Woman Texts Manager She Cant Make It To Work Cause Her Son Is On Life Support, Her Response Gets Her Fired

I Spent 5 Years Illustrating 250 First World Problems, Meanwhile Taylor Swift Stole My Name

Schumer introduces bill to federally decriminalize marijuana

Washington (CNN)Sen. Chuck Schumer has introduced a new bill to decriminalize and regulate marijuana at the federal level.

By striking marijuana from the act, Schumer's office said in a news release Wednesday, the bill would effectively decriminalize the drug at the federal level. The measure would still allow states to determine their own marijuana laws while maintaining federal law enforcement against trafficking to states where it is illegal.

Several states allow recreational sales of marijuana, including California, Oregon and Massachusetts.

Schumer's bill would direct a specific amount of tax revenue to a Treasury trust fund for the "small business concerns" of women and "socially and economically disadvantaged" individuals working in the marijuana industry.

Under the bill, advertising for marijuana and related products would be restricted for youths, should joint research conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration determine that doing so would be "appropriate for the protection" of the health of those 18 and younger.

In a press statement, Schumer said this legislation is "simply the right thing to do" and that he is hopeful its "balanced approach" will earn bipartisan support in Congress. The bill is co-sponsored by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.

A similar measure aimed at loosening federal guidelines on marijuana and giving states more flexibility in determining their own laws was introduced earlier this month by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Cory Gardner, R-Colorado.

In April, President Donald Trump told Gardner he will support efforts to protect states that have legalized marijuana, according to a statement from the senator. The deal, which was first reported by The Washington Post, came after Gardner said he'd block all Justice Department nominees after Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded guidance from the Obama administration, known as the Cole memo, that had adopted a policy of non-interference with marijuana-friendly state laws.

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The refugee crisis is daunting, but Canada offers an inspiring example of how to help.

Mohammad Amini is a bright, determined, 21-year-old living in Jakarta, Indonesia, with his family — or rather, what's left of it.

The Aminis belong to an ethnic group called the Hazaras, who are violently persecuted in Afghanistan. When the Taliban killed Mohammad's older brother for teaching English and threatened the rest of the family in 2014, they fled the country. Soon after, Mohammad’s grief-stricken father died of a heart attack.

Jakarta was supposed to be a temporary stop for the Aminis, who hoped to get to Australia, but they've been awaiting resettlement for four years. Refugees aren’t legally allowed to work or go to school in Indonesia, so Mohammad and his siblings, who range in age from 15 to 23, do what they can to develop their skills and contribute to society while they wait. They spend several days a week studying and volunteering at Roshan Learning Center, a community-based educational initiative serving refugees, and Mohammad studies at Kiron, an online university for refugees.

"I consider myself as a resilient person," Amini says. "I'd rather spend my time In Indonesia learning more skills, practice my languages skills, and build my character, than just waste my time to wait for my resettlement."

The Aminis make the most of their circumstances in Jakarta, but in reality, they are stuck.

Some of the thousands of asylum-seeking families in Indonesia sleep on the streets and in parks in Jakarta, with mosquito nets as shelters. Photo via Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images.

If they go back to Afghanistan, they’ll likely be killed. If they stay in Indonesia, they can’t work, get an accredited education, or become citizens. Finances are an ongoing struggle, charity is a necessity, and their options for a safe and productive life are limited.

"We are alive with the hope of that one day we will be accepted to a third country," Amini says. "And if there is no resettlement in a third country, our whole life will be destroyed. There is no other option for us." ++

Millions of refugees like the Aminis live in this state of limbo, where chances of resettlement grow more and more unlikely.

In Indonesia, the United Nations recently told refugees that getting transferred to another country could take 15 years or more — if they’re lucky enough to be resettled at all. For the more than 65 million people who are currently displaced, and the 22 million of whom are refugees fleeing conflict or persecution, that timeline could only grow longer, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

While those numbers have increased, the number of refugees the U.S. accepts has been drastically reduced. Obama set the refugee ceiling at 110,000 for 2017, but Trump cut that limit to 45,000 in 2018 — the lowest in decades. And according to the International Rescue Commission, the U.S. is on track to only take in around 22,000 this year — less than half of the limit. For perspective, that's approximately one refugee for every 15,000 Americans.

The numbers don't lie: the U.S. can be doing more to help refugees. And they can look to their Northern neighbors for a resourceful way to make it happen.

Image via International Rescue Committee.

Canada empowers its people to help refugees through an inspiring private refugee sponsorship program.

In addition to government sponsorship like exists in the U.S., refugees can come to Canada through private sponsorship — a process through which a group of Canadian citizens or permanent residents provide funds and mentorship to a refugee family for one year.

The program allows sponsors to choose refugees to sponsor, cover resettlement expenses through private donation, and personally help them assimilate into Canadian society — all at little cost to the government.

About 280,000 refugees have been settled through Canada's private sponsorship program since it began in 1978.

Amir and Nour Fattal fled Aleppo, Syria, when their apartment was bombed in 2012. The Fattals never imagined they would have to leave their homeland — and never wanted to. But war changes everything.

Like the Aminis, they spent years in limbo in a stopover country. But in 2016, they and their young daughter were brought from Turkey to Toronto, Canada, through private sponsorship. Terry Dellaportas, one of the Fattals' Canadian sponsors, invited me to view the Facebook group their sponsorship group used to organize fundraising and logistics. As I scrolled through a year's worth of posts on everything from paperwork, to apartments, to airport pickup, I was struck by the raw beauty of collective human kindness.  

Millions of people have been displaced by the Syrian civil war. Aleppo, once a thriving metropolis, has been reduced to rubble in many areas. Photo via Ameer Alhalbi/Getty Images.

And private sponsorship isn't just about charity.

Research shows refugees have a neutral-to-beneficial impact on the economy, largely because immigrants are twice as likely as the average citizen to start businesses. They also enrich society culturally, especially when their assimilation includes celebrating the skills and knowledge they bring with them.

The Fattals, for example, with the encouragement of their sponsors, started the Beroea Kitchen, which serves Syrian cuisine from Aleppo. "These are the meals our mothers made us when we were children and taught us how to make ourselves," Amir says on the business's website.

And they do more than just sell food. Through a community "Supper Club," Beroea brings people together to share a meal, share stories and ideas, and make friends.

Other countries have started following Canada's lead. The United States should consider it too.

Britain, Argentina, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates all have private sponsorship programs in the works.

"Safety and security" is often lauded as the main reason for limiting the number of refugees America accepts. However, refugees are the most vetted group of people to enter the country and research shows that they pose no greater threat to our safety and security than the average American. Cost and jobs are also used as excuses. However, our economy is in great shape according to the president, unemployment is at historic lows, and refugees aren't a drain the economy or jobs anyway.

The main issues, then, are government spending and concerns over assimilation. Private sponsorship addresses both of those problems.

Photo via Charles McQuillan/Getty Images.

The Aminis are so similar to the Fattals  — service-oriented, ambitious, and eager to contribute. But their ability to put those qualities to full use is simply a matter of circumstance.

Scott Smiley, a volunteer teacher at Roshan in Jakarta, says Mohammad and his family are exactly the kinds of citizens that nations want and need. "These people are so incredible," he says. "Countries should be bidding on them."

Developed countries should help change their circumstance.

But in the meantime, the Aminis will continue to do the only things they can in limbo — study and prepare for an uncertain future, try not to lose hope, and wait.

++ Mohammad Amini's name has been changed for the family's security.

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A Glowing Red ‘Blood Moon’ In July Will Be The Longest Lunar Eclipse In A Century Here’s How To See It

• A blood moon — and the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century — will occur on the night of July 27 and the morning of July 28.
• The total eclipse is set to last for 1 hour and 43 minutes.
• The eclipse will only be visible in the Eastern Hemisphere.

July is shaping up to be an excellent month for astronomy fans.

On the night of July 27 and the early morning hours of July 28, skywatchers in the Eastern Hemisphere will be treated to the longest lunar eclipse set to occur in the 21st century, EarthSky reports.

Astronomers expect the total eclipse to last for a full 1 hour and 43 minutes, with the partial eclipse — which occurs before and after the total eclipse phase — lasting for 3 hours and 55 minutes.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are directly aligned, and the moon's orbit brings it directly into Earth's shadow. This particular eclipse will last so long because the moon will pass directly into the darkest region of Earth's shadow, known as the umbra, which will also give the moon a reddish "blood moon" sheen.

July's full moon will happen at the same time as the moon's apogee — which is when the moon hits its furthest point from Earth in its monthly orbit, according to EarthSky. It'll be the smallest and furthest full moon of the year, which means the moon will take more time to pass through Earth's dark shadow, making the eclipse last longer.

The longest possible lunar eclipse is 1 hour and 47 minutes, according to EarthSky. 

The total eclipse will begin at 7:30 p.m. UTC, and end at 9:13 p.m. UTC. The peak of the eclipse will occur at 8:22 p.m. UTC.

Just a few days after the lunar eclipse, Mars will pass by Earth at its closest point to since 2003. On July 31, the red planet will be only 35.8 million miles away from Earth, making it clearly visible to the naked eye.

Stargazers in the Eastern Hemisphere will easily be able to see both Mars and the blood moon on July 27 and 28. 

Read the original article on Business Insider. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Copyright 2018.

Read next on Business Insider: Elon Musk Says He'll Colonize Mars — But The Closest We've Come Was This Grand Experiment In The Arizona Desert 25 Years Ago

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America’s poor becoming more destitute under Trump, UN report says

Atlanta (CNN)Americans born into poverty are more likely than ever before to stay that way, according to a United Nations report on poverty and inequality in the US.

The Trump administration has slammed the UN report, arguing the organization should instead focus on poverty in the third world.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said, "It is patently ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America."

The report, presented Thursday in Geneva, comes two days after Haley announced the US would withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council.

Haley's comment was in response to a letter from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and 18 other politicians calling on the US to "take action to reduce shameful levels of poverty across the country."

They agreed with the report's conclusion that the Trump administration's $1.5 trillion in tax cuts "overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and worsened inequality."

Philip Alston, a New York University law and human rights professor, led a UN study traveling across US. The group went to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. Alabama, California, Georgia, West Virginia were among the states they visited.

"Most Americans don't care about it. They have bought the line peddled by conservative groups that poor people deserve what they are getting," Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, told CNN.

The report notes that the US has highest child mortality rate of 20 rich countries (OPEC comparison). It also has among the highest child poverty rates in the developed world, at 21%. It also considered obesity rates, income inequality and incarceration rates.

Haley said the UN special rapporteur had "categorically misstated" the progress America had made reducing poverty, but she gave no examples.

Who are America's working poor?

More than 40 million Americans live in poverty, according to the US census.

Maudine Fall has spent her life working minimum wage jobs. At 56 years old, she became homeless. Although she continues cleaning and catering, she rarely gets more than 30 hours of work a week.

Occasionally, she stays in shelters, some nights she sleeps on the street. The worst part she says; you can never let your guard down.

"I worry about the danger, you put yourself in a vulnerable position when you're out here," she says.

Fall says it's impossible to save money for a rental deposit.

"You're never able to save, you're never able to really just build up and have a big deposit to put down. You're struggling, day by day. Even working," she says.

If you are among the working poor living pay check to pay check, one illness or natural disaster can put you on the street.

John Bobbit is one such man.

He used to own a maintenance business employing four people.

That all changed after Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans in 2005. He lost everything and ended up homeless for almost a decade.

"Pride was my biggest sin because I wouldn't ask people to help me. I always thought, 'I'm on my own, I've got to do this on my own.' I turned to drugs and alcohol just out of self-pity, and I ended up digging myself into a deeper hole," Bobbit said.

He was at rock bottom when he decided to walk some 500 miles (more than 700kms) from New Orleans to Atlanta to start anew. It took him 32 days.

Safehouse Outreach in downtown Atlanta helped him find work in a major hotel.

"I was in a job program and they started me off at $8.50. It's the most humble I've ever been in my life and I'm 50 years old. I'm used to making $25-30 an hour when I ran my own business."

He was quickly promoted to a manager position but was out of work 18 months later when illness struck.

Respiratory failure, cellulitis and gout meant five weeks in hospital and many more weeks recovering. The hotel could not hold his position.

Bobbit returned to Safehouse Outreach first as a volunteer and then he was hired as the kitchen manager.

Today he's making grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for the hundreds of people who struggle to survive on minimum wage.

"We do a free, hot healthy meal to anybody who walks in the door. That's lunch and dinner. In a given year, we'll see about 4,000 people," said Safehouse Outreach CEO Josh Bray.

The underemployed

The official unemployment rate might be at record lows, but Safehouse Outreach says it's seeing an increase in the number of underemployed.

Nolan English runs the outreach program.

"At least 40% of the people we serve are working, they're holding down two to three jobs, have children, they may be trying to land on someone's couch, some live in abandoned buildings, in their cars, then they come here and they go on shift, they work," he said.

Demetrius Philips and his wife, Shamika Harper, both are minimum wage workers who are homeless.

At 38 years, Philips earns just $8 hour.

"You might work today, might not tomorrow, which puts you in a bind because you're only making $40-50 maybe $60 a day. So pay for a hotel room and buy something to eat, you don't have any more money."

Across the US, people working for tips can often earn as little as $2.13 an hour and have to make up the rest in tips to meet the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

"They're not livable wages, they're little tokens they're throwing, they're crumbs from your table," English said.

The Obama administration pushed to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour in 2014, but Republicans blocked the bill despite overwhelming support for the measure.

What is absolute poverty?

More than 5 million Americans live in third world conditions also known as "absolute poverty," according to the report.

In Lowndes County, Alabama, the report found residents lacked basic sewage systems. Unable to afford a septic tank some people constructed their own homemade sewerage lines using PVC piping.

The UN study also found 19 out of 55 people tested in Alabama had hookworm. It's a disease typically found in developing countries, one that was thought to have been eradicated in the US in the 1980s.

While the issue is not new, the problem is becoming more dire under the Trump administration according to the UN.

It found Trump's policies seem "deliberately designed to remove the basic protections from the poorest, punish those who are not in employment and make even basic health care into a privilege to be earned rather than a right of citizenship."

"Contempt for the poor in US drives cruel policies," Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, told CNN.

"The Trump administration has brought in massive tax breaks for corporations and the very wealthy, while orchestrating a systematic assault on the welfare system," he said. "The strategy seems to be tailor-made to maximize inequality and to plunge millions of working Americans, and those unable to work, into penury.

Forty-six million Americans depend on food banks, which is 30% above 2007 levels, according to Feeding America.

"Even people who are working full time can't afford a decent living. They do need food stamps. They do need the sort of assistance that government can provide, but instead what we see is a constant cut back in all of those benefits by this administration," Alston said.

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Every single person in charge of law and order in this Georgia town is a black woman

(CNN)When LaDawn "LBJ" Jones walked into a meeting at work a couple of months ago, she was hit with a serious case of "black girl magic."

Everyone in the room looked like her.

"I walked into a very small conference room, and I noticed that it was all black women," Jones told CNN. "I kind of got that feeling of 'this is nice -- this is exciting.'"

South Fulton, an Atlanta suburb and one of Georgia's newest cities, has the distinction of being perhaps the first city in the nation to have its criminal justice system led entirely by black women:

• Chief Judge Tiffany Carter Sellers
• interim Police Chief Sheila Rogers
• solicitor LaDawn "LBJ" Jones
• public defender Viveca Famber Powell
• court administrator Lakesiya Cofield
• chief court clerk Ramona Howard
• court clerk Tiffany Kinslow
• court clerk Kerry Stephens

Many will hail this group as a definitive sign of progress in the tortured relationship between the justice system and black America.

But does having a judicial system led entirely by black women automatically guarantee a greater degree of justice for residents of this city of 95,000 people?

They didn't plan this

The women are quick to point out that this wasn't some kind of grand diversity experiment by South Fulton, Georgia's fifth-largest city, whose population is almost 90% black.

"This was not something that was pre-planned or prescribed," said Chief Judge Tiffany Carter Sellers. "It came together very organically."

The city of South Fulton was incorporated in May 2017, and work soon began on putting together a municipal court system. The first step was to get a judge, and Sellers was selected by a panel of Superior Court judges to serve as the city's first chief jurist.

Jones, the city solicitor, and Powell, the city's public defender, were hired by the city attorney. Interim police chief Rogers was selected by South Fulton Mayor William Edwards and the city council (5 of 7 of whom also are black women).

Then Sellers hired Cofield, the court administrator, and then they worked together to hire everyone else.

By January 2018, South Fulton's municipal court was up and running.

The women are all the first hires in those positions in the young city's history.

They were hired not because they were black women, Sellers said, but because of their experience and expertise in law enforcement and the courts -- and also, in many cases, their ties to the community. Many of them grew up in South Fulton.

They are becoming a source of pride

But the women understand that they don't look like what most people are used to seeing in the criminal justice department, and they're actually a source of pride and inspiration for many.

Powell shared a story about a man with a traffic ticket who brought his young daughter to court -- so she could see the women running it.

"He had heard about us in some kind of way, and he wanted his daughter to see this combination of black women handling business," Powell said. "He had a ticket and I wondered why he had his little girl with him. Most of the time, people do not bring school-aged children to court. He told me ... this is why he brought her."

And it's not just South Fulton residents who have taken notice of this unusual group. City officials have been hearing from people nationwide after a photograph of all eight black women -- looking regal in a courtroom -- appeared in the Atlanta Voice, an African-American community newspaper, and caught fire on social media.

Rogers, the police chief, said she's glad that black women and girls across the country are being inspired by the group.

"I've seen a lot of posts in social media, and it's quite moving and I got chills," she said. "If people can connect with what we look like, and then go beyond to understand what we do and find out they can do it too, it's very inspiring."

One person asked Jones, "Where is this place in South Fulton? I want to move there," she laughed.

That made Jones, a native of the community, excited because in some ways that's the point of all this -- to let people know about the stature of South Fulton.

"Where I grew up, black excellence is the norm. I grew up with everyone being entrepreneurs (and) all my teachers and principals or my elected officials looked like me," she said. "But I realized that the other people who do not know what this area of excellence looks like, they needed to see it, to believe it."

They understand what it's like to fear the criminal justice system

So is justice really any different in South Fulton compared to the rest of the country, where it's mostly meted out by white men?

Yes, the women say. Being both black and female means they see things a little bit differently. Being black means they have empathy for many of the defendants who end up in police custody or appear in the courtroom, and they understand the fear that the criminal justice system will be biased against them because of the color of their skin.

They also say that as women they are natural nurturers, so they care deeply about the citizens they meet and want to help them succeed in life.

"We are wives, we are mothers, we are daughters, we are sisters, and we bring those experiences with us," Sellers said.

Rogers, the interim police chief, says that being black and a woman doesn't change the way she enforces the law. But she believes her empathic point of view and nurturing tendencies do influence how she treats people, and that trickles down through her 91-person department.

"The respect is there," she said. "That same respect is what I expect of the South Fulton police department in their dealings with people (and) giving them an opportunity for a better way to live."

They administer justice a little differently

In Sellers' courtroom, all those good intentions are put into action, as South Fulton does a few things differently than other cities.

• Its municipal court has a pretrial diversion program called "Second Chance South Fulton," which looks at people's records to see if they can be diverted from the criminal justice system and instead given resources, such as counseling, to keep them out of further trouble. Sellers, who was a trial attorney for over a decade, said she's never seen a pretrial diversion program at the municipal court level as strong as the one in South Fulton.

• Under state law, defendants don't need to have an attorney present when they first go before a judge. In South Fulton, however, every defendant is given a public defender for their first appearance. "The law doesn't require that you get a lawyer for that. I think that's kind of silly," Sellers said. "I think we can do it better, so we do."

• The city places extra emphasis on educating citizens about the law. "I think that we should be educating people that if you are driving with a suspended tag, your license will be suspended for six months if you are found guilty," Sellers said. "People don't know that, but it's a reality that happens every day. I'm very big on making sure that people really understand the law, understand the consequences of bad decisions." She added, "I think it's part of the woman thing that we do, where we nurture people ... to seek a life-changing, life-altering result."

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