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Former gymnast files lawsuit alleging USA Gymnastics fostered and enabled an environment of sexual abuse

Marisa Kwiatkowski, Tim Evans and Mark Alesia
Indy Star
Fri, 28 Oct 2016 19:32 UTC
Bela Karolyi
© Paul Sakuma/AP ImagesFormer USA Gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi
A former elite gymnast filed a lawsuit Thursday against USA Gymnastics and some of its top officials, claiming former national team coordinators Bela and Martha Karolyi fostered a toxic, abusive environment that enabled a team doctor to sexually abuse underage gymnasts.

The suit claims USA Gymnastics and the Karolyis, who are one of the most successful coaching teams in gymnastics history, concealed sexual and physical abuses at their elite training facility in Texas to protect their reputations and businesses.

The unnamed plaintiff was a member of the U.S. Women's National Team from 2006 to 2011 and was a world team member in 2010. She said she was sexually abused by former team physician Dr. Larry Nassar over several years.

The lawsuit filed in California accuses the Karolyis, USA Gymnastics, President Steve Penny, former President Robert Colarossi, California-based All Olympia Gymnastics Center and its owners Galina Marinova and Artur Akopyan of ignoring abuse and failing to protect the plaintiff at the Karolyi Ranch in Texas. The lawsuit also was filed against Nassar.

Comment: The US has the gall to criticize Russia for alleged doping, yet it doesn't even have the ability to keep its own house clean. They should focus on fixing their apparent rampant internal issues first before hypocritically pointing the finger at any other government. See also: USA gymnastics turned a blind eye to sexual abuse by coaches for years

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Handcuffs

Cop sentenced to 16 years in prison for killing unarmed man


RT
Fri, 28 Oct 2016 19:26 UTC
Jack Jacquez
© Jackie Jacquez / YouTubeJack Jacquez
The first Colorado police officer to face a murder charge for an on-duty death in more than two decades has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for following a man into his mother's home and fatally shooting him in the back.

In June, James Ashby, formerly a police officer in Rocky Ford, Colorado, was found guilty of second-degree murder for the shooting death of Jack Jacquez on October 12, 2014. At about 2:00am that morning, Ashby followed Jacquez into his mother's home in Rocky Ford following a "struggle"over a skateboard, according to the Denver Post.

Once inside the house, Ashby, a 41-year-old white man, fired twice at Jacquez, a 27-year-old Latino man, hitting his heart and lung and severing his spine. Ashby then discharged pepper spray at Jacquez's back before exiting the home.

Ashby claimed that he thought Jacquez was a burglar, but investigators said he had no reason to believe a crime was being committed.

On Thursday, Ashby was sentenced to 16 years in prison and was ordered to serve five years of parole upon release. He was also fined $10,000, the Post reported. He was awarded 133 days of credit to his prison sentence for previous time served in jail prior to his guilty verdict.
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Fire

Indian bus driver set on fire & burned alive in Australia


RT
Fri, 28 Oct 2016 17:48 UTC
Manmeet Alisher
© Manmeet Alisher / Facebook
An Indian migrant who was a prominent figure in Australia's Punjabi community has died after being set on fire while driving a bus in Brisbane. An "incendiary device" was thrown at Manmeet Alisher, 29, as he pulled over to collect passengers in the neighborhood of Moorooka shortly after 9 a.m. Friday.

The young man was engulfed in flames while terrified passengers tried to escape from the back of the bus, police confirmed in a statement.

"At that time one of the passengers entered onto the bus and poured a flammable liquid onto the driver and subsequently the driver was set alight and is now deceased," Queensland Police Superintendent Jim Keogh told SBS. "The fire was substantial, he would have stood little chance."

At a press conference, Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart ruled out terrorism or a racist motive for the attack, but did say counter-terrorism authorities were taking part in the investigation as a "precaution."
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Syringe

EpiPen price hikes bite into Pentagon drug budget, spending increased over 1,000% in 8 years


RT
Fri, 28 Oct 2016 16:31 UTC
epipen
New analysis shows Pentagon pharmaceutical spending on EpiPens jumped over 1,000 percent in eight years to meet the skyrocketing costs of the controversial auto-injection allergy shot, manufactured by Mylan.

Pentagon spending on prescriptions rose to $57 million over the past year from $9 million in 2008, a growth of over 15 percent, according to data analyzed by Reuters.

The data showed that despite the agency receiving a government discount for EpiPen dispensed through treatment facilities and by money order, it was still paying three times the price for EpiPen at retail pharmacies, paying $509 for EpiPen and $28 for EpiPen Jr two-packs.

Defense spending on the injectors at retail pharmacies accounted for 53,500 of 226,000 EpiPen prescriptions for the last fiscal year, ending September 30, meaning it has grown tenfold to $28 million from $2.4 million in 2008.

Comment: It's rather surprising that the Pentagon can even manage to keep track of pharmaceutical spending: Report reveals the Pentagon doesn't know where $6.5 trillion dollars has gone

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Handcuffs

Militarization of police: North Dakota cops remove pipeline protesters from private land - shots fired, 117 arrests made


RT
Thu, 27 Oct 2016 17:10 UTC
militarization of police
© RT
Hundreds of police in riot gear and with heavy military equipment have moved Dakota Access Pipeline protesters from their encampment on private land in North Dakota. Police have reportedly arrested at least 117 demonstrators so far.

"117 protesters have been arrested [as of 8:15 pm Thursday]. Morton County will be utilizing other jails in this mass arrest operation," said Donnell Hushka, a spokeswoman for the Morton County, North Dakota, Sheriff's Department.

Police have entered the sacred ground camp and surrounded protesters there. Livestream videos showed more than one hundred protesters on the front line.
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USA

NAACP complains about 'rampant' voter purging in North Carolina


RT
Thu, 27 Oct 2016 17:16 UTC
black voters
© Chris Keane / Reuters
The North Carolina chapter of NAACP complained to the state about "rampant" voter purging in three counties. Thousands of voters are affected, including one a 100-year-old African-American woman, who may lose her vote over an incorrect mailing address.

Grace Bell Hardison, 100, from Beaufort County was told her voter registration was being challenged and if she did not appear before the county Board of Elections meeting or return a notarized form, she would be removed from the voting rolls, WCNT reported.

Her registration was challenged by Shane Hubers, a Belhaven Republican, based on a 2015 mailing by a candidate for mayor that showed her mail was returned as undeliverable. Hardison has lived in the same house her whole life and voted regularly for 24 years.

"My mail comes to the post office," Hardison told WNCT TV, which brought attention to her plight in an October 18 broadcast. "I don't have no mail come to the house. Ever since I've been here, my mail has been coming to the post office."

In all, 138 Belhaven residents had their status challenged, with 32 challenges already dismissed. Of the 138 challenged, 92 of them were black and registered Democrats, 28 voters were unaffiliated, 17 were Republicans, and 1 was Libertarian, WNCT reported.

The systematic removals of voters were "prohibited by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and violate North Carolina voter registration laws," the head of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP said in his letter to the state board of elections.

Comment: Theater of democracy: Chicago voters casting ballots from beyond the grave

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USA

Theater of democracy: Chicago voters casting ballots from beyond the grave

Pam Zekman
CBS
Fri, 28 Oct 2016 02:00 UTC
vote fraud, chicago voting irregularities
Susie Sallee was buried in 1998. Yet records show she voted in Chicago 12 years later.

Victor Crosswell died in 1994, but records show he's voted six times since then.

And then there's Floyd Stevens. Records show he's voted 11 times since his death in 1993.

"It's crazy," Sharon Stevens Anderson, Stevens' daughter, tells CBS 2's Pam Zekman. "I don't see how people can be able to do something like that and get away with it."

Those are just a few of the cases CBS 2 Investigators found by merging Chicago Board of Election voter histories with the death master file from the Social Security Administration.

In all, the analysis showed 119 dead people have voted a total of 229 times in Chicago in the last decade.

Comment:

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Red Flag

Former Miss Finland becomes 12th woman to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault


RT
Fri, 28 Oct 2016 16:34 UTC
trump
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
Miss Finland 2006 has become the 12th woman to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault. Ninni Laaksonen claims the presidential candidate groped her while they took a picture together before an appearance on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' 10 years ago.

Laaksonen, now 30, told Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat on Thursday that Trump groped her in New York in July 2006. A translation provided by the Daily Beast explains that the incident occurred when she and three other Miss Universe contestants were taking photos outside the Late Show studio.

"Trump stood right next to me and suddenly he squeezed my butt. He really grabbed my butt," she said. "I don't think anybody saw it but I flinched and thought, 'What is happening?'"

The beauty queen also attended parties at Trump's residence with Melania, whom he had married one year prior to the incident.

"Somebody told me there that Trump liked me because I looked like Melania when she was younger," she told The Telegraph.

Trump has vowed to sue all of his accusers, calling them "horrible, horrible liars." However, he may have a difficult time taking Laaksonen to court, as she currently lives in Finland where she runs Ninnin Lifestyle and Living, a beauty and cosmetics company.
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Magnet

RT surpasses 4 billion views on YouTube, making it world's leading news network on YouTube


RT
Fri, 28 Oct 2016 16:27 UTC
rt youtube
RT's YouTube channels have surpassed 4 billion views, sustaining RT's title as the world's leading news network on YouTube, and widening its lead on mainstream media TV news channels such as CNN and the BBC.

The record-breaking number of views from across RT's varied news channels including RT, RT Documentary and Ruptly TV, amount to three times the YouTube views that Euronews enjoys and more than seven times those of the BBC's news channels combined.

"The future of media is inextricably linked to the internet. Once you fall behind in this field, it's difficult to catch up. From the very beginning RT has focused on developing its digital platforms, and this has been the key to our success," said RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.

RT has been leading the way in YouTube news delivery since the platform became available in Russia in 2007.

At the time, RT was the first Russian TV channel to embrace the new media concept and by 2011, RT's content had gained the recognition of YouTube and was awarded the most popular news video of the year.
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Heart - Black

Barbaric: Israel creates water crisis for Palestinians, limits supply to only 'two hours a week'

Eloise Bollack
Aljazeera
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 16:15 UTC
Israel water cuts Palestine
© Eloise Bollack/Al JazeeraIsrael implements a policy of water cuts each summer, but this year it reached an unprecedented peak
Enas Taha, a resident of the Palestinian village of Kafr al-Deek in the occupied West Bank, has become desperate.

"Since the [water] crisis started in June, the municipality has been able to supply water for only one hour twice a week," Taha told Al Jazeera. "I am checking the weather forecast every day; they announced rain three weeks ago, but it has not come yet. The only thing I can do is to pray to God."

Many West Bank communities are facing similar problems, amid an acute water shortage that has lasted for months. In the Salfit, Jenin and Hebron governorates, some villages have gone as long as 40 days in a row without running water. In mid-July, residents in the Bethlehem area staged a sit-in for days to protest against the shortages, sparking clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces.

"It is a very stressful situation. I have to consider and prioritise every single drop of water I use," Taha said. "We have barely enough to drink, cook, shower and use the bathroom. Sometimes I don't do the laundry or clean the house for weeks. It is hot and dusty. This is exhausting."

We have been facing shortages for decades, and the reason is not natural, but man-made - meaning the Israeli occupation and Israeli control over water resources in the Palestinian territories.
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