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Lawsuit reveals never-before-seen pictures of dead animals from 'Luck' and 'The Hobbit': HBO and American Humane Association in hot seat

Animal Cruelty_1
© PETAA horse appears malnourished on the set of HBO’s horse racing drama Luck.
HBO and the American Humane Association (AHA) wanted to keep animal injuries and deaths on the set of the show Luck and other productions quiet, but one former AHA staffer is blowing their cover - and saying that animal injuries and deaths on sets happen too frequently. And allegedly, she has the grisly photos to prove it.

Barbara Casey is a former AHA employee who worked on the set of HBO's now-canceled horseracing drama, Luck. According to the wrongful termination lawsuit that she has filed, Casey was terminated after she balked at her employer's instructions to ignore animal safety standards in order to save time and money.

Casey is suing the AHA, HBO, and the show's production company, Stewart Productions, alleging that they all willfully allowed horses to be abused and attempted to cover it up. HBO tried to get itself released from the lawsuit, but it was about as lucky as the horses on set. Casey's lawsuit states that the companies' negligence led to the deaths of four horses - one more than previously reported.

Pistol

Florida mother fatally shoots 1-year-old daughter and then herself

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© Shutterstock
Police in Florida are investigating a Sunday shooting that left a 35-year-old woman and her 1-year-old daughter dead.

The Herald-Tribune reported that Sarasota police responded to a 911 call at around 9:45 a.m. on Sunday morning and discovered that 35-year-old Sarah Harnish had died of a gunshot wound. The woman's 17-month-old daughter, Josephine Boice, later died at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

Police said that the child's father had gone for a ride on his scooter and returned to the sound of gunfire. Detectives concluded that the mother shot the child and then herself.

Green Light

Father who beat daughter's rapist, Jesus Flores, to death won't face charges

Texas Justice
© n/a
The 23-year-old man who beat his daughter's rapist to death near the rural town of Shriner, Texas, will not be prosecuted for the incident. A grand jury in Lavaca County decided against pressing charges on the father, who killed Jesus Mora Flores, 47, when he caught him molesting the 5-year-old in a secluded shack on the family farm in June.

Said District Attorney Heather McMinn shortly after the incident, "Under the law in the state of Texas, deadly force is authorized and justified in order to stop an aggravated sexual assault or sexual assault."

Before the attack, the girl and her brother went out to the feed the chickens. When Flores, a farmhand, picked up the girl and carried her to an out-of-the-way area, her brother ran back to tell his father what was happening. Once the man heard the news, he rushed toward the shack, reportedly guided by his daughter's screams.

Cupcake Pink

Getting worked up on the unimportant issues: Threats force closure of Oregon bakery for refusing to make gay wedding cake

cakes
© n/a
The owners of an Oregon bakery are shutting down amid threats from the public after they refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple in January.

Aaron and Melissa Klein are shutting down Sweet Cakes by Melissa after receiving angry emails and phone calls.

"You stupid bible-thumping, hypocritical b**ch. I hope your kids get really, really, sick and you go out of business," read one email the couple received.

"Here's hoping you go out of business, you bigot. Enjoy hell," said another.

The Kleins said wedding planners and venues were badgered and harassed until they dropped their bakery from their vendor's list.

Comment: Meanwhile the world burns.

It's not unique to the U.S. though. On the day a 'leftist' French government announced (in January this year) that it was invading Mali to prop up its client regime against the local popular uprising and secure access to natural resources on behalf of its corporate clients (a military excursion that eventually saw French troops land in 4 African countries), hundreds of thousands of French men and women took to the streets of Paris... to protest gay marriage.

What happened to the student protest movements of old?

Where are the cries for liberté, égalité, fraternité?

Instead France has apparently gone into complete submission with hardly a word spoken in public about anything of worth anymore.


Cell Phone

'Walkie-Talkie' skyscraper melts Jaguar car parts

Walkie Talkie
© BBC NewsThe BBC's Andrew Verity surveys the damage caused by the skyscraper.
A new London skyscraper dubbed the "Walkie-Talkie" has been blamed for reflecting light which melted parts of a car parked on a nearby street.

Martin Lindsay parked his Jaguar on Eastcheap, in the City of London, on Thursday afternoon.

When he returned about two hours later, he found parts of his car - including the wing mirror and badge - had melted.

Mr Lindsay said he "could not believe" the damage. The developers have apologised and paid for repairs.

The 37-storey skyscraper at 20 Fenchurch Street, which has been nicknamed the "Walkie-Talkie" because of its shape, is currently under construction.

Eye 2

Big snake found near Scarborough school, Toronto

Police believe the snake may be someone's pet that got loose

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© TORONTO POLICE A Toronto police officer with the metre-long snakediscovered slithering Tuesday near Port Royal Public School in the Midland Ave. and Steeles Ave. E. area.
A roughly metre-long snake was discovered slithering Tuesday near Port Royal Public School in the Midland Ave. and Steeles Ave. E. area.

Toronto Police officer Stephane St. George tweeted a picture of the spotted snake at around 6 a.m.

"Pets are a responsibility. Prevent lost or escaped pets and contact the right agencies for unwanted pets," he wrote on Twitter.

Police said they believe the snake is not native to the area, is nonvenomous and that it may be someone's pet that got loose. They said they "very rarely" deal with these types of calls.

Toronto Animal Services was called in to remove the creature.

Handcuffs

Irondequoit, NY Police Officer caught on video threatening 15-year old skateboarder

"My suggestion to you is don't get in my way, shut your mouth, and go that way... you're on my sidewalk!"


Like many teenagers, 15-year old Irondequoit, NY resident Drake, whose last name I have decided not to publish, since he is a minor, and has not been charged with any crime, loves skateboarding with his friends.

Unfortunately, Drake says, when it comes to skateboarding, Irondequoit, NY Police officers don't share his passion.

Take, for example an incident which occurred a couple of weeks ago while Drake was skateboarding with some friends near Norton Street, and Culver Rd.

Two Irondequoit, NY Police officers drove up to the teens, exited their cruisers, and approached the youths.

As the video below shows, Drake, shows he obviously knows a thing or two about video recording any and all interactions with law enforcement, as he wastes no time in recording the IPD officers.

The video shows the officers questioning one of Drake's friends, also a minor..

"They wanted my friend to get in the car with them", Drake tells me, after he contacted me to tell me he wanted me to have the video, because he's tired of Irondequoit Police harassing him and his friends when they're skateboarding.

In the video, Drake can be heard telling his friend "They're just going to fuck you over."

Then, one of the IPD officers can be seen walking right up to Drake.

"How about this? The next time you say the f word, and if you don't move right now, I'm going to lock you up..." says the officer.

Drake is then heard asking "For what?"

The officer, seen walking back up to the teen, replies "You can't swear in public, you just said the f word, my suggestion to you is don't get in my way, shut your mouth, and go that way..."

The officer then tells Drake, "You're on my sidewalk."

To which the teen, again showing he knows his rights, tells the officer, "This is not your sidewalk, it's public."

"Oh it's my sidewalk, trust me", the officer replies.

Then, in a classic example of the intimidation tactics, law enforcement officers use, the same officer threatens to charge another teen with disorderly conduct.

The teen also shows he knows his rights, and respectfully tells the officer that he has done nothing wrong.

Eye 2

Rattlesnake found in Livingston, Montana kitchen

Frosted flakes or rattlesnakes?

A woman on Livingston's north side was jolted by more than a cup of coffee Thursday morning when she found a rattlesnake on her neighbor's kitchen table in an apartment on West Summit Street near the Northside Park and Soccer Fields.

She was checking on her neighbor's residence and reaching for a note on the table when she heard a rattle and saw the snake sitting on the table, said Animal Control Officer Judy Roy.

A city worker and a Livingston police officer responded and killed the snake, Roy said.

This is extremely unusual behavior for a rattlesnake, according to Michelle Becker, who has been catching and handling Western prairie rattlers in the area for more than 20 years.

Eye 2

Houston man opens case of beer, finds snake

Marcus Forson drinks Bud Light at most of his parties, and last week was no exception.


"I buy them either 20, 18s or 12s," he said.

But a case of 18 he purchased last week held 19 items -- only 18 of which were beers. He reached for a cold one and was shocked to find a snake wrapped around the bottles.

"When I first opened the box, his head was like this and his head was in between my fingers, and I didn't know what it was at first," Forson said, showing us how he reached into the 18-pack. "Then I realized now what it was."

The beer bonus stowaway was a small snake which had died after apparently slinking around inside the box.

"I pulled it back and I brought out the snake; brought out the snake like this," Forson said.

At first, Forson thought he was the victim of a really good prank.

"I thought she was playing a joke on me and she had it inside the box," he said. "Like a rubber snake."

But a closer look, and the strong stench of dead snake, told him this serpent was real.

"There's no way I was going to drink the beer. It stunk bad," Forson said. "The snake was dead. The snake was ice cold. It's kind of shrunk up and the eyes are missing out of it."

Handcuffs

Civil rights lawsuit to allege drugs were planted by Lowell Police's pet informant

Man says informants framed him, others

A Lowell man is expected to file a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against the city of Lowell and a Lowell police officer who relied on two informants suspected of planting drugs on dozens of innocent victims, a scandal that already has led prosecutors to drop charges in 17 pending drug and firearm cases and to overturn two convictions.

Jonathan Santiago, a 25-year-old with no prior drug convictions whose case was among those dismissed, said an informant planted cocaine in the gas cap compartment of his car in February 2012, then alerted police, who arrested him. He said police then filed a false report that concealed the informant's role.

"I just couldn't believe it - that law enforcement would actually do something like this," Santiago said in a Globe interview, adding that his arrest, jailing, and ensuing legal ordeal changed his life. "I pretty much stay home now. I don't go out anymore. I feel like I can't trust anyone."

Comment:
It's amazing how many people still believe that the Police exist to "help" them. Many people simply won't, or can't, accept that, with very few exceptions, the Police are only interested in generating revenue for the Elite, while keeping the subjugated masses in line. This is how they earn promotions and pay increases for themselves. They don't even have to prove a person is guilty of a crime to confiscate their car, house, money, etc. They just steal private property like common thieves, portion out the loot among themselves, then get away with it because they have badges.

In most Departments Police Officers are specifically chosen because they're authoritarian followers with low IQ's and pathological personalities. These days, a person should think twice before calling the Police to "help" them, especially if there's a dog and/or a Person of Color in the house. Police can, and do, kill innocent dogs and Black people with complete impunity on a regular basis. Murdering an innocent White person can still get them a temporary suspension in some states, but that's changing pretty fast too.

It's way past time to wake up and smell the Imperial Stormtroopers.


Santiago's lawsuit says that scores of others may have suffered a similar fate, noting that one of the informants has been working with Lowell police for the last decade - the arresting officer in Santiago's case alone has testified to using the informant in more than 50 cases. The lawsuit also says that "Lowell police officers allowed [the informant] to commit crimes because he assisted them as an informant."

Neither the police officer, veteran Detective Thomas Lafferty, nor a spokesman for the Lowell police would address the specific allegations in the federal lawsuit, referring questions to the city's legal department. Lowell's chief legal official, City Solicitor Christine O'Connor, was unavailable for comment.

Defense lawyers said the allegations in the lawsuit echo disclosures in the case of Annie Dookhan, the state chemist whose allegedly faked drug analyses were used to obtain convictions that have now been overturned, and the trial of notorious gangster James "Whitey' Bulger, who Bulger asserts was allowed by his FBI handlers to commit crimes in exchange for providing information on other criminals.

The Santiago lawsuit alleges "the widespread misuse of confidential informants in the Lowell Police Department" and a "policy or custom of tolerating violations of people's constitutional rights in order to obtain convictions."

Middlesex prosecutors dropped charges or vacated convictions against Santiago and 18 other defendants earlier this year after one of the informants advertised his services to the Massachusetts State Police and "boasted about his skill and experience in planting evidence," citing specific examples of his work with the other informant on behalf of Lowell police, according to the lawsuit.