Society's ChildS


2 + 2 = 4

FBI tracking charter schools

screenshot FED charter schools
© www.theindychannel.comFBI investigation of a local charter school...one of many.
There's been a flood of local news stories in recent months about FBI raids on charter schools all over the country. From Pittsburgh to Baton Rouge, from Hartford to Cincinnati to Albuquerque, FBI agents have been busting into schools, carting off documents, and making arrests leading to high-profile indictments.

"The troubled Hartford charter school operator FUSE was dealt another blow Friday when FBI agents served it with subpoenas to a grand jury that is examining the group's operations. When two Courant reporters arrived at FUSE offices on Asylum Hill on Friday morning, minutes after the FBI's visit, they saw a woman feeding sheaves of documents into a shredder." --The Hartford Courant, July 18, 2014

"The FBI has raided an Albuquerque school just months after the state started peering into the school's finances. KRQE News 13 learned federal agents were there because of allegations that someone may have been taking money that was meant for the classroom at the Southwest Secondary Learning Center on Candelaria, near Morris in northwest Albuquerque ..." --KRQE News 13, August 1, 2014

"Wednesday evening's FBI raid on a charter school in East Baton Rouge is the latest item in a list of scandals involving the organization that holds the charter for the Kenilworth Science and Technology School.... Pelican Educational Foundation runs the school and has ties to a family from Turkey. The school receives about $5,000,000 in local, state, and federal tax money.... The FBI raided the school six days after the agency renewed the Baton Rouge school's charter through the year 2019." --The Advocate, January 14, 2014

"The state of Pennsylvania is bringing in the FBI to look into accusations that a Pittsburgh charter school [Urban Pathways Charter School] misspent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on luxuries such as fine-dining and retreats at exclusive resorts and spas." --CBS News, November 12, 2013

"COLUMBUS, OH--A federal grand jury has indicted four people, alleging that they offered and accepted bribes and kickbacks as part of a public corruption conspiracy in their roles as managers and a consultant for Arise! Academy, a charter school in Dayton, Ohio." --FBI Press Release, June 2014

What's going on here?

Charter schools are such a racket, across the nation they are attracting special attention from the FBI, which is working with the Department of Education's inspector general to look into allegations of charter-school fraud.

FBI investigation Gulen
© turkiye.netFBI investigates Gulen charter school chain.
One target, covered in an August 12 story in The Atlantic, is the secretive Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who runs the largest charter-school chain in the United States. The Atlantic felt compelled to note, repeatedly, that it would be xenophobic to single out the Gulen schools and their mysterious Muslim founder for lack of transparency and the misuse of public funds. "It isn't the Gulen movement that makes Gulen charters so secretive," writes The Atlantic's Scott Beauchamp, "it's the charter movement itself."

Kristen Buras, associate professor of education policies at Georgia State University, agrees. "Originally, charter schools were conceived as a way to improve public education," Buras says. "Over time, however, the charter school movement has developed into a money-making venture."

Comment: Charter schools are authorized by educational institutions such as universities, colleges or school districts, and many are operated by management companies. Authorizers are charged with vetting charter operators, but critics of the system say authorizers are not held accountable for operators' failures. Not only should authorizers and operators be held accountable, parents should thoroughly research the institutions in which they place their children and know which authorizers are getting kick-backs at public expense.


Pistol

South Dallas: Huey P. Newton gun club leads open-carry rally

Image
© Vernon Bryant/Staff PhotographerMembers of the Huey P. Newton Gun Club chanted slogans including “black power” and “justice for Michael Brown” during their peaceful protest on Wednesday.
Two dozen protesters - most of them armed - from a gun club named after the founder of the original Black Panther Party peacefully marched through parts of South Dallas on Wednesday.

The open-carry rally was organized by the Huey P. Newton Gun Club to promote self-defense and community policing in response to recent police shootings, both nationally and locally.

Police monitored the black-clad demonstrators, some of whom had rifles slung over their shoulders. As they walked down MLK Boulevard and Malcolm X Boulevard in the blistering heat, many chanted "black power" and "justice for Michael Brown," the black teenager fatally shot by police this month in suburban St. Louis. His death has touched off a string of often-violent protests in that area.

Eye 1

Drone operators in Vancouver could face charges for using drones to spy on people

Image
© Janet S. Carter , APA Vancouver resident who saw a camera-mounted drone similar to this one flying outside his Vancouver condo Sunday night filed a complaint with Vancouver police.
Vancouver drone operators who use the flying machines to spy on people could face criminal charges of voyeurism or harassment, according to the Vancouver Police Department.

Sgt. Randy Fincham said the police force has had 13 complaints about drone or unmanned aerial vehicles this year, 10 of them since May. The most recent incident occurred Sunday night in the 600-block of Abbott in the neighbourhood known as Crosstown.

Conner Galway was sitting outside on the patio of the 36th floor at about 8:30 p.m. when he first saw the drone for about an hour. It came back again around 10:30 p.m.

He said it came close enough for him to see something moving underneath the body of the drone that looked like a camera lens.

"I thought it was concerning," he said.

Fincham said in an email that the VPD would become involved if a drone or other high-tech device was used to view or record a person within their own home or apartment, or if the drone caused damage to property or injured someone.

Handcuffs

Russia anti-gay? Homophobic extremists sentenced to 5 years in penal colony

Martsinkevich
Anti-gay extremist Maxim Sergeyevich Martsinkevich.
The leader of the Russian anti-gay vigilante group "Occupy Pedophilia," who is alleged to have lured LGBT youth to abusive encounters through fake social media profiles, was sentenced Friday to five years in a Russian penal colony. VK.com

Maxim Sergeyevich Martsinkevich was convicted of inciting and fomenting cases of extremism by posting videos on the "Vkontakte" (VK.com) social network that contained racial slurs and extremist opinions on Russia's state of the union, reports Interfax. Videos containing anti-gay statements and abuse were not included in the prosecutor's case against him, however.

Martsinkevich rose to international attention last year when his group began posting videos on VK.com and YouTube, documenting violent and homophobic harassment of men and gay youth the group claims were seeking to have sex with boys.

Amid outrage by international Human Rights groups and the prosecutor's office in what was then Sevastopol, Ukraine (which sought to arrest him for crimes against a young male adult citizen of Ukraine) Martsinkevich fled to Cuba in December 2013, but was arrested and extradited for breaking Cuban immigration law in January.

Comment: People have to realize that Russia has to walk a fine line when it comes to homosexuality. Over half the population thinks that gays should be punished by law or medically treated. Two thirds think of it as a moral perversion or that it is not a sexual orientation.

As for Russia's "anti-gay propaganda" law, in the 7 years that the previous, similar, regional laws were in effect, they resulted in only 6 prosecutions and 2 convictions, which were later overturned. After six months of the infamous federal law, there were 3 convictions, 2 of which were for acts of civil disobedience against the law itself. Law enforcement have been very restrained when it comes to interpreting and acting on the law itself. In fact, Russia has signed on with the UN Human Rights Council to fight violence and discrimination against homosexuals themselves, and is accountable for fulfilling their agreement. For more information see Brian M. Heiss's "White Paper".


Camera

Photographer in Liberia's Ebola zone encounters the dead

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer John Moore has covered wars in Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq, among other places. But when he arrived in Liberia's capital city of Monrovia this month to report on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, he faced dangers of a different order.
Image
© John MooreA Liberian soldier beats a local resident while enforcing a quarantine in Monrovia's West Point slum on Wednesday.
Liberia has 972 probable, suspected, or confirmed cases of the disease, with 576 dead, more than any other country. Including the countries of Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, the death toll from Ebola has reached 1,350, according to the World Health Organization.

Since Moore's arrival in Monrovia, there has been an attack on an isolation center that sent quarantined Ebola patients fleeing. This week, Liberian soldiers quarantined Monrovia's West Point slum in an effort to contain the virus, provoking clashes with neighborhood residents.

Moore spoke to National Geographic about the harrowing scenes he's documented, the personal risks he faces - and the humanity that endures.

Comment: See also Ebola transmission: "Being within 3 feet" or "in same room" can lead to infection.


Black Cat

Same Oklahoma cop previously involved in wrongful death lawsuit accused of sexually assaulting women while on duty

Daniel-Holtzclaw
© AP Photo/Oklahoma County Sheriff's OfficeThis Aug. 21, 2014, photo made available by the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office shows Daniel K. Holtzclaw. The 27-year-old Oklahoma City police officer was arrested Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014 and is being held in lieu of $5 million bond after being accused of committing a series of sexual assaults against at least six women while on duty.
An Oklahoma City police officer named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed earlier this year has been accused of sexually assaulting women while on duty.

Daniel Holtzclaw, a three-year veteran of the Oklahoma City Police Department, was arrested Thursday afternoon outside Gold's Gym on charges of rape, forcible oral sodomy, sexual battery, and indecent exposure and jailed on $5 million bond, reported The Oklahoman.

Investigators said Holtzclaw stopped women while on patrol and threatened to arrest them unless they exposed themselves, allowed him to fondle them, or had sex with him.

Police Chief Bill Citty said the case angered and disturbed him, and he praised detectives for their work on the case.

Comment: Holtzclaw is a former Eastern Michigan University football player. Football is one of many sports where aggression is cultivated, and often translates into aggressive behavior of players off the field. Despite their pathological traits and misbehavior on and off the play field, they get excused again and again. If police departments weren't so ponerized, this man would never have been allowed to remain on active duty after being involved in the wrongful death of Clifton Armstrong.

Rampant sexual abuse by officers ignored by police departments


Ambulance

Russia's Red Cross takes up the mantle after ICRC backs out due to security concerns


Comment: Kiev and the western media response's handling of the Russian aid convoy has been a total farce, parroting baseless speculation about Russia's 'belligerent' intentions. The fact is, there is NO evidence the convoy is anything other than what it claims to be: a humanitarian aid convoy. And it is Kiev that has stalled and subtly threatened those accompanying the convoy by not providing promises of security to Red Cross personnel.


russian aid convoy
© AP Photo/Sergei GritsThe first trucks of the convoy roll on the main road to Luhansk near the village of Uralo-Kavkaz, after it passed the border post at Izvaryne, eastern Ukraine, Friday, Aug. 22, 2014.
Russia's Red Cross is ready to take part in the aid mission in eastern Ukraine, where the humanitarian situation is "critical", and to escort the Russian aid convoy that is on its way to Lugansk without ICRC accompanying it due to security concerns.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) are holding talks in Geneva over the situation regarding the humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the head of the Russian Red Cross, Raisa Lukutsova, told RIA Novosti on Friday.

She described the situation in the conflict-torn east Ukrainian regions as catastrophic.

Russian Red Cross volunteers are ready to participate urgently in the humanitarian operation in the area.

"The Ukrainian side kept fobbing us off with promises that the [Russian aid] convoy could proceed 'tomorrow', 'the day after tomorrow,' but they failed to provide security guarantees to ICRC employees," Lukutsova told the Interfax agency.

"But what's most important is that there are no food products, medications, and water in the conflict zone. And we, as Russia's Red Cross, are ready to take part in this humanitarian operation."

Stock Down

Declining wages, low-paid jobs rising across the U.S.

'These losses are part of an alarming trend toward greater inequality and a shrinking share of the economic pie going to workers'
Image
© Michael FleshmanProtesters rally for increase to national minimum wage
While wages have declined across all sectors in the years following the financial crash of 2008, low-paid workers have been hit the hardest, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) reported this week.

NELP analyzed five groups of median wages in its report, titled An Unbalanced Recovery: Real Wage and Job Growth Trends (pdf). Since 2009, while higher-income sectors saw a drop between 2.1 and 2.5 percent, workers in the three lowest-paid groups were hit much harder, with wage declines between 3.6 and 4.6 percent. Some of the hardest-hit professions within the three lowest-paid groups were maids, housekeepers, home health and personal care aides, and restaurant workers, whose wage decline ranged from 5.8 to 8.3 percent.

The study also found that low-paid jobs are on the rise. Despite the stagnant or diminished level of wages more people found work in lower-paid occupations than in any other industry in the past year. Low-wage and mid-wage jobs constituted a combined 67 percent of job growth from July 2013 to July 2014.

Bad Guys

Shame on her: Fox news presenter annoyed by Ferguson update during broadcast about murdered journalist Foley

Image
Biased and bigoted?; Fox News presenter Megyn Kelly
Fox news presenter Megyn Kelly expressed her frustration on air when an update on the Ferguson riots interrupted an interview about the death of American journalist James Foley.

An Isis video released overnight on Tuesday shows a suspected British jihadist beheading Foley in what is claimed to be a revenge killing for the ongoing US air strikes in Iraq.

When breaking news from Ferguson appeared on the screen during her coverage on Tuesday night, Kelly said: "Hold on...I realise... I realise something is happening in Ferguson, but we're talking about something important here, so can you at least split screen the video."


Comment: What is happening in Ferguson is extremely important for the rest of the U.S. and beyond. This is a police state in action and it is clear to anyone who wishes to see and hear.


Comment: Kelly's arrogance and lack of compassion for the people of Ferguson is breath-taking. She cares much more about one (white) journalist than an (overall black) community that is in uproar and under attack. Selective empathy anyone?


Heart - Black

Readers of 'soft porn' like 'Fifty Shades of Grey' more likely to binge drink, have eating disorders and abusive relationships

violence women
A study conducted at Michigan State University found that young adult women who have read the popular erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey are more likely to exhibit symptoms of eating disorders and to have verbally abusive partners than women who haven't read the book.

Furthermore, reported MSU Today this week, women who have read all three books in author E. L. James' Fifty Shades trilogy are more prone to binge drinking and risky sexual behaviors.

The study, which appeared in the Journal of Women's Health, attempted to assess whether a connection exists between unhealthy behaviors in women and an affinity for popular culture - like the Fifty Shades series - that glamorizes and eroticizes violence against women.

"Fifty Shades - a blockbuster fiction series - depicts pervasive violence against women, perpetuating a broader social narrative that normalizes these types of risks and behaviors in women's lives," said the study's background statement.

Comment: Violent and abusive behavior against women, which can be both physically and emotionally harmful, gain societal acceptance when they are glamorized and normalized in popular culture such as books and movies. 'Culture' has now become so degraded that all forms of psychopathy have been normalized and violence against women is epidemic. It is no wonder that consumers of such 'entertainment' exhibit disturbing behaviors and engage in relationships with abusers as they have been taught by the proliferation of this garbage to accept sociopathic abuse as the norm.

Fifty Shades of Grey romanticizes sexual violence and emotional abuse of women
Violence against women at epidemic proportions
Psychopathy: the character trait that predicts risky sexual behavior and hypersexuality in both males and females