Society's Child
While the mainstream media and our leaders in Washington want you to believe that the economy is getting better, thanks to more spending, higher taxes, and more regulation, six million people have dropped out of the work force since the recession began in 2008. Young Americans, especially, have it bad.
About 45 percent of 18 to 34-year olds are unemployed according to a recent poll by Demos, a public policy firm. I still know of college classmates who have yet to find meaningful jobs or are severely underemployed almost four years after graduation. However, a recent poll on young people's views of limited government, free markets, and economic liberty suggests some may be waking up to the conclusion that government, over-regulation, and more spending will not turn our futures around.
In a survey launched by Young America's Foundation and conducted by the polling company, Kellyanne Conway, Inc., more than 60 percent of college-age students feel that government should not take an active role in their day-to-day-lives, and half of respondents believe that the federal government is mostly hurting economic recovery.
The son of kidnap suspect Ariel Castro has revealed his father placed padlocks on several rooms in their house and barred him from entering them.
Anthony said there were three no-go areas inside the home in Cleveland.
He said: "The house was always locked. There were places we could never go. There were locks on the basement. Locks on the attic. Locks on the garage."
Ariel was arrested along with brothers Pedro and Onil in connection with the kidnappings of Amanda, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight who were found on Monday night having been missing for a decade.
A year after Amanda Berry disappeared in Cleveland, her mother appeared on The Montel Williams Show to speak to a psychic about what happened to her daughter.
In a move watched by other U.S. states and cities considering similar measures, the city Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to settle a lawsuit with the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association by accepting a permanent injunction against the right-to-know cell phone ordinance.
The group had alleged the law violated its free-speech rights, and the settlement marked a victory for the industry as the Federal Communications Commission considers a reassessment of safe radiation exposure limits adopted in 1996.
"The court confirms the sentence against Silvio Berlusconi," said a judge at the Milan court, news channel Sky TG 24 reported.
Last October, the court convicted Berlusconi of tax fraud involving inflating the price his Mediaset media empire paid for TV rights to US movies. The former PM denied the charges claiming that he was a victim of politically motivated prosecution and had appealed to reverse the four year sentence handed down in October.
Though the verdict was upheld by the appeals court in Milan, Berlusconi may appeal this verdict to a higher court, the Court of Cassation. He will not face the prospect of jail unless he loses both of the appeals.
Charities have expressed alarm over the levels of Taser use and warned that it could aggravate the condition of people already suffering extreme distress.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the health service watchdog, has said Tasers should be deployed only as a last resort in psychiatric wards.
However, The Independent has established from replies received under the FoI Act that English and Welsh police forces authorised Taser use against people receiving psychiatric care on 52 occasions in the last three years.
Leicestershire Police reported officers fired their Tasers 14 times over that period, 11 times while patients were being transported and three where they were being treated. They included occasions where police intervened to restrain a man wielding a knife and to stop patients threatening to self-harm.
Officers in Avon and Somerset used Tasers ten times to restrain people held under the Mental Health Act between February 2012 and February 2013. It also disclosed one person aged under 18 was Tasered in that period.
A company spokesperson says sensors within the store collect information from customer smart phones as they attempt to connect to Wi-Fi service. The sensors can monitor which departments you visit and how much time you spend there. However, the sensors do not follow your phone from department to department, nor can they identify any personal information tied to the phone's owner, says spokesperson Tara Darrow.
"This is literally measuring a signal. You are not connected to the signal," says Darrow.
The store calls the information "anonymous aggregate reports that give us a better sense of customer foot traffic" and will ultimately be used to increase the shopping experience for Nordstrom customers. Darrow says the company could use the information to increase staffing during certain high-traffic times or change the layout of a department.
"Police hunt Incredible Hulk," a statement issued by the force said.
A 17-year-old girl suffered a black eye and other facial bruising in an attack outside McDonalds restaurant in Blake Street, York at around 3am on Friday, the statement added.
"At the time of the incident, the woman suspected of the assault was covered in green body paint with dyed red hair.
"However, she is believed to be a white woman, in her late teens or early twenties and around 5ft 8in tall with a medium build," the statement said.
Detective Constable Cheryl Hunter, of York CID, said: "This appears to have been a wholly unprovoked assault.
"Thankfully the injuries were not too severe. However, the outcome could have been far more serious.
He added: "If you witnessed the assault or can identify the woman I need to speak to about this incident, I ask that you contact the police or Crimestoppers straight away."

Onil Castro (left), Ariel Castro (centre) and Pedro Castro (right) are shown in Cleveland, Ohio in this May 7, 2013 booking photo provided by the Cleveland Police Department. Castro and his two brothers, Ariel and Pedro, were arrested in connection with the abduction of three Cleveland women found alive after vanishing in their own neighbourhood for about a decade.
Divorced years ago and never seen in the company of women, Castro suddenly started showing up in the largely Latino, working-class neighbourhood with a six-year-old girl. It was his girlfriend's child, he told neighbours.
Castro, 52, was believed to have lived alone, yet on his lunch break would bring home enough bags of fast food and beverages for several people.
He was a school bus driver given mostly "excellent" marks on his performance appraisals, but was repeatedly disciplined, including for one incident when he was accused of calling a young student a "bitch" and leaving the child alone on a bus. He was fired last November.













Comment: The author appears to be an advocate of Reagonomics, however his economic policies were devastating to all but the wealthy. When Ronald Reagan came into office 1981, unemployment was at 7.5%. Reagan cut taxes for the wealthy, then raised taxes on the middle and lower class. Corporations shipped more jobs out of the U.S. while hiring cheap foreign labor in order to make a bigger profit. While corporations made billions, Americans across the country lost their jobs. As 1982 came to a close, unemployment was nearly 11%. Unemployment began to drop as the years went on, but the jobs that were created were low paying and barely helped people make ends meet. The middle and lower class had their wages nearly frozen as the top earners saw dramatic increases in salary. For more information on Reagan's legacy read:
US: 8 reasons why Ronald Reagan was the worst President of our lifetime
10 Things Conservatives Don't Want You To Know About Ronald Reagan