Society's ChildS


Brick Wall

Florida inmate still on death row despite DNA proof of innocence

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© ReutersPaul Hildwin is pictured in this undated handout photo courtesy of Florida Department of Corrections
Years of legal wrangling over conclusive DNA evidence proving his innocence led the Florida Supreme Court to overturn Paul Hildwin's murder conviction and death sentence two weeks ago. Yet Hildwin remains on death row.

Twenty-eight years after his conviction for a 1985 murder, Hildwin, 54, must wait - possibly for several months - for state prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case or drop the charges.

Two weeks ago, in a 5-2 ruling, the majority of the Florida Supreme Court said that "we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that a significant pillar of the state's case, as presented to the jury, has collapsed."

Hildwin's case shows how a severe court backlog and legal maneuvering by state prosecutors can delay justice in the face of strong DNA evidence. Moreover, the case adds to the list of around two dozen death row inmates in Florida who have been found innocent - more than any other state. Hildman's is the second death row case in a month overturned by the Florida Supreme Court.

Handcuffs

Free Speech Muzzled: Woman in French Guiana sentenced to 9 months in jail for comparing French Justice Minister to a monkey

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© Screenshot from Anne-Sophie Leclere facebook account
An ex- candidate of France's Front National will spend nine months behind the bars after she posted a photo on Facebook comparing the country's Justice Minister to a monkey. The sentence exceeded the prosecutor's request for a four-month jail term.

The court in the French overseas city of Cayenne, capital of French Guiana, gave the author of the post Anne-Sophie Leclere a nine month prison sentence and a €5,000 fine.

The former candidate didn't appeared in the court, and later said she would appeal the verdict.

The right-wing National Front was also fined €30,000 as Leclere was the party candidate in this year's local elections in the region of Ardennes, northern France. However, she was excluded by the organization in December 2013 after the incident.

Airplane

Flashback Ukraine admits missile may have downed Russian plane in 2001

A Ukrainian official today admitted that his country's military may have mistakenly shot down a Russian commercial airliner over the Black sea last week, killing all 78 people on board.

The announcement by Yevhen Marchuk, the head of the Ukrainian security council and a member of the commission investigating the tragedy, marks the first time that the country has conceded it may be responsible.

"The reason for the crash could be an unintentional hit by an S-200 missile during the Ukrainian air defence exercises," Mr Marchuk told a press conference today, adding that investigators would make their final conclusions after further, complex research.

The Russian chief of the investigative commission, Vladimir Rushailo, said today that the aircraft had been hit by an anti-aircraft missile, the Interfax news agency reported.

Mr Rushailo said: "The Tu-154 flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk crashed because it was hit by the warhead of an anti-aircraft missile." He added that investigators were continuing to examine fragments of the downed plane.

Airplane

Passengers suffer serious injuries as Johannesburg-Hong Kong flight encounters severe turbulence over Kuala Lumpur

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Passengers were hurled off their seats, some suffering serious injuries, when an SAA flight from South Africa to Hong Kong experienced severe turbulence over Kuala Lumpur early on Wednesday.

It felt like the plane was in free-fall. The pilot had just turned on the "fasten seatbelts" lights, but before he could make the announcement of the upcoming turbulence everyone on the plane was thrust into the air.

Of the 20 hurt, 17 were passengers. The rest were crew members, SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali said.

"Two were seriously injured. The other 18 experienced minor injuries," he said. "The flight crew immediately requested medical assistance for the passengers, which was ready on arrival of the aircraft in Hong Kong," said Tlali.

Airplane

Malaysian Boeing 777 carrying 295 crashes in eastern Ukraine

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© Reuters
A Boeing 777 Malaysian airlines crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border, Interfax is reporting, citing "a source in the aviation circles."

"Boeing Malaysian airlines operate flights to Amsterdam - Kuala Lumpur for 50 miles before entering the airspace of Russia, began to decline, he was subsequently found burning on the ground in Ukraine," the source said, adding that 280 passengers and 15 crew members were onboard.

Reuters picked up the news first.
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© Reuters
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© Twitter/RT_com
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© Twitter/RT_com

Crusader

Delusional Christian governor tells Iowans to 'repent' in official proclamation for revival at Capitol

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© Rawstory
An official proclamation signed by Gov. Terry Branstad (R-IA) has called on Iowans to pray and repent on a daily basis.

In a public ceremony earlier this year, Branstad signed the proclamation ahead of a July 14 revival at the Iowa Capitol:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Terry E Branstad, as Governor of the State of Iowa, do hereby invite all Iowans who choose to join in the thoughtful prayer and humble repentance according to II Chronicles 7:14 in favor of our state and nation to come together on July 14, 2014.
On Tuesday, Branstad was also one of the speakers at the 11-hour Christian event.

The governor explained that his proclamation "was very much in line with the great tradition" that started with President George Washington.

Comment: Christianity, as it is promulgated today, is a complete fraud. Check out our SOTT Talk Radio shows here and here. See also:
  • Jesus Was Caesar: On the Julian Origin of Christianity: An Investigative Report
  • As important as the scientific discoveries of Darwin and Galileo': Linguist Francesco Carotta proves real identity of 'Jesus Christ' to be Julius Caesar
  • The Gospel of Caesar: Documentary reveals true origins of the 'Passion of Christ'



No Entry

Anti-immigration group carrying firearms protests plan to house Central Americans in Michigan

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More than 50 people carrying firearms and anti-government flags protested a proposal to temporarily house Central American children and teenagers in Vassar, Michigan.

The group, organized by anti-immigration activist Tamyra Murray, carried AR-15 rifles, handguns, Gadsden "Don't Tread On Me" flags, and a "Second American Revolution" flag - which combines the Betsy Ross design with the Roman numeral II within a circle of 13 stars.

They marched from Vassar City Hall to Wolverine Human Services' Pioneer Work and Learn Center, where 12- to 17-year-old boys from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala could be housed until their immigration cases could be heard, reported The Saginaw News.

"We're not against kids," Murray said. "We have sympathy for the kids being used and exploited by the feds."

The recent influx of children and teens from Central America across the U.S. border has sparked hysteria among some Americans - like Murray - who fear the immigrants may be carrying diseases or drugs.

Footprints

Owner behind neo-Nazi website flees to Canada to avoid FBI warrant

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© Shutterstock
The California owner of an anti-Semitic website registered in the United States, but written in Hungary, fled to Canada after the Federal Bureau of Investigations issued a warrant for his arrest this week.

Béla Varga, owner of the kuruc.info domain, is charged with having threatened the life of lawyers who subpoenaed him regarding the hate site. The name of the domain, "kuruc," has nativist roots, referring to a patriotic nationalist Hungarian movement that opposed the foreign reign of the Hapsburg Dynasty. Its English-language "About Us" page describes it as "a patriotic Hungarian conservative, right-wing nationalist, fact-finding news site."

Varga allegedly worked at Claar Cellars, "a medium-size Premium winery in the Columbia Valley, as well as Chateau Soverain. According to Patch.com, "Varga said he came to the U.S. in 1988, picking Healdsburg as home because he wanted to establish himself as a winemaker." However, the exact nature of his employment - as well the degree that qualified him to work at these wineries - has recently come into question.

Quenelle - Golden

Meet the Night Wolves, Russian biker gang Putin calls his brothers

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Alexander 'The Surgeon'
Meet the Russian Hell's Angels who have Putin's back...

There haven't been too many times in my life when I can say without much fear of contradiction that I am the envy of the Vladimir Putin.

But sitting on the back of a colossal motorbike as the engine revs and roars I reckon the President of Russia would for a moment swap places with me.

I am riding with the gang of hairy bikers Putin call his brothers and who have become outriders for his fiercely patriotic vision of a nation made great again.

They're known as the Night Wolves, and as evening falls I have been invited to their lair - a dark and forbidding place on the outskirts of Moscow where the bikes are loud and the Russian heavy metal music louder still.

I am for a rare meeting with the leader of the pack. Alexander Zaldostanov does not disappoint. He is a leather clad mountain of a man who in the fading light resembles a latter day tattooed Rasputin lookalike of the road.


Airplane Paper

Yet again: Self-defense fighters downed two Ukrainian strike aircraft

SU-25 aircraft
© RIA Novosti
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic downed two Sukhoi Su-25 assault aircraft belonging to the Two Ukrainian Air Force, which were attacking the positions of the region's self-defense fighters, Interfax cites Donbas militia's information center as saying.

"One of the aircraft was shot from a portable air defense system near Horlivka. It flew into clouds of smoke in the direction of Myrhorod airdrome. The situation with the second one is being clarified," the militia stated.

Other sources have not confirmed the fact as of yet.

In the last five days starting with July 12 self-defense forces have shot down four Su-25 aircraft and one Antonov An-26 military transport plane, according to reports of the Donbas militia, .

The Ukrainian army, however, confirmed only one instance involving an Su-25 shot down on July 12.