Society's ChildS


Family

Over 10,000 lone children crossing Mexico-US border apprehended in past 2 months

Mexican children cross US border
© Daniel Becerril / Reuters
Despite the Obama administration's insistence in 2014 that illegal border crossings from Mexico are "an urgent humanitarian situation", the number of unaccompanied minors crossing over has soared to over 10,000 over the last two months in a new surge.

US Border and Customs Protection is reporting a 106 percent increase from last year's October 1-November 30 period, with 10,588 children apprehended, compared to last year's 5,129. The same can be said of family detentions to an even larger degree: The October 1-November 30 period last year saw 4,577 arrests whereas there were 12,505 over the same period in 2015 - a 176 percent increase.

Heart - Black

Maine's LePage neglects low-income household's right to receive nutrition

Maine Governor Paul LePage
© AP Photo/Robert F. BukatyMaine Governor Paul LePage
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services is violating federal law and now ranks last among all states for its administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program, or food stamps.

A sharply worded, Dec. 7 letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture put DHHS on notice.

"The State's chronically poor performance in timeliness is in direct conflict with the application processing statutory and regulatory provisions meant to protect low-income household's right to receive nutrition assistance benefits in a timely manner," wrote Ken Messner, the acting regional administrator for the USDA's northeast region.

The letter goes on to catalog the department's abject failure to review applications for SNAP in a timely manner.

In 2014, Maine ranked 36 out of 53 state agencies. That ranking has "deteriorated rapidly," with the state now ranked 53 out 53 state agencies.

Comment: Why does Maine tolerate this LePage creature when he obviously shows no compassion for those in need?


Handcuffs

How the "land of the free" became the "home of the slaves" for 2.3 million Americans - it's called the war on drugs

black man behind bars
"Prisoner number [XX]... It is time to go home." The most beautiful words she had ever heard. She had dreamt about the day that phrase would be uttered for the past ten years. Today, she will get to see her daughter that has been out of her life and begin the process of reunification.

As she takes her first steps outside the prison walls in a decade, it is like stepping into a foreign land. Outside the concrete confinement she is overwhelmed by the simplicity of feeling the fresh breeze, the sunlight, the green grass, and of course her family. Her daughter, mother, and brother await her release in what feels like another world away. Her lower lip starts to tremble uncontrollably - which it always has done when she becomes emotional - only to see her 13-year-old daughter's lower lip mirror that of her own. Mother-and-daughter are able to embrace for the first time in years as they share an electric bond that cannot be broken, despite so many unanswered questions over the years.
"Why is Mom in jail? Why didn't I get to have a Mom while growing up? Why wasn't anyone there to do the things that everyone else enjoyed with their Mom? Where was my Mom all this time?"

Laptop

Twitter issues warning of 'state-sponsored' attacks designed to obtain sensitive data

Twitter
© Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Twitter has warned some users their accounts may have been targeted by "state-sponsored actors," allegedly attempting to obtain sensitive data, such as email and IP addresses, as well as phone numbers.

It's the first time the microblogging service has issued such a warning.

A Winnipeg-based non-profit Canadian organization Coldhak reported having received a warning from Twitter and posted a copy of the letter online.


The notice from the microblogging service didn't provide any additional information about possible suspects in its investigation. It recommended taking precautions to safeguard personal information, offering a link to info on Tor.

A spokesman for San Francisco-based Twitter confirmed the authenticity of the emails to CNET, but reportedly declined to comment further. Social media platforms, Twitter in particular, have recently become a battlefield for hackers.

Snakes in Suits

Modern day slavery: Refugees may be forced to work for free on Swedish farms

Refugees in Sweden
© REUTERS/ Johan Nilsson
According to Dagens Nyheter, newcomers seeking asylum in Sweden may be offered volunteer jobs on the Swedish farms. A detailed feasibility study of the new project is expected to be presented in February 2015.

As the refugee crisis in Europe is going on, the EU governments are coming up with more and more crazy ideas of how to integrate the newcomers into the local society.

The Swedish government for instance proposed that migrants seeking asylum in Sweden would be offered to work as volunteers on Swedish farms.

In return, they will receive housing which is expected to be provided by their "employers", work experience and language skills, the newspaper wrote.

Pistol

University of North Texas student wielding axe shot, killed by campus police; 1,133rd person killed by cops in 2015

University North Texas
© Michael Barera/WikipediaThe Hurley Administration Building on the campus of the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas.
A student at the University of North Texas in Denton was shot and killed after he "advanced" on a campus police officer while carrying an axe. His friends say their mild-mannered teammate might have been drinking, having just turned 21.

The officer was responding to a call that someone was breaking car windows on Fry and Oak streets, about two blocks away from the campus, just after 1am on Sunday, UNT spokeswoman Margarita Vanegas told the Dallas Morning News. When a man he found at the scene advanced on him with an axe, the officer opened fire.

At least three shots were fired, according to Bink Ruckthongsook, another UNT student who told KXAS-TV he heard the gunfire. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office identified the victim as Ryan McMillan, who had just turned 21 the day before. He was a second-year transfer student from Fort Worth, according to UNT spokeswoman Kelley Reese.

A video provided to North Texas Daily, the university newspaper, shows a man matching McMillan's description walking through a parking garage, carrying an axe.


McMillan's friends were incredulous and angry at the news of his death. They say the mild-mannered and shy high school tennis player, nicknamed "Charlie Brown" by his teammates, was not aggressive by nature and believe the officer could have subdued him without deadly force.

"I can't really put into words how I feel about the fact that one of the nicest people I ever met was shot because an officer felt threatened," Matthew McDermott, McMillan's childhood friend, told the Dallas Morning News. "I want to drive to Denton and scream at the top of my lungs at the police department, but that's stupid and irrational. But it just really angers me."

Handcuffs

'It's like a predator's playground': Reports of rampant abuse at one of America's largest women's prisons

prison
Lowell Correctional Institution in Florida is one of the largest women's corrections facilities in the United States, and it is also notorious for being one of the most corrupt and brutal. Recently, numerous inmates have come forward with allegations that they were routinely sexually abused and assaulted by both male and female guards.

According to various complaints filed between 2011 and 2015, female inmates would be forced to "barter" sexual acts with guards in exchange for basic necessities like soap and food. According to the complaints, women at Lowell who submitted to the sexual demands of the guards were rewarded with the best food and living supplies available. Meanwhile, women who refused were harassed, neglected, denied basic necessities, and sometimes put in solitary confinement. In many cases, women were put through psychological evaluations and labeled as mentally ill as a result of refusing the guard's sexual advances.

Pistol

New video footage shows Texas police open fire after suspect raises arms

Texas police shooting
© Bexar County Sheriff's Office / YouTube
New footage of a fatal police shooting in Texas has been released. The nearly hour-long video shows the 41-year-old suspect, Gilbert Flores, surrendering with his arms up as officers open fire and kill him.

Flores was shot and killed on August 28. The first video of the incident, filmed at some distance, emerged a few days later. In it, Flores appears to raise his hands as Bexar County Sheriff's Office deputies Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez approach. One of the suspect's hands is obscured by a utility pole, however.

The second footage, shot by Flores' neighbors from their house nearby, clearly shows the deputies shoot Flores after he raises his hands above his head in surrender.

Comment: Yet another tragic event that could have easily been avoided.


X

Iran: 227 US-made products up for boycott

can goods
© www.dailymail.co.ukIranian vendor stocks his grocery shelves...but perhaps not with US products.
Iran has labeled more than 200 goods made in the US ahead of the much-anticipated lifting of sanctions which could trigger an influx of foreign products. The Trade Promotion Organization of Iran has published the names of 227 goods subject to an import ban and sent the list to authorities in all the 31 provinces across the country in a directive to implement the boycott. The list includes an assortment of goods, including chewing gums, cigarettes and appliances in addition to defense equipment such as tanks and armored vehicles, the Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.

The labeling comes in the wake of an order last month by Minister of Mine, Industry and Trade, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, for a ban on entry of US consumer goods.

In October, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei wrote to President Hassan Rouhani, urging the government to develop an "economy of resistance" and check the imports of US-made goods. The Leader wrote the letter to outline his conditional approval of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- Iran's nuclear accord reached in July with the US, Europe, Russia and China.

Comment: "Bottom line": perhaps turn-about is "fair play."


Pistol

Ohio seventh-grader threatened to use dad's gun to shoot Muslim boy he called 'son of ISIS'

sad/worried boy
© Shutterstock
An Ohio seventh-grader is accused of threatening to shoot a Muslim classmate he called a terrorist and a "towel head."

The boy threatened on Dec. 7 to bring a .40-caliber gun from home the following day and kill a sixth-grader he had been feuding with on the school bus, reported WHIO-TV.

The older boy called the Muslim student "the son of ISIS" and accused him of responsibility for destroying the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001 — which happened before either boy was born.