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Violent cop who repeatedly punched surrendering man in the face found not guilty

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 20:14 UTC
police attack
A Massachusetts State Police trooper was found not guilty Thursday of simple assault after police violently arrested a non-violent man who'd surrendered after a chase and was lying face down on the ground.

As news crews filmed from helicopters hovering above, Richard Simone exited his truck, kneeled, and lay prone on his stomach on the asphalt - but several officers rushed the man and initiated a savage attack in what appeared to be retaliation for having led them on an hour-long pursuit through the two states.

After the violent beating went viral, New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster announced that Joseph Flynn of the Massachusetts State Police and Andrew Monaco of the New Hampshire State Police were charged with several counts of simple assault for excessive use of force.

Flynn was charged with two counts of simple assault, while Monaco received three simple assault charges. But, as Foster's office advised at the time, the Washington Post paraphrased, "because the two troopers were on-duty law enforcement officers during the incident, their charges could see an enhanced penalty."
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Sheriff

Ethical dilemma: Australian cops secretly ran one of world's largest child pornography sites for almost a year to catch pedophiles


Sputnik
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 19:49 UTC
child abuse
© CC0 / Pixabay
Reports about Australian police having secretly administered one of the world's largest child pornography sites have caused vivid reactions on social media.

An undercover operation that was led by Argos, a special unit of the Australian police in Queensland specializing in combating pedophilia, has led to numerous arrests worldwide.

The operation's main goal was to identify and catch potential rapists. It had led to "significant rescues of children globally," the Argos commander, Insp Jon Rouse, was quoted by The Guardian as saying.
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Display

Phony lab fleeces the government of its excess property to the tune of up to $11million

Charles S. Clark
Government Executive
Thu, 12 Oct 2017 19:49 UTC
pile of computers
A mysterious nonprofit known as Northridge National Laboratory, based in a Milwaukee suburb, for years used the government's excess property disposal program to acquire computer hard drives, laptops, microscopes, medical beds, a seismograph and even vehicles.

The problem? Northridge doesn't appear to be the ongoing scientific enterprise it claims to be, according to affidavits filed by a federal investigator. The organization's skeletal website contains little in the way of specifics about its activities, and nothing about the principals involved. A query sent through the website's contact page was not returned.

Northridge allegedly targeted multiple federal agencies in an effort to arrange delivery of excess equipment according to affidavits submitted in connection with applications for search warrants, one of which is included in a TechDirt post based on a series of tweets by Seamus Hughes of George Washington University. The applications, submitted under oath to the U.S. District Court for Eastern Wisconsin by a special agent with the Veterans Affairs Department inspector general's office, allege there is probable cause to believe Patrick R. Budic, a principal with Northridge National Laboratory, committed wire fraud and made false statements to investigators. If proved true, the allegations also would expose lapses in interagency communication, security precautions and fraud prevention due diligence.
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Health

Australian police believe missing woman killed and eaten by crocodile after finding clothing and human remains near riverbank


Sputnik
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 19:43 UTC
Lurking crocodile
© Alexander Cahlenstein
Australian police believe a missing pensioner was killed and eaten by a crocodile, after finding her clothes and walking stick on a riverbank close to the residential home where she was living.

Police and wildlife officers in Port Douglas, north of Cairns in Queensland, are setting traps for a large crocodile which they believe ate a pensioner who wandered off by herself from a residential care facility.

Anne Cameron, 79, was last seen at the residential home in Port Douglas, north of Cairns, on Tuesday afternoon. Believed to be a dementia sufferer, police think she left the premises after becoming disorientated.

​The emergency services have found clothing and a walking stick with Cameron's name on it close to a crocodile-infested creek. They also found some human remains further away and are awaiting the results of forensic tests.​
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Handcuffs

Federal judge threatens Arizona prison officials with contempt for 'pervasive, intractable failures'

C. J. Ciaramella
Reason
Thu, 12 Oct 2017 08:00 UTC
Arizona prison inmates
© Patrick Breen/The Arizona Republic via AP, file
The threat comes three years after officials agreed to improve the disastrous lack of healthcare

A federal judge said Tuesday he is considering holding Arizona prison officials in contempt of court for their "pervasive and intractable failures" to abide by a 2014 agreement to improve care of inmates in the state prison system.

Three years ago, the Arizona Department of Corrections agreed to settle a federal class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and several other law firms by taking steps to improve medical care inside its prisons. The lawsuit, filed in 2012, followed media investigations and persistent allegations of fatally inadequate medical care by the department's medical provider, Corizon.

Prison officials have been accused of defying court orders and intimidating inmate witnesses as they resisted complying with the settlement. An increasingly exasperated U.S. Magistrate Judge David K. Duncan issued an order Tuesday calling on the department to show why it should not be held in civil contempt for failing to meet the guidelines and benchmarks in the agreement.
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Eye 2

London police hunt for sexual predators after teenage girl is attacked three times in one hour walking home


RT
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 19:27 UTC
london sex attack
© Met Police
Police are hunting three separate men after a teenage girl, in a harrowing ordeal, was attacked three times in one hour in east London.

The horrifying attacks took place as the girl attempted to make her way home to central London from Tower Hamlets, after becoming separated from her friends.

The 17-year-old girl was attacked between 11:55pm on Friday, September 29 and 12:55am the next day. CCTV footage of a man carrying the girl shortly before midnight has been uncovered.
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Red Flag

Researchers warn bromances are affecting heterosexual relationships


RT
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 19:15 UTC
bros
© Arnold Drapkin / Global Look Press
'Bromances' are threatening heterosexual relationships, researchers say, as men surveyed report sharing beds, cuddling and getting more emotional satisfaction out of male friendships than those with women.

The University of Winchester interviewed 30 undergraduates, and found 28 would rather talk about emotional issues with their male friends rather than girlfriends. The majority also said it was easier to resolve conflicts with men, and admitted they kept secrets from partners which they shared with male friends.

One man surveyed, 'Harvey,' said: "Well, for example, Tim knows I love listening to Taylor Swift and Beyonce, but I keep that quiet because [my girlfriend] would judge me. I feel like I have to be more manly around her."
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Heart - Black

Florida school district forced to pay up after blaming 4 third-grade girls for being molested by teacher in 2005

Scott Travis
Sun-Sentinel
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 19:01 UTC
Blake Sinrod

Blake Sinrod pleaded guilty to child abuse charges in 2005. Adjudication was withheld after he met the terms of his probation.
When a teacher molested four little girls in 2005, the Palm Beach County School District placed the blame squarely - on the third-graders themselves.

The children were "old enough to appreciate the consequences of their actions" when they did what their teacher told them to, the district said in court documents.

In response to a lawsuit from the girls' families, the district said the children "conducted themselves in a careless and negligent manner" and administrators should not be held responsible.

Now, a dozen years after the incident, the district is poised to pay $3.6 million to settle the lawsuit.
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Magic Hat

CNN claim that Russia used Pokemon Go to meddle in US elections gets mocked online


RT
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 18:55 UTC
Pokemon Go
© Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters
An investigation by CNN has discovered that suspected Russian actors allegedly used the popular augmented-reality game Pokemon Go to sow discord and fuel racial tensions among Americans during the 2016 US presidential election.

The report alleged that a Tumblr page linked to a supposed Russian hacking group promoted a contest encouraging people involved in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement to play Pokemon Go at sites known for being scenes of police brutality. The aim, the report claimed, was to inflame racial tensions.

In what seems an elaborate, and rather contrived, scheme, players were apparently told to change their characters' names to victims of the incidents. A post by 'Eric Garner', the name of a man who died after being put in a chokehold by police in Staten Island, New York, in 2014, even promoted a contest offering the winner an Amazon Prime gift card. CNN found no evidence that anyone entered the contest.

"According to CNN logic, African Americans shape their public stance playing Pokemons," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook. "That is how feebly the TV channel explains the emergence of racial problems in modern USA. Russians are to blame again... and the Pokemons they control."
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Chart Bar

Should life insurance companies be prohibited from giving longevity predictor tests?

Ronald Bailey
Reason.com
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 18:55 UTC
dancing seniors
Two as-yet unidentified life insurance companies plan to use Life Epigenetics' M-Panel test to predict how long potential clients will live. The test, based on research by the UCLA scientists Steven Horvath and Brian Chen, essentially estimates an individual's biological age (as opposed to his chronological age) using markers associated with turning various genes off or on.

Horvath and Chen report that for about 5 percent of the people who take it, the M-Panel test finds that their biological age is around 10 years higher than their chronological age. For those unfortunate people, their risk of mortality is 48 percent higher than the average for their age cohort. More happily, about 20 percent of the test population learns that their biological age is 5 years younger, and their mortality risk 18 percent lower.

Needless to say, this could have interesting consequences for the life insurance market. If my results indicate that my biological age is younger than my chronological age, an insurer would be happy to charge me less for a term policy. On the other (and sadly more likely) hand, if my test indicated that my biological age is greater than my chronological age, the insurer would want to charge me higher premiums.
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