Posts Tagged Poverty

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Drug Tests: Weapons Against the Marginalized

Last week, Pennsylvania Democratic state representative Kevin Haggerty proposed that people filing Protection from Abuse orders should be drug tested if they lack “substantive” evidence of abuse.

Yes, that does mean he thinks abuse victims should be drug tested in order to obtain protection from the state. Yes, that is as heinous as it sounds.

Last week, Pennsylvania Democratic state representative Kevin Haggerty proposed that people filing Protection from Abuse orders should be drug tested if they lack “substantive” evidence of abuse.

Yes, that does mean he thinks abuse victims should be ...

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California is Ending One of Its Most Sexist Welfare Policies

In a huge win for anti-poverty advocates, California lawmakers are poised to get rid of the Maximum Family Grant rule (MFG), a policy passed in 1994 that coerced women into having fewer children by depriving them of the resources they needed to raise them.

In a huge win for anti-poverty advocates, California lawmakers are poised to get rid of the Maximum Family Grant rule (MFG), a policy passed in 1994 that coerced women into having fewer children by depriving them of ...

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Quick Hit: the Panama Papers are a feminist issue

The Panama Papers—millions of leaked confidential documents from a law firm in Panama—have exposed how some of the world’s most powerful people used offshore bank accounts and shell companies to hide their wealth or avoid taxes. Though financial secrecy and tax dodging may not be the typical rallying issues of feminist movements, as Chiara Capraro and Francesca Rhodes pointed out last week, they should be. 

The Panama Papers—millions of leaked confidential documents from a law firm in Panama—have exposed how some of the world’s most powerful people used offshore bank accounts and shell companies to hide their wealth or ...

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For many fathers in prison, child support becomes a crushing debt

In today’s edition of why we need prison abolition, the Marshall Project recently had an excellent (and terrifying) piece up at The Washington Post about child support policies that consider incarceration a form of “voluntary impoverishment” (…what?) Billing poor parents, mostly fathers, while they’re in prison is “like squeezing an empty bottle and hoping something comes out.” 

In today’s edition of why we need prison abolition, the Marshall Project recently had an excellent (and terrifying) piece up at The Washington Post about child support policies that consider incarceration a form of “voluntary impoverishment” (…what?) ...

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New report shows how women of color bear the costs of mass incarceration

There are a number of ways to put a price tag on the United States’s shameful mass incarceration system. On the most superficial level, $80 billion is how much it costs to keep more than 2.4 million people in our jails and prisons.

There are a number of ways to put a price tag on the United States’s shameful mass incarceration system. On the most superficial level, $80 billion is how much it costs to keep more than ...

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Fort Lauderdale is arresting people for the crime of giving food to the homeless

“One of the police officers said, ‘Drop that plate right now,’ as if I were carrying a weapon.” 

Last month, Fort Lauderdale, Florida passed a new local ordinance making it illegal to give food to the homeless in public. And now Arnold Abbott, a 90-year-old advocate and soup kitchen volunteer, and two local pastors have been arrested under the law and are facing 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. 

“One of the police officers said, ‘Drop that plate right now,’ as if I were carrying a weapon.” 

Last month, Fort Lauderdale, Florida passed a new local ordinance making it illegal to give food to the ...

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