Society's ChildS

Heart - Black

The real welfare queens: Low wage employers shift labor costs to taxpayers by impoverishing employees

McDonalds
© Wikimedia Commons McDonald's in Times Square
The federal minimum wage of $7.25 is now worth 30 percent less than it was in the 1960s, after adjusting for inflation. It is quite literally a poverty wage - if you support a child, working full-time at the federal minimum will land you $650 below the federal poverty line; supporting two kids will put you more than $4,000 beneath it.

We've noted before that low-wage employers shift some of their labor costs onto the backs of taxpayers by encouraging their workers to apply for public benefits. These employers are the true "welfare queens," their profits indirectly subsidized by the public, which allows them to keep prices artificially low. We've argued in the past that this is one of several reasons why conservatives who oppose spending on the social safety net should favor raising the minimum to a point where workers can get by on their own labor.

Comment: Many low-wage workers have to take some form of public assistance; many are forced to rely on food stamps to feed themselves and their families. Often, they must hold two or three jobs, and even then there are still never enough hours to earn enough to have enough to eat.

A whistleblower's tale of the new minimum wage economy

Walmart gets $7.8 billion a year in tax breaks and subsidies from the US tax system - Employees forced to depend on social programs to get byโ€

McDonald's advice to underpaid employees: Break food into pieces to keep you full


Bomb

U.S. Sunni death squads kill 16 people via car bombings in Karbala, Iraq

Iraqi security forces
© AP PhotoIn this Friday, Oct. 17, 2014 photo, Iraqi security forces and tribal fighters gather to defend the city of Haditha, 240 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq.
Iraqi officials say three car bombings in the revered Shiite shrine city of Karbala have killed at least 16 people.

A police officer said Monday that the explosives-laden cars were parked in commercial areas and parking lots near government offices. He says 41 others were wounded in the explosions.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to media.

Karbala is home to two revered Shiite saints and is located about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad.

The attacks came hours after a suicide bomber blew himself up among Shiite worshippers as they were leaving a mosque in a commercial area in central Baghdad, killing at least 17 people

Arrow Down

Oregon teacher gets 'paid vacation' after ripping a female student's shirt off in front of class

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The teacher yanked Rue so hard, she pulled her to her knees and ripped her sweatshirt off, leaving her exposed down to her red bra in front of all of her shocked classmates
You ever have that nightmare that you're a teenager and you find yourself at school naked?

Remember how relieved you felt to wake up and find out it was just a nightmare?

Well, that nightmare came true last Thursday for Oregon teen Sara Rue at Salem's Roberts Annex alternative high school.

Rue told KATU News that she thought she was having a panic attack as the teacher was confronting another student on an unrelated matter. Rue got up to leave the classroom and remove herself from the stressful situation and the teacher began grabbing her aggressively to keep her in the room.

Comment: Schools in America are starting to look more like prisons, where the 'inmates' have no rights and can be disciplined harshly for minor or imaginary infractions. The teachers are using their authority in abusive ways, often molesting students and generally beginning to behave like the police.

Raising up compliant children in the American police state

The final nail in the coffin: The death of freedom in our schools

Police State: Handcuffing seven-year-olds won't make schools safer

Two high school teachers arrested after allegedly having sex with 16-year-old student

Married Georgia teacher charged with sexual assault after having sex with students on school grounds


Wolf

CBS producing a show about animals planning global attack against humans

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© Andy Macdonald
CBS is making a show that's basically The Birds, but instead of birds attacking humans, it's all of the animals across the globe attacking humans. All of them.

CBS has ordered 13 episode of the TV adaptation of James Patterson's totally wacky Zoo. The book is centered around an outbreak of organized animal attacks. The animals know something, and they're pissed! These are coordinated attacks against the human species, which just sounds so ridiculously terrible I cannot wait to watch it every single day. Here's the synopsis from Amazon:

Comment: For real life creature attacks on humans from across the globe check out this Animals topic.


Ambulance

5-year-old Palestinian girl, deliberately run over by rabid settler, dies in hospital

Einas Khalil
© MaanImages/al-Quds
Ramalla-- A young Palestinian girl who was struck by an Israeli settler vehicle earlier Sunday has succumbed to her wounds, medics told Ma'an.

Einas Khalil, five, died after being hit by a car driven by an Israeli settler near the central West Bank town of Sinjil, medical sources at Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah said.

The girl and young Nilin Asfour were walking on the main road near the village when they were hit, and were taken to the hospital in Ramallah where their wounds were described as serious.

Einas passed away hours later.

Residents of Sinjil accused the settler of deliberately hitting the girls.

Israeli police arrived at the scene shortly after the incident and opened an investigation into whether it was deliberate, locals said.

Over 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.

People

Donetsk People's Republic hoisted 30-meter flag in central Donetsk

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© AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky
A thirty-meter black-blue-red flag of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) was hoisted on Sunday in central Donetsk on the occasion of one of the first national holidays, the Flag Day.

"Regrettably, we have too few holidays now, but this holiday we will remember for years to come. Each of the occupied cities - Slavyansk, Mariupol, Kramatorsk, and others - will host our flag sooner or later," DPR Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko said.

According to a TASS correspondent, about 2,000 people gathered on Sunday in Donetsk's central Lenin Square. Representatives from various DPR districts carried in a giant flag measuring 30 by 14 meters made by residents of all towns of the republic. Denis Yurchenko, a bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in Beijing, and several other city residents made a number of final symbolic stitches. On a signal from Zakharchenko, the flag was hoisted on the facade of one of the buildings surrounding the square.

"We have withstood much and are yet to withstand much. We are a united people and we shall overcome anything," Zakharchenko said. "We will make our city better, we will restore everything that was destroyed and will live in the most beautiful city - let our enemies be envious."

No violations were reported during the festivities.

Penis Pump

Corrupted and psychopathic 'art': Paris's giant 'butt plug' installation vandalised

A controversial artwork in the centre of Paris said to resemble a giant green sex toy was apparently vandalised overnight Friday, after critics decried the 80-foot installation as a "humiliation" for the French capital.

Called "Tree", the piece by US artist Paul McCarthy was erected in Paris's upmarket Place Vendรดme on Thursday as part of the FIAC international art festival which begins next week.
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© @Flosh (Twitter)Paul McCarthy's 'Tree' artwork lies limp after apparently being vandalised
The inflatable artwork is intended to represent a Christmas tree, according to McCarthy, but has caused outrage among some due to its resemblance to an anal plug sex toy, prompting calls for city authorities to remove it.

Feeling has been so strong that McCarthy, 69, has said he was slapped three times in the face by a passer-by as the artwork was unveiled.

Some angry Paris residents now seem to have taken matters into their own hands, with photos posted on Twitter overnight Friday showing the installation lying on its side and looking limp and deflated after apparently being vandalised.

Comment: One doesn't need to look any further than some other works by Paul McCarthy to see that it can't be described as anything other than pure filth.


Arrow Up

Brazil, India and China taking steps to reduce income inequality, tackle poverty

india poverty
© AP Photo/ Altaf QadriAn Indian squatter smokes as others sleep on rented cots at a public park near Jama Masjid, or the Grand Mosque, in New Delhi, India, Friday, Oct. 17, 2014.
There are still too many people living in poverty, but the world is making progress in tackling the problem, largely thanks to such countries as Brazil, India and China, Professor David Hulme, Director of the Brooks World Poverty Institute, told RIA Novosti Friday.

"There are still too many people living in poverty, but one good thing to note is that things are getting better, the world is making steps to address extreme poverty, and this is largely due to the work of countries like Brazil, India and China tackling poverty and reducing inequality in their countries," Hulme said.

Comment: At least these countries recognize their problems and are attempting to do something to alleviate suffering, while the US is so busy fomenting rebellions and expanding the global war of terror, that income inequality and poverty have been growing exponentially.

80% US population face near-poverty, no work
Why we should be seething with anger over income inequality
Money to kill: Pentagon has requested $58.6 billion for wars in 2015
U.S. Congress to cut food stamps by $9 billion.


Red Flag

Canada's Revenue Agency bullies birdwatchers for political activity

Canada Revenue Agency issues warning letter to wildlife club to curb any political activities

Canadian Bird Watchers being watched by CRA
A small group of nature lovers in southern Ontario enjoy spending weekends watching birds and other wildlife, but lately they're the ones under watch - by the Canada Revenue Agency.

The Kitchener-Waterloo Field Naturalists, a registered charity, is apparently at risk of breaking tax agency rules that limit so-called political or partisan activities.

Earlier this year, tax auditors sent a letter to the 300-member group, warning about political material on the group's website.

The stern missive says the group must take appropriate action as necessary "including refraining from undertaking any partisan activities," with the ominous warning that "this letter does not preclude any future audits."

Sheriff

Alabama jail targeted with lawsuits after inmates die of gangrene, broken bones, and constipation

Deundrez Woods
Deundrez Woods
Three times last year Madison County jailers watched small-time criminals die before their eyes, according to a series of three lawsuits filed in federal court.

Each argues that Madison County withholds the most basic medical care in order to save money, banking on the insurance of the medical contractor to cover any resulting lawsuits.

The lawsuits are filled with maladies long ago conquered by modern medicine. Death by gangrene, from broken bones, from constipation.

Deundrez Woods, a 19-year-old from Huntsville, was arrested for shoplifting Star Wars DVDs at Wal-Mart in June of 2013 and then for passing a phony $100 bill in July. He was sent to jail, the suit asserts, where a wound in his foot became infected and he died.

Comment: See also:

Mississippi sued over 'hellish' conditions in for-profit prison

Pittsburgh woman loses arm after alleged police brutality and jail neglect