The Cafe' [Think Tank]

New leaders emerge out of Ferguson protests in Baltimore - 4:53 p.m. EST ,  November 26, 2014 "We been peaceful all day, and now everybody want to show your a**," Joseph Kent, a 21-year-old student from Morgan State University, said from the center of the crowd near the end of Tuesday's protests over the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri. "We're not here for that." He was responding to an altercation that had occurred a few moments earlier, after the group, which was a mixture of people such as Kent who had marched downtown from Morgan State University earlier in the day, and those who had come from a later protest organized by the Baltimore Bloc, exited the ramp from I-83, which they had been blocking, onto President Street. A car gunned the gas briefly, looking as if it was going to accelerate and hit some of the protesters who were blocking the road. Immediately, a large group began yelling and shouting. But when one man ran ove...

(Photo: Screengrab from CNN)  3109 CONNECT  293 TWEET  2 LINKEDIN  111 COMMENT EMAIL MORE Updated April 30 at 10:40 a.m. Prominent Baltimore activist Joseph Kent who was arrested Tuesday night on live TV was released Thursday morning, according to a tweet from his attorney Steve Beatty. The Big Acquittal   @BeattyLaw # JosephKent IS A FREE MAN! MORE TO FOLLOW! 9:56 AM - 30 Apr 2015       451 451 Retweets     326 326 favorites Kent's arrest,  broadcast on CNN , showed him walking with his hands up in front of a police line after the city's 10 p.m. curfew. He was quickly surrounded by members of the National Guard before being pushed into an armored car. deray mckesson   @deray Where is # JosephKent ? We saw them take him. And I'm sure the Baltimore Police have no answers, like usual. # BaltimoreUprising 6:03 AM - 29 Apr 2015       679 679 Retweets ...

'We cannot balance the budget on the backs of poor people,' said Rep. Jim McGovern A woman pays for her groceries with a food stamp card. (Photo:  Bread for the World /flickr/cc) House Republicans are reportedly renewing efforts to cut the federal food stamp program, increasing restrictions on benefits and who may qualify for them. House Agriculture Committee chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) will introduce the effort at the committee's February 25 meeting, the first of several hearings scheduled this year to debate the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which administers food stamps. Conaway  told  the  Wall Street Journal  on Thursday that implementing changes may take months, but reports suggest that Republicans will aim to slash funding for the program and tighten eligibility requirements. Currently, a family of four making less than $2,584 a month may qualify for the SNAP program. However, food stamp rules are alrea...

Camilla Lewis and her son, Jamarri, did not receive food stamp payments for three months. (Photo: Gerry Smith/Huffington Post) WAKE FOREST, N.C.  -- Janette Simon has four chicken legs and five kids to feed. Her freezer is bare. And her latest trip to the food pantry yielded little else for dinner this night: a bag of day-old croissants, a box of Corn Flakes, and some canned goods. She slathers barbecue sauce on the chicken, slides the pan in the oven, and begins her nightly ritual of distracting her five children from hunger. The 44-year-old single mother often skips dinner herself. She hides Ramen noodle packets in her closet to ration food. She tells her two youngest kids to play outside “so they ain’t thinking about eating.” “That’s what I have to worry about,” she says. “I gotta look at these kids with their sad faces and no food.” On the 13th of every month, she has counted on seeing a $600 payment on her food-stamp debit card. But now, that payment is a mont...