Society's ChildS


Better Earth

Violent crime takes a holiday in New York City

Chris Francescani
Reuters
Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:02 UTC
New York City
© Reuters/Carlo AllegriPedestrians walk along Lexington Avenue past a steam vent in New York, November 28, 2012.
New York City passed a day without a single report of a person being shot, stabbed or subject to other sorts of violent crime for the first time in recent memory, police said on Wednesday.

The rare day occurred on Monday, near the end of a year when the city's murder rate is on target to hit its lowest point since 1960, according to New York Police Department chief spokesman Paul Browne.

Browne said it was "first time in memory" the city's police force had experienced such a peaceful day.

While crime is up 3 percent overall, including a 9 percent surge in grand larceny police attribute to a rash of smart phone thefts, murder is down 23 percent over last year, the NYPD said.

As for a day without violent crime, experts said they could not recall that happening in recent memory. "In a city of 8 million people, this is extremely rare," said Tom Repetto, author of 'American Police, 1949-2012.'
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Bad Guys

Bullies William Bailey and son Joseph mock girl with cerebral palsy

Michael Allen
Opposing Views
Wed, 28 Nov 2012 20:40 UTC
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William Bailey was sentenced to one month in jail after he was recorded (video below) with his nine-year-old son Joseph mocking 10-year-old Hope Holcomb, who has cerebral palsy.

Every day after school at the bus stop, William and Joseph mocked the disabled girl, who repeatedly ask them to stop, reports the Daily Mail.

The girl's grandmother videotaped William and Joseph hobbling to the school bus in Pike Township, Ohio, and gave the video to police.

William plead no contest to reduced misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and aggravated menacing.

Tricia Knight, Hope's mother, told Fox News: "It started last year we had trouble on the bus, she was miserable she didn't want to ride the bus, cried every morning. He treats her like crap, and most recently the dad got involved. We just want the bullying and the ridiculous behavior from the kids and the adults to stop."
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Pistol

Man shoots boy dead in parking lot because he wouldn't turn his music down

Susan Jacobson
Orlando Sentinel
Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:31 UTC
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© mydeathspace.com
A Brevard County man remained in jail late Tuesday, accused of shooting a teenager dead in an argument over loud music.

Michael David Dunn, 45, and his girlfriend were in Jacksonville Friday for Dunn's son's wedding when they stopped at a convenience store, Jacksonville sheriff's Lt. Rob Schoonover said.

Jordan Russell Davis, 17, and several other teenagers were sitting in a sport utility vehicle in the parking lot when Dunn pulled up next to them in a car and asked them to turn down their music, Schoonover said.

Jordan and Dunn exchanged words, and Dunn pulled a gun and shot eight or nine times, striking Jordan twice, Schoonover said. Jordan was sitting in the back seat. No one else was hurt.

Comment: This is utterly insane. It's not like they were neighbours and Dunn couldn't escape whatever noise was annoying him. But even that would not call for such an extreme reprisal.

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Heart - Black

Samsung production line staff 'forced to work 16 hours a day and are given just one day off a month'


Daily Mail
Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:58 UTC
Samsung has come under fire after it was claimed that employees at one of its suppliers are made to work up to 16 hours a day, with only one day's rest a month. The claim will pile pressure on the South Korean electronics giant to address working practices after it admitted excessive overtime and fines for employees in China.

Samsung, which is the world's largest maker of cell phones and televisions, said on Monday that a review of 105 of its Chinese suppliers - involving more than 65,000 employees - found illegal work practices, but said the companies involved would be given two more years to change their ways. Now New York-based China Labor Watch (CLW) said employees at one of Samsung's suppliers sometimes worked up to 16 hours a day, and were given just one day off each month.
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© WikipediaWork forced: Employees at Samsung's Chinese suppliers are made to work 16 hours a day, it is claimed (file picture)
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Handcuffs

Robert Gleason Jr. opts for electric chair, first time since 2010

Michael Allen
Opposing Views
Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:00 UTC
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Robert Gleason Jr., a Virginia prisoner who strangled two inmates in prison, has promised to keep killing unless he is put to death in the electric chair on January 16, 2013.

Gleason has killed a total of three people and waived all state and federal appeals. He would be the first prisoner to die in the electric chair, nicknamed 'Old Sparky,' since 2010.

Gleason told the Associated Press:
"I did the crime and this is the punishment. It is what it is. I ain't going to go kill a bunch of people and say 'Oh, don't do that to me.'"
Inmates in Virginia get to choose between electrocution or lethal injection, reports the Daily Mail.
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Heart - Black

Defense attorney Steve Taylor compares 11-year-old gang-rape victim to "spider" luring men into "web"

Michael Allen
Opposing Views
Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:57 UTC
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Defense attorney Steve Taylor recently compared an unidentified 11-year-old gang-rape victim to a "spider" who lured 20 men into her "web."

Taylor is defending 20-year-old Jared Cruse (pictured), one of 20 men who allegedly gang-raped the child, reports the Houston Chronicle.

Cruse was identified as a suspect after the father of the girl was sent sexually explicit pictures of his daughter on his cell phone in November of 2010.

Cruse is already serving an eight-year sentence for aggravated robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Police say the 11 year old was raped repeatedly between September 15, 2010 and December 3, 2010 by a gang of 20 boys aged between 14 and 27 in an abandoned cabin and trailer in Cleveland, Texas, reports the Daily Mail.
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Dollar

Video: Rep.-elect Alan Grayson says Walmart "the largest recipient of public aid in country"

Michael Allen,
Opposing Views
Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:53 UTC
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Retail giant Walmart posted profits of $15.4 billion in 2011, while paying their employees an average salary of $22,100 a year. The current poverty level for a family of four is $23,050.

So how do Walmart employees survive?

The burden falls on American taxpayers to provide food stamps and Medicaid -- at the cost of 2.66 billion annually -- to make up the difference, reports PoliticsUSA.com.

Walmart also tries to profit by encouraging employees to spend their food stamps in Walmart.

Republicans are fighting to keep corporate welfare intact but, at the same time, they want to slash food stamps and Medicaid to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" at the end of the year.
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Star of David

Israel considers racially-segregated bus lines in West Bank

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:03 UTC
segregated bus lines
© Anne Paq/Activestills
Don't call it apartheid, but.... Israel is weighing segregated bus lines in the West Bank, which is occupied territory, to separate Palestinians who live there from the Jewish settlers who now call the land home. (Thanks to Ilene Cohen)
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Che Guevara

Tension high in Cairo after mass protests


Al Jazeera
Wed, 28 Nov 2012 07:00 UTC
Police and protesters clash after thousands rally overnight against President Morsi's assumption of expanded powers.


Egyptian police have fired tear gas into Cairo's Tahrir Square, where several hundred protesters spent the night after a mass rally to denounce President Mohamed Morsi's assumption of expanded powers.

Clashes erupting on streets near Tahrir Square spilled into the square on Wednesday morning, with canisters falling into the crowd forcing protesters to run and sending clouds of tear gas over the tents housing the demonstrators.

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Cairo, said there was a huge difference between Wednesday and Tuesday's turnout, which she said was a huge success for the opposition in terms of the amount of people they were able to rally.

"Today, you have those die-hards who say that they will stay in the square until the president retracts his constitutional declaration."
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Light Saber

Best of the Web: American Hero: Bradley Manning demands dismissal of his case due to inhuman punishment


RT
Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:32 UTC
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning.
© Reuters / Jose Liis MagauaArmy Pfc. Bradley Manning.
Bradley Manning is expected to testify in a pretrial hearing that he has been punished illegally by being locked in solitary confinement. The whistleblower hopes that his inhumane punishment is grounds for having all charges against him dismissed.

Manning, who is accused of sending classified information to WikiLeaks, will testify in a pretrial hearing in Fort Meade, Maryland.

"Until now we've only heard from Bradley through his family and lawyers, so it's going to be a real insight into his personality to hear him speak for himself for the first time," said Jeff Paterson of the Bradley Manning Support Network.

Manning's lawyers will maintain that his treatment in a small cell at the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Virginia was illegal and unnecessarily severe. If pretrial punishment is particularly flagrant, military judges have the right to dismiss all charges.

Manning, a 24-year-old Army private and intelligence analyst, was allegedly involved in the largest security breach in US history and was charged with 22 crimes, including violating the Espionage Act and aiding the enemy. He allegedly accessed 250,000 US diplomatic cables, 500,000 army reports, and videos of the 2007 Baghdad airstrike and the 2009 Granai airstrike, and sending them to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks for publication in 2010. He is the only suspect arrested for his involvement in the security leak.
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