Society's ChildS


Sheriff

Family sues police department after they refuse to apologize for beating their autistic son

autistic boy
Following a national outcry surrounding the violent takedown of an autistic boy by Officer David Grossman, the Buckeye Police Department began conducting damage control. As the world lashed out at the department for mistreating Connor Leibel, an innocent autistic boy, in such a violent and callous manner, the parents simply asked for an apology-one that would never come. And now, because the police refused to apologize, the taxpayers are going to be held liable.

According to Courthouse News reports, Kevin and Danielle Leibel brought their federal complaint Wednesday against Buckeye, its police department and Officer David Grossman on behalf of their son, Connor, in Phoenix, seeking punitive damages on nine counts, including battery, excessive force, negligence, failure to train and illegal arrest. They also sued Police Chief Larry Hall and Lt. Charles Arlak.

As ABC 15 reported at the time, after the incident, the Leibel family through an attorney sent Buckeye Police Chief Larry Hall a letter with three requests: (1) Grossman apologize face to face (2) Grossman perform community service in the autism community (3) Buckeye institutes autism training for officers.

The letter stated at the time, "If these terms are agreed to first, any financial component of this case will be quickly resolved."

Black Cat

NYT reporter Ali Watkins' past tweets come back to haunt amid Wolfe leak case

James Wolfe Ali Watkins
© Associated PressJames Wolfe, left, the former security director for the Senate Intelligence Committee, and New York Times reporter Ali Watkins, right. Federal investigators had seized years' worth of Watkins' email and phone records as part of a leak probe into Wolfe.
New York Times reporter Ali Watkins' past tweets are raising eyebrows after revelations she had a three-year romantic relationship with a Senate Intelligence Committee aide now accused by federal prosecutors of leaking sensitive information to journalists, including herself.

On Thursday, the New York Times reported that federal investigators had seized years' worth of Watkins' email and phone records as part of a leak probe into James Wolfe, the former security director for the Senate Intelligence Committee indicted for giving false statements to FBI agents. Wolfe appeared for a federal court hearing in Baltimore on Friday, where he relinquished his passport and was prohibited from traveling outside of the District of Columbia and Maryland.

Comment:




Cell Phone

Alabama university bans 'harsh text messages' and 'rumors'

texting
© Global Look PressSchool also forbids ‘rumors’ and ‘embarrassing pictures’.
As part of its code of conduct, a public university in Alabama prohibits its students from sending "harsh text messages," a policy that has earned it the worst possible rating from a campus free-speech watchdog group.

The University of West Alabama's Cyberbullying and Cyber Harassment Policy defines harassment as "conduct that disrupts the educational environment of the university." Conduct that the university has defined as harassment includes "harsh text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles."

The policy provides several examples of "instances where social media can cause harm to the university or member of the UWA community," though none of the examples includes "harsh text messages" or "rumors."

The College Fix reached out repeatedly to university officials to learn more about the policy, including whether any students had ever been sanctioned by the school for sending a harsh text message. The school's public relations department did not respond to several requests for comment; nor did its Vice President of Student Affairs Richard Hester.

Handcuffs

Man charged with animal cruelty after two dogs die in van after his arrest

scared dog
Only one of the dogs discovered in the back of a van left in the hear for several days survived.
A local man has been arrested after he allegedly left his dogs - two of which would later be found dead - in a van while he went to get intoxicated, according to official reports.

Jason Matthew Reece, 39, appeared in court Wednesday on charges of disorderly conduct and animal cruelty resulting in death. The Bay County Sheriff's Office reported arresting him Sunday night at a Beach condo only to learn the next morning that dogs found dead inside a nearby van belonged to him. Reece is currently being held at the Bay County Jail on a combined bond of $10,000, court records stated.

Reece recently had pleaded no contest to a disorderly conduct charge officers believe occurred June 2, the night he left the dogs in the van. But during his arrest, Reece did not mention the dogs, BCSO reported.

"At no time did Reece tell deputies he had left his vehicle nearly a half mile away parked in front of a Dollar General Store," officers wrote. "Reece also did not inform the deputy he had left three small dogs locked inside the vehicle."

According to BCSO reports, deputies responded June 3 to a complaint about a man who appeared intoxicated and was pulling on handles of vehicles at condo complex. Deputies approached Reece in the nearby parking lot, and he claimed he thought the vehicle belonged to a friend of his, officers reported.

Family

Public outcry swift at IDF attempts to smear murdered Palestinian medic with inaccurate video

Razan al-Najjar
© Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / ReutersRazan al-Najjar at work during the Great March of Return protest in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces' attempt to smear medic Razan al-Najjar, the 21-year-old killed last week, backfired when a video it shared on social media was swiftly debunked.

The IDF shared an edited video of Najjar on both its English and Arabic spokesperson Twitter accounts on Thursday.

Comment:


Video

'The Silence of Others': The film that wants to stop Spain forgetting Franco's cruel legacy

Franco jail cell Chato Galante
© Almudena CarracedoChato Galante returns to the jail cell where he was imprisoned as a 24-year-old for opposing the Franco dictatorship.


The Silence of Others, backed by Pedro Almodóvar, seeks to end amnesia over dictator's victims


Chato Galante, who was stripped of his youth in the prison cells and torture rooms of Franco's Spain, likes to joke that he is an "unrepentant optimist". He has had to be.

Almost half a century has passed since he was beaten and jailed for his efforts to fight the dictatorship, but he remains confident that justice will be done, that his torturers will answer publicly for their crimes and that his convictions will be overturned.

Equally optimistic is Paqui Maqueda. Sooner or later, she says, Spain will find the courage to confront the Franco years and their insidious legacy.

Perhaps then she will establish what happened to her elder brother, who is thought to have been one of the thousands of children secretly and systematically stolen from their mothers at birth to be placed with less "degenerate" families.

Comment: They have a point. When a nation forgets the horrors of ponerization, it is ready to be ponerized again.


Heart - Black

Wearing a press vest, AFP photographer wounded by IDF amid Gaza protests

Photographer lies in a hospital bed
© AFPAn AFP photographer lies in a hospital bed at al-Jabaliya hospital in the Gaza Strip.
A press vest did not protect an AFP photographer from Israeli bullets fired during protests in Gaza. He was taking a picture of a wounded protester when a bullet hit his leg.

On Friday, Mohammed Abed al-Baba was shot below the knee while wearing a clearly identifiable press vest and helmet around 200 meters from the border east of Jabalia in northern Gaza, according to AFP, citing the photographer. He was trying to photograph a protester who was injured earlier, when he himself was shot. Baba has been working for the agency in Gaza for nearly 18 years.

His colleague posted a photo on Twitter showing the injured man in bandages in what appears to be a hospital. In a post on Facebook, Baba said that he had undergone an operation on his right leg and is currently recovering.

Comment: See also: The sacrifice of Gaza and the great march of Zionist hypocrisy


Георгиевская ленточка

Russian patriotism soars to 92%, highest level in 18 years

Poklonnaya Hill
© Vladimir Astapkovich / SputnikVictory Day fireworks at Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow
The share of Russians who describe themselves as patriots is now at 92 percent, the highest number in 18 years, according to a public opinion poll conducted by the state-run agency VTSIOM.

"In 2018 the share of Russian citizens who see themselves as patriots... was 92 percent, which is the highest in 18 years," according to the report released by VTSIOM in connection with Russia Day, which is celebrated on June 12.

In 2000, 84 percent of Russians considered themselves patriots, after which the figure fluctuated between 80 and 88 percent, researchers noted in their report.

Comment: Contrast this with the United States, which despite its 'exceptionalism' has continually declining patriotism. Seems the Russians are doing a lot of things right.


Handcuffs

Cops beat handcuffed man so violently he lost his leg but it's taxpayers who are held liable in lawsuit

lost leg
The citizens of the village of Green Island have been held liable for $375,000 to settle a federal lawsuit after police arrested a man so violently that he lost his leg.

Kevin T. Kavanaugh filed a civil rights lawsuit after a violent arrest that started when state troopers smelled marijuana. After police smelled the plant, Kavanaugh made the poor decision of fleeing in his vehicle and led police on a high speed chase.

According to the lawsuit, after Kavanaugh finally surrendered, he was brutally beaten for no reason, handcuffed and then an officer violently and unnecessarily began twisting his lower leg until the bones snapped apart.

"This wasn't just a broken ankle. Kevin had pins and screws in his ankle (from a prior injury) and they basically twisted his ankle until they popped out of the bone," said his attorney, Lee Kindlon. "They actually killed his leg, and it was dying from the toe up."

After the violent arrest, Kavanaugh was denied proper medical care leading to severe complications. Multiple other parties outside of the arresting officers were complicit in his abuse, according to the suit.

Comment: Not only do the police not suffer any consequences for their actions but also the very people they are suppose to protect foot the bill when it comes to their gross negligence in doing their 'duty'.


Arrow Up

Jewish-Israeli activists hang portraits of murdered Gaza victims on apartheid wall, call for Palestinian right of return

israeli jewish activists gaza
Israeli-Jewish activists, calling themselves “RETURN” hung photos of the martyrs of the Great Return March on Gaza Apartheid Fence.
The following press release was sent to Mondoweiss regarding two actions in support of the right of return that were taken by Jewish groups in Israel today:

At 6 AM today, an anonymous group of Israeli-Jewish activists, calling themselves "RETURN" hung photos of the martyrs of the Great Return March on the Gaza Apartheid Fence. The protest was done against Israel's extrajudicial killings of protesters during the Great Return March, including journalists, medics and unarmed demonstrators.

The action was inspired by a call from the #GreatReturnMarch in Gaza for international solidarity. The RETURN activists hung portraits of Gazans murdered by Israeli forces, including the now-iconic portrait of the young medic, Razan Al Najjar. Earlier this week, Gazan professor Haider Eid wrote, "the slogan of the Great March of Return is "I want to go home." Seventy percent of Palestinians in Gaza are refugees from cities and towns in Israel... It's time for the world to stand up and act- to impose sanctions on Israeli industries until Palestinians are granted freedom, civil rights, and justice."

One of the activists of RETURN stated, "The Palestinians besieged in Gaza are marching home, back to the villages and cities from which they were expelled. They are marching out of the desert that Israel has transformed Gaza into and because of this, the Israeli Occupying army is murdering them in cold blood. The courage and sacrifice of these people demand of us all to stand up and ensure an end to Israeli impunity. Apartheid must end and we are the ones who must end it."

Later this morning "Israeli Jews in Support of Palestinian Return" posted posters of Akhmad Al-'Adinie whos family was expelled from Bir As-Saba and 'Abd Al-Qadr Al-Khawajry whos family was expelled from Bureir - Both were murdered by Israeli soldiers as they tried to return to their homes. The posters where posted near the Mosque of Bir AsSaba, in honor of their persistence and devotion. The group calls for the return of all the Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere.

Comment: It's good to know there are some Israelis - even a tiny minority - with at least a semi-functioning conscience. What Israel is doing in Gaza is atrocious. See also: