Couple’s adopted kids fed only oatmeal, kept in plastic lined rooms, court document says
OSCEOLA, Iowa – A couple in Iowa is accused of neglecting and abusing two children they adopted from Ghana, and investigators say their five biological children did not face any abuse.
For two years, Barbara Holton has lived across from Kenny and Kelly Fry, the couple accused of neglecting and endangering their two adopted children. The Frys were arrested and charged on Sunday, but have since bonded out of jail.
“I wouldn’t have tolerated knowing something like that was going on with any children at all. It’s just not right. I had no clue,” Holton told WHO.
On occasion, Holton says she would see children playing outside the house and everything looked “perfectly normal,” but she never saw any children of color. Holton was unaware the Frys had adopted children from Ghana.
Court documents show the Frys had adopted the eight-year-old and nine-year-old a few years ago. Records reveal the children were sleeping on plastic mats, using buckets in their room as toilets, and were forced to stay in their room otherwise an alarm would sound and they would be punished.
Neighbors question why a family would take in children if they then chose to mistreat them.
“I was adopted and had wonderful parents. I can’t imagine anyone taking on children that don’t want to love them or take care of them. I don’t get it,” says Holton.
The behavior was first reported to the Department of Human Services by a neighbor who let the children inside their home when they were begging for help. WHO reached out to DHS for comment, but did not immediately hear back. The two adoptive children were immediately removed from the home and into a family member’s house, but it’s unclear where the five biological children are staying.
The Frys were both graduates of Simpson College in Indianola. Jill Johnson, the school’s Vice President for Marketing and Public Relations says the Simpson community is “shocked and appalled by the allegations.” The Frys were both standout student-athletes and were inducted into the Simpson College athletic hall of fame. Kelly is a 1999 graduate and is one of the most decorated athletes in Simpson College history, having led the softball team to two national titles. Kenny graduated the same year and was a letter winner and first team all-conference football player.
The husband and wife are due in court for preliminary hearings on July 3.
House GOP plan would cut Medicare Medicaid to balance budget
I’m sure the TRUMP supporters will blame Obama
Original article written June 19, 2018
House Republicans released a proposal Tuesday that would balance the budget in nine years — but only by making large cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare, that President Trump vowed not to touch.
The House Budget Committee is aiming to pass the blueprint this week, but that may be as far as it goes this midterm election year. It is not clear that GOP leaders will put the document on the House floor for a vote, and even if it were to pass the House, the budget would have little impact on actual spending levels.
Nonetheless the budget serves as an expression of Republicans’ priorities at a time of rapidly rising deficits and debt. Although the nation’s growing indebtedness has been exacerbated by the GOP’s own policy decisions — including the new tax law, which most analyses say will add at least $1 trillion to the debt — Republicans on the Budget Committee said they felt a responsibility to put the nation on a sounder fiscal trajectory.
“The time is now for our Congress to step up and confront the biggest challenge to our society,” said House Budget Chairman Steve Womack (R-Ark.). “There is not a bigger enemy on the domestic side than the debt and deficits.”
The Republican budget confronts this enemy by taking a whack at entitlement spending. Lawmakers of both parties agree that spending that is not subject to Congress’s annual appropriations process is becoming unsustainable. But Trump has largely taken it off the table by refusing to touch Medicare or Social Security, and Democrats have little interest in addressing it except as part of a larger deal including tax increases — the sort of “Grand Bargain” that eluded President Barack Obama.
The House Republican budget, titled “A Brighter American Future,” would remake Medicare by giving seniors the option of enrolling in private plans that compete with traditional Medicare, a system of competition designed to keep costs down but dismissed by critics as an effort to privatize the program. Along with other changes, the budget proposes to squeeze $537 billion out of Medicare over the next decade.
The budget would transform Medicaid, the federal-state health-care program for the poor, by limiting per capita payments or allowing states to turn it into a block-grant program — the same approach House Republicans took in their legislation that passed last year to repeal the Affordable Care Act (the repeal effort died in the Senate, but the GOP budget assumes that the repeal takes place). It also proposes adding work requirements for certain adults enrolled in Medicaid. Changes to Medicaid and other health programs would account for $1.5 trillion in savings.
Social Security comes in for more modest cuts of $4 billion over the decade, which the budget projects could be reached by eliminating concurrent receipt of unemployment benefits and Social Security disability insurance.
The budget also proposes a number of other cost-saving measures, some of which could prove unpopular if implemented, such as adding more work requirements for food-stamp and welfare recipients and requiring federal employees — including members of Congress — to contribute more to their retirement plans. It assumes repeal of the Dodd-Frank Act that regulated banks after the financial crisis 10 years ago, something Congress recently rejected in passing a banking bill into law that softened some of the key provisions of Dodd-Frank but left its overall structures intact. And the budget proposes $230 billion in cuts from education and training programs, including consolidating student loan programs and reducing Pell Grant awards.
The budget also relies on rosy economic-growth projections and proposes using a budgetary mechanism to require other congressional committees to come up with a combined $302 billion in unspecified deficit reduction.
House Republicans released a proposal Tuesday that would balance the budget in nine years — but only by making large cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare, that President Trump vowed not to touch.
The House Budget Committee is aiming to pass the blueprint this week, but that may be as far as it goes this midterm election year. It is not clear that GOP leaders will put the document on the House floor for a vote, and even if it were to pass the House, the budget would have little impact on actual spending levels.
Nonetheless the budget serves as an expression of Republicans’ priorities at a time of rapidly rising deficits and debt. Although the nation’s growing indebtedness has been exacerbated by the GOP’s own policy decisions — including the new tax law, which most analyses say will add at least $1 trillion to the debt — Republicans on the Budget Committee said they felt a responsibility to put the nation on a sounder fiscal trajectory.
“The time is now for our Congress to step up and confront the biggest challenge to our society,” said House Budget Chairman Steve Womack (R-Ark.). “There is not a bigger enemy on the domestic side than the debt and deficits.”
“I see reasons to believe our health system can solve this crisis.” – David Calabrese, Chief Pharmacy Officer, Optum Rx
Read More
The Republican budget confronts this enemy by taking a whack at entitlement spending. Lawmakers of both parties agree that spending that is not subject to Congress’s annual appropriations process is becoming unsustainable. But Trump has largely taken it off the table by refusing to touch Medicare or Social Security, and Democrats have little interest in addressing it except as part of a larger deal including tax increases — the sort of “Grand Bargain” that eluded President Barack Obama.Trump promised over and over to ‘save’ Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Will he?
President Trump promised over and over to ‘save’ Medicare and Social Security. Will he? (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)
The House Republican budget, titled “A Brighter American Future,” would remake Medicare by giving seniors the option of enrolling in private plans that compete with traditional Medicare, a system of competition designed to keep costs down but dismissed by critics as an effort to privatize the program. Along with other changes, the budget proposes to squeeze $537 billion out of Medicare over the next decade.
The budget would transform Medicaid, the federal-state health-care program for the poor, by limiting per capita payments or allowing states to turn it into a block-grant program — the same approach House Republicans took in their legislation that passed last year to repeal the Affordable Care Act (the repeal effort died in the Senate, but the GOP budget assumes that the repeal takes place). It also proposes adding work requirements for certain adults enrolled in Medicaid. Changes to Medicaid and other health programs would account for $1.5 trillion in savings.
Social Security comes in for more modest cuts of $4 billion over the decade, which the budget projects could be reached by eliminating concurrent receipt of unemployment benefits and Social Security disability insurance.
The budget also proposes a number of other cost-saving measures, some of which could prove unpopular if implemented, such as adding more work requirements for food-stamp and welfare recipients and requiring federal employees — including members of Congress — to contribute more to their retirement plans. It assumes repeal of the Dodd-Frank Act that regulated banks after the financial crisis 10 years ago, something Congress recently rejected in passing a banking bill into law that softened some of the key provisions of Dodd-Frank but left its overall structures intact. And the budget proposes $230 billion in cuts from education and training programs, including consolidating student loan programs and reducing Pell Grant awards.
The budget also relies on rosy economic-growth projections and proposes using a budgetary mechanism to require other congressional committees to come up with a combined $302 billion in unspecified deficit reduction.
Overall, the partisan proposal is reminiscent of the budget released in 2011 by now-House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who was then the Budget Committee chairman and advanced a bold proposal attacking entitlements, slashing spending — and creating lines of attack for Democrats once Ryan became Mitt Romney’s vice presidential running mate on the GOP ticket the following year.
Democrats were quick to criticize the GOP proposal while contending that Republicans were opening themselves up to election-year attacks by releasing it at all.
“The 2019 Republican budget scraps any sense of responsibility to the American people and any obligation to being honest,” said Rep. John Yarmuth (Ky.), the top Democrat on the Budget Committee. “Its repeal of the Affordable Care Act and extreme cuts to health care, retirement security, anti-poverty programs, education, infrastructure, and other critical investments are real and will inflict serious harm on American families.”
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/06/19/house-gop-plan-would-cut-medicare-social-security-to-balance-budget/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.afc7a9a7335f
Elfen’s Neosoul Hip Hop New Music Tuesday Flux By Deca
I have always been drawn to creative. The mad crazy artist. Music with a rhythm and a beat brings out my words, sentances and phrases for a blog, a quote or a poem. This weeks what’s new to me is old to you. What old to you is new to me comes from Deca. Deca’s new album flux. Gives you that instrumental hip hop flow. With a head bobbin’ beat. Say what you want about sampling. The samples he uses are EVERYTHING.
DECA BIO
Deca makes use of an experimental style as a doorway to a stylistic everchanging evolution and not as a goal in itself. Great inventor of oneiric charms, he was at first inspired by the cosmic school and later he created his personal alchemy of tradition and innovation, blending natural and synthetic sounds. He has found inspiration in different musical genres but always remaining elusively versatile, so as not to be easily identified in one particular style.
He is an eclectic performer, his music ranges from pure electronic to a minimalist pianist-oriented style, but he doesn’t like to follow trends, he rather changes continuously following his own path and tries to avoid the mainstream. A path which began in predictable ways (descriptive music, techno-pop) and then led him to compose the more complex and cryptic, obscure concept-albums he has since produced. Famous music critics and musicians appreciate some Deca’s works as important chapters of electronic sound evolution, putting titles as “Simbionte” inside the gotha of contemporary avantgarde artists.
One of his recognized peculiarities is a great mastery of the sound: in his compositions he creates and works, almost with a manic care, on the tones and he often ends up with embryonic ideas for other future albums. He often has been defined as a sound alchemist.
He has been part of the international electronic and industrial scenes for twenty years now, but he has always preferred to make editorial choices without compromising his individuality in the slightest, with a limited production of records addressed to an audience of lovers and collectors and a distribution reduced to specialized routes. He has also contributed to other projects as well, involving himself in different artistic fields: for example in theatre, cinema, multimedia, even to ballet and giving shape to his personal research into the contamination of the genres.
He has an MA degree and one in geography, he studied classical piano for long years and has become quite versatile with the synthesizer in the studio as well as on stage. His career began back in the 80s, and while playing the piano on a mainly classical basis he made use of sequencers and electronic sounds. He then developed his first recordings in his first two official albums.
Deca is hardcore band from Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia. It consists of four sick maderfakers: Luka, Ivan, Ognjen and Miša. Band was formed in 2010 and they’re still thrashin’ and smashin’.
Bio Source: https://www.last.fm/music/Deca/+wiki
Giant panda habitat closes as signs increase of possible birth of cub
Anticipation appears to be growing at the National Zoo, where officials closed the giant panda habitat on Sunday to keep a quiet area around possibly pregnant giant panda Mei Xiang.
Mei Xiang was inseminated artificially March 1, inaugurating a suspenseful waiting period.
On Sunday, the zoo made this announcement, suggesting that matters were progressing toward a conclusion sooner rather than later:
“The David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat will be closed to keep a quiet area around female giant panda Mei Xiang’s den who is exhibiting signs of pregnancy or pseudopregnancy.” Pseudopregnancy is a false pregnancy.
The zoo said its other giant pandas, Tian Tian and Bei Bei, could be viewed in their outdoor yards each day until 2 p.m.
Only ultrasound testing can confirm that a giant panda is pregnant. As of last week, the zoo said, no confirmation had been provided.
Read more via: Panda Habitation Closes As Signs Of Possible Birth Of A Cub
Wooooow, Cardi Really Got Married Out Here
CARDI B AND OFFSET SECRETLY MARRIED LAST YEAR!!!
Many of the Becardi Gang suspected that Offset was an opportunist and that he was not that interested in Cardi outside of the hip-hop couple image they could project together.
Of course many speculated that this union would not last. But then Cardi turned up pregnant despite his numerous affairs:
And now TMZ is reporting that Cardi and Offset got married last year.
“There are so many moments that I share with the world and then there are moments that I want to keep for myself! Getting married was one of those moments! Our relationship was so new breaking up and making up and we had a lot of growing up to do but we was so in love we didn’t want to lose each other.”
She continues, “I said I do, with no dress no make up and no ring! I appreciate and love my husband so much for still wanting for me to have that special moment that every girl dreams of when he got down on his knee and put a ring on my finger and he did that for me!!
TMZ did some digging and found out they got a marriage certificate in Fulton County, GA on Sept. 20, 2017. For you single folks … the marriage certificate is filed with the court AFTER a couple does the deed as proof the marriage really happened.
When Migos won Best Group Sunday at the BET Awards, Offset said excitedly, “I thank my wife. You should thank yours.”
The secret marriage puts a new perspective on their big public engagement. You’ll recall, Offset got down on one knee back in October during their performance in Philly.
Turns out … Offset and Cardi are a true showbiz couple ’cause that was all for show. Now, we know they were already husband and wife for a month at that point.
Now, all we’re waiting on is for Cardi to drop that baby!
Article via: Cardi B Is Married
Childish Gambino Collaborator Denies “This Is America” Plagiarism Allegations
Fans have suggested that Donald Glover “stole” his No. 1 single from NYC rapper Jase Harley
One of Donald Glover’s creative partners has denied claims that Glover “stole” the music for his No. 1 single“This Is America” from a March 2016 song called “American Pharaoh” by New York rapper Jase Harley. Fam Rothstein is a co-principal of the creative agency Wolf + Rothstein (which is comprised of himself, Donald Glover, and Wolf Taylor), and he also co-produced the music video for “This Is America.”
This morning, in response to a user who claimed that Glover “stole the song,” Rothstein tweeted: “The internet is a place of no consequences. I hate that Toronto Akademiks/every white blogger can say something as gospel and y’all take it. This song is 3 yrs old, and we have Pro Tools files to prove it.” Find his tweet below.
https://twitter.com/famlikefamily/status/1011244111754506240
Allegations of plagiarism against Glover surfaced on Reddit this past weekend, with Redditors citing comments on Jase Harley’s Instagram. Someone wrote to Harley, “People are saying Donald Glover bit your song ‘American Pharoah’ with ‘This Is America.’ What do you think?” Harley responded, “I always felt my song inspired it lol from the first time I heard it.”
Harley added, “It’s cool tho…. Glad they liked my song. It’s all love.” He also wrote that “a shout out would be cool,” that it’s “dope [he] could’ve had some influence on the record,” and that “all artist get inspired by others.” Find Harley’s Instagram post below.
(Article via: Childish Gambino Collaborator Denies “This Is America” Plagiarism Allegations)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkNi0sNAtBp/?utm_source=ig_embed
Man sentenced for slashing child’s throat, stuffing her in backpack during kidnapping
LANCASTER, Pa. — A 37-year-old Lancaster man was sentenced Thursday to a 26- to 52-year prison term for slashing his infant daughter’s throat during a kidnapping attempt in 2014, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.
David W. Sleets was convicted in April of attempted murder and related charges in connection to the Nov. 11, 2014 incident, which began on East Frederick Street and ended in the Lancaster General Hospital parking lot.
Sleets kidnapped the child, slashed her neck, and placed her inside a backpack. While running, he tossed the bag — with the baby still inside — under a parked car in the hospital parking lot.
The child’s mother, who was pursuing, found the child and took her to the hospital, where she underwent life-saving emergency surgery.
Lancaster County Judge Donald Totaro called Sleets “an extreme danger to society” when outlining Sleets’ criminal past, which includes court appearances for 20 separate criminal cases and parole or probation violations. Totaro said he also considered Sleets’ mental illness — he is a diagnosed schizophrenic — before administering the sentence.
Sleets stopped taking his medication a few days before the crimes, and became angry and resentful toward the child’s mother. According to testimony at trial, Sleets said he “would kill (his) own,” Totaro pointed out.
Sleets declined to make a statement prior to sentencing.
Another decades-old Tacoma murder solved? Suspected killer of 12-year-old Michella Welch arrested
NEWS from Tacoma WA
Possibly solving a second high-profile cold case murder in two months, Tacoma police on Wednesday arrested a man suspected of killing 12-year-old Michella Welch more than three decades ago.
Officers booked Gary Charles Hartman, 66, into the Pierce County Jail just after 3:15 p.m. on suspicion of first-degree murder, jail records show. Prosecutors are expected to charge him Thursday.
Police declined to talk about the arrest or how they linked Hartman to Welch’s death. A news conference set for Friday is expected to provide answers.
Read more——–> http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article213538554.html#storylink=cpy
White supremacists run Tacoma tattoo parlor protesters claim
NEWS from Tacoma Washington
NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Nazi flags had flown outside the tattoo shop. They were instead flying outside an employee’s home.
About three dozen members of Tacoma Against Nazis protested Friday outside a Tacoma tattoo parlor, carrying signs that read, “Tacoma is for lovers not haters” and “I thought we were done with Nazis tattooing people in 1945.”
Several politicians were part of the protest, including state Rep. Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, and Tacoma City Council members Catherine Ushka and Justin Camarata.
We want to make sure they know they’re not welcomed,” Jinkins said. “Their beliefs aren’t welcomed.”
On Thursday, one of the co-owners of the shop in the 1100 block of East 72nd Street told The News Tribune he is not a racist.
“I’m not a Nazi,” the man said.
He urged the newspaper to interview people associated with the Black Lives Matter movement instead.
“That’s OK, right?” he said. “But if you’re white and you have any kind of pride it’s a big deal.”
He declined further comment.
Tacoma Against Nazis member Chuck Knigge said the group has multiple pieces of evidence and documentation that show the shop’s owners and staff are affiliated with hate groups.
“What sold me was the plethora of pictures, the tattoos they’ve done on people,” Knigge said.
On occasion, flags associated with white supremacy have flown outside the home of a shop employee, members of the group said.
The group said they were under no illusion that the protest would shut the business down. Awareness was its No. 1 goal, spokeswoman Amanda Westbrooke said.
“It’s awareness for the people of Tacoma that a neo-Nazi hate group has opened up a business in the most diverse neighborhood in Tacoma,” Westbrooke said.
In February, the website for Puget Sound Anarchists posted a story alleging that the owner and associates of the tattoo shop were members of the Northwest Hammerskins.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks hate groups and hate crimes, lists the Hammerskins as a “Racist Skinhead” hate group.