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Civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart granted 'compassionate release' by NY judge

Larry Neumeister
The Republic
Tue, 31 Dec 2013 20:31 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Lynne Stewart, suffering from the ravages of evil chemotherapy.
A dying former civil rights lawyer convicted in a terrorism case and sentenced to 10 years in prison was granted compassionate release on Tuesday after prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Prisons made the recommendation to a judge.

U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl signed the release order after government lawyers filed a letter in Manhattan federal court earlier Tuesday saying 74-year-old Lynne Stewart qualifies for early release because she's suffering from breast cancer that has metastasized to the lungs and bones and has less than 18 months to live.

"The director of the Bureau of Prisons contends, and this court agrees, that the defendant's terminal medical condition and very limited life expectancy constitute extraordinary and compelling reasons that warrant the requested reduction," the judge wrote.

He said Stewart, who has been undergoing treatment at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, would be released when her medical condition allows for it and travel arraignments can be made.

Stewart's attorney said the news came as a surprise but she could be released as early as Tuesday night and her husband, who had planned to visit her Wednesday, was already en route.

"She's elated," said lawyer Jill Shellow, who spoke with her after the judge's order was signed.

Comment: Lynne Stewart has spent her life defending the poor and battling for civil liberties and human rights. More on her witch-hunt here:
The Persecution of Lynne Stewart
Lynne Stewart's savage jail torment further proof of U.S. totalitarian state
The fascinating case of Lynne Stewart

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Arrow Down

Cleveland celebrates New Year's Eve with full body patdowns on the public square


Police State USA
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 20:21 UTC
Cleveland Public Square
© Mark Horning/CBS Cleveland
Cleveland Public Square.
Ohio - City officials invited residents to bring in the new year in a hyper-controlled gathering in Cleveland's Public Square. People were told that for visiting the square they would be subjected to a "full inspection of your person" and "a complete pat down."

Checkpoints were conducted to detect a list of prohibited items so long that would make a prison guard blush.

Cleveland New Year Party
© Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer
Cleveland party-goers.
During the pat downs, party-goers would be searched for things like tampons, eye drops, food, candy, beverages, flashlights, and pacifiers.

Purses and diaper bags were prohibited, as were chairs and blankets.

The list of prohibitions went on: no stuffed animals, no cameras, no coolers, no balls, no frisbees, no dolls, no stickers, no fliers, and of course, no legal means of self-defense.

"It's going to be a safe event," said Harold Pretel, Commander of Homeland Services.

Despite the 20-degree chill, the attendance was expected to be the biggest in 15 years. All 4 'squares' of Public Square were filled with people.
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Black Magic

Phoenix: Father kills son with ax; believed son was demon and was going to eat him


ABC 15
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 19:15 UTC
Image
© CBS
Gary Sherrill
A Phoenix man has confessed to killing his own son with an ax on New Year's Eve.

According to Phoenix police Sgt. Steve Martos, police were called to an apartment near 12th Street and Bethany Home Road around 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday.

A call was placed by the victim's mother after her son was picked up by the victim's father, 51-year-old Gary Sherrill a day early. The mother and father are divorced, Martos said.

The mother told police, Sherrill failed to return their child and that she had been reaching out to her son and ex-husband.

When officers arrived, Sherrill told them his son was not home. Officers asked more questions and the suspect allowed officers into his home, Martos said.
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Green Light

Colorado opens first legal U.S. pot shops


RT
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 01:01 UTC
marijuana strains to purchase at the 3-D Denver Discrete Dispensary
© AFP Photo / Theo Stroomer

Tyler Williams of Blanchester, Ohio selects marijuana strains to purchase at the 3-D Denver Discrete Dispensary on January 1, 2014 in Denver, Colorado
The US State of Colorado has entered the New Year on a high note by becoming the first state to legally sell marihuana and open the retail spots for pot. Washington is set to follow suit and open its own recreational shops later in 2014.

At the start of New Year day, at 8 am local time, pot lovers from across the state lined up to be one of the first residents to legally participate in a $578 million market. Some people had been waiting since 1 am.

"I wanted to be one of the first to buy pot and no longer be prosecuted for it. This end of prohibition is long overdue," said Jesse Phillips, cannabis enthusiast from Colorado.

State residents can now legally indulge themselves with up to an ounce of marijuana from more than 30 shops that have opened their doors statewide. Residents from other states can buy up to one-quarter of an ounce.
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Light Saber

Federal judge strikes down Florida Gov. Rick Scott's welfare drug testing law

David Ferguson
RawStory
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 14:34 UTC
Gov. Rick Scott
© Unknown
A federal judge in Orlando, Florida ruled Tuesday that the state's law requiring drug tests from all applicants for public assistance is unconstitutional. According to the New York Times, Judge Mary S. Scriven found that the law - Tea Party Gov. Rick Scott (R)'s signature piece of legislation - violates the U.S. Constitution's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

"The court finds there is no set of circumstances under which the warrantless, suspicionless drug testing at issue in this case could be constitutionally applied," Scriven wrote.

The decision made permanent an earlier temporary hold she placed on the law, which was passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature and signed by Scott in 2011. Scott is refusing to back down, saying in a statement on Tuesday that the law was designed to ensure that children aren't being raised in homes headed by drug users.

"Any illegal drug use in a family is harmful and even abusive to a child," read the statement. "We should have a zero tolerance policy for illegal drug use in families - especially those families who struggle to make ends meet and need welfare assistance to provide for their children. We will continue to fight for Florida children who deserve to live in drug-free homes by appealing this judge's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals."
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Question

Mysterious downtown Minneapolis explosion injures over a dozen people

Caroline Porter
Wall street Journal
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 16:37 UTC
Image
© Associated Press
Firefighters work the scene where a fire engulfed several apartment units in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood in freezing Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Blast Hit Three-Story Building; Cause Is Unknown

A morning explosion rocked a three-story building east of downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday, injuring 13 people, six of them critically.
More than a dozen fire engines, ladder trucks and rescue vehicles were on the scene Wednesday to manage the three-alarm fire, according to Greg Nelson, senior supervisor for emergency communications for the city of Minneapolis. He added that authorities had done a primary search and didn't locate anyone in the building. The building houses a business on the first floor and two floors of apartment units.

John Elder, the police department's public information officer, said the first-floor business is a grocery. A nearby mosque is "in fine shape," he said.

The cause of the explosion is unknown.

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Megaphone

India: Blaming the victim, it's (still) your fault

Abby Zimet
Common Dreams
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 12:46 UTC
Image
© CommonDreams
The alleged attackers of a Swiss tourist.
Almost exactly a year after the brutal, fatal gang rape of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi that triggered mass protests, another young woman in another Indian city was raped twice, on two separate occasions, by two separate gangs, on Christmas Eve.

Since the death on Dec. 29, 2012 of 23-year-old Jyoti Signh Pandi, India has tightened sexual assault laws and created new fast-track courts for rape prosecutions, but much remains unchanged: New Delhi's reported rapes are said to have doubled, women regularly say they feel unsafe, and clueless officials continue to bad-mouth, harass and blame victims, even tourists - an insane response best exemplified in the 'It's Your Fault' spoof video:
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Question

Gone missing: 2,376 children go missing in Karachi in 2013


The Express Tribune
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 14:01 UTC
Missing Children
© The Express Tribune
Police failed to rescue any of the children with only 173 FIRs registered against the disappearances.
Out of the 2,736 children who went missing in Karachi last year, FIRs of only 173 were registered at different police stations, according to an annual report on missing children by a non-government organisation.

"If a child (under 18) goes out of contact with family or guardians, he or she is considered a missing child," said Muhammad Ali, head of Roshni Helpline, quoting the definition of a missing child from the Sindh Child Protection Act, 2013 and the United Nation's Convention on Child Rights (UNCRC).

According to the civil society group, around 2,736 children went missing within the jurisdictions of 114 police stations in the city in 2013. The police recorded 984 complaints but had included 811 of them as non-cognizable cases and subsequently registered FIRs of only 173 missing children.

Ali explained that the data in the report was also gathered from mosques as the "police did not record every case that was brought to them."
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Pistol

"You're lucky I didn't [explicit] shoot you!" warns tyrant cop to innocent homeowner


PSUSA
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 13:24 UTC
Image
An innocent man says he was visited by sheriff's deputies who pointed guns in his face and told him he was lucky they didn't kill him.

Connor Guerrero, a recent college graduate, says he was disturbed in his home recently when strange men began sneaking around his yard and pointing flashlights in his windows, giving him cause for alarm.

Guerrero assumed he was being scoped out by burglars and that this could be a "dangerous situation" for him. He attempted to deter the prowlers by banging on the door to declare his presence.

He then peeked out the door to survey his yard.
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Syringe

Welcome to the New Year! "No Refusal" checkpoints demand your saliva and blood


PSUSA
Sun, 29 Dec 2013 13:09 UTC
drug checkpoint
© NBC Los Angeles
LAPD performing a drug checkpoint
As drivers prove their innocence at warrantless police checkpoints this New Year, they will not only be scrutinized over their potential consumption of alcohol. A new technology will enable the police to detect and arrest drivers for having marijuana, narcotics, and "other drugs" in their bloodstreams.

The recently unveiled device is a portable saliva swab analyzer, capable of immediately sampling body fluids for the presence of foreign intoxicants. The machines were paid for by grants from the state.

"Traditionally, our office has focused on drunken driving cases," Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said."We're expanding drug collection and aggressively enforcing all impaired-driving laws."
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