Society's ChildS


Pills

Cops plead guilty to helping plant drugs on woman sexually harassed by judge

A judge responded to an assault victim by demanding sex in exchange for 'legal favors' in her divorce. She filed a complaint, and he sent cops to plant meth in her car.

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© shutterstock.com
With a plot out of a Hollywood movie or a gripping Lifetime TV show, a mesmerizing drama of sex, power, frame-ups, planted drugs, and lies unfolded in real life in Georgia when two Murray County sheriff's deputies recently pleaded guilty in federal court for their part in a scheme to send an innocent woman to prison. Now both deputies await sentencing on charges of obstruction of justice and perjury stemming from an FBI civil rights investigation into the odd goings-on Down South.

The woman in question, Angela Garmley, had filed a complaint with the Georgia Judicial Qualification Committee alleging that Chief Magistrate Judge Bryant Cochran solicited sex from her in return for legal favors in her pending divorce. Shortly after Garmley filed her complaint, she was arrested on August 14, 2012 in sleepy Chatsworth, Georgia, and charged with possession of methamp

Black Cat 2

Two-Faced kitten: Rare 'Janus' cat born in U.S.


A kitten owner had to do a double take when she realised her newborn feline had two faces.

Duecy was rejected by its mother so Stephanie Durkee is feeding her by hand. She is giving her kitten formula with a syringe and keeping her warm with a heating pad.

Ms Durkee said: "The kids actually found them and came in and said, 'Mom there's a kitty with two heads', and I said I think you guys are just tired, you're crazy, that doesn't happen."

Duecy, who was born in Oregon on Tuesday, has been examined by a vet and everything appears to be in good working order. She is a rare two-faced kitten, also known as a "Janus" kitten.

TV

Greece's only public station shut down, spawning widespread anger

ERT
Staff continued to defy the government's closure of ERT's television and radio stations. This is a screen shot from one of the livestreams last night.
The Greek government announced late Tuesday that it is shutting down its only public television broadcaster - the latest in the country's drastic austerity measures - spawning both widespread anger and a guerrilla TV station organized by the European Broadcasting Union.

The move, which has left 2,700 people without jobs and a country without its public broadcasting station, ERT, is being criticized as the "most dramatic in a series of attacks on free speech and public space by the Greek government."

Over 3,000 people including the now former ERT employees gathered outside the broadcaster's headquarters north of Athens on Tuesday night following the announcement, vowing to stage a sit-in until the government rescinded the order.

And that is just what they did.

Eye 1

Canadian 'Black Widow' aged 78 jailed for poisoning her newlywed husband

A 78-year-old Canadian woman dubbed the "Black Widow" was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for drugging her newlywed husband.

Melissa Ann Shepard was charged last year after Fred Weeks fell ill during the couple's honeymoon.

The court heard that Shepard slipped tranquillisers into her 76-year-old husband's coffee. He was taken to hospital but survived. Shepard had been convicted of manslaughter in 1992 after the death of her second husband, Gordon Stewart, whom she drugged and ran over twice with a car.

In 2005, Shepard - who has gone by several other surnames - was sentenced to five years in prison on seven counts for theft from a man in Florida who she had met online.

Alex Strategos, now 81, said she stole $20,000 (£12,600) from him over the month that they lived together.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Judge Joseph Kennedy agreed with the prosecution's argument for a 3.5-year prison term, less time served, saying Shepard's criminal past was relevant

Her lawyer argued for a two-year jail term, saying Shepard feels remorseful.

She declined to address the court.

Shepard married Weeks in a civil ceremony on 25 September, a few weeks after they met.

But their marriage was later declared invalid by the local authorities after they said that false information had been supplied on the marriage certificate.

Source: Associated Press

Heart - Black

14-year-old pregnant rape victim slut-shamed in Indiana

rape
© miker/Shutterstock
Anti-choicers love to wax poetic about how beautiful it is for teenage girls to "choose life," even when raped. Unfortunately, as a recent story out of Indiana shows, the reality is anything but beautiful. In the small town of Elwood, Ind., a 13-year-old girl was raped by a 17-year-old and impregnated. The victim opposes abortion, and while she briefly considered making an exception for herself in this case, she ultimately went ahead with the pregnancy. The result? She's become a target for abuse and harassment in Elwood, and the formerly outgoing young woman is now a recluse. The Indianapolis Star reports on some of the abuse she and her mother, Kristy Green, have endured:

"I can't walk out the door without someone calling me a whore or slut," the girl said. "I used to have a lot of friends, or people I thought were my friends, but as soon as this happened I just isolated myself."

The repeated vandalism incidents at the family's home - including the words "whore" and "slut" scrawled on the garage doors - were reported to police. But Green said no charges were filed because there were no witnesses to the acts.

Her daughter also has been the target of mean-spirited rumors and speculation that her pregnancy is the result of promiscuous behavior.

Dollar

Policeman paid by Sun newspaper to visit Kate Middleton before Prince William's proposal

A policeman in the pay of the Sun newspaper said he would arrange for his colleagues to visit Kate Middleton's house to check a tip-off that Prince William was about to propose to her, it has emerged.

Paul Flattley
© PAFormer policeman Paul Flattley.
Paul Flattley, who was paid £7,600 by the Sun for 39 stories over the course of three years, also told a journalist he would check the rumour with his former sergeant, who was Miss Middleton's protection officer.

He also tipped off the newspaper about a theft from Zara Phillips's car and about the death of a 15-year-old girl.

He was jailed for two years in March after admitting conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office, but the details can only now be made public after reporting restrictions on the case were lifted.

He had been jointly charged with Virginia Wheeler, the Sun's defence editor, who was accused of making several of the payments, but the Crown Prosecution Service announced today that it would not proceed with the case against her because she is unfit to stand trial.

Flattley, 30, began tipping off the newspaper within a year of joining the Metropolitan Police, the Old Bailey heard during his sentencing hearing.

In May 2008 he emailed the Sun to say that the former England footballer Paul Gascoigne had been sectioned by police under the Mental Health Act.

Info

Fort Gordon radios jam garage door remotes

Garage Door
© CorbisGarage with partially open door.
A new radio system being installed at Fort Gordon to enhance emergency communications across the area is causing mass frustration with hundreds of homeowners who have been locked out of their garages because of jammed remote-control signals.

The confusion started last week when Fort Gordon unexpectedly upgraded its land-mobile radios to a 390 megahertz bandwidth, the same frequency used in automatic garage door remotes.

As a result, nearly 500 residents have called or visited the Overhead Door Co. of Augusta to complain about garage doors that fail to open and close on command.

"It's about to kill us," Billy Sheppard, the service manager at the company, said of the business's increase in calls.

Though Sheppard said most complaints have been reported along Gordon Highway, faulty remotes have been encountered as far as 15 miles away from Fort Gordon.

Jason Milford lives on William Few Parkway in Evans and enters his home through the garage, where his wife parks her car. He thought boxes blocking ground sensors were the root of the problem, but he was wrong. The problem persisted after clearing the area around the alarms.

"On Sunday, I came home, sat in front of the garage in my car and pressed the remote seven or eight times before the door finally opened," Milford said. "I was not even 10 feet away."

Book

NSA Prism: George Orwell's '1984' is flying off the shelves

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© CC/Борис УDonetsk, Ukraine graffiti reads "Big Brother is watching you," a reference to government surveillance in George Orwell's dystopian classic "1984."
In the wake of recent revelations regarding the secret National Security Agency surveillance program known as PRISM, George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 has seen a surge in sales on Amazon.com.

X

Woman accused of torturing two maids in Dubai

A woman has been accused of torturing her two maids and causing one of them to die of pneumonia, while she kept them unfed and locked in her Al Rashidiya home for more than a month.

The surviving maid, a Filipina, alleged that the 45-year-old Emirati woman, R.M., beat them with sticks while naked, banged their heads against the wall until they bled and forced her to drink cleaning products. She told the court her Ethiopian colleague was so hungry she searched for food in the garbage.

Prosecution records said the severity of the torture and conditions of their confinement led to the Ethiopian's death and caused the 29-year-old Filipina, E.K. to suffer severe injuries.

Dubai Police's forensic expert, who examined the injuries of the Ethiopian, K.J., confirmed that she had been tortured consistently for more than a month.

Cut

Putin and wife announce that their 29-year marriage is over


Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his 29-year marriage to his his wife, Lyudmila, was over - after removing his wedding band as they watched the ballet together.

The 60-year-old and his 55-year-old wife broke the news of the end of the 29-year marriage in an obviously staged TV interview after a night at the ballet.

Before the ballet at the Kremlin Palace, Putin was pictured wearing his wedding ring, but he must have removed it during the performance because he was not wearing it by the time he left and was interviewed.