Society's ChildS

Pumpkin 2

Halloween decoration of Obama scarecrow sparks outrage in Indiana


Sheriff

Police Brutality: Bizarre twist in banker's suit against LAPD


There is a new twist in an increasingly bizarre case involving an encounter between a prominent investment banker and the LAPD.

Brian Mulligan, a Deutsche Bank executive with ties to the television and movie industries, says he was the victim of an unprovoked attack by LAPD officers in May. He claims to have sustained a broken shoulder blade, 15 nasal fractures and facial lacerations from the beating.

The arrest report says that Mulligan admitted to using marijuana and ingesting bath salts four days before the encounter. Mulligan's lawyer said the allegations were made up by the LAPD to excuse what he called an "unmerciful beating." The charges against Mulligan have been dropped, but he pursued a lawsuit against the LAPD. The LAPD has launched a force investigation into Mulligan's charges and their defense may now hinge on the evidence found in an audiotape obtained by CBS This Morning.

Cow Skull

As the rich get richer: Poverty rises sharply in Illinois

american poverty
© Unknown
New data released by the Census Bureau reveals that greater numbers of Illinois workers and unemployed are falling into poverty.

According to the American Community Survey, the number of people living below the federal poverty threshold in Illinois grew by approximately 150,000 between 2010 and 2011, increasing the poverty rate from 13.8 percent to 15 percent. Nearly 2 million people now live below the federal poverty line in the state. Seven hundred thousand more people live in poverty in Illinois than in 2000, when the rate stood at 10.7 percent; this marks an increase of more than 40 percent in little over a decade.

Grey Alien

UFO Hacker Gary McKinnon Wins! Will not face extradition to U.S. on hacking charges

Gary McKinnon
© (Katie Collins / PA)Gary McKinnon was accused in 2002 of using his home computer to hack into 97 American military and Nasa computers
Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker who has been facing extradition to the US for the past decade, has been given a dramatic reprieve by the Home Secretary.

The Home Secretary told MPs that medical reports warning the computer hacker would kill himself if sent to the US were sufficient grounds to keep him in the UK.

She also announced plans to change extradition rules to allow courts to block extradition attempts if it is in the interests of justice.

The move is a victory for Mr McKinnon's campaign team, including Janis Sharp, Mr McKinnon's mother and his MP David Burrowes, who had threatened to quit the Government over the affair.

The Daily Telegraph has also led a campaign urging a rethink after a succession of British businessmen were extradited to America to face charges.

Mrs May told MPs that she had decided that extraditing Mr McKinnon to America would have breached his human rights.

Comment: Victory at last! For more information see: What did Gary Mckinnon really find?


Bomb

Police State Joke: Seattle bombsquad blows up abandoned flashlight near FBI office

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A security guard working at the FBI's Seattle office at 3rd Avenue and Seneca Street reported a suspicious object outside the building, just after 2 a.m. the morning of October 8th.

The Bomb Squad was then sent in with two bomb disposal robots to investigate the mysterious object.

At that point, Seattle police closed streets around the Abraham Lincoln Building at Third and Seneca for over two hours as police and explosive experts were examining the device.

Then at around 4:38 a.m one of the robots were sent in to create an explosion to blow up the device while the area was under their control.

After blowing up the mysterious device FBI Spokeswoman Ayn Dietrich said that it was not explosive or hazardous and no threat had been made to the agency, but it was in fact just a flashlight, that may or may not have had a blinking red light on it somewhere, which gave the security guard and the entire police force the indication that it must be a bomb.

Propaganda

This is news? Research finds sexist stereotypes dominate front pages of British newspapers

Duchess of Cambridge
© ReutersThe Duchess of Cambridge and her sister Pippa Middleton were two of the women most likely to be pictured on newspaper front pages.
Study reveals 78% of front-page articles are written by men, and 84% of those quoted or mentioned are male

Sexist stereotypes, humiliating photographs of women and male bylines dominate the front pages of British newspapers, according to research carried out by the industry body Women in Journalism (WiJ).

Male journalists wrote 78% of all front-page articles and men accounted for 84% of those mentioned or quoted in lead pieces, according to analysis of nine national newspapers, Monday to Saturday, over the course of four weeks.

The only females to be regularly pictured in the period were the Duchess of Cambridge; her sister, Pippa Middleton, and the crime victim Madeleine McCann. The three males most likely to be photographed were Simon Cowell, whose biography was published that month; Nicolas Sarkozy, who was fighting an election, and Prince William.

Women's groups, which complained about sexist stereotypes in the media in a presentation to the Leveson inquiry into media ethics, welcomed the research. Anna van Heeswijk, chief executive of Object, said: "With newspapers so male-dominated, is it any surprise that women are portrayed the way they are? Changing the number of female writers and the ways in which women are portrayed in the media is crucial if we are serious about wanting a socially responsible press."

Harriet Harman, the deputy leader of the Labour party, who has long campaigned against sexism, said: "The media is supposed to reflect the views of everybody. How much is it really reflecting the views of women in this country? In parliament, with men in the media reporting on men in parliament, there is a double whammy."

Heart - Black

Video: High school bans student who committed suicide and teen mom from appearing in yearbook

Menahga High School, located in Menahga, Minnesota, is not going to include Kyle Kenyon, who committed suicide last January, in the school yearbook.

In response, 100 of Kenyon's classmates have signed a petition to get a memorial page dedicated to him, reports CBS Minnesota.

However, school superintendent Mary Klamm told WCCO-TV that she consulted with mental health experts and concluded:
"It was recommended that we don't do a memory page."
Peggy Havnes, Kenyon's mother, told WCCO-TV:
"The only way I can hold it together is with all the support we have. I do think we need to use it as a teaching tool, because if we can prevent any other family from going through this, then we've accomplished something."
Another person who is not going to appear in the school yearbook is teen mom Stephanie Myer, who wanted to take her photo with her child, Aubree.

As for Myer and her daughter, Klamm said:
"We're looking at different options. With modern technology it doesn't have to happen tomorrow or within the next week."

Pistol

Trayvon Martin's parents launch website, CCE to 'shine light' on 'stand your ground' law

trayvon martin
© Change for Trayvon
On the eve of another meeting of the state task force reviewing "stand your ground," the parents of Trayvon Martin unveiled a new website and political committee aimed at changing the controversial law.

A new committee of continuous existence, or CCE, called "Change for Trayvon" and a corresponding website will collect funds to "be distributed to candidates, elected officials and efforts which support the mission of... revising Stand Your Ground laws across the nation to ensure there is judicial or prosecutorial oversight," the site says.

Pistol

Two teens killed in Chicago, 24 others wounded across the city in night of gun violence

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© Devlin Brown / Chicago TribuneTwo people were shot in the 6300 block of South Rhodes Avenue.
Two teenagers were killed and 24 others were wounded during a city night filled with gun violence.

Police said 15 of 24 shooting victims were gang affiliated.

The youngest victim, was 17 years old and died from his wounds after being shot along with a cousin as the two went to meet a girl in the West Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side Saturday night, according to family. Authorities identified the teen as Richard Modell but his family said his name was Modell McCambry.

The dead teen may have been targeted due to a feud between two rival gangs, one of which police say he belonged to. He and his 18-year-old cousin were on their way to meet a girl when someone walked up and opened fire in the 6300 block of South Rhodes Avenue just before 9:30 p.m., according to police.

The teen died after being taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in "extremely critical" condition with a gunshot wound to the chest. Modell lived about three blocks south of where he was killed, a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

The man's cousin was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds; his condition was not available. Responding paramedics found both of them in the street.

Police said they don't have any reason to think the older of the two affiliates with a gang and believe he may have been shot because he was with Modell.

Calendar

Long after death, Confederate spy honored in Arkansas

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© The Associated Press/Arkansas History CommissionA copy of a 1912 painting by artist William Besser from a Civil War era photograph of David O. Dodd

Little Rock, Arkansas - The story of David O. Dodd is relatively unknown outside of Arkansas, but the teenage spy who chose to hang rather than betray the Confederate cause is a folk hero to many in his home state.

Street signs and an elementary school in the state capital have long borne Dodd's name, and admirers gather at his grave each year to pay tribute to Dodd's life and death.

"Everyone wants to remember everything else about the Civil War that was bad," said one of them, W. Danny Honnoll. "We want to remember a man that stood for what he believed in and would not tell on his friends."

A state commission's decision, though, to grant approval for yet another tribute to Dodd has revived an age-old question: Should states still look for ways to commemorate historical figures who fought to defend unjust institutions?

"(Dodd) already has a school. I don't know why anything else would have to be done to honor him," James Lucas Sr., a school bus driver, said near the state Capitol in downtown Little Rock.

Arkansas' complicated history of race relations plays out on the Capitol grounds. A stone and metal monument that's stood for over a century pays tribute to the Arkansas men and boys who fought for the Confederacy and the right to own slaves. Not far away, nine bronze statues honor the black children who, in 1957, needed an Army escort to enter what had been an all-white school.