Society's ChildS


2 + 2 = 4

Student given 'Most likely to be a terrorist' award in mock ceremony

Anthony Aguirre Junior High
A teacher at a Texas junior high school was suspended after she gave one of her students a "Most likely to become a terrorist" award on Tuesday.

Just one day after a deadly terrorist bombing in Manchester, England, that killed 22, seventh grade student at Lance Corporal Anthony Aguirre Junior High, Lizeth Villanueva, said her teacher gave her the controversial award in class.

"When she said my name I turned around like what, what did she just say? I was very upset. I was mad but didn't show it," Villanueva told Fox 26 Houston.

Other awards handed out to students include "Most likely to blend in with white people," "Most likely to be homeless in Guatemala" and "Most likely to cry for every little thing."

Villanueva said teachers were handing out the certificates to honors students part of an advanced learning program as part of a mock awards ceremony, but some students and parents did not find the joke funny.

"It is kind of hard to believe somebody would do that," said Ena Hernandez, Villanueva's mother. She added that the teacher should be fired.

Snakes in Suits

Gay father accused of touching son's genitals in latest United Airlines scandal

United Airlines
© Kamil Krzaczynski / Reuters
United Airlines has issued yet another public apology for mistreating a customer. This time, the airline said sorry to a gay father accused of having his hand "too close" to his son's genitals by a flight attendant.

Passenger Henry Amador-Batten was accused of inappropriately touching his son on a flight from Puerto Rico on May 19, and was detained at North Carolina's Raleigh-Durham International Airport for about an hour after the incident.

United has suffered a number of high profile public relations catastrophes in recent months beginning with a video which surfaced online of a bloodied passenger being dragged off the plane by law enforcement.

The incident caused a dramatic, but short lived, slide in the airline's share price, dragged public confidence to all-time lows and sparked a social media backlash.

Comment: See also:
  • Dr. Dao's United ordeal is the inevitable outcome of deregulation
  • United Airlines' PR nightmare continues as giant bunny dies on flight - UPDATE



No Entry

'No guys allowed': Men cry sexism over women-only screening of Wonder Woman

wonder woman poster
© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
A Texas theatre has drawn accusations of sexism and exclusion after announcing a women-only screening of the new Wonder Woman movie.

"The most iconic superheroine in comic book history finally has her own movie, and what better way to celebrate than with an all-female screening?" Texas cinema, the Alamo Drafthouse said.

"Apologies, gentlemen, but we're embracing our girl power and saying 'No Guys Allowed' for one special night at the Alamo Ritz."

"And when we say 'Women (and People Who Identify As Women) Only,' we mean it," the cinema added. "Everyone working at this screening - venue staff, projectionist, and culinary team - will be female," said the statement.

Wonder Woman is considered to be a feminist role model to some and is one of a few iconic female comic book characters.

The Alamo added an additional women-only screening when the first quickly sold out.

Handcuffs

9 SoCal residents arrested for participating in large-scale international sex trafficking ring

sex trafficing
Federal authorities have accused nine Southern California residents of participating in a large-scale, international sex trafficking ring that abused and enslaved hundreds of Thai women who had been recruited with promises of a better life in the U.S.

The nine defendants were among 20 people arrested Wednesday in Los Angeles, San Diego, Dallas, Austin, Houston and Chicago in connection with the sex trafficking and money laundering operation, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota.

An eight-count federal indictment unsealed Thursday charges Michael Morris, 63, of Seal Beach; Chatarak Taufflieb 51, of San Jose; Peerachet Thipboonngam, 57, of Los Angeles; Pornthep Sukprasert, 40, of Huntington Beach; Mulchulee Chalermsakulrat, 39, of Huntington Beach; Bhunna Win, 49, of San Diego; Natchanok Yuvasuta, 50, of Los Angeles; Nattaya Leelarungrayab, 45, of Los Angeles and Veerapon Ghettalae, 55, of Lake Elsinore.

Handcuffs

Guilty until proven innocent: Approx 3800 people are jailed In New York for not having the funds to pay bail

jail no bail
Every day of 2016, New York City held an average of 7,633 people in jail for pretrial detention. Pretrial detention means that these are people who have yet to be convicted of any crime, and who are, in one of our criminal justice system's most important stipulations, presumed innocent. The United States is setting a new precedent for its civilians. If you're poor, you get to face time in the slammer for the crime of not being able to post bail. Whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty?" Because 3800 of New York's jailed people are behind bars for one reason:

They don't have enough money.

3800 of those jailed in New York do not have sufficient funds to make bail. Many of these defendants are held despite being accused of low-level, non-violent offenses like drug use. They're held despite the fact that "pretrial detention disrupts people's ability to work, pay rent, and take care of their families, and drastically increases the chances that one will be found guilty of a crime." They're held even though many may well be innocent, and many of those who are guilty pose no real risk to their community. And the tax payer gets to cover the expenses for these people who are presumably still innocent.

Fire

Mechanic George Cheese was locked in a cage and set alight by colleagues

George Cheese death
George's body was found in woodland in Kingfisher Drive.
An Audi apprentice mechanic found dead in woodland near his Woodley home had been locked in a cage, had his clothes set alight and was bullied by his colleagues, an inquest heard.

The parents of 18-year-old George Cheese said he had been "over the moon" when he got the position but soon started coming home covered in bruises and had multiple holes burned into his clothes.

Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford heard at an inquest at Reading Town Hall on Wednesday, May 24, that their son said his colleagues had locked him in a cage by force, doused him in a flammable liquid and set fire to his clothes.

Stormtrooper

Cops beat unarmed mentally ill man to death for being scared of them

Kendole Joseph  beaten to death by police
In a case horrifyingly similar to that of Kelly Thomas in Fullerton, California, a young mentally ill man by the name of Kendole Joseph was beaten to death on video by untrained and outright rabid cops. Despite the killing happening in February, and the family's repeated demands to see the surveillance footage, the video wasn't released until this week.

It was a "murder on tape" family attorney Michael Oppenheimer said during a press conference on Friday, noting that police released the video publicly before they even had the common decency to show it to the family.

Joseph's family was joined by civil rights activist Ja'Mal Green who also decried the response from police.

Che Guevara

Israelis show up in the thousands to rally for Palestinian state, peace, end of occupation

Israelis protest
Thousands of Israelis rallied Saturday in Tel Aviv in support of a Palestinian state ahead of the 50th anniversary of Israel's occupation of Palestinian land.

Banners bearing the slogan "Two states, One Hope" featured in the demonstration organized by supporters of a Palestinian state, including the Israeli NGO Peace Now.

NGO head Avi Buskila said the rally was a protest against "the lack of hope being offered by a government perpetuating occupation, violence and racism".

"The time has come to prove to the Israelis, the Palestinians and the entire world that an important segment of the Israeli population is opposed to occupation and wants a two-state solution," he added.

Handcuffs

Sick! Utah woman locked her kids in car trunk to go shopping

wal mart parking lot
© Robyn Beck / AFP
A woman in Utah has been arrested on suspicion of child abuse after witnesses reported to police that she locked her two kids in her car's trunk at a Walmart parking lot and went shopping.

Tori Lee Castillo, 39, was arrested Thursday evening in a suspected case of child abuse, AP reports citing the Riverdale Police Department.

Eyewitnesses told officers that the woman locked her two children - aged 2 and 5 - in the trunk of her car before going to the local Walmart to shop. They heard the kids scratching and making other noises inside the car and guided them to reach for an emergency latch to free themselves.

Megaphone

Violent protests mark the end of G7 summit in Italy (VIDEO)

G7 Italy protests riot tear gas
© Filippo Monteforte / AFPProtesters face anti-riot policemen during a rally against the G7 Summit in Taormina, on May 27, 2017
A G7 protest in Taormina, Italy resulted in violent clashes with the police, who were seen deploying tear gas at protesters.

The violence erupted as the protesters reportedly veered off the approved route and approached a police checkpoint.

A small group of protesters broke from the main column and tried to flank the riot police checkpoint by running along the beach. The police then charged the protesters and deployed tear gas.