Society's ChildS


Sheriff

VIDEO: Cops mistake an innocent man's medical emergency for a crime and brutally beat him

Oklahoma cops
© okcfox.comAn incident involving the Oklahoma Highway Patrol at 3 a.m. Thursday. This man was having a medical episode, but OHP says he exhibited "all signs" of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
"The safety and protection of Oklahoma's citizenry is of paramount priority and should always be a core function of government," proclaimed Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb in an August 28 op-ed column berating opponents of a proposed salary increase for Oklahoma State Troopers.

State troopers "are present day in and day out, at tremendous sacrifice, in all corners of Oklahoma," Lamb continued, scolding the ingrates who do not support additional funding to train additional troopers and enrich the salaries of those already on the force. Refusing to spend more money on the OHP "will further place the public's personal safety in jeopardy," he warns.

Lamb, a former Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service, offered only a passing allusion to the fact that in 2015 the Oklahoma legislature approved a 22.8 percent across-the-board salary increase for OHP troopers. In making his case for additional tax-plundered wealth to be channeled into the OHP, Lamb counted on public ignorance of an August 18 incident that demonstrated beyond dispute that troopers are trained to treat "officer safety," not "the public's personal safety," as "paramount" in any encounter with the citizenry they purportedly serve - even a helpless driver suffering a critical medical emergency.

At about 3:00 am on August 18, a construction worker saw a car swerve off the Turner Turnpike near Mile Market 146. After the vehicle embedded itself in a ditch, the construction worker - who was the actual first responder to the emergency - sprinted over to the scene. He found the driver slumped over the wheel and sweating profusely, but exhibiting no signs of intoxication.

Acting as the public has been trained to, the Good Samaritan called 911. Within five minutes, two of the intrepid heroes from the OHP who, according to Lt. Gov. Lamb, were serving the public "at tremendous sacrifice," arrived at the crash site. As is generally the case when police respond to an emergency, matters became immediately and dramatically worse.

Bad Guys

Unending violence: Rocket attacks and bombings leave 15 dead, over 50 wounded in Baghdad

Baghdad attack
© ReutersSmoke rises from a blast caused by a fire at an arms depot in eastern Baghdad, Iraq, on September 2, 2016.
At least 15 people have been killed and more than four dozen others injured in a series of bomb explosions and a rocket attack at residential neighborhoods across the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said five people lost their lives and 15 others sustained injuries when three rockets landed onto a weapons storage facility in eastern Baghdad on Friday.

A bomb struck a shopping street in the capital's western neighborhood of Ghazaliya, killing two civilians and injuring eight others.

People

Calais 'jungle camp' hit with food shortages, UK urged to take in 400 refugee children

calais jungle camp
© Pascal Rossignol / Reuters
Campaigners are urging the British home secretary to take in 400 refugee children living in the Calais 'Jungle' camp at a time when food shortages are forcing many migrants to go hungry.

Religious leaders, politicians and celebrities, including actor Jude Law, are calling on the government to offer the children asylum. Many of them claim to have family already in the UK.

A special ceremony will be held outside the Home Office on Friday commemorating the children who have died during the refugee crisis. It comes one year after images of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy whose body was washed up on a Turkish beach, shocked the world.

Kurdi's mother and brother also drowned when their inflatable raft capsized en route to Europe.

Comment: As it stands, France is in the process of destroying the Calais camp and currently building two other camps in Paris, one for men and one for women and children. One has to wonder if France is building even smaller and worse living conditions for refugees in the new camps.


Bomb

Multiple deaths in night market explosion in Philippines ahead of Duterte visit

Philippines bomb blast
© Fr. Jboy Gonzales SJ / Twitter
A blast wrought destruction upon a busy night market in the city of Davao in the Philippines, the hometown of the recently-elected President Rodrigo Duterte.

Varied casualty tolls have been reported as the number of victims has risen. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told CNN Philippines that at least 10 are dead and 60 are injured.

The blast occurred at about 10:20pm local time, in the massage parlor area of the Roxas Night Market, a hotspot in the city of 1.6 million people, and near the upmarket Marco Polo hotel.

Eyewitnesses have reported a single loud blast, followed by billowing smoke. Ambulances arrived at the chaotic scene within minutes.

"Rest assured the authorities are on top of this incident. Right now, we cannot yet give a definite answer as to who is behind this as we are also trying to determine what really exploded," said Paolo Duterte, vice mayor of Davao and son of the current president.

Red Flag

In the last 5 years there have been 130 security breaches at United Kingdom atomic facilities

atomic facility
© Darren Staples
Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) officers, charged with guarding the UK's nuclear sites, admit there have been 130 security breaches over the last five years, including a handgun going missing and the keys to Hinkley Point power station getting lost.

The CNC said two of the breaches were classed as "high risk."

In July 2012, an unloaded handgun went missing from the National Shooting Centre in Surrey. It was reported to Surrey Police, but the force could not determine whether it had been lost or stolen.

In October 2012, confidential information was texted to an officer at Sellafield in Cumbria.

Another two incidents were identified as "medium risk."

In November 2013, the gate access keys for Hinkley Point in Somerset were lost. All locks at the site were replaced and the keys were subsequently found there.

In February 2012, a force camera was stolen from the Sizewell site in Suffolk and never recovered.

Low-risk incidents included the loss of electronic equipment and papers, and windows being left open.

There were 21 separate incidents involving stolen or lost smartphones and identity cards last year, up from 13 the previous year.

Arrow Down

Family sues school district over sexual abuse of disabled son; perp given 48 hours community service

Begich Middle School
© Google MapsBegich Middle School in Anchorage, Alaska
The parents of a special-needs student are suing the Anchorage, Alaska school district, arguing it waited too long to investigate a teacher's aide over claims of sexual abuse. In a plea deal, the aide served 48 hours of community service.

Begich Middle School teacher's aide Julianti Clarke, 62, was charged with abuse in October 2014, after surveillance video showed her fondling a disabled male student in the lunchroom. In November 2015, prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that would let Clarke serve 48 hours of community service and dropped the charges.

In a lawsuit filed this week in Anchorage Superior Court, the student's parents argue that the school district edited the video to hide Clarke's abuse of another student while their son watched. They say the district "negligently failed" to supervise Clarke and failed to protect students, asking for damages over $500,000 for "foreseeable severe emotional distress," according to Alaska Dispatch News.

Robot

Rise of the machines: Security robots already patrolling parking lots and malls - are our neighborhoods next?

security robot
© Mark Boster / Los Angeles TimesBesides playing a security role in malls, the robots could have uses with government agencies or homeowner groups
William Santana Li imagines a future where robots will keep Americans safe.

Communities, he dreams, will take security into their own hands by investing in wheeled machines that patrol streets, sidewalks and schools — instantly alerting residents via a mobile app of intruders or criminal behavior.

"What if we could crowd-source security?" said Li, co-founder and chief executive of a robotics company, Knightscope, that hopes to eventually do just that.

His question is like many posed by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs seeking to modernize, privatize and monetize services once entrusted to the government — and it's one that has intrigued venture capitalists who have pumped $14 million into his start-up.

Already, Knightscope robots are edging into the private security industry, patrolling parking lots, a shopping center and corporate campuses in California. The company's ambitions, though, are much bigger.

Pistol

Atlanta cop indicted on murder charges for killing an innocent, unarmed man

Officer James Burns
© CNNOfficer James Burns
Recently fired from the Atlanta Police Department for gunning down an innocent driver, a former cop was indicted Wednesday night on multiple charges including murder, making a false statement, and violating his oath of office. Although the ex-cop reported that the driver was attempting to run him over when he opened fire, investigators determined his claims were false after reviewing dashcam footage and witness statements.

Shortly before midnight on June 22, Officer James Burns responded to a call from an off-duty cop reporting a suspicious person breaking into cars. Arriving at the scene in his patrol car, Burns hit his lights and siren immediately after seeing a 2011 Ford Fusion driving towards him.

Burns suddenly exited his vehicle and fired a single bullet into the head of 22-year-old Deravis Caine Rogers. According to Burns, Rogers ignored his order to "Stop!" before gunning his engine and attempting to run him down with the sedan. Blinded by the headlights and fearing for his life, Burns claimed that he killed Rogers in self-defense.

Monkey Wrench

New trade deal TISA could be an even greater threat to public services than TTIP

TISA deal
© www.globalresearch.ca
  • Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) could lock in privatisation and increase ability of big business to call the shots on health, education and basic utilities
  • Rights of some migrant workers could regress to system similar to Saudi Arabia and Qatar
  • UK likely to emulate Norway signing up as individual nation post-Brexit
A global trade deal currently being negotiated in secret and involving 50 different countries could prove to be a serious threat to public services according to a briefing published today by campaign group Global Justice Now.

The Trade In Services Agreement (TISA) is a proposed international trade treaty between 23 parties, including the European Union and the United States. Unlike most trade deals, TISA is about services, not goods. The briefing argues that this means it will affect areas like labour rights, banking regulation and whether public services like electricity and water are run for public good or private benefit.

Nick Dearden the director of Global Justice Now said:

"This deal is a threat to the very concept of public services. It is a turbo-charged privatisation pact, based on the idea that, rather than serving the public interest, governments must step out of the way and allow corporations to 'get on with it'. Of particular concern, we fear TiSA will include clauses that will prevent governments taking public control of strategic services, and inhibit regulation of the very banks that created the financial crash. TISA will also affect countries that haven't even had the opportunity to develop decent public services like Pakistan. No wonder Uruguay has already walked away from the talks. We urge MEPs to tell the European Union to do the same.

Stormtrooper

Another senseless death: SWAT team raids unarmed man's home and kills him over two grams of pot

war on drugs
Another life was taken by cops in the senseless war on drugs, this time an unarmed man sitting in a bedroom with two grams of weed.

A military-style raid took place at the home of Levonia Riggins, 22, by a SWAT team looking for "illegal narcotics." Riggins, who had previously been arrested for cannabis possession with intent to sell, was subject to a month-long "drug investigation" before being gunned down in his home.

According to Tampa Bay Times:
"When investigators arrived at the house at 1432 Longwood Loop with a search warrant about 8 a.m., everyone inside came out except for Riggins, the major said. Others who left the house told deputies Riggins was inside, most likely in the rear, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said in a news release.

That's when Deputy Caleb Johnson, 32, a seven-year veteran of the agency, entered the house with fellow SWAT members.

"After making numerous commands for Riggins to exit the residence, Deputy Johnson visually located Riggins in a bedroom, at which time Johnson perceived Riggins as an immediate threat and fired one shot, striking Riggins," Carter reported.

Riggins was taken to Tampa General Hospital, where he died."

Comment: The "The War on Drugs" is a fraud and a complete failure. Just look at the victim Levonia Riggins. He was killed over 2 grams of weed. Meanwhile intelligence agencies are flooding the planet with illicit hard drugs. Read more:

Insignificant arrest of El Chapo versus the longstanding CIA global drugs business