Society's ChildS


Sheriff

'We are 911!': Tyrant cops threaten to kick innocent family out of their own house

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 17:02 UTC
Debra A. Strobele Christopher Fields
When a man purchased an abandoned house at a city auction for tax-delinquent properties one year ago, he had no idea that the same people who were supposed to protect him from trespassers, would be the ones to illegally enter his property and threaten him.

Mohammad Ismail told Buffalo News that he knew the decrepit house was going to need a lot of work when he purchased it for $14,000-as it had not been lived in for years-but he had big plans to renovate it into a home for his wife and four children.

Ismail said that after his purchase of the home was finalized, and he obtained a building permit, he was working on the house on April 18 when he was approached by two Buffalo police officers. Officers Christopher Fields and Debra A. Strobele were both in uniform when they arrived in a patrol car.

Fields claimed he was the owner of the house, and he threatened that he would arrest Ismail and take him to jail if he did not leave. Ismail complied and said he left the house and went to City Hall to confirm that he owned the home.

The report from Buffalo News confirmed that Ismail is the owner, and noted that records from the city's Division of Housing and Inspection show that there were "numerous code violations at the property stretching back to 2013, the year Fields took ownership of the house."
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Take 2

Sexual misconduct allegations against public figures voted top news story of 2017 in AP poll

David Crary
Yahoo
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 16:44 UTC
sexual assaulters
© AP Photo
The wave of sexual misconduct allegations that toppled Hollywood power brokers, politicians, media icons and many others was the top news story of 2017, according to The Associated Press' annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors.

The No. 2 story was Donald Trump's tumultuous first year as president. A year ago, Trump's unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton in the presidential election was a near-unanimous pick for the top news story of 2016.

The first AP top-stories poll was conducted in 1936, when editors chose the abdication of Britain's King Edward VIII as the top story.
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Cow

Wife of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson bragged on Facebook that 'Russiagate' wouldn't exist without her husband

Joshua Caplan
The Gateway Pundit
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 16:38 UTC
Glenn Simpson Mary Jacoby
The wife of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, Mary Jacoby, is proud of her husband's work that led to mass Trump-Russia hysteria. Jacoby is so proud that she felt the need to boast on Facebook about how 'Russiagate,' would not exist if it weren't for her husband.

Tablet Magazine reports:
A Tablet investigation using public sources to trace the evolution of the now-famous dossier suggests that central elements of the Russiagate scandal emerged not from the British ex-spy Christopher Steele's top-secret "sources" in the Russian government-which are unlikely to exist separate from Russian government control-but from a series of stories that Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson and his wife Mary Jacoby co-wrote for The Wall Street Journal well before Fusion GPS existed, and Donald Trump was simply another loud-mouthed Manhattan real estate millionaire. Understanding the origins of the "Steele dossier" is especially important because of what it tells us about the nature and the workings of what its supporters would hopefully describe as an ongoing campaign to remove the elected president of the United States. [...]

In a Facebook post from June 24, 2017, that Tablet has seen in screenshots, Jacoby claimed that her husband deserves the lion's share of credit for Russiagate. (She has not replied to repeated requests for comment.) "It's come to my attention that some people still don't realize what Glenn's role was in exposing Putin's control of Donald Trump," Jacoby wrote. "Let's be clear. Glenn conducted the investigation. Glenn hired Chris Steele. Chris Steele worked for Glenn." This assertion is hardly a simple assertion of family pride; it goes directly to the nature of what became known as the "Steele dossier," on which the Russiagate narrative is founded.

Comment: Report: Russia 'dossier' was based on 10-Year-Old Wall Street Journal articles - not Russian sources

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Cross

"The separation of Church and State is no longer observed": Church plays same 'inglorious' role as in Nazi Germany - AfD leader


RT
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 15:37 UTC
Church
© Arno Burgi / Global Look Press
Vast parts of the Christian Church in Germany are getting more involved in politics, taking on a role it had under the Third Reich, a top AfD politician has told clerics in response to their criticism of the right-wing party.

"We now know that the official Churches, whether Evangelical [Protestant] or Catholic, are politicized through and through," Alice Weidel, Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) parliamentary group leader, told Focus magazine on Thursday.

"The separation of Church and State is no longer observed." Apart from a "few exceptions," the Church now has "the same inglorious role [it] played in the Third Reich," she said.

Weidel's harsh words came in response to comments by the Protestant Bishop Markus Droge, who questioned whether one "could credibly engage as a Christian in the AfD."
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Pistol

Police launch manhunt in Fresno California after series of random shootings on vehicles

Alex Dobuzinskis
Yahoo News
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 00:00 UTC
Fresno CA shooter targets drivers
© ReutersA bullet hole in a victim's vehicle window is shown in this photo in Fresno County, California, U.S., provided December 21, 2017.
Police in California's Central Valley have launched a manhunt for at least one suspect after a series of 10 random shootings on vehicles left one woman wounded this holiday season, officials said on Thursday.

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims has warned the shooting attacks, which have occurred in her jurisdiction and neighboring Madera County, could turn deadly.

"If this keeps going, it's going to be a matter of time before we have a murder investigation," Mims said at a news conference. "That's what we're trying to avoid."

Witnesses described the suspect's vehicle as a dark colored pick-up truck with oversized tires, Mims said. The motive for the shootings is unknown, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
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Palette

Not quite the "last da Vinci": Two more paintings attributed to Leonardo surface since record-breaking sale of Salvator Mundi

Katya Kazakina
Bloomberg
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 09:35 UTC
Leonardo Da Vinci Salvator Mundi
© TOLGA AKMEN/AFPAt $450 million, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi is the most expensive painting sold at auction.
Before Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi sold at auction for a record-shattering $450.3 million, it was marketed around the world as "the last Da Vinci" in private hands.

It turns out there is another-even two-out there. And at least one dealer thinks they could be worth as much as $200 million each.

Both are smaller-scale, devotional paintings depicting the same image: the Virgin Mary with the Christ child in her lap. The baby is holding a cross-shaped stick used to wind yarn, which has inspired the shared name, The Madonna of the Yarnwinder.

"They are both in private hands," said Martin Kemp, a da Vinci scholar and emeritus research professor of art history at Oxford University in the U.K. "I know both owners." (Christie's says they do not comment on works that are not consigned and stand behind their presentation of Salvator Mundi.)

Comment: See also: Holy Grail of art rediscoveries: Da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi' portrait expected to fetch up to $100M at auction

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Laptop

Chicago police say Facebook 'secret groups' used to sell guns, drugs

Bernie Woodall
Reuters
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 23:17 UTC
facebook website
© Facebook
Police in Chicago said on Thursday they have arrested 50 people suspected of using "secret groups" on Facebook to deal in guns and drugs, and have teamed up with the world's largest social media network to crack down on criminal trafficking online.

Announcing the arrests at a news conference, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson initially criticized Facebook as being unhelpful during a 10-month investigation by his department.

"Quite frankly, they haven't been very friendly to law enforcement to prevent these things," he told reporters.

However, police later said the department and the California-based company agreed to work collaboratively "to target any illegal activity on the platform."
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Ambulance

Italian police arrest 'ambulance of death' worker on suspicion of murdering patients


BBC
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 15:07 UTC
Ambulance in Italy
© Getty Images
Police on the Italian island of Sicily have arrested an ambulance worker suspected of killing people to earn money from a funeral parlour linked to the mafia.

The man is alleged to have injected air into the veins of at least three terminally ill patients as they were transported back to their homes.

He is said to have been paid €300 (£265) for each corpse.

Italian media have dubbed it the "ambulances of death" scandal.

Police arrested the man after a contact, said to be a reformed mafia member, gave details to authorities in the city of Catania and to an investigative TV programme. The ambulance worker is charged with voluntary homicide.
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Pistol

California cops investigating 10 random shootings targeting drivers

Jim Guy
Fresno Bee
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 14:52 UTC
Damaged car in Fresno
© Fresno Bee
Fresno and Madera County law officers are now investigating up to 10 shootings in which drivers are randomly fired upon, officials said Thursday.

Detectives are looking for a dark-colored, four-wheel-drive pickup with oversize tires and an extended or crew cab, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said during a news conference Thursday morning. She was joined at the conference by Madera County Sheriff Jay Varney and California Highway Patrol Capt. Eric Johnson, commander for the Fresno area. Valley Crime Stoppers also upped the reward to $3,000 for anyone who provides information leading to an arrest.

One person has been injured in the random shootings, a woman who sustained shrapnel wounds, apparently from broken glass. But, "If this keeps going, we are going to have a murder investigation," Mims warned.

The initial round of shootings happened between Nov. 27 and Dec. 7 in Fresno and Madera counties. In each case, the victims said they heard loud bangs as a vehicle passed them heading the opposite direction. More have occurred since then.
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Handcuffs

German police arrest 'ISIS-linked' man suspected of plotting car-ramming attack


RT
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 12:44 UTC
German police terrorist terrorism suspect
© Christoph Schmidt / AFPGerman police escort a man, suspected of planning to carry out a ramming attack, prior to his transportation to the federal court of justice on December 21, 2017.
German police have detained a man who they believe was plotting a car-ramming attack near an ice-skating rink in the city of Karlsruhe. He reportedly has connections to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).

Investigators say that preliminary information suggests the man, identified as 29-year-old German citizen 'Dasbar W.,' planned to ram a vehicle into the stands near the ice-skating rink, which is located in the center of the southwestern city of Karlsruhe. He allegedly scouted the location in August and had unsuccessfully tried to get a job as a delivery driver, which would have given him access to the area and a vehicle.

The suspect is also said to have been distributing IS propaganda videos and promoting its ideology in Whatsapp group chats. Prosecutors say he traveled to Iraq twice between 2015 and July 2017 to join IS and undergo firearms training. They also say he carried out reconnaissance missions for militant attacks in the city of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.
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