February 25, 2016

new lego figurines: Stay at home dad and person in wheelchair

Lego Goes Full Modern Family With Stay-at-Home Dad Figurine

The latest gesture toward utopia is new stay-at-home dad figurine from Lego. Donning a buffalo-plaid flannel shirt and a scruffy beard, this dad is part of a Lego City set that also includes a baby in a stroller and a mom wearing work clothes.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/02/22/lego_launches_stay_at_home_dad_figurine.html

February 25, 2016

The 'WHITE squatter camps' of South Africa: Shanty towns built after the fall of Apartheid

The 'WHITE squatter camps' of South Africa: Shanty towns built after the fall of Apartheid are now home to hundreds of families

Working-class white people, most of them Afrikaans-speakers, are going through an intense crisis in South Africa
This is one of 80 white squatter townships in country where families live in poverty, with little food or running water
Seeking to undo years of racial inequality, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government introduced laws that promoted employment for blacks and aimed to give them a greater share of the economy
This, along with the global financial meltdown, has meant many white South Africans have fallen on hard times


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3462336/The-white-squatter-camps-South-Africa-home-hundreds-families-enduring-terrible-poverty-blame-fall-Apartheid.html#ixzz418nx5Sln

alternative source to DailyFail: http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/visit-the-capes-white-squatter-camp-1872642

February 25, 2016

Millions of flowers blanket Death Valley in first 'super bloom' in a decade

http://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Death-Valley-National-Park-super-bloom-wildflowers-6848910.php#photo-9444365

In a land of extremes, where a barren valley floor sinks below sea level, rain rarely falls and summer temperatures reach a toasty 120 degrees, a riot of color has exploded.

For the first time in over a decade, Death Valley National Park is experiencing a "super bloom," when millions of wildflowers blanket the barren desert.

As the driest place in North America, Death Valley receives about two inches of annual rainfall on average, but last October a series of storms walloped the basin. In one area, three inches of rain fell in just five hours. It's this fall soaking, experts say, that have triggered the spring blooms.

This is the best display since 2005 and many wildflower enthusiasts are referring to it as a "super bloom."

"I'm not really sure where the term 'super bloom' originated, but when I first came to work here in the early 1990s I kept hearing the old timers talk about super blooms as a near mythical thing–the ultimate possibility of what a desert wildflower bloom could be," Park Ranger Alan Van Valkenburg said in a press statement.

February 24, 2016

Trump wins nevada.. of course

February 23, 2016

Plainsclothes cops dont recognize NYPDs highest ranking black officer. Order him out of car at

Gunpoint



At least one cop has been disciplined for ordering the NYPD's highest-ranking uniformed black officer out of his auto while the three-star chief was off-duty and parked in Queens, the Daily News has learned.clothes

"How you can not know or recognize a chief in a department SUV with ID around his neck, I don't know," a police source said.

Chief Douglas Zeigler, 60, head of the Community Affairs Bureau, was in his NYPD-issued vehicle near a fire hydrant when two plainclothes cops approached on May 2, sources said.

One officer walked up on each side of the SUV at 57th Ave. and Xenia St. in Corona about 7 p.m. and told the driver to roll down the heavily tinted windows, sources said.

What happened next is in dispute.

In his briefing to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Zeigler said the two cops, who are white, had no legitimate reason to approach his SUV, ranking sources said.

After they ordered him to get out, one officer did not believe the NYPD identification Zeigler gave him.

The cops gave a different account:

When one officer spotted Zeigler's service weapon through the rolled-down window, he yelled "Gun!" according to sources who have spoken with the officers.

Both cops raised their weapons and ordered the driver out of the car, sources said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/plainclothes-officers-trouble-didn-recognize-off-duty-chief-article-1.327540

February 23, 2016

Bill proposes ending purchases of steak, cake, lobster & more with food stamps

http://www.startnetzero.net/news/read/video/article/buzz60-bill_proposes_ending_purchases_of_steak_cake_more-zazoom
Bill prohibiting use of food stamps to buy lobster, steak proposed in NY

New York State Senator Patty Ritchie has presented a bill that would prohibit public aid recipients from buying luxury foods with food stamps.

Specifically mentioned are fancy steaks and lobster.
news
Bill prohibiting use of food stamps to buy lobster, steak proposed in NY
Feb 22nd 2016 1:50PM

New York State Senator Patty Ritchie has presented a bill that would prohibit public aid recipients from buying luxury foods with food stamps.

Specifically mentioned are fancy steaks and lobster.



The measure has been met with criticism.

Jeremy Saunders, an advocacy group leader in the state, told the Journal News, "This is a Republican attempt to make it appear that poor people use tax dollars to buy steak and lobster."

The bill also places exclusions on junk foods, as, according to a memo, "At a time when our state and nation are struggling with an obesity epidemic, it is critically important that taxpayer-funded programs help low-income consumers make wise and healthy food choices."

Notably, a 2007 report published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found no link between food stamp use and either unhealthy dietary habits or obesity.
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/02/22/bill-prohibiting-use-of-food-stamps-to-buy-lobster-steak-propos/21316774/

February 23, 2016

Here's how NOT to treat wildlife. Florida Beachgoer Drags Wild Shark By Its Tail For Photo Op

** grey shirt buy pulls it back into the water after selfies over**

Florida Beachgoer Drags Wild Shark By Its Tail For Photo Op
Here's how NOT to treat wildlife.



They are not photo ops, people. They're animals that deserve better.



In another instance of beachside picture seekers going too far, a man was videotaped in Palm Beach, Florida roughly pulling a shark out of the water by the tail and then posing with it as onlookers clicked away, the Brevard Times reported.

The video (above), posted to Facebook by WPTV Channel 5 reporter Ashleigh Walters, quickly attracted comments ranging from "idiot" to "Someone should drag that guy around in the water just for pictures."

One animal conservation group was quick to condemn the incident.

"Removing a shark from the ocean for the sake of a selfie is highly cruel," Elizabeth Hogan, U.S. Oceans and Wildlife Campaign Manager of World Animal Protection, told The Huffington Post.

"This animal would have been suffocating and unable to breathe the entire time it was kept out of the water," she added. "Many shark populations have declined by more than 90 percent over the last 40 years; posing with sharks on land for photographs needlessly jeopardizes their lives and well-being."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/florida-beachgoer-shark-photo-op_us_56cb7165e4b0928f5a6cbed7

Video of the incident shows the shark thrashing near the shore before an unidentified man wearing multi-colored swim trunks grabs its tail and yanks it onto the sand. The animal continues to struggle until the man holds it down for a few photos.

The one-and-a-half-minute video ends with a different man dragging the shark back toward the water where the waves meet the shore. Ashleigh Walters, the WPTV reporter who recorded the video, wrote in the description that after the video ended the shark was taken into a deeper area where it didn't resurface for several minutes.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/gone-viral/os-man-pulls-shark-water-pictures-20160222-story.html

February 22, 2016

'Supernanny" audio catches dad whipping son as he screams &cries. Dad reported to child service,

‘Jo Frost: Nanny On Tour’ took a dark turn after a recent episode showcased a father shockingly disciplining his young child with a belt. The occurrence was so awful, that the host (Jo Frost) reported the man to child services herself! Click to see the unsettling clip.

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Chris Spiney, a father on the Supernanny spinoff show, Jo Frost: Nanny On Tour, was caught on camera accusing his son Marcus, 9, of using a cell phone charger without permission. Footage shows him removing his belt and going after his son and awful sounds of whipping were caught on camera. The alarming episode outraged fans so badly, that they started to send death threats to the father.

A father on Jo Frost: Nanny On Tour is now receiving death threats after his family’s episode aired Feb. 18 on the UP channel, according to TMZ. During the show, you see the dad getting mad at his young son for using his cellphone charger without permission. He asks the child to stand in front of him where he could reprimand him, but the child refuses. The father tells him to go upstairs to his bedroom and wait. We then see Chris stand up, pull his belt from his pants and head up the stairs. The pair then go into the bedding, even though the child clearly is scared for his life. Although the episode didn’t show the actual “whipping” you can hear the young boy screaming and crying behind the closed bedroom door. After the host of the show Jo Frost reviewed the footage, she report Chris to child service

http://hollywoodlife.com/2016/02/19/supernanny-father-disciplines-son-belt-fans-death-threats/

February 22, 2016

fire breaks out. Mom runs off. Mom arrested / charged for not saving kid (kid ok)

Cops: Mom made no attempt to save her screaming 5-year-old from fire

A judge has ordered a Miami mother to have no contact with her daughter after a fire broke out in their Miami home.

CBS Miami reports that Erica Rosello, 32, has been charged with child neglect with great bodily harm and was placed under house arrest.

Rosello was allegedly outside of her home when a fire broke out Thursday night. Police said she made no attempt to save her 5-year-old daughter, who was inside the home screaming for help.

The girl's grandmother was given custody of the child.

"This could have been prevented," said a teary-eyed Angelica Tabio, Rosello's mother, after a court appearance. "I have asked for help. We have asked for help numerous times when this case had been opened. And I asked that this is something that could've been prevented if my daughter would have been helped."

When firefighters arrived, neighbors told them they heard a child's cries coming from inside the unit that was on fire.

"The bed was literally two feet from the window and I happened to see the little girl," said Miami-Dade Firefighter David Arrencibia.

Arrencibia told CBS Miami there was no time to wait for a ladder. He smashed a window and his partner gave him a boost into the bedroom where he saw the girl through the smoke.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-mom-made-no-attempt-to-save-her-5-year-old-from-fire/

Tabio said Rosello, distraught because she thought Grace had died in the fire, flagged down a driver outside her apartment to take her to a friend, who is a nurse. "When her friend calmed her down -- that friend has my phone number -- he called me, and the first thing she told me was, 'Mom, Grace is dead,'" she said. "[I told her], 'What do you mean Grace is dead? No, Grace is here in the hospital.'"

Rosello was arrested when she came to the hospital.

Tabio hastened to add that her daughter loves Grace and did not know what she was doing. "This is something that could have been prevented if my daughter would have been helped," she said. "I've asked for help from numerous agencies, and this is the end result."

"For a period of five years, we have gone together to get help, and it was never provided," Tabio said.

http://www.wsvn.com/story/31273176/mother-accused-of-child-neglect-after-apartment-fire-faces-judge

February 21, 2016

A Trump family

Trump supporters in Walterboro, South Carolina on Wednesday told ThinkProgress they have no issue with banning the practice of Islam in this country or keeping Muslim people out. “I don’t think they ought to be here,” said Karen Herndon, who attended a Trump rally with her extended family wearing Trump t-shirts. “They should stay in their country. This is our country.”
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/02/20/3751809/sc-republicans-fear-trump/