Instead of Playing Golf, the World's Elderly Are Staging Heists and Robbing Banks

Loneliness and poverty are two factors blamed for increased criminal activity among senior citizens

(Bloomberg.com) - British tabloids were abuzz after a dramatic recent heist in London's Hatton Garden diamond district, as thieves made off with more than £10 million ($15.5 million) in cash and gems from a heavily secured vault. According to one theory, the gang used a contortionist who slithered into the vault. Others held that a thirtysomething criminal genius known as the "King of Diamonds" had masterminded the caper.

But when police arrested nine suspects, the most striking thing about the crew wasn't physical dexterity or villainous brilliance. It was age. The youngest suspect in the case is 42, and most are much older, including two men in their mid-seventies. At a preliminary hearing on May 21, a 74-year-old suspect said he couldn't understand a clerk's questions because he was hard of hearing. A second suspect, 59, walked with a pronounced limp.

Young men still commit a disproportionate share of crimes in most countries. But crime rates among the elderly are rising in Britain and other European and Asian nations, adding a worrisome new dimension to the problem of aging populations.

South Korea reported this month that crimes committed by people 65 and over rose 12.2 percent from 2011 to 2013—including an eye-popping 40 percent increase in violent crime—outstripping a 9.6 percent rise in the country's elderly population during the period. In Japan, crime by people over 65 more than doubled from 2003 to 2013, with elderly people accounting for more shoplifting than teenagers. In the Netherlands, a 2010 study found a sharp rise in arrests and incarceration of elderly people. And in London, police say that arrests of people 65 and over rose 10 percent from March 2009 to March 2014, even as arrests of under-65s fell 24 percent. The number of elderly British prison inmates has been rising at a rate more than three times that of the overall prison population for most of the past decade.

The U.S seems to have escaped the trend: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the rate of elderly crime among people aged 55 to 65 has decreased since the 1980s. While the population of elderly prison inmates has grown, that mainly reflects longer sentences, especially for drug-related crimes. Full Story

Minimum Wages Are Rising Across the US. Should They Apply to Minors?

(Slate.com) = The minimum wage is having a moment. As the cost of living sails past them, cities and states across the country are ditching the federal base and raising the pay floor to catch up. Last January, 11 states and the District of Columbia raised their minimum wage as the result of legislative action or voter initiatives. Twenty-nine states currently boast minimum wages above the federal rate, and cities like Seattle, San Francisco, and soon Los Angeles—whose city council is poised to raise the minimum wage to $15—have nearly doubled it. While the popularity of higher base pay isn’t surprising in blue states and progressive metropolises, the minimum wage is also inching up in solidly conservative places like, Arkansas, South Dakota, Alaska, and Nebraska. In some of those places—both blue and red—legislators have tried to make sure one group doesn’t benefit: minors.

South Dakota residents voted to raise the state’s minimum wage to $8.50 last year, but this March, Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed into law a bill that sets a separate, lower rate of $7.50 an hour for workers under the age of 18. (Unlike the wage hike, the minimum wage for minors will not annually adjust for the cost of living.) Last April, Minnesota folded a subminimum youth wage into its overall wage increase. The most recent example didn't quite make it to the finish line: A bill in Nebraska designed to establish a lower minimum wage for student workers aged 18 and younger broke a filibuster and advanced through two rounds of debate before finally dying on the floor of the nonpartisan unicameral Legislature. State Sen. Laura Ebke, a self-proclaimed“Republican and conservative libertarian,” introduced LB599 just months after Nebraska voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to increase the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour by 2016. Nebraska’s “Student Minimum Wage” proposal fell just four votes shy of the supermajority required under the state constitution to amend a law passed by public vote. Noting a “limited window of opportunity,” Ebke says she has no plans to reintroduce a similar bill in future legislative sessions.

Why raise the minimum wage, only to try and lower it for the youngest workers? While critics of the Nebraska bill portrayed it as a conservative attempt to dial back the minimum wage and unjustly discriminate against the voteless, its defenders described it as a plan to save high school jobs, provide “educational” opportunities, and boost the rural economy. Echoing their conservative peers in the South Dakota Legislature, supporters of LB599 warned that Nebraska’s recent wage hike could prevent many small businesses from hiring student workers. Without a bill like LB599, supporters claimed, rural mom-and-pop shops hiring high school students for low wages would be more likely to hire part-time adult workers who don’t require hand-holding and can legally handle tasks like selling alcohol or manning power tools. The lower wage, Ebke wrote on her website, “may help to incentivize employers to give young workers their first chance at a job.” (Of course, attempts to secure exceptions from minimum wage laws aren’t exclusive to pay for minors: After aiding in the campaign for a higher minimum wage in L.A., union leaders there are seeking an exemption for businesses with collective bargaining.)

In Nebraska, the effort to reduce the minimum wage for young workers was backed by the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association, whose members are likely among the biggest employers in the state of high school–aged workers. Despite a highly visible, monthslong campaign to increase the minimum wage—and despite the fact that Nebraska (save for minor exemptions) has always enforced a uniform minimum wage—the group and other supporters of LB599 alleged that the original initiative wasn’t clear about which workers it would help and that most Nebraska voters aren’t opposed to paying students less than their senior counterparts. According to Kathy Siefken, executive director of the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association, “no one voted on that.”

Nearly unheard from in the debate were student workers themselves, despite the bill’s underlying question: How much are student workers really worth? Eighteen-year-old Grace Miller, a high school senior in Arcadia, Nebraska, who’s been working part-time jobs since she turned 16, told me, “I think we deserve as much pay as the adults.” For the last eight months, Miller has been working after-school shifts at Orscheln’s Farm & Home store in Broken Bow, Nebraska. “We’ve got as much going on as they do, maybe even more. Most adults just work an eight-hour day, while I go to school and then go to work for four hours.”

Conservatives have long argued that higher minimum wages deplete employment opportunities, especially for young and entry-level workers. To make up for the higher wages, they say, employers will freeze or slow down their hiring practices. Citing the most extreme possibility put forth by a February 2014 Congressional Budget Office study, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell claimed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10, as President Obama has pushed for, would "destroy half a million to 1 million jobs."

So does lowering the minimum wage for minors really create, or at least preserve, an incentive to hire them? And could it mitigate some of the supposedly deleterious effects of a wage hike? The evidence is hardly conclusive, but several previous studies suggest it might. According to a 2003 cross-national analysis from the Federal Reserve, “the evidence … suggests that the employment effects of minimum wages vary considerably across countries. In particular, disemployment effects of minimum wages appear to be smaller in countries that have subminimum wage provisions for youths." A study of state-sponsored minimum wages conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research in 1991 offered similar results. To varying degrees, Australia and much of Europe allow for youth subminimum wage provisions. Federal law in the United States allows employers to pay workers under the age of 20 a training wage as low as $4.25 an hour during their first 90 days of employment.

But the Nebraska debate highlights other questions likely to shape the debate if and when similar bills emerge: Should exemptions be made for minors with dependents, or who are no longer enrolled in school? If it’s illegal to ask someone’s age in a job interview, can an employer even legally utilize a youth minimum wage bill? And what message does such a law send to young workers? “As a grocery store manager, I had lazy and inexperienced employees that were over the age of 19, and I had some that, yes, were under the age of 19,” Nebraska state Sen. Adam Morfeld said during a hearing on LB599. “We shouldn’t be characterizing a certain class of individuals as more lazy or less experienced. We should be judging them on their work ethic. We shouldn’t be making arbitrary distinctions based on age.”

No other states are currently considering a similar proposal, but as the minimum wage continues to rise in states and cities across the country, there’s a good chance conservative opposition—having won once already in South Dakota—will try it on for size again. Full Story

Study: Hawaii most expensive rental market, largest gap between wage and rent

(Khon2.com) - A report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) found that Hawaii has the most expensive rental housing in the Union.

The 2015 Housing Wage report says that Hawaii residents need a $31.61 hourly wage to rent a two bedroom unit.

That is in sharp contrast to the average renter wage of $14.49 per hour. That equates to a $17.12 per hour gap between the average renter wage and the two bedroom housing wage.

The national hourly wage needed to rent a two bedroom unit was $19.35. That is more than 2.5 times the federal minimum wage, and $4 more than the estimated average wage of renters nationwide.

The wages cited above are an estimate of the full time hourly wage that a household needs to earn to afford a 2 bedroom unit that is less than 30% of their total income.

“In Hawaii, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two bedroom apartment is $1,644. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities — without paying more than 30% of income on housing — a household must earn $5,479 monthly or $65,746 annually.”

The goals of NLIHC are to “preserve existing federally assisted homes and housing resources, expand the supply of low income housing, and establish housing stability as the primary purpose of federal low income housing policy.”

In order to highlight this, NLIHC measures the number of hours an individual earning minimum wage would need to work to pay for the two bedroom unit. Hawaii currently has a minimum wage of $7.75 per hour. This would mean a minimum wage earner would have to work 125 hours to afford Fair Market Rent for a two bedroom apartment.

Even Hawaii’s counties, metropolitan, and non-metropolitan, rank high compared to the rest of the U.S.

On the county level, Honolulu ranks fourth behind just the California counties of Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo.

As for metropolitan areas, Honolulu ranks third behind San Francisco and Stamford-Norwalk, CT.

For non-metropolitan areas, Hawaii ranks second behind Massachusetts.

Hawaii Counties (2-Bedroom Housing Wage):

• HONOLULU COUNTY* $34.81
• MAUI COUNTY $24.31
• KAUAI COUNTY $23.50
• HAWAII COUNTY $22.13

*50th percentile FMR area

The NLIHC found that many renters in Hawaii are extremely low income (ELI), and that there is a deficit of rental units both affordable and available to that demographic. ELI is defined as earning
less than 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI). In Hawaii, ELI are earning less that $25,394 annually.

42 percent of households (190,501 units) in the state are renters and about 19% of them are extremely low income. Full Story

Man Going To Trust Society’s Determination That He Deserves His Privilege

(TheOnion) IRVINE, CA—Assuming that the many benefits he enjoys every day would not have been granted to him if he weren’t fully entitled to them, local man Brandon Naylor told reporters Wednesday he is willing to accept society’s determination that he deserves his privilege.

“If our culture has decided I get to live a life of ease and limitless opportunity—and clearly it has—there’s got to be a good reason for that, right?” said the 29-year-old, who reportedly possesses such advantages as financial security, the routine deference of almost everyone he meets, and a general freedom from discomfort or want. “As far back as I can remember, I’ve been helped along by a social order that has smoothed the path in front of me, and I can’t imagine that would continue to happen if it weren’t somehow justified.”

“There’s really no other explanation if you think about it,” he added.

As a result, Naylor stated, he has full faith society has acted fairly in bestowing upon him a relatively privileged upbringing in a safe neighborhood, quickly approved loan applications, the ability to get a job interview just about anywhere with a few phone calls, and, generally speaking, the benefit of the doubt in almost every area of his life. The Orange County native reasoned that the hundreds of millions of people who compose society had made a conscious, collective decision to grant him such perks, and that it was not for him to question their judgment.

Pointing to his strong educational advantages and the fact that he has never once felt threatened by law enforcement, Naylor acknowledged his situation contrasts starkly with that of individuals who lack the resources necessary to ensure they will never have to try particularly hard to obtain the things they want.

“I look around and see a lot of people who don’t have what I have, which leads me to conclude our social institutions have these built-in disparities for a purpose—one that I trust makes perfect sense,” he said, explaining that “someone probably would have done something about it” otherwise. “In fact, I would go so far as to presume that, for some reason or another, these people do not deserve the same personal, professional, and monetary leg up that I’ve had every step of the way. It’s just common sense.”

Though the Claremont McKenna College graduate conceded he cannot remember doing anything that would warrant him receiving the helpful connections with others in high places, the fast track to professional advancement, and the plain old social standing that have allowed him to pursue his happiness unimpeded, he remarked that he is not the only one to have been afforded such benefits. Indeed, he pointed to numerous similarly advantaged individuals around him whose situations, he has deduced, must also be justified.

“Most of my friends and coworkers seem to be pretty well set as far as being successful and fulfilled goes, so society must have decided they deserve it, too,” Naylor said. “And come to think of it, everyone in my family also has a pretty easy life. It’s been that way for generations, actually.”

“And unless something changes, my plan is to just keep going with it,” he added. “I guess it’s possible things could be different someday, but I kind of doubt it.”

Yemen on Brink of 'Extreme Humanitarian Catastrophe'

(Newsweek) - Yemen is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe as some 16 million citizens have no clean drinking water and UN-brokered peace talks were postponed indefinitely, relief organization Oxfam said Tuesday.

Oxfam said that the water shortage was affecting almost two-thirds of the country's population, raising the specter of an epidemic of waterborne diseases such as cholera, as desperate citizens drink from unsanitary sources and unprotected wells.

Late Sunday, Yemeni officials said that ceasefire talks scheduled to take place in Geneva this week had been postponed.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in fighting in Yemen since 19 March, according to the UN. In late March, Saudi Arabia launched a campaign of airstrikes against the Houthis, an Iranian-backed Shia military force which had forced president Hadi out of the capital Sanaa last September.

The country's water problems existed long before the current wave of conflict broke out. Prior to the recent outbreak of fighting, some 13 million Yemenis did not have access to clean drinking water. Only 40% of Sanaa households are connected to the municipal water supply, with the figures likely much lower in rural areas where 70% of Yemenis live.

Some estimates predict that the capital could run out of viable water resources in the next two years as groundwater levels continue to decrease by four to six metres per year. Existing groundwater levels have plummeted by more than five times in the past 40 years.

The country is also suffering a food shortage due to an ongoing blockade of its ports. Yemen imports more than 90% of its food, including the majority of its rice and wheat, and last month had around six months worth of supplies remaining.

Saudi forces have imposed a naval blockade on Yemeni ports in order to prevent the shipment of arms and fighters to the Houthis. However, the blockade has also deterred commercial shipments of food and fuel, meaning that the price of petrol has risen by as much as 10 times in parts of Yemen, according to Oxfam.

The fuel shortages also mean that water, food and other aid supplies cannot be transported around the country to areas of greatest need.

Hisham al-Omeisy, an independent political analyst based in Sanaa, says that the conflict has crippled areas including Aden and Taiz, two of Yemen's largest cities and Houthi strongholds.

"When you transport water, you need gas and fuel. Because of the severe shortage of gas, usually you'd buy a tank of water for 3,000-4,000 rials, whereas now you'd buy it for triple the price and because of the poverty rate in those areas, people cannot afford it," says Omeisy.

Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, with a GDP per capita of $3,900 (€3,600) - in contrast, Saudi Arabia has a GDP per capita of $52,800 (€48,500). Some 45% of the population is food insecure.

Spring heat wave kills more than 1,100 in India

We are the world India!

(CNN) 05/26/15 = Stifling heat has killed more than 1,100 people in India in less than one week.

The worst-hit area is the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, where authorities say 852 people have died in the heat wave. Another 266 have died in the neighboring state of Telangana.

India recorded its highest maximum temperature of 47 degrees Celsius -- 117 degrees Fahrenheit -- at Angul in the state of Odisha on Monday, according to B.P. Yadav, director of the India Meteorological Department.

Hot, dry conditions are being made worse by winds blowing in from Pakistan's Sindh province across the northern and central plains of India. "This extreme, dry heat is being blown into India by westerly winds," Yadav said.

The high temperatures are expected to continue for another two days before any respite, the meteorological department warned Tuesday. However, the agency said that another hot spell would likely soon follow.

Among the worst-hit states are Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the south. The northern states of Rajasthan and Haryana are also reeling from the intense summer as is India's capital, New Delhi, Yadav said. Full Story

Two dead, one wounded in shooting at North Dakota Walmart

(Reuters) - A U.S. airman apparently shot two Walmart (WMT.N) employees early Tuesday at a store in Grand Forks, North Dakota, killing one of them, before fatally shooting himself, police said.

It was not clear what, if any, connection the airman, who police identified as Marcell Willis, 21, had to the workers or the store.

Willis was on active duty at the nearby Grand Forks Air Force Base, police said.

Willis apparently shot the workers shortly after entering the store early Tuesday and fired at, but missed, a third Walmart employee, then turned the gun on himself, police said in a statement. A handgun was found near his body.

The third person was hospitalized in satisfactory condition after the shooting, Altru Health System said in a statement.

Many other customers and workers at the store, which is open 24 hours a day, took shelter or fled when the shots were fired, police said. Officers reached the store within four minutes of the first emergency calls reporting shots fired.

One witness who spoke with WDAZ Television said he heard "popping sounds" in the store and when he left the building later, saw a Walmart employee covered in blood.

Officers immediately entered the store to stop the threat, render aid and evacuate customers and workers. Police said there did not appear to be any further threat to the public.

Grand Forks police said they planned to release on Wednesday the names of the Walmart employees who were shot.

The Air Force said its Office of Special Investigations was working with Grand Forks police on the incident.

"We are deeply saddened about this situation and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," Walmart said in a statement.

PacSun upside-down flag T upsets Memorial Day shoppers

Made in China?

Via USAToday

On Memorial Day, plenty of shoppers are talking about PacSun…

but not because of the clothing store's big sales.

Angry customers are commenting on the retailer's Facebook page and calling in complaints to the company, because of one T-shirt for sale that features a "disrespectful" upside-down American flag.

Here are a few of the many posts on a PacSun Facebook post about a BOGO sale:

(images courtesy of usatoday.com)

Some shoppers are calling PacSun "disgusting" and "insulting," because an upside-down flag is an unofficial signal of distress. As members of the military know, flags are only meant to be flown this way "in instances of extreme danger to life or property," according to the U.S. Flag Code.

Calls to PacSun corporate were not returned on Memorial Day, so it's unclear whether the shirt was accidentally printed upside-down, purposefully designed as a political statement, or neither. Customer service representatives for PacSun said that they've received several complaints about the shirt, and that PacSun is looking to issue a statement on the topic soon.

- Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc., doing business as PacSun, is a United States-based retail clothing brand rooted in the youth oriented culture and lifestyle of California.

Costco Wholesale Corporation: The Best Business Model in Retail

(fool.com) 05/25/15 - Costco (NASDAQ: COST ) is really one of a kind in the retail industry -- the business model resonates exceptionally well with consumers, benefiting the company with remarkable customer loyalty and allowing it to materially outperform other big retailers such as Wal-Mart(NYSE: WMT ) and Target (NYSE: TGT ) over time.

A smart business model

Costco makes most of its profit from membership fees, not margins on product sales. This means the company can sell its products at cost, or sometimes even at a loss, which provides a remarkable source of competitive strength in the discount retail sector where pricing is crucial.

For perspective, Wal-Mart earns a gross profit margin in the area of 25% of sales, and Target has produced a gross margin in the neighborhood of 30% in recent years. Costco, on the other hand, sells its products for a materially lower margin -- close to 12.5% of revenue.

As Costco grows in size, it gains purchasing power with suppliers, which allows Costco to negotiate better prices and more convenient financial conditions for its products. Besides, economies of scale and supply-chain efficiencies generate additional cost savings as sales volume expands.

The more successful Costco is on the commercial side of the business, the larger the savings it can pass on to customers. This produces a self-sustaining virtuous cycle by which the service provided by Costco becomes more valuable as the company becomes bigger over time.

While Wal-Mart and Target have received a lot of criticism regarding salaries, working conditions, and customer service, Costco follows a diametrically different strategy. The company is renowned for offering higher wages and better opportunities for professional development to its employees. This allows Costco to attract and retain the best talent in the industry, reducing employee turnover and creating a superior customer experience.

Customers could hardly be much happier with the value proposition the company offers. Costco has been rated as the top player in the industry by the American Customer Satisfaction Index in each and every year since 2002. For 2014, Costco had a satisfaction score of 84 versus a score of 80 for Wal-Mart's Sam's Club and an industry average of 79.

Unsurprisingly, a happy clientele means a loyal clientele, too: Costco consistently reports global renewal rates of more than 85%. During the last quarter, the company announced a global renewal level of almost 88%, while big markets such as the U.S. and Canada are delivering even stronger renewal rates in the neighborhood of 91%.

Outperforming the competition
Costco, Wal-Mart, and Target sell different products to different clientele, so the comparison is not perfect. However, the three companies are among the leading players in the U.S. retail industry, and Costco has clearly outperformed its peers by a considerable margin during the last several years.

COST Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

Judging by the latest financial reports, Costco only continues to best its competition. The company announced a healthy year-over-year increase of 7% in comparable sales, excluding the impact of gasoline price fluctuations and foreign exchange volatility, during the month of April. Adjusted comparable-sales growth was also 7% when considering growth in the past 35 weeks versus the year-ago period.

Wal-Mart announced a 1.1% increase in U.S. comparable sales for the quarter ended April 30th, while its Sam's Club division, which is arguably Costco's most direct competitor, delivered a smaller increase of 0.4% in comparable sales, excluding fuel price and foreign exchange volatility.

Target's financial performance for the quarter ended May 20th beat Wall Street expectations but was still no match for Costco. The company delivered a 2.3% increase in year-over-year comparable sales.

The retail industry is notoriously mature and competitive as the size of the pie grows slowly. Industry players need to battle for a bigger piece of that pie to produce meaningful sales growth. This means one company's gains are often another company's losses in the same market. With this in mind, it is of utmost importance to pick the right names when making investment decisions in the industry.

A smart business model and impressive customer loyalty mean that Costco is poised to continue beating the competition for years to come, and its stock should be similarly good to investors.

Why doesn't society care about male rape?

*Contains language that some may not find suitable

(Telegraph.com) May 25, 1015 - Male rape survivor John Lennon is adamant that group therapy at a dedicated, male-only support network helped save his life.

Lennon’s attacker was sentenced to four years and three months after he brutally raped him for three and a half hours at his flat in Manchester in August 2010. At he end of his horrific ordeal, Lennon needed plastic surgery to rebuild his battered face – but it was his shattered mind that would bear the bigger scars.

Yet, like many survivors of male rape, he had no idea where to turn for help.

“After my attack I was suicidal, and in desperation called a Rape Crisis helpline, but the woman said, ‘This service is for women only,’ and hung up on me,” says Lennon, 45, from Manchester. “I don’t blame her, but I felt so angry and rejected that they turned men away. Luckily, I used my anger to get help.”

Then Lennon found out about Survivors Manchester – one of only 20 services nationwide that offer help to male rape victims and one of four that offer male-dedicated help – and his slow path to recovery began.

“I started two years of group therapy, which is crucial,” he says. “It makes you feel like you’re not alone, not such damaged goods; like a whole human again.”

Yet in spite of John’s experience that single-sex therapy is essential,Survivors UK (based in London and the UK’s biggest male-only victim support group) has recently had its funding slashed to zero, meaning the only male-dedicated service in London now has to turn desperate men like Lennon away – despite a staggering 120 per cent increase in male rape in the capital in two years.

Police crime figures for 2014 in England & Wales show there were 38,134 incidents of rape or sexual assault of a woman and 3,580 against men.

Yet due to the shame and stigma surrounding perhaps the darkest male taboo of all, Survivors UK believe only 2-3 per cent of men report their rapes (official figures for women are 10-12 per cent reporting) meaning many thousands of men are suffering in silence.

Furthermore, there are an estimated 1.5 million adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the UK – abuse against boys accounts for around 70 per cent of cases. Read the rest

Memorial Day 2015 Facts: History Of The American Holiday's Origin

(ibtimes.com) 05/24/15  - Memorial Day is Monday, but there's more to the unionwide observance than just taking a three-day weekend and a day off from work. The holiday recognizes people who died serving in the United States military. The tradition has developed a rich history over the past 150 years.

Memorial Day started out as Decoration Day, which unofficially began around the time the Civil War ended, when people began visiting the graves of fallen soldiers. Various cities claim to have originated the tradition, but Waterloo, New York, won out in 1966 when President Lyndon B. Johnson officially designated it the birthplace of Memorial Day.

As such, the first official Decoration Day took place in Waterloo on May 5, 1868. The Grand Army of the Republic, a group of former Union soldiers, requested the observance. The organization's leader, Gen. John A. Logan, said the day should be designated "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land," according to the History Channel.

Here are more facts about Memorial Day, collected from Mental Floss, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and dealnews:

- Logan initially wanted the holiday to be held annually on May 30, but the 1968 Uniform Monday --

- Holiday Act shifted it to the last Monday in May. The law took effect in 1971.

- Decoration Day became Memorial Day in 1967.

- Doylestown, Pennsylvania, has the oldest Memorial Day parade.

- New York was the first state to declare Memorial Day a holiday.

- This year's Memorial Day traffic is expected to be the highest in the past 10 years.

- Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Americans will eat about 7 billion hot dogs.

- The most popular foods to grill out for Memorial Day are burgers, steak, hot dogs and chicken -- in that order.

- Arlington National Cemetery averages about 28 funerals a day.

- Most municipalities will fly their flags at half staff until noon in recognition of Memorial Day.

- Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Texas all celebrate Confederate Memorial Day. The actual days of the observances vary.

- At 3 p.m., the U.S. will take a minute of silence for the National Moment of Remembrance. Former President Bill Clinton signed the act establishing it in 2000.

- Memorial Day weekend is seen as the unofficial start of summer.

(Source)

Australia: Is it okay to swear at sheep?

5/23/15 (Time) A complaint by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) over the abuse of animals at a remote Australian sheep station has prompted a debate over whether sheep can be cursed at.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) reports that PETA’s complaint, made in September 2014, was not solely about verbal abuse, but the use of offensive language toward the animals was an element of the complaint that had been taken seriously by animal-welfare organization the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

Steve Coleman, CEO of the New South Wales branch of the RSPCA, told the ABC that the organization would investigate “an allegation that puts at risk an animal, that would cause it unnecessary suffering.”

Read more at www.wnd.com

Malaysia finds graves of suspected trafficking victims

(YahooNews) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian authorities said Sunday that they have discovered a series of graves in at least 17 abandoned camps used by human traffickers on the border with Thailand where Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar have been held.

The finding follows a similar discovery earlier this month by police in Thailand who unearthed dozens of bodies from shallow graves in abandoned camps on the Thai side of the border. The grim discoveries are shedding new light on the hidden network of jungle camps run by traffickers, who have for years held countless desperate people captive while extorting ransoms from their families.

Most of those who have fallen victim to the trafficking networks are refugees and impoverished migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, part of a wave of people who have fled their homelands to reach countries like Malaysia, where they hope to find work or live free from persecution.

As Southeast Asian governments have launched crackdowns amid intensified international pressure and media scrutiny, traffickers have abandoned camps on land and even boats at sea to avoid arrest.

Malaysian Home Minister Zahid Hamidi told reporters that police were trying to identify and verify "mass graves that were found" in the region near the Thai border.

"These graves are believed to be a part of human trafficking activities involving migrants," he said, adding that police have discovered 17 abandoned camps that they suspect were used by traffickers.

There was no immediate word on how many bodies had been recovered. Zahid said that each grave probably contained anywhere from one to four bodies, and that authorities were in the process of counting. Full Story

Putin gets power to rid Russia of "undesirables"

(cbsnews) 5/20/15 MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law Saturday giving prosecutors the power to declare foreign and international organizations "undesirable" in Russia and shut them down.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have condemned the measure as part of an "ongoing draconian crackdown which is squeezing the life out of civil society."

The law is part of a Kremlin campaign to stifle dissent that intensified after Putin began his third term in 2012. His return to the presidency had been accompanied by mass street protests that Putin accused the United States of fomenting. Russian suspicions of Western intentions have been further heightened because of tensions over Russia's role in the conflict in Ukraine.

The new Russian law allows prosecutors to declare an organization undesirable if it presents a threat to Russia's constitutional order, its defenses or its security.

Laws passed in recent years already have led to increased pressure on Russian non-governmental organizations, particularly those that receive foreign funding. Rights activists fear the new law could be used to extend the crackdown to Russian branches of international groups and the Russian activists who work with them.

In a statement, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said the United States is "deeply troubled" by the new law, calling it "a further example of the Russian government's growing crackdown on independent voices and intentional steps to isolate the Russian people from the world."

Scientists examine why men even exist

(washingtonpost.com) May 18 2015 - Sex is a messy, inefficient method of reproducing, but most multicellular organisms have evolved to rely on a partner regardless. It's generally accepted that species accept the inefficiency of sexual reproduction because something about the process gives us an evolutionary boost. A new study used 50 generations of beetles to examine just how important sexual selection -- the act of choosing one potential partner over another -- is to the survival of a species.

From a purely biological standpoint, the existence of the male sex is kind of perplexing: When it's time to create a new generation, the males of a species often contribute nothing but genetic material to the mix.

"Almost all multicellular species on earth reproduce using sex, but its existence isn't easy to explain because sex carries big burdens, the most obvious of which is that only half of your offspring -- daughters -- will actually produce offspring," lead author and UEA professor Matt Gage said in a statement. "Why should any species waste all that effort on sons? We wanted to understand how Darwinian selection can allow this widespread and seemingly wasteful reproductive system to persist, when a system where all individuals produce offspring without sex -- as in all-female asexual populations -- would be a far more effective route to reproduce greater numbers of offspring."

Sure, many males are deeply involved in the rearing of their children -- take penguins, sea horses, and humans, for example -- but in extreme cases, males are nothing but parasitic sperm-producers that latch onto their females of choice. It's kind of weird that 50 percent of most species are capable of producing young, and 50 percent are just around to provide genetic variety.

One explanation is that sex allows for sexual selection, which is inherently good for the species. When females get to choose one male over another (or vice versa, depending on the sexual politics of the species), there's a better genetic outcome for the species than when sex just happens at random.

To test that, researchers at the University of East Anglia created an experiment that removed selection from sex.

The research, published Monday in Nature, took 10 years -- and an awful lot of beetles. Fifty generations of them, to be exact. Read the rest HERE

Nebraska Legislature, in Bipartisan Vote, Bans Death Penalty

(nytimes.com) May 20 2015 - The Nebraska Legislature on Wednesday voted, 32 to 15, to abolish the death penalty, setting up a final showdown between a bipartisan coalition that supported the bill and the Republican governor, who has promised to veto it. No conservative state has banned the death penalty since North Dakota did so in 1973.

If the bill is vetoed by Nebraska’s Republican governor, Pete Ricketts, a vote to override his veto could come as soon as Tuesday. Thirty votes are required to override.

The bill, which would replace lethal injection with life imprisonment, passed the unicameral Legislature on Wednesday after months of debate and lobbying on both sides, with conservative Republicans lining up in opposition to a group of Democrats and moderate Republicans who said they have come to oppose the death penalty for reasons that are moral, fiscal or religious.

Nebraska has not executed an inmate since 1997, leading some lawmakers to argue that the state has ended the death penalty in practice.

California: Los Angeles expected to Raise Minimum Wage $15 an Hour

THE HORROR!

(nytimes) May 19 '15 - LOS ANGELES — The union’s second-largest city voted on Tuesday to increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020 from the current $9 an hour, in what is perhaps the most significant victory so far in the national push to raise the minimum wage.

The increase — which the Los Angeles City Council passed in a 14-1 vote — comes as workers across the country are rallying for higher wages, and several large companies, including Facebook and Walmart, have moved to raise their lowest wages. Several other cities, including San Francisco, Seattle and Oakland, Calif., have already approved increases, and dozens more are considering doing the same. In 2014, a number of Republican-leaning states like Alaska and South Dakota also raised their state-level minimum wage by referendum.

The impact is likely to be particularly strong in Los Angeles, where, according to some estimates, more than 40 percent of the city’s work force earns less than $15 an hour.

“The effects here will be the biggest by far,” said Michael Reich, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, who was commissioned by city leaders here to conduct several studies on the potential effects of a minimum-wage increase. “The proposal will bring wages up in a way we haven’t seen since the 1960s. There’s a sense spreading that this is the new norm, especially in areas that have high costs of housing.”

Tuesday’s vote could set off a wave of minimum wage increases across Southern California, and the groups pressing for the increases say the new pay scales would change the way of life for the region’s vast low-wage work force.

Indeed, much of the debate here has centered on the potential regional impact. Many of the low-wage workers who form the backbone of Southern California’s economy live in the suburban cities of Los Angeles. Proponents of the wage increase say they expect that several nearby cities, including Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Pasadena, would follow Los Angeles’ lead and pass ordinances for higher wages in the coming months. Full Story

* * * * 

Expect US Conservatives to protest LA  for even considering a wage hike. NOT.

England: Who would you like to see on the next £20 bank note?

(TheTelegraph) 05/19/15 - The Bank of England is asking for the public's help to find the right historical character to be portrayed on the new £20 note.

Mark Carney, Governor, has asked members of the public to nominate a historical figure from the visual arts to adorn the next note.

Whoever is chosen by a panel of experts will replace Adam Smith, the Scottish economist.

Candidates for the next note could include William Blake, designer Alexander McQueen, or J.M.W. Turner, the landscape painter.

Anyone still living, or fictional characters, will not be accepted by the Bank. The chosen character will be unveiled early next year, and will be featured on a £20 note brought into circulation in three to five years from now.

Mr Carney said: "There are a wealth of individuals within the field of visual arts whose work shaped British thought, innovation, leadership, values and society and who continue to inspire people today."

"I greatly look forward to hearing from the public who they would like to celebrate," he said. Nominations can be submitted via the Bank's website.

Artist John Akomfrah, design writer Alice Rawsthorn, and critic Andrew Graham-Dixon will be among the individuals entrusted to decide on which figure will eventually be chosen.

The Bank said that it would take account of past individuals who have appeared on its notes, as it "intends to celebrate achievement and contribution across a wide range of skills and fields and aims, through time, to depict characters with varied personal characteristics, such that our choices cumulatively reflect the diverse nature of British society".

Controversial characters are likely to be rejected, as the notes "are designed to be universally used and accepted, so the Bank will seek to avoid individuals who would be unduly divisive", it said.

The public consultation follows a high profile campaign in 2013 to ensure that female characters - apart from the Queen - appeared on banknotes, after the Bank said it was ending circulation of the £5 note featuring Elizabeth Fry.

The campaign triggered the selection of Jane Austen for the next £10 note, which will go into circulation in 2017.

Related: Harriet Tubman wins poll to replace Andrew Jackson on $20 bill

Welcome to Enclava, the latest Internet-spurred European micro-nation to be founded on unclaimed land near Croatia

(nydailynews) May 16 2015 - Europe has another new country — the second micro-nation to appear in a few weeks.

The Kingdom of Enclava, like the newly-established Liberland, has been declared on the border between Slovenia and Croatia, reports the Telegraph.

Like Liberland it has been established on land not claimed by the Slovenes or Croats.

Enclava is a 1,000 square foot patch of land and dubs itself as the "smallest country in Europe."

It has been established by a group of Poles but has no citizens yet, though 5,000 people have applied to be citizens.

It is the latest in a trend to establish micro-states across the world.

The trend is thought to be spurred on by the Internet, which has enabled micro-state founders to recruit "virtual" citizens, reports the Telegraph.

Nigeria: 28 kids killed, dozens more sickened by lead poisoning from illegal gold mining

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Twenty-eight children have died from lead poisoning from illegal gold mining in a remote west-central village, Nigerian health officials said, while doctors still are treating thousands from an earlier outbreak.

Dozens more children are sick in the Rafi area of Niger state and action must be taken quickly if they are not to suffer irreversible neurological damage, Michelle Chouinard, Nigeria director for Doctors Without Borders, told The Associated Press on Friday.

Her organization still is treating children from a 2010 mass lead poisoning, in Zamfara state, that killed 400 kids and left many paralyzed, blind and with learning disabilities because of a three-year delay in government funding for a cleanup.

Chouinard said they have cured 2,688 of 5,451 people infected and hope to complete treatment next year. They have had most success in the worst-affected village of Bagega, where all but 189 of 1,426 people have had the lead leached from their bodies.

Junior Health Minister Fidelis Nwankwo said Thursday all those newly infected in neighboring Niger state are under 5 with 43 percent of the 65 sickened children dying.

"The devastating impact of this outbreak is associated with new mining sites which were found to contain more leaded ores which are often brought home for crushing and processing," he said.

Previous government efforts to forbid artisanal mining have failed as poor villagers make up to 10 times as much from gold than from farming.

In Zamfara state, where the processing area was found to contain over 100,000 parts per million of lead — the United Nations considers 400 parts per million safe — Idaho-based TerraGraphics International Foundation took 5 ½ months to clean up and also trained villagers in safer mining.

"This (training) is working fairly well and I think it's one of the contributing factors to why the number of patients is decreasing so much and so quickly in Bagega," Chouinard said. Full Story

Texas: Garland Attack: Neocon Network Baits Jihadists & pumps Up Clash of Civilizations Agenda

"Draw Mohammad" contest sponsored by neocon network propagandizing for war

(May 4 2015) Infowhores:

The group responsible for the Draw Muhammad event in Garland, Texas is part of a larger network of neocon organizations working behind the scenes to stoke tension between Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Forum (MEF) funds David Horowitz’s Freedom Center which in turn funds Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer’s American Freedom Defense Initiative.

MEF is closely linked to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), where Pipes was an adjunct scholar. WINEP is a spin-off the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, one of the more influential advocacy groups in the United States dedicated to promoting Israeli policies in Washington, including confronting Iran and Arab nations opposed to Israel and its policies in regard to the Palestinians.

Additionally, MEF is linked to the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank that played an instrumental role in promoting the invasion of Iraq. Its board of trustees is a virtual who’s who of the financial and corporate elite. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who led the propaganda charge into the lead up to invasion and its disastrous result — more than a million dead Iraqis — figures prominently on the board.

According to research conducted by The Center for Media and Democracy, MEF and other neocon groups receive funding through Donors Capital Fund, a shadowy 509(a)(3) organization that has created a “murky money maze” for the neocon and other corporate and financial class projects. “The twin Donors organizations are advertised as a way for very wealthy people and corporations to remain hidden when ‘funding sensitive or controversial issues,’ creating a lack of accountability,” writes Andy Kroll.

The MRF board of directors include a number of prominent neocons in addition to Daniel Pipes, including William Kristol, Laurent Murawiec (connected to war party corporation, RAND), Meyrav Wurmser (co-founder of the Israeli propaganda unit, MEMRI), Judith Miller (who sold lies about Iraq’s nonexistent WMDs via The New York Times) and others.

The attack in Garland that wounded a security guard in the foot will be used by neocons in the media to further portray Muslims as a threat to the national security of the United States and as a propaganda piece to inflate the war on terror.

Pam Geller has predictably used the attack by a man under surveillance by the FBI as a rallying call for war. “This is the Sharia,” she told Fox News. “This is the blasphemy laws under the Sharia. They mean to impose it… people better wake up to what’s going on and start taking back their freedom, start fighting back.”

Indiana: Muslim Bakery Refuses To Make American Flag Cake For Returning War Veteran

- Baahir’s Bakery, a Muslim bakery located in South Bend Indiana is the midst of a media firestorm after they refused to make an American flag sheet cake for a returning Iraq war veteran’s welcome home party.

The family of Joshua Lancaster, a 34 year old war veteran that served 4 tours in Iraq, was thrilled for their beloved soldiers return to his South Bend home on May 7th. Their excitement unfortunately had to take a backseat to the disappointment and frustration they felt upon finding out the local bakery that they had already paid to make an American flag sheet cake had made a last minute decision to refuse to fulfill the Lancaster family’s cake order.

According to the family, the soldier’s mother had arrived at Baahir’s Bakery around 9:00 AM on the day of the welcome home party (May 8th), and was devastated when the employee behind the counter informed her that they do not have the cake because the Bakery’s owner Baahir Ameen had refused to fulfill the order.

Though the bakery promptly produced a full refund for the family, the original order had been placed 5 days prior leaving the family to scramble in order to find a last minute solution. Due to the minimal time available, the only bakery that the family was able to find to fulfill the last minute request was located inside a local grocery chain. The family appreciates the grocery store for accommodating the last minute request; however claim the cake just wasn’t what they had originally hoped and planned for.

Upon receiving abundant criticism from sympathizers of the family, a representative from the bakery made the following statement to Indiana’s local FOX affiliate.

“In Indiana we are protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Islam is openly against American’s descendant ways; additionally for religious reasons, I firmly disagree with the war in Iraq, therefore, Baahir’s Bakery refuses to contribute to the celebration of these clear abominations. Thankfully we live in a state that allows us this freedom.”

According to Joshua’s sister Beth Lancaster, the reason the family decided to place the order at Baahir’s Bakery, was that in the past she had purchased several breads from the bakery and the family wanted to support a small business. Beth told reporters however, “Never again will that bakery see a penny from our pockets”.

- See more at: nationalreport.net

Nebraska Declares a State of Emergency Over Bird Flu

Over 33 million birds in 16 states have now been affected by the pathogen

(Time.com) - Governor Pete Rickettsordered a state of emergency Thursday after Nebraska’s Department of Agriculture confirmed the highly contagious H5N2 avian flu virus had infected a second farm.

The declaration opens up emergency funding in the hopes it can help contain the pathogen that now threatens what is, according to local officials, a $1.1 billion poultry industry in Nebraska.

“While not a human health threat, the discovery of avian influenza is a serious situation for our poultry sector, and I want to provide responders with access to all appropriate tools to address it,” said Ricketts in a statement.

The proclamation follows similar actions taken in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. More than 33 million birds in 16 states have now been affected by the outbreak, which originated in a small backyard flock in Oregon.

The outbreak has hit Americans’ pocketbooks as, the Associated Press reports, the price of large eggs in the Midwest rose by 17% since mid-April and other price increases are being seen in turkey, boneless breast meat and mixing eggs.

Harriet Tubman wins poll to replace Andrew Jackson on US$20 bill

(Reuters) - Twenty-dollar bills could soon be known as "Tubmans" if a grassroots campaign succeeds in persuading President Barack Obama to remove Andrew Jackson's portrait from circulation on U.S. paper currency in favor of a famous woman in U.S. history.

Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave, abolitionist and "conductor" on the so-called Underground Railroad that helped slaves escape to freedom during the 1850s, was the overwhelming choice to replace Old Hickory on the $20 note, an online poll showed on Tuesday.

More than 118,000 of the 609,000 people surveyed for the "Women on 20s" petition picked Tubman to be the face of the popular U.S. currency denomination, followed by former first lady and U.N. ambassador Eleanor Roosevelt, civil rights hero Rosa Parks and Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation.

“Our work won’t be done until we’re holding a Harriet $20 bill in our hands in time for the centennial of women’s suffrage in 2020," Susan Ades Stone, executive director of the group Women on 20s, said in a statement.

The organization said it had informed Obama of the poll results and was urging him to instruct Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to authorize the currency redesign in time to put the new bills in circulation before the 100th anniversary in 2020 of ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which established women's right to vote nationally.

Women on 20s said it focused on the $20 note because the nation's seventh president and founder of the Democratic Party, Andrew Jackson, had helped gain passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that drove Native American tribes from the southeastern United States.

The group also said Jackson was an "ironic" choice for immortalization on the $20 bill given his opposition to paper currency.

Tubman, who in addition to her efforts to free slaves, served as a spy and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War. Other contenders to replace Jackson on the $20 bill included former congresswoman and civil rights leader Barbara Jordan and American Red Cross founder Clara Barton. Full Story

Mexico: 2 babies die, 29 sickened from bad vaccines

Cause of adverse reactions unknown

(AP) Mexico’s public health system has suspended infant vaccines and mounted an investigation after two babies died and 29 were sickened in an impoverished community in southern Mexico.

Six of the 29 babies are in grave condition after receiving vaccinations for tuberculosis, rotovirus and Hepatitis B, which are generally administered between 0 and 6 months, according to a national schedule. The cause of the adverse reactions is not known, the Mexican Institute for Social Security said Sunday.

The institute said it stopped vaccines nationwide on Saturday as a precaution.
Read the full story ›


Read more at wnd.com

Racial supremacists accused of planning for 'race war' in Florida

"white supremacists"

(nbcnews) May 8 2015 - Members of a white supremacist skinhead group called American Front trained with AK-47s, shotguns and explosives at a fortified compound in central Florida to prepare for what its reputed leader believed to be an “inevitable race war,” prosecutors said Tuesday.

According to court documents, members of American Front discussed acts of violence that included causing “a disturbance” at City Hall in Orlando, shooting at a house and attacking an anti-racist skinhead group.

At least 10 members of the group, which authorities described as a militia-styled, anti-Semitic domestic terrorist organization, have been arrested in Florida since the weekend, including at least three people on Tuesday.

Oil train derails in North Dakota, small town evacuated

(msn.com) 5/06/15 WILLISTON, N.D./NEW YORK (Reuters) - A BNSF train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire in Wells County, North Dakota, on Wednesday, just days after the United States and Canada announced sweeping reforms to improve safety of the volatile shipments.

About 40 residents from the nearby tiny town of Heimdal were evacuated after as many as 10 tank cars came off the rails, fire officials and the state's emergency management agency said.

There were no injuries, officials said.

Full Story

Mexican History: ?What is Cinco De Mayo?

Via mexicoonline.com

Introduction

The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico, and especially in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. It is not, as many people think, Mexico's Independence Day, which is actually September 16.

Setting The Stage
The battle at Puebla in 1862 happened at a violent and chaotic time in Mexico's history. Mexico had finally gained independence from Spain in 1821 after a difficult and bloody struggle, and a number of internal political takeovers and wars, including the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and the Mexican Civil War of 1858, had ruined the national economy.

During this period of struggle Mexico had accumulated heavy debts to several nations, including Spain, England and France, who were demanding repayment. Similar debt to the U.S. was previously settled after the Mexican-American War. France was eager to expand its empire at that time, and used the debt issue to move forward with goals of establishing its own leadership in Mexico. Realizing France's intent of empire expansion, Spain and England withdrew their support. When Mexico finally stopped making any loan payments, France took action on its own to install Napoleon III's relative, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, as ruler of Mexico.

Mexico Confronts The Invasion

France invaded at the gulf coast of Mexico along the state of Veracruz (see map) and began to march toward Mexico City, a distance today of less than 600 miles. Although American President Abraham Lincoln was sympathetic to Mexico's cause, and for which he is honored in Mexico, the U.S. was involved in its own Civil War at the time and was unable to provide any direct assistance.

Marching on toward Mexico City, the French army encountered strong resistance near Puebla at the Mexican forts of Loreto and Guadalupe. Lead by Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin, a smaller, poorly armed militia estimated at 4,500 men were able to stop and defeat a well outfitted French army of 6,500 soldiers, which stopped the invasion of the country. The victory was a glorious moment for Mexican patriots, which at the time helped to develop a needed sense of national unity, and is the cause for the historical date's celebration.

Unfortunately, the victory was short lived. Upon hearing the bad news, Napoleon III had found an excuse to send more troops overseas to try and invade Mexico again, even against the wishes of the French populace. 30,000 more troops and a full year later, the French were eventually able to depose the Mexican army, take over Mexico City and install Maximilian as the ruler of Mexico.

Maximilian's rule of Mexico was also short lived, from 1864 to 1867. With the American Civil War now over, the U.S. began to provide more political and military assistance to Mexico to expel the French, after which Maximilian was executed by the Mexicans - his bullet riddled shirt is kept at the museum at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. So despite the eventual French invasion of Mexico City, Cinco de Mayo honors the bravery and victory of General Zaragoza's smaller, outnumbered militia at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

Today's Celebration
For the most part, the holiday of Cinco de Mayo is more of a regional holiday in Mexico, celebrated most vigorously in the state of Puebla. There is some limited recognition of the holiday throughout the country with different levels of enthusiasm, but it's nothing like that found in Puebla.

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo has become increasingly popular along the U.S.-Mexico border and in parts of the U.S. that have a high population of people with a Mexican heritage. In these areas the holiday is a celebration of Mexican culture, of food, music, beverage and customs unique to Mexico.

Commercial interests in the United States and Mexico have also had a hand in promoting the holiday, with products and services focused on Mexican food, beverages and festivities, with music playing a more visible role as well. Several cities throughout the U.S. hold parades and concerts during the week following up to May 5th, so that Cinco de Mayo has become a bigger holiday north of the border than it is to the south, and being adopted into the holiday calendar of more and more people every year.

Wisconsin Republicans Don’t Want Food Stamp Recipients Buying Beans, Potatoes, Pasta Sauce

(thinkprogress) 05/01/15- Low-income Wisconsin families won’t be able to buy shellfish with food stamps, and will have a much harder time getting basics like dried beans, pasta sauce, and cooking spices into their kitchens, under the latest state-level Republican proposal to tighten the government’s grip on the poor.

A bill proposed by state Rep. Robert Brooks (R) would ban stores from accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cards for lobster, shrimp, and any other form of shellfish, and set a long list of additional rules for the first two-thirds of a recipient’s monthly spending. Lawmakers held a committee hearing Thursday on the bill, which would require a federal waiver to implement.

An average of 420,000 households received SNAP each month in Wisconsin in 2014. The average recipient household got $220 per month from the program last year. Brooks’ restrictions would apply to all but $72.60 per month for the average household affected. And even that amount could not be spent on any form of shellfish.

Next to other recent state-level SNAP restrictions, Brooks’ bill looks like an attempt at compromise. It mandates that at least two-thirds of a recipients food stamps be spent on designated categories of food, and leaves the last third unrestricted. Republicans in other states have sought outright prohibitions rather than Brooks’ partial, ratio-based ban. Brooks says he has resisted calls from colleagues to add steak to the list of banned foods. The ban on shellfish is more moderate than a ban on all seafood proposed by one Missouri lawmaker earlier this year, meaning that cheap sources of protein like canned tuna would still be unrestricted for Wisconsin’s poorest families.

But the fact that Brooks doesn’t want to go quite as far as the worst ideas of his colleagues doesn’t mean his proposal would benefit society or make it easier to get out of poverty. Adding more rules to the ones that already constrain food stamps families makes their shopping experiences more stressful and removes their already-limited control over what they put on the dinner table.

The law would restrict access to a whole range of commonplace ingredients. Some of the things that would be harder to buy for poor families who cook include “herbs, spices, or seasonings,” all nuts, red and yellow potatoes, smoothies, spaghetti sauce, “soups, salsas, ketchup,” sauerkraut, pickles, dried beans sold in bulk, and white or albacore tuna. (Cans of “light tuna” are allowed under the rules.) Full Story

Related: 5 Surprising Insider Facts About Welfare 

Florida couple convicted of having sex on beach

A couple accused of having sex on a public beach in front of families has been found guilty by a jury.

It took the Manatee County jury about 15 minutes on Monday to find 20-year-old Elissa Alvarez and 40-year-old Jose Caballero guilty of lewd and lascivious exhibition.

Video played in the courtroom showed Alvarez moving on top of Caballero in a sexual manner in broad daylight. Witnesses testified that a 3-year-old girl saw them.

Both Caballero and Alvarez will now have to register as sex offenders.

The convictions carry a maximum prison sentence of 15 years

Puerto Rico governor signs executive order legalizing medical pot

(fownewslatino) 05/04/15 SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (AP) – Puerto Rico's governor on Sunday signed an executive order to authorize the use of medical marijuana in the U.S. territory in an unexpected move following a lengthy public debate.

Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said the island's health secretary has three months to issue a report detailing how the executive order will be implemented, the impact it will have and what future steps could be taken. The order went into immediate effect.

"We're taking a significant step in the area of health that is fundamental to our development and quality of life," García said in a statement. "I am sure that many patients will receive appropriate treatment that will offer them new hope."

The order directs the health department to authorize the use of some or all controlled substances or derivatives of the cannabis plant for medical use.

García said the government also will soon outline the specific authorized uses of marijuana and its derivatives for medical purposes. He noted that medical marijuana is used in the U.S. mainland and elsewhere to treat pain associated with migraines and illnesses including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and AIDS.

Medical marijuana is already legal in 23 U.S. states, and a group of U.S. legislators is seeking to remove federal prohibitions on it. Elsewhere in the Caribbean, Jamaica recently passed a law that partially decriminalized small amounts of pot and paved the way for a lawful medical marijuana sector.

Jaime Perello, president of Puerto Rico's House of Representatives, said he supported García's order.

"It's a step in the right direction," he said. "One of the benefits that patients say they receive the most is pain relief."

Opposition legislator Jenniffer González said García's actions leave the law of controlled substances in what she called a "judicial limbo."

Back in 2013, Puerto Rico legislators debated a bill that would allow people to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, but a final vote was never taken.

Amado Martínez, an activist who supports legalizing marijuana for all uses, said in a phone interview that he was very surprised by the governor's actions.

He wondered what type of illnesses would receive authorization for medical marijuana, and whether the medical marijuana will be imported or if people can obtain licenses to grow it on the island. Full Story