Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Violent rapist jailed after court of appeal quashes acquittal


The Guardian
Sat, 07 Dec 2013 09:49 UTC
british rapist
© Derbyshire police/PAHarbinder has been has been jailed after a landmark legal ruling in which his original acquittal for the offence was quashed by the court of appeal
Harbinder Khatkaris attacked six women in February - less than six weeks after a jury acquitted him of earlier rape

A violent rapist has been jailed for life after a landmark legal ruling in which his original acquittal for the offence was quashed by the court of appeal.

Harbinder Khatkar, from Derby, has been ordered to serve at least 14 years after being convicted of offences committed in December 2011 and February 2013.

The 37-year-old attacked six women on 2 February this year - less than six weeks after a jury acquitted him of an earlier rape in which he forced his way into the victim's home.
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Alarm Clock

U.S. federal prison population has grown 27 percent in 10 years


Washington Free Beacon
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 04:18 UTC
u.s. prison
© AP
The number of federal prison inmates has grown 27 percent in the last decade, according the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In a report examining the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) budget, the GAO found that prison population is rising:
The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for the custody and care of over 219,000 federal inmates - a population that has grown by 27 percent over the past decade. BOP is composed of 119 institutions, 6 regional offices, 2 staff training centers, 22 residential reentry management offices (previously called community corrections offices), and a central office in Washington, D.C. With a fiscal year 2013 operating budget of about $6.5 billion - the second-largest budget within DOJ - BOP projects that its costs will increase as the federal prison population grows through 2018. [...]

A variety of factors contribute to the size of BOP's population. These include national crime levels, law enforcement policies, and federal sentencing laws, all of which are beyond BOP's control.

Comment: See also:

Gulag! America has more prisoners than high school teachers and engineers

U.S. prison population seeing "unprecedented increase"

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Red Flag

'Selfish selfie' lands on the New York Post front page

Nadine Kalinauskas
Yahoo! News - Canada
Wed, 04 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
Anonymous woman
© New York PostSelfish Selfie
"Selfie" might be the Oxford Dictionary's word of the year, but one woman's self portrait is teaching us all a lesson in selfie etiquette.

Folks, don't take a photo of yourself in front of a tragedy.

On Tuesday morning, a woman, identified only as a tourist, snapped a photo of herself in front of the Brooklyn Bridge. In the background of the photo, a suicidal man threatened to leap into the East River below.

While the man was eventually talked down from the ledge and taken to the hospital for evaluation, the woman's poor photography decision lives on: It landed her on the cover of the New York Post.
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Health

Smog at extremely hazardous levels in Shanghai

Eugene Hoshiko and Didi Tang
Associated Press.
Sat, 07 Dec 2013 09:41 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Eugene HoshikoA building under construction is covered with haze in Shanghai, China, Friday, Dec. 6, 2013. Shanghai authorities ordered schoolchildren indoors and halted all construction Friday as China's financial hub suffered one its worst bouts of air pollution, bringing visibility down to a few dozen meters and obscuring the city's spectacular skyline
Shanghai authorities ordered schoolchildren indoors and halted all construction Friday as China's financial hub suffered one of its worst bouts of air pollution, bringing visibility down to a few dozen meters, delaying flights and obscuring the city's spectacular skyline.

The financial district was shrouded in a yellow haze, and noticeably fewer people walked the city's streets. Vehicle traffic also was thinner, as authorities pulled 30 percent of government vehicles from the roads. They also banned fireworks and public sporting events.

"I feel like I'm living in clouds of smog," said Zheng Qiaoyun, a local resident who kept her 6-month-old son at home. "I have a headache, I'm coughing, and it's hard to breathe on my way to my office."
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Megaphone

Best of the Web: 7 things Nelson Mandela believed that most people won't talk about

Aviva Shen
Think Progress
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 10:11 UTC
Image
© AP
In the desire to celebrate Nelson Mandela's life - an iconic figure who triumphed over South Africa's brutal apartheid regime - it's tempting to homogenize his views into something everyone can support. This is not, however, an accurate representation of the man.

Mandela was a political activist and agitator. He did not shy away from controversy and he did not seek - or obtain - universal approval. Before and after his release from prison, he embraced an unabashedly progressive and provocative platform. As one commentator put it shortly after the announcement of the freedom fighter's death, "Mandela will never, ever be your minstrel. Over the next few days you will try so, so hard to make him something he was not, and you will fail. You will try to smooth him, to sandblast him, to take away his Malcolm X. You will try to hide his anger from view."
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Compass

Sandy Hook benefit concert canceled due to low ticket sales

Kyla Gardner
DNAInfo
Wed, 04 Dec 2013 17:11 UTC
A Chicago benefit concert to help first responders to last year's Sandy Hook massacre was canceled due to low ticket sales, it was announced Wednesday.

The event, scheduled for Sunday at Untitled, 111 W. Kinzie St., was set to feature performances by local musicians and the Chicago Children's Choir and a silent auction.

"It is with great sadness that we have to cancel the Chicago Musicians Care Performance & Benefit event ... due to low ticket sales," read a Facebook post from organizer Chicago Musicians Care, which was created in response to the shooting.

One of the goals of the music project, Founder Kevin Tenbrunsel said in a YouTube video, was "to send a message to the people of Sandy Hook that this city has not forgotten, and still grieve the tragedy of that day."
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Arrow Down

Charity claims its been targeted for feeding the homeless


RT
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 17:23 UTC
harassed charity
© John Moore / Getty Images / AFP
A church group in Olympia, Washington is blasting proposed City Council changes it claims are intended to stop an outreach mission that feeds hundreds of homeless residents every week.

Twice a week for the last two years, the nondenominational Christian group Crazy Faith Ministries has gathered at a public parking lot to feed the city's homeless population. The program has become increasingly popular since it began, but complaints about mounting vehicle traffic in the area and concern for pedestrian safety resulted in the city informing Crazy Faith it would not be allowed to continue its activity.

Ben Charles, the leader of Crazy Faith, argued his organization has the right to assemble and feed the homeless, however, and declined to comply with the order given in October, saying no laws were being broken. Now, City Hall is considering changes to its parking ordinances that would require anyone using public parking lots to acquire a permit, ranging in price from $50 to $187. Failure to do so could result in a fine of up to $1,000 or 90 days in jail, though Deputy City Attorney Darren Nienbar suggested a $50 fine would be most likely.

During a City Council meeting on Tuesday, December 3, the proposal was passed on to a second reading by a vote of 6-1. Another meeting is scheduled for December 10.
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Eye 1

DC cop suspected of running prostitution ring


RT
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 21:00 UTC
cop car
© Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP
A police officer in Washington, D.C. is currently under investigation for possibly running a prostitution ring out of this apartment, where a 16-year-old missing girl was found on Tuesday evening The unnamed officer has yet to be to charged with a crime, though the Metropolitan Police Department has placed him on paid leave while it wraps up the investigation.

According to the Washington Times, the teenage girl told investigators that she met the officer in question two weeks ago. The officer allegedly took nude photos of her in glossy shoes and arranged a meeting with another man who would pay her $80 for sex. The officer would reportedly get a $20 cut of the bill, though it's not clear if the meeting ever occurred.

Additionally, the teenage girl told authorities that six other women were working for the officer, and advertisements for the operation were posted on a website called backpage.com.

Comment: Define 'few', please.

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Bad Guys

Rapist jailed for identical attack


Express & Star
Thu, 05 Dec 2013 04:40 UTC
Brierley
David Brierley, who raped a teenage girl just four months after being released from prison for an identical attack, has been jailed for life.
A psychopathic rapist who raped a teenage girl just four months after being released from prison for an identical attack was jailed for life today. David Brierley, 34, repeatedly raped the 18-year-old victim during a horrific assault in Swindon town centre in February this year. Swindon Crown Court heard the victim thought she was going to die and begged Brierley to stop his violent attack but he ignored her pleas and carried on raping her.

The court heard that the burly monster had been jailed for eight years at Warwick Crown Court in 2001 for repeatedly raping and assaulting an 18-year-old girl in a Stratford upon Avon churchyard the previous year but had only finally been released from prison in October 2012 after being recalled for breaching his licence.

Brierley had been living in Birmingham and had moved to Swindon just two days before he attacked his latest victim, the court was told. He had been living under an assumed name in the Culvery Court hostel, on Harding Street - but on the night of the rape had been refused entry as staff believed he had been drinking. Tattooed Brierley, who is 5ft 10in tall and weighs 19 stone, had met the victim on the evening of February 23 in a takeaway in the town and bought her some food.
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Eye 1

Flashback Men impersonating cops robbing people,were just cops robbing people


The Freethoughtproject.com
Mon, 29 Jul 2013 00:00 UTC
bad cops
© AP Two police officers, one of the Detroit department and one of St. Clair shores, have been taken into custody in connection with a robbery at a gas station on Detroit's east side, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Monday, July 29, 2013.

A good Samaritan with a camera helped in catching an off-duty Detroit Police Officer and his former DPD accomplice, who were involved in a pistol-whipping and robbery outside a Citgo gas station. It was originally thought that the men conducting the robbery were impersonating police officers. Then, according to DPD Chief James Craig, "Several unidentified police officers were working this particular robbery case, recognized one of the suspects in the photographs as being a member of the Detroit Police Department."

According to WJBK, now under arrest are two police sergeants, a 47-year-old officer and 20-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department and his 42-year-old buddy from the police academy, who is a former DPD cop and 17-year veteran of the St. Clair Shores Police Department. The latter recently received a distinguished service award.

"In fact, they were police officers, just not working on-duty at the time," Craig said. One of the alleged victims identified the St. Clair Shores sergeant from a photo lineup.

Comment: It's becoming a lot more difficult to discern good guys from bad guys these days, isn't it?

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