Prisons, Kid’s Gladiator Fights & Jon Stewart on the Big Bank Swindle

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THE BIG WALL STREET SWINDLE

Jon Stewart has a monologue about the bank bailout and related bits of rage-inducing foolery [posted above] and it should not be missed.

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CALIFORNIA’S PRISON POPULATION DROPS—AND SO DOES THE NATION’S

The LA Times Shane Goldmacher reports:

California’s prison population declined in 2009 for the third straight year as the number of state prisoners fell nationally for the first time in nearly four decades, according to a new survey from the Pew Center on the States.

The overall decline was relatively small, 0.4% of roughly 1.4 million state inmates in the nation, but the study’s authors said it is significant because it represents the first year-over-year drop since 1972.

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FORMER TEACHER AT LA COUNTY JUVENILE PROBATION CAMP ACCUSED OF GOADING KIDS TO GLADIATOR FIGHTS

Yet another chapter in the ever worsening news regarding LA County’s juvenile probation camps, the LA Times’ Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Richard Winton have this:

A former teacher at a Los Angeles County probation camp was arrested Tuesday on six counts of child endangerment for allegedly organizing boxing-style bouts — recorded by a security camera — between students during class, authorities said.

[SNIP]

Whitmore said Wesley can be seen and heard on the security footage organizing five bouts between rival gang members in response to an argument that began that morning between two students over gangs.

Wesley told students where and how long to fight, and instructed them to avoid blows to the face that would leave signs of injuries, Whitmore said.

According to a probation official who has seen the tape, Wesley stood inside the classroom door as students — who apparently told him that the security camera was broken — cheered on shirtless fighters. Wesley appeared to be on the lookout for passing probation staff or fellow teachers and can be heard urging the students not to tell anyone about the fights, according to the source.

As I read this, I thought of the tales told to me a month or so ago by a young man who had recently returned from camp and juvenile hall. He told me that guards would open the door to one kid’s cell so that other kids could come in and beat up the kid in the cell. That he’d not only seen it, he’d been part of it.

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