Society's ChildS


Wall Street

The real 2016 State of the Union: Things couldn't be better for Wall Street

Obama
Tomorrow night, the President Obama will deliver his final annual "State Of The Union" address. Just recently, the President gave a preview of his upcoming speech from the White House.


Heart - Black

Florida woman dies outside hospital after being arrested, forcibly removed by police from her room

Barbara Dawson
© ABC NewsBarbara Dawson
A Florida woman who was arrested for refusing to leave an emergency room of a local hospital collapsed and died in the hospital's parking lot later that day. Medical staff called police on her because they reportedly thought she was feigning her illness.

Barbara Dawson, 57, went to the Calhoun Liberty Hospital in Blountstown, Florida, on Dec. 20, 2015, to get treatment for her abdominal pain, ABC reports. She died in the early hours of Dec. 21, 2015.

Hospital officials said that Dawson was being unruly and refused to leave the hospital after medical staff examined and released her. A police officer was called to the hospital, and he arrested Dawson for disorderly conduct and trespassing.

Lawyers representing Dawson's family have released a police dash-cam video of the incident. Martha Smith-Dixon, Dawson's aunt, said in a news conference on Jan. 6 that she hopes the footage will bring "justice for Barbara," according to ABC.

Dawson is not visible in most of the dash-cam video but can reportedly be heard saying "Oh my God" and "I can't breathe" multiple times."You hear them insisting that she is going to jail," Benjamin Crump, the Dawson family lawyer, said about the video, Reuters reports. "You also hear hospital personnel repeating to her, 'There's nothing wrong with you,' as she continues to be in distress."


Comment: How utterly horrifying for this woman and her family. We hope the family sues and get millions. It's heinous that the police are now killing weak, infirm citizens in entirely new ways.


Handcuffs

Ex-inmate Shaker Aamer interview: Gitmo designed to 'destroy human beings'

Shaker Aamer
© Luke MacGregor / ReutersShaker Aamer speaks as he is reunited with other detainees from Guantanamo outside the U.S. Embassy in London January 11, 2016.
Guantanamo is run by psychologists with the sole purpose of destroying the human beings it holds, Shaker Aamer told RT in an exclusive interview. The US prison camp, from which he was released in October, is starting its 15th year of work.

"Guantanamo is being run by one concept: how to destroy a human being," Aamer, who regained his freedom on October 30 of last year after being held at Gitmo without charge since 2002, said.

MIB

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

CIA Drugs

Drug lords come and go, El Chapo's arrest of little consequence, doing nothing to stem the flow of illicit drugs. Business as usual continues.


His operation and others like his pale compared to CIA global drugs trafficking - a topic the media won't touch.

Its involvement began in 1947, its first year of existence. In his book titled "The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade," Alfred McCoy documented CIA and US government complicity in drugs trafficking at the highest official levels.

It continues today in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South and Central America, facilitating the global supply of illicit drugs.

Gary Webb's expose of CIA involvement in Nicaraguan drugs trafficking, supporting the Contras, dealing with Los Angeles crack dealers, made him a target for vicious vilification - hounding him out of journalism into deep depression, either committing suicide or succumbing to foul play.

Handcuffs

Delusional Florida teacher threatens to let gunman in school to shoot third graders if the class 'disrespected her'

Empty classroom
© Palm Beach Post
A freshly trained substitute teacher in Volusia County schools was banned after she reportedly told students she'd let a gunman in the building to "shoot them in between the eyes."

Linda Baker, 61, was assigned to cover a third-grade classroom at Turie T. Small Elementary School in Daytona Beach last Thursday for her first working in the district after undergoing substitute teacher training last month, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

About 20 students were in class and apparently misbehaving when Baker allegedly concocted a story about a gunman with an AK-47 to get their attention. Statements from students and parents contend Baker dangled her keys in front of students and told them if they don't pipe down she let someone in to "shoot them in between the eyes," parents told WESH.

Volusia County school district spokeswoman Nancy Wait told the Sentinel the class' full-time teacher was at a training session and stopped in to check on her students. They reportedly told her about the threat and she relayed the comments to administrators.

School officials questioned students and asked them to write down what occurred, and the consensus was that Baker told them "that if the class disrespected her ... that it has been known for people to come to the school with an AK-47 and shoot the kids, and that she has a key to the classroom and that she would let them in to shoot them between the eyes," according to the police report cited by the news site.

"It was pretty clear that she had said these things to the students," Wait said. "It was a very inappropriate comment." One parent told WESH his son was traumatized by Baker's comments. "He was very shaken," the parent said. "He had difficulty, at first, going to sleep."

Comment: Substitute or not, who on Earth lets lunatics like this into schools? She should probably be arrested and charged.


Bulb

Nanny state: Federal government passes law allowing students to walk to school alone

school child
© Shkljoc via Shutterstock
Relax, parents. Now you can allow your kids to walk, ride a bike, or take a bus to school, without you or your children getting arrested. The recently-signed Every Student Succeeds Act contains a section (858) that protects the rights of kids to walk or go out alone. The act was sponsored by Utah senator Mike Lee, who is a supporter of the Free Range Kids movement, and provides some hope for parents who feel that their kids should be allowed some autonomy to get by own their own.

The inclusion of a section that lets the parents choose what is appropriate is welcome. Though it doesn't replace any state or local laws, such clarification could go help curb the growing trend of cops picking up kids while they play or travel unattended. We've all read these stories, and there is a juicy selection on the Free Range Kids blog—the mother who was arrested because her eight-year old son showed some initiative and walked to school after he missed the bus. Or the story of the Meitiv family of Maryland, whose kids (age 10 and 6) were picked up by cops in three cars and detained for six hours, away from their parents. Why? They were walking home from the park. (The parents have since been cleared of all charges).

Comment: This really shows how far we've come as a nanny state that we need an act to protect something so normal, natural and necessary in developing a child's autonomy and independence. Unfortunately this federal law will not supersede state and local laws so police and child services may not play along.

Such a sad state of affairs as the US continues to slide towards complete totalitarianism.


Bad Guys

Islamic State killing Muslims: 51 killed in single day of terror attacks in Baghdad and nearby towns

An aerial view of central Baghdad
© Reuters
At least fifty one people lost their lives in a series of terrorist acts that rocked the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and two other towns on Monday. The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) extremist group has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks.

In the predominately Shia Muslim Baghdad al-Jadida district, a group of gunmen broke into the Jawaher mall after detonating a car bomb and staging a suicide attack at the entrance. At least 18 people were killed in the assault, which also left 50 wounded, AP reported, citing Iraqi officials.

Iraqi Samarra TV has released an alleged video of the attack.

No Entry

State of Emergency: Radioactive material, byproduct of Uranium, released from massive gas blowout in LA

leaky gas well
© @latimesgraphicsApproximate location of safety valve. (not scaled to specs or shape) Source: Southern California Gas Co.
Expert: "A lot" has been detected, very dangerous
Official: "Levels can cause "significant health risks."


Robert Kennedy Jr., Jan 8, 2016: Their animals are dying... their fish are dying in their fish bowls, their dogs are dying, their cats are getting sick. And their children are getting sick — they're suffering nose bleeds, they're suffering terrible debilitating migraine headaches, asthma attacks, respiratory infections, eye infections, ear infections, stomach ailments...

The health impact — it's not just methane coming out of that hole... This is global crisis, more importantly this is a local crisis. Because not only do you have methane — you have benzene, toluene, xylene, which are carcinogenic. You have hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide — which are neurotoxic, which can injure your brain, affect memory, injure your kidneys, your liver, your other bodily organs. There's also a lot of radon gas being measured in the area. People believe — we don't know if this is true — the gas that is leaking at 2 miles deep is now coming out and pushing that radon up into people's living rooms, their bedrooms, their nurseries.


Comment: See also: Doctors: Unusual infections around massive gas blowout in LA...Leave, do it now


Sheriff

Wrongful death suit claims police put hood over inmate that caused him to asphyxiate while beating him in jail cell

Jack Marden
Jack Marden
Naked, agitated and restrained in a chair, Jack Marden pleaded with officers to remove a "spit hood" covering his face, to let him breathe.

The clash on 11 February began when the 56-year-old, locked up in Midland County jail on assault charges, became combative with sheriff's deputies following brief questioning by a pair of healthcare workers.

The workers - called in by a sheriff's deputy after an earlier dispute with Marden - asked officers to move the inmate back to his cell, at which point Marden began to act belligerently, deputies later said, complaining that "people were trying to hurt him" and "that the French government was confiscating his money".

The situation - depicted in a federal lawsuit, documents and handheld video obtained by the Guardian - continued to escalate. Concerned by his erratic action in the cell, where officers said the 205lb Marden showed signs of "superhuman strength", a deputy ordered a group of emergency response team officers to transfer him to a hospital for observation.

Within minutes, officers had entered Marden's cell and pinned him to the ground. A deputy struck him in the head, after Marden managed to "grab his testicles and squeeze", an incident report stated. As officers worked to restrain Marden, a deputy placed a spit hood over his face, the report continued, as Marden had "begun to manipulate his mouth as if he intended to spit".

Heart - Black

Sickening: 4 teens arrested over gang-rape of 18yo woman after ordering father to leave park at gunpoint

NYPD vehicle
© Stephanie Keith / Reuters
Four teenagers (ages 14, 15, 15 and 17) suspected of gang-raping a young woman at a Brooklyn playground, after ordering her father to leave by pointing a gun at him, have been taken into custody.

One other suspect remains at large. The attack took place on Thursday and locals are angered information about the incident has only just appeared. The suspects were taken into custody on Sunday.

"Why are we only just hearing about this yesterday?" Kakeshia Taylor, 27, a mother of three told the New York Times."This is breaking news. We need to know what's happening in our neighborhood."

Five young men, one of them armed, approached the father and daughter at Brooklyn's Osborn Playground at around 9:10pm on Thursday, according to the police report. The play area, where the two were drinking beer, is a notoriously dangerous place at night

"One of them put a gun in my face, telling me to run, and all of them had their way with her," the father told WABC.