Society's ChildS


Cult

Polygamous community under microscope in Arizona trial

polygamy morman Utah
© Rick Bowmer/Associated Press Hildale, Utah, sits at the base of the Red Rock Cliff mountains, with its sister city, Colorado City, Ariz., in the foreground.
Government alleges city leaders, law enforcement serve at bidding of church leaders

A trial starting this week in Phoenix will pit a polygamous religious community against the U.S. government, which claims the community's public officers discriminate against people who don't share the sect's beliefs.

The Justice Department in 2012 sued Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, adjacent border towns populated by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or FLDS, which broke away from the mainstream Mormon Church after it rejected polygamy in 1890.

The government alleges that city leaders and law enforcement in the towns serve at the bidding of church leaders and routinely fail to protect the constitutional rights of all residents. Opening statements are slated to begin Wednesday in what is expected to be a five-week trial.

Testimony from current and former residents, police department members, public officials and outside experts is likely to offer a rare view into the inner workings of the roughly 10,000-person community, located about an hour's drive from mountainous Zion National Park.

The alleged discrimination, according to the Justice Department, includes refusing to arrest church members who committed crimes against nonmembers, destroying crops on nonmembers' farms and failing to fairly provide housing and utility services like water to nonmembers, in violation of federal laws.

People

Son of cleric al-Nimr speaks out - Saudi Arabia tortured & killed father for 'fighting for all people'

Saudi Arabia
© Unknown
Mohammed al-Nimr, the son of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, executed in Saudi Arabia in the beginning of the year, has told RT how his father fought for the rights of "all the people" while having been allegedly tortured after his arrest by Riyadh.

"He spoke for all the people, he didn't speak only for the Shia [community]. He asked the [Saudi] government to release all political prisoners. They got mad because he defended everyone who was oppressed by this government," Mohammed al-Nimr said, adding that many people looked up to his father when he started talking about human rights.

"That is one of the main things that they [Riyadh] didn't like about him," the cleric's son said.

People

Protesters unite across the US to demand higher wages, end police brutality on MLK Day

America US protest
© Michael B. Thomas / AFPSupporters and community leaders hold a march outside the Old Courthouse on Martin Luther King Day, January 18, 2016 in St. Louis, Missouri
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day has brought activists from many stripes into the streets. Airport workers in nine cities planned to block traffic and demanded a $15 minimum wage, while demonstrators protesting police brutality marched elsewhere.

In their latest push for a $15 minimum wage, airport workers took a page out of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s notebook by engaging in acts of civil disobedience on Monday. Fuelers, baggage handlers and other workers will risk arrest at nine airports across the US.

Workers at Boston's Logan International Airport demonstrated on the roads and in terminals in their bid for a increased wages and union organizing rights.

Bullseye

Four men booted off flight for 'looking too Muslim'; lawsuit filed

airline suit plaintiffs
© Aaron Showalter/NY Daily NewsThe four men were among six longtime pals who spent several days in Toronto this December.
A flight attendant kicked four Brooklyn men off a recent Toronto-to-New York flight for looking too Muslim — claiming their appearance made the captain uneasy, a new $9 million federal lawsuit alleges.

The four fliers from Brighton Beach were among six longtime pals who spent several days in Toronto this December.

They had originally booked different flights home, but later decided to return on the same 2 p.m. American Airlines flight.

Two of the pals, Shan Anand and Faimul Alam, paid $75 to switch to the flight that two others — who are comfortable being identified only by their initials, W.H. and M.K. — had already booked.

Comment: With anti-Muslim hysteria ramping up to epic levels this case is not the first and, most certainly, won't be the last.


Handcuffs

German Police arrest Algerian as first suspect in Cologne sexual assaults

German police
© AFP 2016/ PATRIK STOLLARZ
First suspect linked to a chain of sexual assaults committed in the German city of Cologne was arrested by local law enforcement, the Cologne public prosecutor said Monday.

On New Year's Eve, hundreds of women in Cologne were robbed and sexually assaulted by groups of aggressive men, believed to be mostly of Arab and North African origin.

According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, a 26-year-old Algerian is the first among 21 suspects under corresponding investigation to be arrested for a sexual offense.

Clipboard

Guitar Center orders employees to sign arbitration agreements or be fired

Guitar Center logo
Employees of the music equipment retailer Guitar Center have been told they must sign mandatory arbitration agreements or they will lose their jobs.

The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The Huffington Post, forces employees to relinquish their rights to sue the company in class action lawsuits over wage violations, workplace discrimination and unjust firings, among other disputes.

Sean Lynch, a sales employee at the company's Las Vegas store, said he and his colleagues were told they must sign the agreement by end of day Friday or they forfeit their jobs.

Comment: What they should all do is band together and file a class action lawsuit against Guitar Center for losing their jobs for refusing to sign a form prohibiting them from filing class action lawsuits - that'll show 'em. "Oh, if we sign this we're not allowed to sue you? How about we just don't sign it and collectively sue you?"

Not sure if that'll actually work, but it would be worth a shot. In the meantime, musicians should also band together and boycott Guitar Center if this new policy isn't changed. We should take our business elsewhere. Considering that the company is already facing bankruptcy, that will hit them where it hurts.


Sheriff

The high cost of transparency: NYPD charges $36,000 for body camera footage

police body camera
© NBC News
In the wake of growing controversy surrounding police violence, more police departments are equipping their officers with body cameras. However, while police-worn body cameras can bring extra evidence into cases on both sides, they are far from a fix for police brutality. The main obstacle with these cameras is the fact that the footage is still entirely controlled by police departments.

The officer in the field has an opportunity to turn the camera on and off at their discretion. The cops in the office then have a second opportunity to edit the footage or redact parts that might make the officer look bad or incriminate them. Additionally, police departments are often guilty of withholding body camera footage from victim's families and news organizations.

In one recent case, the NYPD charged a TV news network $36,000 for body camera footage, stating that it would cost them that much to prepare the footage for the network. The network is now suing the police department, stating that the high price undermines the transparency that body cameras have been promised to bring. Charging obnoxious prices for the release of body camera footage is just another trick that the police use to keep their activities from going public.

Fire

One killed, three injured in chemical plant explosion in Texas

Texas chemical plant explosion
© Jon Shapley

Three injured in blast during 'routine function' at facility on Bay Area Blvd.


Russell Sage heard a loud boom and felt blast waves shake his truck as he sat parked across the street from the PeroxyChem plant in Pasadena Saturday afternoon.

"All of a sudden, the truck vibrated and you could hear it," said Sage, 34, who was on call at a facility about 800 yards from the plant. "You could feel it in your chest."

Moments later, Sage saw police, paramedics and other emergency personnel rush into the plant in the 12000 block of Bay Area Boulevard. Two ambulances later left, one with lights blaring and the other silent.

PeroxyChem officials and police confirmed that one person was killed and three others injured during an explosion at 12:45 p.m. at a tank holding an oil-based cleaning solution, according to Vance Mitchell, with the Pasadena Police Department.

David Brannon, with the Pasadena Fire Marshal's Office, said the explosion was caused by an over-pressurized tank. Harris County Haz-Mat and Channel Industries Mutual Aid also responded to the accident, he said.

Comment: Several days ago four workers were critically injured in a Dow Chemical plant explosion in Massachusetts.


Arrow Down

Middle East stocks crash as the global financial apocalypse accelerates

apocalypse time
It looks like it is going to be another chaotic week for global financial markets. On Sunday, news that Iran plans to dramatically ramp up oil production sent stocks plunging all across the Middle East. Stocks in Kuwait were down 3.1 percent, stocks in Saudi Arabia plummeted 5.4 percent, and stocks in Qatar experienced a mammoth 7 percent decline. And of course all of this comes in the context of a much larger long-term decline for Middle Eastern stocks. At this point, Saudi Arabian stocks are down more than 50 percent from their 2014 highs. Needless to say, a lot of very wealthy people in Saudi Arabia are getting very nervous. Could you imagine waking up someday and realizing that more than half of your fortune had been wiped out? Things aren't that bad in the U.S. quite yet, but it looks like another rough week could be ahead. The Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are all down at least 12 percent from their 52-week highs, and the Russell 2000 is already in bear market territory. Hopefully this week will not be as bad as last week, but events are starting to move very rapidly now.

Much of the chaos around the globe is being driven by the price of oil. At the end of last week the price of oil dipped below 30 dollars a barrel, and now Iran has announced plans "to add 1 million barrels to its daily crude production"...

Comment: See also:


Heart - Black

Zero Tolerance idiocy: Girl suspended for sharing her inhaler with schoolmate having an asthma attack

schoolgirls
© Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Two honor roll students in Dallas were suspended and faced 30 days in an alternative school after one of the girls tried to save the other's life by sharing her inhaler. The school says it is an automatic decision when a controlled substance is involved.

Earlier in the week, 12-year-old Indiyah Rush offered her classmate, Alexis Kyle, 13, who has asthma, her inhaler when she saw her wheezing and gasping during gym class at Vernon Schrade Middle School in Dallas.

"I was just trying to save her life," Rush told Fox 4 News on Wednesday. "I didn't think I was trying to do anything bad."

Rush has had asthma since the age of five and carries a rescue inhaler.