Liberal_in_LA
Liberal_in_LA's Journal108 cats in 1100 sq feet home
I count 15 on the couch. 
Cats crowd a couch in a Vernon home where the Humane Society of North Texas seized 108 felines on Feb. 25. (The Humane Society of North Texas)
More than 100 cats have been seized from an 1,100- square-foot home in Vernon, the Humane Society of North Texas said.
Investigators who visited the home on Feb. 25 found deplorable living conditions in which the animals’ basic needs were being neglected. They described the situation as a “large-scale hoarding case.”
“The smell of ammonia and feces was unbearable, even from the street in front of the house,” said Kim Meek of the Humane Society. “Instead of providing litter boxes for the animals, the owners made a makeshift litter box by covering the floor of an entire room with wood shavings.
http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2016/03/108-cats-seized-from-hoarders-deplorable-home.html/
Volunteers from RedRover Responders, a California-based nonprofit, are helping to care for the animals.
The Humane Society of North Texas hopes the cats can be placed in adoptive homes.
The group is accepting donations for the rehabilitation and veterinary care of the animals. Donations can be made at www.hsnt.org or by mail at 1840 E. Lancaster Ave., Fort Worth TX 76103.
'Ruin the rest of their lives': Donald Trump calls for arrests after wave of protests at rally
Source: sfgate
After a string of separate protests, Trump started asking his event security what happens to hecklers after they're ejected.
"By the way, what do they do? Do they arrest these people? What happens? Do they arrest them or do they just put them outside?" he asked.
Trump decided he very much wanted see the protesters, some of whom he claimed were violent, have a criminal record:
'
I hope they arrest these people because they're really violating all of us, OK? And I hope they're arrested. I hope they're arrested, because honestly they should be. ... I hope you arrest these people because I'll tell you, they deserve to be arrested. And some of them are very violent. But I'm going to ask that you arrest them. I'll file whatever charges you want. Who the hell knows.
"We're going to go strongly for your arrest," he said. "And I'm going to do this from now on. Let's ruin the rest of — they're going to ruin the rest of their lives. If they want to do this, let them have a big arrest mark."
After yet another heckler interrupted his rally Saturday night, Trump again called for lives to be "ruined":
I hope these guys get thrown into a jail. They'll never do it again. It'll destroy their record. They'll have to explain to mom and dad why they have a police record and why they can't get a job. And you know what? I'm going to start pressing charges against all these people, OK? ... The only way that we're going to stop this craziness is if we press charges. Because then their lives are going to be ruined.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Ruin-the-rest-of-their-lives-Donald-Trump-6886945.php
Pepper spraying of protestors tonight, police chief admits "it looks bad"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3489797/Protesters-pepper-sprayed-police-twice-outside-Trump-rally-Kansas-City-second-day-violence-GOP-runner-s-events.html
Police used pepper spray on the crowd. One person posted video of the incident to Twitter, complaining that the spray hit many people who didn’t seem to be provoking police.
Police Chief Darryl Forté said he felt the officers acted appropriately because they were in danger of being surrounded by the advancing crowd that already had thrown objects.
“When you look at the video, it looks bad,” Forté said. “But the officers were in danger on both sides.”
The officers had radioed their commanders saying that protesters trading jeers with Trump supporters on the other side were, against police orders, moving into the street. Officers on foot were unable to move them back. Mounted police officers moved in on horses to try to drive a wedge into the crowd.
But it didn’t work. A photographer with The Star saw a woman slap a police horse in the face. When officers pointed her out for arrest, she disappeared into the crowd.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article65749927.html#storylink=cpy
Young Giraffe Does A Happy Dance For Spring
Young Giraffe Does A Happy Dance For Spring
Potoka, a two year old Giraffe at the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago struts around all excited after getting into the unseasonably warm weather. Patrick Jones (@Patrick_E_Jones…
Buzz60
1 day after the NYpost makes homeless hoarder into cover story, De Blasio swoops down on her
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Well, it was a dark and tumultuous couple of hours, but the Post GETS RESULTS. After breaking the Story of the Homeless Woman with the Shopping Carts wide open, the de Blasio administration swung into action. Presumably determined to avoid the publicity nightmares of last summer, when the Post's drumbeat of homeless reportage became an unending distraction for the mayor, de Blasio dispatched police and Sanitation workers to seize the woman's property and throw it away.
The NY Post is solving our city's homeless crisis, one humiliating front page at a time.
"[The Mayor] agreed that we should do it," said de Blasio spokesperson Karen Hinton, who told the Post that the woman, Sonia Gonzalez, refused to be taken to a shelter. "Outreach teams have been working to build trust with this client and help bring her to shelter for years. She has been known to the city since 2009 and has for several years refused to engage with the outreach team, and she will tell them to leave her alone."
See, you can tell government officials to leave you alone as much as you want, but don't even think about pulling that shit on a NY Post reporter. They'll come for you and your dignity in the night.
Yesterday, Gonzalez tried to stop workers from throwing away her belongings, but Hinton said that she was only permitted to keep items with a "medical, life-sustaining value."
In the end, she was left alone with just a duffel bag. Hopefully the Post finds that satisfactory! Maybe de Blasio should ask Col Allen if he needs anything else while he's up?
Asked why the de Blasio administration seemed to react so swiftly to one newspaper's article about one homeless person, Hinton explained, via email, "When the New York Post put her on the front page, it was clear she would be harassed by the Post for days on in, given the recent experience with the homeless man last year. It was in everyone's interest to remove her belongings, including Sonia Gonzalez. Our efforts are first and foremost about ensuring street homeless do not hurt themselves or others."
http://gothamist.com/2016/03/10/punching_down_feels_so_good.php
A few days later, she starts to rebuild her hoard
Even Trump was scared today
"Born with silver spoon In mouth" Trump son complains about "micro agression" generatio
@DonaldJTrumpJr
Ha 5 students when asked why they were protesting couldn't even answer. The participation medal/micro aggression generation is pretty sad!
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John Legend ✔ @johnlegend
.@DonaldJTrumpJr I think they were protesting your racist father. This isn't complicated.
6:39 PM - 11 Mar 2016
45,701 45,701 Retweets 60,935 60,935 likes
http://mashable.com/2016/03/11/john-legend-donald-trump-jr/#c4593og6Xuqx
4 tales of stresses, financial strains of private probation, for-profits plunder the poor
4 tales of stresses, financial strains of private probation
Published March 12, 2016 Associated Press
In at least 1,000 courts in more than a dozen states, people convicted of misdemeanors, and sometimes even traffic infractions, often face a difficult reality if they're poor and unable to pay fines and court costs on the spot. They are placed under the supervision of for-profit probation companies where they may find themselves snared in a cycle of growing debt and punishment. The practice has spurred many lawsuits on behalf of people who, unable to pay, struggle to stay out of jail. Here are four of their stories:
When Fred Robinson was convicted of two misdemeanor marijuana charges in 2011 — but was unable to pay $2,500 in fines and court costs — a judge placed him on 11 months and 29 days of probation. More than four years later, Robinson is still trying to get out from under.
"I can't afford my medicine to stay healthy and stay out of here," he says, sitting up in bed at Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, during a recent stay for difficulty breathing. "And they've still got me on this thing for non-payment."
Robinson, 31, used to work in the kitchen at a chain restaurant. For years, he has struggled with health problems, including ulcerative colitis and cirrhosis, which eventually forced him to quit. He depends on a $750 monthly disability check and gave up his apartment to move in with his sister.
Robinson says he reported to the PCC probation office weekly, but couldn't pay its fees and what he owed the court. His probation officer reported this as a violation, and Robinson was jailed in 2012, then saw his supervision extended to 23 months. Last September, he was again charged with a violation.
Affidavits filed by the probation company in 2012 and 2015 list his only violation as failure to pay court costs, fines and probation fees. In December, a federal judge barred the county from jailing people solely for non-payment, but he remains on probation.
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His first encounter came in 2007 when he was arrested twice in Georgia for misdemeanor driving offenses, including drunken driving and using the wrong lane. According to court records, he was placed on five years' probation.
In 2013, he went to the local sheriff's office for a background check so he could spend the night in a Salvation Army shelter in Augusta, Georgia. Instead, he wound up in jail. Hayes didn't know that five years earlier, Sentinel Offender Services, a private probation company, had obtained a warrant because he had not kept up with his fines and fees imposed in the earlier cases, according to his lawyer, Jack Long.
Less than a week after Hayes was arrested, a judge gave him a choice: Pay $854 or serve eight months in jail.
Neither is a realistic option, Long says. Hayes is too sick to work, he adds, and barely gets by, renting a room in a run-down boarding house, relying on a $720 monthly disability payment for rent, medicine and food.
Jailing him doesn't make sense, either, Long says, because an eight-month sentence would cost taxpayers more than $11,500, not including medicine. "Jail is being used as a collection tool, free of charge to the private probation company," he argues.
Long contends Hayes should have been ordered to perform community service. He's now suing Sentinel, claiming its practices are unconstitutional. He was able to secure Hayes' release pending a trial.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/12/4-tales-stresses-financial-strains-private-probation.html
Navy commander is removed after investigation finds he watched hours of porn on work computer
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/mar/08/navy-admiral-porn-investigation/Navy admiral aboard a San Diego ship to oversee major training exercises last year spent hours watching online pornography on his government computer, an investigation released Tuesday found.
Rear Adm. Richard Williams, who was commander of Carrier Strike Group 15 at the time, admitted his conduct to investigators, saying, “I'm guilty; I didn't know it was this much,” according to a report made available following a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
Williams was removed from his post Jan. 8. Usually that’s enough to end a high-level career, but the Navy also gave Williams a punitive letter of reprimand and found him guilty of violating orders and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.
The one-star admiral implied that he didn’t start out with the intention of looking at sexual images during two short stays off the coast for the multinational exercise Dawn Blitz 2015, with Japan, and a large-scale certification exercise.
Williams was on the amphibious assault ship Boxer for six days between Aug. 31 and Sept. 5 and watched four hours of porn during that time. Later, in December, he was on the ship for five days and indulged in five hours of porn.
He said he was drawn there by pop-up advertisements.
"It started as pop-ups, but then I navigated," Williams told investigators, admitting to breaching the computer security rules he had signed at previous times.
Williams has served as a career ship officer since graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1984 and earning his Navy commission.
His computer violations were discovered during a routine security scan of Boxer computers by Navy Information Operations Command in San Diego, the investigation said.
The Navy also said Williams looked at women in bikinis on his government computer at North Island Naval Air Station, his regular office. The admiral denied watching porn on his office computer.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/mar/08/navy-admiral-porn-investigation/
Trump has a huge deficit among nonwhite voters
Trump likes to claim that he has wide support among "the Hispanics," but like some other assertions he makes, that one's not true.
The latest evidence comes from newly released Gallup Poll data: More than three-quarters of Latinos — 77% — view Trump unfavorably, the poll found, compared with just 12% who have a favorable opinion.
Trump's net favorability score, negative-65 percentage points, contrasts dramatically with all the other potential candidates in the presidential field. It is notably worse than was Mitt Romney's image among Latinos in 2012, a year in which he won only 27% of Latino votes.
____
A Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday found that in a potential matchup against Clinton, only one in five nonwhite voters sided with Trump.
The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal survey found two-thirds of voters overall saying that they could not see themselves voting for Trump. Among nonwhite voters, the figure was 84%.
A separate NBC News/SurveyMonkey tracking poll found that Trump was viewed unfavorably by 86% of black voters and 75% of Latinos. Overall about eight in 10 nonwhite voters in that survey had an unfavorable view of Trump, with about seven in 10 saying their view was "very unfavorable."
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trump-non-white-voters-20160311-story.html
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