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Insanity! Barcelona court acquits five men of rape because unconscious 14-year-old victim didn't fight back

Ivana Kottasova
CNN
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 23:35 UTC
Barcelona rape protest
A court in Barcelona cleared five men of sexual assault charges on Thursday after saying the crime did not fit the legal definition of rape because the unconscious teenage victim didn't fight back.

Under Spanish law, a sexual attack can only be classified as an assault or rape if the perpetrator uses violence or intimidation. Because the 14-year-old victim was unconscious, the five were convicted of a lesser charge of sexual abuse.The case renewed pressure on the government to reform the law and specify that any sexual act without consent is an assault.The Barcelona court sentenced the five men to 10 to 12 years in prison, despite the prosecution arguing they should be charged with assault.

The attack happened at a party in Manresa, a town northwest of Barcelona, in 2016. The court heard that the group was partying in an abandoned factory, when the victim consumed "alcohol and drugs" and became unconscious.
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Snakes in Suits

How generous: Boeing CEO offers to give up 2019 bonus & compensation after being hammered by Congress


RT
Tue, 05 Nov 2019 15:28 UTC
Boeing CEO Dennis Mullenburg
Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg has decided not to take a bonus for 2019 after US lawmakers hammered him over compensation during Capitol Hill hearings last week in the wake of two 737 MAX plane crashes.

The new chairman of the aerospace company, David Calhoun, gave an enthusiastic vote of public confidence in Dennis Muilenburg on Tuesday, stating that he "has done everything right." He also revealed to CNBC that the embattled CEO himself suggested forgoing his compensation for this year, including bonuses.

"It came in two fronts: one, no short-, no long-term bonus, and three, no consideration for equity grants, until the MAX in its entirety is back in the air and flying safely," Calhoun said. It may take more than a year to return the plane to the skies, he suggested.

Comment: Muilenburg is fortunate he isn't behind bars at this point:

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Snakes in Suits

'They allowed it': Investigative documents reveal pattern of sexual harassment & assault at US Dept. of Justice

Zoe Tillman
BuzzFeed News
Tue, 05 Nov 2019 19:01 UTC
rape US dept justice
In December 2018, the Justice Department's inspector general dropped a bombshell: Investigators had "substantiated" allegations that a senior DOJ official was a repeat sexual harasser.

The official, who had retired by that point, harassed five women under his chain of command, the inspector general announced. One woman reported that she was not only harassed, but also sexually assaulted. Another woman reported that she was pressured into having sex to get a promotion.

Few details were available at the time. The inspector general's summary of the investigation was barely two pages. The official had worked in the Office of Justice Programs, an arm of the Justice Department that partners with federal, state, and local law enforcement, but he wasn't identified. The summary didn't specify what the women accused him of doing or the time period. Because the official had left the department, there wouldn't be any internal disciplinary process. No criminal charges were filed.

Nearly 10 months later, BuzzFeed News obtained a copy of the inspector general's full report. The 12-page document is redacted but includes a slew of new information, including detailed accounts from two of the women who described a pattern of escalating workplace harassment, as well as investigators' findings that the former official "lacked credibility" and provided "conflicting testimony."
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Shoe

Moving to redder pastures: Conservative Californians leaving in droves for 'America first, law and order' states

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Tue, 05 Nov 2019 20:37 UTC
leaving California

According to new Census Bureau migration data for 2018, 691,145 Californians left for other states last year
California conservatives are leaving the state in droves over what the LA Times describes as their "disenchantment with deep-blue California's liberal political culture," not to mention "high taxes, lukewarm support for local law enforcement, and policies they believe have thrown open the doors to illegal immigration."

ust over half of California's registered voters have considered leaving the state, according to a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll conducted for the Los Angeles Times. Republicans and conservative voters were nearly three times as likely as their Democratic or liberal counterparts to seriously have considered moving — 40% compared with 14%, the poll found. Conservatives mentioned taxes and California's political culture as a reason for leaving more frequently than they cited the state's soaring housing costs. -LA Times

Former Californians Richard and Judy Stark had no regrets as they left their Modesto home, towing a U-Haul trailer with their Volkswagen SUV 1,300 miles to Amarillo, Texas. After finding the website Conservative Move, the Starks put their home up for sale around six months ago and bought a newly constructed three-bedroom home in the suburb of McKinney for around $300,000. According to Stark, a similar home in California would cost around twice as much.

Comment: The housing crisis aside, California's liberal politics have made large swaths of the state into something resembling a dystopian nightmare:

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Light Saber

Nine American Mormon women and children slaughtered in northern Mexico - Trump offers US military assistance to Mexico: 'Wage WAR on drug cartels'

Kevin Breuninger
CNBC
Tue, 05 Nov 2019 21:55 UTC
Andrés Manuel López Obrador

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that the United States is willing to help Mexico "wage WAR on the drug cartels" in the country, following the deaths of at least nine Americans, including six children, who reportedly came under attack in a highway ambush in a Mexican border state Monday.

"If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively," Trump wrote on Twitter. "The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!"

"This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!" Trump added.


Comment: There is already a decades-long 'war on drugs' thanks to US 'help'.

The only thing that might do it, in terms of deploying overwhelming force, is to END the 'endless war on drugs'.

But as the leader of the Mormon group in northeastern Mexico points out, the US would have to 'sort its sh*t out' at home first:


See also:

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Sheriff

Sanctuary county modifies anti-ICE policy after string of illegal aliens charged with rape


The Daily Caller
Mon, 04 Nov 2019 21:28 UTC
Ice agents police illegal immigrants
© Reuters/Kate Munsch
Following months of national media coverage over the handling of illegal aliens in his custody, Montgomery County, Maryland, Executive Marc Elrich has somewhat reversed a sanctuary policy he signed into law.

Elrich will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents the ability to access certain areas of the Montgomery County jail in order to apprehend illegal aliens, according to ABC7 News. A county spokesman confirmed to the local news outlet on Nov. 1 that correctional officers have been ordered to give ICE agents clearance to "identified areas" of the jail to "ensure that transfers are conducted in a safe environment."

News of the cooperation between Montgomery County and federal immigration authorities comes three months after Elrich signed an executive order that prohibited county officials from working with ICE.

Comment:

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Newspaper

'Death to America!' Thousands of Iranians rally outside former US Embassy, marking 1979 takeover of the mission


RT
Mon, 04 Nov 2019 13:54 UTC
Trump
© AFP / Atta Kenare
Demonstrators hold a placard mocking US president Trump during a rally outside the former US embassy in Tehran November 4, 2019
Thousands of people gathered at the former US Embassy in Tehran and other Iranian cities on Monday, chanting 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel', marking the 40th anniversary of the US Embassy takeover.

Demonstrators were seen burning US flag replicas and waving signs mocking President Trump.

In preparation for the anniversary events, Iranian officials unveiled new anti-American wall murals at the former embassy - still referred to as the 'den of spies' in Iran - depicting a crumbling Statue of Liberty, Mickey Mouse with a smoking gun, the Global Hawk spy drone downed by the Iranians earlier this year, and skulls floating in blood.

Comment: Iran has every reason to be furious with decades of malevolent US (and Israeli) foreign policy: See also:

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Gold Coins

Pied-à-terre tax revival has the one percent complaining about 'latest threat' to NYC's luxury housing market


Crain's New York
Mon, 04 Nov 2019 18:31 UTC
luxery housing new york city condos
© Bloomberg
Luxury condominiums in New York City
Fresh off imposing an increased "mansion tax" and eliminating privacy protections favored by well-heeled buyers, state lawmakers are reviving efforts to tax second-home purchases of $5 million or more.

There's a growing desire among Democrats to address wealth inequality, and for them, the idea of slapping a annual tax on the uber rich who scoop up Manhattan apartments is long overdue. But for William Zeckendorf, whose firm built some of the city's most expensive condo towers, the proposal is the wrong idea at the wrong time.
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Heart

Transit worker saves fallen passenger in breathtaking rescue at the very last second


RT
Tue, 05 Nov 2019 19:03 UTC
bart train
A quick-thinking transport employee is being hailed as a hero for rescuing a stricken commuter from certain death after they fell onto the tracks, mere seconds before an oncoming train came speeding into the station.

Stunned commuters were left stunned at transit worker John O'Connor's selflessness and bravery after he bent down, grabbed the fallen man by the shoulders, pulled him up off the tracks, and then rolled away with him as the train pulled into the station at roughly 36mph. CCTV footage of the whole incredible incident was shared by San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART).


"There wasn't a lot of time to think," O'Connor said after the incident at Coliseum Station in Oakland. "I just grabbed him and pulled him out... God put me there for a reason, I think."

The unidentified passenger was intoxicated and accidentally fell onto the tracks at the busy station after an NFL game between the Oakland Raiders and the Detroit Lions on Sunday. The visibly drunk commuter mis-stepped and fell onto the tracks below, almost certain to meet his maker, were not for the lightning-fast reflexes of O'Connor.

"I thought the train was going to cut him in half, honestly," O'Connor told local news station KPIX. "I didn't want to see this guy die."

The two men shared a hug after the incident and O'Connor told the passenger to pay it forward.

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Rainbow

Why? Dutch city unveils worlds' first 'transgender crosswalk'


RT
Tue, 05 Nov 2019 18:45 UTC
rainbow crosswalks
© REUTERS/Regis Duvignau
Crosswalks, painted as a rainbow flag, are pictured in the street near the Gay Games village at the Hotel de Ville city hall in Paris, France, August 4, 2018.
A city outside of Amsterdam has the unique distinction of possessing the first-ever 'transgender' crosswalk. The colorful zebra crossing has left social media users scratching their heads.

Almere opened its tri-color pedestrian walkway in a show of support for transgender people. Purportedly the first of its kind, the crosswalk is painted pink for girls, blue for boys, and white for those who feel that their biological sex doesn't reflect who they really are.


Alderman Jerzy Soetekouw said during the crosswalk's opening ceremony that "everyone can be who they want to be" in Almere. "It is a city where everyone can feel valued, including the Rainbow community," he added.

"Can I walk over it as a straight man?" one netizen wrote. "Or is it only for LGBTQRSTUVW-ers?"

"As a * trans * woman, I find this pointless and unnecessary. Is there also a Hetero crosswalk or a gender neutral crosswalk?" wrote another commenter.

Comment: Critics should check their privilege. A crosswalk can identify as whatever gender it wants. The gods of social justice have deemed it so, and so it must be.

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