Society's ChildS


Chalkboard

Slavery-math questions cause uproar at New York City school

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© Fotolia
A school principal said she's "appalled" by a homework assignment that used scenarios about killing and whipping slaves to teach math.

Adele Schroeter has ordered sensitivity training for the entire staff of Public School 59 in Manhattan following last month's assignment, the Daily News reported Friday.

Che Guevara

Crows attack Russian MPs' cars with stones

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The crows had apparently been planning the attacks for some time
In a scene reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's thriller The Birds, a murder of crows has stoned several expensive vehicles parked near a regional legislative body in the Russian Urals, prompting internet jokes about possible political motives.

"When leaving the office, I saw a group of drivers of ministers' and deputies' cars who were moving chaotically and swinging their arms," local lawmaker Maksim Ryapasov wrote in his blog.

The drivers told the MP that fuss was caused by crows that were grabbing rocks from the roof of the building and "bombarding" cars with them for several hours.

The MP noted that there is a "stone garden" on the assembly's roof, which was set up under the initiative of the legislature's chairwoman Lyudmila Babushkina. Apparently, it was those stones the crows used as weapons.

As a result of the "bird protest," the windshields of at least three cars were broken.

Comment: Well if the humans won't do something about the corrupt politicians, it looks like the animals will have to do it for them...


Pistol

Reality Check: Growing national divide over guns and gun control


Alarm Clock

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a land of sinkholes: will cost trillions to fix

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The outbreak of over 50 sinkholes all over Harrisburg began when this dumpster got stuck in the road...
Grandma's grandma was but a wee lass, and the quickest way to get from here to there had four legs when many of Harrisburg's water and sewer pipes were put in.

It should be no great surprise they're giving up the ghost.

Mayor Linda Thompson said the Cameron Street water main that broke Tuesday night dated back to the late 1800s.

1884 to be exact.

The leak that's believed to have started the massive Fourth Street sinkhole that opened its maw on New Years day appeared to have come from an old clay pipe.

For years, we've taken our aging infrastructure for granted - replacing bits here and there when they failed, but generally avoiding the political backlash that comes with the higher bills required to replace wholesale the increasingly frail systems.

And the older the pipes get, the more often they crack a joint.

According to the EPA, one large water utility in the Midwest went from 250 water main breaks per year to 2,200 per year in just under two decades as the system outgrew its useful life.

There will be more breaks and more sinkholes in Harrisburg.

Comment: The question is, why are sinkholes suddenly opening up all over the place? Burst water mains don't cause outbreaks of sinkholes
all by themselves...


Bandaid

TSA apologizes after picking wheelchair-bound child for security check

screenshot from youtube video by user alschultes
© screenshot from youtube video by user alschultes
Even though she passed through a security checkpoint at Missouri's Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, TSA agents picked a three-year-old girl in a wheelchair for additional screening. The agency is now apologizing for the incident.

Lucy Forck, who was on her way to Disney World, suffers from Spina bifida, a developmental disorder that prevents vertebrae and the spinal cord from fully forming. Lucy's spinal cord is partially exposed as a result.

"They specifically told me that they were singling her out for this special treatment because she's in a wheelchair," Nathan Forck, Lucy's father, told Fox News about the February 8 incident. "They are specifically singling out disabled people for this special scrutiny. It's rather offensive to me as a father of a disabled child."

Lucy's mother took out a video camera to catch the 45-minute incident on film after TSA agents insisted on patting the child down.

"It is against the law for you to record," a TSA agent is heard telling her at one point during the video. However, Nathan, who is a lawyer, knew this was untrue - so his wife continued to film the ordeal.

"You can't do touch my daughter unless I record it," she says in response.

Crusader

Cardinal who covered up pedophilia says he forgives those who are mad at him

Cardinal Mahony
© latimes.comThe disgraced Cardinal Mahony
Documents from the 1980s have been unearthed which conclusively show Archbishop Roger M. Mahony purposefully and intentionally worked to cover-up the sexual abuses of children. Due to this vile revelation the public has scorned Mahony, to which he says he forgives them for their anger. How generous of him.

Taking to his personal blog to discuss the allegations, and how unprepared he was for the public backlash, Mahony writes:
I am being called to something deeper--to be humiliated, disgraced, and rebuffed by many.
It is Mahony's apparent belief that God wanted him to cover-up the sexual abuses of children so that he could be humiliated in public.

Fish

Fish fraud widespread in US: Report

Sushi
© Zenpix | Dreamstime
You might want to take a second look at that red snapper you ordered - it could be another fish entirely. Seafood is frequently mislabeled in supermarkets and other retailers, according to one of the largest studies to date.

The results, released today (Feb. 21) by the ocean conservation organization Oceana, found that one-third of 1,215 seafood samples purchased across 21 U.S. states were mislabeled. And 87 percent of the time, fish labeled as red snapper was something else entirely. Nearly 60 percent of the time, fish labeled as tuna was also another fish.

Several other studies, some by the same organization, have found frequently mislabeled fish in New York, but this is the largest study to date to look at the problem.

According to the report, 90 percent of the seafood consumed in the United States is imported, and less than 1 percent of it is inspected for mislabeling or other fraud.

Pistol

Las Vegas strip shooting leaves 3 dead, strip closed

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© Dave Lawrence/FOX5Two of the vehicles involved in the deadly multi-vehicle wreck that resulted from a rolling gun battle at the Las Vegas Strip.
A rolling gun battle at the famed Las Vegas Strip led to a multi-vehicle wreck that resulted in the deaths of three people on Thursday. Las Vegas Metro police said the shooting happened just before 4:30 a.m. on Flamingo Road near Las Vegas Boulevard.

According to a Metro sergeant, drivers in a Maserati and a black sport-utility vehicle were exchanging gunfire, approaching the intersection.

The sports car was then struck by a taxi cab, police said. The taxi burst into flames, killing the driver and the passenger inside, police said.

Police also said the driver of the Maserati was killed as a result of the shooting.

The wreck also involved three more vehicles at the intersection, and four others were injured, including a passenger in the Maserati, police said. Those people were sent to University Medical Center, where three were discharged following the crash, police said.

There was no word on the condition of the fourth injured person.

Metro said a black Range Rover with black rims was the other vehicle involved in the shootout. The SUV fled the scene.

Question

Reborn baby doll: Silicone bundle of joy

Baby Dolls_1
© Rebecca Martinez
The photo above, taken by photographer Rebecca Martinez, is of a baby shower in St. Louis, with games and gifts you'd typically find in such gathering, with one big exception: the honored babies aren't real.

Black Magic

Horrific cult broken up in Northern Mexico

Cult
© Glenn E. Malone/Flickr
A sect named Defenders of Christ that was broken up in Mexico last month forced women to participate in orgies, discouraged baths and made people eat raw animal organs, the wife of a cult leader said Tuesday.

Mexican immigration authorities raided the sex-driven sect's house in the northern state of Nuevo Laredo on January 25, rounding up 14 foreigners, including its Spanish leader Ignacio Gonzalez de Arriba, and 10 Mexicans.

Gonzalez de Arriba saw himself as the reincarnation of Christ and used the Internet to recruit adherents, offering classes on "bio-programming," alternative health care, psychic powers and sexuality, according to the Victim Support Network, which helps people who flee sects.

"They broke you down, making you even doubt your own name," Blanca Castro, who was married to a Venezuelan leader of the Defenders of Christ, told a news conference.

"They made me eat raw animal organs. And you know what? When you're starving you'll eat anything," the Mexican woman said, adding that sect leaders told followers that hygiene was a waste of time.