Saturday, October 11, 2014
Anchor Babies In The News: Four men arrested after prostitution sting in Harlingen
10/11/2014
source
An undercover prostitution sting ends with four arrests after the men allegedly solicited a woman for sexual favors.
The Harlingen Police Department Special Investigations Unit (SIU) arrested the following men:
- Juan Manuel Lugo, 62, Harlingen resident
- Rafael Mota Galvan, 34, Harlingen resident
- Jorge Rodriguez Osorio Jr., 25, Harlingen resident
- Richard Andrew Gonzales Jr., 32, Rio Hondo resident
- Rafael Mota Galvan, 34, Harlingen resident
- Jorge Rodriguez Osorio Jr., 25, Harlingen resident
- Richard Andrew Gonzales Jr., 32, Rio Hondo resident
It all happened on the 400 block of West Van Buren Street Wednesday in Harlingen.
All four men allegedly asked an undercover cop for oral sex.
The sting took place after the police department received multiple complaints on prostitution in the area.
After the men were arrested, they were each taken to the Harlingen Police Department.
A bond of $1,500 was set for each man.
source
State Bans Parents From Giving Baby Same Last Name As His Siblings
10/11/2014
source
There are few parenting decisions that can stir up as much contention as the name parents give their children. Everyone, it seems, has an opinion about baby names. But when Kim Sarubbi and her husband Carl Abramson welcomed their first and second children to the world, they gave them the same last name: Sabr, a name they made up by combining some of the letters from their own respective surnames. When it was time to welcome baby number three, the couple assumed they'd give little Camden the same last name.
They never imagined they'd find themselves in the midst of a lawsuit -- and a national news frenzy -- over their child's last name. But that's just where they are. Sarubbi and Abramson have not been allowed to give their child the last name they made up. The State of Tennessee Department of Health actually issued a birth certificate for Camden under the name "Camden Abramson," and the state is refusing to make the change.
It's putting the question of a parent's right to choose their child's name into serious question.
In a press release sent to The Stir by the ACLU, which is supporting Sarubbi and Abramson's federal lawsuit, ACLU-TN cooperating attorney Carolyn W. Schott of Sherrard & Roe PLC noted, "Parents have a fundamental right to make decisions for their children. Naming our own children is not only a very personal decision, it’s also an act of free expression, protected by the U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions.”
Hard to argue with that, right? Ours is a country where people can name their kids after Apple, Hashtag, and dozens, nay, hundreds of other questionable things. And Nevada and California, the states where the Sabrs' older kids, Alex and Maya, were born, allowed the hybrid moniker without so much as an eyebrow raised.
And yet, the Tennessee Attorney General issued a statement back in August, around the time of Camden's birth, telling parents in the Volunteer State that their only options for baby naming are mom's last name, dad's last name, or a hyphenated option.
But is this really fair?
A mom's last name doesn't reflect the father's involvement. A father's last name doesn't reflect the mother's (especially not if mom kept her maiden name -- as Sarubbi did), and a hyphenated name can become cumbersome for a child, especially when the parents' surnames are long like the parents in this case. The latter can become an even bigger issue when two crazy kids with hyphenated last names meet, fall in love, and decide to make kids of their own. Then what happens? Do we require a kid to become Susie Jones-Smith-Johnson-Schmidt?
Nonsense!
The fact of the matter is last names have been "made up" for centuries, often by our own government. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants reportedly had their last names "Americanized" when they came through spots like Ellis Island and met inspectors who either could not understand them or did not care. Other folks made the changes themselves, often to assimilate better (or so they thought) into the culture.
In the case of the Sabr children, isn't that what's happening? Their parents aren't going to saddle them with a mouthful like Sarubbi-Abramson, and instead are trying to give them something easy to spell, pronounce, and fit on a lifetime of government forms. They're trying to make them assimilate into modern America, where it's become increasingly common for parents to have different last names.
Instead of giving them a hard time, the State of Tennessee might remember that, more often than not, parents know what's best for their kids.
What is your feeling on "made up" last names for kids?
source
DEFLATED EGOS: House Democrats scale back spending in Colorado
10/11/2014
WASHINGTON
source
WASHINGTON
House Democrats are canceling $1.4 million in television advertising in Colorado as their chance at upending a Republican congressman has diminished.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had targeted Republican Rep. Mike Coffman and invested considerable funds to boost the candidacy of Andrew Romanoff, a former state House speaker. A Democratic official said Friday that spending planned for the final two weeks of the race would be spent elsewhere.
Democrats are facing millions of dollars in spending by outside groups and need the money to help save incumbents in Georgia, West Virginia, Illinois, New Hampshire and California. The party is adding television advertising time in those states as well as Florida, where Gwen Graham, daughter of former Sen. Bob Graham, is locked in a close race with Republican Rep. Steve Southerland.
The decision to shift the money out of Colorado comes one day after Democrats scaled back their buy in Virginia, where they hope to win the open seat held by retiring Rep. Frank Wolf. Democrat John Foust is facing Republican Barbara Comstock in that contest.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to discuss the ad buy publicly.
Earlier this week, Democrats pumped more money into competitive races to protect four incumbents in Minnesota, Illinois and New York while cutting back spending on once-promising takeover opportunities in California, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The party also increased its spending on two Republican-held seats in Nebraska and Iowa that represent some of the Democrats' best chances to win on GOP turf.
Republicans are widely expected to hold their House majority and add seats. Democrats are trying to hold down their losses in the sixth year of President Barack Obama's tenure, when the party controlling the White House typically loses seats.
House Republicans currently hold 233 seats to 199 for the Democrats with three vacancies.
source
U.S.: Number of Illegal Child Immigrants Grew by 77%
10/11/2014
WASHINGTON – The number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border from Mexico grew by 77 percent during fiscal year 2014, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A total of 68,541 minors were detained as they tried to enter the country between Oct. 1, 2013 and Sept. 30 of this year, compared with 38,759 during the previous fiscal year, CBP said.
This increase was chiefly due to the migratory crisis during the spring and summer, which peaked in June when more than 10,000 minors arriving from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico crossed the nation’s southern border unaccompanied.
That flood of migrants declined over the following months due to steps taken by the government of Barack Obama, who described the situation as an “urgent humanitarian situation,” and because of the soaring temperatures and the messages issued by the migrants’ countries of origin warning about the dangers of the journey.
In July, the number of minors detained crossing the border dropped by half, 5,501, while in August the amount ebbed to 3,141, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Thursday in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
In September the trend continued and the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border was down to 2,424, Johnson said during his address.
Nonetheless, in line with warnings already issued by activists and immigration experts, Johnson acknowledged that while the worst is over for now, the economic and social factors that caused the flood of unaccompanied minors in June still exist.
source
WASHINGTON – The number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border from Mexico grew by 77 percent during fiscal year 2014, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.A total of 68,541 minors were detained as they tried to enter the country between Oct. 1, 2013 and Sept. 30 of this year, compared with 38,759 during the previous fiscal year, CBP said.
This increase was chiefly due to the migratory crisis during the spring and summer, which peaked in June when more than 10,000 minors arriving from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico crossed the nation’s southern border unaccompanied.
That flood of migrants declined over the following months due to steps taken by the government of Barack Obama, who described the situation as an “urgent humanitarian situation,” and because of the soaring temperatures and the messages issued by the migrants’ countries of origin warning about the dangers of the journey.
In July, the number of minors detained crossing the border dropped by half, 5,501, while in August the amount ebbed to 3,141, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Thursday in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
In September the trend continued and the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border was down to 2,424, Johnson said during his address.
Nonetheless, in line with warnings already issued by activists and immigration experts, Johnson acknowledged that while the worst is over for now, the economic and social factors that caused the flood of unaccompanied minors in June still exist.
source
Butterface crackwhore Katie Hopkins sparks new outrage by branding Ebola outbreak 'efficient'
10/11/2014
Katie Hopkins branded the Ebola outbreak spreading through Africa, Spain and the US as 'efficient' [ITV]
source
MORE than 3,750 people have died during the current Ebola pandemic – but that didn't stop controversial Katie Hopkins PRAISING the disease for being an "efficient" means of population control.
Katie Hopkins branded the Ebola outbreak spreading through Africa, Spain and the US as 'efficient' [ITV]
Writing on Twitter, the former reality TV star posted repeatedly about the fatal viral infection currently spreading throughout west Africa.
"Woman next to me was cold," the former Apprentice star wrote this morning, adding: "I tried: 'It is because I throw so much shade'. She took that as code speak for Ebola and moved seats."
The comments were posted hours after the mother-of-three praised the disease for being "efficient" at controlling a population.
She tweeted: "I rather admire the efficiency of Ebola.
"From a Malthusian and marketing perspective, it is beyond reproach."
Responding to her comments, fellow Twitter users labelled Hopkins a "lobotomy candidate" for posting her "offensive stupidity".
Another blasted the controversial columnist, adding: "YAWN! Just discovered you about a week ago. Already bored. Ask your writer to spark up the material a bit."
But some were far more positive about her Malthusian praise to the killer disease, with one stating: "Okay, I have to admit Katie Hopkins may be a mean bully, but she is in fact right about a thing or two... and FUNNY if you're not her target."
Malthusianism is a school of ideas based on the 18th century theories of Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus, who believed that whenever a population became too large to sustain itself, there would always be two "checks" to return it to a more comfortable level.
One of these "checks" include moral decisions of members of the problem population, including abstinence and delaying marriage to slow growth, he argued.
The other – which the Reverend branded "positive checks" and was seemingly applied to Ebola by Hopkins in her tweet – include starvation, large-scale wars and vicious disease outbreaks that dramatically reduce population numbers.
Unfortunately for Hopkins, since the Reverend Malthus published 'An Essay on the Principle of Population' in 1798, his theories have largely been discredited by the scientific community.
However, undeterred, Hopkins quickly followed up her first Ebola tweet, by adding: "If I did get Ebola and start bleeding from the eyeballs, I fear many would imagine that is normal for the Hopkins."
Lord Alan Sugar recently criticised the TV personality – who bowed out of his BBC show The Apprentice prior to the final of the third series – questioning her career choices after appearing on the business contest.
Blasting former stars Luisa Zissman and Hopkins together, he said: "They'd go to the opening of an envelope if they got an invitation.
"They have their Andy Warhol moment, thinking it's going to make them famous, but very few have actually succeeded.
"Before long they're of no interest to anybody."
Hopkins is not new to controversy – sparking outrage in the past for her comments on first names including Chantelle and Chardonnay, and labelling Kelly Osbourne a "purple-headed dwarf".
The former I'm A Celebrity contestant was also slated for branding fat people "lazy".
source