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Handcuffs

Texas cop arrested and charged for sexual assault of 13yo girl


RT
Fri, 30 Dec 2016 10:27 UTC
Police officer with gun
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
A Texas law enforcement officer has been arrested for the repeated sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl over a period of several months.

Jesus Gonzalez, 42, is accused of having sexual relations with his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter. He was arrested Tuesday and charged with a first-degree felony of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

According to an arrest warrant cited by KENS, the girl told investigators that Gonzalez had engaged in sexual intercourse with her over 20 times between September and mid-December. Gonzalez even told the girl that he wanted to marry her, despite being in a relationship with her mother for more than a year and a half.

According to the affidavit, the mother first found out about the sexual abuse when she saw a lewd picture on her daughter's cell phone. She soon discovered her daughter had been texting these photos with Gonzalez at his request.

Gonzalez was reportedly armed and in his police uniform when he was arrested.
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Camcorder

Filmmaker who witnessed Aleppo liberation speaks to RT, saying 'no one shot at evacuees'


RT
Fri, 30 Dec 2016 09:29 UTC
Residents in a liberated neighborhood of eastern Aleppo in Syria
© Sputnik/ Michael AlaeddinResidents in a liberated neighborhood of eastern Aleppo in Syria
The Syrian army did not shoot at militants leaving Aleppo under the evacuation deal and it was even distributing food among them, Carla Ortiz, a Bolivian documentary filmmaker who spent eight months in Syria, told RT as she disputed some MSM narratives.

Ortiz was filming a documentary about the people caught in the Syrian conflict and had an opportunity to witness the liberation of eastern Aleppo firsthand, including the evacuation of militants and their families from the city.

She has published a video from her upcoming documentary showing the process of evacuation to contest western media claims that Syrian government forces fired on the evacuees as proof that the evacuation, which took place under the deal brokered by Russia and Turkey, was peaceful.


"Many have asked me to show proof that people and children were not shot at on the streets while the evacuation took place as some media reported. So, this is what I saw: civilians evacuated on foot from the east, then transported in buses to the shelters. I am sorry, but there was absolutely no mass shooting on the evacuation," Ortiz wrote in a Facebook post, commenting on the video.

She added that "what the Syrian army and civilians were doing was throwing food through the windows" of the buses that transported the evacuees out of the city.

Comment: See also: Journalist who sent 'last message from Aleppo' alive and well with a suicide bomber

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Dollars

Revenue generation: U.S. Police departments are devising ever-expanding methods to extort funds from citizens

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
police extortion, booking fees arrests
As if getting arrested and taken to jail isn't painful enough, residents in Ramsey County, MN are forced to pay "booking fees" whether or not they're eventually found guilty of the crime for which they're charged. One example of the latest, and some have said "outrageous," revenue streams comes from the case involving Ramsey resident Corey Stratham.

Arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, Stratham had in his possession a total of $46 dollars in cash. Released two days later, after having the charges dismissed, he attempted to reclaim his possessions, only to learn the jail had charged him $25 for "booking fees." In place of the cash, which the cops took from him upon his arrest, the authorities returned to him a gift card for $21 — the remainder after the booking fees were withheld. Worse yet, the gift card came with a myriad of fees which made getting the $21 quite impossible.

First, there was the $7.25 to withdraw the funds from an ATM, then there was the $1.50 maintenance fee per week, and a per occurrence of $2.50 to withdraw the funds at an ATM where Stratham didn't have an account. All of which made it nearly impossible to get the $21 cash in hand. Stratham sued the county

Comment: The purpose of the police has always been to serve the elites, while extracting money from people to keep them impoverished and under control:

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Handcuffs

Prison state: US still has world's highest incarceration rate despite prison population declining to lowest in 7 years


RT
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
Prisoner's hands in a cell
The US prison population fell to its lowest levels in seven years, dropping 2.3 percent in 2015 to 2.1 million people incarcerated in federal and state prisons and local jails. However, the US still has the world's highest incarceration rate.

At year-end 2015, an estimated 2,173,800 people were either under the jurisdiction of state or federal prisons or in the custody of local jails in the US, down about 51,300 people from year-end 2014, according to the Prisoners in 2015 report released by the Justice Department on Thursday.

"This was the largest decline in the incarceration population since it first decreased in 2009," stated the Bureau of Justice Statistics in a statement.

The decrease is attributable to a drop in prison admissions and an increase in releases at the state level, as well as a fall in prison sentences lasting more than one year.

Comment: Another dubious distinction held by the worlds 'exceptional' nation.

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Cowboy Hat

Putin's approval rating hits 2016 high: 86.8%


RT
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 20:23 UTC
Vladimir Putin talks to workers
© Sergey Guneev / SputnikRussian President Vladimir Putin talks to workers in the ETERNO shop of the Chelyabinsk Pipe-Rolling Plant.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval rating has risen 1 percent from November, reaching 86.8 percent, which is the highest recorded in 2016, reports the state-run Russian Center for Public Opinion Research (VTSIOM).

In the report released on Thursday, the agency noted that the only higher rating Putin has achieved was registered only in December 2014 - back then it reached 89 percent. The share of respondents who said that they trusted the president was at 62.1 percent, a slight rise from 61.3 percent a week ago, trending upwards from the 59.2 percent recorded in early December.

The same poll also showed that Putin's political allies - the parliamentary majority United Russia party - currently claim the support of 48 percent of citizens. The closest contenders were far behind: the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) claims a 12 percent rating and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) is supported by about 8.8 percent of citizens.
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Light Saber

Argument leads to samurai sword slashing in San Francisco's Outer Sunset

Jenna Lyons
SF Gate
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 20:04 UTC
katana
A 31-year-old man is suspected of slashing a woman's leg with a samurai sword during an argument in San Francisco's Outer Sunset neighborhood, police said. The suspect, whose name was not released, was arrested by police after the Monday morning incident at 32nd Avenue and Noriega Street.

Two groups were arguing around 2:30 a.m. when the assailant retrieved the sword from another suspect, according to San Francisco Police Department officials. As he unsheathed the katana, or sword, he cut the victim, a 24-year-old woman, in the leg, police said.
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Bad Guys

Local residents reveal horrific details of the Aleppo rebel's trade in human organs


Sputnik
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 19:54 UTC
Ambulances in a liberated neighborhood of eastern Aleppo, Syria
© Sputnik/ Mikhail AlayeddinAmbulances in a liberated neighborhood of eastern Aleppo, Syria
After the liberation of Syria's second-largest city of Aleppo from jihadists, horrific details of their rule continue coming to light: local residents have revealed to Sputnik Arabic the mechanisms of a well-established network of organ traders and their price list.

Amid so much western fuss concerning the so-called "Russian atrocities" during the liberation of Aleppo, local residents of the liberated city sat down with Sputnik Arabic to reveal for the first time the horrific details of the jihadists' rule.

They spoke of a massive illegal human organ trade across the border with Turkey, set up by the militants. Civilians learned to fear the local emergency vehicles as they sped around the city hunting for potential donors.

One of the "patients" happened to be 60-year-old Abu Mohammad.

"We were shelled from a grenade launcher and immediately afterwards rebels came in an emergency vehicle. They ended up stealing one of my kidneys and part of my spleen," he told Sputnik.
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Handcuffs

Nabeel Rajab, Bahraini rights activist, released on bail is immediately rearrested


RT
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 16:41 UTC
Nabeel Rajab
© Hamad I Mohammed / ReutersNabeel Rajab, President of Bahrain Center for Human Rights and prisoner of Bahrain.
Prominent Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been released from prison on bail, following a seven-month pre-trial detainment over a series of tweets, but was ordered back into custody over separate investigations. Rajab's lawyer, Jalila Sayed, confirmed the activist would stay in prison, AP reported. "Nabeel is overall weak because of so many health problems he started facing, including heart problems and other physical issues," she said. "He's under tremendous stress because of this length of detention."

Rajab was arrested on June 13 on charges of "spreading false information and rumors with the aim of discrediting the State" for tweeting and re-tweeting statements that criticized the actions of Bahrain's forces in Yemen. He has led a busy life of activism from behind bars, most recently focusing on the Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen, as well as human rights abuses in his country's prison system.

The activist had published a series of letters to papers such as the New York Times and Le Monde, for which he faces separate charges. It is likely that he has been ordered back into custody in connection with those investigations. According to Sayed, Rajab was released on bail in the case concerning the tweets because a prosecution witness failed to prove the activist had been in control of his Twitter account at the time of the posts. "We hope this will end with an acquittal because the case has no evidence," she said.

Rajab, a prominent human rights activist and president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), has repeatedly advocated freedom of expression and debate. He has organized numerous protests against the Bahraini regime since 2011 and has been in and out of jail.

Comment: See also:

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People 2

Woman beheaded in Afghanistan for shopping 'without husband'


RT
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:45 UTC
A 30-year-old woman has been beheaded in a remote Afghan village for visiting a local market alone, without her husband, local media report citing officials. The people behind the beheading may have links to the Taliban.

The incident took place in a village of Latti, Sar-e Pol Province, in northern Afghanistan on Monday evening, TOLO news reported, citing the provincial governor's spokesman Zabiullah Amani.
Afghan woman
© AFPFarshad Usyan
According to Amani, the woman was beheaded because she went to the market to do some shopping alone. The victim's spouse is currently in Iran and the couple has no children, he added.

The incident was also confirmed by Sar-e-Pul women's affairs head Nasima Arezo.

"The woman was beheaded with a bayonet attached to an AK-47 after an argument with the Taliban in her remote village, which is part of the provincial capital," Arezo said, as cited in the media.

Comment: Afghan woman beheaded after refusing prostitution

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Pistol

U.S. Federal court rules dogs can be shot if they bark, move when officer enters home

Brian Lisi
New York Daily News
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:16 UTC
Three Michigan police officers, who shot two dogs for lunging and barking at them during a drug raid, were once again justified in their actions — this time by a federal appeals court. Mark and Cheryl Brown of Battle Creek, Mich., filed suits over unreasonable seizure of their property and a violation of their constitutional rights for the deaths of their pets.
gavel
© BrianAJackson, Thinkstock
According to the Battle Creek Enquirer, officers shot and killed the Browns' pit bull terriers during an April 2013 operation, with Emergency Response Team members claiming one lunged at them and that the other barked as they executed a search warrant for drugs.

"The standard we set out today is that a police officer's use of deadly force against a dog while executing a search warrant to search a home for illegal drug activity is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment when ... the dog poses an imminent threat to the officer's safety," wrote Judge Eric Clay in the decision that saw the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati side with the U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids' dismissal.
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