McConnell accused of watering down 2016 election meddling warning – NY Daily News
hmmmm
Children, Youth, and Gun Violence: Analysis
A majority of youth gun deaths are homicides. Suicides account for about one-third of all youth gun deaths, and unintentional shootings for about 7% of those deaths. Older teens, males, African American and Hispanic youth, and young people residing in urban areas are at particularly high risk for gun homicide; white adolescents, males, and youth living in rural areas are at highest risk for gun suicide.
…Children exposed to gun violence at home, at school, in the community, [*] …can experience negative psychological effects including post-traumatic stress, poor school performance, increased delinquency, risky sexual behaviors, substance abuse, and desensitization to violence. All of these effects can make children and youth more prone to violence themselves.
https://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/12_02_ExecSummary.pdf
[no, well-intentioned liberals, there is no comparison between media exposure and actual exposure to gun violence. So, no, that bit isn’t going to be included in this excerpt]*
[PS – the recommendations are fairly good but the outlined strategies are empty b.s. ]
Parkland Survivors: Donald Trump ‘Needs To Listen To The Screams Of The Children’
During the wide-ranging interview, Hogg described how the White House had called him the day before the president held a “listening session” on the issue, to invite him to attend.
Hogg declined the invitation, which he called “very offensive, considering the fact that there were funerals the next day, there was mourning we still had to do.”
“I ended on this message with them. I said, ‘We don’t need to listen to President Trump. President Trump needs to listen to the screams of the children and the screams of this nation,’” Hogg said.
Parkland Survivors: Donald Trump ‘Needs To Listen To The Screams Of The Children’ | HuffPost
hmmm
FBI counterintel looks at Ivanka Trump business deal
US counterintelligence officials are scrutinizing one of Ivanka Trump’s international business deals, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The FBI has been looking into the negotiations and financing surrounding Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, according to a US official and a former US official. The scrutiny could be a hurdle for the first daughter as she tries to obtain a full security clearance in her role as adviser to President Donald Trump.
Exclusive: FBI counterintel looks at Ivanka Trump business deal – CNNPolitics
hmmmm
US inequality persists 50 years after landmark report
Barriers to equality pose threats to democracy in the U.S. as the country remains segregated along racial lines and child poverty worsens, according to study made public Tuesday that examines the nation 50 years after the release of the landmark 1968 Kerner Report.
…The percentage of people living in deep poverty — less than half of the federal poverty level — has increased since 1975. About 46 percent of people living in poverty in 2016 were classified as living in deep poverty — 16 percentage points higher than in 1975.
…The report blames the black homeownership declines on the disproportionate effect that the subprime mortgage lending crisis had on African-American families.
In addition, gains to end school segregation were reversed because of a lack of court oversight and housing discrimination, the new report said. The court oversight allowed school districts to move away from desegregation plans and housing discrimination forced black and Latino families to move into largely minority neighborhoods.
In 1988, for example, about 44 percent of black students went to majority-white schools nationally. Only 20 percent of black students do so today, the report said.
Study: US inequality persists 50 years after landmark report | Boston Herald
hmmmm
Genes of ‘extinct’ Caribbean islanders found in living people
Jorge Estevez grew up in the Dominican Republic and New York City hearing stories about his native Caribbean ancestors from his mother and grandmother. But when he told his teachers that he is Taino, an indigenous Caribbean, they said that was impossible. “According to Spanish accounts, we went extinct 30 years after [European] contact.”
…“These indigenous communities were written out of history,” says Jada Benn Torres, a genetic anthropologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville who studies the Caribbean’s population history and has worked with native groups on several islands. “They are adamant about their continuous existence, that they’ve always been [on these islands],” she says. “So to see it reflected in the ancient DNA, it’s great.”
Genes of ‘extinct’ Caribbean islanders found in living people | Science | AAAS
cool.
The subtle ways colleges discriminate against poor students, explained in a cartoon
University of Cincinnati psychologist Shane Gibbons, who has researched this topic and counsels first-generation students, said these students are often raised by parents who have working class jobs — and in those work places, being assertive or individualistic can get you fired.
…Sociologist Annette Lareau followed dozens of children for a decade and found in her 2003 book, Unequal Childhoods, that more privileged children tend to be raised to reason with and question authority.
…When these first-generation college students begin to struggle, there’s something really pernicious that starts to happen. They already feel like they are at a disadvantage because of their background, and they start seeing themselves at the mercy of that expectation.
…”In psychological literature, they call it stereotype threat,” Gibbons, the University of Cincinnati psychologist, said. “When a prevailing stereotype is elicited, like being reminded of being undereducated, you’ll see a decrease in their scores. That effect is that part of their cognitive resources are turned toward fighting against that stereotype — and in expending those extra cognitive resources, there are less cognitive resources for studying, researching, and such.”
…When students were told in a mere one-hour session that their class backgrounds shape their college experiences — and that they need to cater their actions accordingly — it influenced their ability to get caught up to everyone else.
It doesn’t mean their experience wasn’t harder. After all, they tend to work more in college, have more family responsibilities, and have larger financial barriers. Rather, it just means someone needed to tell them about the biases of higher ed they will have to overcome.
The subtle ways colleges discriminate against poor students, explained in a cartoon – Vox
hmmmm
GOP lawmaker calls women “a lesser cut of meat”
[South Carolina state senator] Corbin’s remarks occurred during a legislative dinner this week to discuss domestic violence legislation. Sources present at the meeting told FITS that Corbin directed his comments at fellow GOP state senator Katrina Shealy, the sole woman in the 46-member chamber.
“I see it only took me two years to get you wearing shoes,” Corbin told Shealy, who won election in 2012.
…Indignant at Corbin’s rank sexism, Shealy asked him where he “got off” making such remarks.
“Well, you know God created man first,” a smirking Corbin replied. “Then he took the rib out of man to make woman. And you know, a rib is a lesser cut of meat.”
GOP lawmaker calls women “a lesser cut of meat” – Salon.com
Seems awfully un sputhern-christian to throw shade at BBQ… I think the only reason he’s talking such shit about ribs is that gawd-awful South Carolina mustard sauce.
Besides being a pig that is.
The House That Spied on Me
In December, I converted my one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco into a “smart home.” I connected as many of my appliances and belongings as I could to the internet: an Amazon Echo, my lights, my coffee maker, my baby monitor, my kid’s toys, my vacuum, my TV, my toothbrush, a photo frame, a sex toy, and even my bed.
…I installed internet-connected devices to serve me, but by making the otherwise inanimate objects of my home “smart” and giving them internet-connected “brains,” I was also giving them the ability to gather information about my home and the people in it. The company that sold me my internet-connected vacuum, for example, recently said that it collects a “rich map of the home” and plans to one day share it with Apple, Amazon, or Alphabet, the three companies that hope to dominate the smart home market. Once I made my home smart, what would it learn and whom would it tell?
…It turns out that how we interact with our computers and smartphones is very valuable information, both to intelligence agencies and the advertising industry. What websites do I visit? How long do I actually spend reading an article? How long do I spend on Instagram? What do I use maps for? The data packets that help answer these questions are the basic unit of the data economy, and many more of them will be sent by people living in a smart home.
…I had to download 14 different apps to my phone to control everything, which meant creating an account for each one of those apps. (Yes, my coffeemaker has a log-in and a very long terms of service agreement.) After setting them up, I thought I’d be able to control all the devices by issuing voice commands to Alexa via the Echo—the smart speaker that we’ve been using for the last year as a glorified timer and music player— but this did not go as well as I had hoped.
..When you buy a smart device, it doesn’t just belong to you; you share custody with the company that made it. That’s not just a privacy concern. It also means that those companies can change the product you bought after you buy it. So your smart speaker can suddenly become the hub of a social network, and your fancy smart scale can have one of its key features taken away in a firmware update.
…I thought the house would take care of me but instead everything in it now had the power to ask me to do things. …it used its internet connectivity to pop up notifications on my phone. Being smart meant it could nag me.
hmmmm
Czech court releases Salih Muslim, preventing Turkey extradition | News
A court in the Czech Republic has released Salih Muslim, a former Kurdish Syrian leader, despite Turkey’s official request for him to be extradited.
Muslim, a prominent former leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria, was arrested in the Czech capital of Prague on Saturday at Turkey’s request.
Czech court releases Salih Muslim, preventing Turkey extradition | News | Al Jazeera
hmmm
Melania Trump Parts Ways With Adviser Amid Backlash Over Inaugural Contract
The first lady, Melania Trump, has parted ways with an adviser after news about the adviser’s firm reaping $26 million in payments to help plan President Trump’s inauguration.
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who has been friends with Mrs. Trump for years, had been working on a contract basis as an unpaid senior adviser to the office of the first lady.
Stephanie Grisham, Mrs. Trump’s spokeswoman, said the office had “severed the gratuitous services contract with Ms. Wolkoff,” who Ms. Grisham said had been employed as “a special government employee” to work on specific projects.
Melania Trump Parts Ways With Adviser Amid Backlash Over Inaugural Contract
Trump company agrees to settle suit brought by former members of Jupiter golf club
A golf club in Jupiter owned by President Donald Trump has agreed to pay $5.45 million to settle claims from former members who said they were wrongfully denied refunds of their deposits.
A class-action lawsuit alleged Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter violated contract terms 65 members had signed with previous owner Ritz-Carlton.
Trump company agrees to settle suit brought by former members of Jupiter golf club – Sun Sentinel
hmmmm
The Time Donald Trump Turned Away in Disgust While a Man Was Bleeding to Death in Front of Him
The Time Donald Trump Turned Away in Disgust While a Man Was Bleeding to Death in Front of Him
Yup, he’s the kind of guy to run into a school during a shooting.
…Not!
Kelly says White House handling of classified material ‘wasn’t up to the standards’ he was used to
White House chief of staff John Kelly told reporters on Friday that the White House’s handling of classified material “wasn’t up to the standards” he had previously seen in his governmental career.
…”It came to my notice that the kind of things I was used to in (Department of Defense) in terms of the handling of classified material wasn’t up to the standards that I’d been used to,” he said.
…The comments from Kelly are especially remarkable given that Trump continuously slammed Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail for her handling of classified information.
hmmmm
John Kelly’s comment about God punishing him with chief of staff job aggravated Trump
“I miss every one of you every day,” Kelly said, rolling his eyes as the audience laughed. “Truly, six months, the last thing I wanted to do was walk away from one of the great honors of my life — being the secretary of homeland security — but I did something wrong, and God punished me, I guess.”
John Kelly’s comment about God punishing him with chief of staff job aggravated Trump – CBS News
heh
Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson Admit CNN Was Falsely Accused of Scripting Parkland Town Hall
Two Fox News hosts corrected the record this week after running segments that falsely accused CNN of scripting a town hall event featuring survivors of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson Admit CNN Was Falsely Accused of Scripting Parkland Town Hall
hmmmmm
Trump steps up war of words on trade with threat to tax EU cars
In a tweet on Saturday, the president said: “If the EU wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on US companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the US.
Trump steps up war of words on trade with threat to tax EU cars – BBC News
Oh, good lord….
Panic during Parkland shooting causes rift between student and teacher
Josh Gallagher says he and more than a dozen classmates were stuck in a hallway when Nikolas Cruz went on a shooting rampage at the Parkland school on Feb. 14, killing 14 students and three faculty.
…Gard says he was following protocol, which requires teachers to keep their doors locked during an active shooter drill or a true emergency.
…In his Twitter post, Josh said he and his fellow students found safe haven in another classroom “when a teacher I never seen before” let them in.
Panic during Parkland shooting causes rift between student and teacher – Sun Sentinel
Jeezus….
Trump lender, other convicted banks get reprieves from feds
Five banks, including a big lender to President Donald Trump, have received temporary reprieves from the administration to run businesses that they otherwise would have had to shut down after criminal convictions.
The Labor Department granted Deutsche Bank a waiver from punishment allowing it to continue to manage pension funds and individual retirement accounts for another three years, according to an announcement in the Federal Registry soon after the decision last month.
…Deutsche Bank has been a big lender to Trump over the years, and the president still has loans with the bank that were originally worth $300 million.
…How the administration handles Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank has drawn scrutiny from good-government groups, given the bank’s big role in the president’s business. It has also reportedly drawn the attention of federal prosecutors and investigators.
German business newspaper Handelsblatt reported last month that special prosecutor Robert Mueller has subpoenaed Deutsche Bank seeking records as part of his investigation into allegations that Russia helped Trump win the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Deutsche Bank had no comment at the time, and a lawyer for Trump denied that Mueller had subpoenaed Deutsche records relating to the president.
Deutsche Bank is also a big lender to the family real estate company once run by Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. In 2016, Deutsche Bank lent $285 million to affiliates of the Kushner Cos. to refinance a loan used to purchase of the retail floors in the old New York Times building in Manhattan.
Trump lender, other convicted banks get reprieves from feds
hmmm
Scientists find huge, secret colony of penguins
More than 1 million penguins who’ve been hiding in a remote part of Antarctica were recently discovered thanks to images taken from space and … their own poop.
A study in the Scientific Reports journal reveals the Danger Islands find of more than 750,000 pairs of Adélie penguins—a discovery researchers are calling a “total surprise,” per the BBC.
Scientists find huge, secret colony of penguins | WGN-TV
wild
Weeks Before Blockade, Qatar Denied Money to Kushner’s Firm
Qatar hosts one of America’s largest and most strategically important air bases in the Middle East. Any development that pushes Doha away from Riyadh pulls it toward Tehran. Thus, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — and virtually every other arm of the U.S. government — scrambled to nip the blockade in the bud.
…It’s worth noting that the project the Qatari foreign minister refused to finance wasn’t just one more item in the Kushner family’s portfolio; it was Jared’s baby — his misbegotten, sickly, drowning baby.
In 2007, Jared Kushner decided that the real-estate market had nowhere to go but up. And so the 26-year-old mogul decided to plow $500 million of his family’s money — and $1.3 billion in borrowed capital — into purchasing 666 Fifth Avenue for twice the price it had previously sold for. Even if we’d somehow avoided a global financial crisis, this would have been a bad bet: Before the crash, when the building was almost fully occupied, it generated only about two-thirds of the revenue the Kushners needed to keep up with their debt payments.
…The office space that the Kushners retained is worth less than its $1.2 billion mortgage — which is due early in 2019. If their company can’t find some new scheme for refinancing and redeveloping the property by then, Kushner will have cost his family a fortune.
…Maybe all of this looks worse than it is. But it looks like the president’s son-in-law worked to sour relations with a key U.S. ally in the Middle East — which has since drifted further into the orbit of a regime hostile to the United States — because it refused to bail out his family’s underwater real-estate investment.
Weeks Before Blockade, Qatar Denied Money to Kushner’s Firm
hmmmm
A frightened child in Chicago and an immigration policy unbecoming of America
She and her daughter did not try to sneak in. They went directly to border agents, and the mother communicated that she was seeking asylum, which can be granted to people who have suffered persecution or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
…”The officer determined that Ms. L. did have a significant possibility of ultimately receiving asylum and therefore allowed her to move on to the next stage of the long asylum process.”
…The ACLU’s lawsuit says the government’s action is unconstitutional: “The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment does not permit the government to forcibly take a 7-year-old child from her mother, without justification or even a hearing.”
A frightened child in Chicago and an immigration policy unbecoming of America – Chicago Tribune
Horrid and un-American behavior.
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