Society's ChildS


Bad Guys

Marine drowned in water screening test at Camp Pendleton, despite being excellent swimmer

Joshua Islam
Joshua Islam
A top Marine Corps training commander has been relieved of his duties after a four-month investigation into the death of Josh Islam, an 18-year-old Marine from Weddington.

Islam drowned Jan. 13 during a water screening test to get into reconnaissance training at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Maj. Adam Burch, commanding officer of Reconnaissance Training Company at School of Infantry-West, was relieved on May 15, Marines spokesman Col. Sean Gibson said Thursday. Brig. Gen. John Simmons removed Burch for a loss of confidence in his ability to lead Marines and for allowing unsafe conditions that contributed to Islam's death.

The drowning has also prompted a sweeping review of all training at the reconnaissance school, including how to assess a Marine's swimming ability. The specific screening event that Islam underwent has been eliminated, Gibson said.

An investigative report obtained by the Observer through a Freedom of Information Act request details errors in judgment by trainers overseeing Islam as he attempted to tread water in his camouflage uniform, without boots, for 30 minutes. The report also found training and screening deficiencies.

Family

America's homeless: The rise of Tent City, USA

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© CNN
Homeless encampments known as "tent cities" are popping up across the country

Formed as an alternative to shelters and street-living, these makeshift communities are often set up off of highways, under bridges and in the woods. Some have "mayors" who determine the rules of the camp and who can and can't join, others are a free-for-all. Some are overflowing with trash, old food, human waste and drug paraphernalia, others are relatively clean and drug-free.

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty documented media accounts of tent cities between 2008 and 2013, and estimated that there are more than 100 tent communities in the United States -- and it says the encampments are on the rise.

"[T]here have been increasing reports of homeless encampments emerging in communities across the country, primarily in urban and suburban areas and spanning states as diverse as Hawaii, Alaska, California, and Connecticut," the organization's study states.

Comment: Tent cities and encampments are the last resort for most people. They are certainly not a means of 'self-help'. What a ridiculous inhumane thing to say. CNN is normalizing homelessness and seems to be spinning the tale that "it's not so bad." It is that bad. Homelessness is essentially being criminalized all over the U.S. Cities all over are passing tyrannical laws against feeding the homeless and their homes are being destroyed. One city has even created a hotline to report their presence. The U.S. wastes BILLIONS on endless wars, but no funds to take care of impoverished and downtrodden?
  • Cities all over America are becoming extremely cruel to the homeless
  • Philadelphia Bans Outdoor Feeding of Homeless
  • America Today: Heartbreaking Pictures From New Jersey's Homeless 'Tent City'
  • U.S. city's plan for homeless bizarre, inhumane
  • It is illegal to feed thehomeless in cities all over the United States
  • 70-year-old charity told to stop feeding homeless in Seattle
  • US: Homeless Epidemic Spreading from Cities to Suburbs, and No Longer Invisible
Utah has a pretty good idea to make things better. What about the rest of the States?
  • Utah is ending homelessness by giving people homes
  • Utah is on track to end homelessness by 2015 with this one simple idea



Alarm Clock

'8 knives, bat and crowbar': 16 yo admits to parents' brutal murder for taking away iPod

Vincent Parker
Vincent Parker
A 'smart' and 'sane' North Carolina teen has admitted to stabbing and bludgeoning his parents to death over slight and routine punishments, like depriving him of his iPod.

Eight knives, an aluminum baseball bat and crowbar, all coated in blood: The grisly scene which unfolded at the 1000 block of Bland Street in Norfolk, Virginia last December is more befitting of horror movie fodder, or Tarantino torture fantasy. But the violence was very real, and the murderer, rather than a serial killer or mafia hit man, was a 10th-grade-honor student who had grown tired of what by all definitions was soft parental admonishment.

On Wednesday, 16-year-old Vincent Parker admitted in court to killing his parents, claiming he had grown tired of their seemingly routine punishments.

"I just remember getting mad," he told investigators. "It's all from my dad. All this stuff like my dad taking away my iPod and stuff," local CBS affiliate WTKR cites him as saying.

The revenge he meted out for those slight infractions beggars belief.

Autopsy reports show how, on December 19, Vincent armed himself with eight kitchen knives, an aluminum bat and a crowbar. He then went upstairs to find his mother, Carol Parker. When his mother emerged from the bathroom, Vincent doused her with pepper spray, stabbed her in the eye, and then beat her in the face and head with a baseball bat and a crowbar "until she stopped breathing."

Fireball

Ukrainian Air Force helicopter shot down, 14 people dead including general

Ukrainian helicopter
© EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY Ukrainian soldiers near checkpoint outside Sloviansk (archive)
Fourteen Ukrainian servicemen were killed in a special operation conducted against federalization supporters in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, parliament-appointed Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov told a parliament meeting.

A general of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is among those killed, he said. "Our servicemen were in the helicopter that was shot down. They were to replace other servicemen in rotation," Turchynov said.

Militiamen claim 2 helicopters shot down

Earlier, a self-defense forces' representative stated that the people's militia fighters had shot down the second helicopter of the armed forces controlled by Kiev authorities.

The first helicopter was shot down by the militiamen on the south-eastern outskirts of Sloviansk, Donetsk Region, near Chervony Molochar settlement.

"Violent shooting can be heard in this area, and dense black smoke is seen," the militia representative said. In addition, according to latest reports, fight is underway near the Semyonovsk locality.

Light Sabers

All 80 Ukrainian troops at a Lugansk military base surrendered to self-defense forces

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© Reuters / Marko Djurica

All of the 80 Ukrainian troops holed up at a Lugansk military base have surrendered to self-defense forces who stormed the military installation hosting the Ukrainian National Guard.

The initial assault lasted for 10-15 minutes with almost unceasing gunfire, witnesses say. A video reportedly filmed near the attacked facility has appeared on YouTube.

There are conflicting reports on casualties and the outcome of the attack, which took place on the territory of an Air Force academy. Earlier, at least one Ukrainian soldier was reported to be seriously injured.

According to RIA Novosti, all of the 80 Ukrainian soldiers holed up at the base surrendered. They were escorted out of the building as the other side applauded.

People 2

Legislated robbery: This family thought Obamacare was 'the answer'... until they found out their plan 'doesn't even work'

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© Shutterstock
Nick and Rachel Robinson were excited about the possibilities that Obamacare offered them when they found out they were expecting a third child.

"It's one of those times where you hear the news and there's this immediate sense of joy and excitement like, 'Yay, a new kid. That's awesome!'" Nick Robinson told NPR. But the happy news also came with a new set of worries. "What are we going to do? How are we going to pay for this? This is intense."

When the option of the Affordable Care Act became available, the Robinsons believed it was the answer to what they were looking for. Nick's company didn't offer health benefits and neither did Rachel's position as a wedding photographer.

People

New rule could deny up to 7.5m US students access to college education

college students
© AFP Photo / Timothy A. Clary
Up to 7.5 million students could be denied access to for-profit colleges over the next decade if a new rule is passed forcing the disclosure of performance and earnings. Critics argue the measure will have a disproportionate effect on poorer students.

A new proposal entitled the gainful-employment rule would force for-profit colleges in the US to disclose data on student default rates, attendance and completion. The regulation would slash federal student aid to courses where too many students defaulted on their loans or were in debt.

This, in turn, would deprive 7.5 million students access to higher education over the next ten years, says a report by the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU).

The legislation would put the onus on for-profit higher education institutions to prove the estimated annual loan payment of an average graduate does not surpass 20 percent of their discretionary income. It would also ask for-profit schools to make sure the default rate for graduates doesn't exceed 30 percent.

APSCU's report describes the gainful employment proposal as "flawed, arbitrary and biased" and argues it would have a disproportionate effect on poorer students in the US. According to the report, the proposal does not take into account the fact that lower income students more often than not have to borrow more money to pay for their education.

APSCU predicts that 21.8 percent of the courses offered in these institutions would not be able to comply with the new rule and as a consequence it would deprive 44.2 percent of students of their places in for-profit schools.

Snakes in Suits

Co-founder of Rap Genius website fired after praising Elliot Rodger's manifesto

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© YouTubeMahbod Moghadam
The co-founder of the Rap Genius website has been forced to leave the company after he posted offensive commentary praising the 141-page manifesto of alleged mass murder Elliot Rodger.

Rap Genius is dedicated to annotating and interpreting lyrics and other texts, including, in this case,Rodger's manifesto. On Sunday, Mahbod Moghadam began commenting on the quality of Rodger's prose.

Moghadam noted that the sentence "I can recall the first time I said the name on my lips" was "Beautifully written," and that "It was the only time in my life that I would see a girl my age naked" was "an artful sentence, beautifully written."

He even hypothesized that the alleged mass-murder's sister must have been "smokin hot," because Rodger wrote that he "becomes extremely angry when he hears [his sister] having sex with her boyfriend."

Sheriff

To fight police brutality, Albuquerque police promote cop who burned off man's ear

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© Albuquerque police departmentCommander Tim Gonterman
In a controversial move following protests against deadly force by police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the department has promoted a commander previously accused of burning off part of homeless man's ear with a taser.

The announcement came Thursday, with the Associated Press reporting that Albuquerque Police Department Chief Gordon Eden said the promotion of both Timothy Gonterman and Anthony Montano would help the force implement reforms outlined by the Department of Justice.

As RT reported previously, police in the area have come under fire for using excessive force in situations where it was deemed unnecessary. In a report on law enforcement's behavior, the Justice Department reviewed 20 fatal shootings between 2009 and 2013, concluding that most of the fatalities were unnecessary and that "systematic change" was needed moving forward.

Stormtrooper

Veterans Affairs police caused fatal stroke by beating patient 'tired of waiting'

Veterans Affairs police logo
Veterans Affairs police logo
A veteran died of a stroke after Veterans Affairs police beat him because he refused to wait any longer for treatment at a VA hospital in California. Now his widow is suing the government over the brutality that led to his death.

Jonathan Montano had been at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Loma Linda, Calif. for four hours with a shunt (a needle apparatus) in his arm, awaiting dialysis. Tired of biding his time, he decided to head to a different VA hospital in Long Beach, and asked his wife Norma to get the car. But instead of allowing the patient to leave - with the shunt still in his arm so the Long Beach staff wouldn't have to insert a new one - Loma Linda nurses called VA police, who beat him to keep him from leaving, Courthouse News Service reported, citing the lawsuit by Norma Montano.

"The summoned VA Police Department police officers then stopped Jonathan Montano from leaving the VA Hospital in Loma Linda, by tackling him to the floor, slamming his head on the floor, and kneeing and stomping on his neck, and otherwise brutalizing and restraining him," the lawsuit said.

"This kneeing and stomping on his neck by the VA Police Department police officers caused the dissection of his carotid artery, that resulted in immediate (or very soon thereafter) blood clotting, which resulted in [his] suffering a stroke. Moreover, the brutalization of Jonathan Montano resulted in him suffering other serious physical injuries, and associated physical, mental and emotional pain, suffering and distress."