Society's ChildS


V

North Carolina clergymen, citing religious freedom, sue state for right to perform same-sex marriages

Tom Boggioni
Raw Story
Mon, 28 Apr 2014 14:00 UTC
Image
© Shutterstock
In a twist on the conservative argument over the separation of church and state, a group of clergymen filed suit in North Carolina today challenging state laws that make it illegal for them to perform wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples within their congregations.

The clergymen, representing the United Church of Christ, as well as Lutheran, Baptist, and Unitarian congregations jointly filed a federal challenge to Amendment One - recently passed by voters - in Western District of North Carolina.

The addition to the North Carolina Constitution prohibited the state from recognizing or performing same-sex marriages or civil unions.

The 2012 initiative was approved by voters 61% to 39%.
Read More...
Sheriff

Parents arrive for appointment with school principal - met by cop

Oliver Darcy
The Blaze
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 16:49 UTC
Image
© Image courtesy of the Finney familyTracy and Macy Finney
Two Georgia parents who are refusing to allow their children to participate in the state's standardized tests were confronted by a police officer and told they were trespassing on school grounds when they attempted to meet with administrators and express their opposition to the exams last week.

Mary and Tracy Finney oppose their children taking the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests and had initially sent an email to administrators asking if they could opt out.

"To my knowledge, there is not an opt-out option for the CRCT since these tests are mandated by state law," West Side Elementary School principal Karen Smits wrote back in an email, according to the Marietta Daily Journal. "I have forwarded your email to our Superintendent, Dr. Lembeck, and Associate Superintendent Dayton Hibbs for further guidance. Someone will be in touch soon."
Read More...
Red Flag

Civil war imminent: Gunmen attack self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine


RT
Thu, 24 Apr 2014 13:20 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Gleb GaranichUkrainian security force officers walk past a checkpoint set on fire and left by anti-goverment protesters near Slavyansk April 24, 2014
Unknown gunmen have attacked a checkpoint near Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine. Two people were killed, local self-defense forces spokesperson Stella Horosheva told RT.

"Unfortunately, the reports of a shooting have been confirmed," Horosheva said. "Every night some sort of an incident takes place at one of our checkpoints. This time suspicious armed people were passing by and the self-defense members approached them to check their IDs. But the gunmen opened fire."

Horosheva said that self-defense forces were investigating the incident, trying to find out who was behind the attack.

Almost simultaneously there appeared reports of unknown gunmen opening fire in the city of Artyomovsk, Donetsk Region.
Read More...
Airplane

MH370 probe team may be forced to 'start again' - It didn't crash in the southern Indian Ocean

Tasmin Lokman
New Straits Times
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 01:19 UTC
Image
© FMT News
Members of the International Investigation Team (IIT) who have been putting their heads together since day one to find Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are now looking at the likelihood of starting from scratch in hopes of finally solving this unprecedented aviation mystery.

Sources within the team that is based in Kuala Lumpur told the New Straits Times that among areas they were revisiting was the possibility that the Boeing jetliner had landed somewhere else, instead of ending up in the southern Indian Ocean.

"We may have to regroup soon to look into this possibility if no positive results come back in the next few days ... but at the same time, the search mission in the Indian Ocean must go on.

"The thought of it landing somewhere else is not impossible, as we have not found a single debris that could be linked to MH370.
Read More...
Pistol

Controversial fetal "Stand Your Ground" bill advances in South Carolina Senate


RT
Sat, 26 Apr 2014 13:04 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Andy Clark
South Carolina lawmakers advanced a "Stand Your Ground" bill this month that would allow pregnant women to use lethal force to protect their fetus. Opponents say the bill would give more legal protections to a fetus, thus weakening reproductive rights.

The South Carolina Senate Judiciary Subcommittee voted 3 to 2 earlier this month to expand on the state's existing "Stand Your Ground Law," which already allows use of deadly force to protect against"imminent peril of death or great bodily injury," to include protection of "unborn children," defined as "the offspring of human beings from conception until birth."

Supporters of the "Pregnant Women's Protection Act" say the existing Stand Your Ground law does not go far enough to protect a pregnant woman from attacks that could harm their fetus.

Opponents of the effort say that not only is the proposal redundant, considering the existing lethal-force law, but that it will grant more legal rights to a fetus, defining life as beginning at conception, thus posing a threat to birth control methods, in-vitro fertilization, emergency contraception, and other basic health and reproductive rights.

"These bills like to define a human being as a 'person' at fertilization, which would create a variety of restrictions that would limit the reproductive and family building choices of hundreds of thousands of South Carolina residents," said Dr. Michael Slowey, a reproductive endocrinologist and founder of Coastal Fertility Specialists in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
Read More...
Eye 2

Kentucky sheriff shoots dead 19-year-old girl in car

Shannon Kettler and Brian Mains
WCPO Cincinnati
Sat, 26 Apr 2014 12:55 UTC
Image
Brandi Stewart is left with grief and questions after she found out her daughter was killed in an officer involved shooting. She holds a school photo of her daughter, 19-year-old Samantha Ramsey.
A mother shared her grief and confusion outside of her Russell Street home Saturday in Covington, just hours after her 19-year-old daughter died as the result of an officer-involved shooting.

"When I was initially told she hit an officer, I can't fathom that idea because she wasn't perfect by any means, but she knew right from wrong," said Brandi Stewart, speaking about her daughter, Samantha Ramsey.

Ramsey died at Saint Elizabeth Medical Center in Florence Saturday after being shot four times by a Boone County Sheriff's deputy in the 6000 block of River Road near Hebron, Ky.

Boone County Sheriff's spokesperson Tom Scheben said deputy Tyler Brockman, 28, shot Ramsey after she accelerated her vehicle and struck him during a traffic stop outside a nearby field party.

The impact with Ramsey's car flipped Brockman onto its hood and injured his leg, Scheben said at the scene of the incident.
Read More...
Eye 1

Cops out of control: Tennessee sheriff's deputy caught on camera choking an unresisting college student until he passed out

Alex Greig and Helen Pow
Daily Mail, UK
Sun, 27 Apr 2014 12:12 UTC
Image
Fired: Frank Phillips, 47, pictured, was been found 'unsuitable for continued employment,' according to a termination notice posted Sunday night on the Knox County Sheriff's Office's website
* Frank Phillips, 47, was found 'unsuitable for continued employment' by Knox County Sheriff J.J. Jones

* Deputies were called to a University of Tennessee student party that spilled out onto a residential street

* Students threw beer bottles at officers and several people were arrested

* A photographer on the scene took a series of photos of a deputy choking 21-year-old Jarod Dotson into unconsciousness

* The young man did not resist arrest, says the photographer, but police disagree

* He was complying with officers when the officer began to choke him

* Two other officers were behind Dotson, handcuffing him

A sheriff's deputy in Knox County, Tennessee has been fired after he was caught on camera allegedly choking a university student Saturday night.

Frank Phillips, 47, was been found 'unsuitable for continued employment,' according to a termination notice posted Sunday night on the Knox County Sheriff's Office's website.

'In my 34 years of law enforcement experience, excessive force has never been tolerated. After an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards, I believe excessive force was used in this incident,' Sheriff Jimmy 'J.J.' Jones said.

'Therefore, Officer Phillips' employment with the Knox County Sheriff's Office is terminated immediately.'
Read More...
Bullseye

Ukraine organizes right-wing football fans to attack Pro-Russian protesters - bloody clash


RT
Sun, 27 Apr 2014 18:55 UTC

Peaceful rallies in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov turned violent as a crowd of several thousand football ultras attacked a crowd of some 300 anti-government protesters. At least 14 people were injured, including two law enforcement officers.

Thousands of fans of two Ukrainian football clubs Dnipro and Metalist gathered in Kharkov's Constitution Square where they joined some 250 pro-Kiev activists holding a rally.
Read More...
Pistol

Plain-clothes Philly cops shoot hoodie-wearing pizza man who thought he was being robbed

David Edwards
Rawstory.com
Thu, 24 Apr 2014 14:24 UTC
Image
A pizza deliveryman was in critical condition after two plain-clothes police officers in Philadelphia broke department protocol and opened fire on his moving vehicle, claiming their lives were in danger.

The officers were responding to reports of gunfire on Tuesday night when they saw 20-year-old Philippe Holland with his hands in his pocket, and wearing a hoodie.

"As I understand it, they asked the male to stop," Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross explained on Tuesday. "The male, in quick fashion, got in his car and he drove at a high rate of speed towards the officers. The officers then discharged out of fear for their lives."
Read More...
Eye 1

The roots of worldwide violence: The essential role of an enlightened witness in society

Alice Miller
Sott.net
Sat, 26 Apr 2014 09:14 UTC
Alice Miller sees the roots of worldwide violence in the fact that children are beaten all over the world, especially during their first years, when their brain becomes structured.. The damages caused by this practice are devastating, but unfortunately hardly noticed by society.

Read More...