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Father gets 1,503 years in prison for raping daughter, longest in Fresno, California history


Los Angeles Times
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 15:08 UTC
Rene Lopez
© ABC
Rene Lopez
A 41-year-old Fresno man has been sentenced to 1,503 years in prison for raping his teenage daughter over a four-year period.

The Fresno Bee reports Rene Lopez was sentenced Friday to the longest-known prison sentence in Fresno Superior Court history.

A jury in September found Lopez guilty of 186 felony counts of sexual assault, including dozens of counts of rape of a minor.

Prosecutors say that Lopez's daughter was first sexually abused by a family friend but that instead of protecting her, Lopez turned her into "a piece of property."

They say the girl was raped two to three times a week from May 2009 to May 2013, when she got the courage to leave.

In announcing the punishment, Judge Edward Sarkisian Jr. told Lopez he is a "serious danger to society" and noted that Lopez had never shown remorse and has blamed his daughter for his predicament.
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UFO 2

Coming soon to a city near you: Taser equipped drones

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 11:21 UTC
police drone
The Taser corporation is planning on building a drone that is equipped with a stun gun, according to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal.

Not only will the drones be equipped with tasers, but there is also talk of them being autonomous, meaning that an actual human won't necessarily be needed to fly the drone.

"One can certainly imagine high-risk scenarios such as terrorist barricades where such a capability could allow public safety officers to more rapidly incapacitate a threat and save many lives," a Taser representative said in a statement.

The spokesperson said that the new project was inspired by the standoff in Dallas this year where police used a robot to kill a suspect who had shot at police.

Drones equipped with stun guns aren't actually an entirely new idea, in 2014 a software company called Chaotic Moon Studios unleashed an experimental taser drone at South by Southwest.

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

George Soros' political committee sued for violating Arizona election laws

Gary Barnes
TruthKings
Sun, 23 Oct 2016 10:59 UTC
George Soros
George Soros is one of Hillary's biggest donors. A Presidential run by Hillary would be a puppeteering act by Soros. A new lawsuit filed against his political committee, which helps get prominent democrats elected, is showing that people are starting to take notice of the scams.

Via AZ Family.
PHOENIX (AP) - A campaign finance violation complaint has been filed with the Maricopa County Recorder's Office against a newly formed independent political committee linked to hedge fund tycoon George Soros.

An attorney representing Republican incumbent Bill Montgomery's re-election campaign for Maricopa County Attorney filed a complaint Friday, saying the Arizona Safety & Justice has violated a state election law.

Soros has been spending millions of dollars this year to support Democrats in prosecutor races around the country and all but one of his favored candidates have won.

Phoenix lawyer Brett Johnson says the law requires political committees making independent expenditures to a candidate or office within 60 days of an election to provide 24 hours' notice to opponents about submitted print or television ads.

Montgomery's campaign says it was not notified.
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Handcuffs

Robbery suspect sues police for getting a boot to the head during his arrest


The Free Thought Project
Sun, 23 Oct 2016 09:59 UTC
Hector Medina-Pena arrest
Police dashcam footage of a Pennsylvania officer kicking a robbery suspect in the head during an arrest last year has been released as part of a criminal case being taken against the cop and the city of Allentown.

Hector Medina-Pena, 33, filed the lawsuit alleging that police officer Joseph Iannetta used excessive force during his arrest on May 30, 2015.

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO

The suit also claims the incident was part of a wider pattern of police violence over the past decade that has not been appropriately addressed by the city of Allentown, according to The Morning Call.
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Pistol

Oklahoma suspect, still on the run, kills 2 family members with AK-47 after shooting & injuring 2 cops


RT
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 06:09 UTC
Police
© Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
A suspect is on the run from police after reportedly shooting two people dead in Oklahoma. He is armed with an AK-47 and allegedly shot two officers and a woman earlier. He has also reportedly stolen multiple vehicles.

The suspect has been identified as 38-year-old Michael Vance.
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Airplane

Five French military officials killed en route to Libya in aircraft crash outside Malta airport

Matthew Vella and Miriam Dalli
Malta Today
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 07:43 UTC
Malta plane crash
© Laurent Azzopardi/Facebook
A video still from an eyewitness video by Laurent Azzopardi/Facebook
Military turboprop aircraft crashed outside the Malta airport runway shortly after take-off at 7:30am - No survivors reported among five French military officials en route to Libya

A small-engine aircraft has crash-landed in Safi after developing engine trouble the minute it took to air from the MIA runway, in a tragic accident that police say left five dead. Witnesses on site of the rescue described the scene as a pile of charred, black metal parts, owing to the scale of the explosion that ensued as the aircraft, a Fairchild Metroliner, crashed into the ground.

Military sources told Malta Today the small jet was departing to head to Misrata in northwestern Libya, on an anti-human trafficking mission. The EU border agency Frontex has confirmed that the plane was not one of its aircraft, and first reports suggest the crew was French. Earlier reports that the plane belonged to the Luxembourgish military have not yet been confirmed.


Comment: Misrata is 'ISIS HQ' in Libya. It's also crawling with American Special Forces. What were these French military officials really going there for?


A plane-spotter who witnessed the accident said he was just packing up his equipment when the plane crash-landed at around 7:30am. "It was an explosion, a right ball of fire," a visibly-shaken William Farrugia, 19, said.

The aircraft crash-landed on the road between Safi and Kirkop, right outside the MIA runway. The airplane was seen rising in the air and then nosediving back into the ground. The explosion was caught in dramatic footage by a motorist driving along the road.


Comment: EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said that European Union's officials were not involved in the deadly military transport plane crash in southern Malta, and the flight was not related to the bloc's activities.

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Fire

Multiple blasts from suspected gas cylinder storage facility in Italy


RT
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 02:53 UTC
Pordenone gas blasts
© twitter/Daniele Lorenzon
Alarmed witnesses in the northeast Italian province of Pordenone have uploaded videos of a series of large and fiery blasts that shook the sleepy streets of a town at night. The explosions reportedly took place in a storage facility with gas cylinders.

It was not immediately clear if anyone was hurt in the blasts, but ambulances could be seen rushing to the scene, where a fire brigade was already working. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.


Onlookers can be seen ducking and running away in a Twitter video filmed by Daniele Lorenzon close to the site as one of the explosions goes off. Earlier, Lorenzon posted a video filmed from a distance, where the blasts are seen lighting up the sky one-by-one in rapid succession. "Goodbye, just in case, huh," said the caption to the tweet.

Comment: Some other gas explosions so far this month include:

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Bell

Finland's Premier Freezes Pay in Bid to Save Economy

Raine Tiessalo
Bloomberg
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 06:12 UTC
Finland's Premier
© Tomi Setala/Bloomberg
The Nordic region's only euro member is still struggling with austerity.

After being stripped of its top AAA credit grade at all three major ratings companies, the government is asking Finns to tighten their belts to keep up with the Germans and the Swedes, who are more productive exporters. Failure to do so will jeopardize Finland's path away from economic limbo and growing indebtedness, the government warns.

Prime Minister Juha Sipila, a self-made millionaire who won elections last year on pledges to reinvigorate Finland's ailing post-Nokia economy, says exports are the key to economic success. But that requires Finns to produce more without getting more pay if the nation is to close a competitiveness gap as wide as 15 percent relative to its main trading partners.

"We're behind our main competitor countries," Sipila said in an interview in Helsinki on Wednesday. "Our problem is that exports are lagging and that growth relies on domestic demand." But if the economy is to recover, "exports should become the growth motor again."
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Bomb

'Highway to hell': Top German comedian slams NATO 'aggressive war machine'


RT
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 05:56 UTC
NATO Tank
© Ints Kalnins/Reuters
On the way to the greatest shew on earth, because in the West, there's a sucker born every minute. They're called "Liberals."
A top-billing standup comedian from Germany, Lisa Fitz, has dedicated one of her recent shows to global politics. She touched upon issues such as the US acting as a "world policeman" and NATO turning into a "monster."

It cost her some cheers and laughs, but made the audience think, she told RT.
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Info

Retired Army Major: "Everything's in Place" to Round Up Antiwar Dissenters for Military Detention

Justin Gardner
Free Thought Project
Sun, 23 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
antiwar
While mainstream media has dutifully echoed the U.S. government narrative that Russia is to blame for increasing tensions, we at the Free Thought Project have reported on the numerous ways in which the U.S. has actually been the provocateur.

Earlier in 2016, a U.S. military official said the U.S. "needs and wants Russia as an enemy," which was followed by a litany of falsehoods about Russian threats from elected and appointed officials. A hacked email showed a NATO general plotting conflict with Russia, as American and NATO military forces amass along Russia's borders.

U.S. intervention in Syria has provided the perfect context for escalating tensions. In its effort to topple the Assad government, the U.S. nurtured the Salafist fundamentalist sect in Syria, which went on to become a major part of ISIS. As U.S. military operations get dangerously close to Syrian or Russian forces (invited there by Assad), any "accidental" strike could be the spark for World War III.

If this were not disturbing enough, the reality in the homeland is downright frightening. Since 9/11, the U.S. military/surveillance state has been able to use - and perpetuate - the specter of terrorism to dismantle the rights of its citizens.

In order to sustain public support for its war-making, the State must suppress dissent. If it cannot achieve this through media control and other subtle means, it is prepared to take more forceful measures.

Comment: While this type of information may have the effect of causing a chill to run down one's spine, it would seem that by just knowing of it (and even sharing what we know of it where appropriate), affords us the possibility of working through such facts about our reality in this time and place. The horrors of history made reference to in the article ie. Nazi Germany, are now but a stone's throw away for those who now find themselves living in Amerika - or anywhere the "exceptional nation" sets its malevolent gaze upon. But we are now afforded a choice: We can see it for what it is, or, we can deny the truth of it to ourselves (and others) and further risk being subject to it.

See: Knowledge and Freedom: Antidote to the rising fascism

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