Society's ChildS


Dollars

Reports of debtor's prisons spring up in Louisiana and New Hampshire; federal lawsuit filed

A federal lawsuit in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a report by the ACLU of New Hampshire, document the practice of jailing people unable to pay their court debts, violating the due process rights of the poor by failing to provide them with legal counsel and ability-to-pay hearings.
money gavel
New Orleans

In New Orleans, a class action lawsuit was brought this month by five people charging the government with levying fines and court fees against poor residents without first assessing their ability to pay. According to Courthouse News, "An estimated 104,900 people, or more than a quarter of the population, [live] below the poverty line" in New Orleans. Half of all adult black men in the city are unemployed and receive no unemployment compensation.

In one case, officers in tactical gear allegedly stormed a family's home to collect court debt:

Comment: Not only is lady justice not blind, she is also very greedy. Despite debtor's prisons being illegal in the US since 1833, the poor continue to be the prey of the American injustice system.


Eye 2

What human rights: Anonymous targets Saudi websites as teen awaits crucifixion for 'anti-govt activities'

Anonymous
© Stephane Mahe / Reuters
Hacktivist group Anonymous has called out Saudi Arabia for its horrific human rights record by attacking the Gulf kingdom's government websites. The attack is in response to the upholding of a death sentence handed down to 17-year-old Mohammed al-Nimr.

Earlier in September, Nimr's final appeal to the Saudi courts was dismissed, and his sentence of death by crucifixion for alleged anti-government activities in 2012 can now be carried out at any moment.


Comment: Saudi Arabia is an example that humans don't have rights, only psychopaths in power do. See: Sadistic Saudi princes and Washington warmongers Vs Russia's civilizing force


Megaphone

'Where are our boys?' Thousands rally in Mexico 1 year after 43 students kidnapped in Iguala

anniversary of the disappearance of the 43 students from Mexico's Ayotzinapa College
© Henry RomeroDemonstrators take part in a march to mark the first anniversary of the disappearance of the 43 students from Mexico's Ayotzinapa College Raul Isidro Burgos, in Mexico City, September 26, 2015.
Thousands of people filled the streets of Mexico City on Saturday to remember 43 students presumed killed by a drug gang in 2014, after corrupt local police allegedly handed them over. Protesters are demanding a new probe from the Mexican government.

About 3,000 police officers were deployed in Mexico City, where the central avenues Paseo de la Reforma, as well as several other streets in the center, were blocked because of the mass demonstrations.

"Where are our boys?" and "We are lacking 43!" said the protest banners.

Comment: For more background on this tragic case, see also:

Mexicans protest and clash with police after government declares missing 43 students dead
In the wake of Murillo's press conference, Amnesty International issued a statement indicting the attorney general for failing to recognize or address the fact that the students' disappearance was a crime of the state, and not an isolated occurrence. It charged that the investigations into both the student disappearances and the June 2014 extrajudicial executions of 22 people by Mexican army soldiers in Tlatlaya, Mexico State, had been limited and incomplete, and accompanied by a refusal to question the collusion between the state and organized crime, which underlies these grave violations of human rights.
The Iguala Massacre - "You can't remain silent, the government can't remain in denial"
I have covered so many slaughters, I have seen so many ugly things in Mexico that I often say we've already hit bottom. But we haven't.... I have many doubts about where the bottom is. But I am sure that this (the massacre in Iguala) is a watershed for Mexico. You can't stop talking about this, about the corruption, the drug cartels. You can't remain silent, the government can't remain in denial.



Eye 1

Police officer charged with first-degree murder of his infant son

police line
© Flickr/ Tony Webster
A Tennessee police officer was arrested Thursday for allegedly causing injuries that killed his infant son, according to law enforcement officials.

Christopher Warren Page, 28, of the Paris Police Department is facing charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

TBI says baby Gunner Page succumbed to life-threatening injuries five days after they were inflicted while he was in his Puryear home on Sep. 2. The agency began investigating the incident immediately at the request of 24th District Attorney General Matthew Stowe.

"During the course of the investigation, agents developed information leading to Page as the individual responsible for his son's death," the TBI said.

Laptop

Australian tribunal finds workplace bully who unfriended colleague on Facebook guilty of bullying

Image
© Dado Ruvic
Deleting a friend on Facebook could have serious consequences, after an Australian work tribunal found a woman in Tasmania, who unfriended a colleague on the social network following an argument, guilty of workplace bullying.

The Fair Work Commission ruled that Lisa Bird, who works at the View estate agency in Launceston, was guilty of bullying sales administrator Rachel Roberts. Bird was accused of showing a "lack of emotional maturity" for having the nerve not to say "good morning" to her colleague and subsequently deleting her from Facebook.

Bird decided to unfriend Roberts after an argument. Roberts had complained that Bird, the wife of the agency's principle, James Bird, had acted aggressively towards her in order to put her down in front of the other workers. Bird called Roberts a "naughty little schoolgirl for running to the teacher."

Roberts subsequently wanted to check the social network to see if her work colleague had written anything on the platform about the altercation. However, Roberts found that Bird had decided to delete her altogether.

"The 'schoolgirl' comment... is evidence of an inappropriate dealing with Ms Roberts which was provocative and disobliging. I am of the view that Mrs Bird took the first opportunity to draw a line under the relationship with Ms Roberts on 29 January 2015, when she removed her as a friend on Facebook as she did not like Ms Roberts and would prefer not to have to deal with her," the tribunal stated, as cited by the News.com.au.

Other complaints listed by Roberts include Mrs Bird failing to say hello to her in the morning and for not giving her copies of printouts, which were given to all the other staff members.

Comment: Bullies in the work place are adept and quite tactical. Kudos to the tribunal for recognizing a bully instead of blaming her victim.


Crusader

How US right-wing media welcomed Pope Francis to America: 'Behold the Devil!'

Image
Limbaugh Rush: 'The pope is preaching pure Marxism'
On September 22, Pope Francis arrives in the United States for a highly anticipated visit that will include an address to Congress. But as Pope Francis has called for action on climate change, inequality, immigration, and diplomacy, right-wing media have ramped up their attacks on him.


Comment: For such a 'christian' country, the US sure has difficulty telling the christians from the money-changers.


Black Magic

Evil Personified: Despotic Saudi Arabia chosen to head UN Human Rights panel

UN
Saudi Arabia is one of the world's most ruthless regimes, a crime family dictatorship masquerading as legitimate governance. It's notorious for public beheadings, whippings, torture, wars of aggression and other lawless actions.

Despotic rule is absolute, no opposition tolerated, no civil or human rights afforded ordinary Saudis - no freedom of expression, assembly, association, internal movement, foreign travel, or religion.

No right to choose their government or have easy access to education, healthcare, public housing, legal services or social ones. Political parties are forbidden. So are collective bargaining rights. Internet and academic freedom are prohibited.

Water

Pontifical saliva goes a long way: Congressman steals Pope's water glass, shares its contents with family and staff

Representative Bob Brady and wife
Congressman Bob Brady shares some papal spit with his wife, Debra.
A congressman stole the water glass Pope Francis was drinking out of during his address at the White House on Thursday.

Representative Bob Brady, a devout Catholic and Democrat from Pennsylvania immediately made his way to the podium after Pope Francis finished speaking and grabbed the glass that was still filled with water.

He then drank the water, gave some of the water to his wife Debra, and saved the rest for his grandchildren.

Representative Brady took photos as well, and had his staff send them out to the press.

Comment: We can only pray that the congressman won't get the chance to follow His Holiness to the toilet.


Handcuffs

Former detective who pointed out the flaws in lie detector tests sentenced to two years in prison

Douglas G. Williams
Douglas G. Williams
69-year-old Douglas G. Williams of Norman, Oklahoma was sentenced to two years in prison this week for running a website that pointed out the flaws in lie detector tests. Williams is a former detective for the Oklahoma City Police Department and throughout the course of his career he administered thousands of polygraph tests for his own police department, as well as other agencies like the FBI and the Secret Service. Through his experience, Williams learned that a polygraph is not a valid way of truly figuring out whether or not someone is lying. In 1979, he invented "the sting technique," which polygraph experts now refer to as "countermeasures."

He wrote the first manual teaching people how to pass a polygraph test, which was initially published in 1979 and, according to him, was one of the very first e-books available on the Internet.

Comment: Polygraph tests are notoriously inaccurate:
A polygraph not a lie detector; it never was. A polygraph detects physiological expressions associated with lying in some people, such as a racing heart and sweaty fingers. The determination of truth vs. falsehood is a subjective interpretation by the polygraph examiner.

Not surprisingly, the examiner is often wrong. The anxiety associated with "oh no, they will detect that I'm lying" is rather similar to "oh no, they're going to think I'm lying when I'm not."
See also:


Arrow Down

Increasing number of college students are going hungry or dropping out due to lack of funds

college students food
© Tulane Public Relations, CC BY-NC
Studies have long shown that a college student's odds of achieving financial security and a better quality of life improve when he or she earns a degree.

But what are some of the obstacles that prevent degree attainment?

At the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, we study the challenges that students from low- and moderate-income households face in attaining a college degree. Chief among these are the many hurdles created by the high price of college. Paying the price of attending college, we find, changes who attends and for how long, as well as the college experience itself - what classes students take, the grades they earn, the activities in which they engage and even with whom they interact.

Our recent research shows an alarming trend on college campuses: an increasing number of students tell us that they are struggling in college, sometimes even dropping out, because they can't afford enough of life's basic necessity - food.

Comment: Students aren't alone in experiencing hunger, increasing poverty is now causing an epidemic of food insecurity. Don't expect the government to make any changes to address the problems as our psychopathic leaders are more interested in global domination, thus creating more poverty, hunger and devastation across the globe.