Society's ChildS


Info

Would professional liability insurance requirement for police weed out the bad cops?

cops with sticks
In almost every city across the US, tax dollars are used to cover the damages and settlements from lawsuits filed against their police departments due to officer misconduct. Taxpayers, in essence, pay out massive amounts in damages for officers not doing their job properly. Additionally, the cost is compounded because taxpayers are forced to continue paying the salaries of these criminal cops.

City officials don't have the guts to hold officers accountable for their actions. So, a new approach is necessary to hold rogue officers responsible for their conduct.

Just like doctors have to carry malpractice insurance, police officers should be required to carry professional liability insurance as a condition of employment. For years, the Free Thought Project has been advocating this approach to force police accountability and, according to a new report out of Reuters, it's happening.

Sheriff

Denver police have been accessing confidential databases for less-than-official reasons like dating and stalking

police car computer
© motorola
Denver Police have been abusing the confidential database in their department for personal reasons — as in trying to get dates and to "enable stalking."

According to the report by the Denver Office of the Independent Monitor, which assessed law enforcement performance for 2015, officers often faced only minor oral or written reprimands for their transgressions. But this discipline could be seen as disproportionate to the potential harm caused by breaching the database for unofficial, unsanctioned purposes.

Both Denver Police and Sheriff's Department were evaluated by the monitor, and both were found to have abused the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and Colorado Crime Information Center (CCIC).

Comment: Another example of how the boys in blue consider themselves above the law and use their positions to prey on others.


Stock Down

Ian Brzezinski reveals how to end the Russian economy

Russia sanctions
Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ

Western countries should impose additional sanctions against entire sectors of the Russian economy, and not just deal with the extension of the current restrictions. This was stated by senior researcher of the analytical center "Atlantic Council" Ian Brzezinski.

"The West should get to strengthening these actions from targeted sanctions, directed against certain Russian citizens and organizations to the more extensive and comprehensive sanctions against Russian financial and energy sectors instead of discussing the relevance of extension of sanctions against Russia," said Brzezinski during the hearing at the US Senate.

Comment: Apparently Ian Brzezinski hasn't figured out that no matter what sanctions get put on Russia, it will find a way to use them to its advantage.


Arrow Down

Citizens oust prosecutors criticized for mishandling cases of police brutality

Anita Alvarez
Anita Alvarez
Two prosecutors criticized for mishandling cases of police violence against Black youth in Chicago and Cleveland lost primary battles in their counties Tuesday night.

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez was defeated in Tuesday night's primary by Democratic challenger Kim Foxx, amid criticism of the incumbent's mishandling of the Laquan McDonald case. McDonald's death sparked a national outcry after video surfaced last November showing police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting the teen 16 times in less than 30 seconds as McDonald faced away.

"I have been criticized that I wasn't a very good politician, and that's probably right, and that's probably why I stand before you tonight," Alvarez said Tuesday during her concession speech. "But I am very damn proud of the fact that I am a good prosecutor, I have been."

Many, however, argue that Alvarez helped Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel cover up the death of McDonald. Although the state's attorney did eventually charge Van Dyke with murder after a judge ordered video of McDonald's shooting to be released, that was 400 days following the teen's death.


Comment: While Alvarez's ouster was much needed, Rahm Emanuel's head should be on the chopping block as well for his role in the cover up of not only the Laquan McDonald murder, but also the secret facility Homan Square that the Chicago Police Department used to disappear and torture thousands.

Airplane

American Airlines flight struck by lightning, forced to land at JFK

American Airlines
© Robert Alexander/Getty Images
An American Airlines flight bound for New York's LaGuardia Airport made an emergency landing Thursday night after it was struck by lightning, ABC-owned WABC in New York reported.

American Airlines flight 4233 was en route to LaGuardia from Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, when a pilot reported a lightning strike around 6:06 p.m. Thursday, according to WABC. The flight was diverted to nearby JFK airport, which has longer runways.

Snakes in Suits

Selective memory: Trump denies saying he would pay legal fees of supporter who punched protester

Donald Trump
Crackers
Two days after saying he told his team to look into paying the legal fees of a supporter who sucker-punched a protester at one of his rallies, GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump argued he never said he would pay the fees.

Speaking on ABC's Good Morning America, Trump was asked by George Stephanopoulos whether paying the legal fees for the protester would constitute supporting violence.

"I don't condone violence," Trump said. "I didn't say I would pay for his fees."

"Nobody has asked me for fees and I haven't even seen it, so I never said I was going to pay for fees," he added.

Comment: Demagoguery and cognitive dissonance: Making America great again?


Nuke

Fukushima five years later: "Fuel rods melted through their containment vessels, no one knows where they are now"

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan February 10, 2016
© Toru Hanai / ReutersFukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan February 10, 2016
Today, Japan marks the fifth anniversary of the tragic and catastrophic meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant. On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the northeast coast of Japan, killing 20,000 people. Another 160,000 then fled the radiation in Fukushima. It was the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, and according to some it would be far worse, if the Japanese government did not cover up the true severity of the devastation.

At least 100,000 people from the region have not yet returned to their homes. A full cleanup of the site is expected to take at least 40 years. Representative of the families of the victims spoke during Friday's memorial ceremony in Tokyo. This is what Kuniyuki Sakuma, a former resident of Fukushima Province said:
For those who remain, we are seized with anxieties and uncertainties that are beyond words. We spend life away from our homes. Families are divided and scattered. As our experiences continue into another year, we wonder: 'When will we be able to return to our homes? Will a day come when our families are united again?'

There are many problems in areas affected by the disaster, such as high radiation levels in parts of Fukushima Prefecture that need to be overcome. Even so, as a representative of the families that survived the disaster, I make a vow once more to the souls and spirits of the victims of the great disaster; I vow that we will make the utmost efforts to continue to promote the recovery and reconstruction of our hometowns.
Sadly, the 2011 disaster will be repeated. After the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, Japan was flooded with massive anti-nuclear protests which led to a four-year nationwide moratorium on nuclear plants. The moratorium was lifted, despite sweeping opposition, last August and nuclear plants are being restarted.

Meanwhile, while we await more tragedy out of the demographically-doomed nation, this is what Fukushima's ground zero looks like five years later. As Reuters sums it up best, "no place for man, or robot."

Sheriff

Cop who viciously shoved and slapped elderly man cleared of all charges

officer Ramirez
Officer Victor Ramirez mid-assault.
A video uploaded to YouTube went viral last year, showing Fort Lauderdale police officer Victor Ramirez harassing and assaulting an elderly gentleman at the Broward Bus Terminal in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Shortly after the department watched the video, Ramirez was charged with battery and falsifying the police report since he made no mention of the assault. However, on Wednesday, a jury, clearly sympathetic to police brutality, found Ramirez not guilty on all counts.

Somehow, the defense managed to convince the jury that Ramirez acted appropriately when he threw an inebriated elderly man to the ground and slapped him so hard across the face that it echoed in the bus terminal.

Comment: Slap-happy cop gets slapped back: Battery charges filed


Cross

Pope fires Vatican ambassador to U.S. over Kim Davis invite

pope Francis
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is a staunch conservative and was vocally opposed to same-sex marriage throughout his five-year tenure as the Vatican's nuncio (ambassador) to the United States.

He also sent an anonymous invite to Ms. Kim Davis, of anti-equality fame, to the Pope's DC visit. While people, here and elsewhere, initially thought this was a coup for Davis and bigotry, Pope Francis turned the other cheek.

And now word comes that the incident is prompting The Vatican to replace Vigano. A friend of the Pope's claimed he was blindsided by the meeting, and the move caused the Vatican to distance itself from Viganò, leading many to believe the Pope would quietly replace him as his "statutory retirement age" was approaching. Viganò turned 75 in January; when bishops and archbishops reach that age, they are required to submit a letter of resignation to the Vatican.

Rainbow

LGBT activist wins court case against Russian region over wrongful gay pride ban

Russia LGBT
© Alexey Filippov / Sputnik
A court in the Northern Russian city of Kostroma has ruled that municipal authorities had wrongly banned LGBT marches and pickets and ordered monetary compensation in favor of gay rights activist Nikolay Alekseyev.

The press service of the Sverdlovsk District Court in Kostroma reported on Monday that the judge ruled to partially fulfill two lawsuits filed by Alekseyev against the Financial Directorate of the city administration and ordered the city authorities to pay the activist compensation of 6,000 rubles plus 300 rubles of court fees (about $90 in total). The press service added that one more "Alekseyev vs. Kostroma administration" case was still being considered.

According to Russian news portal RBC, the court decision concerned the events of April 2014, when city authorities in Kostroma refused to license a gay pride event that organizers named 'For Ranevskaya!' in honor of Soviet-era movie actress Faina Ranevskaya, known for a collection of her witty sayings. One such famous saying was "Homosexuality is not a perversion. Field hockey and ballet on ice are," and activists intended to carry slogans with this phrase at their event. The other court decision dealt with the official ban on the gay pride parade in Kostroma in June 2014.