Society's ChildS


People 2

Voter fraud? Judicial Watch finds 11 California counties have more registered than eligible voters

US voting booths
© Bria Webb / Reuters
US President Donald Trump has complained of "voter fraud" time and again, prompting critics to accuse him of paranoia. However, 11 California counties have more registered voters than eligible voters, according to a new report.

The discrepancies were found by Judicial Watch, a conservative foundation which says it fights for accountability and integrity in law, politics, and government.

The watchdog analyzed data from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the most recent California total active and total inactive voter registration records.

Through its analysis, Judicial Watch found that 11 counties had more registered voters than eligible voters.

San Diego County was found to have the biggest discrepancy according to the analysis, with 38 percent more registered voters than people who are legally allowed to vote. San Francisco County placed second, with 14 percent more voters.

Sheriff

Blue privilege: Cops plead guilty to stealing and selling drugs, will not go to jail

cops steal drugs
In a massive blow to justice and a nail in the coffin that is police accountability, two former cops who pleaded guilty to arresting people for drugs, stealing those drugs, and selling them for themselves, will not see a single day behind bars.

As the Free Thought Project reported in May, former sheriff's deputies Logan August and Derrick Penney pleaded guilty to a massive conspiracy in which they would arrest people for selling drugs only to turn around and use those drugs to enrich themselves.

Birthday Cake

California bakers refuse to make pro-Trump birthday cake for 9-year-old

Dylan Harbin letter Donald Trump
A letter from 9-year-old boy Dylan to President Donald Trump. The letter was read from the podium by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the July 26, 2017 White House press briefing.
A boy whose letter to President Trump made national headlines last month reportedly wanted a pro-Trump cake for his birthday party, but his mother was unable to find a baker willing to fulfill the order.

At the July 26 White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders read a letter from a boy named Dylan who said Mr. Trump was his favorite president. When she later released the letter publicly, the boy's last name was blacked out. The only identifying clue was that everyone called him "Pickle."

The media scrambled to verify the letter's authenticity, and the next day, The Washington Post confirmed it was sent by 9-year-old Dylan Harbin of California.

The Post reported that, when Dylan asked for a "Donald Trump cake" for his birthday, his mother "made him one herself, because she couldn't find a bakery willing and able to do it."

Michael P. Farris is president, CEO and general counsel of the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian legal group defending Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker who was sued by a gay couple for declining to make their same-sex wedding cake.

Mr. Farris wondered why bakers are allowed to decline to make birthday cakes supporting Mr. Trump, but not wedding cakes supporting same-sex marriage.

Shoe

Idiot jogger in London shoves woman in front of oncoming bus

London jogger
© Metropolitan Police / Twitter
Shocking footage of a jogger shoving a woman in front of an oncoming bus is being released by London police in a bid to catch the culprit.

The video shows the pair cross paths on a sidewalk in Putney, south-west London. The jogger veers off course, charging into the woman and sending her flying into the path of a bus.

The bus driver managed to swerve out of the way, potentially saving the woman's life. The bus stopped and some passengers rushed to the victim's aid.

Take 2

Director defends historically accurate adaptation of Huck Finn

huck finn
It is a classic children's book which has been adapted into 16 much loved films.

But the newest big screen retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is set to cause major controversy after it was revealed it will use the n-word.

The highly offensive word was repeatedly used in the Mark Twain tome, which was published in 1884.

The screenwriter Jonathan Feldman defended the use of the obscene word, but told The Times: 'Of course it is controversial and I'm expecting rows.'

Comment: Actually reading Mark Twain would be better for race relations than banning him ever will be. But that kind of common sense doesn't square with the cognitive dissonance caused by a legendary advocate of slavery abolition and women's rights using an offensive word.


Pistol

Family seeks justice after body cam shows cops publicly execute unarmed son for no apparent reason

Dillon Taylor
A devastated family is still attempting to fight for justice for their murdered son Dillon Taylor. However, the city and department are making it difficult.

Three years ago, on August 11, 2014, Dillon Taylor was gunned down in broad daylight by Officer Bron Cruz. Despite the horrific body cam evidence showing this Salt Lake City cop murder an unarmed young man in cold blood, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill ruled the murder as "justified."

Having been completely failed by the justice system, the family of Dillon Taylor filed a federal lawsuit in October of 2015 against the City of Salt Lake, the officer who killed Taylor, Bron Cruz, and several other officers.

On Friday, that lawsuit, which has been tied up in courts for nearly two years, was narrowed down in an attempt to seek some sort of justice.

As the Salt Lake Tribune reports, the family agreed with Salt Lake City to dismiss their claims of wrongful death and denial of family association, according to motion filed Friday in federal court.

Biohazard

UK acid attack epidemic: Scottish schoolgirl jailed for attacking fellow student with acid hidden in viola case

acid attack scotland
Emily Bowen, left, and the victim, Molly Young.
Teenager Emily Bowen, now 18, poured One Shot drain cleaner into a viola case owned by Molly Young after she discovered the girl had started dating her former boyfriend.

The instrument was destroyed and Young was severely injured when she pulled her viola case from a shelf and the liquid poured over her legs, the Times reports. She was left "screaming in pain" as the acid burnt her clothes and skin at Knox Academy in Haddington, East Lothian.

Bowen, appearing for sentencing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday, admitted recklessly and culpably pouring sulphuric acid into a viola case in the knowledge that it would be removed from a shelf by the victim, causing her injury and permanent disfigurement, on September 18.

Sheriff Michael O'Grady, QC, said he had no other option but to jail her for 21 months for the "utterly wicked"attack. He also imposed a five-year non-harassment order.

Comment: Two British public school girls, and not a Muslim in sight. Where are they getting this from? Western TV 'culture'? The American cult TV show, Breaking Bad, for example, has come up in court cases in the US and Europe, apparently inspiring dozens of murders.


Handcuffs

Inmates seize area of Arkansas maximum security prison 3 prison guards trapped

prison fence
Six inmates trapped three correctional officers inside an area of an Arkansas maximum security prison after they stole keys in the Tucker Unit and took over control of the doors.

The incident occurred at about 3:30pm in Arkansas' Tucker Unit prison on Monday, according to Arkansas Department of Corrections public information officer Solomon Graves.

By 6:30pm, all prison staff had been released, and at 6:45 pm, the situation was fully resolved, according to KTHV.

At 6:50pm, a prison spokesman told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the prison was "in the process of returning to normal operation."

Card - VISA

US consumer credit card debt balloons to $1.02 trillion, an all-time high

credit cards
© Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters
American consumers have accumulated $1.02 trillion of debt on their credit cards as of June, according to the US Federal Reserve. This is more than the record set just before the 2008 financial crisis.

US household debt balances were $12.73 trillion in March 2017, compared to the 2008 peak of $12.68 trillion.

This happens as banks continue to invite clients to sign up for cards in the era of low-interest rates.

In the first quarter of the year, more than 171 million consumers had access to credit cards backed by major banks. Credit cards in the US have never been so easy to obtain.

"This record should serve as a wake-up call to Americans to focus on their credit card debt," said Matt Schulz, a senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com, an industry website.

"Even if you feel your debt is manageable right now, know that you could be one unexpected emergency away from real trouble."

Attention

How big is too big? Amazon bid to purchase Whole Foods sparks antitrust concerns

amazon whole foods
© Elaine Thompson/The Associated PressPedestrians walk past a Whole Foods Market just down the street from the headquarters of Amazon in Seattle. Amazon, already a powerhouse in a number of markets, will bind its customers even more closely once it completes its $13.7 billion bid for the organic grocery store Whole Foods.
Amazon's bid to acquire Whole Foods has sparked political concerns and prompted policymakers and legal experts to ask: How big is too big?

Amazon.com, America's fifth-largest company by market value, is still growing like an adolescent and planting flags in new markets. That is prompting some policymakers and legal experts to ask: How big is too big?

It's a key issue for an economy being rapidly reshaped by e-commerce, a sector where Amazon and the merchants operating on its platform account for up to a third of all U.S. sales, according to some estimates.

It's also critical for Seattle, a city that has hitched its wagon to the e-commerce titan, and that once saw another local champion, Microsoft, mired in a lengthy antitrust battle. That fight, over Microsoft keeping a rival internet browser off PCs running Windows, almost led to the split-up of the Redmond software giant.

E-commerce is not Amazon's only game. It also dominates cloud computing, and it may soon have a significant brick-and-mortar presence, with its pending acquisition of Whole Foods Market. The unexpected $13.7 billion deal announced in June spurred an outcry among critics of the company and some members of Congress who asked the Federal Trade Commission to take a close look at the deal.