ms betancourt

walkamongstthestars:

sherlocked-inside-the-tardis:

mrpondismypatronus:

deduce-me-e:

gomenne:

girlthrualookingglass:

Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.

But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.

He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

“He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,’” Diaz says.

As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”

The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, “like what’s going on here?” Diaz says. “He asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?’”

Diaz replied: “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me … hey, you’re more than welcome.

“You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help,” Diaz says.

Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.

“The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi,” Diaz says. “The kid was like, ‘You know everybody here. Do you own this place?’”

“No, I just eat here a lot,” Diaz says he told the teen. “He says, ‘But you’re even nice to the dishwasher.’”

Diaz replied, “Well, haven’t you been taught you should be nice to everybody?”

“Yea, but I didn’t think people actually behaved that way,” the teen said.

Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. “He just had almost a sad face,” Diaz says.

The teen couldn’t answer Diaz — or he didn’t want to.

When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, “Look, I guess you’re going to have to pay for this bill ‘cause you have my money and I can’t pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I’ll gladly treat you.”

The teen “didn’t even think about it” and returned the wallet, Diaz says. “I gave him $20 … I figure maybe it’ll help him. I don’t know.”

Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen’s knife — “and he gave it to me.”

Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, “You’re the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch.”

“I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It’s as simple as it gets in this complicated world.”

FAITH IN HUMANITY RESTORED

ALL THE SLOW CLAPS GO TO YOU

My god, a social worker who hasn’t lost their way in it all. Bless.

(via size10plz)

amprog:

Where does corruption live? Check out which parts of the United States have the most corruption convictions per 10,000 people.

(Source: theatlanticcities.com)

(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)

(via risaellen)

the-womanifesto:

Women in the U.S. who give birth while they are imprisoned do so chained to their hospital beds. Can you imagine giving birth while shackled down? We need legislation to change this within each state.

Yesterday, we saw another important step in this long march to a more fair and humane criminal justice system for pregnant woman and girls. A federal court issued preliminarily approval of a settlement of $4.1 million dollars to women held in the Cook County Jail in Chicago, Illinois who alleged that they were shackled while in labor, despite constitutional protections and a state law that prevented such practices.

The trend in the federal courts and the court of public opinion is clear: it is no longer acceptable to shackle pregnant prisoners during childbirth. Many states have already moved to ban this routine practice and many more are poised to follow suit. Our challenge now is to ensure that these state laws are implemented, and that corrections officials and officers and medical personnel are trained to uphold them. As we saw in Chicago, a law was on the books for over a decade but Cook County Jail still persisted in shackling pregnant women and placing mothers and babies at risk. The county is now paying the price for violating the law. States and local governments around the country should take notice: follow the law now and end the dangerous and inhumane practice of shackling pregnant women during childbirth.   

this is outrageous.

(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)

i love john green so much.

(Source: weasleycansaveanything, via size10plz)

nessfraserloves:

mothernaturenetwork:

As we pave over farmland and use it for other purposes, farmers today must produce more food with less land. The answer to the problem, according to a company called Valcent, is to build our croplands like skyscrapers: straight up. Valcent has pioneered a hydroponic farming system that grows plants in rotating rows, one on top of another. Not only does the rotation allow for the precise amount of light to hit each of the plants, it also uses far less water than conventional farming methods.
11 clean-tech innovations that can change the world

This is some District 13 shit.

awesome idea! invest in valcent.

emily-le-strange:

systemofadowny:

Everything about this photo is great 

Forever reblog.

(Source: m0rtality, via size10plz)

democracylookslike:

Thousands of Indians oppose Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). Here dozens of women lie on the railroad tracks to oppose movement of any materials in and out of the dangerous plant.

(via fuckyeahfeminists)

Children Activity & Learning Centre, Thailand, by 24H

This is not for children this is for me.

SO AWESOME

(Source: kateoplis, via risaellen)