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Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts

6.18.2020

Police Misconduct Allowed Anywhere Is Police Misconduct Allowed Everywhere


The USA has more imprisoned people per capita than any other nation on earth. This mass incarceration problem can only be solved by policing the police with federal legislation....

China has a population of ~1 billion people with ~1 million incarcerated; while the USA has a population of ~300 million, with over ~2 million behind bars, & ~4 million on probation or parole. -Van Jones



-photo via Twitter
Chicago City Council aldermen vote to terminate the $33 million contract between police & Chicago Public Schools. 
Lack of accountability for SRO's, traumatized & abused children, & tarnished futures have heeded the call for this to happen for years. The education system is to prepare youth for a future which shouldn't include a felony record for minor disobedience...
as too often happens. 


Police don't belong in schools. Most school resource officers have little to NO training in social & behavioral sciences.


With 75 convictions overturned so far, is this the police department & states attorney office you want in charge of holding police in Chicago schools accountable? We need independent oversight of ALL misconduct, a national registry, 
no immunity from charges for police officers, & no police in schools! 


Tear gas is a chemical weapon that is banned in warfare by the Geneva Convention. Before a photo op in front of a church, President Trump 'cleared the road' with military police using tear gas on peaceful protesters while giving a speech on National TV. Peaceful protesters were being shoved, trampled, tear gassed, & cornered by military police with flash bangs thrown at their feet while he spoke of being the 'President of Law & Order' & discussed looting. 

-photo of military police in Washington D.C.
Trump's speech fanned the flames of anger, rather than addressing the underlying issues
 of police brutality & cops getting special treatment in our criminal justice system. 
He gave no words of wisdom.



Other police brutality instances have been receiving attention 
at the numerous protests for justice reform:




-photo via Twitter

Reform measures have recently been introduced in cities, states, & at the federal level, 
including the Ending Qualified Immunity Act. Police have been given a get out of jail for free card 
& it has made it difficult to hold them accountable for their misconduct. 

-photo via Twitter
Policy solutions have been in the works for years, but only recently have the measures been not only considered, but began implementation. A couple of them below have their critics, but are considered blueprints for
 legislative solutions to police violence and misconduct. 




Militarized police along with lack of justice for victims of police misconduct is the perfect storm for disaster. Some feel that there is no hope to reform police, and that defunding the police is the only solution-
 by reallocation of their funding for useful social programs for the community.



-photo via Twitter
Police misconduct allowed anywhere means
 that police misconduct is allowed everywhere. 💔


#PoliceMisconduct
#GeorgeFloyd
#BlackLivesMatter
#PoliceThePolice
#JusticeReformNow
#SchoolToPrisonPipeline
#PoliceFreeSchools
#NoJusticeNoPeace
#EndPoliceTerror
#ProsecuteThePolice
#8CantWait
#JusticeReform
#PolicySolutions
#PoliceAccountability
#JusticeForAll
#KillerCops

11.07.2019

Criminal Justice Reform, Angie Style


Who else has dealt with so much #PoliceMisconduct & #ProsecutorMisconduct that when you need to report an emergency you don't call 911 anymore & write an email instead to your local PD?
 Or just me?!

My Reason: when I file a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) for the police report it won't come back a 'garbage report.' That's a term I have coined throughout the years meaning a police report that's so full of inaccuracies, that it's not worth the paper they wrote it up on. Nothing to dispute about what was reported if it's in writing. 
Their response, or lack of response to 'the call' may still be an area of where they can get away with misconduct though, since citizens reporting a crime can't control an unlawful response by police officers. 

That's why I will still write a partial police report narrative IN with my FOIA request like normally for several years to discourage receiving a garbage report by the police department, or at the direction of the prosecutor who failed to do their job. 
That's because of SO MANY bad experiences getting PD reports back that were garbage- and a plethora of corrupt police officers who are not worth the toilet paper in their toilets they wiped their butts with before their shift. 

They tend to follow a #ThinBlueLine when it comes to reporting each other for misconduct too. 

Writing a partial narrative with my FOIA means that my FOIA says what the report SHOULD say at least. I'll just skip the phone call now altogether & just keep everything I report in writing! New rules! That's called #JusticeReform, Angie style. It's gotta be involuntary I guess. They aren't going to act ethical or sane on their own or because I ask nicely!! I've tried that with every police department & court system that I have ever been unfortunate enough to have to call & ask assistance from...since childhood!! 

We can't pick who births us, or raises us, or who we fall in love with,
 but cops are public paid employees and our criminal justice system is publicly funded so I expect better. 
It's meant to protect and serve, not victimize and traumatize.

10.04.2019

PFAS Awareness



- photo from Food & Water Watch

"PFAS (including PFOA and PFOS) are man-made chemicals used in non-stick pans, food packaging, fire suppressants and stain-resistant fabrics. They are known as “forever chemicals” because they stay in the soil and water for long periods of time — and do not break down naturally. Long-term exposure to these chemicals has been associated with health problems, including thyroid disease, weakened immunity and certain cancers." -Food & Water Watch


43 states (at least) have been affected by these dangerous chemicals that don't break down over time. PFAS are detrimental to human health, wildlife, & agriculture. Improved EPA standards are being blocked by the GOP in our House of Representatives and Congress. It has taken the Attorney General's of some states to bring forth a real effort to combat the corruption of the EPA exasperated by the Trump Administration.

 Remediation efforts are slow to address this problem due to lack of legislation and funding. Public education has been virtually non-existent until recent months via TV & in newspapers on the health effects of PFAS, but lots of scientific research has been popping up online. Activists have taken to Twitter and other social media platforms to raise awareness. 

Below is an interactive map to see if your watershed or town in affected:


More detailed information on PFAS, including their origination, what products they are found in, & their health effects are in this document from Food and Water Watch, published in February 2019:




8.07.2019

Earth Poems




I have never been much of a poet... 

but the time to act on our climate crisis is now, not later.


"Untitled"

Wildfires & Earthquakes.
We cannot easily put out the flames.
The fracking makes the earth shake.
It sets our water on fire.
We drink oil & fracking chemicals.
We are not allowed to know what those chemicals are.

This is the new normal. 
People just look away.
Disbelief, indifference, helplessness.

A Melting North Pole.
Our crops are drowning in floods & roasting in drought.
Plastic flows through our water from garbage. 
In the smallest streams from our oceans.
Bits & pieces too small to see, but small enough to drink.
Our seas are a graveyard for creatures.

This is the new normal. 
People just look away.
Disbelief, indifference, helplessness.

When the sunsets are all gone,
 & replaced with a nuclear winter haze-
will it be another new normal?
Will you look away?

The Global Polluter Money will no longer matter. 
Their profits will not be as self serving as they had hoped.
Harvesting the earth & humans was their business.

Property Damage, Starvation, & Death.
Profits. Immorality. Mortality.
This is the new normal. 
People just look away.
Disbelief, indifference, helplessness.










12.08.2018

Revisiting Common Core & Other Psychological Considerations

   I began speaking out along with other parents about Common Core over 5 years ago. My hope was that more teachers would begin to join the effort, as the former teacher did in the article I mentioned in my blog in a couple of posts. She went back to school and educated herself in the field of counseling to help students affected by this approach to education, and advocates for children and their families for a more nurturing & common sense based approach to education. She's a rare, yet highly educated advocate with a great sense of morals and values that guide her..

   B.F. Skinner & Seligman based theories taught heavily to educators are 2 reasons why teachers need to stick to their fields, & out of the field of mental health, which they do as a rule. Teachers cannot become psychotherapists very easily without basically 'unlearning' everything they have been taught previously. You never forget how to ride a bike once you learn though as we say! The educational basis for a degreed, licensed teacher focuses on starkly different courses & theories in general in contrast to the protocol of educational requirements for professional counselors, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, or marriage and family therapists. Schools are of course for education, NOT psychotherapy sessions. Doing that violates a student's fundamental & civil right to an education, and constitutes a violation of parental rights as well.

   Someone practicing as a 'school counselor' in a school setting needs to adhere to the same educational and licensing requirements as 'regular counselors' in order to protect the mental health of students in any case. ALL therapists/counselors are required to be licensed to practice individual counseling or counseling in a group setting, and in order to call themselves a therapist or counselor. The name 'school counselor' itself gives the impression that the school counselor is degreed in a field such as psychology or sociology. Let's hope for our children's sake that they all are & no corners are being cut either to save money or prevent accountability. If a student becomes injured psychologically because of malpractice by one in a school, the consequences for them should be the same as if it occurred in a counselor's private practice. All states, including Illinois, have a state license board to track counseling licenses and file complaints if necessary.

http://angiesstuff-angie.blogspot.com/2013/11/common-core-vs-common-knowledge.html?m=1

https://angiesstuff-angie.blogspot.com/2014/07/common-core-effects-and-background.html?m=1

2.25.2017

Saturday Projects

GIF's from train photos...
"Waiting", 2017.


....& mini food sculptures
 made by my 11 year old daughter with modeling clay.


1.16.2017

What Would MLK Think of Police Misconduct & Lack of Accountability?

What would MLK say? MLK would probably say not to blame the victims; not to blame those are aware of the lack of response by our criminal justice system and government. He would also probably call the current lack of response to widespread police misconduct Human Rights Violations and march with protestors.

- Photo from USA Today
The definition of hypocrisy is blaming the bandaid for the hemorrhage it was used for.

-Photo From Africanglobe.net

-Photo From  pininterest.com

Photo From www.mintpressnews.com
Photo from torentai.lt

Maybe MLK would also say that a movement documenting violence towards the innocent and advocating for social justice and peace cannot use violence as a solution or means to achieve a nonviolent policing system.











9.01.2016

Animating With Drawings



Today was exploration with various experiments making .GIF animation files from my drawings and photos while loving this cooler weather and several quiet days. Instead of laying in a hammock however, I have been doing trial and error with freeware and file converting. While trying to learn the ropes that so many others do, I have discovered that I am not very tech savvy with embedding HTML or dealing with shockwave/flash files. Making .GIF animations out of my drawings and photos was a load of fun once I got a feel for it though. Very thrilling to see what they may turn into once looped together- like dripping paint down a canvas. Whatever the paint chooses to do, it will do. The nice thing about a computer is you can always delete it- unlike on a canvas with paint or colored pencils. Sometimes my web and graphic design mistakes as well as my lack of formal education of either are a big win I've decided!

-Small decorative icons and grass in picture courtesy of FotoRus

The possibilities are endless really.
My obsession with making several copies of the same drawing once I scan it and making each a slightly different hue just to play with it is even more of a curiosity to me now. I make my color palettes through Picasa already and have plenty on hand to loop together if I get the urge...I also found out during this search for freeware photo/video editors and design programs that not all photo "stickers" are absolutely horrible! Please note my surrealistic rendition of them above on my snapshot of the GIF files on Tumblr to prove it! 

Please visit for more GIF images. I have been keeping them there like my personal online scrapbook.
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8.25.2016

Solving the Mysteries of Nationalist Communist Agendas and Melania Trump

Melania Trump and her upbringing was financially sponsored by a regime and an ideology that slaughtered 200K+ Muslims, Croatians and Bosnians? Am I misreading this? I certainly hope that I am completely incorrect in all of my research into this lately. If I am unfortunately correct, then her immigration to the U.S. can be compared to the immigration of Nazi's into the U.S. following World War 2. There were very few and it was done very quietly. 

-Former Yugoslavia
 www.historyplace.com

History of the war between Serbs and Muslims:


Someone should at least clue her in that in America we don't sue each other over the ability to obtain important information by attacking the free press or try to undermine the amendments pertaining to them with high priced lawyers. Reporting relevant news, and exercising free thought are also protected by our Constitution. If she is a victim of slander, that is certainly upsetting especially when a political figure involved in a Presidential election. Let's get out the violin for her self induced bloated sense of elitist privilege... 

Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion Are American Values:


Politics unfortunately brings out the worst in both sides and smearing the other candidate is a desperate attempt to get votes. More importantly, it is a calculated attempt on the campaign 'smearers' part to divert attention from their own disqualifications or shortcomings, whether professionally, or within the content of their character. She would know all about it if she paid a little more attention to Donald Trump's campaign. That is what he does everyday. Smearing and slandering various political candidates and reporters...NATO, The United Nations. This when he isn't busy making bigoted comments and fascist "final solution" suggestions about entire races and religions. Honestly, since Melania Trump thanks the Communist Party from her homeland for her and her family's "success"- it really didn't surprise me hearing that she was a highly paid political sex bartering tool, or "escort", whatever it was. This has apparently been proven false in any case- so she was just a nude model and got paid for the pictures...while being an illegal immigrant? This, while the daughter of an enemy of the state, that plagiarizes speeches, and lies about graduating college? Or is this what the lawsuits are really about??
................................



League of Communists of Slovenia
Ideology: Marxism-Leninism, Titoism
 -Photo and info courtesy of Wikipedia
Melania Trump and her proud Communist upbringing may have brought her a deep seeded hatred towards Muslims or minorities and she may be provoking an agenda through her husband that went partially unfulfilled back home. She did jump ship after the genocide ended because of efforts by the United States military and it's allies. She got a communist state sponsored trip to the catwalk after that! We should all be concerned that the League of Communists may be attempting to get one of their own in our White House. Only 5% of the population during her childhood were eager participants of the regime in her homeland. The story that we are being given is that her father joined only to secure employment and housing. The rest of the population (95%) rejected being part of a genocidal regime for meager opportunities. So the ideology is what must have attracted him more than anything. A power trip? So little is known other than the smokescreen that was given to the media and public. But we do know that Donald Trump and Viktor Knav, Melania Trump's father and League of Communists member , are very chummy. 


Luckily, we are free to do our own research and have educated opinions. I encourage everyone to do so and to make informed decisions about who will be given keys to the White House. I feel the Trumps, Knavs, and their totalitarian associates are a huge security concern. Our national security and values are at huge risk if they are allowed to get into a role where they could invoke a dictatorship- as nationalist genocidal leader Slobodan Milošević did. The Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort has recently been tied to the Pro-Russia ousted president of Ukraine, who escaped to Russia. He worked in his circles before working for Donald Trump, and is involved in apparent money laundering for the Pro-Kremlin agenda. This is just another issue to consider. Please use your right to vote wisely.



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3.30.2016

Family Crafts





Turning souvenirs from a day trip into window prisms and necklaces for my daughter was a fun way to make more family memories, as well as a learning experience.




 "Ideas are to literature what light is to painting"- Paul Bourget






2.03.2016

In The Dark: What Country Did Your Prescription Come From?


Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to enlighten anyone who receives prescriptions from a doctor in America and has them filled at an American pharmacy. 

Are your birth control pills made in India? If so, were you aware of it?

 Silly me.  I sure wasn't!  I thought that the prescriptions I have filled at my pharmacy were manufactured in the USA.  I was under the impression that it was illegal to purchase drugs from other countries, even if it was a personal choice.  I assumed prescriptions were regulated by the FDA on my soil.  It did not occur to me to squint my eyes and check the fine print.  To my surprise, these pills were manufactured in a factory overseas to be distributed by/for an American Pharmaceutical Company.  The FDA's mediocre and substandard regulatory practices set aside, me and my pill pack being considered worthy enough for their safety stamp of approval would have been welcome news.  Instead, uncertainty and betrayals... 

In light of the deliberate deceptions drug companies maneuver for profits and shady human testing done by those entities and our federal government that I am already aware of, I am baffled by my own gullibility.  I don't know why I didn't inquire with this simple observation without hesitation.  In fact, I wondered immediately of the many other women over 35 who are likely on this same mini-pill, if any pill at all.  There is a great mass of women involved.  A plethora of birth control pills that have been swallowed!  We share a general unawareness that the "generic" version of the birth control pill given out to save money is likely from one of the under-regulated factories overseas.

The FDA to their credit, has warned some overseas drug manufacturers such as in India, China, and Poland and given them violations.  Gross negligence reports include microbiological contamination, dosing errors, an absence of the expected drug in pills, and substandard ingredients or testing procedures in place.  When they do make the overseas visits which is not often enough, this is what our FDA inspectors repeatedly have found.  The factories are warned but not shut down to my knowledge.  Sometimes major drugs or batches of them are recalled in the process, but it is all allowed to continue while society as a whole is blind to it.  Glass particles?  Bugs in the packaging?  Lack of testing?  What else on earth will Big Pharma and Big Insurance think of next to save and make money off of our innocence and ignorance?  It puts lives at risk everyday.  Side effects and bad reactions cannot be monitored.  Vital medications are not being taken in the appropriate dose or even at all in some cases, but pharmaceutical consumers are acting under the false pretense that they are doing their part.  As much as I already mistrusted our train-wreck FDA and for-profit healthcare system, the corporate run healthcare system has failed even more miserably.  Integrity and ethics have been abandoned while national media attention is sorely lacking on this matter.  If social media has a viral frenzy eventually, then the government can only blame themselves.  After all, they have allowed our fascist healthcare system to make us all sick by skirting basic safety procedures and reaping huge profits.  This is while giving the bottom 98% the tax bill.  I am sure that a lot of companies manufacturing drugs for the USA have excellent standards and some definitely better than ours.  Our CDC and FDA are in need of reform.  But, if we can't even regulate our own labs and factories well enough and don't, why would it seem feasible to scout the world too?

A full disclosure should be made to patients.  Fine print to stumble upon isn't good enough.  Doctors, nurses, and pharmacies should disclose to patients exactly what they are giving them and where it came from ahead of time.  On every single pill, shot, IV, and bandage.  It should be a right to know what we are receiving and not be lied to.  If we wish to make an informed educated decision about what we may be taking (or not taking), we should be able to. 

Resources concerning FDA violations in overseas drug factories:





10.14.2015

Science, Data, and the Pro-Vaccine Culture Machine Implosion

-Photo from healthimpactnews.com

The Pro-Immunization Culture That Has Been Fed Misinformation is Not Beneficial to Health OR Public Safety

Vaccines are a for-profit industry. They are marketed with fear mongering about diseases to the point of advocating for FORCED vaccinations. This, combined with disregard for public health by our government regulators and many health professionals regarding the risk of death or injury from the vaccines, has created the "Anti-Vax" movement. This link below is a PDF download from the FDA and the makers of "FluMist", the live nasal flu vaccine. It's 26 pages. It includes clinical trials and studies appearing to conclude that it was only 44% effective overall, with flu symptoms increased in those vaccinated vs placebo. Also, a double blind study on children in a daycare is included, in which about half were given the flu vaccine. It was concluded that several children caught the flu from the children who received the vaccine. The vaccinated shed live flu strains for up to 28 days after it is given. So many indictments of themselves, that is just a couple. It is an admission through the package insert that it isn't very effective, and that people can catch the flu from vaccinated people.  When the hype about the flu being dangerous is contrasted with facts, they speak for themselves. I wonder how long the live MMR vaccine is shed? I doubt there will be any clinical or official studies from MMR vaccine makers to show it's transmitted through the vaccinated populations, because that would undermine the pharmaceutical industry and government's purpose to vaccinate everyone, no matter what the true health consequences are. The Human Rights Council of the United Nations is being petitioned by Americans and other countries like Serbia to eliminate forced vaccines. To stand against Big Pharma means to stand against risky and unnecessary vaccines!
LINK: PDF Document

Knowledge about "Measles Mary", and the little publicized phenomenon of the MMR vaccine causing measles and mumps is eye opening.
LINK: http://news.sciencemag.org/health/2014/04/measles-outbreak-traced-fully-vaccinated-patient-first-time

Between 1987-2000, there were 67,032 reported cases of measles. The most common complications were ear infections (7.3%) and diarrhea (8.2%). Of the 67,032 people with measles, 97 had swelling in the brain (.1%) and 177 (.3%) died from the disease. Since 2005, 108 people have supposedly died from the MMR vaccine.

Canadian media admits that flu shots may do more harm than good: 
"During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, researchers at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control originally thought seasonal flu shots from 2008 might offer extra protection against the new pandemic strain. They were puzzled to find instead, seasonal flu vaccination almost doubled the risk of infection with pandemic flu."
Live vaccines like the flushot are found to be unnecessary and dangerous according to an increasing number of researchers and health professionals that are speaking out. There is evidence that the vaccines increase risks of spreading disease rather than preventing it:

Vaccine injury settlements include compensation for autism related complications, billions have been paid to families of loved ones injured or killed by vaccines:

Forced Vaccines

-Photo From Wariscrime.com
There are documented allegations of medical, biological and chemical warfare experiments by the U.S. government performed on the public without knowledge and/or consent for over 100 years. Certain groups including the poor, minorities, the mentally ill, prisoners, and children most often as test subjects indicate government labels of worthlessness of it's people. Who was "worthy enough" to be excluded in the malicious experiments were by it's own set of terms. Forced vaccinations don't discriminate based on gender, income bracket, or color of skin. The forced medical experiment and harm is meant for all:

In 2007, alleged forced vaccinations occurred. Children were lined up at a Maryland courthouse and given shots, assembly line style. Parents were given a court summons, threats of jail time or DCFS taking away their children, and daily fines. Media and concerned advocates were kept behind barricades. Armed personnel and attack dogs kept the victims and general public of this incident compliant. "Gunpoint Medicine" is not in the best interest of a democracy or it's people! This was about government taking total control over it's people, and claiming it was for the greater good. It had nothing to do with public health. Public health for a greater good would include social justice opportunities for all for safe medicine practices. Civil rights in regards to individual or family health care and decision making should not be infringed upon by any for-profit industry merely concerned about quotas, money, and oligarchy. This is such an undemocratic abuse of power, I admit I question if it's a genuine incident:

The CDC is moving away from needles for shots, and towards stickers for vaccines. I believe a resistant public and government mandates are setting the stage for forced vaccines as simple as sticking a sticker on an unwilling subject. 
LINK:http://www.parenting.com/news-break/cdc-calls-needle-free-measles-vaccine-game-changer

-photo from www.bolenreport.com 
Below is an example of a document to get a doctor to sign before giving immunizations, but legally they would be unable to sign it without opening themselves up to a malpractice suit: 

"I certify that the (Name of Vaccine)______ vaccine being administered to (Name of Child)_______ is free from all known and yet unknown zoonotic or human viruses or viral fragments and will not cause acute or chronic illness in the recipient due to viral contamination or as a reaction to the components of this vaccine. (Signature of Physician and Date)_________." (From http://vaclib.org)

 A UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF RESISTANCE TO MANDATORY VACCINATIONS, including petitions and a treasure chest of reliable information about vaccines: