Mississippi Tops List of 21 US States Where Low-Income Students Prevail

______________________________

A report released by the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) revealed that Mississippi is the leading American state in the number of poverty-stricken children attending public schools. The SEF said in its January 2015 research bulletin, “Thirteen of the 21 states with a majority of low-income students in 2013 were located in the South, and six of the other 8 states were in the West. Mississippi led the nation with the highest rate, 71 percent, almost three out of every four public school children in Mississippi, were low-income. … For the first time in recent history, the majority of schoolchildren attending public schools in the USA come from low-income families. … The latest data collected from the states by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), evidence that 51 percent of the students across the nation’s public schools were low income in 2013”. The research was based on children’s eligibility for free or reduced-price lunches in American public schools. According to the authors of the study, poverty rates among American schoolchildren increased since 1989. In 2013, the official poverty rate in the USA was 14.5 percent, according to the US Census Bureau. Over 45 million people in the United States were living at or below the poverty line for the third consecutive year in 2013.

18 January 2015

Sputnik International

http://sputniknews.com/us/20150118/1017035705.html

Editor:

Does it surprise you that rightwing Republican racists misrule the state of Mississippi? In the American South, racists label segregationist academies “Christian Schools”… they receive all sorts of aid from state sources. They also purvey the worst sort of Know Nothing rubbish… like Young Earth Creationism. These sectarian madrassas instil a mixture of Love It or Leave It xenophobia, radical sectarianism (they’re NOT Christian in the least), and junk “science”… Ted Cruz went to such a “school”… it shows, doesn’t it?

Russian Orthodox people… the konvertsy pal about with sectarian trash… shitbirds of a feather do flock together. This is proof, even for the slow learners, that the konvertsy aren’t of us nor really with us… God willing, they’ll leave soon enough… the Alaska abuse case shows us what they’re made of, sadly enough.

BMD

Advertisement

Drugs and Weapons Supplied to Euromaidantsy from Foreign Sources

The Berkutovtsy were heroes… fighting far-right neofascist fanatics bankrolled by the USA and by diaspora Galicians… evil is evil, and calling yourself “Christian” doesn’t cancel it.

______________________________

On Friday, former Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs V Yu Zakharchenko told reporters in Sevastopol that outside parties smuggled weapons and drugs to the Euromaidantsy protestors in the autumn and winter of 2013-14, saying, “Firstly they issued appeals to bring arms from home. Secondly, intelligence came that foreign weapons started flowing to the Maidan… short-barrelled, automatic, and handguns. Thirdly, large-scale theft at police stations and warehouses in the Western Ukraine began, triggering appeals from the stage [on Maidan] to open fire”. The MVDU began to analyse reports, but failed to document facts and institute cases. Zakharchenko said, “Arms supplies went through Moldova and the Black Sea. We knew the individuals who were delivering them and handing out, but we couldn’t arrest them, as they didn’t sell the handguns openly like cookies. On the Maidan, the police kept their actions restrained and there were cases when officers were held captive there and tortured”. Zakharchenko said that amphetamine-class drugs flooded the Ukrainian capital then, with channels originating in European countries as a rule, the traffickers had ties to the healthcare sphere and private security companies. Zakharchenko said, “Everyone who hurled Molotov Cocktails at police officers realised that it was a punishable offence. They gave these young people ‘courage pills’, a super-potent substance, and Molotov Cocktails. After hurling it, they told them that 15-year prison terms now loomed over them and that they were bound by blood now”.

16 January 2015

ITAR-TASS

http://itar-tass.com/en/world/771683

Editor:

The USA and the Galician diaspora bankrolled and equipped the Euromaidantsy terrorists. The USA does NOT stand against terrorism… ask Iranians, Cubans, Salvadorans, Russians, Nicaraguans, Serbs, Chileans, and Chinese about that. Ted Cruz and John McCain are two of the biggest supporters of “Ukrainian” neofascist terrorism… it tells you much about their rhetoric about “terrorism”… it’s nothing but an apologia for internal repression and theft by the Affluent Effluent. Read n’ heed, I’d say…

BMD

KAMAZ Master Team WHOMPS Competition at Dakar Rally… Again… Did You Really Expect a DIfferent Outcome?

______________________________

KAMAZ Master team driver Ayrat Mardeyev ended up winning the 2015 Dakar Rally in the truck category, whilst teammates Eduard Nikolayev and Andrei Karginov claimed second and third places. The victory became the first for Mardeyev at Dakar and the 13th for the KAMAZ Master.

BMD

ITAR-TASS

http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/771733

Alaska: Starring

******

******

______________________________

Last week’s Russian Christmas in Unalaska looked a little different from elsewhere in the state. Over the years, the town evolved from a Native village into an industrial hub. Now, it has miles of roads and thousands of residents from countless different faiths. Therefore, the little congregation of the oldest Russian Orthodox Church on the continent has had to evolve, too. KUCB’s Annie Ropeik has more on how their Slaaviq became a community celebration. In Unalaska’s historic downtown, Christmastime means almost every building is strung with lights… all but the Orthodox Church, which sits at the back of the neighbourhood. Its green onion domes date back 200 years, standing out in a skyline of cargo cranes and seafood plants. Outside the church, you wouldn’t know it’s Christmas… until early January, when a rare sound rings out across the island. In the sanctuary, about 15 worshippers sing a set of Russian and English carols. They’re grouped around a pair of spinning wooden stars, each a few feet across and strung with lights, bells, and tinsel. This starring ceremony will repeat dozens of times in the next few nights, in kitchens and living rooms across town.

However, the biggest, newest, part of the holiday came earlier in the day. At least 100 people packed into the local senior centre for a community Slaaviq potluck. The meal only dates back about 15 years, designed to give the elders a starring in the daytime. Fr Evon Bereskin, the Orthodox priest for Unalaska and several nearby villages, said, “The meaning of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, the starring, is that we’re going out to proclaim the birth of Christ. The stars that we’re spinning are the stars which the wise men followed. So, we’re spinning and singing and following the star, which leads us to Christ”. From here, Fr Evon said that they’d spend three days starring in people’s homes. These days, that can include long-time Unalaskans who aren’t actually part of the congregation. However, the list for the second night is all churchgoers. The group that will bring the star to them is bigger than the one at the church. They meet at Fr Evon’s apartment for coffee and brownies, then, try to figure out who’s next… and spread the word via text message. Lifelong Unalaskan Sharon Svarny Livingston is one of the starring group. She said that this part has changed a lot since she was little, when the town looked more like the villages that celebrate Slaaviq in the rest of Alaska. She told us, “In all those other places, you walk with the star all over the whole town, you know? So, that creates a different feeling. Here you gotta drive. If you’re working and you don’t get off until late, you’ve gotta try to find the star, which can be really difficult sometimes. It’s easier now with cell phones”.

The congregation’s also had to condense some over the years. With many parents now raising their kids to celebrate two Christmases… American and Russian… Livingston says that they’ve had to work harder to pass on the traditions, saying, “We kind of went through a period where we really had to teach the young kids the songs and stuff. We all started to go in one group and we just kind of stayed that way. That’s what’s really changed”. The single star they’re using now is thought to be their oldest… made about a century ago in the Native village of Kashega, abandoned during World War II. Tonight, that star… as big as a small child… gets a ride in one of the SUVs caravanning up the road to the first houses on the list. Then, it crowds into Vicki Williams’ living room with its entourage of carollers singing in Russian. The starring always ends the same way… with a blessing of long life. The choir sang, “Many years to all, many years to all, to the people in this house. (In Russian and English) Merry Christmas, merry Christmas!” Williams replied, “Thank you!” Williams wears a big smile, standing in the middle of the crowd and thanking all her friends for coming as they file out, saying, “I feel like I’m having my house blessed when they come here, you know, with the cross and the star and stuff”. She bid a “see you later” to a pair of young fishermen on their way out the door. Around her, the room emptied out as quickly as it filled. The starring group is heading back to their cars. They have lots more houses to get to before the night is over.

16 January 2015

Annie Ropeik

KUCB (Unalaska AK USA)

AK Alaska Public Media

http://www.alaskapublic.org/2015/01/16/ak-starring/