Society's ChildS


Briefcase

Philadelphia forced to abolish civil asset forfeiture - must pay back victims the millions it stole from them

civil forfiture
© The Free Thought Project
The innocent family that had their home seized by police through civil asset forfeiture fought back, and their victory will affect other residents for years to come.

The city that has gained a reputation for the egregious civil asset forfeiture practices committed by its police department, will now be forced to dismantle the program altogether, as a result of a lawsuit filed by a family who had their home seized by police after their son was accused of a minor drug crime.

Residents who have been harmed by the Philadelphia Police department's civil asset forfeiture practices could also receive part of $3 million in compensation. Markela and Chris Sourovelis initially filed a lawsuit in 2014 after their son was caught trying to sell $40 in heroin on the street.

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Handcuffs

India criminalizes 'triple talaq' or instant divorce for Muslim men

triple Talaq bill
© Global Look Press/ Hindustan Times
Muslim men in India who try to break free of their marriage contract by simply repeating the word 'Talaq', or divorce, three times, will face jail for up to three years after the government criminalized the practice.

In what is being hailed as a major win for Muslim women's rights, the government cleared an ordinance banning the triple talaq practice on Wednesday. The Union Cabinet issued the executive order as the practice had continued "unabated"despite it being ruled unlawful in August last year by the Supreme Court. The five-judge bench decided the practice is un-Islamic. Addressing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said there was a "compelling necessity and an overpowering urgency" to approve the ordinance.

Attention

White Alabama students slammed online after photo surfaces of them standing on black teen 'as a joke'

white Alabama teens black student
© @agirlhasnopresident’s / InstagramThe seven boys found themselves in hot water over the photo.
A group of white Alabama high school students are at the center of a racism storm after a photo of them standing on a black pupil surfaced online with the caption 'We got us one.' Participants insist the stunt was a "joke."

The snap sparked fury on social media after it was handed over to a left-wing Instagram account, @agirlhasnopresident, which claims it contacted the school in question - Moody High School (MHS) in Alabama - to report the incident. According to the whistleblower's post, "every Friday during football season the students dress up." On the day the photo was taken, the whistleblower alleged that students were dressed up for 'Redneck Day.'

Pistol

Active shooter reports at office building in Middleton, Wisconsin

police tape
© J.L. Sousa, Register / Global Look Press
Police are responding to reports of an active shooter at a software company in Middleton, Wisconsin. Multiple ambulances have been sent to the scene.

The Greenway Station Mall in the area is also on lockdown due to incident, according to reports. Schools in the area are also reportedly on lockdown.

One local reporter from WISC-TV has said that several ambulances were loaded up and driven away from the scene. The status of the shooter is not yet known.

Comment: More details from FOX News:
Three people were wounded -- none fatally -- during a shooting at an office building in a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin on Wednesday.

The suspect died after being shot by police, a city official told The Associated Press.

The incident occurred at WTS Paradigm, a software company, in Middleton. The building where the shooting was reported also houses Esker Software.

City Administrator Mike Davis initially said four people were injured during the shooting, but he and Middleton Police Chief Chuck Foulke said the correct number is three, not including the suspect.


The extent of the injuries weren't immediately known, but those wounded had been transported to a hospital.

"It appears the situation is stable now," Davis said.

Others who evacuated from the scene of the shooting were being transported to a nearby hotel. At least 40 people were gathered in the hotel's parking lot, waiting to be interviewed by police.

Judy Lahmers, a business analyst at WTS Paradigm, said she was working at her desk when she heard shots at around 10 a.m. She said it sounded "like somebody was dropping boards on the ground, really loud."

wisconsin shooting
© Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via APA women is escorted from the scene of a shooting at a software company in Middleton, Wis., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.
Lahmers told The Associated Press she ran out of the building and hid behind a car. She said the building's glass entrance door shattered.

"I'm not looking back, I'm running as fast as I can. You just wonder: 'Do you hide or do you run?"' she said.

Lahmers said she knew one co-worker had been grazed by a bullet but was otherwise OK. She said the shooting was "totally unexpected. We're all software people. We have a good group."

The Wisconsin State Journal reported one woman, being held up by another person, was taken out of the building screaming about the "devastating loss."

Andrew King, an employee at TrafficCast, told the Wisconsin State Journal he saw a person with a gun.

"I saw a dude walking with a gun inside the building," King said. "He was just walking with it, and I didn't see any shooting."

The shopping center next to the building, Greenway Station, was locked down at the direction of police, according to the center's general manager, Corey Kautzky. There are 34 stores and restaurants in the center that were temporarily closed, Kautzky said.

Multiple police cruisers and ambulances were sent to the scene and the Wisconsin State Journal reported FBI agents had also arrived. The Dane County Sheriff's Office confirmed they were assisting Middleton police. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of St. Paul tweeted it was responding to the scene, too.

WTS Paradigm makes software for the building products industry. A Wisconsin State Journal profile from 2014 listed company employment at about 145 employees, and noted the company was looking to move to a larger location at the time. The company's website was down Wednesday.



Cult

Pope Francis shares benefits of 'passionate' love, slams pornography

pope francis
© Tony Gentile / Reuters
Sex is not taboo, but is rather a "gift from God" which is designed to show love and to create life, Pope Francis has stated, while criticizing pornography as part of an "industry of lies."

"Sexuality, sex, is a gift of God. Not taboo," Pope Francis told a group of young people from the Diocese of Grenoble-Vienne in France on Monday. That particular comment was in response to a 16-year-old who asked how to navigate in a world that "desecrates" the human body.

"Love between a man and a woman, when it is passionate, it leads you to give your life forever. Forever. And to give it with your body and soul," the pontiff explained, as quoted by the Catholic news website Crux.

Sheriff

Manhunt intensifies for 'survivalist' who threatened to 'put a bullet in Trump's head'

Shawn Richard Christy
© FBIShawn Richard Christy
Scores of state and federal officers on his trail, a $10,000 bounty on his collar, more than 100 days on the run and still the 'armed and dangerous' fugitive, a self-styled survivalist, has evaded police.

"Keep it up Morganelli, I promise I'll put a bullet in your head as soon as I put one in the head of President Donald J. Trump," the fugitive wrote on Facebook back in June, as cited by The New York Times, making criminal threats against the district attorney of Northampton County and the US president - and triggering a major manhunt in the process. The so-called 'Bush Crafter' also threatened to use "full lethal force on any law enforcement officer that tries to detain me."

In a federal warrant issued on June 19, authorities named Shawn Richard Christy, 26, of McAdoo Pennsylvania as the 'armed and dangerous' suspect. Christy already had multiple state warrants out for his arrest for failing to appear in court and aggravated assault and violating probation.

Crusader

Pope Francis says accused pastors are like Jesus on 'Good Friday'

pope_francis
© ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images
Bishops who are accused should remain silent like Jesus on Good Friday when the crowds called out for his crucifixion, Pope Francis said Tuesday.

When people insulted Jesus on Good Friday and shouted, "Crucify him," the pope said in his morning homily at the chapel of the Santa Marta residence, "he remained silent because he had compassion for those people deceived by the powerful."

"He was silent. He prayed," Francis said.

"In the same way, the pastor, in difficult times, in times when the devil is unleashed, where the pastor is accused-accused by the Great Accuser through so many people, so many powerful ones-suffers, offers his life and prays," the pope said.

Arrow Up

Over 200K sign petition supporting French bus driver who slapped adolescent for shouting insults after nearly causing an accident

RATP bus driver slaps middle school child
The petition in support of the RATP bus driver has reached over 200,000 signatures (bus image for illustration)
Over 200,000 people (and counting) have signed a petition in support of a RATP bus driver, who has been summoned for disciplinary proceedings after he slapped a "disrespectful" middle school boy.

At the time of writing, the petition has reached over 219,540 names; rising by the minute.

A phone video, filmed in Arcueil (Val-de-Marne, ‎Île-de-France), spread across social media (below), which appeared to show a RATP driver slapping a young boy during a heated discussion in front of a number of buses and other vehicles.

The boy, who is of collège (middle school) age, reportedly crossed the road in front of the bus in a dangerous manner, forcing the driver to brake sharply, endangering the bus passengers. The driver is then reported to have reprimanded the boy on his conduct.

The adolescent is then alleged to have shouted insults back, prompting the driver to get out of the bus, leading to him reportedly slapping the boy.

After the bus driver was summoned for disciplinary proceedings over the issue, his RATP colleagues started a petition in support, fearing sanctions on his behalf.

Comment: Psychologists say more and more young people are developing an entitlement complex


Oscar

Lowest ratings ever: Political issues and incessant progressive virtue signalling at the Emmys

Emmy activism
© Reuters/American Television AcademyEmmy activism: Messages and pins against Brett Kavanaugh, wearing Nike in support of Colin Kaepernick.
Hosts and nominees alike paraded their views on a constellation of political issues - from sexual harassment to Supreme Court nominations - throughout the most prestigious US TV awards. Not many tuned in to watch.

Only 10.2 million viewers, just 7.2 percent of US households turned on their sets to follow the Emmys on Monday night. This is 10 percent lower than last year's figures, which were already the worst-ever, and down from 17 million a mere five years ago.

Yet, just because there is no audience, it doesn't mean actors stop acting - or reflexively airing their political stances.

What you (probably) missed

For at least the third year running, Donald Trump was the elephant in the room, with co-host Colin Jost hoping that the Obamas "get way higher ratings" than the incumbent president's former show the Apprentice. The opening monologue also featured a barb about the first Emmys in 1949 - "when we all agreed that Nazis were bad" - and a joke about Roseanne being "cancelled... and picked up by white nationalists."

Handcuffs

Arrested for disrupting Kavanaugh hearing? Don't worry, Soros (who funded the protests) will also pay the legal bills

Kavanaugh hearing protest
© Alex Wroblewski / ReutersProtester removed from the Senate hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court
Protesters arrested at Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's hearing are being organized by Democrat-linked groups and their legal bills are reportedly paid by activists funded by billionaire liberal financier George Soros.

Photos circulated two weeks ago purported to show activists being paid in cash after disrupting judge Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation hearings. The photos raised speculation over whether the disruptions were grassroots liberal activism or an example of astroturfed 'manufactured dissent,' funded by Democrats.

The latter has now been confirmed, according to conservative news outlet The Daily Caller, which reported that a coalition of left-wing organizations is scheduling interruptions and ponying up the post-and-forfeit bills - a small cash payment of around $50 to resolve the offense and avoid jail time - of those arrested. The organizations named include Women's March, the Center for Popular Democracy, and Housing Works.

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