Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Heartless: Mom abandons quadriplegic son with cerebral palsy in woods

Alison Burdo and David Chang
NBC News
Sat, 11 Apr 2015 19:28 UTC
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© Dave Palmer / NBC10This Bible was laying across a 21-year-old quadriplegic man's chest when he was found abandoned in the woods along Cobbs Creek Parkway. The man, who has cerebral palsy, was found 10 feet from his wheelchair, covered with leaves and a blanket.
Police have signed an arrest warrant for a Philadelphia woman after she allegedly left her quadriplegic son with cerebral palsy alone in the woods for over five days with nothing but a blanket and a Bible.

Nyia Parler, 41, is accused of leaving her 21-year-old son in a wooded area along Cobbs Creek Parkway near Catharine Street around 11 a.m. Monday before traveling to Montgomery County, Maryland to visit her boyfriend.

After several days of cold temperatures and rain, the victim was found 100-feet into the woods around 9 p.m. Friday, according to Philadelphia Police Lt. John Walker. Investigators say the victim likely would have died if not for the man who spotted him while passing by.

"They found [him] about 100 yards off the roadway here, laying in leaves. He's got a blanket over him and a Bible on his chest," Walker said. "He has a wheelchair about 10 feet from his body."

This Bible was laying across a 21-year-old quadriplegic man's chest when he was found abandoned in the woods along Cobbs Creek Parkway. The man, who has cerebral palsy, was found 10 feet from his wheelchair, covered with leaves and a blanket.
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Sheriff

Video released of man shot and killed by cop who meant to fire taser

Tom Boggioni
Raw Story
Sat, 11 Apr 2015 20:00 UTC
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Tulsa police have released graphic video of the Tulsa man who was shot and killed last week by a reserve sheriff's deputy who thought he had pulled his Taser instead of his gun.

Eric Harris died last week after Reserve Deputy Robert Bates, 73, mistakenly grabbed his service weapon — believing it was his Taser — and shot him as he attempted to assist with the arrest.

In the video, provided to the New York Daily News, a body-cam captures an officer in a foot pursuit of Harris who is subsequently tackled in the street.

As the officer instructs Harris to roll onto his stomach, a gun shot is heard.

Warning: Video is graphic in nature

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Handcuffs

Two college students charged in spring break gang rape

Phil Helsel
NBC News
Sat, 11 Apr 2015 17:37 UTC
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© Picayune Leader
Two college students have been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a young woman on a Florida beach during spring break, in an attack that hundreds of bystanders apparently did nothing to stop, authorities said.

Delonte' Martistee, 22, and Ryan Austin Calhoun, 23, were arrested Friday and charged with sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, the Bay County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. Both are students at Troy University in Alabama, NBC station WJHG reported.

The arrests were made after the Troy, Alabama, police department discovered video of the sexual assault, which occurred between March 10 and 12 on a Panama City Beach, as it investigated a shooting, the sheriff's office said. The video shows the sexual assault of a 19-year-old passed out on the sand.

Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen called the video "probably one of the most disgusting, repulsive, sickening things that I have seen this year on Panama City Beach, and I have seen a lot of them," WJHG reported.

"Within 10 feet from where this is happening there are hundreds of people standing there watching, looking, seeing, hearing what is going on," he said. More arrests are expected, the sheriff's office said.

Martistee and Calhoun appeared in court Saturday and their bonds were set at $50,000, WJHG reported. Troy University suspended both students, the station said.

Comment: The gang rape is disgusting enough, but the fact that there were hundreds of people standing there, just watching these men rape a woman, is another sign of the normalization of rape in society. For more on that, see: Rape Culture in America - How the system protects the rapists and fails the victims

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Sheriff

Over 1,500 police officers protest in the Hague


NL Times
Thu, 09 Apr 2015 12:40 UTC
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© Twitter/@wa_StWillebrordPolice action in The Hague
A large group of policemen protested in The Hague on Wednesday afternoon, NRC reports. The protesters demand that Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice submit better proposals for a new police collective bargaining agreement by Monday. If this does not happen, the unions and their members will move on to harder actions.

The protest started after King Willem-Alexander ceremoniously handed over the new police standard to police chief Gerard Bouman. The protest march started from the Malieveld. Police officers wore a bright orange vest with the text 'police work deserves more appreciation' printed on it. According to the unions between 1,600 and 2,000 police officers participated.

The police have been performing actions since last month, including only writing fines for "gross violations" of public order and safety, slow actions on highways and siren actions.
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Phoenix

Kenyan student dies, over 100 injured in stampede after electricity transformer blast


BBC
Sun, 12 Apr 2015 12:11 UTC
Funerals for Garissa attack victims
© ReutersFunerals have been going on for the victims of the Garissa attacks
A student has died and more than 100 were hurt in a stampede which followed the explosion of an electricity transformer at a Kenyan university.

Residents of Nairobi university's Kikuyu campus mistook the blast for a terrorist attack and jumped out of hostel windows early on Sunday morning.

Tensions are high among students after an Islamist attack on a Kenyan college 10 days ago which left 148 dead.

Meanwhile activists criticised Kenya for ordering Somali refugees home.

Human Rights Watch Africa Deputy Director Leslie Lefkow said justice for the victims of the attack in Garissa - by members of the Somali militant group al-Shabab - would not be served by forcing more than 500,000 Somalis in the Dadaab refugee camp to leave Kenya.

"Instead of scapegoating refugees, Kenya is legally obliged to protect them until it is safe for them to return home and should identify and prosecute those responsible for the killings in Garissa," she said.

UNHCR Kenya chief Emmanuel Nyabera described the possible relocation as a "logistic challenge".

The remarks follow calls on Saturday by Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto to close Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in Africa.

Mr Ruto said UNHCR had three months to close Dadaab and make alternative arrangements for its residents - otherwise, Kenya would "relocate them ourselves", he said.

Dadaab was set up in 1991 to house families fleeing conflict in Somalia. Some people have been living at the site for more than 20 years.
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Airplane

Air rage: Plane forced to land after elderly woman, 79, 'attacks, bites' crew


RT
Sun, 12 Apr 2015 01:35 UTC
Air Canada plane
© wikipedia.org

Air Canada flight ACA-877 had to be diverted to Ireland's Shannon Airport on Friday after an elderly female passenger became disruptive and bit one of the crew members. Irish police were called to meet the plane after it landed and the woman was arrested.

The Boeing 777-300 jet was traveling from Frankfurt to Toronto when a passenger seated in first class became unruly and assaulted at least one of the air stewards. Reports say she was accused of biting and scratching members of the cabin crew. Following the incident, the woman, who was in her 80s, was restrained, according to Irish media.

"It took two or three of the attendants to subdue her and they were thinking about, I think, putting her in some kind of tether. And they did that because she was not having anything to do with them," passenger Al Hinnegan told CBC News.

Even though the flight was 1,000 kilometers north from Shannon airport, the crew made the decision to turn around.

The pilot contacted the Irish Aviation Authority's (IAA) North Atlantic Communications Service center at Ballygirreen, in the west of the country to, request permission to land in Shannon, after describing the situation on board the airplane.

The plane was able to land successfully in Shannon at 8:15pm local time on Friday, with the Irish Gardai police force as well as airport law enforcement officers dispatched to arrest the elderly woman.

Comment: Statistics show "air rage" has become a disturbing trend. Experts say you can think of air rage kind of like road rage - it's rooted in people's lack of ability to cope with stress. Or perhaps something else is affecting passenger behavior?

According to the International Air Transport Association, flight crews reported more than 8,000 bad passenger incidents last year. In 2007 there were only 500 reports. Even allowing for the increase in air travel, this seems like a dramatic rise.

Incidents of "air rage" have almost trebled in the last three years in Britain, with cases of passengers fighting cabin crew and each other.

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Sheriff

Miami Gardens, Florida: Cops kill underwear clad mentally-ill man holding a broom

Cassandra Fairbanks
TheFreeThoughtProject
Thu, 09 Apr 2015 00:24 UTC
WARNING: Explicit language contained in video


The family of Lavall Hall, a 25-year-old mentally ill man killed by Miami Gardens Officer Eddo Trimino, chose to release dashcam footage of the February 15 incident on Wednesday evening. They maintain that it proves excessive force and that Trimino had no reason to leave an 8-year-old girl without a father. This is the second killing by the officer in two years.

Comment: More evidence that those sworn to 'serve and protect' are actually heartless and pathological killing machines?

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Pocket Knife

Survival skills our grandparents knew that most of us have long forgotten


idealistrevolution.org
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 00:52 UTC
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Our modern society is highly dependent upon the "system." Not only do we rely upon utility services to bring us electricity, water and natural gas, but also on an incredibly complex supply chain which provides us with everything from food to computers. Without that supply chain, most of us wouldn't know what to do.

This situation is actually becoming worse, rather than better. When I compare my generation (I'm in my 50s) to that of my children, I see some striking differences. In my generation it was normal for a boy to grow up learning how to do a wide variety of trade skills from his father, and seemingly everyone knew how to do basic carpentry and mechanic work. But that's no longer normal.

If we extrapolate it back, we can see that my father's generation knew even more - and my grandparent's generation even more. Those older generations were much more closely tied to the roots of an agricultural society, where people were self-reliant. There are multiple skills they had which modern society no longer considers necessary.

But if we were to have a breakdown in society, those skills which we never bothered to learn would become essential. Those who don't know these skills would either have to learn or die trying.
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Eye 1

News article about psychopathic bosses describes and provides ponerology education


Ponerology News
Thu, 26 Mar 2015 00:00 UTC
psychopath
© wasssssup.ruThe corporate psychopath...con artist or master manipulator?
I was surprised because I didn't expect to see the topic of psychopathy pop up in a hometown paper. I was even more surprised because I really didn't expect to see it pop up there in this fashion - not just generically, but as part of a headline offering specific guidance to help people consider whether someone in a position of power over them may have the condition. Ponerology had definitely hit the Detroit Free Press.

The article entitled "20 signs your boss might be a psychopath" [see below] is written by Michael L. Diamond and originally appeared in the Asbury Park Press, a local paper from the New Jersey city made famous by Bruce Springsteen. Asbury Park Press, like the Detroit Free Press, is a Gannett Company. So it appears that the story was taken from one local paper and then shared with other local papers owned by the same holding company. Thus, it garnered attention in various areas of the country, but did so by means of local outlets.

Diamond's story quotes Kean University psychology professor Richard Conti. In a previous post, I've asked "should kids learn about poenology in school? Well, although he doesn't use (and may not know) the actual term ponerology, Conti seems to believe that, at least at the college level, they should. According to Diamond, Conti is teaching his students about "psychopathic traits found in business and government leaders," a subject that could hardly be more central to the work of Andrew M. Lobaczewski, author of Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes, the book most responsible for popularizing the term ponerology.

Comment: Throughout society, CEOs, media folk, lawyers, surgeons, police officers, politicians, military, the clergy...any line of work which boasts a definitive hierarchical infrastructure and affords a position of power over others, which may be wielded with relative impunity, is ideally suited to the psychopathic personality. Sharpen your powers of observation; sharpen your instincts. Remember, the brain of the psychopath, in particular the part responsible for emotion, is wired in a different way than most of humanity. To blend in, they fake it to manipulate others, while in reality, they are cold, calculating and ruthless ambition machines.

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Rose

Subjected to 'constant' bullying, 16-year old transgender teenager commits suicide

Mitch Kellaway
Advocate.com
Thu, 09 Apr 2015 18:39 UTC
Taylor Alesana, 16, reportedly told a school counselor of the daily harassment she faced, but did not find relief. She took her own life earlier this month.

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Taylor Alesana, a 16-year-old transgender girl in Fallbrook, Calif., who faced "constant" bullying online and in school, died by suicide April 2, reports San Diego TV station KGTV.

Despite facing daily harassment, Alesana tried to support and inspire other trans youth throughher YouTube videos, where she had been speaking about trans issues and giving makeup tutorials for several months. Reaching several hundred viewers each week appeared to be a joy to the teen, who also spoke of being lonely and losing "a ton of friends" after coming out as trans at Fallbrook High School.

In one November video for last year's Transgender Day of Remembrance, Alesana spoke out against the "horrible" fatal violence that faces trans people, and especially trans women of color, worldwide, saying, "One in 12 transgender women are killed each year. ... I myself am a transgender woman and that, to me, just breaks my heart." Alesana then gave her own account of living daily as an out trans woman, saying that she had just begun attending her new high school in Fallbrook, a town she considered "convservative."

"I go to school every day [and] I don't have many friends. I'm usually alone," she shared. "And if that's how my life's going to be then, hell, I'm just going to get my diploma and get out. Being transgender, for me, [means] I've lost tons of friends — tons. It's been hell."

"Being there [at Fallbrook High School], of course, means you're gonna [get] a lot of hate and some support," she continued. "Me, I walk into school ... and I put my headphones in. ... Because I know all the shit I'm going to get. Especially lately, I've gotten a lot of drama from the school itself."

Alesana had informed a school counselor of the harassment she faced, but nothing changed, North County LGBTQ Resource Center executive director Max Disposti told KGTV.

Comment: Teased, tormented and squeezed to a breaking point.

The empathy gap in bullying

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