Society's Child
In 1846, Michigan introduced the first correctional fee law authorizing counties to charge prisoners for the cost of medical care. According to a report released earlier this year from the Brennan Center for Justice, at least 35 states are currently authorized to charge inmates for medical treatment. And at least 43 states allow officials to charge prisoners for the cost of their own imprisonment.
While incarcerated on a drug conviction, Johnny Melton received a $31,690 settlement over the wrongful death of his mother. After learning of the settlement, the Illinois Department of Corrections sued Melton and won nearly $20,000 to cover the cost of his "care, custody, treatment or rehabilitation" during his 14 months served at the state's Logan Correctional Center.
The comments come as new niches for food suppliers emerged in the Russian market after earlier in the day the Russian government banned the import of a range of fruit and vegetables as well as chicken and chicken products from Turkey, effective from January 1, 2016.
"We've always wanted to increase our trade, it is not a short-term aim and is not dependent on the political situation at the moment," Ruben Beltran said.
Beltran added that Mexico expects Russia's agricultural watchdog to clear the way for its agricultural products.
Comment: Nice move Mexico!
Surrounded by officers and suspected of breaking into cars on October 20, 2014, Laquan McDonald, 17, was attempting to walk away from a group of Chicago cops when Officer Jason Van Dyke exited his patrol car. According to initial reports, McDonald was armed with a knife and lunged at Officer Van Dyke. Fearing for his life and the lives of his fellow officers, Van Dyke shot the teen in the chest out of self-defense.
But according to witness statements and police dashcam video, McDonald was walking away when Van Dyke opened fire. After McDonald had collapsed to the ground in a near-fetal position, Van Dyke continued firing his weapon until emptying his clip. As Van Dyke began reloading his gun, a fellow officer had to order him to cease firing at the dying teen.
Comment: From the video above it's clear that Laquan McDonald was walking away from Van Dyke and posed no threat at the time. So with no real threat, Van Dyke still empties his entire clip into McDonald, killing him. And then Van Dyke and his fellow officers try to cover up the murder. These acts of carnage have now become standard operating procedure for US cops.
Citizens of the 38 nations participating in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) will now be screened for past travel to countries the US considers terrorist safe havens, the White House has said.
The US government will also move up the deadline for all VWP travelers to begin using passports with embedded security chips and seek to establish customs checkpoints in seven VWP countries, where passengers and their baggage could be inspected before entering the US.
Comment: Who Is Rob Malley?
Malley was appointed in October 1998 by then-President Bill Clinton to help oversee Arab-Israeli talks. He was later attacked by some pro-Israel critics for saying that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was not solely to blame for the failure of the 2000 Camp David talks hosted by Clinton.
Before returning to the White House to work with the Obama administration, Malley directed the Middle East Program at the International Crisis Group in New York between 2001 and 2014. He was criticized while at the think tank for meeting multiple times with Hamas officials.
Earlier this month, Malley conceded that the administration would not work toward a Palestine-Israel settlement during the remainder of Obama's term. He said that for the first time in two decades, an American administration "faces the reality" that a solution to the intractable conflict "is not in the cards."
A loud explosion has been heard at a major train station in Istanbul, according to local reports.
The blast was reported at Bayrampaşa metro station, which has suspended all trains.
Turkish station Haberturk repored one person was killed and speculated the explosion may have been caused by a power transformer.
Comment: Reports indicate more than one explosion heard. No reasons have been forthcoming as yet.
Express Scripts (ESRX), a major manager of prescription drugs, announced Tuesday that it will offer patients the low-cost Imprimis drug, instead of Daraprim, starting as soon as this week.
Comment: A happy ending to the insatiable greed of Valeant - the company that hiked the price of this drug by 5000%.
Joanne Snow is charged with interference with flight crew members and attendants, and assault on an officer or employee of the United States, according to court documents related to the case. Snow's erratic behavior disrupted both legs of American flight 704 from Charlotte to Frankfurt, Germany, on Nov. 23 and 24, according to a federal affidavit.
According to the affidavit by federal Air Marshal Joseph D. Fialka, who was assigned to the round trip, Snow slapped other flight attendants and shoved, punched or kicked at marshals. Fialka says that other flight attendants told him before takeoff from Charlotte that they had tried to have Snow removed from duty but that American did not replace her. American spokeswoman Katie Cody released this statement midday Monday:
"We are aware of the incident, along with the subsequent criminal complaint, and take this matter very seriously. We are cooperating fully with federal law enforcement in their investigation, and are working directly with our employees. The safety and security of our customers and employees is always the top priority."
In his affidavit, Fialka said Snow confessed to him several times before takeoff that she was "crazy" or a "train wreck." Once the doors closed, another attendant told Fialka that Snow had slapped her in the middle galley of the airport. Some 45 minutes later, Fialka says, Snow shoved him several times. "She was quite irrational at this time," the marshal said in his affidavit. "She proceeded to the back of the plane, I learned that, while in the back of the plane, she grabbed the collar of the clothing (of another marshal) ... and spoke nonsensical things."

Luis Lorenzo Vargas breaks down in court as he is exonerated for three sexual assaults that he was convicted of and spent 16 years in jail.
The Los Angeles Times reported that DNA testing in 2014 on evidence from one of the attacks excluded the 46-year-old as a suspect and instead led to an unidentified serial rapist nicknamed the "teardrop rapist". Lawyers for the California Innocence Project at the California Western School of Law in San Diego reported in court documents that prosecutors argued that the same suspect must have committed all attacks Vargas was accused of.
"The evidence now shows the prosecution's case against him was demonstrably false," the attorneys wrote, adding it "points unerringly to Vargas's innocence." According to the Times, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office joined the innocence project in asking Superior Court Judge William C Ryan to release Vargas since it "no longer has confidence in the convictions."
Vargas received the support of his daughter and his mother, who cried as the judge tossed out his case. "It's a relief because I believed that my father was innocent the day he told me he was innocent," daughter Crystal Vargas said outside the courthouse. Despite being ordered to be released, Vargas will be placed in federal custody due to an immigration hold, authorities said. He also previously served time for forcibly raping a girlfriend, the Times noted.
Comment: He lost 16 years of his life in prison due to a broken, ponerized, dead-end U.S. legal system.
- Florida inmate still on death row despite DNA proof of innocence
- The American Nightmare: The tyranny of the criminal justice system
Allen Scarsella, 23, who prosecutors said in a complaint had admitted to shooting five protesters, was charged with one count of second-degree riot while armed and five counts of second-degree assault. Joseph Backman, 27; Nathan Gustavsson, 21; and Daniel Macey, 26, were each charged with second-degree riot in the Nov. 23 late night shooting that left five demonstrators with wounds that were not life-threatening.
All four men had been in custody since last week in the shooting near the protest camp that sprung up after the fatal shooting by police of Jamar Clark, 24, two weeks ago. Hennepin County jail records indicate that Scarsella's bail has been set at $500,000 and the others at $250,000 each. All are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon.
Scarsella, Gustavsson and Backman are white, while Macey is Asian, police said.
The criminal complaint said Scarsella told a friend who is a police officer in another jurisdiction that he had gotten into an altercation and shot protesters.
(Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
OUR Walmart, a group of employees backed and funded by a union, was asking for more full-time jobs with higher wages and predictable schedules. Officially they called themselves the Organization United for Respect at Walmart. Walmart publicly dismissed OUR Walmart as the insignificant creation of the United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW) union. "This is just another union publicity stunt, and the numbers they are talking about are grossly exaggerated," David Tovar, a spokesman, said on CBS Evening News that November.
Internally, however, Walmart considered the group enough of a threat that it hired an intelligence-gathering service from Lockheed Martin, contacted the FBI, staffed up its labor hotline, ranked stores by labor activity, and kept eyes on employees (and activists) prominent in the group. During that time, about 100 workers were actively involved in recruiting for OUR Walmart, but employees (or associates, as they're called at Walmart) across the company were watched; the briefest conversations were reported to the "home office," as Walmart calls its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.
Comment: There is hardly a noticeable difference between government and corporate clampdowns on legitimate dissent.














Comment: 'Pay to stay': U.S. inmates charged per night to stay in jail