A man running for local election in the Brazilian city of Manuas was recently arrested. Manoel Nunes de Assis, running for the National Labor Party, wore a tunic and cameo jacket and gave his name, ON THE BALLOT, as Osama bin Laden...
That's not what he was arrested for though. Apparently, candidates have the right to choose any name they want for the ballot. There was a Wonder Woman, a Rambo, and even a couple Obamas. Bad taste isn't a crime. Nor is brown face evidently. This man was arrested for electoral fraud because he was selling bottles of water in a doorway and urging people to vote for him… I don't know what to be more enraged by. The fact that this man impersonated Osama bin Laden or that he was arrested for selling water. Smdh...
Amanda Bynes, comedic child actress extraordinaire turned enigmatic tweet tyrant, is back at it again after what seemed like a hopeful stint in rehab. E reported in March that Bynes was not only looking healthy after rehab, but that she was flourishing at the Fashion Institute in L.A.
But alas, we can't even have the salvation of a childhood star. MTV reports that the downward spiral ignited by her DUI in September was only the first stop on Bynes' choo-choo train to crazy town. Bynes is reported to be engaged to a 19-year-old named Caleb who works, wait for it, in a bait shop. Which, I'd imagine, is a field with very little upward mobility. Unless she pulls a Jessica Simpson and drops a dope clothing line, I'm afraid for their marital bliss...
Bynes had this to say about starting a family when asked by In Touch Weekly, "I want boys, for sure. However many I can pop out. I don't want a gorgeous girl around. Then I [would] feel way jealous. Ew."
A machine that allows users to make "the aluminum body of an AR-15 rifle at home, with no expertise, no regulation and no serial numbers" sold out in the first 36 hours on the market, reports Wired!
My indignation on this one runs pretty high. Not only does America have the highest rate of gun ownership in the world, but a 2012 report shows that 60% of homicides are committed with guns!
Now, technically it's illegal for anyone to make their own "lower receiver" (pictured below) at home. Yet, a bill to outlaw the creation of undocumented guns in California was shot down (haha) by the governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday. Also, whether or not the creation of a homemade guns is legal, selling the equipment apparently is!
2014 is officially the year that much of American banned homelessness. The National Coalition for the Homeless reports that 33 cities in the United States have banned giving free food to homeless people. In May a couple in Florida received a $700 fine for handing out meals in Daytona Beach. The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty reports that since 2011, bans on public camping have risen 60 percent, with bans on sleeping in vehicle up 119 percent.
No matter your view on the complex issue that is homelessness in America, there's a really neat silver lining to this whole thing. It's called "Housing First," and in Salt Lake City Utah, since 2005, this program has reduced chronic homelessness (those homeless for over a year) by an incredible 72 percent! The numbers don't lie. Opposed to spending $40 million a year in 2005 on emergency room costs and beefed up police forces, spending in 2013 was down to $9.6 million while providing the homeless with housing and resources to combat drug addiction and psychological trauma.
"Brave New Films" offers a touching and informational video on the strides taken in Utah, and now, around the country
View this video on YouTube
Well that's this week's roundup. There's always a silver lining. And there's usually a celebrity careening towards self implosion. The ying and yang of 21st century life!
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