Society's ChildS


Eye 2

Corrections officer in Ferguson, Missouri accused of raping pregnant women while in custody

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© Reuters/Joshua Lott
A 29-year-old correctional officer in Ferguson, Missouri, has been accused of raping a pregnant woman while she was in his custody, and then setting her free.

A federal lawsuit has been launched, and the officer Jaris Hayden, has been so far released on $10,000 bail.

In the legal documents obtained by the Huffington Post, it is said that the victim, known as JW, was arrested last October after police stopped her for an expired license plate, and she also gave the officers a false name.

The victim claims Hayden frequently sexually harassed her before the rape. For instance, when taking her to Ferguson jail, he said, "You smell good" and "This will teach you a lesson."

JW was visibly pregnant at that time.

When in the cell, JW was crying and begged to let her go home. Hayden allegedly said to her that she was "the kind of girl who would get me in trouble" and took the woman to the boiler room, unbuttoning his pants and told the victim that they were to have oral sex.

Sheriff

Former cop who videotaped himself having sex with teen girl while in uniform blames stress from being overworked

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© WOIOCharles Locke
A former Cleveland police officer blames stress for videotaping himself having sex with a 15-year-old girl while in uniform.

Charles Locke pleaded guilty last month to five counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, and one count of possessing criminal tools.

A judge sentenced him to 19 ½ years in prison Wednesday, citing the psychological damage he inflicted on the girl and the former officer's abuse of the public trust.

The 42-year-old Locke was fired after he admitted to the charges. The internal affairs investigator who handled the case called Locke an embarrassment and cancer to the Cleveland Police Department.

"Charles Locke is a monster," said internal affairs officer Carl Hartman.

Arrow Up

Elizabeth Warren decimates head of federal housing over failure to help homeowners facing foreclosure

elizabeth warren
When Harry Reid announced a new Senate Democratic leadership role for Elizabeth Warren, he was asked what he expected her to do. His response: "I expect her to be Elizabeth Warren." And now she is. A day after meeting with Walmart workers and vowing to fight for them, she decimated the new head of Federal Housing Finance Agency at a hearing for failing to help a single family - out of 5.3 million homeowners facing foreclosure - by using principal reduction relief programs required by law, and proven by numerous studies to be a win-win for both families and mortgage holders.

Mel Watt stammered and mumbled that "it has been a very difficult issue" and "we have to do this in a way that is responsible." Warren minced no words and ripped him a new one. The night after the hearing, in her first major speech in her new role, Warren went on to blast GOP so-called trickle-down economics for having "failed spectacularly." This is a leader. The woman below the video, not so much.

Comment: Kudos to Elizabeth Warren - we need more women in government who are willing to go up against the useless bureaucrats in Washington. What a refreshing contrast she is to war-mongering Hillary Clinton.


TV

Cliff Huxtable was a lie: Bill Cosby revealed as calculating sexual predator

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© Image by Jim Cooke, photo via AP
The truth is, Bill Cosby stopped being funny a long time ago.

It hurts to write that. I grew up watching The Cosby Show and A Different World (Cosby's other popular sitcom). Those shows have had a major influence on the man I've become. Cliff Huxtable, the loving father on The Cosby Show, was upstanding and open-hearted, strict, but not too strict. Cliff wasn't perfect - no father is perfect - but he was a model, like all good fathers should be. A good man.

With the Huxtables, Cosby established an "idealized version of family life." The Cosby Show quickly became the most popular sitcom on TV and, with the creation of A Different World, Cosby anchored the most successful TV programming block in history around fatherhood and family values. For five consecutive seasons, from 1985 to 1990, Cosby was the highest rated show in households on Thursday nights. Cliff was America's Dad, and Cosby's significance as a world-building TV pioneer was undeniable.

But Bill Cosby is not Cliff Huxtable. Cliff Huxtable was fiction. Hilton Als reminds us: "The power of fiction is that it includes everyone." The power of Cliff Huxtable was his ability to embody many meanings. We all saw fragments of the dad we knew or the dad we wanted in Cliff.

Bill Cosby, now, has become something other. He has become something more repulsive. We can no longer ignore the multiple allegations of rape that have been hurled at the legendary comedian. Fifteen women have accused Cosby of sexual assault. For so long, Cosby has been indestructible - beyond fame, his comedy and TV careers afforded him a cozy and safeguarded place in the public imagination. Not unlike Michael Jackson or Joe Paterno, our belief in Cosby's goodness and what he personified far outweighed the generations-old grime hidden underneath the mask. His importance became so immeasurable that, among particular circles, speaking ill of America's most beloved dad was treason - no matter how crazy he sounded from time to time.

But more victims keep coming forward and we can no longer look away.

The accounts of Cosby's terror are gruesome.

Comment: It's also worth watching this interview of Bill Cosby with the Associated Press where he asks that they "scuttle" the part of the interview where he's questioned about the rape allegations. He also clearly starts bullying the interviewer, showing off his mode of intimidation which, at least partly, is how he has gotten away with his predations for as long as he has.




Bulb

Tennessee introduces legislation to dismantle Common Core educational program

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On Wednesday, according to a press release, Tennessee State Representative Andy Holt (R-Dresden) introduced a resolution in the Tennessee House of Representatives that seeks to clarify Tennessee's position on Common Core and dismantle the de facto federal education program.

"A few weeks back, I asked my constituents what issues were most pressing to them. A full repeal of Common Core landed inside the top five. This resolution is a direct response to those calls for action," says Holt. "Our parents and local school boards know what is best for our children, not federal bureaucrats that have never stepped foot in Tennessee's 76th House District."

The resolution commends activists and parents in Indiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Oklahoma and North Carolina for successfully fighting off Common Core's implementation, and parents in other states like Tennessee that are entangled in a battle paralleling that of "David and Goliath".

"I want to ensure parents and activists in Tennessee know that I hear them loud and clear, and I want them to know how appreciated they are. This is for each and every one of them," says Holt.


Health

Canadian couple hit with $950K bill after premature birth in US face bankruptcy


Canadian parents hit with a bill of almost $1 million from a US hospital after their baby was born prematurely on vacation in Hawaii are now facing possible bankruptcy. Their story provoked a social media storm with many people offering to help.

Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel was six months pregnant when she travelled to Hawaii with her husband. She had consulted before the trip with her doctor, who gave her the go-ahead to travel. Things went wrong when her water broke two days into the trip. Jennifer was taken to the hospital by air ambulance and spent six weeks on bed rest before her baby girl was born by emergency caesarean section last December. Her daughter Reece, born nine weeks prematurely, spent two months in intensive care. Huculak-Kimmel was hit with a $950,000 bill, which the insurer refused to cover, citing a "pre-existing condition" allegedly not declared by the mother-to-be before the trip.

"Blue Cross said that because I had a bladder infection at four months and hemorrhaged because of that, that they would not cover the pregnancy," Huculak-Kimmel told CBC.

Pistol

Three wounded in Florida State university library shooting - gunman killed

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© APFlorida State University students stand outside Thursday morning at Strozier Library, which was roped off with police tape.
Three people were wounded, one critically, when a gunman opened fire at a Florida university library and was shot dead by police early on Thursday, officials said.

Officers confronted the attacker outside Florida State University's Strozier Library soon after midnight, ordered him to drop his weapon, then shot him when he fired on them, Tallahassee police said.

Three people were wounded, police spokesman David Northway told reporters, without giving further details. Officials at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare hospital said medics were treating two victims for gunshot wounds.

One of them was in critical condition, and the other was stable, a spokeswoman added.

Graduate student Alexandra Lauren told CNN that she was in the library at the time of the shooting.

"We heard the gunshots, and then it was in a matter of seconds the entire first floor just seemed to go into chaos," Lauren said, her voice wavering.

"It was very scary. I'm just more heartbroken than anything else. FSU means a lot to me," she added.

It was the latest in a series of shootings in schools and colleges that have prompted regular debates about gun control in the United States.

Calculator

Largest U.S. power grid hits monthly record due to cold weather

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© Twitter
PJM Interconnection, the operator of the biggest power grid in the United States, said on Wednesday that demand for power hit a new record for the month of November due to the cold weather.

Peak demand on Tuesday reached 121,987 megawatts (MW), topping the 114,699 MW reached last November.

Last winter, several power plants in PJM and elsewhere in the U.S. Northeast were not able to operate on the coldest days in part because there was not enough natural gas to fuel both the power units and heat homes and businesses due to pipeline constraints.

PJM, which operates the grid in 13 states from New Jersey to Illinois, said it has been taking steps to prepare for the winter season, including more testing of generating equipment and improving coordination with the gas pipeline industry.

Source: Reuters

(Editing by Chris Reese)

Dollars

Walmart workers worldwide call out world's richest greedy family for 'shameful' labor practices

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© Masaud AkhtarHundreds of Walmart workers and street vendors protested outside the corporation's headquarters in Gurgaon, India.
'The Waltons are at the center of the income inequality problems that are hurting the global economy and all of our families,' says worker


Calling out one of the world's richest families for perpetuating global inequality while reaping the benefits, Walmart workers in more than ten different countries are uniting on Wednesday in a global day of action for decent wages and respect at work.

With coordinated demonstrations planned in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, the United Kingdom, India, Zambia, Hong Kong, and the United States, workers and allies are teaming up with international trade union UNI Global Union to expose Walmart's bad labor practices throughout their stores, warehouses, and global supply chain.

"I'm working to build the profits of the richest family on the globe, while putting my safety at risk just to go into work," said one unnamed supply chain worker in a press statement. "The Waltons need to see and hear what they are doing to families around the globe. It's shameful."


Comment: The Waltons could care less about workers wages or benefits. They only care about their bottom line and how much money they can line their filthy pockets with.


The demonstrators are calling on the Walton family - which own over 50 percent share of Walmart and are estimated to be worth a combined total of $152 billion - to publicly commit to paying the company's 2.2 million retail workers and countless more supply chain employees a living wage.

Eye 2

6 high school football players alleged to have raped girl in woods near school arrested

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© WFTV
Police in Winter Springs said they have arrested six teens in connection to the alleged rape of a student last week.

Those arrested Wednesday were identified as Tywuan Johnson, 17, Torreano Batton, 18, Jose Sims, 17, Deoante Stewart, 17, and Tolbert Alexander, 16, all of Sanford; and Marquis Pierre, 16, of Winter Springs.

Police said all six are football players, and have been charged with sexual battery and false imprisonment.

Investigators said a 16-year-old Winter Springs High School student reported that she had been raped by a group of teens in a wooded area across from the school late Thursday afternoon.

According to investigators, the girl told them that she knew two of the attackers. Investigators said that over the weekend, they tracked down the accused juveniles in an effort to piece together what happened.

Comment: It's becoming increasingly common to see rape incidents like these not only at the high school level, but also involving athletes: