 17, and what they see as racial bias in U.S. policing.

Protesters also called for the resignation of the police superintendent and a top prosecutor for what they see as foot-dragging and stonewalling in the case.

The police officer who shot McDonald 16 times, Jason Van Dyke, 37, was charged with first-degree murder hours before a graphic video of the shooting was made public on Tuesday.

Comment: See: Protests erupt as Chicago police release video in Laquan McDonald shooting


Bomb

Former UN official urges Cameron not to bomb Syria ahead of protests

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Former UN Assistant Secretary-General Hans von Sponeck has signed a letter along with 30 other VIPs begging Prime Minister David Cameron not to bomb Syria. It will be delivered to Downing Street on Saturday as thousands protest at Whitehall.

Thirty celebrities, politicians and writers have signed the letter pleading with Cameron to reverse his plans to extend airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants from Iraq into Syria.

Signatories include filmmaker Ken Loach and comedian Frankie Boyle.

The letter will be delivered to Downing Street at Saturday's protest, according to the Stop the War coalition.

Bad Guys

Fort Benning: Shut Down the School of Assassins!

Fort Benning
© TelesurtvThe School of Assassins
Abby Martin reports from the 25th Anniversary protests against the School of the Americas, otherwise known as the School of Assassins.

Padlock

The U.S. offshore pathological fascination with prison torture continues: Activists hold Thanksgiving hunger strike outside Gitmo

Gitmo Prison
Protesters say Thanksgiving is a fitting time to remember the force-feeding of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Fourteen human rights activists staged a hunger protest near the perimeter of the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba Thursday.

The demonstration aimed to draw renewed public attention to the force-feeding of detainees who have attempted their own hunger strikes in U.S. custody.

Mr. Potato

Donald Trump's campaign hits an all-time low as he despicably mocks a disabled journalist

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© TelegraphDonald Trump as he mocked a New York Times reporter and appeared to imitate his disability
Donald Trump might believe himself immune from the moral standards applied to mere mortals, but he got a shock this week when he tested that theory out by mocking a disabled journalist at a political rally.

Trump was speaking at a rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina when returned to his claim that "thousands and thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the 9/11 attacks.

New York Times journalist Sergei Kovalevski was one of the authors of a report cited by Trump in defense of his 9/11 claim. So when the reporter saw it being misused, he came forward with a simple and non-personal clarification of the facts. He told CNN:
"We did a lot of shoe leather reporting in and around Jersey City and talked to a lot of residents and officials for the broader story. Much of that has, indeed, faded from memory.

"I do not recall anyone saying there were thousands, or even hundreds, of people celebrating. That was not the case, as best as I can remember,"
An embarrassed Trump had clearly been stewing over being rumbled, and took his chance to fire back from South Carolina. His comeback? He mocked the journalist for having a disability.


Comment: Embarrassed? Not so sure that is possible.


While performing a ludicrous physical impersonation of disabled Kovalevski, he denounced the journalist. Twisting his hands inward and flailing his arms, he laughed:
"Now the poor guy. You ought to see the guy: 'Err, I don't know what I said. I don't remember.'

"He's going: 'I don't remember. Maybe that's what I said.'" Implying that Kovalevski could not be relied upon to recall events due to his disability.

Comment: How much lower does he have to go in order to show to his supporters how psychopathic he is and that he should never be allowed to run for President?


Fire

Activists burning down Monsanto's GMO facilities as governments refuse to protect their citizens

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A Monsanto research center in western France suffered significant fire damage late October, which officials believe was an arson attack on the biotech company. The attack occurred the same day food safety commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis failed to convince the European Parliament to adopt a plan which would allow member states to ban genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

As regards the fire, Monsanto representative Jakob Witten told sources that investigators "strongly suspect it was a crime as no electrical or other sources were found." He added that "No Monsanto sites in Europe have so far been the victim of fires of criminal origin, this is unprecedented violence."[1]

Comment: Monsanto suffers major defeat as majority of EU states say 'No to GMO'
Monsanto and the GMO agribusiness cartel have suffered a major new defeat as two-thirds of the 28 EU member states have opted for a full ban on GMO crops according to the terms of new Brussels rules allowing national decision on the toxic agro-technology. The bans across the EU greatly expand the EU acreage off-limits to GMO from the previous somewhat chaotic EU procedures.

By the October 3 deadline, the EU Commission has announced that 19 of the 28 EU member countries have filed for a full "opt-out" or ban on GMO commercial crops in their countries. Other states can still file no GMO opt-outs after October 3 on certain grounds.

The states saying fully No to GMO now include Germany (except for limited research only, not commercial planting), and France. France continues its previous ban, including for Monsanto MON810 GMO maize, the only GMO crop presently in commercial cultivation in the EU, mainly in Spain and Portugal. In addition to Germany and France, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, and Slovenia all now have full GMO bans.



Heart

Syrian refugee cooking for German homeless "giving something back"

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Every Saturday Alex Assali, a Syrian refugee living in Berlin, cooks large pots of food and shares it with the German homeless in his neighborhood in an effort to give back to the country that gave him asylum. Huffington Post reports that he left Syria in 2007 without a passport and lived in Libya for several years before making Germany his home. It is difficult to fathom the kind of hardships he must have faced in recent years, which is what makes this story so powerful.

If you can bless another while going through your own storms, no matter how intense those storms are, that really says something about you as a person and the human heart in general.

His story is making its rounds across the internet after a picture of him serving food was posted on social media. Apparently, he spends his own money doing this selfless work, despite being unable to find a steady job. He is currently living off of the German government, which is providing Syrian refugees 359 euros a month.