Disturbing Police Treatment of Tampa Homeless Woman

FOX 13 News

This a horrible video of Tampa police officer Scott Van Treese hogtying and dragging Sonya Mimminger into the Orient Road Jail. FOX 13 reports the woman dragged, Sonya Mimminger, was later taken to Tampa General Hospital. The article doesn't make clear if it was for treatment from injuries related to her arrest.

Mimminger is a homeless woman. She was arrested on a drug charge. Fox 13 reports she was scared to talk to them.

The 36-year-old woman is homeless, but FOX 13 found her on the streets of Tampa.

Initially, she was hesitant to talk -- "There's nothing I can do about it," she offered. But she then agreed to look at the video and answer some questions.

"He did me like a little rag muffin," she offered. "I wonder why he'd drag me like that?"

What is distubing is that Mimminger feels that there is "nothing" she can do about her treatment at the hands of Officer Van Treese. Mimminger is poor and homeless. Many like her have no voice in the community.

Officer Van Treese has been received a written reprimand. I'm actually surprised he got a slap on the wrist.

Paul Ryan: Portrait of An Unserious Man

Rep. Paul Ryan's remedy for man made climate change is to do nothing. Literally. This is what he told the media.

"Climate change occurs no matter what. The question is, can and should the federal government do something about it? And I would argue the federal government, with all its tax and regulatory schemes, can't. And all it will do is end up hurting our country, our people, and especially low income individuals."

What Ryan didn't tell the media is the $181,299 he has received from the oil industry during this campaign cycle.

Ryan talked about his poverty program.

"In many cases, the federal government, in its war on poverty, has inadvertently displaced civil society, prodded out good things that are happening in our communities, when it should be supporting them. It should be manning supply lines, not dictating the front lines."

"And the other point, it has given the notion in our society that this isn't your problem. Pay your taxes. The government will fix this. The government fixes poverty. That's not true. We need to break those notions that so that everybody gets involved and does something in whatever way they can to make a difference in this area. And that is one of the messages we need to pound over and over and over if we are going to be successful in reintegrating the poor and getting them from where the are to where they want to be."

Ryan does not have a basic understanding about poverty. Naturally, Ryan is against raising the minimum wage. Ryan previously made the hysterical claim that raising the minimum wage will keep teenagers from getting jobs.

“The majority of these workers are younger people just getting into the workforce,” Ryan said. “What we don’t want to do is support ideas, especially in this kind of economy, which will reduce the availability of jobs, number one, but more importantly reduce the availability of jobs from the very people we want to get into jobs so they can start climbing that ladder of life, so they can get in and start working their way up and get the skills they need to earn a better job.” He added that his time working at McDonald’s as a young man helped “give me better training to keep moving on in life.”

The New York Times had the actual numbers.

Climbing above the poverty line has become more daunting in recent years, as the composition of the nation’s low-wage work force has been transformed by the Great Recession, shifting demographics and other factors. More than half of those who make $9 or less an hour are 25 or older, while the proportion who are teenagers has declined to just 17 percent from 28 percent in 2000, after adjusting for inflation, according to Janelle Jones and John Schmitt of the Center for Economic Policy Research.

Today’s low-wage workers are also more educated, with 41 percent having at least some college, up from 29 percent in 2000. “Minimum-wage and low-wage workers are older and more educated than 10 or 20 years ago, yet they’re making wages below where they were 10 or 20 years ago after inflation,” said Mr. Schmitt, senior economist at the research center. “If you look back several decades, workers near the minimum wage were more likely to be teenagers — that’s the stereotype people had. It’s definitely not accurate anymore.”

The Chamber of Commerce doesn't want a minimum wage increase. The Republican Party heeds the word of the Chamber. The Chamber of Commerce represents businesses that will fight tooth and nail not to pay their employees more. The Chamber of Commerce released an article on their website titled "A Better Approach Than the Minimum Wage Distraction."

The minimum wage debate is misplaced as part of the income inequality debate simply because raising the minimum wage by $1 an hour, for example, adds about $2,000 to the pre-tax income of those few full-time minimum wage adult workers. (Most minimum wage earners are either teenagers or are working part-time). A $2,000 increase would make a difference to the worker, assuming he or she still has a job, but it doesn’t do much for income inequality when stacked against the incomes of those at the very top of the income scale.

Ryan cited the CBO report. The truth is states that have raised the minimum wage have found no adverse effects. The wage increases were needed to keep up with inflation. What Ryan and other Republicans refuse to mention is cost of living increases. From the Associated Press:

"In the 13 states that boosted their minimums at the beginning of the year, the number of jobs grew an average of 0.85 percent from January through June. The average for the other 37 states was 0.61 percent.

"Nine of the 13 states increased their minimum wages automatically in line with inflation: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Four more states — Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island — approved legislation mandating the increases."

Republicans constantly say that unemployment will increase if the minimum wage is increased. At some point the minimum wage must be raised. Millions of Americans having less spending power will be a drag on the economy. It also costs the federal government money. Forbes reports that WalMart workers $6.2 billion in public assistance. WalMart employees simply do not make enough to survive.

Ryan is against raising the minimum wage because he doesn't want to cut into the bottom line of companies like WalMart. Ryan's war on poverty should be treated like the nonsense it truly is.

Quote of the Day

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dubious Rubio's Bogus War on Poverty

I don't expect Sen. Marco Rubio to actually submit a bill for his laughable war on poverty. Rubio's big idea to end poverty is to turn anti-poverty programs ovrr to the states. That would result in less funding for anti-poverty programs. The Florida legislature hasn't expanded Medicaid and Gov. Rick Scott hasn't fixed the state's unemployment website. You think Scott and the legislature are going to commit significant resources to fighting poverty? That doesn't pass the laugh test.

Rubio's anti-poverty plan doesn't actually lift people out of poverty.

Replacing the earned income tax credit with a federal wage enhancement for qualifying low-wage jobs. "This would allow an unemployed individual to take a job that pays, say, $18,000 a year –which on its own is not enough to make ends meet – but then receive a federal enhancement to make the job a more enticing alternative to collecting unemployment insurance," Rubio's office said.

The income tax credit is a tax break for low income workers for low income families. Rubio is essentially eliminating a tax cut for poor people. This is the same Rubio who was against an extension of the payroll tax cut. However, Rubio went ballistic, on the Senate floor, when President Barack Obama proposed eliminating the tax loophole on corporate jets.

“It’s class warfare, and it’s the kind of language you would expect from a leader of a third-world country, not the President of the United States.”

Rubio would have the American people believe that ensing the tax loophole on corporate jets is going to make the United States in Somalia.

Rubio voted against the Gulf Restoration Act and Hurricane Sandy Relief. Rubio votes against people effected by disaster. However, Rubio will defend corporate tax breaks for company jets.

Rubio's own anti-poverty would not raise the minimum wage. Rubio voted against the Senate bill to raise the minimum wage. Rubio claimed he voted against Janet Yellen's nomination because of concerns over inflation. If Rubio was really concerned about inflation he would support raising the minimum wage. Wages aren't keeping up with cost of living expenses.

Rubio's policies would only increase income inequality.

Update: Heritage Foundation Scholar Robert Rector trashes Rubio's anti-poverty program. Rector makes a point on the conservative side that I did on the liberal side. Having the federal government give money to states and let the states set up their own programs would lead to horrible anti-poverty programs with no oversight. Rector worries that states won't set up work programs. He is probably right.

Like I wrote, Rector points out that Rubio's wage tax subsidy doesn't lift the poor out of poverty. It occurred to me that the wage tax subsidy makes no sense from a conservative prospective. Rubio is creating a new tax subsidy that must ve paid for by taxpayers. It would be wiser from a conservative policy prospective to raise the minimum wage. That way workers can spend their money in the free market and no new tax would be created. Yet Rubio is determined not to raise the minimum wage. Rubio's stance on not raising the minimum wage with hia inflation hawk stance.

Update: According the Associated Press Rubio believes people seek unemployment because they don't feel like working. What bubble was Rubio living in when the Great Recession caused double digit unemployment? It wouldn't surprise me that Rubio thinks that these unemployed people decided to take a tax paid vacation after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.

On Jim DeFede's radio show, Rubio once said that the working class live off "other people's leftover money. That gives you an idea of what Rubio thinks of working people.

Quote of the Day 2: Ronald Reagan Edition

“As long as there is one person in this country who is hungry, that’s one person too many, and something must be done about it.” Ronald Reagan, on hunger in America.

As I blogged earlier today, House Republicans cut $4 billion from the SNAP program.

Quote of the Day: SNAP Program Edition

With 1 in 4 American children hungry, it's outrageous that the House has passed a bill that cuts $40 billion from #SNAP food stamp program.

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) September 19, 2013

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that the SNAP program helped 4 million people suffering economic hardship. Here is a chart.

The CBPP projects that the cost of the SNAP program will decrease. The findings are tied to the the GDP. I would have to see the numbers. I would say that depends on the economic recovery. So far Congress has done little to stimulate the economy. If people are still enrolling in the SNAP program in big numbers that means a). the economy is still bad 2.) SNAP cost may increase.

Economist Mark Zandi testified to the Senate Finance Committee that every dollar spent on SNAP puts $1.74 back into the economy. Considering that many people are economically hurting and SNAP stimulates the economy; it should come as no surprise that the House of Representatives voted to cut $4 billion from the program. The House bill would also allow potential SNAP recipients to be tested for drugs. Courts have already struck this down on the state level, including Florida.

Rick Perry Mistakenly Thinks He's In Florida

Gov. Rick Perry can't keep from making gaffes. Perry was at the RedState Gathering in New Orleans. Last time I checked, the city of New Orleans was in Louisiana. Perry thought he was in Florida.

“There are many other states that embrace those conservative values, the approach that we’ve taken over the years,” he continued. “I’m in one today in Florida. You look at South Carolina, you look at Florida.”

“You’re in Louisiana!” an audience member shouted.

“I know,” Perry responded. “And I said that. I’m in one of those states that reflect those today in Louisiana,” he deadpanned, drawing audience laughter and applause.

Perry's message of red states being more successful than blue states is bullshit. Red states have had job gains but this have been crappy service industry jobs. People without health insurance was highest in conservative states before Obamacare and remains that way, because of Republican opposition to health care reform. Kenneth J. Bernstein did a really good breakdown of how red states as a whole fair more poorly than blue states.

No Real News Story of the Day

I keep seeing this everywhere and this is what drives me crazy about the media and blogging. Allen West is not going to be the Rick Scott's next Lt. Governor. Scott was taking calls on conservative talk radio and didn't want to offend the conservative base. Scott wants to win a second term. Not go down in flames with an undisciplined running mate who lost his district to a long shot Democratic challenger.

The media and bloggers latch on to an off-hand remark made by Scott because they desperately want this to be a real story. The reason being so they don't have to write about such stories as the United States has the highest mortality rate for newborn babies of any industrialized nation. Writing about a fictional running mate for Rick Scott is so much more important than 42.7 American million people live below the poverty line. I don't know about you but I am so glad that the people that give us our news have the priorities straight.

Tampa In News for Mother/Daughter Porn

Tampa, Florida is in the news again. A real-life mother and daughter were nearly evicted from their home. They decided to make porn videos together to save their home.

In order to confirm the Sexxxtons are really related and not just claiming that as a marketing gimmick, The Huffington Post reviewed both women's driver's licenses, and their private Facebook pages, as well as private family photos going back 20 years.

Although mother and daughter have sex in the same room at the same time -- often with the same male or female partner -- they insist that their encounters are not incestuous. For legal and personal reasons, they don't actually touch each other during sex scenes.

The mother, Jessica, and daughter, Monica cannot touch each other during sex. They don't touch so they are not challenging incest laws. Mother and daughter both have sex with a male or female partner. Florida law considers incest penetration between male and female members of the family.

Whoever knowingly marries or has sexual intercourse with a person to whom he or she is related by lineal consanguinity, or a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece, commits incest, which constitutes a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. "Sexual intercourse" is the penetration of the female sex organ by the male sex organ, however slight; emission of semen is not required.

Mother Jessica works as an escort in Tampa.

Help Society of St. Vincent de Paul

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Youngstown, Ohio has come under siege from angry conservatives. The reason being is conservatives are mad that St. Vincent de Paul president Brian J. Antal did not approve of Paul Ryan using his charity's soup kitchen for a photo-op.

"We're a faith-based organization," he said. "We are apolitical because the majority of our fundingis from private donations. It's strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there, and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open the doors. [...] The photo-op they did wasn't even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall."

Actually, Ryan did something. He washed clean dishes. Ryan put on an apron to wash the cleanest dishes I have ever seen.

Ryan actually got approval from Juanita Sherba, St. Vincent de Paul's dining hall coordinator. She regrets her decision.

"It was the phoniest piece of baloney I've ever been associated with," she told The Vindicator. "In hindsight, I would have never let him in the door. [...] They couldn't have cared less. The advance man said Paul Ryan wanted to come and talk to our clientele, but he didn't."

Paul Ryan talking to homeless people. I believe that when I see it.

You can help many hungry people in Youngstown, Ohio by sending a check.

Society of St. Vincent de Paul, P.O. Box 224, Youngstown, OH 44501

The Cost of Mubarak's Greed

Where do dictators do their banking? The answer is Switzerland.

GENEVA, Switzerland, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The Swiss foreign ministry says it has located bank accounts worth millions of dollars associated with ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak stepped down Feb. 11 amid enormous public demonstrations calling for an end to his 31 years of autocratic rule. The interim military government then made a call among Arabic countries to freeze his assets, The New York Times said.

Switzerland was not formally asked to identify or freeze any holdings, but did so on its own, the newspaper said.

Mubarak and his family are estimated to have a $40 billion to $70 billion net worth. Under Egypt law foreign businesses are required to give a 51 percent stake to an Egypt citizen. Often that is Mubarak or one of his cronies. Mubarak got rich while many of his people lived in poverty. Tas has been in Egypt and describes how poverty is spreding in the country.

Similarly, if you go around the outskirts of Cairo, poor neighborhoods are spouting up -- very similar to shantytowns. Jobs in Egypt are in its cities, and the major city is Cairo. But even when you goto Alexandria, there is the rich tourist area near the Mediterranean coast, and the demographics of the neighborhoods get progressively -- and drastically -- poorer the farther away from the shore you travel. I've seen the neighborhood of Sayid Darwish's first house -- tourism dollars do not hit that part of Alexandria. Which, by the way, is only a couple miles away from the Sheraton.

To quote James Carville, "It's about the economy, stupid." People want to work and earn a decent living, whether it is the United States and Egypt. People can only take living in subhuman conditions for so long.

Why the District of Columbia is A National Tragedy

Annie Lowrey tweets this depressing fact about the nation's capital.

Census data shows D.C. has the highest rate of extreme poverty (10.7%) and the highest median income ($86K).

It is a national tragedy that the District of Columbia has had high rates of poverty and murder. People have argued against D.C. getting statehood or a voting Congressional member? I fail to see how giving D.C. proper representation could be worse than the status quo.

Below is a chart of the murder rate in D.C. from 1986 to 2005.

Advancing Opportunity in New York City

The Center of American Progress hosted the "Advancing Opportunity in New York City." New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg established Center for Economic Opportunity. CEO used innovative methods to deal with poverty. Bloomberg came to Washington to talk about the program.

Afterwards, there was a panel discussion. Derek Douglas is Special Assistant to President Barack Obama for Urban Affairs. Linda Gibbs, Deputy to Mayor Bloomberg for Health and Human Services. Ron Haskins, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution and former poverty advisor to George W. Bush. This is a fascinating discussion on how to address combating poverty.

The early achievement of CEO have been getting people to get their GEDs. Getting people into college. Unemployed single parents now have careers.

CEO's goals:

• Breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty by investing in human capital development.

• Giving the working poor a toolbox of programs and supports that will help them move up the economic ladder and out of poverty for the long term.

• Offering youth who are out of school and unemployed, and those who have a history of incarceration, better chances to gain the skills and work experience they need to succeed.

• Intervening early in the lives of children age 0-5 to break cycles of poverty.

• Breaking down silos within government to promote new ways of collaborating, increasing efficiency, and making better use of limited
resources.

• Using data and evaluation to improve programs and allocate resources based on measurable results.

• Sharing lessons learned and advocating on a national level for strategies shown to make a difference.

I would love to see a program such as this in Tampa. Unfortunately, Pam Iorio has been obsessed with the sidewalk to nowhere.

Guess Which State Leads In Food Stamps

If you guessed Florida then you are correct.

TAMPA - The recession has triggered a sharp rise in welfare benefits. Florida now leads the nation in requests for food stamps, and state leaders expect much more to come.

"These are families, these are children, these are our fellow Floridians in need. And we must do everything we can to make their lives better," said Governor Crist.

The number of Floridians getting food stamps has risen by 45 percent since last year.

In 2006, Crist said growth would magically keep Florida's econmy a float. Crist is now playing the tax shift game. Crist won't raise taxes to pay Florida's bills. He will ask President-election Barack Obama for billions. Crist wants money for bridges and Medicaid spending. Just as long as Crist doesn't have to pay for it by raising Florida taxes.

What's up, Gaza?

We often hear about the violent side of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict because that's more sensational, but we're subjected to much less about normal, day to day life there. So what's normalcy in Gaza right now?

Smuggled through tunnels from Egypt, sheep were not selling well in a Gaza market on the eve of a Muslim holiday in which the animals are slaughtered and their meat is donated to the poor.

'People here are just watching one another and nobody is buying,' complained sheep merchant Omar Fuji. 'The prices are higher because we had to pay a $100 fee to the tunneller on every sheep that came through.'

And why aren't Palestinians buying the sheep?

'It is a difficult Eid [holiday]. There are no salaries, no cash at banks. Electricity is cut most of the day,' said Ezzel-Deen Abu Amira, a 42-year-old civil engineer.

Some 77,000 Gaza employees have not received their November pay and banks have been shut since Thursday because they do not have enough money to operate. Israel cut off imports of cash and other goods this month as cross-border violence rose.

And thus we see normal, day to day life in the Gaza Strip. Some people call news like this anti-semitic; others call it "context".